Tuesday, April 24, 2012

And the winner is.......

Congratulations to Holly
The winner of a custom banner made by yours truly

here is what she said:
Hello ol' friend. How about Happy 40th! I love your blog and pics...especially when I am hungry. Does not do a body good :)

but ummmmm I am NOT turning 40 just yet....I have a whole year to go yet! lol

sorry about the late announcement.  I have been having all kinds of computer issues & it is totally messing me up!  but better late than never!! 
So be on the look out for a post about her banner coming soon!

~Happy Creating
Pin It

Monday, April 16, 2012

Today I AM a winner!


Today I found out I was a WINNER...YEAH BABY!!!!!

What did I win you ask???
Oh just something super fun to help me make my own super star digital scrap books!!!
My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software
Last week my Mom  who is an artist & has a blog of her own (Pearl Avenue Studios) sent me a message to check out this blog:
Peach Street's Blog


On her blog was this awesome giveaway.....I only had to do the easiest things to enter! Follow her blog..DONE , follow her on Pineterst..DONE 
(she has some amazing things pinned so it was a win for me anyway)
and like her page on facebook..DONE
there were a few other things I could do too but I felt these things were the winning ticket for me (hmm guess I was having a premonition lol)
Anywho......was so grateful just to see her pins on pinterest that in all honesty I forgot all about the contest because I never win anything so I chalked it up to helping a fellow blogger out & left it at that.

Well while I was out & about I got a text from my mom today that said, "I knew you were going to win if you entered that drawing"! to which my reply was what drawing???...wait, did I win something???? 

Obviously I won something or she wouldn't have said that but I was so excited!! I mean, REALLY,  to win something so fun!!! ...I always make those photo books from all those places...but lets face it, when you do that they look great but don't we all feel like we wish we had more options!! THIS will give me great options to feel like my photo books are truly my style!!! I am so excited & I cant wait to check this software out!!!

So here is my shout out to Jamie @ Peach Street!!!!! 
Thank you SO Much for making me feel so Lucky today!
and just to pay it forward........
I am going to have a giveaway of my very own!
That's right.....my very first giveaway!
I will make a custom 1 word paper banner just for you!

Here is how you can win:

**you MUST be a follower of my blog
**You MUST leave a comment on THIS POST.  Tell me what you'd like your banner to say if you were the lucky winner!

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
                 ~pin this post & leave a comment telling me you did!

That's it ...that is all you have to do!


Winner will be announced Saturday April 21st

Good Luck & Happy Creating!


Pin It

Monday, April 9, 2012

Bunny Butt Cupcakes

So this Easter I was inspired by several posts I saw on pinterest for the bunny tail cupcakes.  I saw a few different versions so 
I took a blend of all of them to make my own.
I knew I wanted to make carrot cake {not just for the pun involved} but because my Mom loves my carrot cake~so I made them for her! {love you Mom}
 So I made my carrot cupcakes & my cream cheese icing {YUM}
& I dipped the cupcakes in sweetened shredded coconut
they look so good just like that but we are all about bunny butts so we move ahead~
 I saw a lot of styles as far as the tails go but I decided I was going to do powdered donut holes for my "poof" ~of course I get the donut holes home & they seemed kind off color for the brightness of the coconut
what to do~what to do. . . I had some decorator's sugar crystals that would make the little tails look so cute.
but how do you get the sugar to stick without making the donut soggy or icky for the next day?
well I had some fresh lemon juice from the lemon cupcakes I was making 
{we will visit those in another post} & I decided I would dip the holes in the lemon juice & then in the sugar crystals. . . sometimes you just have to try something to see if it works, & sometimes it pays off big!
 I L-O-V-E-D the holes dipped in the lemon juice & sugar . . .the tart with the sweet was awesome, then the crunch with the softness of the donut was great texture wise.
 I just love cupcakes! they are so cute
here they are with tails on. . . now we just need some feet! 
now I saw some on pinterest with ears & some with feet, I opted for feet because you always see the ears. . 
I was also picturing the bunny jumping in a hole so I wanted the tail & the feet~in retrospect, next time I will probably try ears since everyone thought my feet were ears anyway LOL 
To make the feet I used white chocolate morsels & I just pop them in the microwave 
 I put both white chocolate & the pink chocolate (I just added a drop or 2 of red food color) in a some ziplock bags & used it as a piping bag.  I made the foot outline in white & then came back through with the pink & added the foot pad & then I just stick them in the cupcake
Then my technical & very literal Hubby came in & said I put the feet in upside down!!!! Dang it!!! Oh well, I think everyone got my drift! & Hubs said they were still looking good, so all is right in the world! 

so here are the bunny butts!!!! so cute & tasty!!!!! And a big hit at the Easter festivities!
Hope you & yours had a wonderful Easter!!

~Happy Creating!

Pin It

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Who's been eating my porridge?

A couple of weeks ago I took my boys down to Texas to visit my little brother & my sister in law.  We always have the best time when we are down there because my brother LOVES to play video games with the boys & because being away from home in a different atmosphere always makes things exciting.
My brother always makes us breakfast while we are there (thanks little brother!) but this particular morning was just slightly different~ My sister in law suggested that we use up the oranges before they go bad.  My little guy had that wild look in his eye because not only was he going to get his beloved OJ BUT he was going to get to squeeze it HIMSELF!!! No WAY!!!
So My Sister in law pulls out an electric version of an old timey juicer (pretty cool if you ask me~I really need to get one of those) & she set the little dude on his juicing adventure!
Amazing how something so everyday & organic can trigger happiness in someone :)
& here was his final product (now he understood why OJ glasses are so itty bitty) It took a WHOLE lot of oranges to make those two tiny glasses of OJ but so worth it!
I think he thought that was WAY better than peeling them!

so while the boys enjoyed their freshly squeezed OJ my sister in law decided to start on her breakfast~
I saw the cute little paper bag & thought Oh what do we have here, pancakes perhaps??
NOPE!!!
PORRIDGE!!!!!
Of course I did giggle out loud & YES I made some off the wall comment about the 3 little bears but I was also very curious about this stuff since I only ever heard it in story time
& have never really seen it up close & personal.
as you can see below it looks like ground up corn.
She set her pot to boil & I waited patiently to see what the outcome was going to be.  I asked her what it tasted like & she said kind of like a cream of wheat. 
The directions look very easy...so easy in fact that anyone who burns a pot of water can do this!
She purchased her porridge from a little piece of serenity called Homestead Farm.  This place was really a treasure to see.  They call themselves a farm but really it is a self preserved community where the people there look happy & fulfilled.  They grow their own food, which they turn into grain in their old mill, they spin their own yarn to create amazing handmade wears, they have a pottery building, a wood working shop & an old iron building where they craft iron work the old way using anvils! They even have a small restaurant that uses what they grow there to produce amazing meals & sweets.
It truly was an awsome place to see, so if you are ever in that area please stop by & see how they live happy by doing what makes them happy.
Now back to breakfast. . . .while my sister in law was waiting for her porridge to soak up all that water, the rest of us feasted on egg sandwiches!  mmmm yummy!
Doesn't it look so good?  That onion roll there. . . that was fresh baked from Homestead Farms too
& it was truly wonderful
Look, there is my little brother being a mess with his breakfast!
He is as bad as the kids ha-ha!
but doesn't that make your mouth water??

Our egg sandwiches were very yummy BUT
I was still waiting to see what that porridge turned out to look like!!

drum roll please. . . . . . . . . . .

here it is! The stuff that Goldie Locks eats!
PORRIDGE!!
Seeing it with milk, sugar & some butter really made me wish I had her make some extra!!
Maybe I should have stole a bite just so I could hear her say. . . ."Who's been eating my PORRIDGE?"
Darn it.....maybe next time I will have her make it for me!

Next time you want to be adventurous for breakfast, try some PORRIDGE~


~Happy Creating


Pin It

My entry into Wow Me Wednesday sponsored
by Appliances Online and Bosch Washing Machines