I'm back!

Hello everyone! I've returned for the holidays. I haven't quite finished my book yet, but it's coming along nicely. I'll try to post here once a week, but it might end up being more like once every two weeks. To start us off, I'd like to tell you what I did last Saturday.

It started two weeks ago when my friend Vinny was raiding my cabinets for food and came across a large container of food coloring that I keep around for coloring frosting and candies. He decided he wanted to me to make a red velvet cake. The problem was we are almost out of red and it takes almost a full bottle of food coloring to make red velvet cake. We did however have a lot of blue. And that is how the idea of a blue suede cake was born.

It was decided that in two weeks we would make a blue suede cake in remembrance of Elvis's death. Why? I think it was an excuse to make the craziest cake he could think of. This was the result.


What you are looking at is a blue suede (instead of red velvet) cake with a mixture of banana pudding and chopped banana in the middle. It's frosted with peanut butter icing, covered in crispy bacon, then topped with fried banana.

Yes my friend Vinny designed a cake based on Elvis's favorite sandwich, which my husband cooked and we all ate. It was surprisingly good. The bacon and the peanut butter icing was the best part, which is really odd to think about. The weakest part of the cake was the cake itself. I think next time we need to use a less rich cake as all the toppings and fillings were pretty rich in and of themselves.

This brings me to today's mini treasury which is a mash-up of the Elvis cake ingredients. Enjoy! :)

P.B. and Duck Pond - 8x10 Metallic Print by kristimcmurry	Blue Suede Boots for Lati Doll by dollb
Banana Food for 18" American Girl Dolls by pippaloo	Bacon - Original 5x7 Painting by heatherfuture
Baby Blue Suede Petals Necklace by HaKNiK	Peanut Butter Fudge - Half Pound by Atomicfudge

If you'd like to see more Elvis inspired goodness, check out the big treasury here.

Have a great day! :)

Cookie Weekend!

Quick post today! :) This weekend was a lot of fun and FULL of junk food! My husband made a bunch of cookies for our Christmas party on Saturday. Then on Sunday we went to my mom's and the kids decorated some gingerbread men. :) Well they mostly just dumped sprinkles on them and ate all the chocolate chips, but they did have fun! :) With all the cookies in their various forms around this weekend, I decided that Christmas cookies would be a good theme for today's mini treasury! Enjoy! :)

Faux Coconut Macaroon Tree Ornament 'Recipe' by JenniBOriginals	Woolly Gingerbread Cookie Pattern by woollysomething
Vintage Christmas Tree Jello Molds from VintagePatriotGirl	Christmas Cocoa Felt Play Food by LittlePicklepotamus
Oh Christmas Tree - 18 Cookies by SweetArtSweets	Four Little Dunkers Cups in SunBurst by pagepottery

And make sure you check out the big treasury for even more goodies! :)

If I don't get a chance to post again before Christmas, I hope you have a beautiful holiday! Stay safe and don't eat too much! ;)

Have a great day!

Epic Giveaway!

*UPDATE* This Giveaway is Closed! You can see who won by going to my Giveaways page! Thanks to everyone for entering!

So I hope you're hungry this morning, because today is the first day of my first giveaway! :) Over the weekend I was lucky enough to get to sample some products from a remarkable Etsy shop: Hash Delectable Edibles!

If you've never been to her shop you must check it out! In addition to yummy baked goods such as delicious sugar cookies and pies, she also has a unique and awesome item that everyone must try! What is it? It's bacon!

Candied Chipotle Bacon

And not just your everyday run of the mill bacon, but yummy delicious candied bacon, candied chipotle bacon, and even chocolate covered bacon! Now I know what you're thinking, "Chocolate covered bacon?? That's weird and probably tastes funny!" Well I am here to tell you, that not only is chocolate covered bacon unbelievably yummy, it is also addicting! I tried some of the Milk Chocolate Covered Candied Bacon and it was amazing!

Milk Chocolate Covered Candied Bacon

First you get the sweetness of the chocolate, then all of a sudden, WHAM! You get the saltiness from the bacon. It sort of reminded me a chocolate covered pretzel that was chewy instead of crunchy, but with just a touch of smokiness. So good!

Not much into bacon? Well luckily for you the baked goods at HashDelectableEdible are just as good! :) Since she was sending me a sample of her bacon for me to review, I also ended up buying one of her Craveable Sugar Cookie Sampler. :)

The Works Craveable Iced Sugar Cookies Mix

And if you think these colorful cookies look good, you should try tasting them! :) You get one cookie of each flavor:

Raspberry, Strawberry, Cherry, Orange Creme, Lemon, Key Lime, Coconut, Blueberry, Buttered Rum, Vanilla, Chocolate, Almond, Root Beer Float, & Peanut Butter

My family's favorites were the Orange Creme:



And the Coconut:



Except my husband, he liked the Almond the best! :)



Her best seller overall is the peanut butter. And I can certainly see why! The frosting was so think and creamy, it was amazing! :)

Peanut Butter Craveables Frosted Sugar Cookies

All of the sugar cookies were soft and moist and the frostings were sweet and flavorful! If you love sugar cookies, I would definitely suggest picking up some these tasty treats. And if your pretty sure you already know which cookie will be your favorite, she also offers a Pick Your Own Craveable Mix, where you can get an assortment of your favorites, or just a whole bunch of one kind! :)

So now that I've got you all hungry and drooling, wouldn't you love to win a free sample from HashDelectableEdible? Well then today is your lucky day! All you have to do to win a free order of yummy, delicious bacon is do the following:

- First, Follow my blog.
- Then, Go to HashDelectableEdible and check out all the yummy treats available.
- When you're done, Come back here, and tell me in the comments below, which flavor bacon you'd like to try and why. Make sure you leave me a way to contact you, so I can let you know if you're the winner.
- You can also get an extra chance to win by favoriting HashDelectableEdible on Etsy! :)

This contest will run through October 4th and is open to US residents only. The winner will be picked randomly, then announced on Tuesday October 5th. Good luck everybody! :)

*Mandatory Disclaimer* I received no monetary compensation for this review. I did received a product sample of the bacon to review, but the cookies I purchased myself. All opinions expressed here are truthful and mine. Your opinions may vary. :)

And now I'll leave you with my latest mini treasury: Glass Across Etsy! Enjoy! :)

Old Fashioned Hard Candy Sea Glass Candy by tHeENDpeace	Tiffany Woodbine Reproduction Lamp by BoomGlassArt
Happy Bubbles Hand Painted on Glass by avgustvarjanja	Orange Thumbprint Glass Vase by Jesswainer
Pyrex Glass Sunflower Mixing Bowl Set by cheshirecatantiques	Amber Winds Silhouette Candle Holder by TreeWingsStudio

And make sure you check out the big treasury that matches! Have a sweet day! :)

Epic Weekend!

This was one of the best weekends in a long time! :) Friday night we took the kids to see fireworks. Saturday we relaxed all day, then my brothers and cousins came over and we hung out for a bit and played games. :)

Sunday which was the 4th of July was awesome! We hung out at home for the morning, and I worked on some treasuries. And...



One of them made it to the front page!!! :D I've never had anything make it to the front page before! Congrats to PamlicoBee, qacreate, asherjasper, EleganceFarm, ShoeBoxMemoriesDLuxe, queenartist, owlcreekceramics, QuiltsbyShirley, Mazizmuse, H20works, photodillon, and MySillyBear! And thanks to them and to SimpleJoysPaperie, greenbaboondesigns, CortneyLei, and ItzFitz for making this treasury special enough to get picked for the front page! :) I couldn't have gotten there without you! :)

I also made another Americana treasury on Sunday (I was having too much fun!).

~ America the Beautiful ~

I based this one on the song of the same name. Each picture and the item to its right, is part of a line from the first verse. It was fun to make. :) I like doing treasuries based on songs and poems. It makes it more interesting to find pieces that match them. :)

Anyway after we had hung out at the house for a bit, we went to my mom's to go swimming. It was the perfect night for it! The air was warm, the water was warm, and there was hardly any breeze. When we got home it was getting dark, and we noticed some of our neighbors were shooting off fireworks, so we stayed in the driveway and watched that for a bit. The next day we were going to a birthday party, so once the kids were asleep, my husband baked a pie.



And not just any pie, but the best pecan pie I've ever had! Oh man...it was soooo good! I have to get the recipe from him so I can post it. It really was to die for! :)

Monday was the party and I figured since it was a party, I should make some cupcakes. Nothing fancy, just something festive. :)



They turned out really cute, and they weren't that hard to make either! :) After the party we came home and my brother and cousins came over again to play some board games then we watched a movie. Overall it was an amazingly fun weekend! :) I hope you all had a great weekend as well. And since I got so much done this weekend, I also have a BBQ mini treasury for you! Enjoy!

Oven Barbecued Brisket Photo by cateomalley	Polymer Clay Hot Dog Earrings by roscata
Etched Pint Size Jelly Jar Barware by EastMesaDesign	Organic Sugarbaby Watermelon Seeds by TheLittleRagamuffin
Polymer Clay Cheeseburger Charm by shayaaron	Summer BBQ Invite - Set of 8 by girlingearstudio

And, I also did a really treasury to go with it! You can check it out here!

Hope you all had a great weekend and I hope you all have a great rest of the week! Bye for now! :)

A Good Food Week

This has been what I would classify as a good food week. There was carnival food, mint, ice cream, and now ginger cookies! :) Christmas is one of my favorite times of year and one of the main reasons for that is gingerbread! I LOVE gingerbread! I'm not sure why or how gingerbread ended up being a Christmas food, but it saddens me to think that most people only eat ginger cookies during the holidays. I always make sure I get a healthy helping of ginger cookies at least two or three times during the "off season." These are my very, very favorite ginger cookies:



They are my husband's triple ginger cookies! And they are soft, chewy, and delicious! I could probably eat two dozen of these without even trying! Not the there is anything wrong with Christmasy cookies, especially gingerbread men, who are as much fun to make as they are to eat! I actually have a couple of gingerbread Christmas ornaments in my shop right now and this little guy is going to be joining them very shortly. :)

Russian Dancer Gingerbread Man Felt Christmas Ornament

He started out as a plain gingerbread man, but something about him reminded me of the Nutcracker Suite, and he ended up dressed like a Russian dancer. I think he looks very handsome, and very tasty! :)

So since this weekend I seem to have ginger on the brain, here is a selection of ginger, Etsy style! Enjoy! :)

Antique Brown Leather Ginger Belt by moxieandoliver	Felted Play Ginger Cookies by woollyduck
Ginger Portrait, Giclee Print, 8-1/2" x 11" by ChavahsGarden	Gingersnap - Fingering Sock Yarn by CraftyWoman
Brown Sugar Ginger Spice Shortbread Cookies by whimsyandspice	White Tea and Ginger Scented Votives by kittredgecandles

Have a sweet day!

Weekend Updates!

It was another busy weekend in this neck of the woods. Friday night was my twin sons' and my nephew's birthday party. They were born almost exactly a year apart, so we do all three birthday parties the same day. :) I made them a train cake, it turned out really cute!



There's some close-up pic of the cake in my Cool Cakes & Cupcakes set on Flickr. I love the way the engine turned out. :)

I also did another yard sale this weekend. This time however, I forgot to use sunscreen and now my nose and the tops of my ears are soar. :( But we sold more stuff this weekend, so it wasn't a total loss. :)

Best of all, I finally finished the Ravenclaw ornament! :D

Harry Potter Ravenclaw Shield Hand Embroidered Felt Ornament

You can see how I made in my In Progress Photos set. I'm thinking about doing the Hogwarts Shield as well, but I think it might be too detailed to do in felt. Maybe I'll try it clay. Hmmm...something to think about. :)

That's it for the moment. Hope you all had a great weekend and a Happy Father's 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. :)