Cute As a Fox

Mini Cupcake Flowers

2012-05-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

A while back a saw some cute daffodil marshmallows over at the Seven Year Cottage and immediately pinned them. On my pin, I wrote, "These would be cute as mini cupcakes too!" I have to say, I think I was right. I love these adorable cupcake flowers.

I actually gave these mini cupcake bouquets as mother's day gifts and to my daughter's dance teacher on the last day of class.

The photos I am showing are from the dance teacher's bouquet. For the Mother's Day presents, I mixed and matched the pink(see below) and yellow flowers together.
For her dance class, I did the little pink flowers for all the kids. Funny side story, the teacher told everyone to bring a snack to share on the last day of class. I was the ONLY ONE that brought anything. I had a bunch of mini cupcakes leftover and I just brought them all. It's a good thing I did too. Everyone loved the cupcakes, so that's good. The pink cupcakes are just mini petal liners from Wilton. That hyper link will take you to Amazon so you can see them. I bought mine at Joanns.

Now I am going to show you how to assemble the cupcake flowers as well as cut out the daffodil petals from a cupcake liner.

Supplies:

Mini cupcakes baked in yellow liners
Lollipop sticks - I used two different lengths for some variety in the bouquet
Melting Chocolate
Yellow Frosting
Crystal Sugar or any kind of sprinkles
Yellow regular size cupcake liners
Scissors

1. Poke a small hole in the bottom center of your cupcake with a sharp knife. You don't want to cut deep, You are really just making a way for your lollipop stick through the liner.

2. Dip the tip of lollipop stick in melted chocolate and insert it into the bottom of the mini-cupcake. Let the chocolate harden while the cupcake is inverted.

3. While the chocolate sets-up, cut your daffodil petals. I'm going to tell you all the directions first, then show you pictures for all the steps.

Fold the cupcake liner in half
Now fold in thirds
Fold the whole thing in half again
Starting on the side opposite the crease, cut from 1/2" down in a rounded arch up to the top. This forms the petals.
Snip a very tiny bit off the tip. This is the hole for your lollipop stick. Smaller is better!
Open your flower up

4. Now that we have the liners all ready, lets get back to the cupcakes. Carefully frost the mini-cupcake. I like to hold onto the cupcake, as opposed to the stick. If you get too forceful the stick will come all the way through the top of the cupcake.

5. Press your cupcake into your sprinkles or crystal sugar. I love this technique so much! It looks great and you don't have to perfectly frost your cupcakes. It covers up any imperfections.

6. Slide your completed petal cupcake liner up the stick so it stays right beneath the mini cupcake.

7. Arrange your cupcakes into Styrofoam as you decorate them. These can get top heavy, so make sure you have something to weigh down your base with. I use dry pinto beans on top of my Styrofoam, it works great.

Leap Frog Summer Camp

2012-05-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to LeapFrog for sponsoring my post about Leapfrog Summer Camp. To sign up for LeapFrog Summer Camp, please click here. #CleverLFCamp #spon

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. My 6 year old son had his last day of kindergarten on Friday. He is really excited for summer. Oddly enough though, my kids spent over an hour on Friday afternoon working on learning workbooks at Grandma's house. I love that my kids are like little learning sponges.
This summer we are planning to have a lot of fun, but I want to make sure we don't lose all those skills we spent all year learning. Research indicates that when kids return from a long summer break they have lost about 1 months worth of learning. Yikes! I plan to combat that my signing my kids up for the Leap Frog Summer Camp.
Leap Frog Summer Camp is an 8 week program geared toward 4-7 year olds. The program starts June 4 and runs through July 28, 2012. Each week there will be themed printables, activities, and crafts to help your children explore geography, writing, science, and art. Do you want to know the best part? The program is free!

Since the program doesn't start until June 4, you can't get a look at the activities yet. However, you can head over and sign up for the parents newsletter. Every two weeks they will send you Summer camp emails and info starting on June 3. I grabbed a quick screen shot when I was signing up, so you can see what it looks like.

I mentioned that I have a six year old boy, well I also have a 4 year old girl. I think they are just as excited as I am for Leap Frog Summer Camp. Thanks for helping me out Leap Frog and doing all the prep work for me.
When I was looking over the website, I saw that they will also have weekly contests for books and games worth $50. There will even be a grand prize worth $500. We love Leap Frog products at our house, so I will be entering and keeping my fingers crossed I might win something fun!
I hope you will join me at Leap Frog Summer Camp this year. There is a link to sign up at the top of the post and in my side bar. Let me know if you are participating too. I would love to be able to share your experience with you! I'll be checking back in a few weeks to let you know how it is going.

This post is sponsored by LeapFrog. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Mario Father's Day Card 2012

2012-05-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

It is time to update the Father's Day Mario card printable.I have offered it in years past, and I always think it is a big hit. If you haven't seen it before, here is how it works. I have created a Father's Day printable that looks like the Mario title screen. You can simply print out this first image and you are all good to go.

Click on the image to get it full size and either save it or print. The full size image should fill a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet.
Option 2 is for those who are comfortable with Photoshop or some other program that will edit PSD files. You can customize your card to make it fit your need a little better. You can change:

Dad's Name
Dad's Birthday (Currently the date of Father's Day in there)
Number of Kids (Coins)
The year(In case you use next year or beyond!)

Here is what you need to do to customize your own:
Step 1: Download the font "Press Start" and install it - It is a must!!
Step 2: Download the MarioCardDownload2012.psd file. (After you click the download link, there will be a 20 second delay before you can actually download the file.)
Step 3: Open in Photoshop(or GIMP)
Step 4: Select the text layer you want to change
Step 5: Using your Text Tool change the text to your desired text
Step 6: Print and enjoy!

I am a little bummed I can't just keep using this same card every year for my husband. I still really like it! Maybe I'll have to get creative and come up with another video game themed printable. Is your husband or Dad a gamer? What is there favorite video game?

Father's Day Craft: Fishing Pole Treats

2012-05-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

Today I get to show you all about the fun craft play date we had. We made some really adorable Father's day crafts and we got to use Elmer's Single Painters #GluenGlitter.

You can purchase Elmer's Painters one marker at a time for only $1.97 each at Walmart. Perfect for when you just need one specific color, you don't need to buy a whole pack anymore. Look for a display like this in the craft aisle of your local Walmart.

Do you want to see what other cool things I found at Walmart? You can see my whole shopping experience in my Google+ album HERE.

Okay, let's get crafting. When I was trying to think of some fun projects to use my Elmer's Single Painters on, I knew I wanted it to be a Father's Day gift AND something that kids could make. I called on my good friend Vanessa for help, and she had just the project in mind. One of the reasons I love the Elmer's Painters is because they are so kid friendly. They get to paint, but it's much more like using a marker which they are used to. It cut down on so much mess.

Supplies:

A reel of some kind. My friend Vanessa is handy with power tools so she cut out some reels and fish for us. You could use a thick dowel for the reel instead, with no problem.
A wooden or paper fish. The Elmer's Painters would work great on some card stock too. The fish needs two holes, one for the eye, and one to attach your wire to.
A trendy tube/long plastic tube for Dad's favorite treats. Here is an online resource for the tubes or you can check local craft/scrapbook stores too.
Elmer's Single Painters in a variety of colors
Craft wire to act as your fishing line

Step 1: Drill a hole in your reel/dowel. You will be gluing your tube of candy into the hole, so make sure it is a good fit.

Step 2: Paint your fish and reel. We let the kids pick the colors they wanted and the went to town with the foam brushes.

Step 3. Let the pieces dry completely and then decorate with Elmer's Painters. The kids got the biggest kick out of this. I had my daughter decorate one side of the fish. Then on the other side I wrote, "You're a 'REEL-Y' awesome Dad."

Step 4. Poke a hole in the lid of your tube with a nail and secure your craft wire. This picture is the underside of the lid. You can see the wire coming through the lid. Then the wire is wrapped around the lid a few times.

Step 5. Fill your tube with candy. We used Swedish Fish, but M&M's fit great too. Really any candy that fits in the tubes will work. Hot glue the tube into your reel. Attach your fish to the other end of the wire.

My daughter had so much fun making these. We are going to make them for the Grandfather's too! No play date is complete without some delicious snacks. I picked up all the snacks at Walmart too.

Thanks to Vanessa for playing and crafting with us. It was a lot of fun.

For information about all of Elmer's products you can check out their website: www.Elmers.com, Facebook: www.facebook.com/elmers , or Twitter: www.twitter.com/elmers.
I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric

Puterbugs Giveaway

2012-05-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of school for my kids. I can't believe summer time is already here!At first I thought I would never get used to having my oldest in kinder but now I don't know what I am going to do with both kids home all the time!

I was recently introduced to a really unique program by Discovery Kids called Puterbugs. Discovery Kids Puterbugs is the only interactive class experience available that teaches children, in a fun and age-appropriate way, the full scope of technology skills in today’s digital world. In a safe environment that promotes a healthy foundation and proper tech etiquette, the program helps children master skills that range from basic file navigation, Internet, and keyboarding skills to an understanding of the latest technology, such as mobile apps and cloud computing!

Here are some of the features of the Puterbugs program:
* Keyboard Skills, Technology Terms & Usage
* Letter & Number Recognition, Reading Readiness
* Leadership & Teamwork Development
* 1 Laptop or 1 child taught by a certified instructor
* Exclusive Software Designed for Ages 3-7
* Alignment with the NETS (National Education Technology Standard)

I am constantly amazed at how my small children act like sponges when it comes to technology. My four year old can start a web browser, navigate to Netflix, find the kids section, and pick the exact show she wants. She learned all of this just by observing us interact with the computer. I love that Puterbugs is focused on teaching children practical computer skills in age appropriate ways. Puterbugs was geared especially for 3-7 years old. I also really like that Puterbugs was developed by Discovery Kids. Discovery is a brand I know and trust.

My local Puterbugs franchise(Phoenix Metro) is run by Mr. Ken, the owner of FutureKiddie.com. I have spoken with him and not only is he knowledgeable but you can tell he is really passionate about what he does. He really believes in what he does and I am so excited for my kids to take a Puterbugs course from him. I am also excited about the cool mom points I am going to get. My kids are going to be thrilled that they get to "play" on the computer once a week for four weeks.

Mr. Ken has generously offered TEN spots in a Puterbugs class for me to giveaway. I am so excited about this. You will get to choose which location and dates you would like to attend, subject to availability of course. Click HERE to see a list of current locations and course dates. This giveaway is open only to those in the Phoenix Metro area that are willing and able to attend.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Disclaimer I am being provided enrollment to Discovery Kids Puterbugs. All opinions are 100% my own.**

Southwestern Chicken Packets

2012-05-20T09:29:00.002-07:00

Today I am a sharing a great grill recipe perfect for your next summer barbecue. These would be a really delicious addition to your Memorial Day barbecue too! I am happy to show you how Smart & Final can help you put together the perfect barbecue this week. They have some great sales from May 23-29, 2012.

Southwestern Chicken Packets

Ingredients:
4 First Street boneless skinless chicken breasts($1.97/lb at Smart & Final)

3/4 cup chunky salsa
2 cups frozen corn thawed
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup shredded cheese
Non stick Cooking Spray
4 - 18"x12" pieces of Aluminum Foil

Directions:
1. Preheat your grill to medium high heat. Mix together salsa, corn, black beans

2. Lay out each sheet of foil on the counter top and coat well with non stick cooking spray. Place 1 First Street chicken breast in the center of each piece of tin-foil.

3. Season each chicken breast with salt and pepper. If you love spice, you can use some taco seasoning instead. Spoon 1/4 of the salsa, corn, and black bean mixture on top of each chicken breast.

4. Double fold the ends of the packet. Leave room for steam to gather.

Double fold the short side first

Fold the ends up to the center.

5. Place the packets on the grill grate and let cook for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

6. Carefully open the packet and sprinkle with the cheese. Reseal packet and let stand until the cheese is melted.

You can serve these right in the foil for easy clean-up. You can also add a dollop of sour cream to cool off some of the heat from the salsa. Doesn't that just look delicious?

Serves 4.

I love the idea of cooking in foil packets. It is easy clean-up and you can really customize each individual packet to your guests tastes. Like I said before Smart & Final has you covered for all your barbecue needs. Here are some of the other barbecue necessities you can pick up this week so you can become one of the #sfsmarties too!

Farmer John Fresh Pork Spareribs, sold in the bag, lean and meaty $1.79 per lb.
Hoffy Beef Franks, 35-40 oz., selected varieties $5.99
Sweet Seedless Watermelon $2.99 each
Coca-Cola, 12/12 oz., selected varieties, Limit 5 total
Crystal Geyser Spring Water, 35/.5 lt. 2 for $8

My six year isn't a big fan of spicy food, that is why the Hoffy Beef Franks are a must for any barbecue at my house.

My four year old is a total watermelon junkie. She could probably eat a whole watermelon by herself if I let her.

What are your barbecue must haves?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for™. #CBias #SocialFabric.

Down 32 lbs in six weeks

2012-05-16T16:46:00.001-07:00

This is more of a personal post, so feel free to skip it if that isn't your thing. I'll be back with a recipe soon!

Spoiler alert: This post is about how I lost 32.5 lbs in six weeks. If you are curious about some more details, you can keep on reading. :)

Here's a brief history of me:

I've struggled with my weight my entire life. I feel like it really went downhill when I was diagnosed with asthma as a child and that limited my activity.
Around the age of 19-20 I decided it was time to really dedicate myself to losing weight and I lost 80 lbs. Yay!
When I turned 21 I moved out on my own and pretty much from that day forward I have been gaining weight. The 80 lbs I lost, plus a lot more.
Off and on over the years, I have tried diet and exercise maybe losing 10-15 lbs here and there but never sticking with it long enough to get the real results.

I decided 2012 was the year I was going to make things happen for myself. I decided on February 1st to stop drinking Diet Coke(and really all soda). This was huge for me. I loved my Diet Coke. Honestly, I still miss it sometimes. I gave myself 2 months to adjust to that and then at the beginning of April, I began exercising everyday and eating healthy. My goal was to lose 30 lbs in 6 week. When I weighed in on May 14th to see I had hit my goal plus a little, I was beyond thrilled. Now, this is just the beginning of my journey but it feels great to have made my first target.

I get asked a lot what my secret is, so here is what I have been doing differently:

No soda - I drink only water and on a rare occasion I will add some Crystal Light
No eating out - I used to eat out all the time.
Meal plan - This is essential to not eating out. At this point I'm only planning about 1 week out, but it has helped tremendously. Include a plan for lunch, it's easier to avoid the drive through when you have a set plan.
Try to make one meal a day a salad. Sometimes it has a protein on it sometimes it doesn't.
Smaller portions - I was a total over eater, so I'm doing my best to reign that in.
Exercise - There is a park with a lake near my sons school. There are lots of hills. I walk nearly everyday for 40 minutes. A good deal of the time, I am pushing my daughter in a stroller which adds to the intensity.
Don't eat until you are full. I don't think I have been 'full' one time in the last 6 weeks. It feels better than feeling weighted down and blah because you ate too much.
Every night my "dessert" is a cup of ice water with store bought crushed ice. I love chewing ice and it keeps my mouth busy while the husband and I watch TV in the evenings.

Source

I'm sure there are more things but those are the main ones that come to mind right now. So that's where I am at now. I know I have a long way to go still, but I am really happy that I started. Maybe one day I will even get really brave and post some pictures. :)

Thanks for your support! If you have any questions I didn't answer please let me know. If you are on a weight loss journey yourself, I would love to hear about it too!

How not to make pop treats, an anti-tutorial

2012-05-04T10:56:00.002-07:00

**Disclaimer: I think it's important to laugh at ourselves every once in awhile. So please take my anti-tutorial in that spirit.**

It's Friday and I don't know about you but I sure could use a break. I thought I would try something a little different today and show you an anti-tutorial alternately titled, "learn from my fail", or "How to succeed by doing exactly the opposite of what I did."

I decided to make some cookie dough pops for an event where I needed to bring a treat to share. It is easy to do, you just use your favorite cookie dough recipe and replace each egg with 2 Tbsp of milk. I rolled them into balls.

Inserted the sticks

Then I popped them in the freezer to harden up before dipping. Here is where things went a muck. You are supposed to freeze them for 15-20 minutes but mine ended up being in the freezer 2.5 hours or so. Dinner and bedtime took precedence to dessert making. If firm is good, frozen solid is better, right? It would appear not.

I dipped and sprinkled all my pops and everything was hunky dory. After about 20 minutes or so out of the freezer, they all started to develop massive cracks. My thinking is that as they defrosted, they expanded and burst the chocolate coating. I went to bed mildly defeated.

Just one more reason, night photography is a bad idea. May I should not have watermarked this one. ;)

This morning, the cracks were worse and a few of them had split so far they fell off their sticks. Before bed, I had consulted Facebook for ideas, and my favorite suggestions were to give them the hard sell and act like I meant to do it. My friend, Kelli, suggested calling them 'fissure pops.' I love it!

Without enough chocolate to re-dip them all, I drizzled white chocolate on them. I also removed them from the sticks so no more would fall off. I'm pretty sure the first bite you took would make the other half fall on the floor. No one wants to lose half their dessert to the floor. Some of the worst offenders I piled some chocolate on top and let them artfully ooze down the side.

They still aren't pretty, but I'm going with it.

My husband declared them the best thing he has ever eaten, so I'm pretty happy with that. Even if they look crazy!
Have a great weekend and may your crafty endeavors be more successful than mine!

No Fall Hanging Dishtowels

2012-05-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

At my house we suffer from chronic "dishtowel on the floor" syndrome. The silly things just won't stay on the oven door. Today I am going to show you some cute dishtowels that won't fall down. The secret is that they are buttoned on! All you need is a dishtowel, a pot holder, and a button.

Step 1. Gather your supplies: 1 Dishtowel, 1 pot holder with a loop at the top, 1 button that will fit inside the pot holder loop, and sewing supplies.

Step 2. Iron a crease into the center of the dishtowel.

Step 3. Sew a basting stitch along the crease. Use your longest stitch length and leave plenty of extra thread on each end. You do not do any back stitching either.

Step 4. Pull on the loose ends of the thread to gather the dishtowel. You want the dishtowel to end up the same width as the pot holder.

Step 5. Mark the center of the pot holder with a sewing pen or pencil. Pin the center of the pot holder to the line you gathered on the dishtowel. Pin more than you think you need to, it's easy for the gathered line to shift while sewing. My seam ripper and I can tell you all about it. ;)

Step 6. Sew down the center of the pot holder to attach the pot holder and dishtowel.

Step 7. Hand stitch your button to the front of the pot holder. I find it is easier to use a button with a shank. It gives a place for the bias tape on the pot holder to hold on to. When the pot holder is folded in half, you want the button the front side. Now you can attach the dishtowel to your oven handle and button it on.

I have made these before with square/rectangle pot holders and they are usually more narrow. This means the dishtowel will be gathered a little more than mine. I love the colors of this particular set. I found the pot holder and dishtowel combo on clearance for $2 at Target. Awesome! It's a cute, fun, and simple way to spruce up your kitchen. PLUS it keeps those towels off the floor!

Slow Cooker Lasagna

2012-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love this recipe for slow cooker lasagna because you don't have to cook the noodles first. My family loves to make this on Sundays. When we get home from church we have a delicious smelling lasagna ready for us when we walk in.

Slow Cooker or Crock Pot Lasagna

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 15 oz cans tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)
1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
15 uncooked lasagna noodles

1. Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink. Drain.
2. Stir in tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt.
3. Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese with the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.)

4. Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker. top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. (Note: I just put one layer of noodles, in my slow cooker it is usually less than 5 lasagna noodles)
5. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture.

6. Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
7. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender. Note: Do not try to cook on high, the outside edges of the lasagna will burn. Trust me on that one.
8. Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into pieces and serve.

We always serve this with a salad and bread sticks. It is so delicious!

Spruce up your room in a snap!

2012-04-30T02:45:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Leviton for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
My husband and I have been living in our home for almost 8 years! We bought it as newlyweds and between purchasing the house and furnishing it we didn't have a lot of money for decorating and making improvements, like painting. I always figured that once I figured out what my personal style was, we would make some changes to fit our personalities. Well someone should have told me that being poor newlyweds is nothing compared to being a poor stay at home mom, with two kids. All of that to say that we have only made improvements to one room in the whole house. Everything else is what I like to refer to as "builder boring."

Whiteish wall and white switch plates throughout the whole house. Leviton has come to the rescue! Their new line called Renu® can update any room in a snap.

I mean that literally too, Renu faces snap off/on to change color or clean. Squeeze tabs to remove the switch face. Push down on hooks to remove the outlet face. The wallplates, slightly larger than standard ones to cover wall blemishes. Snap off Renu has switches, dimmers, and outlets available in tons of colors.
According to the website, the Renu devices fit into the standard wallbox and they are easy to wire. Once you get everything wired up, the sky is the limit with your switches, wall plates, and outlets. There are twenty colors to choose from and even a stainless steel look for the wall plates. I can imagine this fitting in so well into any room. Instead of your switches being strictly utilitarian, you can work them into your room design. I am totally a commitment phobe when it comes to home decor, so I love that I can switch these out easily!
Leviton is hosting three different twitter parties to help spread the word about Renu. Of course there will be prizes too, what's a party without some prizes? Here are the dates:
Wednesday, April 18th 9pm EST
Thursday, April 26th 9pm EST
Wednesday, May 2nd 9pm EST
All you need to do is follow @Leviton and #Renu for the twitter events and participate in the discussion and you can possibly win some Home Depot gift cards! Leviton is offering 2 sets of Broadway tickets as a grand prize for the twitter party on Wednesday night! Join in on the fun and see if you'll win!
I really recommend checking out the Renu website. There is even a demo where you can mix and match the colors and get a feel for how they will look.
You can also check out Leviton on Facebook to keep up with the latest Renu news.

(CLOSED) Britax Tour and Giveaway

2012-04-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Scroll down to the Rafflecopter box at the bottom of the post to see the lucky winner.

Have you seen the movie trailer for "What to Expect When You're Expecting?" I saw it when I went and saw Hunger Games. This movie looks so hilarious. I am really excited to see it when it comes out.

Well did you know that BRITAX products are featured all throughout the movie? To celebrate, BRITAX is having a giant Expect Greatness Tour. The tour travels from city to city in specially branded BRITAX and “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” mini-vans. Their will be great giveaways, great discounts, great parent education and of course, the great quality of BRITAX at every tour stop. You can find out more information about the tour HERE.

I have good news for all of my Phoenix area readers.The Expect Greatness Tour will be in the area May 5-6. The event on May 5^th will take place at Destination Maternity, Chauncey Ranch, 18560 North Scottsdale Road, from 10AM – 3PM. Sunday May 6^th, the tour rolls into Arizona Mills Mall, 5000 S. Arizona Mills Circle, from 12PM – 4PM. I am planing to visit Destination Maternity on Saturday May 5 to check it out. I really hope to see some of you there!

I have more good news if you don't live in the area, or if you can't make it that day. If you go to britaxexpectgreatness.com on May 5, there are even more chances to win. They are giving away $25,000 worth of goodies online and in store.

There is one more important thing you need to know before we get to the giveaway. BRITAX has a program called Registry rewards. If you either receive as a gift or purchase one qualifying item in each of the following categories: Stroller, Car Seat, Baby Carrier, Large Accessory, and Small Accessory, you can receive a Boulevard 70 car seat for free. My giveaway as well as prizes on the tour, and website, all qualify for the registry rewards program. You can outfit your baby with high quality BRITAX gear and get a free car seat in the process.

Okay, okay, it's giveaway time. I am so excited that I get to give one of you lucky readers this Frontier 85 SICT car seat.

Isn't she a beauty? The suggested retail price is $379.99. It is a convertible car seat so the bottom detaches into just a booster seat. This car seat can take you from 25 lbs all the way up until 120 lbs. I know that car seat laws are different everywhere but the recommendation is that kids should be in booster seats until they are 4'9" tall. Enter the giveaway below in the Rafflecopter box. Please let me know if you have any questions.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some of my fellow Arizona bloggers are giving away some great Britax gear too. You can click on their links to enter their giveaways too!

Quinoa Enchiladas with home made enchilada sauce

2012-04-26T14:15:00.001-07:00

This enchilada sauce is my Mother-in-law's recipe and before she exposed me to it, it never crossed my mind to make enchilada sauce at home. One more fun fact, my mother-in-law grew up in Colonial Juarez and she makes some delicious Mexican food! This sauce is great to make ahead which makes for quick dinner prep on the day you want to eat it.

First let's start with the sauce.

Red Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:
7 Tbsp flour
6 Tbsp oil
4 Cups tomato juice - (I usually substitute with 2 cups tomato sauce and 2 cups water)
4 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Red Chili Powder
1 tsp Taco seasoning
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt - I usually only use a dash of salt

1. In a sauce pan, mix Oil and Flour together with a whisk.
2. Whisk in part of the water, which will make it thicken up.
3. Heat on stove top until it gets nice and hot.
4. Turn down to med-low and whisk in remainder of water and tomato juice.
5. Add in chili powder, taco seasoning, sugar, and salt.
6. After it gets bubbling good, not necessarily boiling, turn it down to a simmer.
7. Let simmer about 2 hours.

Now that we have the sauce, it's time to make the enchiladas. Here is my prep for making cheese enchiladas.

Preparing enchiladas
1. Spread a layer of sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish.
2. Add a layer of white corn tortillas.
3. Add a another layer of sauce.
4. Add a layer of cheese.
5. Repeat the layers with tortillas, sauce, and then cheese until you reach the top of your dish.
6. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

Quinoa Enchiladas:

I recently discovered quinoa and I thought it would be a great addition to the enchiladas. I've included the instructions for cooking the quinoa and adding it into the enchiladas.
1. Saute 1 cup quinoa in a sauce pan on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until it starts to pop and crackle.
2. Dump the quinoa in a fine sieve and rinse with water.
3. Return the quinoa to the sauce pan and add 2 cups of chicken stock.
4. Bring the quinoa to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
5. Now to incorporate into the enchiladas. Spread a layer of sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish.
6. Add a layer of white corn tortillas, sauce, 1/3 of the quinoa, and a layer of cheese.
7. Repeat the layers with tortillas, sauce, quinoa, and then cheese until you reach the top of your dish.
8. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

If you look closely you can see the quinoa in the picture. My husband really liked it, and the kids were none the wiser. I think I will be adding quinoa to my enchiladas all the time. Enjoy! If you make the enchilada sauce I would love to hear how you like it.

Zucchini Goulash

2012-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

This recipe is lacking a proper name. Around my house we just call it zucchini. I'm going to call it a goulash, although that might not be 100% accurate name. I like this recipe because it's packed with veggies and in the summer time zucchini is very inexpensive. (Especially when you take it from your parents garden.**wink, wink**) I also love it because everything cooks together in one pot. Let's hear it for less dishwashing!

Zucchini Goulash

Ingredients:

2-3 medium zucchini
1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
1/2 onion chopped (optional*)
3 - 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce

Directions:

Chop the onion and slice the zucchini into thin slices
Brown the ground beef in a 12" skillet on medium heat.
Add the onions into the ground beef mixture and let them cook together.
When the beef is cooked, drain any grease.
Add in the sliced zucchini and tomato sauce. You want enough tomato sauce to cover the zucchini. You may use more or less tomato sauce depending on how many and the size of the zucchini that you use.
Cover and simmer the mixture until the zucchini are tender.
Salt, Pepper, and garlic powder** to taste
Serve over rice or eat plain.

* I say the onions are optional because they are on my husbands "will not eat" list. Therefore, I omit them from every recipe that calls for them.
** In my opinion, a meal isn't complete unless garlic is involved. I substitute garlic powder for salt nearly all the time(except for baking, ewww!)

A new look and a little announcement...

2012-04-23T14:14:00.002-07:00

If you have been to the site in the last week or two, you may have noticed that I got a brand new look! It was so overdue and I love it. Here's a screenshot for all you folks that read Cute as a Fox in a reader or your email.

The creative genius behind all of it, is Kim of 733. I can not recommend her enough. She was fast, professional, and I just love it. I had been admiring Kim's work for over a year, so I knew I would love pretty much anything she came up with. She even surprised me with a new fox that she drew up. I've been tinkering around with things ever since, and I'm sure it will continue. It has been so motivating to my blogging to have a fresh new design. Thanks Kim!

So speaking of blogging. I am the type of blogger that blogs what I am currently creating and interested in. The last few weeks have been a little 'craft light' around here. The reason is because I have made some major changes in my personal life regarding health and fitness. I have been spending lots of time in the kitchen, instead of eating out. In other words, you can expect lots of recipe posts coming up. It's taken me awhile to get used to this new way of doing things. I am finally getting it together again and I can't wait to make some more crafts and projects to share with you.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting me. I love being able to share with everyone!

Princess Party Ideas and a Craft

2012-04-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

We have princesses on the brain here big time! Last week my little princess got a princess makeover. Well this week she got to attend a princess tea party! In addition to the tea party, they played lots of fun princess games. I am going to share some about the tea party AND give you lots of ideas if you are planning to throw a princess party.
1. Pin the Tiara on the Princess. This one is pretty self explanatory. Print out a photo of a tiara, blindfold the girls, and see if they can get the tiara on the princess' head. For the princess, we used a personal outfit assistant by Girls Looking Cute.

Photo by: Shooting Stars Photography

Here is a better shot of the Girls Looking Cute personal outfit assistants. They are really pretty neat. You can customize your doll to look just like your daughter. Then every night you dress the doll up with tomorrow's clothes. Boom! No more fussing over what to wear to school the next day, because you already have it set out.

2. Hot Tiara. This was a fun variation on hot potato. The girls passed around a dress-up tiara to some fun princess music. When the music stops, whoever is holding the tiara is out. However, the way this game worked, when a girl was eliminated from the game, she got a lollipop prize. It was a fun everybody wins solution, so no one got their feelings hurt.

3. Every Girl Can Be A Princess. Snow White taught all the girls a song called, "Every Girl Can Be A Princess." They even did some simple actions that went along with the words. The song has a great message and the girls really loved it.

This would be really fun to do at a party. If you don't want to teach a song, you could do some princess karaoke or a little dance party to get some energy out. You can find the music to "Every Girl Can Be a Princess" HERE . I also looked up some princess karaoke cd's for you too. That link is HERE.

Before I get to the craft, I will have to tell you a little more about the tea party. The girls learned about good manners, how to set the table, and how to curtsy.

Curtsy lessons

Setting the Table

Each girl also got a chance to get her picture will all of the princesses. They were in heaven. Here is my princess in the middle of all the 'big' princesses.

If you live in Arizona, I can not stress enough how much fun this was. There is one more event coming up on April 28. It is a Daddy/Daugher & Mother/Son ball. You can get more info and tickets here: http://girlslookingcute.com/store/act-tickets/

Okay now for a fun little princess craft/party favor. It is a very simple princess wand, with a giant pixie stick for the wand! My daughter came home from preschool with this, and she has been carrying it around non stop since then.

I will tell you how to make it, but I'm not sure you need directions. It is that simple.

Supplies:

Giant Pixy Sticks (You can buy them HERE )
Curled Ribbon
Foam or scrapbook paper stars
Stapler

Instructions:
Simply staple the star and curled ribbon to the top of the giant pixy stick. You can keep it simple or fancy it up a bit and let your party guests decorate their wands.
You can check with your local candy shop to see if they carry the Giant Pixy Stixs , or you can buy them on Amazon for less than a dollar a piece.

Phew! I think we did it all. Three princess party activities and a craft/party favor. Thanks for reading!

Eggplant Car and Pepper Flowers

2012-04-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

This post is sponsored by Country Crock. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

I have got two really fun recipe ideas to share with you today but first let's talk about vegetables. They are extremely good for you and are notoriously difficult to get kids to eat. The trend of hiding vegetables in other food has gotten really big recently I have noticed. That's better than no vegetables for sure, but wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to hide vegetables from the kids? I bet you can see where I am going with this. Vegetables with Country Crock taste delicious and you don't need to hide them! I know that I think everything tastes better with Country Crock.

Country Crock and Clare Crespo have come out with a whole digital cookbook on ways to dress up your veggies and present them in fun ways to your families, friends, and most especially your kids. The cookbook is called, "A Very Veggie World" and it has 25 recipes with step by step instructions to turn your veggies into food art. If you have been a reader here for very long, you will probably recognize that I love using food in unique and fun ways. I have never made food art with vegetables before but I might be hooked.

You can see why I jumped at the chance to show you one of the recipes from the cookbook. Well I was supposed to show you one recipe, but I had such a hard time choosing, I made two to show you!

The first one is this eggplant car with zucchini wheels. It is filled with a mixture of eggplant, zucchini, garlic, bell peppers, and of course some Country Crock.

My son thought a vegetable car was pretty cool. No, he didn't eat that whole thing, I just wanted a cute picture of him with the eggplant car. He thought the spoon was a nice touch. :)

The second recipe I made was called, "Pasta full of Posies." I loved these bell pepper flowers with basil leaves. I thought it looked so cute. The dish was good, although I've never had wheat pasta before and I don't think I will again. You could use these cute flower technique on any pasta salad.

One more "happy kid" shot. I love this little girl. She is such a good eater and she is almost always willing to try new foods. I think she was sent to me to make up for how difficult her older brother can be with food. LOL. She is also a lover of all things pretty, and she loved that there were flowers on her food.

This is only two of the 25 recipes in the cookbook. They all look delicious and I plan to try more of them. There is one for Hashbrains, which is of course brains made out of hash browns. It is so cute! You can download the cookbook here: http://bit.ly/HqdQ1Q

Country Crock really does make vegetables taste better! We are strictly margarine users at my house and I love Country Crock. Here are a few of the reasons why:

70% less saturated fat and 30% fewer calories than butter
0g trans fat
RD(registered dietician) approved
Recommended in 2010 Dietary Guideline

Country Crock also has the Crock Country Chronicles which is full of recipes, tips and fun ideas for feeding your family. The recipes featured on the website also include the dietary information, which I love. I've recently made some big changes to my diet and eating a lot more vegetables is a big part of that. I'm excited to add to my vegetable repertoire. I even just created a Vegetable Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/cuteasafox/eat-your-vegetables/ I will be adding lots of veggie recipes, so you can follow that if you are interested.

Are you looking for quick and simple tips and recipes to make serving veggies more fun? Download the free Clare Crespo Cookbook here for fun and whimsical recipes your family is sure to love!

Orange Pineapple Fluff

2012-04-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Dinner time is important at my house. I love to gather around the dinner table with my family and talk about our day and just enjoy each others company. Something that really makes our dinner time special is when I serve dessert. I am not talking about creme brulee, souffle, or some other complicated dessert. I mean a sweet and simple treat to end the meal with. It is something that the kids, okay, my whole family really looks forward to.
Like many other moms out there, I have been known to use dessert to "encourage" my kids to eat their dinner. My six year old is incredibly picky and his favorite dessert, Orange Pineapple Fluff, works wonders to get him to try new foods.

We have been using COOL WHIP Whipped Topping as long as I can remember to make our everyday treats more special. It has been a staple in my freezer since the day I got married. The husband's favorite way to enjoy COOL WHIP is to put a big dollop on a slice of pumpkin pie. I think it might be his perfect food combination.
Pies are a little bit more of a special occasion food though, so today I am excited to share with you one of my family's favorite everyday desserts. Of course, it includes COOL WHIP Whipped Topping.

Orange Pineapple Fluff

Ingredients:

12 ounces COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
6 oz orange gelatin powder
1 large can crushed pineapple
8 oz small curd cottage cheese
2 small cans mandarin oranges

Directions:

Drain the pineapple and oranges well. I like to squeeze the crushed pineapple a bit to get even more juice out.
Pour the gelatin powder over the cottage cheese and stir well
Mix in the pineapple and oranges
Fold in the COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
Refrigerate until well chilled and serve

I am currently watching my fat and calorie intake, so I prefer to use low fat cottage cheese and Lite COOL WHIP. It doesn't really matter what variety of COOL WHIP you use, this recipe is delicious. I have tried them all. I can't remember a family gathering that didn't include Orange Pineapple Fluff.

Look how happy my son is with his dessert!

I have one more reason for you to incorporate this everyday dessert into your family dinner time. Did you know that cottage cheese is a great source of protein? How many desserts can say that? My little "starch-itarian" can use all the help he can get in the protein department. I almost feel a little sneaky sometimes. The kids know they are getting their favorite dessert with COOL WHIP and I know they are getting protein and fruit. Score one for mom!

What do you serve your family for an everyday dessert? I would love to add some new recipes to the mix.

Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.

Shaped Snack Bags

2012-04-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

It is my daughter's turn to take snacks to preschool again! I love trying to come up with something cute for the kids. I try to make sure it isn't overly complicated for the teachers to deal with too. I will have to ask the teachers if I am very successful with that one. ;)

Here is what I came up with: Goldfish in fish bowl shaped bags!

I have seen lots of projects about fusing plastic bags and I think it is such an interesting concept. I read up on the technique and gave it a little twist to make these shaped bags. They are just regular sandwich bags that I fused into the shape I wanted. I love them!

Here is how you can make your own goldfish bowl bags.

Supplies:

Plastic Sandwich bags
2 sheets of parchment paper
Iron
Blue Sharpie
Fish bowl Template (below)

To download the template, right click on the image and select 'View Image.' When you see the larger image, right click on it and select 'Save As.'

Directions:

Cut out the fishbowl template on card stock
Preheat your iron to one of the lowest settings. I used a '2' which says Nylon/Silk.
Lay down one sheet of parchment on your ironing board. Then place your sandwich bag and template on top. Put your second sheet of parchment paper on top of that. Here is what the order of layers should be from the bottom up:
- Parchment
- Sandwich bag
- Template
- Parchment
Lightly iron around the edge of your template. Always keep the iron moving The cardstock template is not enough heat protection to keep the bag underneath from melting, so do you best to iron only where there is exposed baggie. Essentially you are trying to melt the bag together, so you can trim it off and still have the bag stay sealed.
Trim off the melted corners of the bag to form your bowl shape
Draw waves with a sharpie on the outside of the bag if desired.
Fill with Goldfish crackers!

Tips: A few times after I trimmed the bags I saw that I trimmed too much or there wasn't a complete seal. I just put those bags back in the parchment and used the template to block most of the bag. I few light touches with the iron and it was all fixed!

There could be a lot of fun possibilities for making shaped bags. These are a really nice simple way to start though. I can't wait to try this technique out for something else!

Enchanted in April

2012-04-09T13:00:00.001-07:00

This last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend "Enchanted in April" presented by Ahwatukee Children's Theater and Girls Looking Cute.
Essentially it is a set of 3 Princess workshops for girls 2 -12 years old. My daughter had such a blast! The first workshop was on How to LOOK like a princess and each girl got a princess makeover. I had the most difficult time deciding what pictures to show. I took over a 150 and I loved them all! There were 3 different makeover stations:
Make-up:

Nails:

Hair:

Then the girls got to have a portrait taken with their favorite princess too.

The afternoon ended with a lesson on how to walk the runway and a fashion show including, princess waves, spins, and curtsies. It was a lot of fun all the way around.

If you live in the Phoenix area and are interested in attending you can still buy tickets for "How To ACT Like A Princess Workshop" and the Daddy/Daughter & Mother/Son Ball. Tickets and additional information are available here: http://girlslookingcute.com/store/act-tickets/

I am also hosting a giveaway for a ticket to the "How To ACT Like A Princess Workshop", which just so happens to be a tea party. The giveaway is happening over on my other blog, East Valley Mom Guide. Here is the link: http://eastvalleymomguide.com/how-to-look-like-a-princess-workshop-recap

Fighting Hunger Together

2012-04-08T22:03:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Walmart Foundation for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

After a fun post about Springtime treats, now seems like a good time to call awareness to those that need some extra help this spring. I learned some really surprising facts that I want to share. Did you know that there is a big drop in charitable donations to food banks in the Spring time? I had no idea. I also learned that one of the main causes of hunger is unemployment. Here comes the big shocking number, 50 million Americans do not know where their next meal is going to be coming from. That is heartbreaking and such a big big number.

Walmart is teaming up with Feeding America as well as ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft and Kellogg's to help combat the Spring hunger gap. Here is how they are helping. From April 9 - 30, on the Walmart Facebook page you can vote for 1 of 200 communities in need of hunger relief. The communities chosen were based on those with the highest unemployment rates.

Walmart will donate a total of $2 million to the 21 communities receiving the most support. That breaks down to $1 million to the winner and $50,000 each to the 20 runners-up. This initiative is expected to provide meals for 43 million families in need. That's a huge number too!

I looked through the list of communities and I immediately knew who I would vote for. Many of you know that I live in Arizona. Well Yuma, Arizona has the second highest unemployment on the list with a rate of 25.3%. Sadly there are several different areas of Arizona on the list. I wish I could vote for them all!

I really want to encourage you to Vote to fight spring hunger with Walmart from April 9-30. You might find a community in your area that needs help, or you can just vote for the community that you feel needs it the most.

There is another way you can help too. If you go to Walmart between April 9-30 and purchase select products from General Mills, Kraft and Kellogg's, you can donate meals to Feeding America or Action for Healthy Kids, a nonprofit fighting childhood hunger. There will be signs in the store as well as special packaging, so keep a look out. You can help make a difference and feed another family while feeding your own too!

Avocados on your breakfast table

2012-04-07T07:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Avocados from Mexico for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've shared an Avocado recipe with you before, Cowboy Caviar. Then of course, everyone knows about how delicious guacamole is. What about breakfast, though? Have you ever thought of adding avocados from Mexico to your breakfast table? Today I am sharing a recipe for Avocado Toast. It's very simple to make, so even if you are in a morning rush, you can whip this up no problem!

AVOCADO TOAST RECIPE -

Ingredients:

• 1 fully ripened avocado from Mexico, halved, pitted and peeled
• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• 2 large slices bread, toasted
• Optional: 2 slices bacon, cooked and halved or 2 tablespoons chopped tomato

Preparation:
In a bowl, coarsely mash avocado with a fork; season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide avocado onto toast and spread to cover; cut each slice in half.

If desired, tuck a piece of bacon into avocado on each toast half or slice tomato over top and serve

Avocados from Mexico is hosting the Wake Up a Winner Sweepstakes where you can win a $200 grocery gift card, and one grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to a Bed & Breakfast in Napa Valley, California. The grand prize winner will be selected from entrants throughout entire sweepstakes promotion period. Participants may enter to win once per day. To enter you just need to head over to Avocados From Mexico on Facebook

Hungry for more breakfast recipes using Avocados from Mexico? You can check out this link here: Avocados From Mexico recipes.

You can also go and check and this delicious California Egg Casserole with avocados over at Skip to my Lou. My mouth is watering just looking at it.

Baked Potato and Ham Soup

2012-04-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know that you won't have ham leftovers until next week but I just had to share this recipe so you can be prepared when the leftovers are piling up. Another great option is if you are baking potatoes, cook a few extra and make this soup the next night.

Baked Potato and Ham Soup

¼ c. butter
¼ c. flour
14 oz can chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
3 large or 4 med. Baked potatoes cut into cubes
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cups ham chunks
Grated cheese (optional)

Melt the butter in medium saucepan. Whisk in flour and you should get a thick paste.
Add chicken broth, milk, and garlic powder. (We are big garlic lovers so I like to add a LOT)
Mash the pulp from one of the potatoes and whisk into the soup.
Bring to a boil and gently add the cubed potatoes and cubed ham.
Sprinkle cheese on the top of the soup when serving.

We love this soup. Whenever we have a ham, we make sure to freezer the leftovers for this soup. Sometimes I will even buy a ham steak if we don't have any leftovers in the freezer. Try it, I don't think you will be sorry.

Bon Appetit!

Scotts® Snap® Spreader System (Sponsored)

2012-04-04T00:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Here is my current backyard. Cue the sad, depressing, Dun, Dun, Dunnnnnnnnn music. Although currently it is weed free so we are getting somewhere.

This is what I would love for my backyard to look like.

A nice patch of grass, surrounded by edging, and then some space for my soon to be garden. My yard is on the small side so I really don't think I am asking too much. The husband and I are not too experienced in the landscaping front however so we have been too intimidated to try. Imagine going to all the expense and effort to install a nice lawn only to kill it off.

Scotts® Snap® Spreader System has my back. Scotts® Snap® Spreader System will feed your lawn without the mess and guesswork of traditional spreaders. The Snap Pac directly connects to the Snap Spreader so you don't have to open the bag, and pour it yourself. You could convince me to use fertilizer this way for sure. The system also auto-sets the proper flow rate. You can just snap in and go. Here's another bonus, the Scotts® Snap® Spreader System has an EdgeGuard feature that keeps the product on your lawn and not the sidewalk or your other landscaping features. When you remove the bag, the Snap Pac self-seals for easy storage.

I was checking out the Scotts website and besides feeding your lawn, they have products to help eliminate bugs and weeds too. All of these products come in the Snap Pac packages.

Currently the Scotts® Snap perks on Facebook is going on. Go on and "like" Scotts ® Facebook page for the chance to win amazing prizes!

Duncan Hines Frosting Creations Easter Cupcakes

2012-04-01T22:08:00.003-07:00

This Saturday I was able to host a Duncan Hines Frosting Creations House Party. It was so much fun. We met up at the park, ate lots of cupcakes, played, and even did a little Easter egg hunt. There were 12 different frosting flavors to try out so for the most part I just served mini cupcakes and let everyone choose the flavors they wanted to try out.

However I couldn't resist the urge to decorate a few cupcakes all nice and pretty. The first ones might be my favorite. I baked chocolate cake into mini ice cream cones. Ahhh, they were so tiny and cute I can barely stand it. I used an open star tip to pip on the mint chocolate frosting. I mixed in some mini chocolate chips so it tastes just like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum!

I made a little acrylic stand for my mini ice cream cones with the laser. Now that I have a nice little stand, I want to make these mini cones for every occasion.

I am throwing this next picture in there so you can see just how small the cones are. It's hard to get perspective on the close up shots.

The next cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Almond frosting. I made carrots out of vanilla wafers and edible Easter grass. I originally saw the idea here on Edible Crafts

Then I made these yellow mini cupcakes with Cotton candy frosting and cut marshmallow flowers. I love these flowers and they are so simple to make. I cut the marshmallows on the diagonal and pressed the cut edge into some sanding sugar. The sanding sugar sticks perfectly to the sticky marshmallow.

The center's of the flowers were holiday sixlets. I liked cutting the marshmallows on the diagonal because it gave a nice slope to each "petal."

Next up are yellow mini cupcakes with strawberry shortcake frosting. I used candy corn for the ears, sixlets for the nose, and mini chocolate chip eyes.

My sister and niece made these cute little butterfly snack bags for all the kids. I have seen these done before, but never with such cute little pom poms.

We had such a great time at the park and I really enjoyed trying Duncan Hines new frosting creations flavors. I'll explain it briefly if you haven't heard of it before. You buy a starter container of plain frosting and then you pick one of the 12 different flavor mix-ins. You add the flavor powder, or "Sugar seeds" as my daughter called it, to the plain frosting and stir. Then you are ready to go. This post is getting long, but I wanted to tell you what we thought of the flavors. These were my opinions, and everyone has different tastes, so keep that in mind.

Chocolate Almond - Tastes a lot like marzipan if you are into that sort of thing. I am NOT!
Chocolate Marshmallow - Yum! I don't know how much marshmallow I tasted but it was delicious.
Cotton Candy - I was surprised how much I liked this one. Very true to cotton candy flavor.
Bubble Gum - I think there is an age limit on bubble gum flavored items and I am way over it.
White Chocolate Raspberry - Not my favorite but my Father in law liked it a lot.
Caramel - Good but I could have done with a little more caramel flavor.
Cinnamon Roll - VERY yummy and cinnamon-y.
Mocha - Undecided. I tried it twice. The first time I liked it and the second time not so much..
Orange Creme - So good. I think this one was a universal hit.
Mint Chocolate - Another big hit. It was very minty.
Strawberry Shortcake - It was good, but it didn't taste any different than strawberry frosting already on the market.
Cherry Vanilla - I blocked this one from my mind. It was very much like cough medicine to me. I think one person said they liked it, but it was definitely not for me.

Whew! We made it all the way through. Have a great week!