Pirates and cookies... what was I thinking?!

Well, I finally finished everything I have been working on the past couple of days. I did consider posting all 3 projects at once but thought it would make the post too long, so first I am going to show you two projects which are kind of related (I will explain later) and i will post my other card separately.
Ok, the challenge over at Anya Ink this week was two different ribbons and any number of circles and staples. So first off I came up with this card, but I was just not completely happy with it. Sorry this pic is not great, I was having trouble getting i good shot again today, especially with this card. The light just did not want to cooperate :) I have used my Matey set from the greeting farm again, I just love these guys. I had initially wanted to leave the center panel blank but decided it made the card look like something was missing, so I used my Matey's map wheel from Stampin' Up and watermark ink so there was a faint design but you could still write a message in the card over the top, unfortunately this hardly came out in the photo, but you get the idea :) I have used a skull and crossbones stamp on the center bottom panel and embossed them in gold, you can kind of make these out.
Here are some close ups of Anya and Ian, the stars of the show!
So because I was not really happy with my first attempt at the challenge (but thought I may as well post it anyway) I had another go, this time I also used the sketch from Anyone For Anya? I got the idea for this project last week but unfortunately I cannot remember where I saw it, it is the dry ingredients for a batch of cookies, you just add the wet ingredients, egg, butter, vanilla, whatever the recipe calls for. This would be a great idea for a little gift around Christmas time, I know my mother is always trying to find small somethings at the last minute and this would be great, especially with gingerbread cookies, or biscotti with dried cranberries and pistachio's, very festive, I might be back with more of these when my Christmas stamps arrive, hehehe. I used Susie Surprise for this project, and this time I left her balloons on. The blue paper in the background has spots on, to keep with the circles theme, but by the time I was done they were almost all covered up! There are staples in the right hand corner and on the pink ribbon, I have used a circle mat under Susie and I have used pink and lace ribbons, phew! I think i covered everything.
Here is a shot of the back, not very interesting:
And here it is on the jar. I just love the idea of cookies in a jar, so clever!
This second project also plays along with:
A spoon full of sugar- kitchen/cooking
Crazy 4 challenges- it's all geometric
Thank you all for looking, I'm sorry it was such a long one :)