Holy Holly Sleighbells Santa!

Last post I mentioned I was going to take a run at the holiday lalaloopsy doll and turn her into a cookie. I think like digital scrapbooking, it's better to go big or go home when making my "graphics".  Holly turned out okay, not to my total liking but I got a smile out of my daughter...so mission completed.  I snapped a picture of her to share before my husband tried to eat her with the last of our milk!  Guess I better go shopping, wouldn't want to have to leave dear old Santa high and dry.  Maybe this year he could do with a steaming hot night cap with a little extra spirit if you get what I mean?

Fa La La Loopsy Cookies

Pardon my hiatus I took following Ethan's birthday blitz... I had a series of Christmas Craft shows to get through. I must admit I was not in the crafting mood... BAH! Did I just say that? What is wrong with me?  No, I did not fall or hit my head...my husband wonders about that most days because of all the crafts. I just wasn't feeling it this year. BUT - now that the sales are done, my ideas are flying wildly and my doodle books are filling up with new ideas to share with you over the course of the next year!

With Christmas right around the corner and a request that came from the Toronto area for some Lalaloopsy cookies I started looking online for more cookie inspiration, what could I try.... and then I found her!

Hello Holly Sleighbells

So STINKIN' cute!  And of course NOT AVAILABLE IN CANADA!!!! GRRRR...Hello!  Up here in Canada, NORTH of you, we like Lalaloopsies too.  Regardless - I am not bitter, it's the holidays and I am HAPPY because I am going to turn her into a cookie, and her little reindeer too. 

Perhaps I should take a rip at this guy as well, inspired by Marion over at Sweetopia... a little something for my guys to enjoy as well this holiday season.

Happy Baking!

Ethan's Spooky Boo-tique GRAND OPENING

Phew! What a crazy busy last couple of days, but well worth every second spent. Today, we celebrated my son's fifth birthday with a bunch of his friends right here at home.  Previously I have led up to the making of the bootique and now I can finally reviel it to you! After seeing the sweet shoppe that was designed by Linnette over at Paperglitter and checking out her photos she posted I was able to draft Ethan's very own store front... BUT in Halloween decor to compliment his costume party.

Spookified Jell-oOOoOo!

While trying to work towards executing Ethan's 5th birthday party as well as participate in a vendor pre-christmas sale in the same weekend, I figured I 'd better try to be nice to myself and pick things off the party "To Do" list in advance. 

As I have shared with you for the last few posts some of my ideas, putting them into actuality has been a little more difficult.  The candy corn toss game was a winner, the sweet bootique...ahh, err...let's just say it required refining... (okay, IT SUCKED!). Being a bit of a perfectionist, I have learned my lesson, and will not chince on the things that need to perform.  Thankfully,  my darling hubby has rescued me and aided me to get it done!  We did end up going the first route with using some styrofoam insulation we had downstairs (I love you honey!) instead of the el-cheap-o super skinny foamboard from the dollar store- regardless....it's built and covered (with wrapping paper none the less!) and Ethan's Sweet Bootique will be open for business come birthday time! You're going to have to wait for the grand unveiling though...as it's sort of the main focus of the entire party.

Moving on, I have been doing some surfing and was racking my brain on things we could serve at the dessert buffet, candy corn sugar cookies, caramel candied apples, ghoulish punch, witches fingers, spider web oreos and then it hit me... when I stumbled across an old recipe for layered jello dessert.  I figured why not make it with some halloween flare...purple, green, yellow and orange; in cups that are small enough to be a good serving without over doing it.  So, I purchased 4 boxes (1 of each colour, 4 serving size package) and some plastic recyclable cups.  After getting home, I followed the quick set instructions and set out to make a four layered eye candy treat forty-five minutes at a time.  Yes, 4-T-5 minutes for EACH layer...this was very time consuming because each layer had to set before having the next poured on top of it. But WHO CARES! Because we have J-E-L-L-O!    I figured I'd spruce it up a little come party day with a dollop of whipping cream just before serving and top it off with a gummy spider, all tied up with a spoon ready for serving one cup at a time.

I was featured on PaperGlitter!

Not to sound like some crazy creepy stalker type...but Linnette {over at Paperglitter} featured me, ME!  {shriek! - I'm so geeky!} And with this great honour she has set the stakes EXTREMELY high for me now...as a feature in her post today she highlighted my little guy's halloween birthday party from last year! It's all good...birthdays...they happen once each year...at the same...which means  WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER HALLOWEEN PARTY this weekend! Simmer down! I promise I will share with you once it's all done and I have fixed up my pictures.  I have been working on Ethan's concept for a while now (which you already now), prebaking a lot of the goodies because {Yes, I am crazy..but that's besides the point} I like to do all the treats myself!

Big Sugar Lollipops

           

Back in the summer time my daughter decided we  she should sell cookies alongside her brother's lemonade stand, and I tried to bake up something fun all while replenishing the lemonade that was like a nonstop tap out on our front lawn.  I did manage to get the cookies baked, but not before they closed up shop for the day and so to my husbands dismay he was forced (once again) to eat sugar cookies..he was really upset {what a struggle to get him to take one for the team...;)} 

Candy Corn Toss - Halloween Bootique Party Game

My kind of candy corn!  Soft and squishy and ZERO calories...Ethan and I whipped this guys up today with the intention of using them for one of the games to be played at his upcoming Halloween birthday party.

 ...Meet "Candy The Corny Kitty" Bean Bag Toss...
She turned out better than I imagined :)  I just have to make sure her eyeballs and mouth will be big enough for the candy corns to fit through when thrown. {The white parts will be cut out to make holes}

Halloween Sweet Bootique Party

Once again, I am so excited to start planning my son's birthday party...being an early November baby he has requested for the past 2 years to host a Halloween themed party.  And...to help me out in this department is one of my favorite people {and I am dead serious} Linnette from Paperglitter.  She has created a super fun new halloween line up from customizable kid currency,

Royal Icing Transfers - Ravens & Spooky Skulls

After completing a custom sugar cookie order for a good friend {"Go Ravens! Go! ;)} Might I mention the most difficult of cookies I have done to date... and not totally satisfied with my results :(   I suffered much guilt sending these over for the birthday party (not so much the good ones, but the ones who's plaques cracked...grrrr... I WANT A DO OVER!!!!    I know deep down that T won't mind at all getting extra cookies from me just because... they are evil, wicked cookies - and no body in her house likes them at all.  ;)


I had quite a bit of icing left over..."What to do with it, what to do with it?" I wondered. I couldn't not use it. Lucky for me the colours lent themselves perfectly to Halloweeny projects... and so I made Skull candy of a different variety.

Season One - It's Over...all Over.

Back in February I had decided to attempt to shed some pounds and with having set forth this seemling impossible ideal for myself I have been pleasantly surprised by my results to date.  Minimal to some people but HUGE to me (if you consider what my primary hobby is - baking)  17 pounds...yep that's right, I am on the slow and steady wins the race weight loss regime. 

Why couldn't it be as easy for me as it is for him to shed the pounds...he blows his nose in a tissue and looses like 5 pounds. No not  really! Why did my metabolism have to crash after having children??? Why? WHY???  I am starting to go a little stir crazy with this because I made a deal with my darling husband ( don't get me wrong I love him dearly...but sometimes - )  He's holding me to our deal.  BAH!

What's that you are wondering?  I lose 25 lbs and I can get a new puppy.  Sounds silly...but I really needed something to focus my efforts towards.  You are also probably wondering why on earth would I not ask for something grander than a puppy like diamonds - after all they are a girls best friend - but so can a dog.

But back to the header - Season One - It's over.... all over.  No more excessive weekly baking bindges for the local farmers market to fill our house with mouth watering aromas (and looming cookies).  Maybe I can actually get my puppy in time for halloween or Thanksgiving....I may have to make a dog costume!  Oh the options!!! 

I sense some sort of pet related goodness in the near future...and pirate cookies or other as mentioned yesterday.

Monday September 19 - National Talk like a Pirate Day?

Really? Have you heard of such a thing???  Just by chance my son wore his "Ahoy Matey" shirt  {we found on a trip to Target this summer} which caught the eye of my neighbour.  It was she who informed me of such a day...and then a second reminder to confirm it on Moshi monsters.  Who knew!!   Now, had I been in the loop sooner I could have made up something fun to celebrate the occassion IN ADVANCE.   I guess I could go and put on my eye patch, black out some teeth and tell my wee scallywags to walk the plank before I blow! Shiver-me-timbers!! {is that right?}.  Hey I never did come in first in any races, but at least I finished them!  Pirate cookies we shall have...when? I don't know, but they will get made.

Candied Rainbow Popcorn

Yesterday was Wednesday...this meant farmers' market in the evening.  I must admit I was a little slow at getting started this week with only 1 double batch of chunky monkey cookies under my belt the night before.  For a change of pace my husband offered to drop off our daughter at school this a.m. which opened up some extra time to work through preparations...until my four year old said he wanted to "bake popcorn".

Back to School Treat!

So, my kids here will be returning to school in 1 week...us Manitobans are behind our southern friends and so I thought this little treat would be a perfect start to a new year for them.  I admit, I did not invent this idea but rather came across it on quest to find a school bus clipart to use as a template for some sugar cookies for next weeks local Farmers' Market {seriously - why reinvent the wheel right?}.  This perfectly fantastic idea came from a fellow blogger Simply J Studio.

Let there be Cup-cake & Cut-offs

So, I've been trying to figure this one out for a while now; no - not how do they get the soft flowing caramel into the caramilk bar...{Although winning a gold key would be kind of exciting; like going on your own Willie Wonka chocolate factory tour}.  What's the trick to that cupcake cake swirl? 

Kawaii Cupcake Cookies

About a year ago a friend asked me to design some cupcake cookies for her daughter's birthday party...and of course I accepted the request.  I had an idea in mind...which I ended up doing but wasn't overly happy with the result.  If only I could wind back time and make her these ones instead, everything would be so darn sweet.

Lemonade & Lollypops

This past week my children were hounding me to do "something"  fun, so they set up shop at the end of the driveway with their own Lemonade stand.  {A Wednesday afternoon mind you, but they were out there}. Two pitchers of fresh squeezed lemonade and $4.00 profit later they were as pink as punch to have refreshed the neighbourhood.

The start of a new day...Coffee Jitters

Sooooo... I started the day off with a  little  kick-start - I accidently used regular instant coffee in my smoothie instead of decaf... and I used it full strength, not prepared. Needless to say I am feeling rather queesy and ZIPPY!

Your probably wondering what's the big deal?  Well, I haven't had a regular strength coffee in my system for a  VERY LONG time! Oh the list of things to do today...this should be good! Wonder how far I'll get before I fall over twitching on the floor? HAHAHA!  {Great, I'm going into hysterics already...the cookies I shall attempt today should be interesting.} 

I'll keep you posted as my mind continues to go into overdrive ;P

Keeping up with SweetSugarBelle... {Yeah Right!}

Yet again I have failed to make this blog a regular part of my weekly doings.  February was a long time ago since my last post...and no there is no REAL excuse for having such a lapse in dedication to posting pictures or brief entries. 

I did have a spring craft show at the end of April to which I was preparing several pieces of felt food, donuts, lemon meringue pie, cupcakes, carrots, apples and bananas. Sandwiches, Nut-free PB & Jelly, pancakes...the list went on and on. 

Waist Watchers

Like many of us, I decided that I should probably drop a few pounds and what better time than the "new year" to attemp this endevour... 

"Sure!" your thinking, trouble is it's sort of counter productive when you are trying to maintain a "baking" blog.  So in all my madness I must be creative and use my imaginative juices to continue to bake up yummy calorie-wise treats that are tantilizing to the eyes. 

I introduce to you...FELT FOOD!

Devine Goodness... Sucre a la Creme

WOW! Looks like I missed the boat on this one, Christmas approached very quickly for us and I wasn't quite able to get the recipes up in time for Sucre a La Creme {...and a couple others, tee-hee).

It took me a couple of passes to finally peg down and tweak this recipe until I found {in my mind} the perfect consistency and texture.  The first one was too dry, the second one too grainy, BUT the third was perfectly perfect.