Makin' Mud Pies

Pumpkin Pocket Sandwiches

2011-10-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Looking for a quick and easy main dish for your kiddo's lunch box? Try pumpkin pocket sandwiches! Meat and cheese are sandwiched between ready made pie dough cut into the shape of pumpkins and then baked. It’s the perfect dish for your Autumn themed lunch.

Step 1: Thaw the refrigerated pie dough according to directions. Cut out into pumpkin shapes.

Step 2: Add meat and cheese on top of one pumpkin piece. Lay the second pumpkin piece on top of the first one and seal the edges. Cut slits for ventilation.

Step 3: Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

That’s it, now you have a delicious snack perfect for your lunch box!

Bento Lunches: A fun way to get your kids to eat healthier!

2011-09-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered the craft of making Bento lunches for my kiddos. Basically, a bento lunch could be described at a portioned lunch. It’s often made to look like fun characters or themes. The best part about Bento lunches for me personally is that it gets my kids to actually eat the healthy food I give them! They now eat their fruits, veggies, rice, eggs, and whatever else I put in there…as long as I make it look appetizing to them. I’m amazed at the stuff they will eat now, just because I took a few extra minutes to make it look “cute”. Bento lunches are a great idea if you have a picky eater like mine, and they don’t take as much time as you would think. Give it a try and see what kinds of foods you can get your child to try! Here are a few pics of Bento lunches that I have done in the past.

Back to School Party

2011-08-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week now, and I'm still having trouble with the fact that my oldest is in Kindergarten now! I can't believe how fast time really does fly. To get ready for the upcoming school year we decided to have a back to school party with all of his friends. Rather than do a long post, I thought I would just do a short recap and post the pictures.

The food was pretty simple. We had sandwiches, chips, applesauce, peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, apple cake pops, chocolate covered crayons, and milk. I used a lot of decorations from the Dollar Spot at Target, including letters, numbers, and a pencil and crayon vase. I glued letters and numbers to white tin pails to hold the apple pops. I also made flashcard garland and poms to hang up around the house. For activities we decorated backpack tags that I found off of Ebay. We also listened to School House Rock and had balloon animals from a friend of mine. For favors I had pencil boxes filled with crayons, stickers, pencils, bookmarks, etc. I had glitter glue so each kid could write their name on their box. I love how it turned out, and everyone had a wonderful time!

Cutie Pies

2011-08-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit it....I cannot get enough of these cute little pies in a jar! There are lots of them out there, and I just *had* to take a stab at it for myself. I am so happy with the outcome! They make fantastic gifts for friends, neighbors, teachers, or just about anyone! You can even freeze them and keep them on hand for a fresh baked pie anytime. Here are some pics of my creations. I've made apple, cherry, and nectarine/raspberry pies, yummm!

They are super simple to make. Just use a pie dough recipe (or buy the premade dough in the refrigerated section with the biscuits. If you use the premade dough, you'll get 4 pies from each box. Use the little half pint jars (I found mine at Wal-Mart, they are the Better Homes and Gardens brand) and press the dough around the sides and bottom of the jar. Fill with your favorite pie filling, just don't overfill or it will bubble out! Using the lid, cut out a circle of dough to go on top. Make sure to add a vent hole of some kind! Use a fork to crimp the dough circle to the rest of the dough. At this point you can either put them on a cookie sheet and bake them, or attach the lid and stick them in the freezer. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes if fresh, or for 1 hour if frozen. Add a little ribbon, and viola- you have an easy, cute, and yummy gift for yourself or a friend!

Here they are all ready to go-

And in case you want it, here's the recipe I used for my nectarine raspberry pie. It is SO tasty!

Nectarine Raspberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 c. sliced fresh nectarines (med. size)
1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries
1 tsp. lemon juice

Simply mix all the ingredients together (dry ingredients first) and spoon into pie crusts. Easy Peasy!

Pops with the Zoku!

2011-07-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of the Zoku Quick Pop Maker? I was just introduced to it a few weeks ago...and I must say that I am already a pop addict! The Zoku is this nifty little machine that makes yummy popsicles in about 7-10 minutes. That's right, no more waiting all day for your popsicles to freeze.....talk about instant gratification! And it's SO super easy. All you do is store the little machine in the freezer until you're ready to use it. Then pop in some sticks, pour in your pop liquid, and wait a few minutes for it to freeze. Easy Peasy!

The thing I love most about the Zoku is the huge variety of ingredients you can use with it. I've used liquids like lemonade and apple juice, yogurt, and even pudding. Frozen pudding pops? Yes please! The only thing you can't really use is sugar free ingredients, unfortunately. But most everything else is fair game! And the mix-ins you can add are endless. Fruit, chocolate, candies, you name it.

So if you're looking for a cool new kitchen gadget and love yummy frozen treats, the Zoku is for you! Here's a few of the pops I've made:

Top row: cookies & cream, white chocolate cherry, mint chocolate chip, chocolate banana pudding
Bottom row: cherry lemonade, lemonade with raspberries, lavender lemonade, and raspberry vanilla

*This post has not been indorsed by Zoku, and no free products were given in exchange .

Dinosaur 5th Birthday Party

2011-07-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit it....I wasn't feeling 100% in May, so we opted to let my son have his birthday party at a party place (gasp!). In all reality, it was a lot of fun and a lot less mess for me to worry about! I still think I managed to put my own personal touch on it, with some help from a Paper and Cake printable party theme. Here are the pics-

Decorations

Decorations were probably the hardest thing to accomplish since everything had to be brought from home and we were only allowed 15 minutes to set up. I used a printable personalized birthday banner from Paper and Cake that turned out super cute. For the table centerpieces, I used plush dinosaurs and ties balloons in the themed colors (blue, green) onto them. I also had dishes of dinosaur eggs (robin's eggs from Easter) sitting out.

Food

For food we had pizza, chips and dip, a fruit T-Rex, chocolate dino pops, juice and water. The watermelon dinosaur was really fun to make, and the birthday boy thought it was awesome! For the cake, I made a small dinosaur for the birthday boy, and cupcakes for everyone else.

Favors/Misc

The favors were probably my favorite part! I was able to score sand buckets at Michael's for only a buck, so I used those for the containers. Inside was a "How do Dinosaurs..." board book, a dinosaur puppet stick, chocolate dino pop, dinosaur plush, dinosaur skeleton, dino crayons, and a mixed cd of dinosaur songs. The books I found on ebay, the crayons I got from Red Elm Designs on Etsy, and the plushies, skeletons, and puppets I found on Oriental Trading. I used a silver sharpie marker to write the kids' names on each of their buckets, and I used my Cricut with the dino cartridge to cut out different dinosaurs in red vinyl to put on each bucket. The kids loved them!

I also have to give a shout out to a great Etsy store, Made Cute Just 4 U, for making the birthday boy's cute shirt!

So all in all it was a great 5th birthday for my little guy, and everyone had a fantastic time :)

Cowboy Birthday Party

2011-02-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my little buckeroo is 2 years old already! We decided to throw him a cowboy birthday party since he is currently obsessed with Woody from Toy Story. It turned out fantastic, and all of the kids had a great time! (I apologize in advance for the quality of the pics, I had no idea there was a blurry spot on the lens until after the party!)

Decorations

I had a great time coming up with all of the fun decorations for this party. I did have some help from the "Old West" cricut cartridge. When the children first entered the party room, there was a table labeled "Cowboy Duds". It had hats, bandannas, and sheriff badges for the kids to put on. In the dining room I had poms hanging (yes, I DO use them for every party, lol!), and a Woody doll holding balloons for the centerpiece. Above the food table I had the birthday banner (using a font from the cricut cartridge I mentioned). And in the playroom I had Wanted posters with each of the kid's pictures on them. My wonderful hubby even went as far as burning the edges of all of the posters for me. They looked great!

Food

We kept the food fairly simple. On the food table we had bbq chicken sandwiches (I just threw some chicken breasts and a bottle of bbq sauce in the crockpot, shredded after 6-8 hours, and they turned out GREAT!), chips, pasta salad, beans, chocolate covered marshmallows, chocolate suckers in the shape of boots and hats, sheriff star cookies, lemonade, and juice boxes. The cake was a two tiered cake that was fairly simple.

Activities

The kids mostly just enjoyed running around and playing. I did have a couple of games planned, but changed my mind at the last minute due to the age of the children that were coming. But we were going to play "There's a snake in my boot" where the kids toss rubber snakes into a boot. We did have a pony and a baby goat present at the second half of the party. The kids loved taking turns riding the pony, and holding the little baby goat! We also had a pinata, despite the snow that started falling.

Goody Bags

Last but not least, the goody bags. I lucked out and found some western themed bags on clearance at Michael's to use. Inside each bag was a foam gun, a cowboy rubber ducky, a "hairy cowboy" magnet game, a bandanna slap bracelet, a pack of fake mustaches, and a crayon and mini color book set. I got all of the items from Oriental trading. Each bag had a star with the child's name on it tied to the outside with twine. And of course they also got to take home their hat, bandanna, and sheriff star badge.

All in all, it was a great party and I'm very happy with how things came together. Everyone had a great time, and I've already started planning my oldest son's birthday for May! Here are a couple more pics of the birthday boy....Thanks for reading!

I've linked up with the following fabulous blogs: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, It's Fun to Craft, Skip to my Lou

Valentine Light Block

2011-02-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Light Blocks are an easy and fun way to decorate for the holidays. I recently made one for Valentine's Day, and put together a little tutorial to show you how easy it really is! First, gather your supplies.

You will need:

Glass block with hole drilled in it (I get mine from Hobby Lobby)

Stickers (you could also use window clings or vinyl if you have a cricut)

Glass etching cream (found at craft stores)

Sponge brush

Small light set (also found at Hobby Lobby)

Ribbon

The first step is to "frost" your glass block. This step is optional, but I've found that it hides the lights inside and looks much nicer. Peel off the label on the block and clean with windex. Be careful not to leave any finger prints on the front of your block. Apply a generous coat of the etching cream to one side of the block, and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Rinse off the etching cream and dry the block.

(A generous amount of etching cream)

(The frosted block)

Next, apply your stickers or vinyl to the block. Keep the hole in the block at the top.

Then add your lights to the inside of the block, with the end coming out of the hole at the top of the block.

The last step is to add the bow around the block. This is what will hide the cord from coming out of the top too. And that's all there is to it! Here's what it looks like all lit up-

I'm linking up with the following fabulous blogs: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, It's Fun to Craft, Skip to my Lou

Valentine Cookies

2011-02-11T08:29:00.000-08:00

Ever wish you could bake and decorate beautiful sugar cookies? It's easier than you think! I was able to teach myself how to decorate cookies using this tutorial from CakeCentral.com. It only took a couple of tries before I had the hang of it, and now I LOVE making cookies! I use the "No Fail Sugar Cookie" recipe from the site and they come out perfect every time. I use this royal icing recipe which is both easy to make and tasty. And one of the best parts is that they are easy to package and they keep forever! Here are a few cookies I made for Valentine's Day...I hope you like them!

I'm linking up with the following fabulous blogs: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, It's Fun to Craft, Skip to my Lou

Owl Valentines

2011-02-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, it may be a little early to be making Valentines, but I was so excited to try out my idea that I couldn't wait! The owls were very easy to make, anyone can do it!

You will need:
Oreos
Dark chocolate melts
Light chocolate melts
White chocolate melts
Orange chocolate melts
Icing bags
Ribbon or twine
Plastic bags
Card template

Follow the instructions on the bag for melting the dark chocolate melts. Dip oreos in the chocolate until completely coated. Set on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Melt the light chocolate, white chocolate, and orange chocolate and pour into icing bags. Use the light chocolate to make the wings, the white chocolate for the eyes, and the orange chocolate for the beak and legs. Let the oreos set up in the fridge then put each one in a plastic bag. Print the owl Valentines, use a hole punch, and tie onto the bags using ribbon or twine. Easy as pie!

I've included a link to the Valentine cards just for y'all! Enjoy!

(A different way to do the owls if you like)

I've linked this post with these fabulous blogs: Skip to my Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, It's Fun to craft!, Wild Flowers and WhimsyThe Treasurista

Tater Tots and Jello

Curtain Rod Photo Display

2011-01-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

I've seen different versions of this around the web before, and finally decided to give it a try on one of the bare walls in my living room. I love how it turned out! All you need is a curtain rod, ribbon, picture frames, hot glue gun, and one of those peel and stick vinyl decals.

It's pretty self-explanatory...but all I did was hot glue the ribbon to the back of the picture frames, and hung them on the curtain rod. The vinyl decal proved to be somewhat of a pain to get on the wall, and I'm wishing I had just made my own with the cricut...but oh well. So that's it! I think it's a simple yet elegant way to display your family pictures.

I've linked this post with these fabulous blogs: Skip to my Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, It's Fun to craft!, Wild Flowers and Whimsy

Candy Cane Melts

2010-12-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

Looking for a fun, fast, and yummy treat to make for the teachers/mailman/friends on your Christmas list? Then try these candy cane melts! It takes less than five minutes to whip up a batch, and they are oh so tasty.

You only need 3 ingredients: Candy Cane Kisses, Pretzels (square or holiday shaped), and green and red M&Ms.

First, unwrap all of the kisses. This is the most time consuming part. Warning: Do NOT ask your hubby to help you...half of the kisses will mysteriously disappear.

Next, put a kiss on each pretzel.

Then pop them in a 250 degree oven for about 2ish minutes. You want them to be soft and shiny, but not melted. They will look like this:

Then just put an M&M on each one, package them up, and they're ready to go! Yum :)

I've linked this post with these fabulous blogs: Skip to my Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, It's Fun to craft!

Christmas Cookie Party

2010-12-13T18:38:00.000-08:00

What better way to get into the holiday spirit than with friends and cookies?! I hosted a Christmas cookie exchange party last weekend, and had a blast doing it. The rules were simple: Bring a 1/2 dozen cookies per person attending, plus an extra dozen to taste during the party. That way each guest ends up going home with an assorted variety of cookies.

I kept this party sweet and simple. For decorations I made hanging poms (check this tutorial out if you've never made them before). And of course I had all of my regular Christmas decor up.

For food, I had mini pigs in a blanket (with gingerbread toothpics), spinach, artichoke and cheese bread bowls, and chips and dip. I had a drink table set up with yummy wassail, candy cane cocktails, and egg nog.

I had two prizes to give out- one for best tasting cookie, and one for the best looking cookie. The prizes were a cute holiday potholder and towel set, with a silicone spatula in a cute little bucket. The favors are rolled up oven mitts, tied with a ribbon and candy cane.

We also did an ornament swap, white elephant style. All in all, it turned out to be a really fun little party, and I definitely plan on doing it again next year! Merry Christmas :)

My decorated sugar cookies

I've linked this post with these fabulous blogs: Skip to my Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, It's Fun to craft!

Goldfish Baby Shower

2010-12-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

I hosted a double baby shower this past Spring for a couple of friends. I decided to go with a goldfish theme, with orange, blue, and green being the main colors. I think it turned out absolutely adorable!

Decorations

For the decorations, I made hanging poms from blue and orange tissue paper. This was my first time making poms, and I was surprised with how easy it was! I followed this tutorial.

I also used fishbowls with goldfish crackers throughout the room, as well as several live fish centerpieces.

Food

The food was pretty simple. We had catered sandwiches and fruit. I also made pasta salad and had goldfish crackers of course! The cupcakes had cute little fishies to match the theme. We also had punch (served out of a punch bowl that looked like a giant fish bowl) and lemonade.

Favors and the Diaper Cake

For the party favors I made cute little lavender scented soaps with a fish in the middle. I used a great tutorial from this site, and piled them in a tall glass jar. The diaper cake was also blue and orange with goldfish on it. It was my first attempt at a diaper cake, and I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

Fuzzy Sock Cupcakes

2010-12-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

Looking for a perfect teacher/aid/etc gift? Fuzzy Sock cupcakes are super easy, super cute, and super cheap to make! All you need is a pair of fuzzy socks (Michael's has them for $2), cellophane bags, ribbon, red pom poms, and scrapbook paper.

Starting on the toe end of the sock, roll it tight. Then pull up the middle to make the "swirls". Add a red pom pom for the cherry.

Wrap your cupcake line around the socks and glue or tape. I used my cricut for the cupcake wrapper, but you can find plenty of templates online as well. Put your cupcake in a cellophane bag and tie with a ribbon. Now you have a cute and simple gift!

I'm linking up with these fabulous blogs:

Halloween Crafts and Food

2010-10-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a few pictures of the different crafts and food that I did for Halloween last year. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for teacher and student gifts and Halloween potlucks this year, but hopefully you'll get some inspiration from this post!

Chocolate covered witch warts (Raisinettes...thanks Can't Stop Making Things for the free printables!)

Witch shoe treat holder (I do have the scut file for those interested)

Worms (don't worry, they're just jello!)

More jello worms (recipe at The Idea Room)

Treat holders (Made with cricut and sweet treat cups from Stampin' Up)

Cockroach clusters (popcorn balls with glazed pecans, thanks to Hello my name is Heather for the cute idea and free printables!)

Chocolate covered marshmallows

Sugar cookies (Here is a great tutorial for decorating sugar cookies with royal icing)

Mini pumpkin pie cheesecakes (recipe)

I've linked this post with the following *awesome* craft blogs:

Skip to my Lou

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Craft-O-Maniac

Robot Birthday Party

2010-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's been quite a while since my last post! Life got pretty busy around here for a while, but now that school is back in session and things are quieting down a bit (for now), I'm looking forward to getting back in crafting/blogging mode. But don't worry, I still took pics of the crafts and parties that I've been doing, and I will be posting those throughout the week!

But today I want to share with y'all the robot birthday party I put together for my son's 4th birthday. I already knew that I wanted to do a robot theme, so imagine my excitement when I found out that a new Cricut cartridge called Robotz was coming out! It really helped with the decorations, and was a great time saver (I can't imagine how long it would have taken to hand cut all those little guys!). Please excuse the less than perfect pics, most were taken in a hurry!

Invitations

The invitations were one of my favorite parts about the party, and they too cute! I used the Cricut Robotz cartridge to make them, and then glued on some googly eyes. The center flap opened up and had all of the party information on it. My son loved passing them out to all of his friends.

Decorations

Drink table with the favor boxes, blow-outs, and masks

Centerpiece- my son's favorite robot

Birthday Banner above the food table (sorry for the bad pic!)

The pinata. Fun fact- it was a Kung Fu Panda pinata that I picked up on clearance, and just covered up the original pic ;)

Food

Robot fruit display...the kids really loved this!

Robot cake. Not my best work, but my son loved it!

The rest of the food was pretty basic, since I was running short on time. We did pizza, chips, cheese sticks, veggie tray, etc.

Activities/Favors/and THE Robot

This was the favor box. It had robot tattoos and stickers, robot shaped bubbles, a sucker, and a cute little gumball machine that I picked up on clearance after Easter.

This was the activity table downstairs. I had robot tattoos to apply, and robot stickers, markers, and colored paper for kids to make pictures with. I also had a few robot books set out here.

This was THE robot. I have to give props to my wonderful husband and brother on this one, they really went all out! It actually has lights and switches that really work on the front (yes my hubby is a bit of a techie geek, lol).

And it looked even more amazing when it was on! My brother played the part, and did a great job with it.

We had the kids play a couple games outside, this one was "Robot Says"...like simon says.

So all-in-all it was a great party, even though it was a little more basic than I usually do. But the birthday boy and his friends all had a blast, and that is the most important part. And of course you know I have to throw in a few more random pics for good measure!

Robot high fives!

Blowing out the candles :)

My silly little 4 year old!

Easy No-Cook Play Dough

2010-04-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Making play dough from ingredients found around the house not only saves you money, but it's a fun and easy craft to do at home with the kids! Little ones especially love to help mix and knead the dough.

To start, gather your ingredients. You will need 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 1/2 cup of water, and 1 packet of unsweetened koolaid.

Step 1: Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.

Step 2: Stir in the water.

Step 3: Knead into a clay like consistency, adding more water as needed.

Step 4: Knead the koolaid into the mixture for color and scent.

Knead, knead, and knead some more!

Step 5: Playtime! Enjoy :)

Easter Eggs, Cricut Style

2010-04-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! I hope all of you had a fantastic Easter filled with family and friends. We had a great day over here; started the morning off with a wonderful church service, followed by an Easter egg hunt out back with the kids, and now we're about to enjoy a delicious pot roast. Yum!

I wanted to share some pictures of our egg dyeing adventure :). I saw a wonderful tip in Family Fun magazine- just stick a hard boiled egg inside of a whisk and let the kids dunk it. It worked wonderfully! Wonder why I never thought of it before!

I set aside a few eggs for myself too. I wanted to try a method I heard about- making designs on the eggs with my Cricut and vinyl before dyeing them. I think they turned out super cute!

The only tricky part was getting the vinyl design to stick pIroperly to the curved egg. There were some areas were it bubbled up on the edge, and a little bit of color got underneath. But I'm pretty pleased, all-in-all :).

I think this one is definitely my favorite.

Loving the green!

Pretty in Pink

Have a wonderful rest of your Easter!

April Fools!

2010-04-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know April Fools has already passed. But I still wanted to share our fun family dinner :). I made yummy meatloaf "cupcakes" with mashed potato "frosting", and ice cream "mashed potatoes" with caramel "gravy". They boys loved it, and it was tasty too!

I actually think I'll put the meatloaf cupcakes on my regular recipe list, since my 3 1/2 year old ate them with no complaints!

Marshmallow Bunny Treats

2010-03-31T20:48:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with these sweet chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies! I was looking for a treat for my oldest son's class, and I came across the bunny ears mold at a local craft store and thought it would be perfect. The ears and face are made out of candy melts, and the marshmallows are dipped in white chocolate. Yum!

Aren't they adorable?!

I'm linking up with:

Someday Crafts

Women Who Do It All

Fun to Craft

Sweet Chickadee No Soliciting Sign

2010-03-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! I've been sick with bronchitis this past week (which, I have decided, was a bad idea since Adam's been on Spring Break!).

Anyway, I thought I would share a quick craft I just whipped up. Since the weather has gotten nicer, our house has been bombarded by door-to-door salesmen of all types! Magazines, steaks, carpet cleaning, religious inquiries...they're all knockin' on my door. I decided to make a cute little sign to (hopefully) deter the endless interruptions.

Here she is! Cute, simple, and to the point. I found the wood birdie from this etsy site, painted it a sweet chocolate brown, used a colored pencil to write the words, and glued a ribbon on the back.

Here she is hanging outside by the doorbell; my scarecrow for salesmen. Crossing my fingers she does her job!

I'm linking up with:

Before and After: Dining Room

2010-03-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

This will be my first in a series of before and after pictures of our house! We recently bought our first house in November last year. It's an older house (built in the early 70's), but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. My husband wasn't so sure though...it was difficult to see past all of the ugly wallpaper and junk that the sellers had. I have never seen so much STUFF in one house before! We couldn't even walk in to two of the bedrooms because they were filled to the ceiling with stuff. Just lots and lots of stuff!

Our first project when we moved in was to get rid of all of the nasty carpet and funky wallpaper. The wallpaper proved much more difficult that we thought. It was 4 layers deep in some areas; even the light switch covers were wallpapered! Yikes! But we finally got it all peeled off (and by we, I mean hubby) and got a fresh coat of paint on the walls. I decided to go with Tobacco Road, as I fell in love with it the first time I saw it on the Nesting Place. We the replaced all of the carpet with new carpet, added new baseboards, and put down new flooring in the dining room.

It's still a work in progress, but it's slowly turning into the house I have pictured in my mind. I want to get new tile in the entryway, and then I'll post the before and after pictures of the living room. For now, here is the dining room:

Before:

This was with the seller's items. Notice the yucky carpet and the awful wallpaper.

After:

We painted the walls Tobacco Road (though it shows more yellow in the picture than it actually is), replaced the flooring, and added new trim, curtains, and a light fixture.

So there it is! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially the flooring that hubby put down himself. Living room and playroom pictures coming soon!

St. Patrick's Day Fortune Cookies

2010-03-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

St. Patrick's Day is less than a week away (which means Easter is right around the corner)! I wanted to make something for my son to give to his school friends, so I thought I'd try my luck (ha ha) with making fortune cookies. I'm not going to lie, it was tough. The first dozen cookies went straight to the trash, but it slowly improved from there. I used this recipe because of it's simple ingredients. If you're going to make these yourself, here are a couple tips I learned:

Make at least a double batch of the recipe.
Spray your cookie sheet with Pam after each set of cookies.
Spray the spatula too.
Only make 3 cookies at a time. Any more, and they will harden too much before you can finish folding them all.
Flip the cookies upside down before you put the fortune in and fold it, it looks prettier.

After all of you're cookies are finished, set them aside to cool. You can then dip them in melted chocolate. I chose green candy melts (found at Michael's). You can also add toppings- nuts, sprinkles, shredded coconut, etc. The possibilities are endless! I decided to keep 'em plain :).

I made two dozen of these little guys. The fortune I added says "I'm lucky to be your friend!". I put each one in a little cellophane bag and tied it with a cute greet ribbon. Easy Peasy!

I'm linking this post to these fabulous sites:

Little Monster Birthday Party

2010-03-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

I still can't believe that my little man is ONE! This past year has just flown by. To celebrate the big event, I decided to throw him a little monster party. It turned out so cute! Get ready for picture overload!

I'll start with the invitation, decorations, and favors. The colors I chose were orange, lime green, and teal.

I ordered his invitation from this Etsy store. I loved the design she came up with!

The birthday banner. I love my cricut!

The furry monster wreath (ignore the lack of trim on the door, we're still remodeling!)

The toy room. I love the cute monster rug, and the kids loved the monster tent in the back!

This is where I set up a few of Evan's cards, as well as his invitation in a monster frame.

The favor table! This is where I had the blow-outs, hats, monster masks, and favor bags.

And each favor bag had a little monster stuffy, a jar of blue flubber, a monster sucker, tattoos, a finger puppet, and a squeaker.

Next we'll move on to the food. I'm so happy with how it turned out!

This is the food table (wish I had gotten a better picture). We had pizza, punch, pasta salad, veggie fries, cookies, fruit, and jello cubes.

Chocolate dipped marshmallows...always a favorite of the kids!

This might be my favorite thing from the party! It's a monster fruit display, I got the idea from this picture on flickr.

And, of course, the cake and smash cake! So cute :)

Now for the activities. I wanted to keep it simple, but still have something for the older children to enjoy.

This was the craft/activity table. I had foam pieces cut out for the "make a monster" craft. I also had monster books, puppets, and tattoos.

Monster bowling. The older kids loved this!

We had a pull string pinata too.

And the monster tent with the blow up balls. The babies loved this one!

Now for a few more random pics (I told you there would be a lot!)
Evan's cute little monster butt! I got the patch from this Etsy store.

Playing puppets with Evan's buddy.

Mmmm, cake!

Big brother being silly, as usual :)

Evan's future girlfriend :)

Evan's best buddy.

Well, that's it! It was such a fantastic day! Now to start thinking about birthday number 2....

I'm linking this post to:

Low-Cal Baby Tiramisu

2010-03-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Tiramisu is one of my absolute favorite desserts (a close second to cheesecake)! I hosted a small girl's night in a couple weekends ago, and I was searching for a yummy low calorie dessert to serve. I found this on Eating Well, and it's definitely a keeper! They turned out yummy and cute, and I didn't feel guilty about eating one (or two!).

Baby Tiramisu

Ingredients:

1/2 cup nonfat ricotta cheese, (4 ounces)
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 ladyfingers, (about 1 3/4 ounces)
4 tablespoons brewed espresso, or strong coffee, divided
2 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate chips, melted

Preparation:

Combine ricotta, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
Place 6 ladyfingers in a 9-by-5-inch (or similar size) loaf pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons espresso (or coffee). Spread the ricotta mixture over the ladyfingers. Place another layer of ladyfingers over the ricotta and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons espresso (or coffee). Drizzle with melted chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

Twilight- New Moon Party

2010-03-08T21:00:00.001-08:00

Twilight Mania was in full swing this past week in anticipation of the opening of New Moon! I hosted a small Twilight/New Moon themed party at my house over the weekend with a few of my ColoradoSpringsMommies friends. We all had a blast! My favorite part of the party was the food contest. I had each guest bring a Twilight-themed food item, and the winner was judged on taste, presentation, and how it related to Twilight. The winner got a super fabulous prize made by yours truely-- A cute apron that said "I'm A Cullen-ary Genius". We had syringe jello shots, played the New Moon board game, and just had a good time.

And of course we were at the midnight showing of New Moon on Thursday! Anyway, here are a few pics from the party, I hope you enjoy them!

This was the food table. I had werewolf kibble, candy rimmed glasses for pina coladas, jello shots in syringes, New Moon candy bars and vampire bites. The flowers were supposed to be parrot tulips from the cover of New Moon, but I couldn't find that type of flower anywhere! So I took some red hibiscus stems, cut out the middle, and added some white paint.

These are some decorations from the party. Yes, I had it in the kids' playroom, that's why there are toys everywhere!

These are two of the guest entries- Cullen Cakes and Vampire Bite Cookies. The winner was the cupcakes, they were cute and yummy!

And last but not least, the goodie bags. I used a couple petals from the flowers I made and glued them onto the bags for a three dimensional look. Inside the bags was a copy of the New Moon soundtrack, more werewolf kibble and vampire bites, a New Moon candy bar, and some gummy fangs.

All in all it was a GREAT party and I cannot wait to do it again when Eclipse comes out in June!!

Easter Egg Memory Game

2010-03-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! We attended four (yes, four!) Easter egg hunts this year, which left us with lots of candy and lots of those little plastic colorful eggs.

Looking for a fun way to recycle some of those left over plastic eggs? You can turn them into a fun memory game that your preschooler is sure to love!

You'll need 12 plastic eggs, 1 egg carton, and 6 pairs of small objects.

I found these cute farm animals at the dollar spot in Target, or you can use things around the house- colored stones, buttons, beads, etc.

Put one object in each egg, and viola! You have a fun and simple memory game.

Let your child practice his/her memory and matching skills by opening one of the eggs, and then trying to find the other egg that has the matching object.

Easter Cakes

2010-03-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

I just had to share my last minute Easter cakes I made. They were almost too cute to eat (almost, we did eat them and they were yummy)! I wish I would have taken the time to cover the cake boards, but I was in a rush. So here they are, in all of their cuteness-

Adam's Train Party

2010-03-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

First off, I have to apologize for the lack of quality pictures for this post! I was running behind setting everything up for the party (in 100+ degree weather!), so the pictures are lacking.

Adam has a total train fixation, so of course his 3rd birthday party had to be all about trains! We rented a pavilion at a local park, thinking that the weather would be perfect. Wrong! We had a crazy heat wave come through and temperatures were over 100 degrees. We were all melting, and so was some of the food! But it was a great party, nonetheless.

Food:
For food, I kept it simple. We had pizza, jello cubes, chocolate dipped marshmallows, pasta salad, chips, and fruit.

Decorations:

We decided not to go all out on the decorations since we would be outside. The colors were red, blue, and yellow, which I carried out through the birthday banner, balloons, and cupcake toppers.

Activities:
I had several easy activities for the kids. Instead of cake, I found this cute pan from Williams-Sonoma. I baked a bunch of little train cars and set out icing, candies, and sprinkles so that the kids could decorate their own mini cake. For a craft, I found this cute train puzzle from Oriental Trading. Each child decorated a train car and put their name on it. These are now displayed in Adam's bedroom, and it's a great way for him to remember his friends (since we moved shortly after the party). I also had several train stamps and blank paper so that the kids could make a picture to take home. And we had pinata too, always a favorite!

All in all, the party was a success (despite the heat)! Adam and his friends all had a great time :).

Welcome!

2010-03-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new blog, Makin' Mud Pies! My name is Christine, and parties are my passion. I hope you'll take a look around and find some inspiration for your next party or craft.

~Christine