Easter Bunny Cupcakes

Marshmallow Bunny and Easter Egg Cupcakes

Chocolate Rabbit and Easter Egg Cupcakes

Easter Candy for Decorating the Cupcakes

L to R from top left:
 Easter Sixlets candy, marshmallow bunnies, speckled bird egg jelly beans, and small, foil wrapped, chocolate rabbits.

Step 1 - Bake 24 cupcakes according to the package directions and cool.

Step 2 - Put the cool cupcakes into clear plastic party cups

Cooled cupcakes in party cups ready to frost. 

Step 3 - Using a 1M decorating tip and frosting in leaf green and sky blue, make overlapping stars to resemble grass.

Step 4 - Insert toothpicks as shown in the pictures below and place the rabbits into the center of each frosted cupcake. I had to use a small jeweler's screwdriver to poke a hole through the plastic wrapper so I could insert the toothpick into the candy rabbit. 

Step 5 - Place 3 jelly beans and 3-4 Sixlet candies around each candy bunny.

Step 6 - Place each cupcake into an Easter treat bag and tie the top closed with curling ribbon. I used an iridescent baby blue ribbon that I found at the local dollar store.

Bagged Easter Bunny cupcakes ready to be given as gifts. 

It's a Boy! Baby Shower - Lime Green and Blue

About the last week of January, I received a phone call from my pregnant daughter. The conversation went like this:

A: Hi, mom. Are you feeling?

S: I am feeling better. My ribs and head feel a LOT better now. (I was in a black ice accident and totalled my car about a week before the phone call.)

A: Mom, are you going to have a baby shower for Cooper?

S: I was thinking about it.We only have five weekends until you are due. (This is where I pulled up the calendar on the computer.)

After checking the church calendar, our calendars, and her sister's calendar 

We set a date three weeks away. Yep, I know I am crazy for attempting a baby shower in three weeks, but that is the challenge I took on. 

My first step was to create a private event page on Facebook 

Ashley invited family and friends. I invited the church family members.Immediately after having the shower put on the church calendar, the event was in the church bulletin for the next three weeks. 

How did I plan the decor? By Searching Pinterest, Baby! 

Most of my ideas came from pictures featured on Pinterest boards. 

The trick to not getting overwhelmed? Search by color. I searched for lime green and blue baby showers. 

A variety of themes appeared during my color search - nautical, jungle, monkeys, rubber duck, and little man. However, I kept my colors firmly in mind. 

When I couldn't find the printed plates I designed the colors from, I didn't melt down. Instead, I chose solid colors in lime green and blue.

The night before the shower.

Alternating lime green and blue napkins and cutlery were rolled and then tied with white curling ribbon for the place settings. 

Table cloths, plates, napkins, cutlery, prizes, name tags, banners, and lime green balloons were purchased at dollar stores. A 72-balloon package with predominantly white, light blue, and a darker blue balloons was purchased from the local supercenter.

The finished decor for the It's a Boy! baby shower.

Onesies with baby animals coordinate with the centerpiece toys. A blue and white clothesline completed the onesie banner. 

• Cupcake and sugar cookie party favors were placed on the tables for the guests.
• The cupcakes are baked in aluminum liners and topped with blue and green swirled buttercream frosting. 
• The letter "c" initial sugar cookies are topped with royal icing.
• Party cups, treat bags, and light blue, iridescent curling ribbon were used to package the favors. 

 

Cupcake and sugar cookie favors flank a  mini-diaper cake and frog centerpiece. See the red lip print on the frog's cheek? 

• Guess How Many? baby bottle game - You will need two, 11 oz. packages of candy to fill a 9 ounce baby bottle with only blue and green pieces. The bottle is the prize.
• Shower prizes - Blue body wash with adorable bath puffs. 
• The labels are squares cut from a jumbo gift bag. I printed "From Ashley's shower to yours!" on each label. Then I tied everything together with light blue, iridescent curling ribbon. 

I hope this post helps you plan a baby shower. For a baby girl, use the same ideas just use pink and lime green. 

Gingerbread Snowmen, Snowflakes, and Stars

Snowflake snowmen, star snowmen, and gingerbread snowmen are the theme for my 2015 Christmas gift plates. 

I have been waiting since January to create these adorable snowman cookies. 

Why January you say? In January, I saw a plate of star shaped and snowflake shaped snowman cookies on Pinterest. Seriously, I fell in love with a plate of snowman cookies.

To create my Christmas plate of cute cookies,

I made a double batch of holiday sugar cookie dough, a double batch of homemade gingerbread cookie dough, and one batch of old-fashioned royal icing that was somewhere between piping and flow consistency for decorating. Old-fashioned royal icing means I used real egg whites and lemon juice. 

At the end of my baking and decorating, I had 10 plates with 1 dozen cookies on each plate.

Plus, I made stocking stuffer snack bags for our grandchildren, nephews, and nieces. Each stocking stuffer snack bag holds one gingerbread snowman and one sugar cookie snowman.

Sallee B's Go To Recipes

Roll out sugar cookie recipe      Click Here

Gingerbread cookie recipe        Click Here

Royal icing recipe                      Click Here

Note: I did not use molasses in the gingerbread cookie recipe. As a substitute, I used butter pecan pancake syrup. The dough will be a little softer and has to be chilled at least two hours. 

The picture below shows the cookie cutters that I chose. 

Cookie cutter sizes starting at the top left: 

• 3 inch gingerbread cookie cutter
• 3 inch five point star cookie cutter
• 3 inch Christmas tree cookie cutter
• 1.5 inch snowflake cookie cutter
• 2.5 inch star cookie cutter

Decorating with Zip Top Bags

I did not use any decorator tips on this baking project. I did fill 1 pastry bag with white royal icing and two snack size, zip top bags with  orange and black royal icing. With a small pair of scissors, I snipped the end of each bag. Make sure you barely snip the corner, or tip, of each bag because if you snip too much off, the royal icing will make a gloppy, wide line. Not telling you how I know this. lol...lol

Frosting the Sugar Cookie Snowman Stars, Sugar Cookie Snowflakes, and Gingerbread Snowmen

1. Outline the cookie with white icing
2. Pipe a few lines onto the cookie, inside the outline, to partially cover it.
3. With a short, thin bladed knife, carefully spread the icing to cover the cookie inside the outline. Add more icing if necessary I used a dollar store paring knife. 
4. Let frosted cookies dry until the icing is hard. Royal icing dries FAST.
5. Use a dot of black icing to form eyes, mouth, and buttons. I used five dots for each snowman's mouth. 
6. Add an orange dot and line for the nose. Mine are vaguely triangular. I made a dot, then added a small line to shape each nose. 
7. Let dry until frosting is hard. 

Decorating the Sugar Cookie Stars and Sugar Cookie Christmas Trees

1. Pour desired sprinkles into a soup bowl
2. Outline a cookie with royal icing. Add icing lines anyplace you want sprinkles to adhere.
3. Hold the cookie over the soup bowl and drop sprinkles onto the wet icing.
4. Repeat until all of the cookies are outlined with sprinkles. 

I spread a thin coat of icing on the top of a few stars and then applied sprinkles onto the cookies. Personally, I like the sprinkle outlined cookies better than the cookies with a solid coating of sprinkles. 

You Rock! Christmas Treat Bag

Last year, my sister Nan sent me a jar of what looked like gravel. Bill and I eyed the jar of rocks trying to figure out why my sis would send me a jar of rocks. 

Finally, I picked up several nuggets of "rock" and smelled them. 

"Chocolate" is what my nose told my brain. Trusting my sense of smell, I popped the "rocks" into my mouth and let them sit in my mouth for a short while. Yep, my nose was right and what my sis had sent me was a jar of  candy coated, chocolate rocks. 

This year, I found a great deal on one pound bags of gluten free, Choco Rocks and decided to make You Rock! Christmas treat bags for the elementary students that I work with. Personally, I think this is a very cute way to send a positive message to students. Candy slogans appeal to the kid in me, too. 

  

Note: I used 1/3 cup of Choco Rocks for each treat bag and a one pound bag will fill about 7 snack size, treat bags.  

To make your own treat bags you will need the following materials:

• snack size, zip top bags
• 3x5 index cards
• Christmas gift labels
• bows
• Choco Rocks
• red and green permanent markers
• stapler

To Assemble

1. Fill out the 3x5 index cards. 
2. Add a square gift label and bow to each card.
3. Put 1/3 cup of Choco Rocks into each gift bag and zip closed.
4. Staple each decorated index card to the top of each zip bag.

Mothers Day Tea Light Holders

Glitter salt dough, cookie cutters, and tea lights are all you
need to make this easy and economical craft for Mothers Day. 

Old fashioned salt dough can be updated with the simple addition of Wilton gel food colors and glitter. I was visiting The Imagination Tree looking for a Mothers Day craft for church when I saw Anna's post for Rainbow Glitter Salt Dough. Wow, why didn't I think of this? Anyway, I knew I wanted to have the kiddos make a tea light for mom using this great salt dough idea. Read on to see the basic recipe and directions.

The basic recipe for one pound of salt dough is:

1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt

1/2 cup of warm water

2 1/2 - 3 tablespoons of glitter

a small amount of Wilton gel food coloring in the desired color

Extra Item 

1 can of clear spray paint

Salt Dough Directions

• Place the flour, salt, and glitter in a bowl.
• Stir until well blended.
• Add the warm water
• Stir with a sturdy spoon until the dough begins to cling together.
• Knead the dough by hand until it forms a ball.
• If the dough is sticky, add a small amount of flour to the bowl and knead it into the dough.
• Continue to do this until the dough is no longer sticky.
• Divide dough into four balls.
• Flatten the balls slightly and add desired amount of gel food coloring to each ball.
• Fold the dough over on itself and knead the color into the dough.
• This makes four 1/4 pound balls, or enough to make 8 - three or four inch tea light holders.

Tea Light Directions

• Begin with a two ounce ball of one color. (Slightly larger than a golf ball)
• I flattened the ball into a disc that was a little larger than the cookie cutter I wanted to use.
• Then I added designs with two contrasting colors before cutting the dough into the desired shape with a cookie cutter. 
• Center a tea light over the dough and press it into the dough.
• Wiggle gently until a well is created for the tea light to sit in. Remove the tea light.
• Bake at 200 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours.
• Let tea lights cool.
• Spray a light coat of clear paint onto the tea lights to help keep the glitter from "shedding". 
• Your beautiful tea lights are finished.

For a look at painted holders go on over to Life as a Mom and see Janel's tutorial.

Baby Shower Onesie and Bib Bouquet

 I am so excited! My friend Gina sent me an invite to her daughter's baby shower. I have been wanting to make a floral baby bouquet with bibs and onesies ever since I saw a picture of baby boy bouquets on Pinterest. Today I went shopping for my version of the baby shower bouquet.

Shopping for a Gift Bouquet

At the dollar store I bought a four pack of bibs ($5), a three pack of onsies ($4), a swim noodle ($1), a card (.50), and a cute pink gift bag ($1.75). My next stop was a local thrift store, Crazy Lady's Resale Shop, where I purchased the white flower pot with a floral decal ($1.00). Total cost $13.25

Repurposed Materials

A pair of knit slacks provided the green fabric to cover the end of each "flower". The shreds were from wedding centerpieces I purchased at a yard sale and deconstructed for the ivy vases, shreds, flowers, and ribbons. The pink and white ribbons, bamboo skewers, and floral tape are from my craft boxes.

Assembling the Flowers

• Each stem is wrapped in floral tape like the Spring Flower Bouquet I made for my mom. (PartyTimeBabyCom has a great Candy Bar Bouquet Tutorial that I adapted for my own bouquets.)
•  Each flower is formed with a bib or onesie in size 3-6 months.
• The green fabric around the bottom of each blossom was repurposed from a pair of knit slacks. Using pinking shears, I cut the hem off the bottom of one pant leg. Then I cut four, 1.5" horizontal strips from the pant leg forming pant leg loops. I cut the two seams off of each loop, which left me with two rectangles. I basted across the bottom of the wrong side and pulled the thread to form a circle. Then I stitched the two ends of the circle together. I slid the skewer end through the middle of the circle, pulled it over the base of the flower, and tied it in place with a piece of ribbon.

• The original flower pot did not have a green rim. After sanding the brim with sandpaper, I dabbed leaf green paint onto the rim with a piece of scouring pad cut with pinking shears. (The narrow edge, not the flat, wide side.)
• Once the paint was dry, I cut a piece of pool noodle to fit horizontally(sideways) across the bottom of the flower pot.
• I placed shreds on top of the pool noodle piece, until the pot was full.
• The last step in assembly was arranging the "flowers" in the flowerpot. I centered one of the onesie blooms, then placed the other two on either side of it. The bib blossoms filled in the space between.
• Isn't the bouquet pretty? I am very happy with the end result of my work. I would be happy to answer any questions for your. Happy crafting!

Valentine Cookie Project

 Sugar cookie hearts waiting to go in the oven. I like to roll out my sugar cookie dough on waxed paper that has been lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Baked hearts fresh out of the oven and cooling while I made icing

Freshly frosted cookies drying on a cooling rack. I used royal icing to trim the cookies. I didn't make a full batch of royal icing. I just halved all of the ingredients and the icing turned out just fine. If you would like to check out the recipe(s) that I used on this project, just click on the two links in this paragraph.

 

 

The completed project ready for gift giving.

Valentine's DIY Cookie Bouquet

Heart Cookie Bouquet

You don't have to web surf to find the perfect cookie bouquet recipe because I have found it for you. I have made some suggestions below on how to make it a little more frugal, but just as eye appealing.


Sallee's Notes

• I have never used parchment paper when baking sugar cookies that have lots of butter in them. I let the cookies cool for two or three minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.
• A set of graduated heart cookie cutters are very nice for this project. You can scatter 2 or three smaller heart cookies in your bouquet to give it more eye appeal.
• Pastry bags just make life so much easier! Sandwich bags can be used, but I always end up with a blown out side seam and frosting oozing everywhere.So go ahead and purchase a pack of pastry bags and  a package of frosting couplers  in the craft aisle of your super discount store. Then you can have fun and make frosting tip changes quickly.   
• A $1.25 will buy you a pack of 100 bamboo skewers instead of the white cookie sticks. I cut them to length with side cutter pliers or heavy duty kitchen shears. If they spinter just pull the loose piece off and everything will be fine.
• Make a batch of krispy rice cereal treats and pack your mug with krispy rice treats instead of styrofoam. Line your mug with plastic wrap, pack it with your cereal treats, fold the excess plastic wrap over the top of the cereal. Don't pack the mug completely full or you won't have room for your paper crinkles.
• Red, white, or pink ribbon of your choice so you can tie a pretty bow onto the coffee cup handle. Two years ago I bought a spool of white ribbon at a party store and I still haven't used it all up. So you can shop around and find spools of ribbon for under $6.
• click here for the directions on how to bake and assemble a heart cookie bouquet.