Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip February 6, 2012

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Truth is….I didn’t make this, but my friend Kayla did for a party we had a while back and it is phenomenal!!!! She served this with graham crackers and I couldn’t get enough!!! I think everyone who tasted it went back for seconds! This would also be a treasure for fruit!!! Shoot, it was so good that I’d probably dip a chicken wing in it!! Here’s the link to the blog from pinterest in case you mixed it….

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/05/20/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-dip/

your mouth is watering right??? Here’s the recipe…

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 8 oz tub spreadable cream cheese (regular or light)
1/4 cup powdered sugar (or to taste)
1 cup sour cream or whipped cream (optional)
1/2 cup mini or chopped chocolate chips

In a small saucepan or a bowl in the microwave, melt the butter and brown sugar, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla; set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the brown sugar mixture, then stir in the chocolate chips, reserving a few for garnish, if you like. Fold in the sour cream or whipped cream, if you want it extra creamy.

Serve immediately or refrigerate until you’re ready for it. (It will get firmer once chilled, so let it come back to room temperature before serving.) Serve with sliced fruit for dipping.

Enjoy!!!

Olive Garden Dressing February 4, 2012

Yes, that yummy italian dressing from Olive Garden is in my fridge!! And no, I didn’t pay an arm and a leg for it.  I already had most of the ingredients and the pack of italian dressing mix was super easy to find in the store. Here’s the blog from pintereset…

http://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/01/olive-garden-salad-dressing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FyFEUJ+%28The+Country+Cook%29

Suuuuuper easy to make and tasted very close if not the same to Olive Garden’s infamous dressing! Here are the ingredients…

I highly recommend making this dressing! Save that extra cash for Olive Garden’s black tie mousse cake! YUM!

I love Lush!! January 3, 2012

Lush is amazing!!!! Fresh, handmade cosmetics! However, it is very expensive!!! My mother in law loves their shampoo and I was determined to get it for her this Christmas. But…I live about an hour and a half from the nearest store. My mistake….I don’t know which kind she uses AND… I went on a Sunday when they closed at six. Freaking out!!!! I settle for the next best thing… Pinterest. I found a recipe for lemon scrub (sounds delicious) and some vitamin E cream. I head out to Target, Walmart, the local vitamin store, and drug store to get all of my ingredients.

Here is the blog I followed for the scrub…

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/05/lemon-sugar-hand-scrub-for-mom.html

Yes! It worked! I scrubbed my hands with the remaining scrub in the bowl and my hands felt silky. However, the scrub DOES NOT smell good! I couldn’t find any scented oil at a local retailer. Amazon sells a small bottle, but I wanted to see it and smell it before I purchased it.

Here is the blog I followed for the hand cream…

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2010/03/06/homemade-hand-cream/

This worked perfect. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!!

I packaged both inside of mason jars with a yellow luffa sponge!

She loved both items and has used them on her face, legs and feet. She claims to notice a difference. So…they must be treasures!

Initial Crafts…

Tree is down (as in like…taken down on Christmas night), gifts are put away, junk food trashed, and… back to blogging! I’ve taken a break due to the fact that most of the things I was making were someone’s Christmas gift. So…let’s continue!

I’ve seen these initial crafts all over pinterest. Whether it be mod podge, wrapped in twine, yarn or whatever new way these creative people keep coming up with. LOVE IT! I decided to try wrapping letters in twine. Seemed easy enough…

Here is the one I was going by…

And here is mine…

I would say it worked out pretty good!! My suggestions… be careful about what twine you pick. Mine was very rough and created lots of flyaways that I had to fix by cutting around the edges. It is super hard to make sure every nook and cranny is covered and that the twine is going in the right direction to ensure neatness. PATIENCE! I gave these to my husband’s aunts and they seemed to really like them. Again, I thought…what can I buy for these ladies that they can’t go out and get for themselves. NOTHING! I thought this was a cute solution.

Next, I wanted to make the initial with the scrap book paper and mod podge. Seems mod podge is a key ingredient all over pinterest and I wanted to see just how it worked. This is what I was going for…

and well… it wasn’t that easy. My first go round, my paper didn’t completely cover the letter and you could see the edges.   I tried to outline the letter with black Sharpie, but it just looked like a cheap fix. So…I decided to paint over the first layer and all of the edges. This would help camouflage any mistakes like before. Worked like a charm! I painted glue to the back of the scrap book paper, placed it perfectly on the letter, and then put some mod podge all over the top. After it dried, I glued the ribbon and marveled at its beauty!

First go round…(Realizing I should take a picture in the middle of painting over…)

Then painted…

and…..

I think these are both treasures. I feel these would have sold for a lot more than I paid to make them!

Baby’s First Christmas… December 17, 2011

Buy an ornament for Clayton’s first Christmas or make one…..I’m going to make it! I have a couple of ideas (coming soon)

I saw the blog about making the salt dough and pressing his hand in it. CUTE!! This is the link and the picture I saw.

http://homemadegrits.blogspot.com/2009/12/handmade-christmas-homemade-ornaments.html

Adorable, right?? NOT THAT EASY!!!!! There is no way they used babies to make these ornaments!!!! I prepared the dough, rolled it out, and placed Clayton’s hand in the dough. Sounds okay until I pressed his hand in the dough. He wanted to grab it each time. I couldn’t keep his flat to make the impression it needed. After a couple of tries, I filled in the holes where he grabbed through the dough.

Here is my before:

First try…

Second try…

And here is my final product…

It turned out okay…

Before I can call this a complete waste of time aka a piece of  trash… I like to figure out what I can do differently to make it a treasure. I’ve decided to try it again, with my left over dough, and make it with his foot. He may curl his toes but it has to be easier than his hand. So I guess this project ends with..undecided??

the brown sugar trick…

IT WORKS!!! I hate going to my brown sugar and beating it into the measuring cup. The marshmallow trick works!! Mine feels like soft sand!! Now on to finding a blog about making my own exfoliant recipe with this soft brown sugar…

Rudolf cupcakes…

Scott and I were invited to a cheesy Christmas sweater party last night….we have no Christmas sweaters and Goodwill was sold plum out. I had to make up for our lack of fashion by bringing an amazing snack. I’m pretty good at making  boxed cakes so that was a start. But who brings plain cupcakes to a Christmas party??? I saw the Rudolf/reindeer cupcakes and decided I’d give it a try.

http://www.withsprinklesontop.net/?p=1156

I had all of the ingredients. Except, where do you find white m&m’s in your everyday grocery store??? Therefore, I decided I’d whip up some white icing to make the sclera (white of the eyeballs). BAD IDEA!! The icing moved all over top of the chocolate frosting and made it look kinda messy. Also, I put my pretzels in the sides of the cupcakes to protect them from the aluminum foil.

Enough stalling, here are mine…

They are okay……maybe??? There weren’t any specific instructions on how to assemble the cupcake. So here are mine…

1. Frost the cupcakes.

2. Rest the pretzels in or on top of the cupcake at around 10 and 2:00.

3. Place the vanilla wafer at the bottom of the cupcake.

4. FIND SOMEWHERE that sells white m&m’s to use for the eyes!!!!!

5. Dot the m&m eyes with chocolate icing.

6. Dot the vanilla wafer with chocolate icing to help the red/brown m&m nose to stick.

I will probably make these cupcakes again; however, I will find the white m&m’s and allow myself more time to assemble everything together. These will be treasures for years to come!

the onions!! the big, long, green, growing onions!

I told you the pin/blog about the green onions worked. However, I cut mine for some chicken chili before I could take a picture. They have grown back AGAIN and here is my proof…

So…we have officially saved $1.60! Thanks to my 40 cent ikea votive holder and city water!

 

TRASH!!!! December 15, 2011

Finally…trash!!

Pinterest is a wonderful tool to find crafts, recipes, and methods that make things easier around the house. However, some of those great ideas don’t work out and I’m hear to tell you…I found one that’s trash! I was looking at http://asmallsnippet.blogspot.com/2010/01/few-tips.html

The blogger (she seems really nice and probably has lots of other great ideas that work) offered a phenomenal method to prevent water from boiling over.  My water boils over a couple of times a week. She suggested I put a wooden spoon on the top of the pot.

Her picture… (I think that is before it poured over)

And mine….

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Yes, that’s water pouring out all over my stove. This method is trash!

Homemade Microfiber Couch Cleaner…..hmmm

My couches are disgusting! Between Clayton chewing on the edges, the bottles leaking when we are holding him, and tons of greasy fingers from some of the kids I watch during the day….well you get the picture. And yes, I do try to clean each spot!! However, this light tan microfiber shows EVERYTHING!!!!! (we try clean it with baby wipes or a wet towel and nevertheless they all leave a new spot) We rented the rug doctor once and it worked wonders. However, the older Clayton gets the more stains I find. I’d like to invest in a steam vac soon; however, until that day I’m looking for tricks to get a quick fix.  So of course….I found this blog on pinterest.

http://chrisandrobinsnest.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-clean-microfiber-furniture.html

Here is her before…

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Here is a mine (directly aimed at the stains)….

Please don’t think I’m dirty!!!!!!!

I followed her directions as much as possible.

Step 1: Vacuum crumbs (I skipped this step….I tell you I’m clean!!!! I didn’t have any crumbs…yuck!)

Step 2: Soak couch with rubbing alcohol (Check)

Step 3: Scrub with white sponge. (A colored sponge may leave spots on the couch) I couldn’t find a white sponge, so I settled for the scotch brite all natural. (Check)

Step 4: Once the couch is completely dry, use a scrub brush to soften material. I skipped this step as well, because I didn’t notice that my furniture felt rough.

Results…..

Her finished product….

And here is my finished product…

I wasn’t 100% happy with this and so I repeated the process.

Here is the final product..

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I could probably do it five more times and reach results I’m 100% satisfied with but Clayton was waking up from his nap. Maybe I’ll try again today. I’m kind of stuck in the middle…is this method of cleaning microfiber trash or treasure?? I’m going with a treasure due to the fact that it did remove some of the stains and its cheaper than renting the rug doctor every other day.