Reusable Lunch /Loot Bags

I have to give credit to Heidi one of my BFF's for this one.

She had a party for her five year old,
and browsing the dollar store for goodies to put in
loot bags spotted these lunch bags for a buck.



WOW, was I impressed!

They came in an assortment of gorgeous bright colors,
very sturdy, and I'm sure completely waterproof.




Perfect for all who attended, as most were
attending kindergarten next September!

An excellent choice for those who care about the
environment too, as the loot bag gets used indefinitely.

How to Bake Cupcakes and Eat them too !!



Add extra nutrients with healthy additions to your mix.

Heres a photo of my Banana Chocolate Cupcakes.




I make most of my baked goods by memory and experience;
so I don't always need a recipe, I just somehow know
what ratio of everything I'm going to need for success.

Start with:

1 over-ripe banana, stirred well.

A basic cake recipe
To your dry list of ingredients add:
1/4 cup of sifted cocoa powder -
chocolate is good for us!!
*Sift your dry ingredients for a lighter fluffier cake.

*Don't skimp on the eggs called for in your recipe -
they add so much nutrients, and lightness to your cupcakes.

Finally add:
yogurt in place of water/milk

Mine were frosted, then sprinkled with sifted coacoa powder.

You don't have to tell anyone you added 'good-for-you' ingredients.

Just let them enjoy !!

HAPPY EASTER !!



Above photo: Cathies Easter Bunny Sugar Cookies...

YUMM...OH YEAH, THEY WERE SOME TASTY TREATS!

Butterfly Cupcakes





Here's a fun cupcake...
perfect for celebrating your special occasions in Spring or Summer.

They're so simple to make, but oh so hard
to resist eating before they arrive to their special occasion.

Start with your own recipe for white/yellow cake or take a shortcut
like I did here:
Use a boxed cake mix and follow the directions on the box, but
add some extra nutrition by substituting yogurt
(plain, vanilla or lemon flavored) for the water measure called for
in the instructions, and fill cupcake cups only halfway.
The yogurt gives the cake an nice texture, and keeps them from
crumbling onto your lap as you enjoy them. My boxed mix made 24
generous sized cupcakes.

Bake as per instructions.

While Cupcakes bake, use this time to prepare lemon pie filling.
Use your own recipe, or again use a box of lemon pie filling -
cook on the stove, as directed.

When cupcakes are cool, cut off the tops and cut each top in half
(so you end up with 2 half moon shapes from each cupcake top).
Set these aside.

Slowly pour a large spoon full of prepared lemon filling over
bottom half of cupcake; this will seep into bottom of cupcake
to add flavor and moistness. Add an additional spoon full of
filling and before it sets, angle your 2 half moon shapes
(you made from the cupcake top) onto bottom half of cupcake.
You may have to hold for a few seconds to help them set without
falling over.

Sprinkle with sifted Icing Sugar.




Yumm...Enjoy!
Oh Yeah - and remember to share!!

SWEET ' VELVET BUNNY ' EASTER CARDS





Here's a couple of clean, simple and SWEET Easter Cards I made with my scrap paper stash and a wee bit of VELVET paper I've been waiting to use for this very occasion.

I started with pulling out a couple of pieces of cardstock scraps in Easter egg blue. Followed by small scraps of white cardstock to stamp the sentiment. I also pulled out green bits to use for the grass in the forground of each card. I already had the vision of what kind of scene I was going to create, so this made the color choices easy.

I also pulled out a wee bit of striped cardstock you see in only one of the cards. At first I thought the stripes might become stems for flowers, but I nixed that idea because I wanted these to be fuss-free cards.

I had gone through my scrap stash just recently and punched a bunch of flower petals with my (Martha Stewart) hydrangea punch, so I had these handy in case I wanted to use them. I ended up only using one on each card as leaves for the single flower you see on each card.

To create the card:

I started with the blue cardstock and clipped the corners at the narrow end to make tags.

Then I trimmed the green grass papers to the width of the tag, and used a pair of edge cutter scissors to create the look of grass. This was attached to the bottom of the tag with double sided tape.

On one card I added the striped bit of paper next to the grass and attatched with double sided tape.

With a narrow scrap of white cardstock trimmed to width, I punched it with the Martha Stewart - Picket Fence punch. Then adhered with double sided tape behind the grass on one card or striped paper on other card. (See photos)

The sentiment was stamped on tiny white scraps with Happy (A single stamp from what maker I don't know cause there wasn't a name on it that I could find; you could find one by many makers I'm sure) and Easter (individual letter stamps by Fiskars). It was then layered with a slightly larger piece of green printed scrap paper just to help it- pop. This was adhered to the top of the tag, leaving space for a hole to be punched at the top of the tag. One card I added an addition of stamped flower in the corners ( here again I don't know the make - If you buy clear stamps secondhand like I do at stamp swap & sales you don't always get them in the original packaging; so use what you have).

The tag was puched with regular punch at top and a reinforcing circle (found in stationary supply shops) was placed over hole. A small piece of Amuse dot ribbon in a beautiful shade of spring green was looped through through the hole.

A tiny hole was punched lower on the tag to allow a velvet flower brad (Making Memories) - backed by a single green punched paper flower (Martha Stewart hydrangea punch) for leaves.

The Sweet Velvet Bunny was created using Velvet paper and bunny shape cut at one inch size - you can recreate using your own personal die cutting machine or punch. The eyes are brown pearls by Recollections and came in a pack with various sizes. On one card the bunny was tucked behind the grass. Both are stuck on with double sided tape.

Finally the tags were stuck on cardstock folded to about 3x41/2".