Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Today was a co-workers birthday and when I asked him what kind of cupcakes he wanted, he had a one word answer. Beer. My co-worker is a homebrewer extraordinare, so his answer didn't surprise me. And my mind went right to this recipe. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes...what a great excuse to make these beauties.


Chocolate Guinness cupcake, filled with a Bailey's spiked dark chocolate ganache topped with Bailey's buttercream frosting. The Guinness really adds a great depth to the chocolate, so rich. But I really think the star was the Bailey's buttercream. Or else I just make the cupcakes to eat the frosting, because the frosting really IS the best part.


A whole cooling rack was taken to work before I could eat just the buttercream off each cupcake. Really, it's the best part.


This is a definite keeper recipe. From Annie's Eats: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. These would be fun to serve at a St. Patrick's day party or make them for your favorite homebrewing co-worker!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

BBQ Decorating Ideas

Happy Saturday and Happy 3-day weekend!!! What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have a BBQ to host or attend?? I'm going to show you some fun ideas you can make using your scrapping supplies to host a great BBQ this summer. I made this BBQ set for PSA Essentials.

First up, the invitation.


I used Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper and a great Peel and Stick stamp set from PSA called Life's a Beach. I crafted this invitation envelope from the patterned paper and made the invite to slip right in.


I used these same papers and same stamp set and followed through with a whole set of fun BBQ decor! How about some cupcake toppers??

Theses are food cards for your buffet table. You don't want to mix up the spicy mustard and the regular mustard.


There is always leftover food at BBQs. How about making up some goodie bags so your guests can take home an extra cookie or extra candies?

Use a standard clothespin to close the bags and sent home some goodies!

And lastly, what's a party without a banner??? These would be a great addition to the buffet table, and outside decoration or hang it in the trees. It's fun and festive!



There you have it!! You are now all ready to throw a great summer BBQ! Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Marshmallow Crunch Brownies

There really are no words for these...so I'll get right to the point.

Brownie bottom...marshmallow middle...peanut butter chocolate rice krispies on top...I guess I did find some words.


They are similar to the Better Than Crack brownies I made with the addition of the marshmallow layer. I think I like these better.


These actually might be better than crack. But don't take my word for it. Here's the recipe so you can try and judge for yourself: Marshmallow Crunch Brownies at the Brown Eyed Baker foodie blog.

Happy eating!!!

The Girls

Happy Monday! What's up with you this week? We have 9 more days left of school, my kids are counting them down!! We have lots of fun stuff going on from now until the end of school. Parties, class play, game day, animal report...I hope we survive. Ha ha!

I had the time to scrap another photo from our trip to Maine last summer. I think i'm coming to the end of these photos, but I keep finding good ones that I need to scrap.


These are the Blue Skies paper from American Crafts. I just love the orange and aqua/teal colors together. So great for so many different kinds of photos! I used some brads from the AC Campy Trails line, too. I love how their colors coordinate so well!


Some twine, button and Thickers round it out!


So here's to a great week...thanks for stopping by!

Thinking of You

Happy Saturday!!! The sun is out, no clouds in the blue sky...it's a great day for baseball. We are getting ready to head to my son's baseball game, but i'm going to share a couple of cards that I made for PSA Essentials. There is always something going on at the PSA Stamp Camp blog, so make sure you check it out!

First up...Thinking of You...


I honestly can't remember if I shared this card before, but i'm sharing it again because it's one of my favorite card shapes. That is a cut from the Wild Card Cricut cartridge and I love the circle and scallop shapes. I also cut some hearts on my Cricut to layer on the front.

And the sentiment is from the Dare to Dream Peel and Stick pack.

I love the hearts dotting the i's!!

And one more, this one in honor of wedding season. Spring and summer is the season of weddings, and this would be a nice card to bring to the reception for your favorite newlywed couple!


I stamped the heart from the Bouquet Toss pack using white ink onto the pink cardstock, creating my background paper. Then I added the sentiment, some ribbon and a button to finish it off!


That's it from me today! I'm off and running to baseball and a birthday party and later, my kid's friends are invading my house. It's going to be a busy day. Thanks for stopping by today!!

A Trio of Cards

Happy Thursday...isn't it Friday yet? This week is dragging by. Lots of stuff going on with the kids school year coming to a close. Fun stuff, but busy busy busy!!

Here's a trio of cards I made for Scrapbook Express. I got to play with these great felt stickers, Woolies, from Basic Grey. They are layered felt stickers that are stitched and look totally homeade without you doing any of the work. Love that!


I used the same basic design for all three cards. The woolies take front and center on each card!


I paired the woolies with some American Crafts papers. I inked the edges and added some thank you sentiments. And of course, some twine!!


I like how easy these were to put together and now I have 3 more cards for my card stash. And I can always use thank you cards!

I hope you are all having a great week. I am woefully behind commenting on blogs, I am hoping to find some time this weekend to sit down, veg out, and blog surf!! Thanks for stopping by!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet is an interesting cake. It's really not just white cake with red food coloring, which I found out recently. It's a very moist cake made with cocoa powder, buttermilk and no butter. And it goes so nicely with cream cheese frosting. This is my first attempt at homeade red velvet (not from a cake box mix) and I made these for a friend of mine at work. He asked me to make cupcakes for his wife for her birthday and she loved red velvet. So here they are!


I loved the consistency of the cupcake, so moist. And the cream cheese frosting, you just can't go wrong with that!


I found my little heart sprinkles that I have been hoarding and thought they would be a cute touch to these cupcakes, considering it was for the birthday of a loved one.


And I am happy to report, they were well liked by the birthday girl!! Here is the recipe I used...found on my favorite food blog...Annie's Eats: Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Happy Tuesday!!

Hello Saturday!

Wow, it's Saturday!! Blogger sure was a pain in the butt this week, it was down almost all week. Looks like it's back up and running and for that I say..hurray!! I hope you've all been having a good week. I have been back to the gym. Yes, you heard that right...back to the gym! My ankle has been feeling pretty good and i've been swimming and walking and doing an ankle-approved modified mini boot camp. It's been awesome. The worst part has been training myself to get up in the morning again. I'm used to sleeping in with warm covers and comfy pillows. When my alarm goes off at 5am...I'm not even sure what to do anymore. But i'm getting back into the routine and hopefully there will be some running (although in very small doses) in my future soon!!

I have a layout to share today, too. It's based off a Creative Scrappers sketch and done using some great paper from My Mind's Eye called Lime Twist. I love love the colors!!


The layout photo is totally crooked and I was frustrated trying to get a good shot of this layout! Oh well, you can't win them all. And did you know My Mind's Eye has twine...that matches their collections? I am in LOVE!!!


I also liked this small font letter stickers, perfect for journaling.


My kids had a ball riding the 3-wheeler at my sister's last summer. Too much fun!!

Hope you all had a great week. We had our big school carnival last night and it was a great time. It's our biggest PTA fundraiser of the year, I hope we raised tons of money! Have a great Saturday, friends.

Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn

Ah...the smell of kettle corn. It seems like there are kettle corn tents everywhere these days...the softball fields on weekends, the farmer's market, the parking lot of Home Depot (yes, on weekends there is kettle corn at Home Depot...weird?). We went to our local farm yesterday and they were selling...kettle corn. And while I didn't feel like paying $8 for a 5 foot long bag of kettle corn (WHY are the bags so incredibly huge???), I was inspired to come home and make it myself.


I found an easy recipe of the Rachel Ray website. Here's how it goes:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions:

In a large pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. add the popcorn. When the oils sizzles, sprinkle the sugar over the kernels. Cover and shake the pan until the popping slows down, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and toss with the salt.

Yes, it's that easy!! And if you're lucky, you get some the popped kernels with caramelized sugar in your bowl. And you won't have to fight your kids for those kernels. And you won't have to feel bad that you're an almost 40 year old mom, fighting her son for the best kernels (guess who won?).


If you make this for your kids or your husband or your neighbor or your best friend tomorrow, I'm sure you will be eternally loved. It's delicious.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Some love for all you Moms!

Just a quick post to say Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mom, my MIL and all my mom friends out there!!

Me, My Mom and my cutie niece, June 2010

I'm not going to wax poetic about being a mom because to be honest, some days it sucks and all I want to do is fly to a tropical island...alone...and bury my toes in the sand and drink mojitos. Sometimes it's the hardest job in the world. But lots of times it's the best job in the world. And I'm grateful that my mom didn't disappear to a tropical island because then I wouldn't be the well-adjusted adult that I am today (some people can argue with me on the well-adjusted part, but not right now). Love you Mom!!!


Have a great day today, Moms!!!

National Scrapbook Day

Happy Saturday! It's also National Scrapbook Day!!! Over at Scrapbook Express, we've been partying all week with games and challenges. Today is my challenge day...are you ready?? Since today is about sharing our love of all things scrapbooking my challenge is to use hearts in a creative way on your layout. Easy Peasy!!

I used the Emma's Shoppe paper collection by Crate Paper for this layout. SWOON! I love these colors!!


I was inspired by this post to make this big flower out of hearts. I cut out hearts of three sizes and layered them all up. I then added that great crepe paper flower by Pebbles and a homeade flag. A fun custom embellie!


This paper line also has a great sticker sheet to match, I am really getting into using these stickers.


If you are scrapping today, come on over to Scrapbook Express and check out all the challenges. You have until Monday night to upload your creations. There are some great prizes to be won as well!!

Happy Scrapping Today!!

Crop Suey May Challenge

It's time for a little Song and Dance!! That's the challenge this month at Crop Suey...get your groove on by using either a song or some lyrics or scrap some pics of you dancing, or at a concert....you decide how you get your groove on!

Here is my layout. This is a photo of me and my longtime BFF all ready for her 40th birthday disco party. I was rocking that afro wig!!


I had fun with the title and that big flower...


I also found my stash of stick pins and used some baker's twine. Shocker!!

So if you are ready to get your groove on...dance on over to Crop Suey and show us what you've got!!

Mother's Day Cards

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday! How's your week going so far? I got the green light from my physical therapist to get back to the gym this week. YEAH!!! The boot is off and I am swimming again. And it's been great. My ankle is not 100% yet but it's getting there. Swimming is some much needed exercise therapy. Not being able to do anything for 7 weeks was tough stuff.

Today I want to share a couple of cards I made for Mother's Day. I used the Vicki B 6x6 paper pad by Bo Bunny. I really like the 6x6 pads for cards.. This first card is 5x5 square, I really love that size for cards.


Yes, i'm still addicted to baker's twine. Expect to see it on every project for the next 8 years. And the stamp is from PSA Essentials.


This next one is not necessarily Mother's Day, but could be for a girlfriend or aunt or neighbor.

Yeah for doily's and baker's twine!!!!!!!!

Hope you are having a great week. It's heating up here...almost 90 degrees today! Bring on the summer!!

Thanks for stopping by today...

Teacher Appreciation Week

Happy Monday, everyone! It's teacher appreciate week at our school. And we just love both our kids teachers this year. They are awesome and I am so grateful for all the time they spend with my kids. I wanted to do something special for both of them. I've seen this tackle box idea in the blog-world and it's always in the back of my mind to try. In fact, I already had a tackle box (covered with dust!) in my closet. My son was excited to help me with this appreciation gift for his teacher.

I decorated the top with some Dutch Mustard Soup papers from Jillibean Soup. My son helped me cut the letters on the Cricut and add the stars.


And we filled it with all sorts of stuff that teachers need. Glue sticks, starbursts, paper clips, hershey kisses, rubber bands...the essentials!!

Because sometimes you need a paper clip...and sometimes you need a sugar fix. Too bad a bottle of wine wouldn't fit inside. So make sure you appreciate all the teachers in your lives this week. They work really hard and I know would love just a note of thanks!!

Have a great Monday, friends!