Showing posts with label Pinned it and Made it. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pinned it and Made it. Show all posts
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Halloween 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Pinned it and Made it: Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
In both my paper recipe book and my Pinterest boards, I have a plethora of cake recipes. I have one heck of a sweet tooth, but when it comes down to it, I think cake is really my favorite type of dessert so cake recipes always appeal to me. However, since I have the aforementioned killer sweet tooth, I can't make cake very often because I WILL EAT IT ALL. Seriously.
Therefore, I'm thrilled when an occasion pops up that actually gives me the excuse to pull out one of my many saved recipes and make a delicious cake. This occasion happened to be The Mister's birthday, so chocolate cake was the order of the day.
I've mentioned here before that although I love to cook and bake, I usually have to stick to boxed cake mixes because I live at high altitude and unless it's specifically written for such, normal cake recipes always yield disappointing results. In my recipe stash I found one for High Altitude Devil's Food Cake and had been patiently waiting for the chance to try it out. I made the cake and am sad to report that it did in fact fall a bit, which is what happens when I use normal cake recipes. It wasn't anything that couldn't be hidden by frosting however, so I decided to go ahead and use it.
Except--there was a slight disaster. Even though I buttered and floured the pans, both cakes stuck terribly and crumbled to pieces when I tried to get them out! I'm not sure if I left them to cool in the pans too long or what, but it was a catastrophe because we had friends coming over to help us celebrate in just a few hours! I ended up having to turn to Duncan Hines anyway for emergency assistance after all of that. I was able to salvage the scratch cake (which really tasted good, despite the lack of perfect rise) by making it into cake balls that we enjoyed later.
Even though the cake had some problems, there was nothing at all wrong with the frosting! I had Pinned this Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe a few weeks ago and knew it was just the perfect complement to the cake! The frosting was easy to make and the only suggestion I'd make is to make a double batch. I made two 9-inch layers with my cake mix, then cut each of those in half to make four layers total. I initially made just one batch of frosting but it was only enough to spread between the layers, so I had to whip up another in order to frost the outside of the cake. I sprinkled on a few mini chocolate chips just to make it pretty. :)
The cake was delicious and the frosting was wonderfully light and creamy with a great chocolate taste. It was easy to work with and I will definitely be making it again! Too bad the next family birthday isn't until March. I'm going to have to adopt someone with a birthday in October because I just don't think I can wait that long!
Therefore, I'm thrilled when an occasion pops up that actually gives me the excuse to pull out one of my many saved recipes and make a delicious cake. This occasion happened to be The Mister's birthday, so chocolate cake was the order of the day.
Except--there was a slight disaster. Even though I buttered and floured the pans, both cakes stuck terribly and crumbled to pieces when I tried to get them out! I'm not sure if I left them to cool in the pans too long or what, but it was a catastrophe because we had friends coming over to help us celebrate in just a few hours! I ended up having to turn to Duncan Hines anyway for emergency assistance after all of that. I was able to salvage the scratch cake (which really tasted good, despite the lack of perfect rise) by making it into cake balls that we enjoyed later.
Even though the cake had some problems, there was nothing at all wrong with the frosting! I had Pinned this Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe a few weeks ago and knew it was just the perfect complement to the cake! The frosting was easy to make and the only suggestion I'd make is to make a double batch. I made two 9-inch layers with my cake mix, then cut each of those in half to make four layers total. I initially made just one batch of frosting but it was only enough to spread between the layers, so I had to whip up another in order to frost the outside of the cake. I sprinkled on a few mini chocolate chips just to make it pretty. :)
The cake was delicious and the frosting was wonderfully light and creamy with a great chocolate taste. It was easy to work with and I will definitely be making it again! Too bad the next family birthday isn't until March. I'm going to have to adopt someone with a birthday in October because I just don't think I can wait that long!
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Pinned it and Made it: The Pinterest Party
Back in August we spent a few days visiting my parents in their beautiful new home and my mother told me to block off one particular night so we could celebrate my birthday (which had been about two weeks previous). I figured we'd have a family barbecue with my brothers but when we did that the night before the party, I was a bit confused, because what did that leave?
I should have known my mom would have something up her sleeve--she threw me a Pinterest Party
complete with a giant vinyl Pinterest logo
and a darling red-and-white polka-dotted pennant banner with matching red-and-white polka-dotted balloons! Oh my goodness, I laughed when she told me the theme! Everything at the party was something you'd see on Pinterest.
There were darling little embellished milk glass jars with stripey straws. These were both our drinks and our party favors.
A friend brought this incredible veggie relish tray that looked like flowers and even gave me the book so I can make my own. Not technically from Pinterest, but it will be just as soon as I pin my own photo!
We had a delicious and girly dinner of salad and pasta and homemade rolls and raspberry lemonade. The menfolk took the kids and decamped to a local arcade for the evening. For activities, we crafted and visited--two of my very most favorite ways to spend time!
We made these cute and simple washer necklaces and also darling embellished composition notebooks.
Dessert was a decadent ice cream sandwich cake. Yum!
And my aunt, a champion Pinner, brought me a straight-from-Pinterest gift of Cowboy Cookies in a Jar.
The party guests were a surprise too--in addition to other dear ladies that I love, my mom got all sneaky on Facebook and invited some of my dearest girlfriends--my very best friends from middle and high school. Girls that I've known since I was 11 years old! They all still live fairly close to where we grew up so they get to see each other but I moved 600 miles away, and our trips to Utah are always so rushed with trying to see family that I don't usually get to fit in seeing my friends too. It was such a delight to open the door and see them standing there!
My mom knows how much I love to throw parties and make sure that every detail is perfect, so to have somebody throw such a party for ME truly made me feel so special and loved! My only regret is that I forgot to take a photo of my dear friends and myself all together. :(
I absolutely adore this idea for a party and I think I may just have to throw one for my local friends later this autumn when things calm down. I brought home the pennant banner and the giant logo so I'm already on my way!
I should have known my mom would have something up her sleeve--she threw me a Pinterest Party
complete with a giant vinyl Pinterest logo
and a darling red-and-white polka-dotted pennant banner with matching red-and-white polka-dotted balloons! Oh my goodness, I laughed when she told me the theme! Everything at the party was something you'd see on Pinterest.
We had a delicious and girly dinner of salad and pasta and homemade rolls and raspberry lemonade. The menfolk took the kids and decamped to a local arcade for the evening. For activities, we crafted and visited--two of my very most favorite ways to spend time!
The party guests were a surprise too--in addition to other dear ladies that I love, my mom got all sneaky on Facebook and invited some of my dearest girlfriends--my very best friends from middle and high school. Girls that I've known since I was 11 years old! They all still live fairly close to where we grew up so they get to see each other but I moved 600 miles away, and our trips to Utah are always so rushed with trying to see family that I don't usually get to fit in seeing my friends too. It was such a delight to open the door and see them standing there!
My mom knows how much I love to throw parties and make sure that every detail is perfect, so to have somebody throw such a party for ME truly made me feel so special and loved! My only regret is that I forgot to take a photo of my dear friends and myself all together. :(
I absolutely adore this idea for a party and I think I may just have to throw one for my local friends later this autumn when things calm down. I brought home the pennant banner and the giant logo so I'm already on my way!
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Pinned it and Made it: London Olympic Opening Ceremonies party
**Don't forget that you have until Friday, August 3 at 8:00 in the morning to enter the drawing for my Birthday Giveaway! Details are on this post.**
I've mentioned before here that London is my all-time favorite city in the whole world! It has a special place in my heart so when we were talking about watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, I thought it might be fun to have a little British-themed viewing party. We invited a few friends but kept the guest list small this time because we wanted everyone to fit into the living room to watch the Ceremonies on the TV! My plan had been to let the children run around the backyard but the day ended up being very cool and rainy--uncharacteristic for Colorado in July, but a perfect backdrop for a London party!
For the food, I wanted so much to figure out a way to have fish and chips but I didn't want to fry my own and there isn't anywhere really close by where I could get take-away and still have it nice and crispy and hot for my guests. In the end, I went with what is just about the most popular food in London, albeit not the most strictly traditional--curry! I made a big pot of chicken curry and a dish of basmati rice. Fitting for me, since London was the first place I ever ate Indian food! For the kids and others who may not have been up to curry, I did a twist on the traditional meal of Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings and made simple roast beef sandwiches.
In addition, we had chips (french fries) with malt vinegar, crisps (both plain and salt/vinegar--couldn't rustle up any Prawn Cocktail flavor on such short notice!), berries in the colors of the Union Jack (inspired by this), and Jacob's Cream Crackers with a lovely sharp English cheddar. I tried to find some Wensleydale, but that was a bit too exotic for my grocery store (and hands up if you get the reference! :) And if I'd seen it sooner, I totally would have made this beautiful and appropriate Olympic Rings English Trifle!
For sweets, I wanted my favorite British cookie (ahem, biscuit) called HobNobs, but World Market was absolutely cleaned out. I went with Cadbury Digestives instead and they were delicious too! I rounded out the Cadbury offerings with Caramello bars and Cadbury Fingers in both dark and milk chocolates. I found a box of Kellogg's Team USA cereal (basically red, white and blue Froot Loops) and used it to make festive cereal bars a la Rice Krispies treats.
On Pinterest I found this cute idea for cupcakes with the Olympic Rings represented by M&Ms:
And I couldn't resist making up a plate of gold medals! Porter kept trying to put the tiny ribbon over his head to wear one and was perplexed that it wouldn't work.
To drink, we had Italian Sodas. Not British, but international in the spirit of the Olympics, right? And more importantly, fun to make and consume, especially when you use red and blue stripey straws!
To decorate I pulled out all of my London guidebooks and childrens' books, my big Keep Calm and Carry On poster (purchased at the Cabinet War Rooms museum shop, just down the way from the Horse Guards Parade where the beach volleyball is currently being held), my beloved Cath Kidston London postcard and Union Jack pincushion, a red phone box tin, and the Monet print of Westminster Bridge that I bought way back when I was there on Study Abroad in 1998. I also printed out some cute London 2012 posters and put them in my IKEA Tolsby frames.
The rain put a definite crimp in my plans for outdoor activities for the kids. I bought materials for the children to make ribbon wands using a mashup of various Pinned ribbon wand tutorials. I had planned to do those toward the beginning of the evening so they could run around the backyard doing rhythmic gymnastics, but the rain kept us all inside. We did end up making the wands toward the end of the evening, so all was not lost. I also had paper, crayons and stripey straws for the kids to make their own flags.
In all we had such a fun evening! I thought the Ceremonies themselves were a bit uneven with portions that were charming and portions that left us scratching our heads. I'll never pass up an opportunity for a fun party (or to make a Pinboard!), especially one feting my favorite place on Earth. :)
I've mentioned before here that London is my all-time favorite city in the whole world! It has a special place in my heart so when we were talking about watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, I thought it might be fun to have a little British-themed viewing party. We invited a few friends but kept the guest list small this time because we wanted everyone to fit into the living room to watch the Ceremonies on the TV! My plan had been to let the children run around the backyard but the day ended up being very cool and rainy--uncharacteristic for Colorado in July, but a perfect backdrop for a London party!
For sweets, I wanted my favorite British cookie (ahem, biscuit) called HobNobs, but World Market was absolutely cleaned out. I went with Cadbury Digestives instead and they were delicious too! I rounded out the Cadbury offerings with Caramello bars and Cadbury Fingers in both dark and milk chocolates. I found a box of Kellogg's Team USA cereal (basically red, white and blue Froot Loops) and used it to make festive cereal bars a la Rice Krispies treats.
On Pinterest I found this cute idea for cupcakes with the Olympic Rings represented by M&Ms:
To decorate I pulled out all of my London guidebooks and childrens' books, my big Keep Calm and Carry On poster (purchased at the Cabinet War Rooms museum shop, just down the way from the Horse Guards Parade where the beach volleyball is currently being held), my beloved Cath Kidston London postcard and Union Jack pincushion, a red phone box tin, and the Monet print of Westminster Bridge that I bought way back when I was there on Study Abroad in 1998. I also printed out some cute London 2012 posters and put them in my IKEA Tolsby frames.
The rain put a definite crimp in my plans for outdoor activities for the kids. I bought materials for the children to make ribbon wands using a mashup of various Pinned ribbon wand tutorials. I had planned to do those toward the beginning of the evening so they could run around the backyard doing rhythmic gymnastics, but the rain kept us all inside. We did end up making the wands toward the end of the evening, so all was not lost. I also had paper, crayons and stripey straws for the kids to make their own flags.
In all we had such a fun evening! I thought the Ceremonies themselves were a bit uneven with portions that were charming and portions that left us scratching our heads. I'll never pass up an opportunity for a fun party (or to make a Pinboard!), especially one feting my favorite place on Earth. :)
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
The Unicorns and Rainbows Birthday Party
I've been sitting on these photos for more than a month now, putting off posting about them because I knew the post would be a stinker to write with all of the links and photos--and I was right! But I need to get it done before her next birthday rolls around!
Last year, I suggested to Maren that it might be fun to have a Unicorns and Rainbows theme for her 7th birthday party. Full disclosure: I wanted to have a Unicorns and Rainbows birthday party, but that's not really as socially acceptable for a 34-year-old as it is for a 7-year-old. Lucky for me, I have the same taste as a 7-year-old girl, so she went for the idea right away! I've been collecting ideas on my Unicorns and Rainbows party Pinboard for months and I was able to use several of them to make her party really fantastic!
You may remember the invitation we made using rainbow-striped paper from Michael's and a Cricut cartridge. The unicorn even had a glittery mane and tail! We asked the guests to come dressed in their favorite color of the rainbow.
For party activities, we started out making our own edible Unicorn horns, inspired by this pin. I used sugar cones and dipped them into melted white almond bark while the girls were waiting.
We put each dipped cone on a paper plate with the girl's name on it and then they got to decorate their horn. I raided my baking supplies and set out bowls of anything that looked girly or magical. My favorite was the sparkly gold sugar.
The pink sugar pearls were really fun too! One of the reasons I like
almond bark much better than Wilton candy melts is that almond bark
hardens very quickly. While the girls were outside doing the next
activity, my mom put each unicorn horn into a cellophane bag decorated with a
name tag and a piece of rainbow striped ribbon.
One thing I repeated from the cupcake party we had a few years ago--we had the girls do their sprinkling over a cheap plastic tablecloth. When they were done, I just gathered up the cloth and tossed it, spilled sprinkles and all.
We sent them out into the front yard for the next activity so that we could get the kitchen cleaned up and the unicorn horns packaged up. Maren saw this unicorn pinata at the party store months ago and it was the thing she was most excited about. She kept saying how cool it was to have her "first birthday party with a pinata."
In my craft stash I even found little paper sacks in all colors of the rainbow for the girls to collect their candy.
After the pinata, we went back into the kitchen for our next project. I purchased these rainbow craft kits from Oriental Trading Company. When we were ordering, Maren actually told me she wanted these rainbow beaded bracelet kits but I screwed up and bought the hanging rainbows instead. They weren't my favorite, but the girls seemed to enjoy making them.
After the craft, we sent the girls outside on the back deck to eat lunch. For lunch we had Unicorn Calzones (inspired by this pin),
rainbow fruit kabobs (inspired by this pin)
and rainbow Goldfish crackers. The Unicorn Calzones were really very good and they ate up every single one! I ordered unicorn and rainbow plates and napkins from Oriental Trading Company as well.
When the girls were done eating, they came inside for cake. I'd been dying to try out the infamous rainbow cake that is all over Pinterest and this finally gave me an excuse! I made mine from two white cake mixes, each divided into thirds. The cake was still tall but not unmanageable. I made the cake layers the day before the party and wrapped them in plastic. I can't even remember how many batches of homemade white buttercream frosting it took--maybe 4?
The morning of the party I decided that the cake looked too plain and sent The Mister out to buy Skittles. Unfortunately the store didn't have the original rainbow color package, but I did the best with what they had and I think it looks fine. The skinny rainbow candles came from the party store and the glittery green 7 came from Target. The girls really did gasp when I cut open the cake and they saw all of the colors! It was quite the showstopper.
For goodie bags I bought plain white paper sacks at Michael's and decorated the tops with a rainbow punched from scrapbook paper. The goodie bags had twisty rainbow suckers, erasers, unicorn necklaces, and unicorn stickers, plus the girls got to take home their unicorn horns, pinata loot and hanging rainbows.
For decorations I used mostly rainbow crepe paper. I had solid colors and then after I bought those (of course) I found rainbow striped paper at another store. It was too much work to take all of the solid paper back, so I just used them both.
I also bought a dozen balloons in rainbow colors and Maren even wore rainbow-striped Hanna Andersson leggings that I found at Costco. I am nothing if not devoted to a theme!
The whole party was so much fun and I'm so pleased with how it all turned out. Maren and all 11 of her little friends had a good time. My parents came for the weekend to help celebrate and I put them to work during the party--it took all four of us adults to keep things running smoothly, and I'm so thankful that I had their help! I don't think I could have done it without them.
Maren rarely gets invited to 'at home' birthday parties these days--the kids in her class usually have their parties at those bouncy places or at little girl salons. It's a lot of work to have 12 little girls in your home; to plan all of the activities and bake and decorate and then clean up all of the mess afterwards. To me it's totally worth it and I hope that someday Maren will have fond memories of the fun parties we planned together! And maybe next year I'll actually let her choose the theme. ;)
Last year, I suggested to Maren that it might be fun to have a Unicorns and Rainbows theme for her 7th birthday party. Full disclosure: I wanted to have a Unicorns and Rainbows birthday party, but that's not really as socially acceptable for a 34-year-old as it is for a 7-year-old. Lucky for me, I have the same taste as a 7-year-old girl, so she went for the idea right away! I've been collecting ideas on my Unicorns and Rainbows party Pinboard for months and I was able to use several of them to make her party really fantastic!
You may remember the invitation we made using rainbow-striped paper from Michael's and a Cricut cartridge. The unicorn even had a glittery mane and tail! We asked the guests to come dressed in their favorite color of the rainbow.
For party activities, we started out making our own edible Unicorn horns, inspired by this pin. I used sugar cones and dipped them into melted white almond bark while the girls were waiting.
rainbow fruit kabobs (inspired by this pin)
The morning of the party I decided that the cake looked too plain and sent The Mister out to buy Skittles. Unfortunately the store didn't have the original rainbow color package, but I did the best with what they had and I think it looks fine. The skinny rainbow candles came from the party store and the glittery green 7 came from Target. The girls really did gasp when I cut open the cake and they saw all of the colors! It was quite the showstopper.
For decorations I used mostly rainbow crepe paper. I had solid colors and then after I bought those (of course) I found rainbow striped paper at another store. It was too much work to take all of the solid paper back, so I just used them both.
The whole party was so much fun and I'm so pleased with how it all turned out. Maren and all 11 of her little friends had a good time. My parents came for the weekend to help celebrate and I put them to work during the party--it took all four of us adults to keep things running smoothly, and I'm so thankful that I had their help! I don't think I could have done it without them.
Maren rarely gets invited to 'at home' birthday parties these days--the kids in her class usually have their parties at those bouncy places or at little girl salons. It's a lot of work to have 12 little girls in your home; to plan all of the activities and bake and decorate and then clean up all of the mess afterwards. To me it's totally worth it and I hope that someday Maren will have fond memories of the fun parties we planned together! And maybe next year I'll actually let her choose the theme. ;)
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Pinned it and Made it: Top Gear Chocolate cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream
Last night was the US premiere of the new season of the original UK version of the show "Top Gear". The Mister and a few of our friends are big fans of the show, so we decided to have everyone over for a little viewing party. Any excuse to make cupcakes is fine by me!
A few weeks ago I'd Pinned this recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream frosting.
Our local cupcake shop sells a cupcake called the Cookie Monster that looks just like this, only it's also filled with the whipped Oreo cream. It happens to be their shop's best selling cupcake and it's Maren's favorite, so I wondered if this recipe would recreate it. The black and white theme was perfect for my party!
I was in a hurry and in no mood to deal with fallen cupcakes (a hazard of baking at Denver's high altitude with 'normal' recipes) so instead of making the cupcakes from scratch using the Pinned recipe, I cheated and used a Devil's Food cake mix. The Oreo Whipped Cream frosting was just that--whipping cream, a small amount of powdered sugar, vanilla, and crushed Oreo crumbs.
Initially I thought the frosting wouldn't be sweet enough and I did add 2 extra tablespoons of Oreo crumbs, but once it was on the chocolate cupcakes it was just perfect! It wasn't an exact match for the Cookie Monster cupcake from my local shop, but it was on the right track. The whipped cream frosting was a nice lighter alternative to buttercream. The cupcakes were a big hit--I made 24, and at the end of the night only 4 were left--and we only had 11 people here!
For our "Top Gear" party, I forewent the Oreo half in the photo and instead made my own The Stig cupcake toppers:
If you don't watch the show they won't make any sense, but The Stig is this masked driver they use to drive very fast cars. His identity is a secret and they introduce him using silly made-up facts that always begin with the phrase, "Some say..."
To incorporate that element, I made silly paper wraps for our soda bottles, each with a different "Some say..." phrase found on this website. They were kind of ghetto because they were literally done at the last minute, but had I more time I would have put a photo of The Stig on the wraps as well. I probably would have also manage to cut the papers all the same size (sheesh). I always have more ideas than time, it seems!
A few weeks ago I'd Pinned this recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Whipped Cream frosting.
 | |||
| Original Source: http://pawleysislandposh.blogspot.com/2012/03/pink-pants-and-such.html Please be sure to Pin from the original source! |
Our local cupcake shop sells a cupcake called the Cookie Monster that looks just like this, only it's also filled with the whipped Oreo cream. It happens to be their shop's best selling cupcake and it's Maren's favorite, so I wondered if this recipe would recreate it. The black and white theme was perfect for my party!
I was in a hurry and in no mood to deal with fallen cupcakes (a hazard of baking at Denver's high altitude with 'normal' recipes) so instead of making the cupcakes from scratch using the Pinned recipe, I cheated and used a Devil's Food cake mix. The Oreo Whipped Cream frosting was just that--whipping cream, a small amount of powdered sugar, vanilla, and crushed Oreo crumbs.
Initially I thought the frosting wouldn't be sweet enough and I did add 2 extra tablespoons of Oreo crumbs, but once it was on the chocolate cupcakes it was just perfect! It wasn't an exact match for the Cookie Monster cupcake from my local shop, but it was on the right track. The whipped cream frosting was a nice lighter alternative to buttercream. The cupcakes were a big hit--I made 24, and at the end of the night only 4 were left--and we only had 11 people here!
For our "Top Gear" party, I forewent the Oreo half in the photo and instead made my own The Stig cupcake toppers:
If you don't watch the show they won't make any sense, but The Stig is this masked driver they use to drive very fast cars. His identity is a secret and they introduce him using silly made-up facts that always begin with the phrase, "Some say..."
To incorporate that element, I made silly paper wraps for our soda bottles, each with a different "Some say..." phrase found on this website. They were kind of ghetto because they were literally done at the last minute, but had I more time I would have put a photo of The Stig on the wraps as well. I probably would have also manage to cut the papers all the same size (sheesh). I always have more ideas than time, it seems!
Monday, January 02, 2012
A Very Pinterest Christmas
Hello, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday--I did, more on that later!
How did I ever get along without Pinterest? I'm coming up on my year anniversary with my Beloved Pinterest, and I have it to thank for quite a few of the fun things I made this Christmas.
First was the gift we made for Maren's teacher, a Disney/Mickey Mouse nut. I first saw these cute Mickey Mouse Oreo cookies months ago and knew I wanted to do something with them for her Christmas gift.
Instead of making pops, we just made cookies so that more would fit in the jar. Maren helped me pick the yellows out of 2 tubes of mini M&Ms for Mickey's buttons. We also decided to make some Minnie cookies, using Wilton pearls for the polka dots on her dress and two tiny heart sprinkles put together for her bow.
Then, Groopdealz had a deal for vinyl monograms, and the rest of the gift was taken care of! A visit to IKEA (not a quick visit--it's impossible to make a quick visit through that place) took care of the jar.
I hope she liked it. Actually--I hope she got it! I sent it to school with Maren the last day before break, and only found out later that the teacher was out that day. I hope maybe she stopped in before Christmas to pick it up.
Another gift I made was for The Mister's co-workers. Last year when the Christmas junk at Target went to 90% off, I found a big stack of Christmas cards that came in the niftiest tins with a clear plastic window in the top. They were originally $8.99. I immediately donated the cards, but kept the tins to use this year. When I Pinned this adorable Santa snack mix:
I knew just what I would make to put in the tins!
The little Santa hats made from Bugles turned out so cute! I'd definitely make this again. This isn't one of the tins--I had a bit of leftover mix that we placed into cellophane bags with Santa ribbons for a few other people.
One of my church jobs is that I get to work with 8-9 year old girls. I pinned these glittery Christmas ornaments because they seemed easy enough for the girls to make successfully.
I don't have a photo of the ornaments we made, but they turned out so great--they are so pretty and sparkly! The hardest part was finding the Pledge floor wax that you squirt inside the ornaments to get the glitter to stick. I found mine at my Commissary, but later I did see it at Wal-Mart. It costs almost $7 per bottle, but you only use a tiny bit for each ornament, so one bottle would last you a LONG time. Like, decades. Or, you can do what I did and let all of your friends pass around the bottle to make ornaments with their kids!
For breakfast a few mornings before Christmas, I made these fun, festive waffles:
only I have an aversion to artificially-green foods, so I left the green food coloring out of our waffles.
I didn't have blueberries or raspberries, but I did have blackberries and pomegranate arils to decorate mine, complete with a dusting of powdered sugar snow.
Earlier in December, I also made this cute banana snowman treat for the kids:
though again, I didn't take a photo of my own version before the kids gobbled them up, but we used mini chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons.
For Maren's class party at school, we had the kids make these cute snowmen out of tongue depressors.
Since it's not technically a "Christmas" party, we went with the winter theme and this craft was perfect!
For time's sake, I prepainted the sticks and we used hot glue to attach the buttons, felt scarf and the ribbon hanger.
And one last gift, this one for the ladies I visit each month. I actually didn't Pin these clever soap bottle tags until after Christmas, but we didn't visit our ladies until then so it was okay.
I love free printables! This link includes a free printable sheet with the cute tags and I used my scalloped circle punch to cut them out.
I actually still had bottles of last year's Christmas-scented soap that I bought during BB&W's big clearance in January. Soap doesn't go bad, so I didn't feel weird giving it this year. If I'd had more time to prepare, I would have included a cute festive hand towel to make it a more substantial gift. Next year!
Whew! Seriously, what would I have done without Pinterest?
How did I ever get along without Pinterest? I'm coming up on my year anniversary with my Beloved Pinterest, and I have it to thank for quite a few of the fun things I made this Christmas.
First was the gift we made for Maren's teacher, a Disney/Mickey Mouse nut. I first saw these cute Mickey Mouse Oreo cookies months ago and knew I wanted to do something with them for her Christmas gift.
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| Source: http://twopeasintheirpod.wordpress.com/ |
Then, Groopdealz had a deal for vinyl monograms, and the rest of the gift was taken care of! A visit to IKEA (not a quick visit--it's impossible to make a quick visit through that place) took care of the jar.
Another gift I made was for The Mister's co-workers. Last year when the Christmas junk at Target went to 90% off, I found a big stack of Christmas cards that came in the niftiest tins with a clear plastic window in the top. They were originally $8.99. I immediately donated the cards, but kept the tins to use this year. When I Pinned this adorable Santa snack mix:
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| Source: http://cookiesandcups.com/santa-party-mix |
One of my church jobs is that I get to work with 8-9 year old girls. I pinned these glittery Christmas ornaments because they seemed easy enough for the girls to make successfully.
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| Source: http://thegreenbeanscrafterole.blogspot.com/2010/12/all-that-glittersminus-mess.html |
For breakfast a few mornings before Christmas, I made these fun, festive waffles:
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| Source: http://www.rutherfordfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com/2011/12/decorating-christmas-tree.html |
Earlier in December, I also made this cute banana snowman treat for the kids:
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| Source: http://littlestlearners.blogspot.com/2011/01/eeeeeeeeeekkkkk.html |
For Maren's class party at school, we had the kids make these cute snowmen out of tongue depressors.
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| Source: http://adayofwonders.blogspot.com/2009/12/advent-book-activity-snowmen-at-night.html |
And one last gift, this one for the ladies I visit each month. I actually didn't Pin these clever soap bottle tags until after Christmas, but we didn't visit our ladies until then so it was okay.
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| Source: http://darlingdoodles.blogspot.com/2011/12/12-days-of-gift-mas-gift-1.html |
Whew! Seriously, what would I have done without Pinterest?
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