Caramel Mocha Cupcakes...oh my!

This weekend was a fun time! I went to the coolest girls night out party you have ever heard of. It was a "Pity Party". It was hilarious. When you can sit around with some other 'mom' friends with out your children in tow you know it's going to be a glorious time! We played games, shared our 'pity party' stories, and even had a dessert competition. I had the best time getting to know these ladies better. I feel so blessed to be able to call them friends. There are rumors of another one in June so I am really praying this pans out because I had so much fun at this one!

I wanted to share with you what I made for the dessert competition. Never have I ever...made fancy cupcakes and practically had heart palpitations while doing it before now. I know how amazing these ladies are with their cooking and baking skills so I knew I couldn't just make a tray of brownies and be done. Anyone who knows me knows there are certain things that are just me.

1. I do not enjoy baking nor am I good at it. I love to cook. I guess I have never really been a 'sweets' person.
2. I love chocolate.
3. I love coffee.

These are the three things you really have to know about me. Yes I admit them. That's the first step. (o;

Well I found this blog that had this amazing cupcake recipe that sounded like I might be able to pull it off. Caramel Mocha Cupcakes...WHAT?! Coffee AND Chocolate in the same recipe. It didn't even just call for any chocolate. It was dark chocolate. I know. Amazing right?! Ok...I'm making it. Done deal.

Well I was so stressed out about making this since I had to make the icing from scratch and the last several times I tried that, my icing got all drippy. It was not pretty and I was very discouraged. It also called for homemade chocolate ganache to be put on top the cupcake before adding the icing. Oh boy...what did I really get myself into this time. I decided if I was going to do this I was going to do it right and get a decorating kit for the first time in my life so I could make the frosting look some what cute. I don't know if it was all the chocolate covered espresso beans or Dove chocolate caramels I was munching on that was making me shaky all day but holey moley. I kept blaming it on the sugar but I really think it was nerves.

BY THE WAY...this is a little embarrassing or I guess maybe it should be since the hubby cracks up at me each time. He brought to my attention that I pronounce espresso as 'EXpresso'. Whatever! I know what I am talking about. It's not the only thing I mess up. I still have a very difficult time pronouncing 'Psalm' correctly. I pronounce it 'Palm' and that is not correct. It should be pronounced as "Salm" but I am sure you already knew that. Oh well. It gives my husband something to crack up at me about (although there are myriads of things he has the opportunity to laugh about with me in his life). 

Anyway, here is the finished product...

Not too bad, right? I was pretty impressed and felt like I could definitely try and make 'fancy' cupcakes again sometime. I added some chocolate sprinkles and a chocolate covered EXpresso (lol) bean to top them off.

I did not win the competition however the girl who won definitely deserved it. She made a canoli cake creation that was to DIE for. I never heard of or had that before and it was amazing. I am really hoping I can get that recipe. Oh it was heavenly. YUM!

If you want the recipe and full tutorial click here. I am pretty sure you can substitute one of these for your morning coffee. LOL

Maybe I CAN bake after all...but my heart will always belong to cooking.  (o;

I hope you have a blessed day! †

·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ Rebecca ·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ

L.O.V.E

Here's a little project I worked on for Valentine's Day. It's pretty simple. Just the letters L O V E. I found them at the craft store already white so there wasn't even any painting involved. I feel a little like I cheated but I'm ok with that. They were about six dollars for the letter and then about 50 cents for the Valentine's Day Scrapbook paper I found. The other paper and ribbon I already had in my stash.

All you need to do is trace the scrapbook paper with the letter you want to use. Cut it out. 

Then use Mod Podge to paste it to the letter. Go over it a couple times with the Mod Podge and then you have pretty letters. I was going to let mine just stand all separate but realized it would look really cute in a box shape like this. 

I just used hot glue to attach the letters together like I did. I still felt like it needed something else so I just added the pink ribbon and done! It makes the shelf above our couch look so…well…LOVED!

I hope you have a blessed day! †

·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ
    Rebecca ·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._.· ஐ

Playing catch up!

It has been a while since my last post. I guess being a stay at home mom with three young children will do that to you!

Here's a wrap up since I last blogged…Christmas has come and gone in our house. We had a great time with friends and family. The New Year has come and gone as well. Right in between the Holidays I had hurt my neck and was inoperable for about almost a week and a half. That was not fun. I was in tons of pain and totally stressed about not being able to do anything around the house. My wonderful husband pitched in as always and helped tremendously with everything. I am so thankful that God blessed me with this man. In a way, hurting my neck was even a blessing. Jared told me he really appreciates me even more when I am not able to do all the things I usually do. Sometimes I wonder if anyone notices that I cleaned the TV screen from all those tiny little hand prints, sanitized the door handles, magic erased the black little scuffs from the walls or inside the fridge (Yes…I am that mom & yes it really does work extremely well actually!), etc but I guess they would notice if it was not done and anyway who cares. The REAL boss sees it all and that's all I really need. It does help to keep telling myself that though while I am doing those mundane tasks that keep me busy and from doing things I would personally rather be doing. After the neck thing, the kids and I were sick with various strains of colds. It has been QUITE a year so far. Is it 2012 yet?! LOL

I can definitely say that I have loved and maybe even become a little bit obsessed with the craft blogs. There is just a couple on my side bar if you love finding some new crafty inspiration. I do have to say these women are genius! I love it. I love it when someone is so creative like this and is kind enough to share how they did it so you can do it, too! Especially when it's a thrifty craft. If I can keep it cheap but still make something pretty…how awesome is that?! I think it's great and I have definitely been taking advantage of being able to get great ideas from these wonderful blog sites and I hope you do, too.

I think I might make a list of projects I would like to accomplish in this year. I only stay on task if I have a list of some sort that I can cross off as I go. That will be super helpful. There are many things I want to do around here and things I want to organize. I guess maybe everyone gets that itch when the new year hits. That is my goal within the next week or so to try and compile some sort of list to be able to follow. We'll see how that goes! (o:

    I hope you have a blessed day! †

Sickness strikes and so does Mommy!

It seems as though our family is always sick around the holidays. This weekend I became sick, as did little miss Lia. I am forever sick when she is. I have to cuddle my little baby whether she is sick or not! I try to limit kisses and such but it is just so hard. My wonderful husband, since he is finished with his finals, was able to help me completely. I took full advantage of this. 


I covered up on the couch Sunday after church and just worked on knitting Ava's scarf that I want to put in her Christmas stocking all day long. Ian's scarf is finished and I cannot wait to give them these cute scarves. They both picked out the exact yarn color that they wanted. These are simple scarves mind you. I am just beginning and Ian's stocking was the very first one I have ever knit. The color he picked was great though because it almost looks like I worked very hard on making stripes. Yeah right! I aspire to get there. I really do but I am not there just yet. I will post pictures of the kids wearing their cute little scarves once I give it to them. I hope they love them!

Anyway, this weekend was fun, minus the sickness, and it was actually somewhat relaxing. Jared woke me up with coffee, eggs, and toast. What a nice surprise but I do believe I ate about the first half of breakfast with my eyes barely open! I do love that man. (o; I am so truly blessed. 


Today is PJ day for Ian in his Kindergarten class and he woke up with the sickness. Uh! I hope that he will be feeling well enough to attend school today in his pj's. Tomorrow is his Christmas party in school so I will be praying extra hard today that he is able to attend tomorrow to have his fun party at school.


I hope you have a blessed day! †

Candy is Dandy for Christmas time!!!!!!

I love chocolate. I love it. I just love it. I know that God loves me because he blessed us while we are here with coffee and chocolate. Oh there is nothing better than these two things in life. These are the two essentials things in my life. ANYWAY...now that I got that out of my system. I could go on forever.

Here is a SUPER simple recipe for a great little treat over the holidays and let me tell you from my toughest critics that this is truly a hit! My son told me I am a genius (which I think I am so I am glad he is finally on the same page!). I found this recipe the other day on My Computer is My Canvas by Colette but I have seen it elsewhere also. My sister-in-law had made these and I thought they were cute a while back and when I saw it on Colette's blogs I just had to make them. She made them with the peppermint kisses which are great but VERY strong peppermint flavor so I decided to mix it up! Please check out her site. She has the most amazing printable for this that she made. How cool?! Really check it out and you could totally make little bags of these up for neighbors, friends, or even your children to share with classes.

The end product! Yum (o;

Here's what mine look like. I made dark chocolate kisses, milk chocolate kisses, hugs which is the white chocolate with white chocolate inside, and the peppermint ones as well. I found the peppermint at our local grocery store, Giant. JUST A QUICK TIP...the different chocolates have a different melting point which completely did not even pass through this poor little mind of mine. The white chocolate hugs (which by the way I hate calling it chocolate when it is not chocolate whatsoever) melted SUPER fast in comparison to the white and the dark chocolate. I would suggest to always do the white separately since the time is just a bit less for that. You do not want to end up with a mess!

Anyway...it's so easy. Here's what you need...
Baking Tray
Wax or Parchment paper
Bag of Square pretzels (My personal preference is Snyder's and I'm sorry but everytime I look at the bag I just wanna say "OH SNAP!!!!!!")
Hershey's Kisses
Hershey's M&M's
(I live in PA so...GO HERSHEY!)

Square Pretzels & Kisses

M&M's

These are ready to go into the oven. Place one kiss on one square pretzel. Make sure they do not overlap whatsoever!

Put one little M&M on each and push it down slightly. Let these cool in the fridge or anywhere cold. Our enclosed sun porch works WONDERFUL when it's so cold outside.

DONE!

So that's it! My hubby is going to be a happy camper taking these into his Christmas party at work tomorrow. When I was making them he really didn't believe it was as easy as I told him and he couldn't believe how quickly they were done. He did steal some already to test. I am also making some homemade biscotti but these were the easy peasy recipe. Now onto the more time consuming recipe. I hope you get to try these because they are fabulous and especially the dark chocolate kisses. YUM!

On a totally 'me' note, I was listening to music while writing this post and heard the Happy Holiday by Bing Crosby (Beef Wellington Remix) and I thought, "Man...I need to put that on my mix for my blog because I love it!" Yeah...I was listening to the mix on this blog. HELLO?!?!?!?! Sheesh...I am one tired mommy. I need a nap myself. (o;

Have a fabulous day and I pray these little treats will be a blessing to you and yours!

God bless! †

Boredom Equals Danger

There is virtually nothing in my house right now that is safe from my craft spree I have been on lately. I can almost see the things in this house cringing when I look at them like they are thinking "Oh man...is she going to turn me into something else?!" Yes...I probably would if I could. There is a beautiful little black frame that my husband bought me as a gift that might possibly be the only thing safe in the house that I am not willing to rip apart, mod podge, or hot glue at this point.

Here it is in fact. The one thing I own I promise I will NEVER use for crafting purposes. What a great husband I have!

"You are the one who makes me smile."

Anyway...yesterday I got bored. I was not bored in the sense that I had nothing at all to do. No. I had lots of cleaning and things I should be working on but I was bored in the sense that it was absolutely nothing that I wanted to do. That's always a problem for me. I need to have the proper motivation and you can never tell what that's going to be at any given time. I don't know if anyone else has this problem. I kind of hope so because sometimes I feel like SUCH a slacker because of it. Instead of cleaning I had decided to try and finish up Christmas decorating which I feel like I will never be done with but not because I have SO much to put out but just because I keep coming up with so many neat ideas.

I had this sign that I saw at the Dollar store that I thought was just hilarious. I put it out last year but this year I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted something that was a little more country and felt like it fit into our home more. I love, love, love the warm country farmhouse look. That is what I am trying to achieve in our house. Little by little it is coming together. Good thing it's not coming together too quickly or I would be out of things to work on. LOL

This was a fun project yesterday while the girls were napping and our son was at school. Here's the original sign which I do still find funny.

I looked at this and thought boy I would love to redo this but I do think it's funny and I don't know if I feel like dealing with all the sparkles on the front....then I flipped it over!

The back was PERFECT and already painted a nice red for Christmas. I also just happened to have some scrapbook paper to put on it.

I only used the top portion of this paper above that I already had in my stash. I can't wait to figure out what to use the bottom half for. I just love that little house! I carefully printed out NOEL from Word in a font and size that would work and PATIENTLY cut out the letters from some red card stock type scrapbook paper which matched the back of the sign. What a pain but it was worth it.

I used Mod Podge underneath and on top of the cut piece of scrapbook paper. Then I placed the letters on carefully after the first layer of Mod Podge dried and did a layer over the letters. This is what I ended up with.

I like it. It's cute and simple but I don't think I am totally finished with this. I may run to Michael's and get a sprig of berries to hot glue to the sides of the sign or something.

This was a fun little project, cost me nothing at all, and I don't think it looks too bad!

Craft Overload!

I have pretty much been on craft overload and so thankful for it! I was so upset about not being able to buy much for Christmas being a one income family of 5 now. I've been looking up so many blogs of people who do these great crafts and spend almost nothing to make them! I almost could not believe it! There is no way this person made this amazing thing using items from the Dollar Store. No way...but they did!

I purchased this beautiful wood frame from Michael's for $1. I decided it would be my first project and I wanted to make it for my dad's birthday gift. He loves camping so I wanted to make him a frame that would had some camping accents on it. Here's what I started with although this is a picture with the edges already painted green. (Special thanks to Ian's paints he already had in his room!)

Before...

After!

All I had to purchase was a pack of embellishments from Michael's for about $4, I already had the ribbon and scrapbook paper, and I did purchase my very first bottle of Modge Podge. I could marry this stuff I love it so much now! LOL The frame was my very first project so please don't judge too harshly. (o;

Here's another project I just finished yesterday and was absolutely bubbling over about. I took a very nice (in theory) mirror from the Dollar Store again for $1! That's all I had to spend on this one. I had the ribbon, hot glue gun, Modge Podge, alphabet sticker letters, scrapbook paper, and the flower I snagged from the girls room. They won't miss it!

Before...

After!

I am so proud of how this on turned out. I made it for my niece who is super girlie, girlie and loves to play dress up, put on lip gloss, & do her hair. She doesn't have a mirror in her bedroom and I thought this would be a great present for Christmas for her.

I have another project I am in the middle of for Christmas. It's a wooden sign that says 'Love'. It was completely unfinished and I did get to pick the color scrapbook paper to Modge Podge onto the letters. I just need to paint the rest brown to match the 'E' and then add some special touches. I should have painted first THEN did the scrapbook letters but my impatient nature needed to see what it was going to look like and just HAD to start something on it. Obviously I need to run out to get a little thing of paint or that would have been done first like it should have. I am pretty precise with my painting skills so hopefully it will not get on the front of the letters.

Love sign in process

How blessed am I that God gave me this passion for creating things and set me up to be able to do this. I was always creative but never thought I would be able to do anything with that side of me in my life. I will do this every year for Christmas from now on. One item thoughtfully made with that person's tastes (hopefully) in mind! I love it.

Now I just need to get better with my camera skills! These pictures are not the best and I apologize. That's another thing I intend to work on getting better with. I might need to bust out the good camera now. I just wish it was digital and not film. Hmmm...