Ground Hog Day Cupcakes and Treats

Groundhog Day is February 2nd. It is said that if the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of bad weather, and if he doesn't, that spring will be here soon. 

  

How Cute is this??? Bloom Designs did it again! She posted the cutest tutorial for Ground Hog Day Cupcakes (who said Teddy Grams won't work for ground hogs?)

Frost cupcakes and then add green sprinkles leaving the center open

 Smash a handful of the Teddy Grahams to make dirt and then sprinkle it in the center of the cupcake.

Stick in your little groundhog (teddy bear).  You may need to add more dirt around him.

How Cute!

Thank you Bloom Design (again!) 

This cupcake is from Dozen Flours

  The cupcake is buttermilk chocolate-almond cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting (which is suppose to be snow). The little guy in the center is made from Tootsie rolls, regular size and mini chocolate chips, white candy melts, and cocoa. The cake crumbs around his head are suppose to be the dirt from his burrow. Yum!

both of these could be topped on pudding cups as well...get creative and enjoy!

Welcome Spring????

Sweetheart Candy Wreath

Cousin Jen and Cousin Lil O made this beautiful Candy Heart Wreath!

Cousin Jen has a blog "Upcycled Education", I shared  a link with her a couple of days ago for Classroom Valentine Treats (sending more ideas to her soon!) Now it is her turn to share a craft with us!

Instructions:

It is super duper easy to make.  Start with a round wreath form,  Then  wrap the wreath in strips of pink tissue paper.   Hot glue  rows of Sweethearts on all sides and finish it off with a pink ribbon.

I found that it was easiest to make one row of hearts all the way around the wreath, and then move on to the second and third rows (rather than gluing three across, then three below that row, and repeating the process all the way around the wreath).

Thank you Cousin Jen and Lil O

xoxo

Bread Pudding Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

These are yummy!

The very best part is the icing...the addition on cinnamon in cream cheese icing is awesome!

Best way to enjoy these treats is warm, right out of the oven...

Bread Pudding Cupcakes

makes 9 cupcakes (fast and easy)

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

5 slices cinnamon raisin bread, cubed 1/2 inch

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and add cubed raisin bread to batter.

Pour in cupcake wrappers, make only 3/4 full (I used a slotted spoon to place the bread cubes in evenly, then poured the remaining egg mixture over all the uncooked cupcakes).

Bake for 25 minutes or until done.

Incredible Cream Cheese Icing with Cinnamon

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese 

3 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 cups powered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon milk

directions:

cream all ingredients together...warning, there will be a fight over who gets to lick the beaters when done!

can you smell these yummy muffins (or cupcakes)?

This picture does not do justice to the yummy goodness (the icing was melting on the warm bread pudding!!!!!!)

xoxo

Valentine S'mores

These Valentine S'mores are from Two Shades of Pink...

She used little bags to  throw heart marshmallows in, then a smores idea sounded so cute so she added graham crackers and valentine Hershey kisses. 

How about this...

"Every Day I Like You Smore!" 

These are from my friend at Bloom Design

Go to her blog and she has instructions on how to get the cute labels for free!

Supplies: cellophane bag, Hersey Kisses, Kraft HeartMallows, graham crackers

Assemble all the fixin's for a strawberry s'more treat

Thanks Bloom Design

xoxo

Superbowl Party Ideas

Here are a couple of cute ideas I saw on Pinterest.

Time to start planning Superbowl Sunday!

Chinese New Year: Year of the Dragon Party Ideas

this awesome party is from Kara's Party Ideas!

I LOVE the cake!!!!

this is from another post from Kara's Party Ideas

Make Fortune cookies from cupcake wrappers

this is so easy and cute (year round!)

instructions here at Family Fun Magazine

Make Paper Lanterns from Family Fun Magazine

Bruce Lee Movie

"Enter the Dragon"

A recipe for 

"Magic Dragon Puffs"

from Pillsbury.com

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut up

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves

DIRECTIONS

1 Heat oven to 425°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper. In 2-quart saucepan, heat water, butter and salt to rolling boil over medium heat. When butter is melted, remove from heat; stir in flour all at once until blended. 2 Return to medium heat; cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stirring constantly, until dough forms a ball and leaves a slight film on side of pan. 3 Remove from heat; stir in eggs, one at a time, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Stir in Parmesan cheese, chives and basil. On cookie sheets, drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart into 1 1/4-inch mounds, making 30 mounds. 4 Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown and set. Remove from oven; with tip of sharp knife, make small slit in side of each puff to allow steam to escape. Bake 5 to 8 minutes longer or until dry and firm.

These airy little puffs can be cut in half and filled with 1 tablespoon of your favorite salad such as egg salad, tuna salad, ham salad or seafood salad.

Puffs can be baked in advance and stored in airtight containers. Reheat on ungreased cookie sheets at 350°F 5 to 10 minutes.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

(This is special because I am a Dragon and so is my Daughter!!!)

I heart Dragons!

Starburst Valentine Card

Cute and Easy!!!

another cute Valentine Idea to give to your friends.

This is from Better Homes and Gardens

and free printable label, too!

Friendship Bracelet Valentines

Dandee-Designs.com made these cute friendship bracelets with her daughter.

I wanted to post these early so we would have time to make these as well.

(This is our arts and crafts project for today, we are making "friendship bracelets")

Dandee-Designs was kind enough to post a free printable for the tag.

Happy Braiding!!!!

xoxo

click here for downloadable tag

xoxo

Cheers to Love!

Easy! 

Chalk board paint on recycled bottles.

"Cheers to Love!"

xoxo

Free Valentine Subway Art Printable

Time to decorate for my favorite holiday...

Valentine's Day!!!!

this cute FREE printable is from

Bonjour!Blog

there are even options for different colors and sizes to print

I have plenty more Valentine's ideas to look forward to...

xoxo

Japanese Sushi Party

This is an easy and fun party to plan for just a few friends, your family or a large group of people...

just add more sushi or less sushi to your party depending on how many guests you have.

I created this party for  our family only.

This is a fun way to enjoy sushi and a unique way to make dinner extra special!

My family gets excited about "theme" nights and my husband has plenty of Jui Jitsu Gear...(enough said!)

this is a very easy party to set up (and a good excuse to use my new square plates)

The mini take out boxes make a fun inexpensive centerpiece.

I also bought a bulk package of chop sticks, but you can get those free when you buy sushi.

Hot Tea is a nice touch,

I have had this glass tea pot for a long time, and I am glad to finally use it.

The Sushi is from our local grocery store, I just arranged the sushi on other plates

Cut up fruit....easy!

And the best part....

DESSERT SUSHI!

YES, TWINKIES, HO HO'S AND MINI DONUTS!

Click here for the easy tutorial for Dessert Sushi!

we had a contest to see how many mini marshmallows we could pick up using chop sticks

and the biggest hit of all

Origami!

We started easy with cute hearts and moved on to cranes

 In Japan, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true!

We started our cranes...but, we have a long way to go to 1,000!