Calories? What Calories?

I guess you could say I'd had enough of Bakerella and Pioneer Womans recipes and figured it was time to give them a try! So I jumped right in there, with no regard for calories, and made Bakerella's Cupcake Bites and Cake Pops. These were my spring inspired Cupcake Bites.

I think I'll call these the Three Stooges.

Of course I had to try the Cake Pops. I do believe these are lower in calories. It has something to do with the stick, it's a sort of draining of the calories down the sticks. Or not.

The tops of my Cake Pops. Would you believe I asked the kids to help with this. As soon as I started I changed my mind and said it would be better if they just helped EAT them instead. They were all over that!

I will say that they were way more time consuming that I would have thought. If you do these I might recomend making the cake the night before. Also, it would be way more fun with a friend. Anyone wanna come make Cake Pops with me?

You can get the recipe and see more Cake Pops and Cupcake Bites at Bakerella and Pioneer Woman. Have fun!

Here come the pounds!

Well, I finally broke down and tried out Bakerella's Cupcake Bites and Cake Pops. Bakerella got together with Pioneer Woman and did some baking... as I'm sure you all know. I figured I might as well give it a try... My Spring cupcake bites.

I like to call these guys the Three Stooges!

I gave a try at the Cake Pops too.

That's the top of the cake pops there. Would you believe I asked my kids to help me on this. As soon as I started I told them they probably should find something else to do and they could just eat them, that's how they can help. Phew.... good thing. I don't recommend this for the younger crowd.

All in all it was pretty fun. HOWEVER, it was way more time consuming than I would have ever imagined. So.... do the cake the night before maybe. And I would SERIOUSLY consider having a friend help you, it would be fun too.

You can check out Bakerella or Pioneer Woman for instructions on how to do this and see some of their handywork too.

Too Creative!

Last year for Christmas I received this beautiful handmade scrapbook from my dad and my stepmom. The pictures were from a trip we had all made to California the previous year. I was so thrilled to get the scrapbook and I spent forever going through each page and re-living the memories.

As I was going through it I realized that some of the background paper was personalized by them as well. I first noticed it in the page above, showing my brothers family walking on the beach. I thought that was just the coolest thing ever! I leave this neat and special scrapbook out year round and I find myself looking through it often.

This year I got.... Okay, my name wasn't actually on the gift. My boys' names were on the gift, but I like to pretend it was a gift to me. So we, I mean, they got this box above. When they opened it up they saw this...

Inside they found handmade dominoes. Spiderman dominoes, just what every mom wants. Fine, just what every boy wants. The dominoes are store bought and then they go through a detailed process of changing each domino to their new look. My brothers family got Packer football dominos and now my mom has put in an order as well.

Here's another look at the dominoes. I can't say enough about these, they are truly one of a kind. I love the blue shimmery top accented by the red sides.

The bottom is all original so we play lots and lots of dominoes. The other night we played Chicken Foot, to which my middle son mistakenly calls "Chicken Fingers". Chicken Foot or Chicken Fingers, it doesn't really matter, we all love playing dominoes.

They also sent me about a dozen or more handmade cards. What a great gift idea!

Also, if you are interested they do this for a business. They sell supplies, make scrapbook elements, pages, or whole entire books for people! They make cards, paper, memory boxes and so much more. I think they are only limited by their imagination, and I think the sky's the limit with their imagination. You can check out their website here.