Strawberry Lemonade Birthday

I created a Pinterest account shortly before my daughter's second birthday and, in collecting ideas for her party, I started to notice I was liking the same things: cupcakes, pink and strawberry lemonade. Her birthday was in August and somehow Strawberry Lemonade just fit. So that became the theme for her party.

I was all about going simple this year. The guest list pared down to family (which still amounted to quite a few people!) and the menu being dessert only. I bought a dozen pink and yellow balloons. My daughter is obsessed with balloons so I knew they would be a hit with her. I found some pink streamers in my party supplies. And luckily, I had leftover pink plates and napkins from her first birthday party.

Here she is eating her homemade mac 'n cheese birthday dinner before the guests arrived. (By the way: we kept the streamers and balloons around for several days after her party. She loved them!)



I found this recipe for lemonade cupcakes and they were so delicious! I turned them into pink lemonade cupcakes by using pink lemonade concentrate. Also, I finally learned how to decently decorate a cupcake as well. I used a 1M swirl tip and hot pink Americolor food coloring. Holy cow, food coloring really does make a difference. This brand is so much better than Wilton! (Sorry, Wilton.) I looked for a giant "2" candle and the store was out so I had to improvise. But I actually think the cupcake tree turned out better this way.



And what's a strawberry lemonade party without strawberry lemonade? This is Emeril's recipe via Everyday Living. It is easy and good! In fact, I nearly missed getting a picture of it at all: it was disappearing rather quickly.



Here's my daughter gearing up for the goods.



She went straight for the frosting. Love the pink mustache.

Golden Graham S'mores

It's not often that my husband brings a recipe home to try. He was absolutely raving about these so I made no delay in buying the ingredients. I joined a greater part of the "watching General Conference in my pajamas" community (who also spend their conference weekend baking) and made these Sunday morning.

Super easy and SO GOOD! They might just divert my obsession for Rice Krispy treats.

I had to give them away or I would have literally eaten the entire tray myself. See, I couldn't even wait to try them before I took a picture...



Here's the recipe:

~Ingredients~
10 oz miniature marshmallows
6 single serving Hershey bars (the normal size)
5 T butter
1 t vanilla
8 c Golden Graham cereal

~Directions~
Place chocolate bars in freezer, and chill well (I left mine overnight.) Once the bars are very chilled, mash them (I used the flat side of a meat-mallet) and then unwrap them. Place broken candy bars in a bowl and put back into freezer.

Butter a 9x13-in. baking pan. Melt 5 c of marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan (as in big enough to also hold the 8 c of cereal) over low heat. Stir occasionally.

Once the marshmallows have melted, remove pot from stove. Add in cereal and mix well. Add in your remaining 1 c of marshmallows and the chocolate bar pieces. Smash mixture into buttered baking pan and place pan in refrigerator. Cool completely before serving.




These have me imagining other cereal-marshmallow concoctions...

Cinnamon Toast

According to the Pioneer Woman, I have been making Cinnamon Toast incorrectly for the last 25 years of my life. No, seriously. Her recipe is AMAZING! (And in case you are wondering, I have always used Approach #3. And I'm feeling sort of guilty about it.)

So it was one of those evenings when my hubby was at the firestation and I didn't really feel like putting a lot of effort into dinner. However, I didn't really feel like reheating anything either.

This toast is the perfect accompaniment to one of my favorite dinner fallbacks: breakfast for dinner. Scramble some eggs and slice some fresh cantaloupe and you're good to go!



It's always a bonus when my daughter likes what we're having for dinner!

Christmas Advent Calendar

When I say I haven't done anything crafty for the last couple of months, that isn't entirely true.

I started this advent calender over 4 years ago. It has absolutely plagued me! It didn't seem that involved when I started, but attaching sequins isn't exactly the quickest process. I had some other sewing projects that I needed to start (and I don't like having more than one going at a time) so I spent as much free time as I could on it and I FINALLY GOT IT DONE!



While I'm kind of sick of looking at it for the time being, I actually do think it turned out pretty cute. I love the santa.



There is a pocket for each day leading up to Christmas and a little stuffed toy that goes in each pocket.



And then a large pocket at the bottom to keep all of the stuffed toys as they are removed. Pretty clever!



The kit can be found here.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Hey, looky there! I do still post on this blog!

Okay, so since I've done nothing crafty whatsoever since Mother's Day, I haven't really had anything to post about.

I did, however, make some delicious Peanut Butter Fudge.


I failed to get a picture before they were all gone, so the above image is from Jif.com. Actually, the recipe is courteous of Jif, too!

I like peanut butter, but I don't love it. These, however, were pretty good. I rarely buy name brand products when they publish recipes (as in Jif's) case, but I thought I would splurge and buy the real thing. I don't know if it made a difference, but I'd like to think it did! They took hardly any time to make. Try them yourself!

Word of advice: cut the squares into very small pieces! They are really rich!

Happy Mother's Day cards

I guess you could say I went out of my comfort zone on both of these cards.

If you scrapbook then you probably hear that it is best to use your own handwriting for journaling. And you probably hear But I hate my handwriting! Well, I really do hate my handwriting. But without any other options for the sentiment, I decided to handwrite on the tag for this one. The only thing I wish is that my white Souffle pen had been a little more opaque. I like how it turned out otherwise.



I usually also stay with more subdued tones for my cards but when I found this "Mom" paper (I believe from DCWV) I had to incorporate it somehow. This card is another candidate for a magical moment in card-crafting. It just sort of came together!



Happy Mother's Day!

Another Birthday Card

If there is such a thing as a magical moment in the card-making world, this card would fall into that category. I love how it turned out!



I can't quote resources because I literally made this entirely from my scraps (go me!) but I can tell you that, once again, the flower is my favorite (the bling in the center doesn't hurt.) I think it might be from Bazzill...