Green Giveaway

     The cupcakes seemed to be one of the more popular post. So I decided to repay my viewers by having a "Green Giveaway", cupcake themed. Below is a photo of what I am giving away. There is a green mixing bowl, green cupcake liners (3 different kinds), green sprinkles (2 different kinds), a green dish-towel, a frosting tip (same kind I used for some of the cupcakes), and of course the winning cupcake mix from the previous post (Pillsbury).

Check out this link to see where I buy my awesome baking supplies. http://www.sweetbakingsupply.com/

     To enter the contest it is very simple. All you have to do is make a comment on this post. Tell me what your favorite kind of cupcakes are. And if all you want to say is you like pink frosting the best than that is fine. Winners will not be chosen based off of answers. I will be using "Random Generator"to choose the winner. You have one week to make a comment, and enter the contest. Contest ends on March 7, 2012. 

Winner will be announced March 8, 2012!

Happy Commenting!

Which Cake Mix Wins?

     When on the mission to buy cake mix it is always hard to know which one to buy. I instinctively go towards the flashy blue cover, with the cute little Pillsbury dough boy on the front. I picked it up at the grocery store, and on my way to the checkout I'm reading the cover. "The Classic White" cake mix, it states. As if this is the original white cake mix from the beginning of time. Pillsbury is promising a lot. Not only does it say that it is "The Classic White", it is also "Moist Supreme". I don't even know what that means. So now I am looking forward to the original white cake mix from the beginning of time and it is a soft and wet gourmet cake mix. Hmmm. . .Yum-oh? Do I really want to use this cake mix? I went back to the bakery aisle, and start looking at all my choices. There are organic cake mixes, off brand, the store brand, and then there is Betty Crocker. Ahhh. . .all I wanted to do was bake some cupcakes! I look at each of the prices, I look at the cover appeal, I look at ingredients needed. I was perplexed! So, this is when I came up with the idea of a cupcake bake-off between the brands. I decided to choose 3 of the 5 choices: Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and Kroger.

    How They Faced Off:

Betty Crocker's White Cake Mix:

Cover Appeal: Simple, yet appealing! 

Cost: $1.99

Net Wt: 16.25 oz. (least amount of the 3)

Languages available: English and Spanish (only one with Spanish available)

Needed Ingredients: 1 1/4 c. water, 1/3 c. oil, 3 egg whites

Added Bonus: Gives ideas for using this cake mix along the side, and advertises a recipe available online for you to use with this cake mix. It also gives helpful hints if baking at high-altitudes, and if you were to use whole eggs instead of just egg whites.

Kroger's White Cake Mix:

Cover Appeal: Very Simple! But this made me think, they put little effort in the cover appeal, maybe they are confident enough in the taste of their cake mix that they feel they need to do little for the cover appeal. This could be the best.

Cost: $1.00

Net Wt: 18.25 oz.

Languages available: English

Needed Ingredients: 1 1/4 c. water, 1/3 c. oil, 3 egg whites

Added Bonus: The only added bonus was alternatives if baking at high altitudes.

Pillsbury's White Cake Mix:

Cover Appeal: Cute, fun, colorful! (most appealing)

Cost: $1.79 

Nt Wt: 18.25 oz.

Languages: English

Needed Ingredients: 1 1/4 c. water, 1/3 c. oil, and 4 egg whites (this one asked for the most)

Added Bonus: 2 extra recipes on the box, alternatives for baking at high altitudes, and if wanting to use whole eggs. Substitutes if wanting this to be cholesterol-free.

Green in honor of St. Pat's coming up!

     Well, after much debated tasting, and retasting I have concluded that the winner is Pillsbury. The taste of the Pillsbury was very moist (as it states), and it didn't crumble when I pulled the cupcake apart. The extra added bonus' that Pillsbury puts forth on their box is very appealing as well. The cupcake that came in 2nd place was surprisingly Kroger. I liked the taste, and I was shocked that with the low price, and the little appeal from the box the cake did taste delicious. Last place was Betty Crocker just from the mere fact that when I pulled that cupcake apart it crumbled everywhere. I like my cupcakes to have some stapability to them. In the end I have to admit that each cupcake was delicious! And my first instinct to grab the cute little dough boy was correct.

The Winner!

Locket of Love

     Have you ever been talking to someone and notice that they are wearing a locket? When you see that locket you can't resist wondering whose inside. Is it a long lost dog, her dearly departed mother, a husband off at war, or her daughter that she can't wait to see from the end of her school day? I never know if there is a boundary. Do you ask, or do you let your mind go crazy? Your not hearing anything they are saying, because all you can think about is "Who's in the locket?"

     Well, I wanted a locket for my own, but one where you can see the picture, and when talking to someone they hear my conversation, because they aren't secretly going crazy inside wondering who is in my locket. Not that I don't like the idea of a secret person inside. It's romantic, and sad at the same time...I love it, but I can't live with the idea of not being heard when talked to. (Sarcasm, I know your listening!)

Homemade Locket of Love!

Original photo!

The finished locket!

Supplies vary on what you want to do with your locket, and what you want it to look like! Michaels, and Hobby Lobby are great places to start searching and getting ideas for your locket.

Sites that will help with resizing the photo!

http://www.fileguru.com/apps/resize_photo_to_print_locket_size

www.photo-gems.com

Also some photo applications on your computer or ipad, etc. have the ability to do this. (iPhoto can do this).

On the backside of my locket I wrote "Daughters are Friends for Life!"

Sadly I could not get a decent picture of it to show you.

Now when you talk to me you won't be dying inside to know who is inside the locket.

What I'm Loving This Week!

Starburst has a new "Flavor Morph". Each individually packaged starburst is bursting with little beads of flavor. It starts out as one flavor and when you hit a bead of flavor, it has hit you with another. They are amazingly addictive!

Recently Shelved!

( 5 Stars )

Wild Magic

By: Tamora Pierce

This is not Pierce's strongest series, but it was great enough to still deserve 5 stars. 

*Keeping checking back, because I am preparing for an awesome St. Patrick's day Blog Post!

-All things Green!

Love is in the Crayola!

First off, we had our first snow. Yay! I have been secretly hoping the snow would pass us by, but now that it is here I am grateful. Cameron was so excited when she saw the snow outside her window. She still doesn't understand that snow comes from the sky, and that God put it there, not the man down the street. I asked her what she thought it was, and she asked "Who colored everything?" She had thought that someone had taken a huge white crayon and drawn on everything. We immediately bundled up into our snuggliest clothes, and ran outside to make the first snowman of the year, or for us at least.

Small, but perfect for Cameron.

Now on to Valentines Day excitement. We made Valentines hearts out of crayons. This craft I cannot claim as my own, found it on Pinterest.

Crayola Hearts!

 1. First find old broken pieces of crayon that you could use for this activity. If you have to take the paper off the crayon slice down the side with a knife and the paper comes right off.

 2. Chop up the crayons into small pieces.

I used mainly pink and purple, but add in white for contrast.

3. Place them into a heart mold that can be baked. Then bake them for 15 minutes at 230 degrees. Place them in the freezer for 5 minutes and now they are ready to color with or give away.

Happy Valentines Day!