Happy Anniversary Patrick! :)

Today is me and my husband's 7th anniversary! And as a special surprise for my husband, I am making today's theme a tribute to his favorite sports team: the Mets! :) Happy Anniversary Patrick! I love you! :)

New York Mets MLB Cross Stitch by youheartus	Baseball Theme Nightlight by SpecialtyGlassworks
Navy Baseball Snack Sleeve by agreensleeve	Waiting for Apirl - Watercolor Painting by kellyjcallahan
Vintage Style Lemon Peel Baseball by LemonBall	Shea Stadium (1964-2008) by davidhinchendesign

Hope you all have a wonderful day! :)

Mmmm...Waffles!

No this post isn't about waffles, that's just what I had for breakfast this morning. :) I probably will do a waffle post in the future, as I am a fan, but today's post is related to waffle toppings rather then the waffles themselves. A good part of my early childhood was spent growing up in Vermont, land of maple syrup! I LOVE maple syrup! :) But I especially enjoy the things you can make out of maple syrup. Things like maple sugar candy, maple cream spread, and sugar snow! :) I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it! So in honor of that amber colored, sticky sweet breakfast topping, here is a maple syrup themed mini treasury! Enjoy!

4oz Real Maple Specialty Sugar by LoveAbounds	Lampwork Maple Syrup Necklace by sarahfisher
Maple Syrup Watercolor Print by workingwoman	Sugar Maple Wood Bowl by timberturner
Maple Sugar Handmade Soap by messesandmudpies	Maple Syrup - Luna Lace Yarn by sqwish

Have a sweet day! :)

Graduation Cupcakes!

I didn't do a post this morning, because today was my twin brothers' graduation party and I spent the morning decorating cupcakes for it. I ended up making cupcakes with little graduation caps on top. :) I got the idea from the Kraft Foods website, but their recipe was a little complicated so I simplified it slightly. They turned out so good I decided to do a little tutorial on my blog in case anyone is in need of an easy graduation dessert. :) This is what they look like when they are done:


Graduation Cap Cupcakes
Things you will need:

• 18 cupcakes in paper or foil cupcake cups
• 1 container of chocolate frosting
• 18 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures
• 2 packages of Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Peanut Butter Filling Squares (there should be about 9 in a package)
• 1 small package of Reese's Pieces or M&M's
• 1 package of Twizzler's Pull-N-Peels

Step One: Making the Tassels



1) Take one pull-n-peel and cut it into three pieces.



2) Each pull-n-peel has nine separate "threads".



Pull all of the eight outside threads away from the middle.



But leave an inch connected at the bottom.



You should end up with this:



3) Cut all of the loose ends to the point where all of the threads connect. *Make sure you do NOT cut the center thread!*



4) Press the bottom piece together near where you cut them to make sure they are sticking well to the middle thread. Your finished tassel should look like this:



If you want to make the string longer for a cake or some other use, you can cut the pull-n-peel in half (instead of thirds) or leave it whole instead.

Step 2: Prep Work

1) You need at least 18 cupcakes in cupcake cups. (You can do more then 18, but you will need to increase the amount of Ghirardelli Squares you have.) Frost the cupcakes, but make sure you have at least a 1/2 cup of frosting left when your done, so you can use it to secure the candy.

2) Unwrap all the candy you are going to need. You can do this as you go if you want, but it's easier if everything is ready ahead of time.

*Note: When I made my cupcakes 2 of the Ghirardelli Squares were broken inside their wrappers and I couldn't use them. If you need a certain number of cupcakes with decorations you might want to buy extra squares just in case.*

3) Put the leftover chocolate frosting in a ziplock bag and snip a small piece off one of the bottom corners. This will serve as a piping bag and make it easier to put dabs of frosting where you need them.

Step 3: Assembling

1) Put one mini Reese's cup upside, on top of a cupcake.

2) Put a dab of chocolate on top of the mini cup. *Make sure you use enough chocolate to hold on the Ghirardelli Square.*

3) Put a Ghirardelli Square upside down on top of the mini cup.

4) Put a dab of chocolate in the center of the square.

5) Stick the string from the tassel in the chocolate dab, then add another dab to the top of the string.

6) Push a single M&M or Reese's Pieces onto the chocolate dab. This secures the tassel to the top of the square. Your finishing piece should look like this:

I hope you liked my tutorial. And I hope you have a sweet day! :)

P.S. Making the tassels leaves you with quite a lot of extra twizzler strings.



You can use them as writing or decoration on another cake. Or you can do like I did, and just eat them. :)

:: Foggy ::

My allergies this year are making me a bit, well, foggy. That got me thinking back to living in Vermont. We would drive to my aunt's house some mornings, and especially in the spring and fall, the clouds would still be stuck in the mountains. It created really cool patches of fog and gave everything a soft misty feel. :) Even though it's nice to live in New Jersey where I'm close to everything, I do miss those mornings. Here's a misty morning inspired mini treasury. Enjoy! :)

Serenity II - 8x10 Fine Art Photograph by slphoto	Fog - Handspun Alpaca Yarn by starslikejoe
Fog Felted Treasure Bowl by shanineal	Little Fog Porcelain Sugar Jar by AmyEsther
Cocoon Wrap Cardigan in Fog Grey Print by jennythreads	Castle in Fog Greeting Card by NatureMandalas

I hope you have a beautiful day and a misty morning! :)

P.S. Oops! Almost forgot! I did a Treasury East treasury to go along with this one! Check it out here!

Three down...

...two to go! I finally finished my Harry Potter Slytherin ornament! :) I think I'm either getting better at this, or Hufflepuff was way harder then Slytherin! I'm hoping Ravenclaw is even easier, but looking at the wings and some of the other details, I'm kinda thinking it won't be.

As an update to my last Harry Potter post, I have still not found our copy of Harry Potter in the large group of boxes containing my husband's books, but once I do I am going to read the first book. My husband is very glad that you all have persuaded me into reading it, as he has been trying to get me to start the first book since we got married. :) Anyway, once again in honor of finishing the ornament, I present a Harry Potter themed mini treasury! This time however, it is dedicated strictly to Slytherin! Enjoy! :)

Handbound Potions Notebook by celestefrittata	Slytherin / Cunning Necklace by JustDuckieDesigns
Harry Potter Slytherin Ornament by Autumn2May	The Slytherin House Scarf by missindie
Hall - 8x10 Photo Print by JuniMay	Slytherin Crest Fair Isle Tote by craftzies

Oh and if you are wondering what the fifth shield is going to be, I plan on doing the Hogwarts crest after I finish Ravenclaw. I also might go back and make another Gryffindor since that one sold so quickly. Hope you have a great day! :)

Good Morning!

I got a lot done this weekend. Lots of cleaning, some organizing, and I'm almost completely done with my Slytherin ornament! Hopefully I'll be able to post it later today, it depends on whether the sun decides to come out a little bit or not. This weekend was not, however, a good sleep weekend. I think I got 5 hours of sleep on Friday night, and that was the most for the whole weekend! Needless to say, I am rather sleepy today. That being said I have found a random selection that I had done a while ago to post today, as I am in no mood to work on a new one at the moment. :) Today's theme is bamboo. Hope you enjoy it!

Bamboo Ceramic Sushi Tray by Mypolkadotpottery	Bamboo Fields Glycerin Soap by TwinDreamCreations
Pair of Bamboo Shoots Handpainted Cushion Covers by pabrika	A Bamboo's Intuition - 8x10 Fine Art Photograph by HerOwnFrequency
Bamboo Print Coptic Bound Journal by iamjoliet	Lucky Bamboo Blank Greeting Card by stampgirl45

Have a lovely Monday! :)

A B C D E F G ...

Kinda busy today doing random non-blogging stuff. But here's an ABCs treasury I made. I came up with the idea because the song is pretty much stuck in my head ALL DAY LONG! That's what I get for having pre-schoolers, and teaching them to sing. :)

A B C D E F G ...

Have a sing song day! :)

A Merry, Merry...

...Unbirthday to me, to me! :) Okay, so I forgot yesterday was my birthday until way after I posted yesterday's post. I guess I was so busy playing around with my brother's shop I totally forgot about it. :) It's one day late, but enjoy some cake in honor of all the birthdays this month (including mine)! :)

Hand Carved Basswood Birthday Cake by Twhittlechips	Happy Birthday Fairy Cake Sculpture by britishcreamtea
Vanilla Bean Cheese Cake Painting by artbyrodriguez	Strawberry Cheesecake Coin Purse by dinkydaisy
1/12TH Scale Mad Hatter Tea Party Inspired Cake by 64tnt	Chocolate Cake on Cake Stand Lampwork Bead by beadbrains

Hope you all have a great day! :)

P.S. This took a lot longer then I thought it would! There are way too many cool birthday cakes on Etsy! Since I found so many I made a Treasury East to go with this post!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Enjoy!

New stuff! And other stuff.

I didn't get much done with my Etsy shop today, but I did help my brother Tony (DigitalMushroom) get his shop reopened. He (along with his twin brother Alex) just graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rowan University! Alex graduated with an Accounting degree and Tony graduated with a degree in Art. They are identical twins, but as you can see, they are very different. :) Anyway, today I helped Tony open his shop again, and have been taking pictures of some of his work for his portfolio. He's going to a advertising portfolio day in Philadelphia on Thursday to get advice on his portfolio. I'm kinda hoping they all really like it and offer him a job too, but I'm not sure if it's that kind of seminar or not. Oh, and on top of reopening his shop, he also posted a new piece!

Primitive Space Invader Polymer Clay Refrigerator Magnet

I think it's cute. :) It's different because it's a video game piece, but it's primitive. The old and new aspects of it together make it really unique. :) Well, back to work for me. Time to feed the monkeys...I mean children. ;)

Have a great night! :)

Ruby Red

I'm helping watch my nephew today, so no time for a big post. I did have time, while the kids were napping, to post a ruby red treasury I had already made up. Hope you like it!

Ruby Red: The Color of Love

Have a great day everyone! :)