Garden Variety

Do any of you have a grandmother who is a gardener?

To say she has a green thumb would be an understatement along the lines of "Eh, Coke is all right," when we all know that Coke is practically the nectar of the gods. {I know that even though I'm not drinking it any more, but that's another story.}

My grandmother was like that.

But not me.
It's as if plants are allergic to ME.

They've probably heard the rumors from their plant friends that living with me is, well, let's face it... a death sentence.

But that's all right.

I'm not offended.

Because while I can appreciate the gardener, I know what is way better than gardening.

EATING.
So, I'll do with the garden what is meant to be done with it.

EAT IT.

And today's project is a prime example...



I'll give you fair warning... there might be one million a few photos in this post :)



Because come on...

doesn't it just look yummy?!

Mint chocolate cakes baked in parchment lined seedling cups.
And all cuted up with Papertrey's new Garden Variety stamp set.
Seriously.

This is the moment that I knew that this project was meant to be:

I found these cutie pie seedling pots while wandering the garden section at Home Depot and thought to myself, "Self, those would be perfect to wrap something up in for my Garden Variety project. And wouldn't it be *perfect* if the new fence die fit around the edges?"




And, in a papercrafting miracle... it totally DID.

Insert angels singing "Hallelujah" {right here}.

It's possible that I did the happy dance at that discovery.
{I wouldn't try to picture that if I was you... my dancing skills are about on par with my gardening skills.}

Before we get to the fence die let me show you how I made the cakes.

Despite my post yesterday about not being a fancy cookie maker, I've made more than my fair share of homemade cakes. These are not those.

And by that I mean I used a cake mix.
{Cut me some slack here... I was flying by the seat of my pants and had no idea if the whole baking-the-seedling-cups idea would work.}

I did add some mint extract, though, so props to me :)



Now, funny thing, but my google search on "baking fiber seedling cups in the oven" turned up nothing.  {What? You mean people don't want to bake in these all the time?} On the other hand, since the same search didn't turn up any articles that said "Whatever you do, DO NOT bake fiber seedling cups in the oven!" I felt pretty confident about moving forward with the bake-o-rama.

I did compromise between the two and lined the cups with a large square of parchment paper.  I put the center of the square down into the cup in such a way that the cake batter sits only in the parchment paper without touching any part o fthe cup. {Yes, I am that person who loves divided cafeteria plates and actually own several of them, thankyouverymuch.}

Now if I was the Pioneer Woman, I'd have a beautiful picture of me smooshing the parchment paper down into the cups, but since I am quite obviously not her, you'll just have to imagine that all on your own. {And just how does she get all those beautiful pictures of herself doing everything?! She must have 6 arms, 4 of which she hides behind her back.}

I filled the cups up like so. I was going for 2/3 full, but I think I got overexcited and went a bit above that. I was torn because I didn't want the cake to touch the fiber cuts, but I did want the cake to puff up so that it went up over the top of the pots.

The cakes came out pretty perfect so I would do it the same way again.



Now for the {miraculous} fence.

I went ahead and did all the die cutting and all the stamping for the fence sections all at once.  The woodgrain totally makes the fence come to life, doesn't it?

Because the pots have a slight angle, the top of the fence sections end up being a bit farther apart than the bottom of the sections so I only connected the top portions together. {That'll make sense in just a second, I swear.} I just used a small section of an extra cross piece to connect the two. {Hey, lookie... you can tell I'm using my oh-crap-I-made-a-mistake-scrap-pieces of kraft for this project. The front side's still good :)}

All that was needed to hold the fence section to the pot is a little mini glue dot in each corner.
Super fast; super easy.

Here we go round the mulberry bush seedling pot...



The smallest Limitless Label die fits several of the Garden Variety images perfectly. I cranked out a few then tied the twine around all of them and added the sign with a little foam tape.



Now. I may have used a cake mix but I have a thing about frosting.

For me... I go for either the store bought cake frosting that is nearly 100% sugar and gets all crunchy and yummy or homemade buttercream.

And that could not be sacrificed.

So, I mixed up some chocolate buttercream and went to it.

Just pipe it on to the top of the cakes, then dip the cakes into some crushed oreos to serve as the "dirt" in these little pots. {Brian purchased the oreos for this project and came home with Chocolate Oreos - the kind with the chocolate icing inside. Yeah... those are pretty darned good.  From what I hear, that is.}



The cookie crumbs really make this project look authentic, so don't skip that part :)

So... this is what your yummy dessert should look like so far...
 


Cute.
But could be cuter.



That's better :)
A little garden stake and a small stem of mint make a world of difference.



Or you could go with a large stem of mint.
Makes you like like an even better gardener.
You must have Miracle Grow on tap.

Now... from the little I know about gardens, I can tell that gardeners tend to be the organized, label-happy kind of people {and, oh, come on, if you're a gardener you know it's true}, so I determined that this project needed a little garden label stake.



The Limitless Labels dies came in handy. I just cut some larger rectangles, then stamped the grass image and sentiment on the lower half, and folded them over popsicle sticks {it's possible that these are the counting sticks we use for school; good thing school's almost out, right?}



And a little twine with a little sign finishes things off. 

The smallest Limitless Labels die fits several of the Garden Variety images... so cute.



Oh my heck, what a perfect sentiment to go along with these sweet little cakes...



And is it just me, or does the little garden spade and pick resemble a spoon and fork?  That was possibly my favorite discovery in the Garden Variety set :)  The double-ended banner die and rounded arch in the Sending You die set served me well on this one.



Sooo... thoughts?  I think these would be the sweetest little treats to have at a baby shower or birthday party!  All in all, the seedling cups were only $1.69 for 10 cups and baking in them was really no harder than making cupcakes... such an easy and affordable way to dress everything up, right?

And don't forget to check out all the Garden Variety projects the rest of the Papertrey Ink design team came up with...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

And, let me just say... I enjoyed each and every one of your comments yesterday!  You guys are hilarious :)



{Garden Variety Chocolate Mint Cake Cups}
Stamps - Garden Variety, Background Basics: WoodgrainCS - Kraft, Simply ChartreuseInk - Dark Chocolate, Fresh SnowDies - Limitless Labels, Sending You, Double-Ended BannerOther - Button Twine