{Spotlight Project} Let's Talk Ice Cream with Shirley

Fancy a gelato? I found a piece of watercoloured mixed media paper, and it just reminded me of gelato, so that was my starting point of this project, using the Sweet Cravings stamp club set.

I had originally intended to do the cone with kraft card, but it looked fine as it was.

Hands up if you have one of these tools lurking at the back of your cupboard. It has three interchangeable cutting heads, and I knew it would come in useful one day! I wanted to cut a curve into the top scoop of my gelato to turn it into a 99, which is basically an ice cream with a stick of Cadbury Flake pushed in it.

I made the flake by scoring a piece of kraft card then running the Distress ink pad over it. Then I glued some seed bead sprinkles on.

Now, I've got to confess that I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to ice cream. I do like gelato, but I'm not a fan of soft-serve. I much prefer the ice cream that you have to scoop out of the container. Cornish ice cream is really tasty, but the best ice cream ever comes from Robinson's, a local independent ice cream seller in my home town.

The ice cream van used to drive around, ringing a hand bell out of the van window, then we'd all get some money off our mums and queue up at the van. Their ice cream is made with milk instead of cream, so it's light and smooth, almost like a milky sorbet, but so much better. We'd get a cornet (a single scoop of ice cream in a cone), a wafer (an ice cream sandwich between two wafer biscuits, which they made up while you waited - I used to love watching that) or a 99 (basically a cornet with a Cadbury Flake pushed in. Then came the dilemma - eat the flake first or the ice cream?). You could have your cornet dipped in chocolate sprinkles, or have raspberry sauce drizzled all over. Or both, if they were feeling generous.

Now that's what I call an ice cream! It still tastes the same after all these years, but they've abandoned the hand bell for tinny recorded music. That's progress for you. What's your favourite ice cream?

The sentiment on both cards is from the Happy Birthday 3x5 set.

If you're inspired to create your own version, don't forget to add it to the Spotlight Project Showcase. And if you're inspired to buy, don't forget to use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for 20% off all stamps, stencils and dies in the the store.