Bunny Bait

At the last minute last week, Arabella decided that she wanted to hand out Easter treats to her preschool class. I wanted to do something fun, but it had to be easy since we needed to hand it out the next day. Once again, Pintrest came to the rescue. I had started a "board" with Easter ideas and that is where I found the idea for "Bunny Bait"! It was so easy and Arabella loved helping mix it up and put it in the bags -

All you need is popcorn, pretzels, mini marshmallows, and some chocolate candy, actually you could put whatever you wanted in it. We used pretty Easter/Spring colors and it looked so pretty. It tasted even better and was a hit with the kids and adults!

Valentines

Arabella has her class party tomorrow for Valentine's Day. She has been so excited about it ever since they started talking about the holiday. Last week they made cute bags for their Valentine's they will exchange. Instead of the typical cards and junky chocolate, I decided to do something that I saw on Pintrest. Arabella loves goldfish so I thought it was pretty fitting - it went from this:

To these totally adorable Valentine's!

I also made the most perfect PINK cupcakes for the party...I just love how pretty they are!

Martha Moment

I love to change out the decor in my apothecary jars that sit on the ledge in my kitchen with each season or holiday. They had been sitting empty since I took down the Christmas decorations and I wasn't too sure what to do for Valentine's Day. So yesterday, Arabella and I went to Bulk Barn to pick up a few things and when I was there, inspiration struck. The jars before...

And after....

All it took was about $5 in bulk candy. I would have done all the same color scheme, but Arabella wanted to help pick out the candy so this is what we ended up with. She even helped put the candy in the jars when we got home!

And what is even better about the decorations, as delicious as they look, we picked candy that I don't eat at all! And because it isn't chocolate, Arabella isn't too interested in trying it out either!

Martha Moment

Tomorrow is Arabella's Halloween Party at school. I decided to make cake pops for her to give to all her friends and teachers instead of candy for a Halloween treat. She was so excited to help me make them and we had a lot of fin doing so. And they were pretty easy to make...

We first crumbled up a white cake that we baked.

Arabella liked using my pastry blender to really crumble up the cake.

Then we added a 1/2 cup of frosting and mixed it up good.

I then rolled them into balls, dipped a stick in melted chocolate and then inserted it into the cake balls. I then put them into the freezer so they could set. While I waited for them to set and while Arabella was napping, I melted orange candy melts.

I dipped the cake balls into the candy melts and then added a tic tac stem. Since I couldn't find the green tic tacs...do they make them anymore? or do they just not sell them here in Canada?...I took regular white tic tacs and lightly sprinkled them with water and then covered them with green sanding sugar. I actually like the way these stems look - they are prettier with just a hint of sparkle for some Halloween magic!

The final product - wrapped in cellophane bags and tied with orange ribbon and a cute little owl tag! I just think they are so adorable. Arabella and Jay taste tested one tonight after dinner and it was gone in a matter of seconds, so they must be good!

Let the Halloween magic begin!

Evolution Of A Bookcase

Last weekend, I found a posting for a free entertainment cabinet on a Facebook Group that I belong to. I had been searching for a bookcase for Arabella's room since she had outgrown the bookshelf that Jay had made for her when she was a baby. Jay at one point thought he wanted to build her one, but that plan was soon replaced with his purchase of the "new" car and all the other car projects that he wants to do. But, I digress, when I saw the posting, I jumped at it. All it would cost me was the gas and time to go get it as well as my time to re-paint it. I picked up up last Wednesday with the idea that if I got it home and Jay looked at it and decided that it was going to be too much work, I would be able to put it right out at the curb since Thursday is garbage day.

It was pretty gross looking and I wasn't sure washing and sanding it would make a difference. But I wanted to at least try, so yesterday I borrowed a power sander from friends and got to work. Arabella came out to say goodnight to me and even wanted to help...I was almost done and I let her paint the bottom shelves with me. She did a great job!

I was amazed this morning how good it looked after about 2 hours of work and just one coat of fresh paint! I really do love it and it reminds me of the office furniture that I want from Pottery Barn.

We had to do a little bit of rearranging in her bedroom for this to fit, but it looks great. And Arabella couldn't be more excited to have a bookcase for her books!

Martha Moment

So since I am totally caught up on my school work and I aced my 2nd exam...yes, I got a perfect score (Go ME!!), I was able to take a break and do something fun. I decided to put some of my beautiful ribbon to good use and make some new hair bows for Arabella. I love how they came out this time around and I have to say, that I am getting much better at it. I can't wait to make some more!

Martha Moment

I am liking the title of my post the other day on the brownie pops I made - Martha Moment - so I think will start using that as the title of some of my food/recipe/craft entries - what do you think??

Anyway, I had another Martha Moment the other day, when Laura asked me to make some of the brownie pops that I made for the D&B for Allyson's party. I was happy to help out since they were so easy the first time around. However, this time I modified them and made them a little smaller since I was going to need to make about 40 of them. I also made them into more of a round shape, which was easy since I used a baking mold. Once they had finished baking and cooling, I dipped them in melted white chocolate and then sprinkled them with a special blend of "Princess Sprinkles". OK, so it wasn't really that special - just white, pink and purple sprinkles mixed together - pretty simple. Once that was done, I put them on a pink platter lined with wax paper and let them dry.



They were a hit and I am sure I will be making them again soon!

Martha Moment

On Friday, I went to a D&B at my friend, Carrie's house. We all bring something fun and yummy to eat or drink. Most of the time we just hang out and relax sans kids, which is a great break for all of us. I decided to make something sweet - brownies in the shape of Popsicles! I randomly found them here http://loveandtwentytoes.blogspot.com/2011/03/brownie-popsicles.html They were pretty easy to make and they were a hit. Laura even asked me to make a modified version for Allyson's birthday later this week!