Happy Valentine's Day

I know it's a little early but the Hurren boys wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!

I found this great little idea for Valentine treats for Porter's Kindergarten class. I hope mine turn out this cute!

(And the rest of the blog I got these from is great too. You should check it out here.)

Cake Decorating 101

My super cool sister Jana taught a cake decorating class the other night to a great bunch of ladies. I, of course, forgot my camera and didn't get a chance to take photos of everyone's cakes.

Jana taught us the basics of cake decorating, how to cook a really full cake, level it off to make it even, crumb coat, and a ton of cool little tips to make your cake look great. She is very talented in the cake department!

Anyway, after I got home I pulled out the camera and got a picture of the cake I made. And here, in all her glory.......... my cake!

(And a special thank you to Sis.Whidden for letting me use about a third of her black food coloring to try to get my frosting black. I owe her one!)

A Little Pick-Me-Up

My aunt sent me this story today and it brought a little tear to my eye. Literally. So often we only hear about the negative things going on in the world today so click here and enjoy a little positive for once!

- And thanks Wendy!

Corner Bookmark Tutorial

Some of you have been asking for this tutorial for a while. I would feel a little guilty if I didn't confess that I 'borrowed' this idea from a fellow blogger over at Crafting Happens. You should check out her blog sometime. She has great crafting ideas and other fun stuff on her blog. Anyway, on to the tutorial!


Supplies Needed: Scrapbook paper, Glue, Paper Cutter, Ruler, Embellishments


Step 1 - Pick out your favorite scrapbook paper and get ready to make the cutest bookmark you've ever seen. Are you ready?

Step 2 - Cut a strip of the scrapbook paper about 7" by 3" long. This is the size that I used but you could experiment and see what you can come up with. I think different sizes would be fun!

Step 3 - Flip your paper over and on the back side find the center of your paper and mark it. My paper is 7" long so I marked it at 3.5". Get it? Good!

Step 4 - Fold down the right side of the paper to the mark that you made on the back.

Step 5 - Next fold down the left side, but notice that you have to fold it to overlap the right side just a little. It's important to have a little bit of overlap so that you can glue the sides together.

So when you turn it over it should look something like this...

You with me so far? Good! Cause this is where it get's tricky. Ok, it really doesn't, in fact this is so easy I think my Kindergartner could do it, but in case you were getting nervous I thought I'd give you a little breather. Ok, ready now? Good. Let's continue!

Step 6 - Next trim off the excess paper on the bottom with your paper cutter. So you should now have a perfect triangle.

Step 7 - Ok, now you get to glue. Just run a line of glue down the paper to stick the two sides together. Just make sure that you don't get any glue on the inside or you'll glue your bookmark shut!

Step 8 - Now you get to EMBELLISH!!! Use chipboard, stickers, buttons, ribbon, pretty much anything your pretty little heart desires. You can make them in themes or with initials or anything. The one below with the "K" on it I made for myself and I love it. It's going in the book on my nightstand tonight!

These little beauties are a cinch to make and are super cute. I made some last December and loved them and I'm sad it took me so long to get around to making more. If you make some I would love to come and visit your blog and see pictures of them. Leave me a link to your blog so I can come check them out!

Crazy Hair Day

About 10 minutes before it was time to walk out the door Porter informed us that it was Crazy Hair Day at school today. Without much time, this is what we came up with. I have to say the red hair makes a nice backdrop for a nice black Mohawk!

Contest Update

While the actual contest doesn't begin until the last week in February, it is clear that I am well ahead of the Mikester! We aren't counting actual stats until the last week of February but I really appreciate all of you wonderful readers that frequent my blog and leave such wonderful comments. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! And if you're wondering how the heck I can know who is visiting my site and how many people are actually visiting my blog, you should visit www.statcounter.com. You can sign up for free and it tracks all kinds of cool things that happen with your blog. You can even see what posts are your most popular and where people are visiting from. I found out I have visitors from Australia, Germany, Ireland, Poland etc... It's tons of fun! Check it out!

This One's For You Kara

She's on her way Kara. And She's a BEAUT!!!

Nativity Pictures

Every year we get all the kids together and do a fun Nativity photo shoot. We dress the kids up in costumes we have put together over the years and my talented sister Kara takes their pictures. We have been doing this since before my kids were even born and I always love how they turn out. Each year there is at least one child crying and hating the whole process and this year it was mine. Come to think of it, I think it was mine last year too. Hmmmmm. Anyway, here are some of the photos that Kara took.

Notice the plethora of shepherds, wise men, animals, etc... and our one, lone Mary!

Go Steelers!! and a Nummy Recipe!

Once a year I can bring myself to sit through a football game. Only once. One time. That is all. An of course that game is always the Super Bowl. And I have to admit the only reason I watch that particular game is because it usually involves some sort of party. This year was no exception. The game was good, the company was great and the food was plentiful. I saw this recipe on a friends blog, (thanks Jyl) and had to try them out for myself. The recipe I used was a little different but they were yummy all the same. So feel free to test them out. They are deeee-lish!

And for what it's worth... I was cheering for the Cardinals :(

Oreo Truffles

Ingredients

• 1 lb Oreo cookies (3 sleeves)

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

• 1 lb milk chocolate

• 1/2 lb white chocolate

Directions

1. Using a food processor, grind cookies to a fine powder.






2. With a mixer, blend cookie powder, cream cheese and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed (there should be no white traces of cream cheese).






3. Roll into small balls and place on wax-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

4. Line two cookie sheets with wax paper. In double-boiler, melt milk chocolate. Dip balls and coat thoroughly.






5. With slotted spoon, lift balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off. Place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.

6. In separate double boiler, melt white chocolate.



7. Using a fork, drizzle white chocolate over balls. Let cool.







7. Store in airtight container, in refrigerator.



I had a little melted chocolate left over at the end and it would be a travesty to waste sweet milk chocolate like that so this is what I did instead...




Just take a cookie cutter and fill it with the left over chocolate. Voila! A homemade chocolate Valentine!


ENJOY!!!