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Leaf Printed Autumn Banner

These gorgeous leaves will last long after the last trees are bare!

Make Your Own Scarecrow Costume

Give old clothing an adorable Halloween makeover with RIT dye!

Free Halloween Printables

Invitations, goodie bags, treat toppers, decorations and more!

Reese's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

This can't be beat dessert is worth raiding your kiddo's candy stash!

Free Boo Printables

Start this fun neighborhood tradition with free printable instructions and signs!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Cutest Giveaway EVER!

http://rufflesandrosescrafts.blogspot.com/2010/06/tank-dress-giveaway-active.html



I can't even begin to tell you how badly I want to win this Dorothy dress! Check it out and take a minute to enter the giveaway yourself (you know...so that you can send it to me when you win it LOL!). :)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Salad Spinner Spin Art


This is a fun idea for creating art using the salad spinner that I picked up from Goodwill the other day for 99 cents.

Shower Curtain Play Mat



This idea has been shown on a few different blogs that we like to read; however, we first ran across the idea at Filth Wizardry (who also gave us the brilliant idea of taping two markers to the sides of an empty crayon box to create symmetrical lines for our roads!). I picked up a shower curtain liner at the dollar store, grabbed two Sharpie markers and some crayons and we were ready to create our own little town!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Re-Purposed Mini Vases



I just adore these sweet vases that the boys made the other day. I think they're especially cute when filled with the fistfuls of dandelions brought to me by my favorite 3 year old, who has become quite obsessed with picking every single flower he runs across for his Mama.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Marble Painting


I had seen marble painting mentioned in a couple of different blogs and kids craft magazines, and was really looking forward to trying it out with the boys. Since it was a nice sunny day, and the boys were itching to do a project, we decided to head outside for some painting fun in the sun. Using the backyard instead of the kitchen was a nice change of scenery, and it really kept me from worrying too much about the potential mess.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Muffin Tin Monday

We've been slacking on our crafting and art projects these past couple of weeks since I was frantically trying to get everything ready for the garage sale that we held this past weekend. We're ready to get back in gear though! This weekend we're headed up to visit Great Grandpa for his birthday, so expect some kid-friendly birthday and Mother's Day gift ideas later this week!

For this week there was no theme for Muffin Tin Monday, so basically it became "Whatever Mommy Can Quickly Throw Together for Her Impatient and Increasingly Hungry Children" lol.




We had string cheese, star shaped kiwi (and the slices that they came from), bagels with cream cheese, pretzels, strawberries and star shaped bologna. The hit of this week was the star shaped bologna! Honestly, the whole idea of bologna repulses me, and I'm not sure how or why kids seem to love it, but mine certainly do!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Muffin Tin Monday


Today was our first attempt at a themed Muffin Tin Monday, and this week's theme was "Under the Sea." We had a hot dog octupus, blue "ocean" yogurt with fish graham crackers, "sea cucumbers" with ranch, an apple and bologna sailboat, starfish shaped cheese, and a string cheese jellyfish. The biggest hits were both of the shaped cheeses!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Banana Bundt Cake



After a big shopping trip to Costco we always seem to end up with a few extra bananas that don't get eaten quickly enough before they start to become overripe, so tonight I decided to try a new recipe for banana cake. I got the original recipe from allrecipes.com and then tweaked it to suit our tastes and ingredients we had on-hand. This cake is lighter and less dense than a traditional banana bread, and it is delicious finished with powdered sugar or vanilla frosting. The recipe is sized perfectly for bundt pans and Nordicware pans. The cake is moist and delicious, especially sliced while it's still warm!


BANANA BUNDT CAKE

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 c. butter
1 c. granulated sugar
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
4 mashed ripe bananas
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. vanilla yogurt
¾ c. chopped walnuts (optional)
confectioners’ sugar or frosting for topping


DIRECTIONS:

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. Add bananas and mix well.

In a second bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with vanilla yogurt, stirring just until combined. Stir in walnuts if desired.

Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar or drizzle with vanilla or cream cheese frosting before serving. Yum!



This little guy snuck out of bed at 9:30 because he knew Mommy would be frosting the cake, and he just had to help (taste test the frosting, that is!)



I bet this cake would be fantastic with only a light sprinkling of powdered sugar...but since my 3-year-old was helping me with ours, it was served under a delicious lake of vanilla frosting. :)