Photo by captured by cathy

Copycat McDonald's Shamrock Shake

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1 cup milk

8 drops green food coloring

1/8 teaspoon mint extract ( or amount for desired flavor)

Blend well and enjoy!

Green Candy Shamrocks

Green shamrocks are made by melting green candy coating and placing melted candy  in a candy mold. Once hardened,  pop candies out and garnish your St. Patty's Day treats.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We are super excited to announce our upcoming Spring Blog Hop! Get your oven fired up, and your pantry stocked with baking supplies because we are getting ready to share enough Easter and Spring treats to fill your basket!

We will start next Monday March 22 and finish up on Wednesday March 31. That’s 8 days of sugar bliss! We will be adding a linky everyday so that you can share your creative goodies with everyone also!  And you won't want to miss the giveaways!

Be sure to follow along with the fun on Twitter, we will use  the hashtag, #springbloghop,

Our Spring Blog Hop Bakers:

Diane from Created by Diane. You will find Diane usually up to her elbows in flour and sugar as she bakes cookies, cupcakes and other yummy treats.
Follow Diane on Twitter @createdbydiane

Liz from Hoosier Homemade . If you need cupcake ideas you can find more than 50 cupcake creations on Liz's blog, plus budget friendly meals and tips on making your house a home.
Follow Liz on Twitter @HoosierHomemade

Shelley from HowDoesShe. Do you ever wonder How Does She? How Does She Craft, Love her Family, Celebrate the Seasons, Cook and Bake? HowDoesShe is finding the answer to just that! Stop by to be inspired and to share your creativity.
Follow Shelley on Twitter @HowDoesShe

Janet from From Captain’s Daughter to Army Mom. This Army Ranger-mom and full-time working wife  keeps busy by experimenting in the kitchen, shopping, traveling and sharing the things she is passionate about in the moment.
Follow Janet on Twitter @jcbridge

Amanda from i am baker. She  shares her favorite cookie recipes and fun, new, easy, show stopping ways to present them that will make you the hit of any gathering!
Follow Amanda on Twitter @manda1277

Shelly from Cookies and Cups, Shelly's blog is designated to all things sweet.  Her favorites are cookies and cupcakes but she does not discriminate when it comes to desserts, however, the cuter the better!”

and me. You can follow me on twitter @cindyhopper.

So please mark your calendars! You won’t want to miss the fun! I will let you know each day where to go to be inspired!

If you want to play along don't forget to grab a button to place at the top or bottom of your post to show you are participating in Made By You Mondays!
Simply copy the code below in the box and paste where you can edit the html in your blog post.

<a href="http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/03/15/made-by-you-2/" ><img src="http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/button2.jpg" /></a>

Visit the Daily Digi to download this cute collection of digital papers.

And these darling printables for treat bag toppers.

Simply print out the treat bag topper on card stock and trim around the outside edge. With a craft knife cut around the top of the shamrock. Fold paper in half, allowing the shamrock to stay straight. A bone folder will help to make the fold nice and crisp.

If you are really daring and like to throw caution to the wind, you can use the shamrock digi paper to print shamrocks on a white lunch sack.  It was a bit tricky (scary) but I got it to work. I would only try this on an inexpensive printer. I folded the the bottom of the bag in the opposite direction so I could print on the flat side without the seam. I sent the bottom of the bag through first. The bag could also be decorated with stamps or left plain.

Once your plain or printed bag is filled with goodies, attach the topper to the top of the bag with some fancy brads or staples.

So skip on over to the Daily Digi to gather up all of your fabulous freebies!

The warmers, which come in different sizes, use a light bulb to heat scented wax.    All you do is plug it in and turn it on.  Place one or more sections of your Scentsy Bar into the dish and enjoy the Scentsy feeling!

I went to my first Scentsy party last week and am so excited to get my first Scentsy. My friend's home smelled lovely!

For a chance to win your own Scentsy Plug-in and 3 bars please leave a comment on this post by Monday!  Good Luck!

(See who won last week's giveaway by clicking here or on the Giveaway Winners Button at the bottom of the site)

Oh Gravy shares her cute printabale Lucky Pillow Box.

TomKat has some adorable printable St Patrick's Cupcake Picks!

Busy Bees also has some great  printable cupcakes toppers. She shows you how they also can become cute pins.

Looking for other way's to celebrate St Patrick's Day? You might like:

Crochet Shamrock Garland

St. Patrick's Day T- Shirt

Blarney Treasure Stones

and more ideas here.

I hope you will come back Friday for another printable treat!

If you want to play along don't forget to grab a button to place at the top or bottom of your post to show you are participating in Made By You Mondays!
Simply copy the code below in the box and paste where you can edit the html in your blog post.

<a href="http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/03/08/made-by-you-monday-3/" ><img src="http://www.skiptomylou.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/button2.jpg" /></a>

This is brand new and we still might have a few bugs. Please give it a try and then give me feedback. If you can think of a way they might be improved, please let me know!

Below are instructions to walk you through the process. Once you are ready to give it a try go to Printable Recipe Cards.

Getting Started

The first step in creating your recipe cards is to select a size. Cards can either be 6″ by 4″, or 5″ by 3″. Two large cards or three small ones will fit on a single sheet of US letter.

If the lower check box is checked, the same recipe will appear on all cards. If not, a different recipe can be placed on each one.

Once a size is selected, click "Next Step" to move to the recipe entry screen.

Editing your recipe

The tabs at the bottom allow quick editing of any part of the recipe card.

Appearance

Use the appearance tab to select a background and layout for the recipe card.

Recipe Information

Enter the name of the recipe, along with the name of the person that created it.

Ingredients

Enter ingredients for the recipe. The toolbar can be used to insert special characters, such as 1/4 and 1/2 measurements.

Directions

Use the directions tab to enter instructions on how to make the recipe.

Printing your recipe

Once all details of the recipe have been entered, use the "next stage" button to move forward. This will either move to the next recipe, or the print preview screen.

At the print preview, clicking the link to the left will display a full size preview in a new window. If everything looks the way you want, just click the print command to create your new cards!

Now you are ready to give the Free Recipe Card Maker a try!

Enjoy!

send these cool invitations that can be printed for free at Twig & Thistle.

A table decorated with photo cylinders like Hostess with the Mostess would be lovely.

I would print these ballots and popcorn bags also from Twig & Thistle---- isn't she amazing!

It would be fun to play How About Orange's Oscar Bingo during the awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has an Oscar Night Essentials Party Kit including recipes, party ideas, printable ballots, bingo cards and cross word puzzles.

I am always looking for appetizer inspiration! Delish and Woman's Day serve up some yummy ideas. Food TV shares some best supporting snacks. Food and Wine Magazine doesn't disappoint with their 10 Oscar Appetizers. Food and Wine Magazine also has a Make Ahead Cocktail  Party!

Movie themed food would be a must! Epicurious and Allrecipes have themed dinners for each of the nominated movies.

Gourmet and that's the spirit share the perfect cocktails to pay tribute to the nominated movies and actors.

We could also dine on tuxedo strawberries.

These Oscar Award Cookies from Bakerella would make a spectacular statement.

How about these Oscar statutes that were made from white chocolate and then painted with edible gold made by My Little Cottage in the Making. Served with a slice of cheesecake and a chocolate "Hollywood." Simply pipe melted chocolate onto parchment paper, allow to cool. Once hard, peel away from parchment paper and embellish the dessert.

My Little Cottage in the Making sent her guests home with some swag --bag full of candy, a bag of popcorn, a movie gift certificate, a Hollywood clap sign key chain and a pin in the shape of the pink stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame. I would want to do this also!

I would also borrow some of Cathy Filian's  great ideas for Oscar party decor, food and fun!