Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party!

Hi, I'm so excited to be playing along with the monthly Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Party today!! There's plenty of time to play - just link up your project on the Waltzingmouse Blog by 4:00pm GMT today - click here to find out more. Hooray - I love Waltzingmouse Stamps!!! The theme this month is "Sweet Things"



I didn't get a great deal of time to prepare to play this time around, but desperately wanted to share something so thought I would take the opportunity to show you a tin of chocolate shortbread I made for my sister Emma's birthday earlier this month. The shortbread has long since been enjoyed, so only the tin remains!!



I simply covered one of my husbands empty Coffee-Mate tins with pretty patterned paper. I then used a couple of favourite stamp sets on this project and of course, Emma's favourite colour which is the shade of raspberry you see in the picture.



I covered the lid of the tin in pretty raspberry pink felt that I picked up at my local craft shop. I made the pink pins myself by adding random pink beads onto pink pearl headed pins - I love doing this, reminds of when I used to make bracelets and necklaces for myself!! The vintage cream button is from PTI - I had been hoarding it in the old crafty cupboard for far too long!



The Rescue Remedies stamp set was just perfect for what I wanted and I love how the white embossed image looks against the Raspberry cardstock. I love how Claire's stamps fit so perfectly with the Spellbinders Labels Four Dies. I also cut another backing label using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8 dies and dry embossed some polka dots onto it using a Cuttlebug folder. I highlighted some of the dots by dabbing them with some white chalk ink - just to really make them stand out a little more.

and here's a view of the top of the tin...



Once my lid was covered I stamped and embossed the doily image from "Dainty Doilies 2 Small" and cut this out and adhered to the top. All that was left to do was tie it all up with some beautiful silk ribbon and pop a sweet little paper rose on top.



I decided to tie a little label onto the back of the tin with pink button twine. The word "Sweet" is actually from one of the Rescue Remedies labels - stamped in versamark, embossed with white powder and then cut and mounted onto a another white heat embossed "Very Vintage labels 4" Label. I added more of the pretty patterned paper that I used to cover the tin, some pretty cream lace and a mini paper rose. Super easy & mega quick using Claire's versatile stamps and nestabilities :-)

Here's a close-up of those "Sweet Things" - Emma's Chocolate Shortbread...Mmm, Yum!!!



Nothing really new here, but I enjoyed whipping something up super quick!! If you're interested, the chocolate shortbread recipe is from the Great British Book of Baking which was a BBC "Bake-Off" show. My sister actually gave me the book for my last birthday - I think there may have been an ulterior motive there don't you??!!



Here's the simple recipe for what I'm now calling "Emma's" Chocolate Shortbread :)
(makes 12 chunky pieces)-
260g Plain Flour
100g Caster Sugar (extra for sprinkling)
200g unsalted Butter, chilled & diced
40g Cocoa Powder
a pinch of sea salt (optional)

Method: Combine the flour, caster sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl and then rub in the butter with tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles fine sandy crumbs. Pop it into a greased tin, press into an even layer using the back of a spoon. Using a fork, prick the dough and then bake for 25 mins in a preheated oven at 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.

Now I'm off to see what everyone else is bringing to the party today. Have fun!!

Hugs,
Helen xxx

I also took the opportunity to link into the following challenges:
DYSU 54 - Pink!!
Wild Orchid Challenge - Anything Goes