S'more Peeps Please

     Lately the weather has been absolutely amazing. I couldn't ask for anything better. Not to hot, and not to cold. Perfect for roasting marshmallows, and making s'mores. And I always have on hand chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers. Just in case I have a moment in need of some s'mores action. And what makes this even better is that there are now many varieties in marshmallows, graham crackers, and you can even mix it up with different chocolates.

Graham Cracker Varieties:
* Original Honey
* Cinnamon
* Chocolate
* Limited Edition Squares
 (Honey Maid released square graham crackers made specifically for making s'mores)


Chocolate Varieties:
* Original Hershey's
* White chocolate
* Reese's
(Reese's happen to be my favorite. I think my brother discovered this amazingness.)

Marshmallow Varieties:
* Original white
* Chocolate
* Strawberry
* Coconut
* And an Easter favorite: Peeps

     Peeps have always been an Easter favorite. And they have quickly spread to other holidays. You can now buy snowman peeps, shamrock peeps, pumpkin peeps, and more. And I thought what better addition to s'mores than peeps. I thought my niece would love these, because she is a passionate peeps fan.

Peep S'mores

White chocolate would be a great substitution for milk chocolate on these.

I used pink, yellow, and purple peeps. They also have blue peeps during the Easter season. And not only the baby chicks, but bunnies in the same colors.

When roasting the peeps, remember the outside coating is sugar, it browns up very fast.

Enjoy your Easter Peeps!

What I'm Loving This Week:

Peter found this delicious coffee creamer for me this week. 

Coffee couldn't get any better once you add ice cream to it.

Recently Shelved:

The Gathering Storm

By: Robin Bridges

Rating: 5 Stars

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?

This was a good mix of fantasy, romance, history, and paranormal creatures. 

It is a must read!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

     Yesterday was Peter's birthday! He turned 27. . .Woot Woot. For Peter's Birthday card Cameron and I took a few hours making this fun flip-book card.

Birthday-Flip-Book-Card

1. First you will need to take all the necessary pictures to create the message that you want. 

Each page of the flip-book says a different word. I used chalkboard sheets that I had made for my daughter's 2nd birthday to write out the words, and on other pages I used poster boards. 

2. I taped the photos down onto grey cardstock. I liked the grey with the black and white photos. I originally was going to use yellow ribbon, but quickly changed my mind, and decided red yard would be easier to manipulate through a small hole. I used photo glue for a few of the photos, but found out that the glue affected the color of the photos (as it promised it would NOT do). Be wary!

3. Make sure they are all in order and the same size.

4. Poke a small hole in two spots evenly on the top of the cardstock. 

5. To help get the yarn through, use a sewing needle and draw it through the hole.

The photos below are the photos I used for the card!

The "Birthday" photo actually says "Bithday", totally forgot the "R" and

 I didn't realize it until I gave the card to Peter. 

Cameron is suppose to be a " / " mark. (Below)

The last 3 photos are saying "We love you"!

And for the birthday goodies I made cupcakes instead of a cake. 

I made little Darth Vader toppers for the cupcakes. The sticks

 I used are candy sticks. You can buy them at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. 

And just printed the Vader heads off of clip-art, and printed onto cardstock.

They were even kid approved! Or at least the frosting was!

Happy 27th Birthday to my Hubs!

Fancy Shoes!

     Cameron is all about shoes right now. You know those clunky, badly made, high-heeled Princess shoes that little girls always want to wear, and usually out in public? (Suri Cruise?) Well, Cameron thinks that she wants to be one of those girls. And, I will admit I love that she is a girly-girl, because I was a girly-girl, and still am, but I get hesitant when wanting to let her wear the high-heeled shoes out into public. But, I found out the key to the shoe success. Cameron isn't drawn to the heel part of the shoe, but the shiny, sparkly, and usually pink or purple something on it. And if you call them "Princess Shoes", then it is settled she wants them, and has to have them. So, I gathered up all the pink and sparkly things I could find from my collection of crafting supplies, and then "bedazzled" a cheap pair of white shoes. And I know, I know, you're probably laughing right now. I did say "bedazzle"! Was "bedazzling" actually a hit ever, and should it ever be done? Yes! Because all little girls can rock the bedazzlement.

Ignore the gem glue in the photo, I ended up using a hot glue gun. Gem glue will work,
but I had just found out after the photo was taken that the glue was gone. Silly me!

     Have fun, and decorate as you please. And if feeling extra creative, let your daughter decorate the shoes herself. Well, let her choose where the gems can go on the shoes. They could come out pretty awesome.

Remember to hold the gems down for 15-20 seconds to make sure that they are sticking.

This was my "1st" finished product. I say first, because I was not thinking when placing the gems in the spots I chose. The large dots along the strap obviously did not work out. I immediately had to remove them, because when trying to put the shoes on I could not pull the strap out. Woops! My mistake! But the "2nd" finished product is shown below.

They look adorable with socks, and even without socks!

Cameron with her new shoes! She was excited to wear them with her new St. Patrick's Day dress!

What I'm Loving This Week:

"The Secret Garden"

Hand Embroidered Penguin Classic

Embroidered by: Jillian Tamaki

Link To Buy: Barnes and Noble

Link To Tamaki's Blog: Jillian Tamaki's Sketchblog

As you all know I love to read, and even better than a good book, is a beautiful book. A hand embroidered book that has so much detail. It makes the book that much more important!

 I can't wait to get ahold of this book.

"Black Beauty" and "Emma" are also available from Jillian Tamaki's self-embroidery.

What's at the end of the Rainbow?

     With St. Pat's Day this next week I thought, best idea was to bake a rainbow cake. This was a simple, but time consuming task. White cake is the best bet for trying to achieve the vibrant colors that you want.
You will need to triple the ingredients for the cake mix, and I also had to triple the frosting amount. Once you have the cake mix ready you need to divide it up into 6 bowls evenly, and then dye each one individually. Then bake as recipe states! Frost and you are ready to enjoy!

Oh, and don't forget to shave off the top of each cake to make the cakes flat.
You can obviously tell I forgot!

I might have to make this cake for her birthday. She loved all the different colors. She would tell me before each bite which color she was going to eat next.

And the Winner is. . .

     First off I wanted to thank everyone that commented, and entered the giveaway. I loved reading about everyone's favorite cupcakes. My new task in baking is to make red velvet cupcakes with a twist, and then banana cupcakes. I've never even tried banana cupcakes, and I had so many comments about them. Yum-Oh! And like I promised today is March 8, and the winner has been determined. Random Generator chose "Imasupergirl". 

1. 
   imasupergirlMar 4, 2012 07:57 AM

   Chocolate cake + chocolate butter cream + raspberry jam. Or anything with chocolate :))

     Raspberry Jam. . .that's what I'm talking about, let's try it! Never even thought to try it.

Thank you "Imasupergirl", and congratulations!

And for a final note wanted to let everyone know that I had a St. Pat's day post planned for today, but when baking my surprise I missed a step and my yummy goodiness was far from goodiness. 

So, I'm rebaking today! Sorry that I am behind on my post!