Category: free printables

Dec

Cupcakes In A Jar – Holiday Freebie

CATEGORIES: Christmas, Food, Holidays, free printables, hand crafted, recipes, tutorials

Christmas is just 9 days away and just in case you’re looking for a thoughtful and tasty gift everyone will love and you will surely enjoy making, I’ve come to the rescue!

Each year I adore a little holiday baking with my son. Giving your friends and neighbors a gift from the heart that you made with your hands is a special way to celebrate the giving season and I’m happy to be passing along this tradition to him. Although he loves licking the spoon, bowl, beater, you name it:) Delivering our handmade goodies in person is actually his favorite part and I have to admit it warms my heart to see the look of joy and pride on his little face.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while hopefully you have enjoyed our past holiday baking posts like these candy treats, and the time we attempted handmade marshmallows. This year I’ve been intrigued by all those cute cupcakes-in-a-jar I’m seeing everywhere on the food blogs. I spotted an irresistible Red Velvet Cupcake Tutorial on Cakies. I too used Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Cupcake recipe and it made 16 cupcakes. I suggest doubling her cream cheese frosting recipe since you are layering these cupcakes in the jar. I used 3 cups of powdered/confectioners sugar instead of 4 because I didn’t want the frosting to be too sweet. Adding double the amount of vanilla the frosting calls for is also a good idea. Huge note to self… when you make red velvet make sure you have enough food coloring on hand. I was just shy of the called for amount which is why mine are not a deeper red. Simple 8 oz jars can be found in any grocery store these days.

At last here is what we came up with. We sincerely hope you enjoy making these as much as we did. Plus what is more fun than making a handmade gift from the kitchen? The packaging! As a special Holiday Freebie from InkSpot Workshop to you we have included printable stickers and gift tags. Happy creating!

Note: I lost my pastry bag bag in Culinary School, so instead you can use a gallon sized freezer bag and cut the corner off. This will hold your piping tip nicely.

Download your FREE Printable 2 inch Stickers HERE
Note: if using this file print onto full label sheets and use a 2 inch round punch.
Or simply punch out of card stock and tape to the jar lid.

I used these glossy labels from onlinelabels.com
if you have these already, you can download this file which I formatted from the template.
You simply print this file directly onto the sheet of 2 inch labels.

Download your FREE Printable Hanging Gift Tags HERE
Note: You can use your favorite 2.5 inch punch for these tags.
I used this large flourish square punch

To make this adorable mini pom I used The Twinery’s Baker’s Twine in Peapod
and this tutorial from Lottie Loves

Have Fun!

Nov

Great Grandma’s Sour Cream Apple Pie

CATEGORIES: Food, Thanksgiving, entertaining, free printables, recipes

This post from a guest blog post last November was so tasty I had to bring it back again this year. I will be in the kitchen making this family favorite on Thursday and I hope you will too! Enjoy the replay.

Hello everyone! I’m Stacy, owner and imagination behind InkSpot Workshop . I was thrilled to be asked by The Savvy Mom’s Guide to be a guest blogger today and share a super special family recipe with you, choc-full of “how to” photos and even download and print your very own pretty recipe cards. If your tummy is rumbling by the end of this post…..I’ve done my job well!

Today I am showing you how to make a “not so typical” apple pie and this tradition was handed down to me by my “not so typical” great grandmother Emma Geiger LaGorin. I was lucky enough to have my great grandmother alive and well until I was around 20 years old. I called her “great grandma on the farm” because…well… she lived on a farm of course! She was a first generation American, born of German immigrants who migrated to a very heavily German populated, rural area of Ohio, called Defiance (in the area of New Bavaria, Ohio). She grew up speaking German until WWII then everyone ceased speaking the language during those times. Grandma on the farm then married my great grandfather Albert, who was a first generation American, born of Swedish parents. Together they had 4 children (including my grandfather) and raised them all on the family farm. Without reservation I can tell you this bunch was seriously fed well.

By the time I came around there were no more animals on the farm, only crops. My grandfather would take me on the long drive from Cleveland to Defiance, a couple times a year and what educational car rides those were, even included smoking cigars together on a few occasions. I will forever treasure those rides, especially when I came to realize years later there was something called the Ohio Turnpike, which grandpa never took and cut the drive time in half! I grew up believing Ohio was huge and full of dirt roads only!

Each visit to grandma on the farm’s house would begin with a huge dinner, farmer’s wife style. When we arrived and walked through the back door, instantly you would be welcomed by the smell of her fresh baked Sour Cream Apple Pie cooling in the pantry. I would rush through dinner just to get to this sweet, tangy, creamy pie! Till this day when I bake this pie I’m transported to grandma on the farm’s house.

It wouldn’t be until many years later that I would develop an interest in cooking, even obtain a culinary degree. Although I’m not really a baker, this is one pie I can’t seem to tire of. Sure wish I would have spent more years in the kitchen with grandma, but I think she tried to get all the baking out of the way before we arrived so we could spend 100% of our time visiting:) Which is exactly how we spent our visits. My grandfather told me she would make this pie with peaches in the Summer! Wow. As a young adult I started making this pie for Thanksgiving and now this holiday is not complete without great grandma’s Sour Cream Apple Pie.

Thanks for letting me go down memory lane with you today and share a recipe which is very near and dear to my heart. I hope this posting sparks a new tradition in your family for years to enjoy!

Gather All Ingredients aka, Mise en place.
A little culinary lingo for you:)

fill your favorite pie pan, lined with your favorite crust, with enough cored, peeled and sliced apples (I prefer Granny Smith’s) I’ve included a recipe for my favorite pie crust
click here to download
beat together eggs, sugar, salt, lemon juice then sour cream

Pour sour cream mixture over apples and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Then combine crumble topping, sprinkle over pie and bake at 350 degrees for another 35 minutes or until bubbly and yummy.

your house should be smelling amazing by now

Mmmmmm!

Hungry? Click here to download your pretty recipe cards and share with your friends and family.

These cards will match your TOM Free Printable Thanksgiving Set also from InkSpot Workshop by clicking here

Enjoy,

Nov

Back By Popular Demand – TOM Free Printable Thanksgiving Set

CATEGORIES: Food, Thanksgiving, craft projects, entertaining, free printables, recipes

Remember TOM from this exact day last year?
We’re bringing him back to help brighten up your Thanksgiving
(Original Post November 9, 2010)

Each day I am more and more thankful that I get to do what I absolutely L♥VE! I am grateful for all the opportunities to meet the most wonderful customers, chat and be inspired online by the most amazing women also doing what they enjoy and my gratitude list goes on…
During this season of “thanks”
I thought it fitting to design
a FREE Printable Thanksgiving Collection, just for you!

This is InkSpot Workshop’s little way of saying
Thank You
for all of your constant support!hope you LOVE it:)

The TOM Collection is designed in 4 coordinating
festive FALL patterns

Apples, Stripes, Plaids and Leaves
meant to mix and match!

Click On Each Item You Would Like To Download…

Thanksgiving Menus
Table Tents
Cutlery Wraps + Napkin Rings
Hanging Favor Tags Part 1
Hanging Favor Tags Part 2
Recipe Cards
Cupcake Toppers
BONUS! Blessings Mix and Tags

I got a little hungry during the shoot:)
Mini Pumpkin Tartlet recipe courtesy of
One Charming Party
click here for instructions

Interested in purchasing a personalized set
printed and customized just for you?
Let me do the work!
Simply click here for your own set

My favorite are these layered hang tags! Perfect for sending your guests home with
a little treat or leftovers!

Recipe Cards are the perfect way to share your family’s favorites!

BONUS!!!!

Last week my son brought home a little bag of Blessings Mix from school. I had never heard of this before and thought it was such a cute idea and immediately knew I wanted to share it with all of you!

This is the perfect craft for your Thanksgiving kid’s party at school or even a simple favor to make for your own gathering.

The Tom Blessings Mix Set includes:

- Recipe Cards in 4 Coordinating Patterns –
- Hanging TOM Tag (bottom layer) with Mix History –
- Hanging TOM Tag (top layer) with your choice of patterns and words- click HERE to download and print for FREE!

Enjoy and be sure to tell all your friends!
Also, for more fun and exclusive offers
be sure to subscribe to my newsletter by clicking here
plus
follow me on Facebook by clicking here
or
Twitter by clicking here

Oct

Fall Freebie! Scarecrow Garden Marker Tutorial and Free Printable

CATEGORIES: craft projects, free printables, gardening, hand crafted

Fall is in the air and along with Fall comes the arrival of our favorite root veggies. As you all know my family and I planted our first ever garden back at the end of July. I’ve been chronicling the garden’s progress over the past few months, so amazed at how quickly our little seeds sprouted. Although there haven’t been any updates in the past several weeks, thanks to cabbage worms, we are about to pluck some baby bok choi this weekend. Stir fry anyone?

The cabbage worms have made my green leafy’s look more like Swiss cheese, not so great for photographing. Perhaps I should rethink this whole “organic” thing and spray the heck out of some super effective (and deadly) pesticide? Also I made a BIG rookie mistake (nobody told me this) and by planting both beets and turnips so early here in the South, our seeds took in all that hot Indian Summer sun and sprouted the greet tops way too quickly. This left me with 3 foot tall beets and turnips, but sadly nothing at the root. Imagine my surprise when I picked one? This also left our little plants weak and susceptible to the darn buggers.

But that’s ok! This is a learning process and it’s still not too late to get some more seeds into the bed and still have some form of a Fall crop. We’ll just be that much more educated next year and hopefully better prepared for our future Spring garden.

In the meantime, I’ve been promising you this Scarecrow Garden Marker tutorial. My garden looked great sprouting these little guys for a whole 24 hours. What happened you ask? Well…. Winston (family dog) had some fun. We called it the Scarecrow Massacre of 2011. Glad I snapped the pics when I did. I hope you enjoy this and even find some new uses for garden markers if you don’t intend to spring out your green thumb anytime soon.

Materials Needed
Printer
Card Stock
Laminating Machine or Laminating Sheets (any office supply store)
Bone Folder or dulled pointed object
Scissors
Wooden Popsicle Sticks or Garden Marker Stakes
Glue

Print your own set of Scarecrow Garden Markers. Use card stock.
I left a few blank so you can draw or write in your own veggies or fruit.

Cut leaving a small 1/4-1/2 inch border

Laminate the little scarecrows to protect them from the outdoor elements.
Warning! this does not protect against the family dog:)
I don’t have a laminating machine and used laminating sheets.
The machine will yield best results as they seal the edges better.

Use a bone folder or sharp edge to press down and “seal” around the scarecrow

Trim leaving a 1/4 – 1/2 inch border

Apply glue to garden marker stick and place scarecrow onto top portion of stick.
The stick should reach 1/2 way up the scarecrow’s back for stability.

HAVE FUN!

Looking to have even more fun with vegetables? Checkout our new 2012 Calendars featuring Modern Vegetable designs.

Oct

Need a little shove? Free Inspirational Printable

CATEGORIES: Behind The Scenes, free printables

Inspirational FREEBIE! Click here to download your own 5 x 7 print

Happy Anniversary to me! It was one year ago I received my membership to the “pink slippers club” remember this post?

Here I sit sipping my Skinny Girl Margarita (yes I know it’s only Monday) and reflecting on what a wild ride this past year has been and honestly…. I always knew working for myself 100% of the time would be good, but I never knew it would be this GREAT! OK so I don’t have the same salary, company car or expense account but in the end… who cares? I’ll take my life today vs a year ago anytime.

Last week I had the displeasure of speaking to many of my fellow co-workers at my old job (including my old boss) who exactly one year later than me are now also members of the pink slippers club. I sincerely feel sorry for the majority these friends of mine because they feel a sense of entrapment and despair, not knowing what their next career move will be. I completely understand not everyone is creative or has an entreprenurual spirit. Let’s all say a little prayer for these people out there whom we all know and hope they find the way to their passion which ultimately = FREEDOM!

What’s the best part of working for InkSpot Workshop 100% of my time? (sorry for my grammatical errors, the Skinny Girl is kicking in) Well probably too many to list like the simple fact I still can’t wait to wake up at 5 am each day (even on the weekends) to do what it is that I do! OK for real now… the best part is having my brain free from my old job clutter to focus on new ideas and ways to grow the InkSpot Workshop product line. It’s amazing what your brain can unleash when you declutter, just a bit:)

As many of you read this I understand you are in the same shoes I was 2 years ago or even perhaps also looking at a corporate downsizing. If I can speak for everyone out there who is now doing what it is they truly LOVE…. simply put… Do Not Be Afraid. You can do it, just look around at all the people who already are. I really do mean it when I say SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED A SHOVE TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE.

Best wishes to you and I would really love to hear your own story, feel free to post here.