SnowyBliss

Glorious Song of Old

2011-12-22T09:56:00.001-07:00

I love the holiday season.

I attempt to get everything done and out of my way before December hits. That way I can just enjoy! I love it… the lights, the laughter, the food (which will be the death of me) the music, the love, the friendship and all sincere expressions of gratitude that come with it. What a magical time!

I love celebrating family. My family is my dearest and most precious joy. I have these loud, often dirty, little giggling rug rats that fill my home with happiness, dancing, giggles and smiles. My happy handsome husband. We just celebrated our 11th anniversary! I love him so much. And then I have an extended family. Each person has added so much to my life, my happiness and has left a impression on me. Marks that will never fade, and that I treasure. Many that helped raise me, or were raised with me.

I am sitting on my couch, snug in a blanket. I've been sick, miserably sick.

Even though the sinus pressure in my head is squeezing my brain, I feel happy. I feel at peace.

The lights on the tree make the room glow. I'm listening to my cousin sing, her voice has me grinning ear to ear.

Many many years ago, she came up to Utah to stay with my family for a few months. I remember her singing in the shower. It made our already happy home shine even more.

She just released a new rendition of Silent Night. She added her own lyrics, and created her own unique arrangement of my all time favorite Christmas song. It has brought such a special spirit of peace to my home. Listening to her voice through my stereo makes me smile.

So let me introduce you to her…

This is Katherine.

I know, quite the beauty, isn't she?!

She also is incredably witty, has a great raspy laugh, and will eat pickle relish by the spoonful.

I adore her. She is a very talented musician, a lovely woman, and simply dear to me.

Here is a video of her performing

Glorious Song of Old (Silent Night).

Her sister's husband, (my other cousin who I love more than words. She's my hair designer. She molds my hair into yumminess and is a creative genius when it comes to hair color. Additionally she's just cool. Sometimes I hope that just by standing near her she might pass some of that to me. Like a cool virus or something… much better than this cold virus.) so anyway… he created the video. Yeah… there is just a little bit of talent oozing in this family's blood.

Here is her website, where you can download her Glorious Song of Old (Silent Night)christmas song free.

katherinenelson.com

I hope her voice brings a bit of happiness and peace into your home, as it has mine.

Merry Christmas!

May your holiday season be filled with peace & joy!

XoXoXo

anj.

Polka Dot Cake

2011-09-02T13:18:00.000-06:00

I know... it's a little early for halloween, but I made a cake.

And the inside is even better... because I made a

Polka Dot Cake!

I've had this idea in my brain for awhile. It turned out pretty good. But I think after my first attempt I'd tackle it a bit differently next time. I'll give you my thoughts on that after the directions.

Here's how I did it.

I have this little nifty cake pop maker. It's fun, especially for the kids. It doesn't make the decadent bakerella cake pops, they are actually more like a donut hole. But they are quick, easy and so far fail proof. Anyway… this is how I made the polka dot cake.

Step 1

I made the cake balls with the cake pop maker. Using the recipe that comes with the machine, adding orange food coloring.

I honestly wonder if you could just get some donut holes and use them. Or maybe make a sheet cake, and use a melon baller to scoop out spheres. Some experimenting is needed. :)

Step 2

Cut a bunch of the cake balls in half with a knife.

Step 3

Make the cake batter (I just used a boxed cake mix. This one is devils food, it sounded halloweenish. I added a little black food coloring to it as well).

Step 4

Pour a small amount of batter into the bottom of a greased and floured pan. Then push some of the half sized cake balls flat side down into the batter.

Step 5

Add a little batter to a halved cake pop, onto the flat side, and then stick it to the side of the pan.

Continue this step until you have halved cake pops around the side of the pan

Step 6

Add more batter into pan.

Step 7

Place a bunch of full sized cake balls into the batter.

Step 8

Top off with more batter

Step 9

Cook.

It took longer to bake than the directions on the cake box stated. About 10-15 minutes extra. I'm sure it has something to do with all the cake balls in there. And p.s. I was worried that the cake balls would dry out, from cooking again, but they were just fine, and the devils food cake itself was awesomely moist.

Step 10

Cut off any extra poofy cake from the top to level it.

And there you go! I made two, and stacked them with orange colored frosting in-between. You could do this in any color. I think a white cake with pink polka dots would be just about the most precious cake ever!

Alrighty, now I'm going to tell you how I'll be attempting it next time. I think it will work better this way. In step four Instead of just placing half of a cake pop down, I think I'd do some cake balls half size and some whole. Then I wouldn't worry about step seven. When the cake rose, it caused the full cake balls to rise with it, and when I lopped off the top of the cake (step ten), it caused the whole cake pops to become half cake pops. They got cut along with the cake. (Does that make sense). So I didn't get any full polka dots. I am planning on making another one of these.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Is it bad that I'm showing you my sort of, kind of, turned out Polka Dot Cake and not a perfect one that may come after a few attempts? I'm sure I'm breaking all sorts of blogging unwritten rules.

The blogging police would probably be gasping and tisk tisk tisking me.

I also shouldn't tell you that the back of the cake looks like it was mangled by a rabid dog.

I was having major fondant issues, and instead of throwing it through the window (I almost did… really, I was so frustrated), I just kinda smashed the fondant all to one side. Then I decided it would be the back side, and I'd call it a day.

I should have taken photos… it would have made you laugh.

Aaaannnnd…. I made you something.

Here are some free little halloween labels. Just like the little "Eeek" sign next to Mr. spider. Go ahead, download and enjoy. They'd be cute as cupcake toppers too. Fun, fun!

Have a happy labor day weekend everyone!

anj.

Shabby Roses Everywhere

2011-08-22T17:12:00.000-06:00

Why hi there! How has your summer been!?!?

My girls return to school next week.
I have mixed feelings.
It will be nice to have their room stay clean.
And to not have the doorbell ring EVERY 5 MINUTES.
But honestly… I'm going to miss the giggles, the lazy mornings and the sunshine.

Although the other day Momo was at preschool (he started a couple weeks ago). And I took the opportunity to run to a few shops while he was gone. It was just me and my girls. Every once and awhile while browsing through the store I'd have a near panic attack. I'd realize it was waaay too quiet and Momo was no where to be found. I caught myself looking around fretting that he had made a run for it, was smashing displays, or climbing the shelves! When my horror would suddenly be replaced with glee. He's at preschool… silly me.

So I've been busy the last few weeks.

Here's what I've been up to!...

A whole lot of long stemmed fabric roses.

Goodness they're lovely.

I purchased a bunch of fabric to make them in the spring. I started, honestly I did, but spring is crazy busy and I don't know what I was thinking, because they are not a quick project. Anyway, they are now finished.

So I have a few up on etsy! And because I have so many DIY junkies (go team DIY) I've also created a DIY long stemmed fabric rose kit.

It comes with 12 stems, and 12 strips of 5 inch fabric, and even dictionary paper (sew them together and package your roses up all pretty). So you can make your own dozen without gallivanting around, searching for everything and just get to the creating part!

Just in casey, here's a linky to...
MY ETSY

So here they all are.
Sitting in my living room, wrapped up all pretty and waiting for a good home.
Sigh… I might have a hard time letting them go.

Look how happy they are!

And here's a quick link back to my

Long Stemmed Fabric Roses tutorial

Polyjuice Potion

2011-07-11T13:02:00.001-06:00

I've mentioned before I'm kind of a nerd.

I think this post may provide proof of my nerdiness.

I love the Harry Potter books.

No seriously… LOVE them.

Don't you worry, I've got my tickets for this weekend! I can't wait.

So it turns out it's also genetic, because my siblings are huge fans themselves.

I'm sure we could argue for days about who is the bigger fan, who actually loves the books more and ultimately no one would be crowned king or queen of Harry Potter nerdiness because we are all extremely stubborn so no one would surrender the glory of that title.

And that was a huge run on sentence.

Anyway…

So back in November we got together for a party. It was in celebration of the upcoming Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows part 1. (Although the movies in no way replace the book, how could they? We do enjoy the movies). Naturally I saw it as another chance to decorate something, and I set up a potions table.

Complete with a potions book!

These photo's don't include the food. Everyone brought potluck Harry Potter style (treacle tarts, pumpkin pasties etc…) And we set it up around the decor. I was busy stuffing my face and attempting to destroy my siblings in a game of "Harry Potter Scene It." I couldn't be bothered with photos;).

Now I hope you are all forgiving. Sometimes I spend so much time making sure something visually looks right that I totally mess up. For example… I SPELLED INGREDIENTS WRONG. Honestly! Even better... it's large text and very noticeable. Unfortunately I'm not a witch, so I can't just wave my wand and say Reparo. So "ingredents" will stay. Oh well.
(Shhhh... don't tell, but I goofed somewhere else too. I don't know where my brain was at when I was making it).

I did some research for this one. Piecing together what I could from both the book and the movie to get the polyjuice potion as correct as possible. With the exception of the word ingredients… gggrrrrrrrr… I think I'm pretty spot on. I purchased a medical book from the thrift store. After roughing it up (getting it wet, taking sand paper to the edges and just beating the snot out of it), I ran black and brown ink pads over the edges. Then I added a little yellow and brown paint to a cup of water and painted with it all over the edges. I created and printed out the polyjuice potion recipe and glued it into the book. For the final touch I splashed a bit of that yellow/brown water onto it as well. I wanted it to look like a little of the potion from the caldron had splattered on it. I didn't forget the outside either. I painted it and titled it Most Potente Potions.

It will make a fun addition to my halloween decor.

I labeled a bunch of thrift store find bottles with Harry Potter potions and ingredients. I also grabbed a couple of extra old looking books at the thrift store and gave them titles of books from Harry Potter. Then I added a bunch of my halloween stuff and there you have it!

I think the half blood prince would be proud!

Just incase you're wanting to create your own... here are the fonts I used.

VTKS Black Label (normal)

Ligeia

Cardinal

"That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most." -Russell

2011-07-07T18:07:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I was driving to the store and a house caught my eye. It was quite far away from where I was but VERY noticeable.

Bright COLOR everywhere… with awesome aqua trim.

I thought… I need to check that out. But continued on my way and forgot about it. Then later that night we were sitting around doing nothing important (so naturally I was perusing Facebook) and a post from the Herriman city page seemed to explain what the mystery aqua trim house was. My thought was...

"No way!"

So I grabbed the keys and forced my family in the car. They knew nothing… only we were going to go see something cool. And I was mentally crossing my fingers that it would be cool, because I hadn't actually seen it.

As we drove down the street towards the mystery house my husband stated…. "Wow, that's a colorful house." I replied "Now imagine thousands of balloons floating above it." He then exclaimed what I had earlier thought "No way!"

and we pulled up to see this….

Yep, its a full functioning exact replica of the house from UP. And it's about the cutest thing ever! A few other cars loaded with kids were also stopping in front of it. Everyones mouth agape. We got out of the car and peeked in the windows. It even has the hose in front and the fireplace mantle with the painting from the movie above it. So darling!

There was a nice lady out with her camera getting ready to take some photo's. We apologized for being in the way and she said she'd be happy to snap our photo. I thought she'd just use our camera phone, but she was nice enough to use her fancy camera and emailed us the photo's. So all credit of these photo's go to the sweet lady with the camera. Her name is Jenetta Roberts and here is her webpage! www.jeanettarobertsphotography.com

Thanks Jenetta! It was lovely to meet you!

(I do apologize for the messiness of my family in the photo's… we were not camera ready. In fact Momo has dinner on his face and sometimes I rebel against showering and make-up…and yesterday was one of those days. I'm just amazed we had shoes on).

So would you buy this house??? I kinda think I would. Especially if I was a grandma… how much fun for the grandkids, every trip to Grandpa and Grandma's would be magic, snipe hunting would be a must and I'd totally get a cane for J and attach tennis balls to the feet!

And P.S.

I just discovered who the builder of this home is. They have a blog with more pics! Check them out here….

Bangerter Homes

June Bugs

2011-07-04T10:30:00.000-06:00

I over did it… as usual just because I can do something… doesn't mean I have time to! This is a tough concept for me, because really who wouldn't want to do everything?! But the last few months of spring kicked my trash. So I took care of the things I promised I'd do, and then once school was out I've spent my time playing with my kids.

Pure silly bliss!!!

I've also be slaving away in the yard. Last summer I completely neglected it. So this summer I've been paying for my lack of weeding. However it has been fabulous!

There is something magical about blossoms, earth and fresh air!

We released a bag of 2000 lady bugs into the garden a couple nights ago. To be honest I gave into my kids relentless "please…please….PLEASE" as they goggled at the bag of bugs on the counter at the nursery. I'm so glad I submitted to their begging, in fact I'm thinking it may be a nice independence weekend tradition. Ride liked the idea of it but once one of those red polka dotted beauties crawled onto her little hand she flipped! But Momo and Scooter were in crawling critter heaven.

Little blushing lady bugs…. EVERYWHERE!

After we had a dessert of frosted patriotic sugar cookies on the porch and then went through a bag of those charcoal growing and glowing snake fireworks, my kids love those messy things.

...to all of you fabulous followers, and also to all the lady bugs in my garden!

P.S. Stay tuned, I'm back playing in my studio too!!!

Picnic Easter Baskets

2011-04-06T13:38:00.010-06:00

I was at Target the other day… childless! It was awesome! I actually had a minute to browse without yelling various threats at my son. I think I even caught myself skipping now and again.

So this is what I came home with…

Kitchen towels, melamine salad plates, a pack of 4 cloth napkins and placemats… that all match!

And this is what I made with all of it…

Last year for Easter instead of getting regular baskets for easter I bought my girls baskets to go on their bikes.

At the time I had high hopes of making cute basket liners but ran out of time.

So this year, after my Target treasure hunt, they became not only fabulous bike baskets, but picnic baskets as well! They will be so thrilled to pack up a little picnic in their basket and ride down to the park.

I can't wait until easter!

I'm so excited to strap these onto their bikes!

I turned the placemats I found into picnic caddy's.

They are a piece of cake to make! Here's how…

Press your placemat, then fold one end up… you can pick how high you'd like to go. Press again.

Now I can't leave it as is… I had to add a little eyelet trim (I adore eyelet). Simply cut a piece a bit longer than the width of your placemat. You want to attach it along the top of your folded edge. Wrap the trim around the corner, tuck it in a bit to keep the raw edge from showing. Pin… and then pin it all along the top of the fold. Then wrap it around the next corner the same way and pin again. Sew it on.

Now to add a ribbon, this will tie your caddy together. Cut a long piece of ribbon. Fold it in half. Decide where you'd like it to go (I recommend middleish) and pin.

Now you'll sew around the entire lower fold of your placemat. Start by lifting the trim up, so you start sewing underneath it. But also make sure where it wraps around stays tucked under your fold, sandwiched between the top and bottom folds of your placemat.

Sew all along the bottom fold. Finished it will look like this…

Right now it's just one big pocket. Now to make little compartments for each of your picnic necessities.

Lay them out on your placemat in the order you'd like them in.

I'm using a...

*Napkin

*Straw

*Small Garbage Bag

(I know, it sounds random, but I just had these visions of my girls coming home from a picnic and leaving a half eaten sandwich, orange peels, chocolate bars etc... in the bottom of their bike basket to mold and rot in the hot garage. I'd at least like to have it in a garbage or plastic baggie).

*Flatware

(I got these darling disposable forks and spoons from Amazon. I didn't get the knives, but now I think I'm going to snag some).

After laying them out you'll want to make marks on our placemat to determine how big each compartment will be. Using a tape measure, determine how big of a space you need for the napkin. For me it was 5.5 inches. (Then I placed a pin… don't do this. I realized after doing this it was silly… because I'd have a tough time sewing through pins going lengthwise). Instead make a mark. I just used a pencil. Make a few marks of your desired length (again 5.5 for me) over from the edge down the front. Then I repeated the process with the straw and the trash bag.

Then with the remaining space make three compartments for the flatware. Measure what space is left, divided it by three to make these compartments even steven. Then make marks accordingly. So at the end it should look like this…

(The marks are light… but they are there).

Then pin your trim up and out of the way.

Then simply sew along each line of marks.

Your end product will look like this.

Then fill your caddy with your picnic essentials.

Roll it up, tie the ribbon around, make a bow. Trim the ribbon down to the length you are happy with and add fray check to the edges.

And you are done!

You could add some cute picnic stuff to the basket for easter. Sunglasses, sunhat, sandwich holder, fabric lunch bag, water bottle, sunscreen. For younger kids felt food would be darling for pretend picnics! If you go to etsy and search for felt food, you will find a bunch of yummy collections. If you are feeling super ambitious and want to make your own, do your search for felt food patterns. There are some seriously out of control oh-so-cute options! Another ambitious project would be a picnic blanket.

Simply Adorbs!

The fabulous Lindi from Love The Day has designed absolutely gorgeous easter printables. And they would sooooo match these baskets. Check her blog out here

LOVE THE DAY and find her printable here… Easter Party Printables.

Linking up to...
Tatertots & Jello
Flamingo Toes-Think Pink
I Heart Nap Time
The Creative Create

Where Women Create

2011-03-21T09:36:00.001-06:00

I'm crazy THRILLED about something. I don't know how to describe my delight about it, because when I think about being featured on Where Women Create my brain starts spinning. I feel so honored.

If you'd like to check out my post here is the link…

There is a give-away too! You can enter to win all the owl party downloads and a dozen of my fabric roses!

Happy Happy Happy Monday All!!!

2011-03-14T09:00:00.001-06:00

It's coming…

I can feel it…tulip shoots are peeking up through the ground…

it's warming up….birds are chirping…. and I'm ready!

I'm ready for...

picnics,

and gardening,

and sunshine,

and lawn mowers,

and freckles,

and open windows,

and my grill,

and longer days,

and snow cones,

and the lemonade stand…

Here's my littles selling lemonade and snow cones last summer. (With the help of my handy neighbor we made this lemonade stand as their christmas present in 2009). They wanted to help pay for their dance classes, so every penny they earned went towards their dance stuff (sweats, shoes, bags, and bobby pins… we go through so many bobby pins).

And now after looking at these photo's not only am I craving summer, but I could go for a snow cone right now!

Mmmm....tigers blood.

(I started salivating as I wrote that).

Picking Your Parchment

2011-03-10T14:02:00.003-07:00

So I finally finished the owl adoption cards, but before I jabber on about that I wanted to share a little something with you…

My thoughts about printing paper, (I know you are on pins and needles to hear what I have to say).

Such an exceptionally exciting topic.

If you're like me you do all of your printing at home. I only head to a print shop when something is too large for my printer. It keeps me from having to run another errand and let's be honest… sometimes when I'm "crafting" it's late at night, I'm in my creative mode and breaking it up with a trip somewhere is annoying, my son is napping, or I look super sexy in my crafting sweats. So when I make lovely party printables, invitations etc… I'm picky about what paper I use.

Many of you may already be aware of this, but I thought I'd give my thoughts for anyone who might not. And now that I actually have something worth printing nice in my etsy shop I feel better knowing I've spread the word.

When I'm printing out something I want to be particularly pretty or special I use

matte photo paper or matte brochure paper.

I also make sure it is at least 45lb or 170 g/m. (Be careful here… speaking from experience, I've bought the wrong weight before, and it's still great for printing, but it's weight is more like normal paper).

It prints color bolder and richer, the details are finer and it looks awesomer in general.
(Yes I know awesomer isn't a word).

Here let me show you the difference.

I printed my adoption cards with the same printer, using both brochure and card stock paper.

On the left regular card stock, on the right I printed on brochure paper.

Ummm… there is a HUGE difference!

Here is a link for the paper I used on the right. HP Brochure paper

Here is another link of the Cannon version. Canon Matte Photo Paper

Those are just a couple.

So in a nutshell….

Con's

-It's more expensive.

-It isn't quite as thick as card stock.

-It bugs me if I run out;)

Pro's

-Looks far-eaking awesome.

-The colors are more accurate.

-The texture is smoother than card stock.

-Did I mention it looks amazing?

Alright so there is my opinion about printing paper.

And if you're interested in taking a look here is the link for the

Adoption Cards!

It's a MIRACLE!

2011-03-04T18:08:00.001-07:00

Can I get a hallelujah?!?

Because between...

Valentines Day

Dance Competitions

PTA Stuff

(Including a Birthday Carnival I host for the kiddo's every other month)

Being a mom/homemaker/nurse/wife

Learning how to make a pdf

Learning how to use illustrator (well sort of)

And the other normal insanity which is my life…

I've finally finished the owl pattern!

And you can find in my Etsy Shop

(Crossing my fingers here friends… this is my first experience with etsy).

Here is the link…

Hooo-Ray Owl Pattern

So now to tackle what I hope will be miracle #2 today…

The Laundry!

(I have the Psycho music playing in my head as I type that).

I'm working on the adoption certificates next!

Hopefully now that I've worked some of the kinks out it will be A LOT quicker!

Happy weekend all!!!

Thank You... and other stuff!

2011-02-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

First…

I must tell all you wonderful beautiful people

THANK YOU!

I seriously love the crafty bloggy community!

Everyone is so sweet and encouraging!

Goodness I'm just overcome by your comments and emails and kindness!

Sigh… you're all just fabulous!

A giant cyber hug to you all!

Second…

I've been working on several requests from my owl party.

I'm getting close to having a….

Felt owl pattern

Adoption cards

Printable do it yourself invitations

Drawings of my cardboard bed & window

and even some

Cupcake toppers!

The pattern is getting really really close, and I'm so hoping to have it up on etsy within a few days. And if my wonderful two year old son is cooperative then hopefully everything else will follow soon after.

We ran into a problem as of late. Momo wants to go to bed at night with Ride's "sunshine" owl. Well naturally she does too! To temporarily resolve the owl issue, I let Momo fall asleep with the owl, and then I would sneak into his room, retrieve the owl from his captor and return it to Ride in bed.

I had to make another owl for the pattern instructions and now Momo has his own! Peace has now been restored to the home!

Here he is getting ready for his nap today. We read what he calls the "martian" book. (It's actually "Mars Needs Moms." And it's totally darling and I give it a thumbs up and highly recommend it). While he cuddled with his new owl pal. Now they are both snoozing soundly.

Third…

I've started a Facebook page.

I should warn you… I'm kinda, well… I am a big dorky nerd. And for whatever reason Facebook makes it more comfortable for me to embrace my inner nerd… and boy does it shine! So if you're ok "liking" a nerd come on over. Here's the linky-lou (I'll be adding one to my side bar shortly).

Facebook Link

Fourth…

OK… so I made 4 little circle scalloped numbers. I made four, because I had four things in my brain I wanted to share with you. But now I'm at a loss. I don't remember what #4 was supposed to be. But I made it, so I'm putting it up anyway;) Knowing me I'll sit up in bed around midnight, having suddenly recalled what "it" was. I'll also awake J because I'll be proclaiming "that's what number four was." Oh well.

My Favorite and My Best

2011-02-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

This is the

Most Fantastic Wonderful Divine

thing I've

ever ever EVER

created!

Seriously…

I'm so excited to share…

It's Spectacular Spectacular!

Are you ready for this?

Wait...

for...

it...

Yup… they are my favorite and my best!

Happy Valentines Day!

Now go hug someone you love!

Night Owl Party

2011-02-04T20:57:00.012-07:00

Warning… this is a long post. I'm trying to add more details to posts like this. That way hopefully I cover more questions before they arise. I know when posts get too wordy people may get bored (sorry). I'm still more than happy to answer questions… but I thought a more detailed post may be more helpful.

Little miss Ride celebrated turning 6 in december!

She was determined to have an owl birthday party

(I think she had been influenced by the "Legend Of The Guardians" trailers that at the time were playing on the telly).

But what a fun theme! So we started planning. And when I say we, I mean that quite literally. She is my little creative prodigy. I recalled seeing this night owl party featured on hostess with the mostess (love that site). It was so darling, we decided to use it as a base for her party.

I used vintage vogue (papers) by sahlin studio to create the owl invites.

I printed out the papers I wanted and used a template I had created to cut the pieces out. I used a brown stamp pad around the edges of each piece, glued them together and added buttons to the eyes.

The invite reads…

You….hoooo!

It's Ride's Birthday

She's having a Night Owl Pajama Party to celebrate!

Where: The Snow Nest

When: (Date & time)

Wear your P.J.'s! Dinner will be served!

It will be a hoot!

Like the party I had come across, I wanted to make the table into a bed. I'm limited in both my woodworking skills and tools. But I can draw.

So armed with white cardboard, black markers and a exacto knife I came up with this….

I wanted to make it look like a bedroom, so I added a window to the side. I used the "here comes the sun" digital kit by Kaye Winiecki and had it printed up at Costco.

Then we have hanging owls… just like from my monster party.

I used the sheet right off my daughters bed for the table cloth.

The little felt owls attached to the drinks are from etsy. I added a clip onto the back and the little party owls had them in their hair the rest of the night.

As each girls each arrived we gave them a glow-in-the-dark necklace and bracelet to wear.

Then we started on the homemade mini pizza's. I came across this blog and used her directions for the pizza's. She uses Rhodes dough for the crust. They were honestly delish! I put the dough on a square of parchment paper. So it was easy to transfer their eatable creation to a cookie sheet. And also I was able to write their name on the parchment so we knew who the owner was when they came out of the oven.

While they were cooking we played a couple games.

Lucky for me the dollar store had a huge glow-in-the-dark section.

We played a version of hot potato… but instead of a potato we used a giant foam glow stick. The girls sat in a circle and passed it along in the dark. When I turned on the lights who ever was in possession of the glowing stick was "out."

Then we danced to music in the dark and when I turned on the lights they had to freeze… who ever was caught moving was "out." Watching a room full of glowing (literally) little girls giggling and dancing in the dark was hilarious.

Then we ate our personal pizza's!

These were the hit of the night!

After we ate our pizza I again turned out the lights.

Before the party started I had hidden glow-in-the-dark stars around the house. Each one had a number written on it. The littles were told to run around and find one star each. Again…hilarious, I couldn't believe how much they loved prancing around in the dark. After the girls each had retrieved a star we turned the lights back on and had them sit on and around the couch. I had each owl wrapped and placed under the tree (it was christmas time). Each package had a star tied to it with a number on it. We started with Ride. She had found the star labeled with the number 5, and so she then found package number five. She came up in front of everyone and opened her present.

Inside was her own special owl to be adopted.

I read the little note attached to it. She took a minute to decide upon a name for her owl. She had plenty of help… the girls were calling out ideas, one gal suggested "star shine" every time someone was picking a name...you'll never guess what she named hers hahahaha. We filled out the card to make it official.

She then got to pick the next number… at this point the girls deduced what was going on, there was giggling and squealing. After the second package was opened and that owl was adopted they now also caught on that each owl was unique. They were mesmerized. Each girl felt so special, we let her take her time opening the gift, admiring it and naming it. I can't believe what a smash they were. The kids were so polite and quiet watching and waiting patiently for their turn.

Each owl was dirt cheap to make. I even got the felt on sale.
However… they took some serious time. ( I'd keep a couple in the car with me, so when I was picking up from dance, tumbling, school etc… I could work on them). But honestly I really enjoyed making them. I could tackle them at night, after the kids were in bed, and stitch while watching a program with J that we had on the DVR or Netflix. They were oddly therapeutic too... I could just chill on the couch and blanket stitch away. (Oh, here is a fabulous tutorial I used to learn how to blanket stitch). Additionally we had to come up with 13 unique owls. Good night! My girls and my husband were a great help. I was stuck around eight…it helps to have several minds helping out. They also assisted me in writing a little spotlight for each owl. (I debated on writing these all out on the blog, but I've found that generally someone asks me for stuff like this, so I thought I'd add it now just incase someone wanted them). Here they are…

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Crafty Owl!

I love to draw, paint and create!

What project could we make?

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Dancing Owl!

I LOVE to leap, twirl and prance!

I'm an owl who loves to dance!!!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Garden Owl!

They say I have a green wing.

Because when it coms to flowers...

I know just about everything!

Do you have a favorite flower?

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

*****

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Dream Owl!

Quiet down, don't make a peep.

It's time to fall fast asleep.

We'll dream of far off places

or soar into the sky.

Let's start our adventure

with my favorite lullaby.

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Giggle Owl!

I love to tell jokes!

Want to hear my favorite?

"Knock knock"

"Who's there"?

"Owls".

"Owls who"?

"That's right, Owls Hooo"!

Hee hee hee!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Musical Owl!

I love the piano

the guitar,

and the flute.

But most of all

I love to sing

and hoot!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

*****

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Dress-up Owl!

Once I was a pirate

Sailing the seven seas.

And then I was a monkey

swinging from the trees.

Today I am a queen,

but tomorrow what shall I be?

Oh I hope you want to play

dress-ups with me!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Princess Owl!

On my head sits a pretty gold crown.

Let's go to a ball,

I'll wear my favorite pink gown!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Snowy Owl!

We'll build a snow fort

and have a snowball fight!

And after we'll share

hot cocoa

by the moonlight!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Snuggle Owl!

Smooches, kisses and

great big hugs.

Cozy in my blanket

is one of my loves!

Will you snuggle with me?

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Sunshine Owl!

I love swinging from the trees,

and enjoying a sweet warm breeze.

I love a sunny day...

I just can't wait to go out and play!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Sweet Tooth Owl!

I LOVE...

lollypops, gumdrops & sugary sweets!

What are some of your favorite treats?

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

Yooo-Hooo!

I'm a Wise Owl!

I love to read books and learn!

Some of my favorite books are...

Legend of the Guardians

Harry Potter

and Winnie the Pooh.

How about you, do you have a favorite book?

I can't wait to read with you!

I'm so excited to be your new friend!

"Hooo"-Ray!

So each girl adopted their own unique owl!

Then they cuddled on the couch with their owls and I turned on a movie. You can't have a p.j. party without a movie.

As I thought about it, I realized a lot of movies were too long for the time we had. Also I've noticed that 6 year olds have itty bitty attention spans.
So we showed Pixar short films collection.

It has 13 of those spectacular and brilliant shorts. That way we could wrap it up when it was time or when the girls started to get restless. The girls LOVED it! It was inevitable every time a new short came on someone would yell... "Oh I love this one"! Seriously, kindergarteners are the best!
While they were watching, I was able to start cleaning up a bit and get everything ready for cake and ice cream.

I made the fondant owl on top the same way as the hanging owls.
I think he turned out adorable.

I love that I get to make every part of the party. A lot of times I look at these amazing beautiful birthday parties in blog land. Most of them are so inspiring. They have hired party planners, gourmet goodies from fancy places, professional photographers and enormous budgets. I have none of these. From the decorations, to the cake… I'm a one gal show. I really think anyone can throw a fabulously creative party. So I guess I'm just giving you all a big pep talk... kinda cheesy, but true.

OK… so in my opinion the felt owl and hair clips were more than enough. But I did toss together a little bag. It's beyond me why I didn't take photo's… sorry. They were filled with a tooth brush (dollar store) an individual mix of hot cocoa, several more glow-in-the-dark sticks and such and I made owl shaped crayons using a owl chocolate mold and melted crayons (crayons were also from the dollar store).

And that's it! It was a blast! I had one mom tell me their little girl came home and couldn't sleep… she had to tell them over and over the details of the party. Several moms have told me their daughter has to sleep with her owl. It's also been a riot to see a little girl out and about sporting her hair clip with her owl in hand. It's so wonderful to know that all the work was worth it... the kids adored their felt owls!!! Everything flowed so smoothly I couldn't have been more pleased! And the birthday girl still professes it was "the best birthday ever"!

P.S.
Hi all... I've gotten so many requests for the owl pattern I thought I'd add a link
at the end of this post for my etsy shop. I've also got adoption cards, cupcake toppers, invitations & my bed drawings available too.
If you'd like to take a looky-loo here is the link...
SnowyBliss Etsy
Have a spectacular day!

Ahem...

2011-01-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

HELLO, Hello, hello….

is anyone THERE, There, there….

Hi everyone! So it's been awhile, um ok months, since I posted.

Oh dear….I'm so sorry!

Essentially things got ridiculously CRAZY in my life. I took on a few too many things. And something had to give, it ended up being my blog. (I feel like I'm apologizing for a bad breakup or something, ha). Anyway I've missed it so, and I've missed the entire blogging community. I haven't even had time to enjoy other blogs. My google reader ticked way beyond a thousand months ago. Whoops. Then I gave myself a new years resolution to start up in January… and I made it, with a few hours to spare;)!

So here I am! I may not be the most consistent blogger. I have so many other things that need more attention, like my kids. But when I show up I'll try to make my posts worth while. Also, to those of you who have written me the sweetest comments, and I haven't responded, please oh please forgive me. I hope I haven't offended anyone, I just had to step away from the whole blogging gig until my life seemed somewhat more manageable.

Bless you for sticking around!

Now I'm so excited to blog some fun stuff. I've got a couple parties and random happiness to share. I'm even going to slide some of my summer stuff in the mix… think of it as some sunshine in the winter!

I'm also so excited to announce that I'm going to start selling my

long stemmed fabric roses.

(If I can ever figure out all this etsy stuff). I had quite a few darlings ask if I'd be willing to make them some. I love making them, and I love the idea of someone actually wanting something I've made. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I won't have them ready for a few more weeks, but my studio is currently filled with twigs and yummy fabric! So here goes nothing!

So folks… I'm back, and so excited to be! Thanks for not giving up on me!

Kisses, hugs and lots of love to all of you!!!

anj.

A Story Worth Writing

2010-06-22T14:22:00.000-06:00

Our story is being written.

It includes simple chronicles. Such as the magic that happens when J comes home from work each day. It's as if a switch has suddenly flipped inside each our children and they glow as they gallop, skip, bounce and cartwheel to his side. And me… well my heart smiles.

Other chapters are more complex. The times welcoming fresh spirits into the world. And times we had to say goodbye. These passages could be filled with broken dreams or with certain bliss.

Our memoir is precious and imperfect. It's filled with laughter, tears, joy, heartache, prayer and hope. And we are only 10 years in the making.

I envision the day when our two antique and fragile lives walk hand in hand. Thin skin covered in wrinkles. Minds overflowing with visual treasures. Two old souls who's tale includes each other on every page. That is a story worth writing.

Love you forever J

Happy fathers day

Sweets For A Sweetie

2010-06-15T09:36:00.001-06:00

For Scooters birthday this year we didn't have a party with friends. J and I decided that when the kiddo's turn eight their party will be with family following their baptism. So we fired up the grill and enjoyed the afternoon with la familia. Here are some photo's from the day.
Us before her baptism.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Drinks and such.

OK.. so I wanted to attempt a dessert table. I'm no Amy Atlas (I'm slightly obsessed with her talent) but I gave it a whirl. I think it turned out pretty swell for a very budget conscience arrangement. Here's photos…

I went a little tissue paper pom pom crazy.

Then I used left over paper chains from the midnight tea party.

I filled the table with inexpensive sweet treats. Cupcakes, mint chocolate dipped oreo's, marshmallow pops (check out these magnificent marshmallow pops at restless risa), cream puffs, cupcake bites (thank you bakerella), and other goodies. The kids at the party felt like they were in a sweet shoppe.

Mmmm… sugar…..

I made this tiered tray from plates and cups from good will.

The idea came from flamingo toes.

It cost me 7 bucks.

It was such a splendid day!

p.s. Did you notice I posted two days in a row...unprecedented!

Simply Sweet Scooter

2010-06-14T10:49:00.001-06:00

This little pretty thing just turned eight!!!

We baptize children after they turn eight in our faith.

My cousin Paula made Scooter this perfectly precious little white dress for Scooter to wear that day.

How cute is the back of this dress!?!?

Let's take a closer look…

Simply adorable!

Eyelet, ruffles, and a hint of pink...lovely.

A few things about my Scooter I love…

She is kind.

She is a little mother.

She is dedicated to what ever she decides to do.

She's compassionate and thoughtful.

She is happy, independent and loyal.

She is a dancer, a tumbler and a soccer player.

She likes to play board games and read books.

She loves most foods, but doesn't care for peanut butter.

She loves soup, salad and sandwiches the most.

She makes lists, she's 1,000 times more organized than her mother.

She's eager to please.

She giggles and giggles and then giggles a little more.

She has a big smile…

that is currently filled with teeth that are quite large and screaming for a visit to an orthodontist.

She is sweet spirited.

She is now eight years old.

Oh, how I wish I could freeze time.

I love this little lassie. I'm so proud of her. Every time I look at her I can't believe I get to be her mom.

I'm one blessed gal.

We Have A Winner

2010-06-07T13:10:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all of your kind comments!

To answer a couple of your questions...

a couple of you wanted to see photos of my studio. I'd love to share it with you. (It's my favorite room in our home...) I'm doing a couple of things to it, when I finish those up I'll post photos!

I get my fabric from all over. These all came from JoAnn... I like their prices, but there are times I walk away empty handed. I lucked out on my last trip.

Now for the giveaway...

I love giving something away. It's so fun. I always wish I could give one to everyone. Truly!!! I had so many sweet comments. I love hearing from familiar folks, and new viewers. Each comment just means the world to me. So thank you!

I left it up to the random generator.

And so the winner of...

1 Dozen Long Stemmed Fabric Roses is...

number 27!

Who is...

Natali Thompson

Congrats miss Nat... I'll be contacting you shortly.

I have a couple of things in the works. So hopefully another giveaway is in the near future!

Love to you all!

Long Stemmed Fabric Flowers

2010-06-01T08:48:00.012-06:00

So the last few weeks have been overwhelmingly filled with busyness. And this week is no exception. Criminently this time of year always about does me in.

However I thought I'd pause and blog a little tutorial. All of the fabric flowers out in blog land just kill me. They are all so fabulous. I wanted to add a bit of fabric flower goodness to my studio. I've had these on the brain for quite some time and I finally got around to creating them. I think spring inspired me. So here's how they turned out…

1 dozen long stemmed fabric roses!

Now my studio is wearing a smile. Now If only I could keep it clean. Hmmm….

So here is how I made them.

1. Cut fabric (selvage to selvage) in 5" strips. (approximately 5"x 45" long strips).

2. Fold strips in half lengthwise (wrong sides together) and press. Your strip is now 2.5" x 45-ish"

3. Trim off selvage edges (finished edges).

4. Open up strip. Sew a gathering stitch along the pressed seam. Fold back into place.

5. Now to cut the petals. Scallop the open ends of the strip. Each scallop is approximately 2.5 inches. If you make a small mark at the open end every 2.5 inches it will help guide you as you cut.

6. At one end make what I'll call a tail. It's about one inch wide by at least 4 inches long. (See photo, because I'm dreadful at writing directions)

7. To make things easier, I then use the first one and place it on top of another strip and use it as a pattern to cut the scalloped edge. These don't need to be "perfect."

8. Now back to the sewing machine. Sew the open ends (scalloped edges) together. I like to use a contrasting thread, but you can do what ever you please. (FYI… I was silly and still had my machine set for a gathering stitch on the photo. I guess you could do that, but it looks better as a regular stitch. So disregard the stitch length in the photo).

9. Now take your tail and tie it around the end of a stick. Make sure the end of the tail is pointing upward from the stick. (Not pointing downward). Again… see photo.

10. Now wrap the tail around the top of your stick. As you wrap come up at a strong angle, and then down in the opposite strong angle. This creates a "point." (Play with it before you actually glue it, so you make sure you get the right look, and so the end of the stick is completely covered). Glue in place. And there is the center of your rose!

11. Now carefully gather the remaining fabric. Be ginger with it, you don't want the string to break. Tie the thread together once gathered.

For a closed rose…

12.Have your glue gun handy. Add small dab of glue on stick and wrap the fabric around it. Repeat until you have wrapped the entire strip of fabric around the stick. (Try to keep the glue on the "inside" of the rose… so you don't have any showing).

For an open rose…

-Follow steps 1-11

12. With glue gun handy, add a glob of glue to the stick and wrap the fabric around the stick. Wrap the fabric 1 to 1.5 times around.
13. Now with your glue gun, pull a line of glue out from the stick, onto the fabric (about 1/2 inch… it's not a perfect science). Follow with your fabric. Hold in in place so glue dries. Then continue.

When you can see that you will have just enough to wrap the remaining fabric around the stem, tapper your glue line in towards the stem. Follow with the fabric. Then glue the last of the fabric tightly against the stem. And there is your open rose!

Lovely!

I experimented placing my roses in two different vases.

A classic cylinder vase.

And a long rectangle vase.

I'm crushing on the rectangle. I added extra sticks with fabric leaves. Perfect for the island/workspace in my studio.

Alright, so once upon a time I said if I'm making one I might as well make two and have a giveaway. It appears my offer still stands. So I'm giving away ...
1 Dozen Long Stemmed Fabric Roses
(Vase not included... you'll have to add that yourself;)
So leave a comment to enter. Let's see… if you don't know what to write, tell me your favorite flower.

I'll close the giveaway on sunday, and post the winner monday. Hooray for free stuff!

This giveaway is now closed;)
Update: I occasionally will have flowers like these for sale on etsy.
Here is a link ...
MY ETSY

Antibiotics, Galoshes and Vampire teeth

2010-05-18T23:54:00.002-06:00

Good grief… what a blogger loser I've been. Sorry for my absence.

Life has been a bit hectic lately. I just got out of the shower to wash the lingering smell of vomit off of me. And I know I have a long night ahead.

Last night I found myself at the urgent care with Momo. He had a horrible fever and a host of other symptoms. Turns out he has Herpangina… ugly mean blistering ulcers lining his throat. He also has an ear infection… yep he's an overachiever. Poor little tike is just plain miserable. This evening he saw me preparing his antibiotics and out of the corner of my eye I caught him scurry away. (He hasn't wanted to take any medicine. I'm not sure if it is because It hurts for him to swallow, or the taste. But he needs some for the pain, and some to clear up the infection. I have to hold him down to get him to take his medicine. It's awful). He seemed shocked when I found him in the pantry. He had hidden well, but hadn't taken into account that I could hear him sobbing. I had to pry his little hands off the door knob… he was trying so desperately to keep the door closed. After coaxing him to release his vice grips he vomited… all over me and the floor. Scooter promptly ran for rags, I used them to clean us both off and then caused him to take the dosing syringe of cloudy white syrup. Making me feel even worse, is that after our little medicine wrestle I handed him his sippy cup, then through his sobs I hear him softly say "Tank-cue" (translation: Thank you). Sigh.

Last night he didn't sleep much… seriously he was up allllllll night. We brought in the mattress from his crib and put it on the floor of our room. He started out there, got about an hour of sleep, but then ended up in bed with me and J. He just couldn't get comfortable, and the amount of drool he produced was both impressive and disgusting. So after a terrible night he finally submitted to sleep around 5 am. This is when I too was finally permitted to pass out. I'm one of those that doesn't function well on minimum sleep. My husband is just fine, but me… I'm a disaster. So when the alarm went off at 7:30 I straggled into Scooters room to wake her for school. I returned to bed… and blacked out. I have no recollection of anything else. When I did return to life, Scooter was gone. I found Ride helping herself to a bowl of cereal and next to her, on the counter was the proof Scooter had done the same. I couldn't feel more awful. Although I didn't intend on falling back to sleep, I did, and left my Scooter to fend for herself. To dress, eat, and pay attention to the time so she could walk herself to the bus stop.

This afternoon as she walked in the door my eyes welled with guilt filled tears and simultaneously my heart swelled with pride. She had her polka-dot umbrella in hand and had worn her flower printed pink galoshes. She explained she had checked the weather on my phone and because it had a photo of a cloud with rain coming out of it, she chose her outfit accordingly. And I have to give her props. She looked darling. She even did her own hair and added a matching giant flower headband. I hugged her and apologized for my shortcomings and she simply said…"That's ok mom, I didn't want to wake you up. I know you were up all night with Momo." Sigh #2.

And then there is Ride… we dashed out the door to preschool and miraculously made it only a few minutes late. She dressed herself today as well… and although I wouldn't put her outfit in the category of "cute" it definitely was entertaining. She brings such sunshine to our home. Like tonight when I picked her up from tumbling. There waiting for me, standing under the porch roof to avoid the rain was my lovable 5 year old, wearing black jazz pants that are awkwardly too short (she's growing like a weed) smiling widely to show off a pair of bright pink plastic vampire teeth. She found them this afternoon, and apparently wore them to class. I laughed out loud.

I so often feel these precious little ones are gifts I don't think I'll ever feel worthy of. They are such examples of patience, forgiveness, kindness and spirit. Maybe a little of them will rub off on me. I'll take anything they are willing to share... well all except the herpangina;)

It's a major award...

2010-05-10T10:56:00.014-06:00

So Beckie over at These Creative Juices was so cute and gave me my first blogging award.

Thanks Beckie! Go check out her blog too! She's wonderfully frugal and is a creative queen herself!
In the rules I have to pass this award to 10 creative blogs I frequent. (Do you think bakerella would accept my award... ha ha). Anyway, I'm new at this, and newish to blogging in general. I'm not even positive any of these award winners visit my blog.

Regardless here is your award ladies (in no particular order)...

Jen at Dangerously Domestic

Amy at Positively Splendid

Paula at Hart of the Mountain

Krysta at These are the Days

Ashlee at I'm Topsy Turvy

Risa at Restless Risa

Tasha at Creation Corner

Stacie at The Creative Crate

Lei at My Many Colored Days

Melissa at Miss Sew and So

To receive this award you have to promise to share this with 10 other BLOGS that you think are Trendy too! (So share the LOVE)
Just post about your award in your blog
List your Top 10 Trendy Blogs
Leave a link to the Trendy Blog Button
Tell them they need to give this award out to 10 as well.

Now I'm going to take a minute as well and send a big old shout out and

THANK YOU

to a few blogs that have recently made me feel like a million bucks...

Alison at Oopsey-Daisy

Tasha at Creation Corner

Stacie at the Creative Crate
Dawn at Not Just a Mommy

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Honestly ladies... you are FANTABULOUS!

Did you catch my post title.... name the movie! (It's in my list of all time favs).

Love to you all!

And I hope you had a spectacular mothers day!

Monster Momo

2010-05-07T11:47:00.012-06:00

He proved me wrong…

Momo turned two!

Congratulations big guy… you defy death or serious bodily harm daily, but you made it… let's go big and shoot for two more!

We celebrated with a little last minute party. Two is a challenging age for a birthday party. He doesn't have his own friends (can you imagine a house filled with two year olds… undiluted chaos)? Our family on both sides has bred stupendously, and all but one family lives locally. My house would be filled with over 45 people… love them all but I was not in a hosting mood. So we chose to have just Grandma's and Grandpa's join us.

Now I honestly tossed this together the day before (which was filled with soccer games and other must do's). So it's not as elaborate as other parties I've given. In fact it was simple.

Momo has to sleep with one of his "monsters" (ugly dolls). He tends to carry one of them around all day as well. Sippy cup in one hand, monster in the other, and recently I've been leaving him in his jammies all day… he just destroys his clothes. Yeah, I know… mother of the year award Rrriiiiightt Hheeerrrre (imagine a red blinking arrow, with an annoying buzz that turns on and off with every blink pointed at me right now. Like the visual)? We have a small collection of ugly dolls because I used to work, one day a week, and we stocked them there… they worked great as stocking stuffers, easter basket fillers etc… So yeah, we've got a bunch.

Anyway he's slightly obsessed with them. It was clear that his little party should be "Monster" themed.

I wanted to make LOADS of these little cuties. But time was sparse, so I only finished three. I got the idea from Not Just a Mommy she made these little owls that are beyond darling. She gives a little tutorial and everything. I took the basic idea and changed them from owls to monsters. Then I hung them (with fishing line) from the light above the kitchen table.

Then for dessert I created these
"Build your own monster"
cupcakes. Think Mr. Potato head, but edible, and with a cupcake, not potatoes;)

I made monster parts from Wilton candy chips

I drew the monster body parts on paper then placed the paper on a cookie sheet. Take wax paper and put it on top of your drawing.

Melt chips in a baggie or disposable pastry bag in the microwave. Clip the tip or corner of the bag.

Trace your drawings with the melted chocolate onto the wax paper. Follow the outline first and then fill it in. Then outline again with the dark chocolate. Tap the cookie sheet against the counter to even out the chocolate. Let it cool. Peal off of the wax paper. Voila. I did the same thing for my cat in the hat cupcakes.

Eyes

Arms

Tentacles

Fangs, Ears and Wings

Horns and Noses

I wanted to make little signs to label what monster body parts each plater had… again no time.
Here are a few of the Monster results…
(Sorry they're a bit blurry)

Seriously they turned out so stinkin' adorable.

K… so someone could take these ideas and really run with them. If anyone does a monster party and uses either of these ideas let me know… I'd love to see what you add to it!

Ohhh,

one more thing.

I add an easy mousse filling to my cupcakes. I just put the mousse in a pastry bag (a zip lock baggie clipped at the corner would work) and then shove it into the cupcake and fill it up (like a ding dong). Yum. Just don't go too crazy or your cupcake will split. Here's the recipe I use…

1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup Milk
1 Large Package Jello Pudding
Blend with mixer until thick.
Linked up to
Sundae Scoop
Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Showcase
Today's Creative Blog
These Creative Juices
Favorite Things Friday
Hoosier Homemade

I'm adding the buttercream frosting I use here, so you don't have to bother with the comment section...
2 cups solid white vegetable shortening
1 1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring
*1/2 tsp butter flavoring
4 Tbsp milk (or water)
2 Lbs. confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)(approx.8 cups)
2 Tbsp meringue powder (dried egg white)
a pinch of salt.
This is a stiff consistency. Add more milk or water until you get it to where you want it.
*I use wilton butter flavoring. This is optional, you could simply uses 2 tsp vanilla. Or sometimes I use a little almond. Or I go all out and use 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp butter flavoring 1/2 tsp almond.
And the "fur" is made with Wilton tip 233
Hope that makes it easier!