Refurbished Toy Box

I've been looking for something I can modge-podge Tinkerbell pictures onto for Tessa. I bought a 2011 calendar for 10 cents a few months ago and cut the pictures out. Then I found this $8 cube box from Hobby Lobby (clearanced 80% off) and knew it would be perfect.

Here is the finished product:

I spray painted the whole thing (which I should have done two cans and two coats, 'cause it's kind of splotchy - but it adds character, right?!?!) But overall, I love how it turned out. And Brian has nicknamed Tess "Tink."

Scrabble Name Pictures

Candy Bar Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix

ingredients from box

various candy bars, cut into bite size pieces and crushed for garnish (I used Butterfinger, Heath, Reese's Pieces, Reese's PB Cups, Whatchamacallit)

1 tub chocolate frosting

Make cupcakes according to box. After filling the cupcake papers, add a piece of the candy bars to the top of the cupcakes. Bake according to the box - during baking the candy bar will fall into the cupcake. Cool completely. Frost and add crushed candy bars.

*Note to self: Heath and Butterfinger were awesome, Reese's Pieces not so much.

Father's Day

Although Brian doesn't wear a tie to work, nor often at all when not at work, I thought this was a fun way to decorate his father's day cake.

And this was one of his gifts from Tessa.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

These were courtesy of Betty Crocker:

1 box yellow cake mix

8oz sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

2 eggs

3 tablespoons strawberry preserves (next time I make these I will increase to maybe 5 tablespoons)

3oz cream cheese, cut into 24 squares

1 container cream cheese frosting

fresh strawberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine cake mix, sour cream, oil, water and eggs. Fill 24 muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Press one square of cream cheese into each cup. Stir strawberry preserves in a bowl until smooth, and add 1/4 teaspoon on top of cream cheese (if increasing to 5 tablespoons, increase amount on cream cheese to 1/2-1 teaspoon each). Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Frost. Garnish before serving - the strawberries will juice all over cupcakes if garnished immediately - trust me, this is what I did!

I refrigerated these overnight due to the cream cheese center, but it made the cream cheese solid again. I would still suggest refrigerating, but allow them to warm to room temperature before serving. Enjoy!

Dyed Rice

I was trying to figure out what to do with these glass bottles I kept from my grandmother's farmhouse. I had them in our upstairs guest bathroom, but with Tessa joining the family, we decided to kid-ify that bathroom. With few other places to put these bottles, I decided to keep them in the bathroom, but to add color to them. I read about dying rice and pasta and thought that would be a fun way to add color.

I measured out the rice in the jars, then put that rice into a glass bowl (use glass or metal or else you'll stain your plastic). Add about 1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol per 1 cup of rice. Add drops of desired food color. Mix until all rice is coated and the color you want.

I then covered cookie sheets with one layer of plastic wrap, then with about 3 layers of newspaper (I was afraid the dye would leak through the paper and I didn't want to ruin my cookie sheets!). I laid the pans in the sun to dry, which they did rather quickly.

I kept them out there for a few hours, then transfered them back into the jars. I love it and the colors match perfectly to our new frog themed bathroom!

Lemon Wreath

I saw this idea on some website (I need to keep better track of those things!) and thought it looked fun for summer. I bought the wreath from the $1 store, the whole lemons from target (came in a box of 8), leaves and lemon slices from JoAnns (leaves came in a bag of 5 stems and were on clearance, the lemon slices came in a bag of 5).

I wrapped green ribbon around the wreath, completely covering it. Then I hot glued the whole lemons around it, adding the slices and leaves. I added a ribbon loop to hang.