Sweetheart Cupcakes

With Valentines Day fast approaching, so are the requests to make things.  They sound a whole lot like "Mom, can you...blah, blah, blah?"  or "Mom, I need _____ by about 4 o'clock, can you do that?"  Sure, I can.  To the best of my ability, I won't let my kiddos down...NEVER, I just won't.  I want them to know that I can pretty much do anything they ask of me (of course within reason)  Yes, I can sew you curtains or make your Halloween costume, sure I can bake cupcakes or help you make your project "fabulous".  I can be your hairdresser, manicurist, laundress, chef, baker, driver, supporter, etc.  I can fix the vacuum after you've sucked up all the friendship string that was on the floor...arg!  I can even make sure that your bedroom door doesn't squeak when it opens (thanks to my friend WD-40)  Of course, these are just a few of the things on the top of the list in the past two days...there's always MORE!  I can do all of these things, as long as you follow our house rules, have done your very best at school (the best I know you are capable of) are kind, honest, respectful and gracious to others and yourself.

So, when our youngest requested "special" cupcakes for an upcoming school dance, I said "sure, I'll come up with something"  The littlest of g's wanted a cupcake that "...nobody else will have baked."  I got my thinking cap on.  I'm pretty good in the kitchen.  I like to bake more so than cook, but either way, I'm usually successful.  As you've heard, I'm on this fabulous site called Pinterest.  There are about a bagillion ideas on the site.  Lately, I've been seeing recipes with Oreos in them.  My children LOVE Oreos.  As they seem to be very trendy right now, I thought I should make an Oreo cupcake for the school dance.  

Here is what I came up with:  French Vanilla Ooey Gooey White Chocolate Oreo Cookie Cupcakes.  Salivating yet???  Oh, I forgot with Whipped Icing....OK now are you salivating?  I didn't want to make my icing too sweet since so much was already going on in the cupcake and boy was that a good call on my part.  The cupcakes were delicious with vanilla whipped icing.  These cupcakes were super easy to bake and well I was told they were gone in a flash.  Kinda makes a Mom smile when that happens.

French Vanilla, Ooey Gooey White Chocolate Oreo Cookie Cupcakes with Vanilla Whipped Icing

Anyway, here's how ya make them.  It's super-dee-dooper EASY!

Supplies Needed:

French Vanilla Cake Mix

Eggs

Veg Oil or Applesauce ( I use applesauce)

Water

Cool Whip (thawed)

Cream Cheese (room temperature)

Vanilla

10X

Hershey Kisses

Decorations (if desired)

Icing Coloring ( I used Wilton's Rose)

Plastic Solo cups

Cupcake Liners

1.  Line cupcake pan with liners 

2.  Drop one Oreo in each cupcake liner

3.  Prepare cake batter according to box directions

4.  Next, add about 1 cup of White Chocolate Chips to the batter

5.  Pour batter all the way to the top of the cupcake liner edge.   

I swirled a drop of red food coloring into each cake

6.  Place in oven at 350-370 degrees and bake for 17-22 minutes.  Check for doneness (is that a word?) with a toothpick.  Be sure that the cakes are cooked thoroughly, the chocolate chips will cause the cakes to be gooey.

7.  While cakes are baking, make icing.  Place about 1/2 pkg of cream cheese and the entire contents of cool whip ( I used extra creamy) and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla in a mixing bowl.  Beat until you get a good cohesion between the ingredients.  Next, start to slowly add the 10X in the bowl while beating the icing.  You can add more, or less depending on taste.  Next, you want to add the rest of the cream cheese to the icing and beat well till the icing is a good spreadable consistency.  Lastly, select your frosting color and add to the mix.  Refrigerate icing till ready to use.  Do NOT frost warm cupcakes.  The cakes must be entirely cool.  

8.  Let cakes cool on cooling racks when finished baking.

9.  Frost cakes and decorate

 

Here is the inside...YUMMO!

After everything was decorated I placed each cupcake in a clear Solo cup that I cut down to "cupcake" size.  I saw this idea somewhere on Pinterest, or at least a similar idea, I don't think they cut the cups down. Anyway, I think having the cakes in little cups made handling them easier for both kids and parents alike.  Less messy!

Next on the list....A valentines mailbox for school.  As much as I'm not a fan of Valentines Day for my husband and myself.  It is fun making all of these things for the kids. 

'Till next time...

 

Valentine Treats

With the ever popular Hallmark Holiday of Valentines coming up, my children wanted me to make them something to take to school.  As usual, I'm happy to oblige.  I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day.  I love my husband everyday, and he loves me.  I don't do anniversaries or Valentines day.  What-evs'.  I see no point in going out and spending triple the going rate on a dozen of roses that are going to just die, nor do I see a point in handing me a pound of chocolate knowing that I can't have just one piece a day.  I view anniversaries pretty much the same.  Yes, will I enjoy going out, just the two of us, sure, but do I require a gift...nope, not at all.  

For my kids however, I want them to enjoy the day.  Have the parties in school, exchange cards with friends and be excited to see who your "secret" valentine may be.  I do love whimsy and Valentine's has a little bit of whimsy to it for children (at least in my eyes), so therefore, we celebrate.

The little one wanted to do something special for the class.  So far, I've come up with this cutie little lollipop idea.  I just took card stock and created little cards for the lolli to fit through.  I then punched circles to go on top of the card, stamped them up and threw some ribbon around them.  Quick and simple!

Next....a Valentine's Day card box.....come back to see how that turns out.

'Till next time...

Rock a Bye Baby

Remember how I told you about all of the babies being born in my neck of the woods, well that is most certainly true, but the post I'm doing today is about a baby gift I made sometime ago.  While going through my creation photos the other day I came across this and thought it would be nice to share, or even possibly inspire someone.  Here ya go....

I like to upcycle, I always have.  I've been a re-purposer forever.  I had to, we were B-R-O-K-E growing up.  By 7th grade I had been to 5 schools.  I always had to reinvent myself, at least I thought I did.  I was constantly meeting new people and well, to be honest, trying to fit in with a different crowd often.  In came my upcycling.  I used to get hand-me-downs from neighbors, friends, cousins...you get the drift.  I have nothing against hand-me-downs...but seriously, when they don't fit or just aren't "cool" anymore who wants them?  Well, my parents didn't care about any of that.  Luckily, they also didn't care that I would create "new" clothes from my hand-me-downs.  As long as when I went to school I was what they considered presentable, whatever I did to re-invent my clothes was fine with them.  Anyway, the gist of this story is that repurposing has been something that I've always just done...so, needless to say, I now have a hard time getting rid of things that I just know someone else can use.  We're not talking just clothes either, I however, repurpose an item before I give it away so that the item is "new".

My oldest was given a hand painted rocking chair at 6 months old.  Very cute and very tiny.  By the time age three rolled around, baby #1 could no longer fit in the chair, so I held on to it till baby #2 could use it and when it no longer fit our needs anymore I stored it.  Storage is a hot commodity in our home. We don't have a huge place and I'm not a fan of the cluttered look.  While rearranging the attic one day and purging what I could part with, a light bulb went off in my head to repurpose this great rocker for a cousin of mine who had recently had a baby.  

My littlest cousin's room was sage green, cream and had brown stars on the walls as accents.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, I could paint something to go well with this room!



I sanded the rocker, primed it with some Kilz and then got to paintin'.  I stamped stars randomly in a pattern by accident on the rocker, and clear coated the whole thing with two coats of poly.  I gave this repurposed gift to my cousins and they loved it!  FYI...the intent of the star stamping was to be random but somehow, they turned into a pattern.  Must be a little of my OCD..aka know as COD (cause it has be alphabetical to be compulsive...lol!)  

What do you have that you can repurpose and give as a gift or donate?  Clean out your attics people, there's something...I guarantee it!  Here's to inspiration...

'Till next time... 

I LOVE a bargain!

While recently shopping at Target, or as we like to call it....TarShay, we found Composition Books on sale for $.10 each.  What a bargain...right??  Earlier, in the beginning of the school year, my oldest wanted a comp book from Staples that was multi-colored.  At a price tag of $2.99 for being "fancy" I said no way.  We settled with plain ole' black and white comp books.  When I was a kid, we used to use red pens to color in all of the marbling on a Comp book, or if we were getting fancy, we used pinks, reds and greens, but always in ink.  

We didn't see the "fancy" books on sale this time at TarShay, so yet again, we settled.  My oldest decided that some craftiness was in order to make a "fancy" book.  I told the story "...when I was a kid..."  My oldest heard...blah, blah, blah.  Anyway, someones creativity got flowing and here is the end result.  


Here is the before:

Plain ole' Composition Book

And here is the after:  

Fancified...is that a word??

Pretty cool right??

Supplies used were permanent markers, (Sharpies....NOT my Copics) duct tape and a little bit of time.  My oldest added purple duct tape to the binding and covered over the traditional black binding, colored in all of the marbling and made a really fun Comp Book.   

  
Next school year, save yourself a little $$ and have a kid color the books.  They have fun, you'll save money, they'll be proud of their work, and you'll be proud of them for making something neat.

Little Bragger

I’ve been paper crafting for sometime now.  12 years to be exact that I've been buying my own supplies.  Before that, I was just a kid and using construction paper to make what I thought were lovely creations.  I’ve never thought of myself as being exceptionally good at paper crafting, but I enjoy it.  I’m happy enough with my results and I love trying new ideas.  Sometimes, I succeed, other times; I look at what I’ve made and say I need a little more practice.  

Paper crafting is just so darn attractive to me.  Beautiful colors and patterns of paper, limitless ideas, the nostalgia you are creating, there are some of the neatest toys and accessories available to use while paper crafting and well, lets face it, it's fun making something pretty.

As you’ve read in some of my previous blogs, I like to make gifts.  I usually don’t like to repeat designs, (even when I've lifted an idea).  There are a few occasions that I have or that I will, but normally, once I’ve made it, I want to see what else I can move onto.  I'm just not a fan of duplication.  Sometimes it is necessary, like when a friend says they love something you've made and will you make them one.  For me, when I duplicate something, I get bored and the love for the creation kinda gets dull.  

At one time in my life, I knew a woman that was an AWESOME paper crafter, I mean ideas like no other.  Sometimes they were her ideas and a LOT of times she “borrowed” them or just added to an idea she saw, but none the less, she could take a plain ole’ sheet of 12x12 paper and turn it into something  I considered phenomenal.  I’ve never been able to channel that exact talent, but like I said, I’m happy with what I make and usually if it is a gift I'm making, which is often the case, the recipient is too! 

There have been a lot of babies being born in my life recently.  Friends, family, neighbors and the like have been having babies, amongst babies, amongst babies.  It’s baby season in my neck of the woods!  Of course with all of these babies being born, I feel obligated to make something.   

When I was a new Mom, I made myself a brag book of sorts.  Something small that I could keep in my purse diaper bag to show off my bundles of joy.  So, I have decided to make just that, a brag book, for the newest Mommy and Daddy in my life.  Some may consider this a sort of “mini”, I just call it a brag book.  It’s simple, just a few sheets of paper and some embellishments.  Sorry, but I don’t have any “behind the scenes” photos on this one.  I’m just not real good with taking the pictures as I create all of the time.  Believe me, I do try, but sometimes, I just make things without realizing that I’ll be sharing with you…. Sorry.  In better news, I'm in the process of a new project that I actually am taking photos of.  I'll be able to share with you soon so...stay tuned for that :-)

Front of Bragger

Inside

Inside

I hope you enjoy this little bragger, made by me (not created by me) :-).

‘Till next time…