Stampers 10 Gifts

Eee! Timing. Timing is amazing! As you can see by my sidebar, one of my favourite blog 'haunts' is Inking Idaho (seriously- check her out- amazingly talented that one is!) and 2 days before my last order came in for my first Stampers 10 group, I saw some gifts she made for HER Stampers 10 that is ending soon. I thought it was a fabulous idea and CASED it from her, but instead of using the new Summer Smooches suite (don't be like me- hurry and get them, they are so cute) I used what I had on hand!

The colour combo is Melon Mambo (sure- I love a good hot pink!), Pool Party and Lucky Limeade (I'll be sad to see those colours go- but for the next year we still have them!) Also, I earned my very first FREE stamp set for selling a certain amount during Sale-A-Bration. I didn't even know I qualified for a free set! It was a nice surprise, and being as I had the retired list already, I grabbed a few sets to replace what will be retiring. I got the Fabulous Phrases in clear 120501, and then ordered the Tiny Tags in clear 118592 and being as the Occassions mini is 3 days away from retiring as well, I grabbed Bordering on Romance in clear 125482 as well as the Adorning Accents (125595) dies and Adorning Accents Textured Embossing folders (125601). I don't know if they are coming back after the Occassions Mini is gone, but I hope so- they were so much fun to play with and super cute! SO anyways, using all my new goodies I took a page from Inking Idaho's book and made my Stampers a thank you gift:

I love the colours together, so springtime sweet! I whipped these up, including the homemade candies inside (being as I wasn't able to swing by a store). The candies are larger than you'd get in a store so they are a bit bulky in the 4x6 cello bags, but they were still able to fit :) I had some silver candy wrappers from Wiltons, and wrapped them in some DSP that went with the colour scheme, even if they aren't the same colour :)
The candies, for any interested parties, are Cream Egg and Peanut Butter Cup. Here's the recipes (as I am also an avid candy maker/cupcake baker!)

Peanut Butter Cups Filling:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chunky style peanut butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
Makes:
Approximately 30 candy centers.
Instructions:
Cut butter in small pieces and put in small saucepan over low heat. Add peanut butter and stir until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar, blending well. Add more confectioners' sugar, as necessary, to form a pliable mass. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour. Use filling as a candy centre for dipping, or as a centre between two layers of coating. (what I do is 'paint' chocolate in a mould and then let set, fill the moulded chocolate and then add more melted chocolate to cover).

Cream Eggs:

Ingredients
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (I use 1/2 this amount to make it gooey. It's still sweet!)
4 drops yellow food coloring
2 drops red food coloring
1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
Directions
Combine corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt. Beat well with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add powdered sugar, a little bit at at time and mix by hand after each addition.
Mix until creamy.
(now- I don't do the following steps to make them look like cream eggs- but here they are if you want to! I just pipe them into set chocolate moulds)
Remove about 1/3 of the sugar mixture and place in a small bowl. Add the food coloring and mix well.
Cover both mixtures and chill for at least 2 hours or until firm.When mixtures are still firm roll a small, marble size from the orange filling. Wrap a small amount of the white filling around the orange.
Form into the shape of eggs and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.Repeat until done and chill for at least 4 hours. You want them set.
**I use melting chocolate- easier!****
Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a double broiler or ceramic bowl.
Melt down and mix well. Take each egg filling and dip into the melted chocolate mixture and return to baking sheet.Repeat and chill again for 2 hours. Repeat the dipping process, chill again and your good to go!

That's it for me- hope you enjoyed it! Remember- paper crafting is fun on it's own to scrapbook or make cards, but it also gives you the ability to make thoughtful gifts for the special people in your life. Thanks for stopping by!

~Brandie~