October's Book Club: The Fault in our Stars

Last Wednesday our book club got together to discuss

The Fault in our Stars

by John Green.

This was such an amazing book, and we had so much fun discussing this book together.

One of my fellow bookies put together this month's treats.

It was absolutely magnificent.

She made homemade Stroop Waffles,

which I learned are a Dutch treat, in honor of the Amsterdam references within the book.

They were so good, and I'm hoping to make these in the future.

 A Stroop Waffle set right on top of a hot cup of coffee is perfect.

It melts the caramel in the center, and makes it soft and gooey.

 

If you've read the novel you will be familiar with the glasses of champagne.

It's not real champagne, it's ginger ale.

Don't worry Barnes and Noble, we're not bringing in alcohol.

 And I felt so honored that she used napkins that she had brought all the way from Amsterdam.

Isn't that neat?

And of course I had to make up some fun bookmarks.

There were so many great quotes in this books so I found a few I liked and used them.

The discussion questions we used this month can be found at Shmoop.com,

and litlovers.com.

November's Book Selection is:

Life after Life

by: Kate Atkinson.

We will be meeting Nov. 20th at 7PM.

And thanks for stopping by 

Through Betsy's Looking Glass.

Individual Frosting Dips

Cameron recently had her birthday.

She turned 4.

Wow!

How did 4 years already go by?

So last week we took a treat to Cameron's school for her birthday.

We did this last year as well, but I did cupcakes.

And what a mess cupcakes are.

So I wanted to go a different route.

Something not as messy, and fun as well.

So we came up with individual frosting dips.

So easy, cheap, and fun for the kids to eat.

 The only necessary supplies are animal crackers, frosting (I used cream cheese frosting),

and sprinkles to add some extra fun.

Oh, and of course some small bags for the animal crackers,

and little cups for the frosting.

You could even do thematic sprinkles for different holidays.

So fun!

Thanks for stopping by 

Through Betsy's Looking Glass.

This page was shared with Made in a Day.

Monster Pops

Hey blogging world!

Today I thought I would share a treat that I made a few weeks ago.

I made these fun monster pops for my birthday celebration, 

per request of Cameron.

The Monster Pops are made out of rice krispies bars, chocolate melts, 

oreos, mini m&m's, and frosting for the mouths.

They were super fun to eat, and super rich as well.

Hope this inspires some monsterific treats.

And thanks for stopping by 

Through Betsy's Looking Glass.

This page has been shared with Rhinestone Beagle.

Indian Candy Corn Cake

The Fall Festival is here.

Tomorrow night we will be tossing rings over milk bottles,

fishing for toys,

digging for prizes,

and strolling the cake walk.

The cake walk is always the most popular game.

And that's no surprise. Who wouldn't want to win an entire cake for .50 cents?

Since Halloween is quickly coming around the corner, and candy corn is secretly being consumed while little ones are asleep, I thought a Fall themed cake would be perfect. 

I'm going to have to admit,

I couldn't find my food coloring (these kind's of things happen often),

and so I had to borrow yellow and red from my neighbor to create orange.

Well, sadly I couldn't really get the right color, 

but really I'm certain the 2-5 year olds aren't going to mind.

I want to try and tweet this cake later.

Work with making it bigger, and more vibrant, and just all around more awesome.

And hope and pray that one of the layers doesn't decide to crumble on me when assembling.

So, I know it's not perfect, but still fun, and festive for the Halloween season.

Ingredients:

2 boxes of White cake mix

1 box of Chocolate cake mix

orange food coloring

your frosting of choice

This really was a very easy cake to make.

I used chocolate for the bottom layer, 

and sliced the sides off so that the colors would be more visible when viewed.

I'm hoping to try this again soon before Halloween.

If I do I will most definitely share and let you know how it goes.

Happy Baking,

and thanks for stopping by
Through Betsy's Looking Glass!

Button Bookmarks

Tonight I'm hosting a bookclub.

And I have been making bookmarks for each month's discussion.

Some of them are simple paper bookmarks and others are a little more indepth.

For tonight's discussion I thought I would make some cute button bookmarks.

So EASY to make, and very cute.

All that is needed to make these are 

the buttons of your choice, large paper clips, and a hot-glue gun.

I'm sure that instructions aren't needed.

 

Have fun making button bookmarks,

and thanks for stopping by

Through Betsy's Looking Glass.

I will be sure to post more after our book discussion tonight.

This page was shared with Sew Can Do.

Curious George Storytime

Storytime at BN is one of my most favorite things to host.

I love the anticipation of the little one's eyes as they wait for each page to turn.

They get so excited, and they each have such wonderful imaginations. 

So as some of you may know I USED to be one of the children's leads at BN,

and I was able to host storytime every Wednesday.

But with school, and everything else I was getting a little overwhelmed working

full time so I had to cut back, and I now only sparingly host Saturday storytimes.

This past Saturday we had a Curious George storytime, 

and it was quite a blast.

 

Cameron and I dressed up as the "girls in the yellow boys',

in relation to the "man in the yellow hat".

I was able to make a few large bows for us from scrap fabric I had laying around.

To see my tutorial on the hairbows click here.

Just thought I would chat up the Saturday storytimes.

They are a blast, and everyone should come and join in our crafts, treats, and fun story.

For dates and times check out BN.com for more details.

 

Thanks for stopping by 

Through Betsy's Looking Glass,

and I hope to see you at the next storytime.

Fruit Tarts

This past Friday was Cameron's helper day at school.

Which means that I get to come in and spend her whole school day with her and the other kiddos.

I love it!

Each parent is designated one day of the month.

And on your day you get to bring a healthy snack for the little ones to enjoy.

And you know me, I had to make something, slightly healthy, but also fun.

And I love fruit pizzas.

I'm sure you've tried fruit pizza before.

But for a little kid, a big slice might be too big, and a little too messy.

So I thought tarts were the perfect size, and hopefully to help control the mess a little.

Eh, I'm not sure if this was true for the latter, but they sure were yummy.

 

 My awesome husband had the great idea of putting them in cupcake liners 

so that this could help with the mess.

Once again not so sure it helped, but they were cute.

 

 These were super simple to make, and they were done within an hour.

Ingredients:

*sugar cookie cookie dough

*cool whip

*cream cheese (8 oz.)

*and fruit of your choice

I found out 3 year olds are hesitant on trying Kiwi. 

Most of them hadn't tried it yet at this point in their life, and so that was a no no,

but if they were brave enough to try it, they loved it.

Anyways, it was super easy to make.

Press cookie dough into cupcake tins. 

I used the amount in one tin that you would use to make one cookie.

Use a tart punch to punch down the center, or use your fingers.

Mix cream cheese, and cool whip in mixer until smooth.

Cut up fruit and decorate as you wish.

Super easy, and yummy too.

Have fun baking,

and thanks for stopping by

Through Betsy's Looking Glass!