cupcake liner cookie pouches

Y'all. 

I have wanted to try this little idea for like a year now.  I have been obsessed with cupcake liners for like ever.  They are so pretty but when you actually bake with them, they end up washed out and faded so the presentation falls kinda flat.  I know about the ones that stay vibrant but I cant find them as easily with all the pretty designs. Soooo...I  buy them and hoard them. Then I thought... 

cupcake liners + cookies = ♥

I think it's a match made in baking heaven. 

Apple Pie Kit + Printable

I'm praying you are not sick of the apple pie thing.  I promise today is the last day of all things apple pie.  But this one is short, quick, and super cute.

I have a thing for putting things in a little kit.  It makes ordinary things cute.  It's true. So this super easy apple pie kit would make a great teacher or hostess gift this fall.

Decorate A Cupcake Kit

It's a happy, happy day!

Today is my birthday...yay!

(I'm 37 in case you were curious)

I love birthdays.  I love parties. I love celebrating.

With that in mind,  I came up with the perfect way to celebrate someone. 

Wouldn't you love to get this little cupcake in box? I mean, how stinkin' fun would it be to find this sitting on your desk at work or if your little one opened their lunch at school and found this waiting for them? Here's how I did it...

DIY Farm Party for Kids

I am so happy to share this sweet little farm party that I did for my little Ella's Pre-K class.  This ended up being such a fun one to prepare for and I enjoyed coming up with economical ways to make it cute without breaking the bank.  I knew I needed to get creative!

A Last Minute Neighbor Gift

We are in the home stretch now!  It is UNBELIEVABLE to me that Christmas is 4 days away!  Maybe because it is 80 degrees here? It just seemed fast this year. Really fast. So I think this is my last post until after Christmas. Gotta snuggle with those littles and my youngest has a fever today :( but is the happiest sick kid in the universe.  I could just squeeze the stuffing out of her she is so sweet.

But in the meantime, let me share the little treats I made for my neighbors.  

I have to give COMPLETE AND TOTAL PROPS to Jill of Meet the Dubiens and her adorable reindeer cookies above.

Now for mine...

For those of you have been long time readers know that I am...ahem...decorative icing challenged.  As in...whenever I attempt it it looks...well...it's a debacle. Let me show you with photos from previous posts...

My 4th of July cookie flags.

My daughter's birthday cake.

You get the picture. 

I am truly challenged and should be stopped if ever spotted wielding a pastry bag.

It just isn't pretty.

But when I saw those, cutie patootie reindeer, I figured those were pretty easy. It was one of the first things I pinned on Pinterest. Some antlers, 2 eyes and plop a nose on there. EASY PEASY!

Well,here they are!
They certainly don't look like Jill's but I think they are cute enough to give to my neighbors and still show my face in my hood. 

 I decided I would give each neighbor a dozen reindeer cookies. I had bought those cute little ceramic mini loaf pans at Michael's for a $1 each.  Jill made her cutie gingerbread cookies but I made sugar cookies. I decided to make 11 with brown noses (chocolate chips) and 1 with a little Rudolph nose (a red M & M) as a little giftable treat.  Too cute!

Here's the Sugar Cookie recipe:
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
Beat together sugar and butter until creamy.
Add egg and extract.  Mix well. Add dry ingredients a little at a time.
Roll  the dough into little balls and then roll into sugar placing them on parchment covered baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
Make 8-10 minutes until edges are slightly browned.  Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

And I think they turned out pretty adorable.

I made the tags with a 2 inch circle punch and Martha's snowflake punch that I found at Marshall's for $4.99.  Marshall's and crafty goodies on the cheap?  Who knew? 

 I wanted the snowflakes to be 3 dimensional so I folded one so the edges would be bent and glued it to the middle of another snowflake.  My message was on the back of each circle. 

I slid each one into a cellophane bag, tied it off with twine and the tag and that's it!

Another idea I had is to use a plate from the dollar store and a ceramic pen. Another great way to gift some cookies.  You could also use the pen on those ceramic loaf pans too but I just did not have the time this week.

I wrote around the perimeter of my plate with parts of Christmas songs, favorite things I love about Christmas, traditions etc. I am not crazy about my handwriting but the finished plate looks really cute and I like the simplicity of the wording in black.

  I bought two 99¢ solid color bandannas in red and white and used a fabric marker to draw snowflakes all over the white one which was super fun to just doodle for 30 minutes.

Then using my idea here, I wrapped the cookie plate with the bandanna and tied it off with a cute little snowflake embellishment. A great way to travel with a plate of cookies, pie, etc for the holidays.

Well that's it!

Knowing many of you, your neighbor gifts are already done but I thought I would still share.

Merry Christmas my Friends!

Mini Mason Jar Hot Chocolate

Hey there wonderful friends!

I wanted to share a quick and easy holiday cutie project perfect for the kids, parties, neighbor gifts, teachers, or just some family fun!

If you did not already know, I happen to have this "thing" for mason jars...even before they became trendy. :) So when I happened upon these 1/2 pint cuties (at Wal Mart) with red and white gingham lids, I snatched them up to use for Christmas or Valentine's Day! Just adorable.

This Christmas, I thought it would be so cute to make them into ready to serve hot chocolate drinks. I know this is not a new concept by any means but I really like the idea of them being all ready to go!  Just add hot water or milk and you are ready to enjoy your yummy drinkable treat!

All you need is a cute tray or cookie tin, 1/2 pint mason jars, hot chocolate (from a packet or homemade), mini marshmallows, and peppermints. I will get to the spoons in a sec. :)

 Just layer your goodies in your jar for a pretty presentation. 

♥ (Seriously, I can't get over their itty bitty cuteness) ♥

 I love the red and white. :)

Now for the chocolate dipped spoons as an added treat.
I bought these cute coffee spoons at Marshall's which are a perfect size because they are mini. I am really rocking the mini thing and loving it. You can use plastic spoons (the red ones would look festive) or even hit thrift stores to find pretty vintage ones.

I piped in the chocolate rather then dipping the spoons. Much neater!  I melted the chocolate in a pyrex cup in the microwave. Using a baggie, I snipped the corner and piped the chocolate into each spoon. I used sprinkles, a red m & m, a mini marshmallow cut in half, and crushed candy cane to embellish these. I popped them in the fridge until set.

To package them, I used candy bags and cut them to size and tied them off with baker's twine.

Now just put it all on your tray and wrap them with a festive tag and you have yourself an amazing gift or party favor.  I had hoped to have a printable tag for you but there were some kinks in the process and then time got away from me. But if I end up making one I will let you know and post it back on this post for you to download.  But I can't make a promise! It's a crazy time of year!

So do you like the little spin on this fun little giftable treat?  What are you all making for your neighbors or teachers?  I can't believe this is the last week of school before Christmas break...I need to get moving so I would love to hear your ideas.  I have an idea that I will share hopefully later this week.

xoxo

♥
this post sponsored by Miss Andrea at

Guest Posting: Bugaboo, Mini, Mr, & Me...A Pretty Wrapped Up Picnic

Hey guys!  Take a peek over at Bugaboo, Mini, Mr, and Me where I am guest posting for her "Life's a Picnic" party this summer.  I am sharing a couple of fabric wrapping ideas perfect for a picnic for two!

There is a whole bunch of fun picnic ideas as part of the linky party Kimberly has going until August.  

If you have an idea you should join in on the fun too!  

Come over and say hi!

Neighbor Gift Idea

Y'all will NOT believe this... 

I have been a slacker neighbor.

Yes it is true.

It's ironic since so many of you were so empathetic and sweet when I did the post about us moving in and no one talking to us from the neighborhood. For those of you who missed it...when we first moved in our new home, it was kind of lonely.  It had made me so sad until I realized there was nothing wrong with me making the first move and introducing our family to the neighbors.  Check out how I did that here.  I called it sconing the neighbors.  After we did, everyone waved, stopped by, set up play dates...it was amazing.  And we are so thankful!

But in August, our next door neighbors moved and our new neighbors began renovations that lasted through November when they finally moved in.   

AND I NEVER OFFICIALLY WELCOMED THEM! 

Ugh.  The holidays swept me up on the festive train to crazy and I just plain forgot.  But it kept coming to mind and I finally put a plan of action into place to scone my new neighbors and give them some extra goodies too.

First, I wanted to give them a framed picture of their new house.  But I don't know their style so I wanted to keep it safe. A white frame.  Check.  I also wanted the picture to be fun.  So one day I took a photo of their house and worked a little techy magic on it. I wanted the photo to look like a drawing so...

It would go from this...

To this.

I had to edit it a lot because of shadows in front of the garage but I finally completed it. 

I think it turned out so pretty and polished looking in the frame.

I printed it out on some sturdy, white card stock and made sure to use a matte in the frame to make it look even better.

 

I baked THE SCONES and put them in a glass vase with a ribbon tied around it. 

(I used a glass vase just in case they did not have one handy since I was also giving flowers)

Using one of the cones from the Valentine issue of Good Living Magazine, I filled it with the bouquet of flowers and attached a family photo with our home phone number on the front.

 This is what I wrote on the back. 

I put it all in a basket (I have way too many) and we brought it over to our INCREDIBLY NICE neighbors.
The presentation came out so sweet. And guess what else?  They said they never had anyone do this before and they were so touched.  We ended up getting a tour of their lovely home and chatting for over an hour.

What a blessing they are!

 I know the welcome basket was late but I believe it is better late than never.:)