Come One Come All!

Amanda's Circus baby shower.

 Sephonnie helped me make the circus tent. We used a hula hoop and taped streamers from it. We hung it from the ceiling with a 3M hook and pinned it open with bobby pins.

To make the swirled frosting fill a bag with 3 different colors trying to keep them as separate as possible as you fill it.  You will have to squeeze some frosting out before they start to mix.

Clown #1: Trix for hair and sour cherry candy for nose.

Clown #2: cut waffle cone for hat and M&M for nose.

I can't decide if their cute or scary.  I might have nightmares trying to decide!

Can't have a circus party without popcorn.  Cut the top half of a mini marshmallow in an x shape using scissors. I grease my scissors first with Pam or butter. Once you have the mallows on the cupcake use a paint brush to brush yellow food coloring on.

I love cookie exchanges!

 I made these Ritz peanut butter cookies for a Christmas cookie exchange. They are super simple but took some time: Take 2 Ritz crackers, spread peanut butter on one side and marshmallow cream on the other.  Make a sandwich then dip.  I learned a trick from a friend I wish I would have know before this.  Freeze the cookie for a few minutes then dip one half of the cookie, freeze again then dip the other half.  I know they are random designs but I don't like to do the same thing over and over.

 Red and green chocolate drizzle.

 Snowflakes:I bought the snowflake shaped Ritz which seemed like a great idea but it was impossible to get the 2 crackers to line up.  Oh well!

 Once the white chocolate dried I used blue chocolate to make the snowflake designs.

Snowmen: mini M&M's for eyes, mini chocolate chips for mouth and I used some carrot and pea candies I found at the dollar store for the nose.

More Snowman Fun!

 When we make a treat for Ethan's class we usually have to do one for Wyatt's too. This is what he wanted to do...String cheese snowman!

 I used a permanent marker for the face, sheer ribbon for the scarf, and black paper for the hat.

They seem to have their own personalities! I love Snowman!

Snowman Snack

 It was Ethan's turn to bring in a snack for the class and we both agreed this would be the best thing. It's super easy (exactly what I need this time of year) and it's fun!

I found this on Pinterest. Click here to print the poem. Love Gourmet mom on the go's blog!

 Here's what I used: large and mini marshmallows-snowman body, pull apart licorice-scarfs, mini chic. chips-eyes, orange sprinkles-nose, mini M&M's-buttons, pretzels-arms, Rolo's-hats

Ethan said the kids got a kick out of these since we don't ever get to build real snowmen here in New Mexico!

Mini Cornucopias

 Found this idea on Pinterest.

 Cornucopia- dip the end of a waffle cone in a cup of hot water for 20-25 seconds.  Microwave for 25 seconds then mold them before it cools.  I used a paper towel to help because its hot.  Some of them molded better than others.

 I let mine dry overnight then added M&M's (I used Peanut Butter) and candy corn pumpkins. I used cellophane and ribbon to hold the treats in.

 I packaged some for my visiting teachers.  I found this cute tag here.  There is also a tag for neighbors.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Catching Fire Fun!

 I made these for some friends to celebrate the new Catching Fire movie.

 For the fire on these cupcakes I tinted frosting red, orange and yellow.  I added all 3 colors to a piping bag being careful not to mix them too much. Next time I will add less red, it overpowered the other colors.  I printed the Hungar Games symbol and added it to a small sucker stick for the topper.

I used Life Savers to make these fire cupcakes.

 I separated the red, orange and white Life Savers and crushed them in a ziplock baggie.  I covered a cookie sheet with parchment paper then sprinkled the candy in a thin layer on top of each other.  I did 3 different sections putting the colors in a different order in each one.  I don't think it made a difference but it was fun to try.  I baked it for 7 minutes at 350.  Right when it came out I used a knife to smooth and or mix some of it. It turned out more red than I would have liked.  Next time I want to use Butterscotch and Cinnamon discs.

 Once it dried I broke it into shards. I added gold dust to the frosting just for fun.

I'm so excited for the movie!!

Shoes, shoes and more shoes!

 The theme for the youth program this year is "Stand in Holy Places."  For the Young Women in Excellence program we chose the theme "As we travel through personal progress, we STAND in holy places." We got the shoe idea from the Jenny Phillips website.

 Sara and I made these little high heel shoes.

 We used Milano cookies dipped in white chocolate for the shoe part.  For the heel we cut a cookie in half and dipped it in white chocolate.  The pirouette cookies are much easier but I didn't want to buy an entire jar for 6 cupcakes.

 I loved this box Megan found to display them on!

 Christine, Sara and I decorated these fun cookies.

 They took us forever but they turned out so cute! Way to go girls!

 We did a few temples too that said Stand ye in Holy Places.

 Megan and Christine made these cute paper shoes for the take home favor.  We found the template on Pinterest.  We filled them with nail polish.

Thanks for the memories girls! It was a super fun night.

I ordered this chocolate shoe mold but it didn't get here on time and I couldn't not use them so Megan found these cute shoe cards and we decided to make a thank you with them.  We gave them to the girls at church on Sunday.