Bake Sale Madness - Valentine's edition - pt 3

Here is the last thing that I made for the bake sale this past weekend. Cookie Pops. These were A LOT of work! lol It took me 3 days to finish these. I made the cookies one day, decorated them the next, then packaged them on the third. These cookies need a full day to sit after the glaze has been put on them. The glace icing needs plenty of time to dry, especially if you are going to package them in bags, like I did. But, WOW!!!! Oh my gosh! These are the cookies that I drool over whenever I go to our local bakery. I always buy an iced sugar cookie. ALWAYS! lol And, now I know how to make them. It's all in the icing, I tell ya. That's what really makes these cookies taste so awesome!

I used the recipes and instructions from the Our Best Bites website. I have to tell you that this recipe site is AWESOME!!!! Be sure to sign up to get their updates! The recipes and ideas shared here are the best!

Here are the links for you:

Valentine Sugar Cookie Pops Tutorial
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Glace Recipe and Tutorial

The biggest struggle that I had with making these is PATIENCE! lol I don't have much. Actually, my Mom has always told me that I inherited all of my patience from my dad and he didn't have any. lol But, you have to be patient with the icing, make sure it's set well, etc. I wasn't patient. I went around each heart with the thicker icing and didn't wait long enough for that outline to dry well. So, when I went to fill in the cookie w/ the thinner icing, it all ran off of the edges. At first I was really upset, but then I decided to just go with it and I started drizzling pink and red icing all over the cookies and off the edges, instead of trying to have the icing perfectly on top of each cookie. The other thing that I will do next time, is to use two colors that have a high contrast in them. I used pink and red and they looked pretty, but the two colors we so similar, the cookies just didn't pop like I wanted them to. While I used up some extra icing that wasn't colored, I covered the cookies in white and then drizzled red icing on top. Now that really popped and looks so awesome!!! You can see them in the bottom left corner in the picture above. You also need space for these to sit out and dry. I am lucky enough to have a long counter top in my kitchen, because those cookies were sitting out for quiet awhile!

My kids are begging me to make more of these, because I only save a few for us to try. The rest went to the sale. They didn't like that very well! lol St. Patrick's Day is coming up........I just might have to make some shamrock cookies w/ glace icing! I hope you try these.....they really are YUMMY!!!!!!

Bake Sale Madness - Valentine's edition - pt 2

How fun are these? This is another goodie that I made for the bake sale and perfect for Valentine's Day!

I found that the easiest way to press each layer into the pan was to lay a piece of wax paper on top of each mixture and then press. That way the cereal/marshmallow mixture doesn't stick to your hands. I tried buttering my hands and that didn't work as well as using wax paper.

Neapolitan Krispie Bars-

1 pkg (10 oz) large marshmallows - I just divided them up evenly into 3 piles
3 Tlbs. butter, divided
2 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
4 cups Rice Krispies cereal, divided
1/2 cup strawberry jam
5 drops red food coloring, optional

In a large saucepan, combine a third of the marshmallows and 1 Tlbs. butter. cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Remove from the heat; stir in Cocoa Krispies and chocolate chips. Press into a greased 11x7 inch dish.

In a large saucepan, combine a third of the marshmallows and 1 Tlbs. butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Remove from the heat; stir in 2 cups of the Rice Krispies. Press into dish over chocolate layer.

In a large saucepan, combine remaining marshmallows and 1 Tlbs. butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Remove from heat; stir in jam and food coloring. Stir in 2 cups Rice Krispie cereal. Press into the dish. Cool. Cut into bars.

Here is how I packaged them up for the bake sale. I placed each bar on top of a square of wax paper before placing them in the bag.

Yummy!!!!

Valentine's Day Card - crystal glaze hearts

Well, this photo sure doesn't do this card justice. lol I had actually stamped these hearts to use on the card with the colored brads, but it just wasn't working out how I wanted it to, so I set them aside and ended up with that card done totally different then I had planned. I really didn't like how these stamped hearts looked. My ink is starting to get a little dry and they just weren't rich, red hearts like I wanted. But, I just can't throw anything away! Yes, I have it that bad. I was determined to use those hearts because there was no way I was going to toss them. So, I ended up getting my markers out and I went to work coloring. I rubbed the brush tip of my marker on one of my acrylic blocks for my unmounted stamps. Then, I took my blender pen and picked up some ink and colored in the white areas in each heart. After that, I went around the edges with red and tried to shade the bottom of each heart in a bit. For some reason, I decided to cover each heart with some crystal glaze to make them stand out a bit. And, since I've been a glitter freak lately, I sprinkled each heart with some fine glitter. Like I said, this photo does not do this card justice! It's hard to see the areas that I colored in and the glaze looks cloudy. We actually have sunshine coming in our windows today and it's causing quite a glare on my hearts! I can't complain either because we have had almost no sunshine since the beginning December. All of these cloudy, gloomy days have really gotten me down. It is so wonderful to see blue skies right now!

Bake Sale Madness - Valentine's edition - pt 1

Those of you who have been visiting me since October might remember my crazy bake sale frenzy. lol If not, be sure to go here to read (and see!) all about it here and here. ;-) Well, I did it again. I guess I need to just come out and say it. I'm a bake sale over-achiever. lol I just can't help it. The sale was being held to help my daughter's 8th grade class raise money for the gift that they will be giving to their school/church. So, this is a big thing and I wanted to help out as much as I could.....lol I can bake. So, boy did I ever bake! So, here we go w/ Part 1 of my Valentine edition of bake sale madness!!!!


Candy Cane Pops

I have two things to say about these. EASY and DARLING!!!!!! Oh my gosh. These were SO EASY!!!! I wish that I had more candy canes, but I only had enough stashed away to make about 14 of these. I had hidden a box of mini candy canes back in December and had forgotten about them. My little Gracie LOVES them, so I had to keep them out of her site or she would have been wanting one all of the time! lol I can tell you for sure that I will not forget about this recipe when December rolls around. I am planning on buying boxes and boxes of mini candy canes so that I can make tons of these. You could even use Christmas sprinkles and decorate them as Christmas treats! I just LOVE these!!!!! You can find out how to make them at the Pleasant Home site. I accidentally found this blog and I am in total love with it already!

So, this was the easiest thing that I made for this round of bake sale madness.....now on to Part 2! Stay with me! It keeps getting yummier and yummier!!!!

Crochet Valentine Envelope

So how totally cute is this????? I made this the other night while my cookies were baking in the oven..... It is so easy and SO CUTE! You can find the free pattern at Lion Brand Yarn. You do need to be a member to see their free patterns. Just search under "envelope" and you'll see this pattern. Like I said, it's super easy! I have mine sitting on my table right now on top of a Valentine's table runner. I think it would look cute with some vintage Valentine's stuffed inside or even some flowers...... I'm new to following patterns and I didn't have any problems. I did have to look up a stitch or two when making the heart, but they have a wonderful learning center on the Lion Brand Yarns site as well!

These would be fun to fill with goodies for your children, a special friend, co-worker or even a teacher! Too sweet!!!! I just love Valentine's Day! ;-)

Easy-Peasy Valentines

I wanted to share these super-easy, home-made Valentine's with you. I absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day. Well, I love all of the fun, crafty ideas out there, the reds, the pinks.....everything! lol I am so amazed w/ all of the fun projects that people are sharing all over the web. I wish that I had all of the time in the world to make them all! But, for now, I'm trying to save them and file them away in my Valentine's Day folder.

All that I did for these Valentine's was to measure the size of the wooden block that the stamp is on and I used this as my guide for cutting the card stock that the image will be stamped on. Then, I cut a mat out for each piece of card stock in red. Each image was stamped in black ink and then I used my set of Stampin' Up! chalks and a blender pen to color the images in. I have finally caved and I have started buying Copic markers and I had two shades of green, so I used them to color in the alligator. I have no idea how to use my new markers, but I fun playing with them and I'm anxious to learn all about how to properly shade. But, for now, it's okay for this fun, little alligator! I have to admit that I can do a pretty good job at shading with my set of Stampin' Up! markers and a blender pen.....and I probably really don't NEED to buy Copic markers.....but....(there's always a "but" isn't there? lol)....my 13 year old daughter is an amazing artist and she has been using my set of SU! markers. She almost always has them with her, so I guess it's time to let her use them and I'll start buying Copics here and there. So, that's how I'm justifying that. lol
Anyway. lol After I colored the images in, I adhered the colored image onto the red, card stock mat and then I used a medium-sized hole punch to punch out two holes for the sucker to slip through. Oh, before adding the sucker, I used a stamp that came with this set on the back that says, "Happy Valentine's Day! To:____________ From:_____________" This is an old Stampin'Up! set called "Animal Valentine's" that I bought years ago. I'm not sure if they still carry it in their catalog, but they might!

My daughter helped me make these one year to pass out to her class on Valentine's Day. She was in second grade and had a lot of fun coloring them it and putting the suckers on them. So, this would be a great project for your little ones!