Chocolate Covered Strawberry "Carrots"

One last quick post before Easter - if you haven't decided on dessert or just want a fun little thing to make and/or take check out these fun chocolate covered strawberries. This is very easy and fast to do. I am making chocolate frosted, and green "grass" frosted cupcakes, and will plant one of these "carrots" on top. Gonna be cute :)

You just melt orange chocolate disks (they come in a bag, I find them at the craft store and sometimes the grocery store) and holding the green top part of the clean dry strawberry, dunk it in. Shake off the excess (gently, you want to keep the green stem if possible) and lay on a piece of parchment or waxed paper until they dry. Repeat for as many berry "carrots" as you want. To finish, put the remaining melted chocolate in a plastic baggie, snip a small corner off, and drizzle it over.

one year ago: Brooke makes a candleholder

Shaving Cream Dyed Easter Eggs

Saw this idea in an email from BH&G and I immediately made them - actually I knew I needed to make them right when I saw the idea because I had just thrown out 2 hard boiled eggs that were possibly too old to eat (and I was too lazy to carry them to the garbage disposal...the trash is closer to the fridge!) - and if this trick didn't work I didn't want to waste good eggs! Well, it works. And they are beautiful. And this is simple. And it's a good kid craft (with some rubber gloves!). And that's a lot of sentences that start with "and". Here's how to make them:

Supplies:

• cooled hard boiled eggs
• vinegar
• shaving cream 
• liquid food coloring
• skewer
• pan to put the shaving cream in, and a baking sheet (or plate) for drying. 
• rubber gloves
• paper towel to dry them on

Directions:

-Soak the cooled hard boiled eggs in vinegar for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

-Spray shaving cream about 1 inch thick into a pan. I used a tin pie plate, if you're doing quite a few eggs I'd use a sheet pan.

-Using whatever colors you want (I did blue and green) squeeze drops of food coloring over the shaving cream. Run the skewer back and forth thru the shaving cream to gently blend the colors together like a mosaic.

-Wearing gloves, put an egg into the colored shaving cream and roll it around until it's coated. Don't wipe the excess shaving cream off, just set the egg on a paper towel lined baking sheet or a plate for at least 20 minutes until they are dry.

-Put the egg into a cup of water to remove the excess shaving cream, then set them down on paper towel until completely air dried - don't wipe them or the color might come off.

I found the instructions online at Better Homes and Gardens.

PS: the eggs aren't edible after you do this whole vinegar/shaving cream treatment...if you want them to be edible they have a whipped cream version - but I would SO rather waste eggs with the shaving cream method than waste homemade whipped cream (which is one of my all time most favorite things!)... check out the whipped cream directions on the bhg.com site if you are interested....

two years ago: blueberry crumb cake/muffins

Butternut Bunny

Oh. My. Cuteness. Check out this bunny made from a butternut squash - seriously, this was very easy and quick...and it's too dang cute. I'm thinking I'll make a couple more and come up with an adorable dining room centerpiece for Easter!

Check back next week, I have a cool (unpainted!) butternut squash recipe to share with you.

Psst: notice the pretty colored eggs? I made those today too and will show you how tomorrow!

Supplies:

• butternut squash (I tried to find one that would stand up pretty straight, and I wanted one that was a little fatter around - some are too tall and skinny)
• craft paint and brushes
• big black sharpie (or black paint and a small brush)
• cotton ball
• white paper
• white glue

Directions:

Paint the entire squash with whatever main color you want your bunny, I did yellow. Also paint the white paper with the main color (you'll cut the ears out of the painted paper). 

Once it's dry, paint on 2 white patches for its belly and face. Add feet using a color that is a bit darker than the base color. Let it dry.

Cut 2 long pieces of paper for the ears, rounded on one end and slightly tapered on the other end. Fold little tabs along the squared end and glue the tabs to the top of the squash by the stem.

Glue the cotton ball on the back for the tail.

When the white patch is dry, draw on a face with the sharpie (or paint it on). 

I found the instructions for this here. It was originally meant for a Thanksgiving table but it's way more Easter-y to me!

Spring Flower Hanging Wreath

I'm loving this upside down wreath I made to hang from our chandelier - yes, it's a lot going on since the chandelier is solid shells... but I like it. I made it out of dollar store finds so it only cost 7 bucks, you could spend less by not buying as many flowers and/or skipping the garland, and you could make a simple wire ring instead of using a pre-made wreath form.

For my base I saw a plastic and tinsel bunny hanging thing, I only wanted the bigger circle so I just snipped off the top and used the body. Using little wire cutters, I snipped off the flowers and stems from the bouquet base and bent the ends to create little hooks. Before attaching the flowers I needed to hang the thing up so I could build the wreath - using white twine I ran it around the outside edges 4 times to make a hanger, then hung it from a cabinet knob so I could add the flowers. Then working from underneath, push the little hooked ends up thru the tinsel and hook on one of the plastic rings that form the wreath. Fit as many as you want - I made some short, some long, and tried to stagger the different colors thruout the wreath. Once you have it how you want, attach to the bottom of your chandelier using more twine. To finish it I just wrapped a piece of 4' garland around the top part.

Supplies:

• wreath base (if it isn't covered already you'll want to wrap it with something - rope, yarn, garland, tinsel, etc.)
• 5 flower bouquets (each bouquet had 6 flowers in it, except for one of them that I didn't check before buying it and it was missing a flower!)
• little wire snippers or strong scissors to cut the flowers off the bouquet.
• twine to hang the wreath.
• garland to finish (not really necessary but I had it so I used it). 

My dining room table is covered with junk so I didn't take a picture from a distance - hope you can tell how pretty this turned out without a photo from farther away!

one year ago: how to make mod podge
two years ago: make a bracelet out of a zipper

Easter Nest Cake

Another Easter cake idea - so far I've made a traditional bunny cake made from 2 round layers cut into shapes, a bunny butt (that you also cut into shapes to form), yesterday was peep cupcakes, and now this cute easy idea for a nest. I made and frosted a coconut 2 layer cake (frost the entire white cake with white buttercream and then press shredded coconut into the sides and along the top edge), the lay candy grass on the top so it looks like a nest, add malted robins eggs and a cute chocolate bunny (or a chick). 

one year ago: K-cup birds

Peep Cupcakes

This is from 3/26/16 but they are so cute I wanted to repost - just in time for Easter!

Peep cupcakes - super easy and SO cute. Make whatever flavor cupcakes you want, mine are lemon.  I frosted them with marshmallow buttercream, topped each one with a bunny Peep and a few shreds of candy "grass" (comes in a bag, should be able to find now at the grocery or craft store).

How can you not smile looking at these little cuties?

To make marshmallow buttercream frosting I just add one small jar of marshmallow fluff to my normal buttercream recipe which is:

1 stick of softened butter (if using unsalted butter add a pinch of salt to the frosting)
3 - 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
enough milk to give the consistency I want, maybe 2-3 tablespoons. I don't measure, just pour in a tiny bit at a time.

Beat the butter until smooth, add remaining ingredients with enough milk to make firm spreadable frosting. Then blend in the jar of fluff. So good!

Glazed Baked Ham

Patty told me this is how she always makes ham so I am going to make it next Sunday for Easter - don't have a picture obviously but I'm pretty sure it's going to look like a normal glazed ham so just use your imagination ;).

Mary's pineapple stuffing will be great with the ham I'm sure, and I'm thinking cheesy potatoes, roasted carrots, and green beans for the sides.

Patty's recipe:

Put a spiral cut ham in a roasting pan and pour 1 to 1 1/2 cans of ginger ale over top. Pat brown sugar all over the top, cover, and bake at 325' until heated thru (follow the directions on the ham, if included; usually 20 minutes per pound).

Mary's Pineapple Stuffing:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
5 slices white bread, cubed

Preheat oven to 350'. Grease a 9 inch baking pan with butter. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the pineapple and bread cubes. Bake for one hour. Let sit a few minutes to firm up before serving. Makes 5 servings.

NOTE: I usually double this and put it in a 13x9 baking dish.

click here to see how to make this carrot vase

Organizing...Craft Paper

I have lots of cardstock and patterned paper, and I like to keep scraps of paper for little projects - until now I've had it all in hanging folders in my garage craft area which worked ok but I'm worried about it getting dirty and it's kind of a pain when I want to find a scrap or the right color paper, it wasn't organized other than being jammed into some folders. So I took an idea from Ronda (on a much smaller scale, she has a whole wall of paper in individual cubbies!) and re-organized my paper crafting.

I separated the paper and scraps by color. Working with one color scheme, put the solid scraps in a page protector envelope (a large ziplock would also work) and the pattern scraps into another page protector - then put them with the coordinating whole sheets of cardstock in a plastic stacked drawer thing I had laying around (you can get these at lots of places - Target, Walmart, craft stores) and labeled the drawers.  For instance: I pulled together all shades of green cardstock, green scraps, and predominately green patterned paper scraps; then put the solid green scraps in one page protector and the patterned green scraps in another - then put both page protectors and the green cardstock into one drawer. Continue with the other colors. I don't have so much of any color to fill a whole drawer so I combined colors in each drawer - white to brown in one, blue and green in one, red/yellow/orange/pink in another, and so on.

I did keep my 12x12 paper in the hanging folder because it doesn't fit in the drawers, but it's organized now so I can easily see what's there....and maybe if I'd keep the garage cleaner the paper wouldn't get dusty! Yeah that's probably not gonna happen...;)

I spent the whole day organizing the rest of my craft area - my area isn't all that big but it was starting to be hard to find things all jammed together (and it was spilling out all over the work surface which drives me crazy!). Now I have "zones" - paper crafting is all in one cabinet (I removed the door from one of the upper cabinets so the plastic drawers would fit),  jewelry making is all together on the open shelf, etc.

My craft area in the garage is also my exercise area, the dark gray floor is a foamy mat and underneath it is an area I made by sticking linoleum tiles down so I have a tap-dancing surface. This little corner of the garage is certainly a multi-functioning space!

one year ago: Brooke's diy bubble maker

two years ago: super cute deviled egg chicks

Perler Bead Easter Egg

Not having my niece around to do kid crafts with is a bummer - I love kid crafting but doing it by myself and not having her as my excuse to make silly kid things is making me feel a little lame! Oh well, this is a fun one and I'm owning it, not hiding behind the kid hahahaha. I love perler beads and have a giant tub of them - they are little plastic beads that you put on a form in different patterns and shapes, then melt them using an iron. Have you ever played with them? Great kid craft (other than the melting part, you'll want a grown up doing that). Brooke and I have done these for years, my favorite was the time we made gross ones - she did Hello Kitty with a runny nose and I did a scottie dog peeing. Just being silly :)

Anyway - today it's Easter eggs. I only made one but if you make a few of them and string together it would make a cute garland. Use whatever colors and pattern you like. Easy. One tip that we do is to place the beads on the form using tweezers, the beads are little and it isn't always easy to put them in place with your fingers...and another thing is to be super careful when carrying the form to the iron, I can't tell you how many times we've knocked the beads off! I did it with this Easter egg and I WAS being careful, ugh - then you have to put them all back on again.

I left one bead out to make a hole in the top center for hanging.
After placing the beads in the pattern and shape you want, cover with a piece of paper that
comes with the beads and carefully iron the beads so they melt and stay together.

my silly peeing Scottie "artwork" ;)

two years ago: Easter side dishes - pineapple stuffing, creamed potatoes and peas, roasted carrots.

Kitchen Tip: How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

Oops I almost forgot to post something today - I've had a super busy day and then we went to the movies...it just now occurred to me that I almost missed a day (and it's been a long time since I've missed!). So here is a little quick tip that I just did last night and it worked really good. I love that spaghetti squash is sort of a pasta replacement, so healthy and tasty - it's just a little work to cook the thing. Normally I halve it, put it in either the oven or microwave, and cook until done. I recently saw another way to cook it and I thought I'd share.

Slice off the ends, then slice the squash in rings - I played with different thicknesses and it didn't seem to matter if they were one inch thick or more. Remove the seeds and set the rings on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in the oven at 400' until done, it took me a little over 30 minutes. Then using tongs to hold the rings over a bowl (cuz the squash is hot!) take a fork and remove the strands from the peel, trying to keep them long so they are spaghetti-like. That's it. Now use however you want - I just added a little spaghetti sauce, chopped leftover roasted chicken, topped with a few small spoonfuls of ricotta cheese and put it back in the oven until the whole thing was hot. Serve with parmesan.

one year ago: making a gallery wall

two years ago: fold a napkin into bunny ears. 

Coffee and Cookie Brownies

Dave had his ukulele group's 16th anniversary party* the other day and without much notice asked if I'd make something for him to take to the potluck. He didn't care what because he said people bring so much food that no one would even notice what he brings, it all blends together. Well I took that as a personal challenge of course and had to make something that would be delicious and noticeable. I saw this online at Better Homes and Gardens - simple ingredients, something different, and what's not to like about brownies and cookies all in one?

I cut them in little bite sized pieces and put each one in a small baking cup just to jazz them up a bit. When he got back from the party the first words out of his mouth were "well those were a bit hit - they were eaten so fast I didn't even get one, and I had lots of comments about how good they were". Yep, goal achieved ;)

This is just about the easiest dessert ever - you literally spread store-bought cookie dough in a pan.  and top it with brownie batter. No excuse people to not try this one, there are barely any ingredients!

Ingredients:

• 1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough (16 1/2 oz.)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 box of milk chocolate brownie mix
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup coffee liqueur or cooled strong coffee (I used Kailua) 
• 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Press sugar cookie dough into the bottom of a 13x9 baking pan; set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine eggs, brownie mix, oil, and liqueur or coffee until just combined. Spread batter over sugar cookie dough. Sprinkle with chocolate pieces.
3. Bake for 25 minutes (see note below) or until edges are set. Cool in pan on a wire rack. To serve, cut into bars.

Note: the original recipe calls to bake for 40 minutes. I set my timer for 30 minutes and they were overbaked by about 5 minutes. Check them at 25, you can always bake longer if needed. I followed the recipe exactly except I sprinkled a bit of flaky sea salt over the brownie mix before baking - that little taste of salt every now and then is SO good!

makes 24 brownies. 279 cal each.

I crumbled up the tube of cookie dough and then pressed it out in  the pan. 

top with brownie mix, chocolate pieces, and salt if you want.

Dave's an original member of the "Southbay Strummers" - he's been playing uke for over 16 years? I don't care how long he's been playing and how good he is, we still have "uke-free" zones in the house!! HA!

two years ago: Easter bunny cakes