Pumpkin Pop Tarts ~ Free Tutorial

A big thanks to my good friend, Autumn Rae, who sent me a link to these adorably delicious Pumpkin Pop tarts over at The Family Kitchen!!

You see Autumn is one of my most talented pals who is most famous for her Maple Bacon Cupcakes. And let me tell you her fame is well deserved. Those cupcakes are sinfully delicious. If your in the Ann Arbor area you should give them a try;)

But in the meantime, you can make my awesome version of these cute little pumpkin pop tarts. Thanks for the inspiration Autumn!!

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So after recovering from laying on the couch all weekend sick, I was ready to make something seasonal and warm to make up for our missed cider mill trip. You've got to admit, having the flu stinks! And the first thing that came to mind was these pop tarts. I didn't have any pumpkin on hand so I decided to wing it.  And here's what I came up with:

I put them together while my two year old was taking her nap. They were super easy and best of all, I used what I had on hand and it worked!!

You will need:

one egg white

small amount of flour

refrigerated pie crusts (you could make your own too!)

assorted fillings (I used caramel ice cream topping, lemon curd,  and preserves)

Orange sugar

cookie sheet

pumpkin cookie cutters

rolling pin

pastry brush

Preheat you oven to 400 degrees.

Unroll pie crust onto a floured surface. Cut out your pumpkin shapes.

*These would be cute for a birthday breakfast too. Try cutting them into cupcake shapes.*

 Next cut out the face.

I used an exacto knife that I use for cutting fondant. A parring knife would do the trick. I also tried out some of my small gum paste cutters. I like the way the teardrop cutter gave the pumpkin personality!

Each pop tart will need an uncut bottom and a cut face top. I got 6 pop tarts out of one pie crust, the box made 12!

Then I filled each pumpkin with a small amount of filling spread from the center out.

Next, I topped the filled bottom layer with a face topper. With a fork I pressed along each edge of the pumpkin to seal the tart closed.

Finally, using my pastry brush, I brushed the top of each pumpkin with egg white and then sprinkled the top with orange sugar. You could skip this step if you like.

Don't have any orange sugar? Don't fear! Just place some granulated sugar in a zip lock baggy with a couple of drops of orange (or yellow and red:) food coloring and mix until colored!

Easy Peasy!

Bake for 8-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cool on a rack and enjoy!

Happy Baking!!

My Newest Paper Bag Album + Layouts

By now, everyone knows that I am crazy about sewing, but what you may not know is that I have an equally sick obsession with scrapbooking.  I especially love mini albums.  My favorite by far are paper bag albums.  I have about 200 of these things made up and sitting in tupperware at my house.  Lisa & I just love getting together and making them.  I was try to stockpile them for some Christmas craft shows, but we really haven't even booked any shows for this fall.  I put a few in our Etsy Shop but for the most part they are just sitting around here.  Sometime I like to make one that it over the top fabulous.  I'll probably start giving a new mini album layout every Sunday on our blog, just because I love them so much.  These are really awesome and affordable Christmas gifts, especially for people you work with.  I even put one in the mailbox every Christmas for Gretchen - our mail carrier. 

I came up with this Sweet 16 Album because I wanted to get out my Cricut and actually get some use out of it and because I had this wonderful stack of paper I have been dying to use. 

The basics of making a paper bag album are pretty simple, you sew a couple of bag together.  I like to make 8 page albums (sewing 2 bags together), but some people make the albums huge. I've seen them with 30+ pages.  You can only sew 3-4 bags together without breaking your sewing machine needle.  IF you want to go bigger than that, you should use rings or just tie it together with ribbon.  I've said it before, you need to buy a 2 hole punch.  It will punch through anything. 

Then, you can stitch down the papers or stick them down with tape.  I've done it both ways.  Tape is easier.  For the cover I used my Cricut to cut out the title with a shadow and the mats.  It's the cartridge that comes with the machine.  Under the mat, cover paper, I put a huge piece and tulle and then tied it in a bow with a charm.        

For the next layout, I added more mats from the cricut and some of the scrollwork from the Home Decor cartridge.  I also taped down a little remnant of beaded trim I had in the stash.

For decoration I've got some primas with buttons in the center.  For the tag, I folded a foil flower in half, stapled it down, and then added a sticky gem.  I inked the tag with pink. 

This album is 6x6.  These are the huge bags you get at CVS or Meijer.  The dollar store only has the smaller bags that make a 4.5x5 album (which I normally make).  For this layout, I cut a circle page in 4 pieces and used 2 to make pockets.  I used some felt sticker details, metal words, and more primas.  Inside I have pull out pages for more photos.  I stapled folded primas onto them as tabs and then I used some glitter decals.  Lisa made some donations for Colorblok for a charity event and they gave us a ton of freebies.  They are right down the street from us and I love to buy from them. 

On this page I did a triple mat for each of the photo layouts.  The tags are embellished with more primas and scrollwork from the Home Dec cartridge.  I tied a big bow to hold the tags in. 

On the back, I have a bunch of layered flowers.  I jazzed them up by adding some flower shapes I made out of tulle.  These flowers are really expensive, so I try to add tulle when layering to make them go further. 

Here, you can see my pull out pages that were tucked into the pockets on the bags. 

Happy Crafting!