Leaping Leprechauns

Sneaky little Leprechauns!!!

They have taken up residence in my daffodil forest.

I love this vintage cart. I found it years ago

at Room With a Past. It's prefect for a SPRING

flower arrangement.

(SPRING just around the corner!)  ;)

I started out with a block of oasis foam and

a pot of bulbs. I trimmed the foam, rounding

it off. To look like a hill. Placed in the bulbs

and filled in around the foam with excess soil. 

Then I covered everything up with some

sheet moss.

I have no idea where these guys came from.  BUT, I did hear

something mentioned about Etsy. 

These two seem to be pulling a log out of the forest.

Sneaky prankster, jumping out and scaring any one who

walks by.

Spring, daffodils, and Leprechauns... oh my!

Shortbread Cookies

These are super easy to make and oh so cute.
Perfect for any holiday.

I made these for my son's Valentine's Day party at school.
These would be super cute for Easter too, little egg shapes.

Martha's shortbread cookies.

Some candy melts.....

festive sprinkles. D.O.N.E.

Lay the cookies out on a cooling rack.
Melt the candy melts in a squeeze bottle.
This can be done by running the bottle
under hot tap water. OR if you are lucky
enough to have an insta hot (as I do) it's
even easier.

Now just drizzle and sprinkle.

My little helpers got in on the cookie making.

Lots of sprinkles.....

and candy melts.

I promise that the cookies that these two
made did NOT go out for public consumption.

So, if you are one of the people that received
some of these. Relax, it's ok....... don't gag.

Cookie thief.....

Who?......me....?
Yes..... you!   ;)

Valentine's Day

We are usually pretty mellow around here
on Valentine's Day. Cards, a heart shaped
pizza from here, some cookies.... that's about it.
This year I have been spoiled.
My Hubby surprised me with one of these.
Oh. so. surprised!

I made these for my boys.....

and these for desert.

We had a mean hot wheels race and consumed too much junk.
No laundry
No dishes
No tantrums
A perfect night.

Be Mine

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!
I have a bunch of projects in the works....
Lets see how many I can get done before Tuesday!!

Love these little Cupids, found them on Etsy.

I'm not ALWAYS so good at taking photos
during the "making" process. Once I get started
things just seem to "happen" and photo taking
just doesn't "happen".  ;)

I started out by cutting a heart shape into a paper mache heart.
I then painted it red and glittered it with pink glitter.
......of course.....

I added some trim around the opening of the heart.
Stamped a be mine message on a piece of ribbon.
Attached that with a few flowers, popped in a little Cupid.
And was done!

It needed more........

I remembered these angel wings I had.
The white was a little stark. Using some
powered pigments I pinked them up a bit.

Perfect......

Wings glued to the back of the heart.

Love.....

I'm linked up over at today's creative blog come join the fun!

Linked up at Thirty Hand Made Days come check it out!

Valentine's Kid Craft = Tacky Garland

I love crafting with my kids but, let's face it........ ;(
It can get expensive for something that is going to get
thrown away. YES, I said "IT" thrown away.

We can't keep everything. right? RIGHT?
Even if we did keep every thing and passed it along to them in
some sentimental remember when moment, chances are they
would just throw it away anyway. With some yeah whatever attitude.

(the serious crafter)

So, I try to buy my kid craft stash form the Dollar Store.

A buck for a pack of 20 heart doilies.

A buck for a pack of glittery hearts.

A buck for metallic garland WITH cupids.

An afternoon crafting with this goof, priceless
Well $3.00 maybe $4.00 if you count the glue.

I love our tacky garland!

AND I love our crafty afternoons!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Are you looking for something fun and easy to make this Valentine's Day?
Try theses.....

Reese's peanut butter heart brownies..... oh yum!

Prepare your favorite brownie recipe.
Fill a mini muffin tin 3/4 of the way full with mix.
Bake and let cool about a minute. Then place an
unwrapped heart in center of the brownie.
This step should be done while the brownie
is still in the pan. Other wise the brownie
may fall apart.

So so yummy.

So so easy.

Almond Joy Cupcakes

My Dad's Birthday was this past weekend. So, cupcakes were
in order. His favorite cake is German Chocolate, that coconut
frosting. This year I decided it might be nice to change it up
a little. Almond Joy CUPCAKES........YUM.......!

I kinda punked out and used a box mix.
A really good box mix......

look at those delicious bits of vanilla bean, yum.
Use your favorite kind of white cake batter. Bake your cakes
and after they have cooled it's hole making time.

Take a drinking straw a poke holes into your
cakes. In a bowl mix one 14oz can of cream
of coconut and one 14oz can of sweetened
condensed milk. Fill a plastic squeeze bottle
with some of the coconut mixture.

Fill all the holes with the coconut mixture.
I only did this once but, you could fill
wait a while and give it another go around.

The cakes become so moist and heavy. Wanna peek inside??

M.O.I.S.T.

The frosting was super easy. I went with a
chocolate ganache.
Heat one cup of heavy cream to boil.
Turn off heat and add 9oz of chocolate.
I used semi-sweet chips from Trader Joe's.
I also added 1 teaspoon of pure almond extract.
Stir and stir and stir, until the mixture comes
together. Leaving you a smooth and velvety
pool of liquid chocolate. Place in the fridge
over a ice bath till cool. Mix the ganache
a few times while it's cooling.

Pipe the ganache on to the cakes. Sprinkle
them with toasted coconut and slivered
almonds.

This recipe yields 14 cakes and just enough frosting. I had
extra of the coconut mixture. So, if you plan on making these
try to find smaller size cans of the cream of coconut
and sweetened condensed milk.

My Dad has a "new" favorite Birthday cake!