Archive for the ‘Crafts & Celebrations’ Category

Oreo Biscotti Gifts For Your Favorite Teachers

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Three cheers for our favorite teachers! We have had truly some of the best teachers this year and this is the official Teacher Appreciation Week to really show your admiration for all that they do. After volunteering in my son’s classroom, I know that I would not have the patience or endurance to do a job like that. I so admire the infinite patience, love, and knowledge that our teachers possess.

Both of my children have blossomed this year. With the teachers that they have, I can certainly see why!

Today I wanted to showcase an easy and fun gift that you can give to the teachers in your life. This Oreo Biscotti recipe is a dream to make and to eat. If you can make cookies, you can make biscotti! Biscotti is basically a twice baked cookie that is perfect for coffee dunking. You can find everything you need to complete this project at your local Walmart store.

Just as an aside, if I was a teacher, I would be drinking a whole heck of a lot of coffee.

Let’s shower them with cookies that they can dunk in all of that coffee today!

In your stand mixer, mix together melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar.

In a separate bowl whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to your wet ingredients in your stand mixer and mix just until the ingredients are incorporated.

Now it is time to add the star to the biscotti show! Grab a bag of Oreo cookies (feel free to save money and substitute with the store brand on these). Use a rolling pin to break up the cookies so that you can get a bite of Oreo in each bite of your biscotti.

Add the cookies to your batter and then give the mixer a quick spin. It should look a little like cookies and cream ice cream. Resist the urge to eat the entire bowl of batter. It will be tough- this smells so good!

Dump the batter on a parchment lined cookie sheet. This dough is so easy to work with that you don’t even need to flour your hands. Divide your dough into two equal parts and then flatten the dough until it is roughly 8 inches in length, with about a 1 inch thickness. Make sure that the two balls have enough space to grow when they are baking.

Bake the biscotti at 350 for 25-30 minutes until the dough is cooked through and the edges are golden. Let the biscotti rest for ten minutes before you cut into it. Then with a very sharp knife, cut your biscotti on a slight angle, into roughly fifteen pieces for each dough ball. Lay them flat and slide them back into an oven for eight minutes. Pull them out and flip them again. Bake an additional eight minutes on the flip-side of the cookie. Finally, let them cool while you put the rest of your gift together.

Find a cute mug for your teacher over in the aisle with all of the lunchbox supplies or even over by the coffeemakers themselves. Cute reusable mugs are an inexpensive addition to your gift and can be found for anywhere between $4-10 depending on your budget. Fill the bottom with colored shredded paper or a little colored tissue paper. Nestle your biscotti in a clear plastic treat bags on top of your cute mug.

Editor’s Note: Now that Picnik has shut down, you can do the same edits through PicMonkey instead! Follow the directions below:

Look through pictures that you have of your child and see if you can find a picture where you can add a little text to your photo. Upload your photo to Picnik. Under the CREATE tab, select EFFECTS, then select the BLACK & WHITE option to change your picture to a black & white image. While still under the CREATE tab, select the option for TEXT. Once you are in text, put in your message for your teacher. Make sure not to put your text all of the way to the edge of the photo because it may cut it off when you print it. It is better to get it a little further in to assure that you don’t waste ink, paper, or your time!

You can choose from a variety of fonts and colors. The font I choose for these images was Pupcat. You can do all of this with a free membership to Picnik. Additional fonts are available with a membership, but I find that the free fonts are equally fantastic!

Save your image once you have finished it. If you have a photo printer, you can print these out at home. I printed mine on 5×7 Kodak paper with my photo printer. If you don’t have a photo printer, Walmart offers one hour prints (for a 5×7) for $.58. The cards themselves are almost as awesome as the biscotti!

Whatever you do, I hope that this adds a little inspiration to your gift-giving this year. These not only would make a great teacher gift, but I can see this being made into a perfect Mother’s Day gift for a special mom in your life too.

Homemade Oreo Biscotti

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix well. Stir in chopped cookies. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 8″ loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes. Cut each loaf diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch-thick) slices. Place slices, cut sides up, on same baking sheet. Bake an additional 8-10 minutes on each side or until lightly toasted on both sides. Cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe Source: Kraft Food & Family Magazine

What gifts do you have up your sleeve for you teachers this year? What gift has been the biggest hit? I would love to hear your ideas!

I am a part of the Walmart Moms program, and Walmart has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.

Tags: Gifts, Kid Crafts, MomAdvice News, Recipes, Shopping, Things To Do
Posted in Gifts | 47 Comments »

Creating a Fun Easter Basket for Less

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

Editor’s Note: Many apologies that I didn’t get this up sooner for you all! Our web host had some issues this week which halted my progress on this project. I hope that this will still be beneficial to those last minute shoppers or reference for you all next year too! Happy Easter, everyone!

It is almost that time for the kids to dig into their Easter baskets again. Each year I try to do something a little different with our baskets and try to keep a theme in mind. One year it was a basket filled with fun stuff to do outside (bubbles, jump ropes, water toys, sidewalk chalk). Another year we did all arts and crafts supplies (construction paper, watercolors, pencils, markers). Last year was the year of board games (Connect 4, Trouble, Operation).

You see, I am not a big fan of buying a bunch of junk food for my kids to consume and with all of the Easter egg hunts and dinners, my kids still manage to consume a ridiculous amount of sugar without a basket from the bunny at our house. If you saw my children on sugar, you would understand why this is a mom survival tactic! Instead I consider Easter baskets an opportunity to stock up on using their imagination and a tactic to survive the long rainy days ahead for spring.

This month I got the opportunity to create a basket out of supplies from Walmart. It is always fun to see what I can create and this year I did a glamorous basket for the diva princess in our house and I filled my son’s with a fun Bakugan toy & an Etch A Sketch to help him use his imagination.

Here are some ways that I have learned to make creative baskets for less:

Free Refills, Please- Every year I would buy a new basket to leave from the Easter Bunny. A few years ago, I wised up and now the kids leave a basket out for the bunny instead. The kids really look forward to seeing what the Easter Bunny has put in their baskets and this helps to cut down on the expense of buying a basket every year. If you do need to buy a basket, check the yard sales and thrift stores for baskets. With a bottle of spray paint in a pretty Easter color, you can freshen up dingy baskets and give them a new spring look.

Ditch the Fillers– Easter fillers can be quite a mess and also are an added expense to your basket. Instead of Easter grass, opt for shredded paper in a fun Easter color, a little pastel tissue paper to line the basket, or fabric in Easter shades that you might have in your craft supplies. Scrap ribbon tied to the top of your basket will add to the fun Easter theme without breaking the bank.

Wander Away from the Easter Aisle– While there is a great selection of great stuff in the Easter aisle, it also is a blast to wander down other aisles to look for fun additions to your Easter basket. My daughter’s princess glam basket was filled with fun dress-up gloves and a fun dress-up brush that were around $3 each. Sticker books in princess glitter and glam were also a fun filler for around the same price. Visit the health & beauty aisles for fun bath soaps, visit the gardening section for fun accessories to get your garden started, and visit the snacks aisles for healthier alternatives to the Easter candy. By wandering away from the seasonal items, you can really find a lot of fun items to add to your baskets.

Stock Your Baskets With Imagination in Mind– As much as a new electronic game would be fun for the kids, I really try to stock up on things that will help them use their imagination rather than the television. Art supplies, new beach or sand box toys, a family outdoor game, and board games are all great ways to get them to use their imagination.

What are some ways that you save on your Easter baskets? What has been your favorite theme for an Easter basket for your child! I would love to hear your ideas!

I am a part of the Walmart Moms program, and Walmart has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.

Tags: Holidays
Posted in Celebrations, Family | 3 Comments »

Crafting Fun: Marbleized Easter Eggs

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

One of our favorite Easter activities is decorating Easter eggs. Every year we try to do something new with our eggs. The first year I ditched the boxes of Easter egg dyes and created our own out of pantry ingredients. Last year we had a blast trying Kool-Aid egg dying which really made beautiful and vibrant eggs without any effort.

This year I ran across a fun idea for creating marbleized eggs from common items in the pantry. If you have food coloring, vinegar, and olive oil…you have the makings for beautifully marbled eggs. Pictured above are the eggs that my children created this year. This was a lot of fun because each egg could be so different and unique!

1. Hard boil your eggs as desired. In shallow bowls, mix together three cups of warm water with two tablespoons of vinegar and ten drops of food coloring. I used the Betty Crocker Neon Food Coloring that I found in the baking aisle. Whisk the ingredients together well.

2. Submerge your eggs and leave them in there until they reach the desired color. One thing we learned is that it is better to have a lighter color as the base color so the second layer of color will take well on your eggs.

3. Dry your eggs with a paper towel.

4. Repeat the process with the rest of the eggs. Rest them gently on your inverted egg carton to allow them to dry.

5. To the dye that you have already prepared, add one tablespoon of olive oil and then, using a fork, run your fork through the oil to break the oil into pieces to create the solution to roll your eggs. As the oil swirls, roll your egg once through a contrasting color. Allow the oil to pick up & create another round of color on your eggs. Blot gently with paper towels. (Editor’s Note: Many apologies for the lack of pictures after this point. We just really got into it and it was getting a little crazy with eggs dropping rolling)

6. Admire your beautiful eggs!

Don’t forget to turn those eggs into delicious deviled eggs for a fun addition to your family dinner!

What is your favorite Easter tradition? Are you trying anything new and exciting with egg dying this year? Would love to hear what Easter crafts you are working on!

Tags: Crafting, Holidays, Kid Crafts, Kid Recipes, Recipes, Things To Do
Posted in Celebrations, Family | 12 Comments »

Green Spring Cleaning Craft: Knitted Dishcloths & Homemade Cleaning Recipes

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

It is that time of year again, as we move into the beautiful season of Spring. Around this time of year, I usually start working on a batch of fresh new dishcloths to do the dishes with. If you could see how pitiful the rags I have been using are, you would understand why this is not only a hobby, but also a necessity!

As I mentioned last month, I get to share fun DIY projects as part of the Walmart Moms team, and when I was challenged with making something from the store for the spring cleaning season, I knew that I couldn’t wait to tackle some new dishcloth patterns made from the inexpensive Sugar ‘n Cream Yarn that you can pick up over in the craft section of the store. These balls of cotton yarn (in the knitting/crochet supplies) only run $1.57 per ball and you can usually get two generous sized washcloths out of them.

If you are new to knitting, dishcloths are the perfect project because they are like swatches of pattern rather than tackling a larger project piece. On top of that, it can make you feel braver doing patterns with more complexity and learning new knitting techniques. For the first few months after I learned how to knit, I knit a lot of dishcloths.

All of these patterns can be found on Ravelry, and you can find me there too! If you are a knitter, I would love for you to be my friend on Ravelry. My username is momadvice and I try to keep my little notebook updated with the current projects.

Here are four free fun new patterns to try to add an element of beauty and fun to your spring cleaning:

double bump dishcloths

Pattern: Double Bump Dishcloth Pattern by Missy Angus

Needle Size: US 7 Needles

Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Yarn- Pictured above is Country Red with Robin’s Egg Blue (accenting) & Hot Blue with Summer Splash (accenting)

Notes: My girlfriend, Renee, alerted me to this pattern and I am so glad she did! This pattern makes the most perfect dishcloth and can be whipped up in an hour or so. If you know how to knit and you know how to purl, those are the only stitches that you need to know to create this.

While some patterns curl up on the edges or require a little blocking, this pattern knits up evenly without any curled corners, thanks to the slipping of the first stitch in each row.

These are highly addictive to make and I am already working on another one because it is an easy pattern to memorize and to knit while watching a few of your favorite television shows! I would highly recommend this pattern!

cottage ballband dishcloth

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth by Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing

Needle Size: US 7 Needles

Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Yarn- Pictured above is Country Red & Cottage Twists (Twists Chalet)

Notes: This is the free website link to the original pattern for Ballband Dishcloths, featured in the Mason Dixon Knitting Book by Kay Gardiner & Ann Shayne, the founders of MasonDixonKnitting.com

This pattern is beautiful worked in solids and variegated. Endless combinations of colors and variegated can be created using this pattern. Since you are using two different yarns for this cloth, it is a great one to use when stash-busting your yarn collection or for using different colors of yarn scraps you might have on hand that you can’t really make anything out of on their own.

When doing this pattern, I have found that knotting in the different yarns is the best way to go instead of just weaving in the new color because of the endless amount of abuse and washes that these dishcloths get in our house. I have lovingly weaved in many washcloths with no knots and the stitches have ended up falling out on these patterns. Live and learn!

sunshine & stars dishcloth

Pattern: Open Star Dishcloth by Dishcloth Boutique

Needle Size: US 7 Needles

Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Yarn in Sunshine & Warm Brown

Notes: I really loved this pattern because of how the simple yarn overs create a nubby pattern to this dishcloth and give it such a beautiful look and feel to the yarn. This pattern does not look as nicely when it is held open, but could be corrected if it is blocked. The only time I would do that though is if it was a gift for someone.

This pattern is easy enough for a beginner and is a great beginning pattern for understanding yarn overs. I can’t wait to make more of these in other colors from my leftover yarn!

lavender squidge

Pattern: The Squidge Cloth by Sasha

Needle Size: US 7 Needles

Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Yarn in Soft Violet & Warm Brown

Notes: The alternating rectangles of knit and purl give the ultimate squidge factor for a fabulously fondle-able cloth. The pattern is easy since you only need know how to knit and purl. It gives you a thickness to the pattern and would be perfect, not only for your dishes, but perfect as a face cloth too!

Not enough dishcloth patterns for you? Be sure to check out my Circle Cloth & Chinese Waves patterns or the Wedding Washcloth patterns that I have created in past entries!

Pair these with a few of these homemade cleaner recipes or a little of the fun Mrs. Meyers Cleaners (available at Walmart too) and you are ready to do a little spring cleaning of your own!

My Favorite Homemade Cleaner Recipes

All-Purpose Cleaner

Mix together two tablespoons of mild dishwashing soap and two cups of water in a spray bottle and give it a shake. Use these anywhere that you would use a commercial all-purpose spray. This cleaner is particularly great for countertops, bathroom surfaces, and high chairs.

Glass Cleaner

Mix together one part white vinegar to one part water in a spray bottle. Spray this solution on your mirrors and windows and dry your windows with newspaper. The newspaper is great for lint-free drying and is a great way to repurpose some of those old papers you have laying around.

Homemade Oven Cleaner/ Deep Kitchen Cleaner

Mix a paste of three parts warm water to one part baking soda to clean away kitchen stains or to clean your oven.

Bathroom Cleaner

Mix dishwashing liquid with baking soda until you have a thick paste and use this throughout your bathroom.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

No measuring is required with this recipe. Sprinkle a little baking soda into your toilet bowl and then pour a little vinegar in and watch it fizz it up. Give it a swish with your toilet brush and then flush.

Floor Cleaner

Add ½ cup of vinegar to a gallon of water. The scent of the vinegar will fade in approximately an hour, but you can also add a couple of drops of essential oil to help with the scent. I like the smell of Tea Tree Oil, but you can buy any essential oil that smells best to you. Essential oils can be picked up at stores offering nutritional supplements or can be purchased online.

Furniture Polish

Mix ¼ cup olive oil with four tablespoons of vinegar and two teaspoons of lemon juice. Pour into a spray bottle and shake well before using. If you do not use all of it in one cleaning session, store the remainder in the fridge, as the lemon juice can go sour. You can also substitute the lemon juice with twenty to thirty drops of lemon essential oil and then you won’t have to refrigerate it. Using the essential oils though will up the price a bit on your homemade product.

Silver Cleaner

Although I don’t polish silver very frequently, this is a great to have in your bag of tricks. This will clean all of those nooks and crannies that are hard to reach in more detailed pieces and is great if you have a big batch of silver that needs cleaning. In a large bowl (or you can use your kitchen sink) place strips of aluminum foil in and place the silver pieces on top. Cover the silver with boiling water and then add three tablespoons of baking soda and soak for ten minutes.

Do you have any fun green spring cleaning recipes or knitted patterns you are loving? Do you spring clean your home? Feel free to share those ideas here!

I am a part of the Walmart Moms program, and Walmart has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.

Tags: Cleaning Recipes, Crafting
Posted in Knitting | 32 Comments »

All Knitted Up: Knitted Headbands for the End-of-Winter Blues

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

After my holiday knitting marathon, you would think that I would want to take a little break on the knitting. I can admit it though, I am addicted to my knitting needles, but I have been attempting smaller scale projects this month instead of my usual larger scaler ones. The best part about smaller scale projects is that they offer instant gratification and they offer an opportunity to tackle new skills that you might not think you have. It is much easier to give up on a smaller scale project if the going gets to tough, unlike those larger projects where you have a sense of commitment to them. This month has been a month of tons of little projects that I am looking forward to sharing with my knitting friends on MomAdvice.

I am hoping for the end of winter, but if you are feeling a little blue about winter’s never-ending days, these knitted headbands can add a fresh new look to your tired winter coat, and make the perfect accessory to keep your ears a little warm and your hair still looking cute! I whipped these headbands up in an evening of sitcom-watching and they offered a great opportunity to do a little stash-busting in my yarn collection (also a horrible addiction of which I suffer).

If you are a knitter, I would love for you to be my friend on Ravelry. My username is momadvice and I try to keep my little notebook updated with the current projects.

Here are two fun headbands to try that will add a little sparkle to these end-of-winter days!

shades of gray headband

Pattern: Spiral Ribbed Headband by Allison Hogue (free Ravelry Download) with Lydia Flowers (optional, for embellishment). These were all three sizes (Large, Medium, & Small) stacked in alternating colors. I am sorry, I understand that the pattern is down, let’s hope it will come back up soon!

Needle Size: US 7 (16″ circular needles– these are the ones I purchased. Don’t waste oodles of money on needles at the craft stores!)

Yarn: Naturally Caron Country (Charcoal) & flowers were created from Naturally Caron Country (Charcoal) & Caron Simply Soft in Heather Gray, alternately.

Notes: This spiral-ribbed head wrap is a beautiful pattern that can be done very easily while watching a little television. There are no tricky stitches in this pattern so it is a great one for a beginner and for knitters who are just getting familiar with knitting in the round.

I chose a merino wool blend for the yarn because it is light-weight while still being a little warm. It is the perfect yarn for the project and the bonus was that I got it on sale for $3.99 a ball (after the holidays) so it was a very thrifty knit too!

The flower is the Lydia Flower (large, medium, and small) stacked and used some of my Simply Soft in Heather Gray for the large and small flower from my yarn stash to add a little dimension to the headband.

ivory cabled headband

Pattern: Vanessa Headband by Nancy Ricci (free pattern)

Needle Size: US 11 (straight needles)

Yarn: Premier Yarns Serenity Chunky Weight in Pristine (stash-busting)

Notes: Are you falling over right now? I am cabling! I have never cabled before so this is my first project with cabling. This was a great introduction into cabling with very simple cables. Cabling sounds & looks much more difficult than it is. It is simply pulling stitches off your needles and pulling them into the front or the back of your work and then working them back into the pattern so they twist and vine around your project. If you can knit and purl, you definitely can cable! If you have never cabled before like me

The pattern offers a wide band as well as a more narrow version of the same band. I chose the narrow version, but it is still plenty wide if you wanted to cover your ears with it thanks to the large needles and chunky yarn. If you use a thinner yarn, you may want to go for the wider pattern to achieve the same look.

Below is a video on how to cable. I am telling you, it is so easy! I can’t wait to practice more cabled patterns! I will be back next month with a gazillion baby hat patterns that I have been working on…another instant gratification project that is great for practicing pattern!

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Looking for more knitted projects to cure the winter doldrums? I recommend throwing a few of these projects on your needles for an instant pick-me-up in our Crafting section and Gifts section of the site!

What craft projects are you working on now that the holidays are over?

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Tags: Crafting, Gifts, Things To Do
Posted in Knitting | 7 Comments »

Great Gifts When You are Eight and a Boy

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

I find buying boy gifts to be quite a bit more challenging than girl gifts. As my children get older, the other challenge becomes finding a gift that they don’t already have and something that isn’t electronic-related. This year I really tried to find games that would challenge Ethan to use his imagination. These are some of our favorite gifts to get our favorite eight year-old little man.

ZOOB 250-Piece Set

My son is a big fan of Legos and last year we bought a lot of Lego sets for him. The challenge with Lego sets has always been keeping all of the pieces together. This year we decided to try something a little different and got him a set of these ZOOB pieces that he could build with and both of the kids have been in heaven with these. The pieces fit together easily and you can create moving pieces that are three dimensional. The set came with a huge booklet of designs that you could create and 250 pieces was just the right amount of pieces to create just about anything. They are larger pieces than the Lego blocks so they are easy to clean up and find in the carpet. Once our son got the hang of these, we were encouraging him to develop his own designs for creations, which further challenged his imagination. He plays with these almost every single day and they have been a great set to build with.

ZOOBMobile Car Designer

Ethan’s grandparent’s helped us add to Ethan’s ZOOB collection and purchased the car designer kit for him. This added another fun layer to the building pieces and he could design his own cars to be built as well. There are 76 pieces in this kit and twelve car designs that could be created and Ethan loved these as much as the building pieces themselves. I would definitely recommend this as a great way to keep little boys busy on a rainy day!

The Boys’ Doodle Book

We are huge fans of doodle books and over the years I have bought five or six of these books for birthdays and Christmas in our house. If you have not seen these doodle books before, you love the imagination that is involved in designing these books and how they foster imagination in your child.

Instead of having you simply color, each page tells you something that it would like you to draw. One page will tell him that the alligator is angry and have him fill in his face. Other pictures are exactly alike, but may request colors and patterns to make each of the pictures different. This book is specifically boy-driven and is filled with pictures of dinosaurs, cowboys, knights, pirates, robots, and more things that would be adored by a little boy in your life.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series

I am so lucky because my son is a ferocious reader and I have no trouble getting him to read books at all. He will read anything from Pokemon comic books to the newspaper to The Hardy Boys. His favorite books over the past couple of years have been the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. Every little eight year-old boy I know has a love for this series and it is a fantastic series to encourage kids that don’t have a lot of ambition to read, into reading again.

If you haven’t seen the books before, the books are perfect for little boys filled with fun illustrations that help tell the story. I find these books in his bed almost every night and he reads them over and over again. This book set that is featured above contains the first four books, but for Christmas this year, Ethan got the fifth book in the series, “The Ugly Truth.”

If your child likes Diary of a Wimpy Kid, we have found that the Bad Kitty, Big Nate, and Captain Underpants (although it has gross boy humor and I am not as big of a fan of those) are other great books to tackle for this age group!

Rush Hour Traffic Jam Game

We love board games in our family and have quite a collection of games since we try to buy one every year for the kids. Rush Hour is a very unique game because it is played alone and is intended for kids that are ages eight to adult. The board game has squares that the cars can fit into. It comes with a set of cards and each card displays how the traffic jam is supposed to look and how to arrange the colored cars on the board. The object of the game is get the red car out through a small opening on the board, but the cars can only be moved up and down or side to side, depending on where the cars are located. There are forty different cards ranging from easy to advanced and the solutions for play are on the back of each of the cards.

This is a fun game to set up in the morning that can be worked on while my son is eating his cereal before school. He absolutely loves this game and I love that this is one that he can play on his own!

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Wii Game

Of course, I did want to include one electronic game that our son really loved! Ethan and I have been working our way through the Harry Potter book series (we are currently on the third book in the series) and we are loving it. Ethan’s aunt gave him this Harry Potter Wii game that he has absolutely loved, that brings to life the stories in books 1-4 through LEGO characters. The best part about the LEGO games though is the lack of violence and the hilarious scenes that are written using the LEGO characters. He has had to fight for control of the Wii to play this one because it is just as much of a hit with his sister as it is for him. I would definitely recommend this cute game for any of the Harry Potter fans in your life (including the grown-up ones)!

For Christmas and birthday gifts I do try to horde my Swagbucks rewards and use my points to buy Amazon gift cards. To begin earning rewards, all you need to do is use Swagbucks.com as your search engine tool instead of your usual route with Google. It pulls the same results, but when you are surfing, you can earn points just by making it your search engine tool. These points are then deposited into your account and can be redeemed for your rewards.

I put my points towards Amazon gift cards which has been a fantastic way to enjoy a little shopping without dipping into my bank account. Not only has it covered birthday gifts, but I also have ordered countless books for my Kindle and other fun little extras in my life.

I rarely use affiliate programs, but can’t recommend Swagbucks enough. If you start now, it is quite possible that you could have a free (or discounted) Christmas in your future! Every little bit helps in this tough economy and the best part is that it is free tool to assist with your shopping needs.

Disclosure: All of the links above are affiliate links and are provided so you can locate the products quickly and easily. Feel free to order what you need, but we encourage wise spending & buying things you & your family will truly love and appreciate. We promise though to only refer you to products that we are really loving and using. We also bought each of these fair and square- no one asked me to promote them or gave me anything. Don’t you like people who disclose far too much information? That is me! Enjoy!

Do you have any boy gifts that were a hit this Christmas? Please feel free to share your son’s favorite gifts!

Tags: Birthday Party, Holidays, Shopping
Posted in Gifts | 24 Comments »

Great Gifts When You Are Five & a Girl

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

It has been so much fun sharing with you all of our ideas for celebrating our daughter this year! If you haven’t been here for that, I encourage you to take a peek at our DIY Barbie Doll Cake, our step-by-step tutorial for tissue paper pom poms, & and our tips & recipes for an inexpensive winter party.

I am not big on promoting buying things, but I do think it is fun to see what other people are giving their children for their birthdays so I can get inspired with great gift ideas for my child. We do not spend a lot on Christmas or on birthdays. For Christmas we do the four gifts for each child (Want, Need, Wear, & Read-inspired giving) and then for birthdays I typically give the kids two or three gifts that I think they will really love. We are blessed with a big family of generous givers so my children never feel our more simple gifts are not enough for them.

I wanted to share with you Emily’s favorite gifts that she received for her birthday & Christmas this year! I try to wait awhile before I share what our favorites are so you can know that they are really hits if they have been loved long past the excitement of their birthday and holiday festivities.

Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems

It is is no secret that I am an avid reader so it should come as no surprise that my children love to read too! We are longtime fans of Mo Willems and the Knuffle Bunny series is my daughter’s favorite book series by him. The book series is about a little girl who loves her bunny and Emily is a bunny-loving fool who carries her own bunny everywhere she goes. I am sure you can see the appeal of this book series to her!

Mo Willems brings to life a little girl who has a habit of leaving her Knuffle Bunny everywhere and the books chronicle her adventures to get her Knuffle Bunny back. We loved the character of Trixie when she was a baby and left her bunny at the laundromat, but couldn’t tell her daddy why she was so upset when he was left. We sympathized with Trixie when there was a case of mistaken identity and she brought home the wrong one-of-a-kind Knuffle Bunny after a show & share at school where another girl had brought the same exact bunny…making him sooo not one-of a kind.

In Knuffle Bunny Free, Trixie is older now, but she still loves her bunny. When they take a flight to Holland to visit her grandparents, Trixie accidentally leaves her bunny on the airplane where her daddy just can’t get him back for her. Your heart breaks a little bit inside as Trixie realizes that she really is old enough to go without him. Try to have your tissues handy for this one. I simply can’t get through the last part as I look at my own little girl and how big she is getting, clutching her own bunny tight in her fist. This book is beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and offers comedic writing that adults will truly love.

Knuffle Bunny Plush Toy

Now that you know that we are Knuffle Bunny groupies, it will make sense why Emily was so thrilled to receive her very own Knuffle Bunny to go along with the books. Some kids are into plush toys (like my daughter) and some kids never really get into them (like my son). If your children are into plush toys, this is a wonderful one to pair with the book series. This Knuffle Bunny is super soft and squishy with long ears that are perfect for clutching and dragging around the house. Knuffle Bunny has been hitting the road with Emily every day and I find her snuggled up in bed with him every night. Although I thought this was a little expensive for a simple plush toy, he has gotten $20 of love out of him already! If you have a Knuffle bunny lover in your house, this makes a wonderful gift!

Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman

Another series that our daughter has been a fan of for a very long time is the Ladybug Girl book series. Lulu reminds me so much of my own spunky Emily with her own fashion sense and spirit for adventure, that this book series seems to echo they way our Emily thinks. Lulu is the type of girl that your daughters can look to as a role model because she is very brave, she uses her imagination, and she is a friend to others.

We loved Lulu when we were first introduced to her and she finds her alter-ego, “Ladybug Girl,” who can do anything. We loved when Ladybug Girl found a friend on the playground and fought crime together as the Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy duo. Now Lulu is making her very first trip to the beach and she finds that there is so much to love at the beach, but also finds that she is a little fearful too of the water. You can watch Lulu overcome her fear of the water and discover that Ladybug Girl can even brave the ocean- she truly can do anything!

Lana the Ladybug Groovy Girl

We came into collecting Groovy Girl Dolls completely by accident. I bought a doll for Emily at a gift shop on a trip and she absolutely loved it. She slept with her every night and I loved her yarn hair, rag doll style exterior, and that she was so wholesome. I wanted to find another one like her for Emily and discovered there are actually many Groovy Girls out there and accessories to go with the dolls.

Since Ladybug Girl is such a superhero in our house, Lana the Ladybug Groovy Girl was absolutely perfect for Emily! These dolls are so adorable and Emily loves playing with them for hours on end! Ladybug Girl was the perfect addition to our accidental collection!

Midnight Star Groovy Girl Horse

In our house there is lots of talk about sparkle, glitter, horses, and unicorns. Imagine, Emily’s delight when Grandma & Grandpa got her this sparkled and bedazzled Groovy Girl horse to go with her dolls! Yes, this horse has been making quite a few pony rides around our house and offers a lot of entertainment & imaginative play for Emily.

This toy is really well-made and includes lots of little extras that Emily really loves. There are reigns that the dolls hands can go into and stirrups for the doll’s legs. Since it has all of these stirrups and reigns the dolls can actually ride on this horse and have adventures without her having to hold on it. I am not a big fan of toys that make noise (I know, I am such an old, grumpy mom) and we discovered that this horse makes horse sounds when you press a little button on the side. Luckily, it is a very quiet horse that gives just the right volume without being annoying.

Loving Family Fisher Price Dollhouse

Last Christmas we decided to buy Emily a dollhouse and asked that everyone buy her accessories to go into her house for a gift. I didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a dollhouse, but I did want something that would last. We decided to get her the Loving Family Fisher Price house because it was relatively affordable for a dollhouse (about $75) and it offered lots of fun accessories to go with it.

We got almost the whole collection last year, but she didn’t have any bedrooms for the dollhouse. She would make the dolls lie down on the floor with tiny rugs and would sigh deeply at me, pointing to the absence of beds in her house. This year we added a little girl’s bedroom set and the parent’s bedroom set to her collection. All the dolls seem more well-rested and Emily is very happy to have a place for her dolls to sleep now.

This is a bit of an investment piece, but she plays for at least an hour in this house every single day. I love anything that helps her to use her imagination and when her friends come over, they park themselves in front of the dollhouse and play house for hours on end. It really is the perfect gift for a little girl with a big imagination!

Barbie & the Diamond Castle Princess Liana

You can’t have a Barbie party and not get a few Barbies for your birthday. It was a Barbie-filled extravaganza at our house filled with tons of Barbies and accessories. Everyone brought the coolest Barbies, fanciest clothes, and we even got a Barbie car for them to ride in! We have been playing with and brushing Barbie hair nonstop since her birthday.

Of all the Barbies that Emily got, this Diamond Castle Barbie is Emily’s most favorite. You turn a little dial on the back of her and her dress transforms into a different colored dress with a magical sound. She also sings…she sings an awful lot in our house. Emily ran her batteries out after three weeks of nonstop signing and I couldn’t get the song out of my head if I tried. She is magical though because I still let her keep her even though she sang all the time.

This Barbie is from the Barbie & the Diamond Castle movie which she also got for birthday. We love all the Barbie movies, but I think this one is Emily’s favorite because it is about two friends. If you haven’t seen the Barbie movies, they are truly awesome. I am not a fan of the recent ones, but The Nutcracker, Barbie & the Twelve Dancing Princesses, & Swan Lake are just beautiful. Your daughter would love them and you will love the pretty music!

Barbie Tote

We are new to the Barbie scene. Boy, do we have so much to learn about navigating the Barbie world! My sister found this Barbie tote to put all of our Barbie accessories in and Emily really loves this bag for taking her Barbies everywhere. There is a zipper on the inside for tiny Barbie accessories and clothing. The bag size is generous, unlike some of the other totes on the market. All of her collection fits comfortably in this and the outside is a plastic exterior, making it easy to clean. I love this gift as much as Emily and we hang it on our playroom door so we can play with our Barbie’s or take them with us for fun on the go.

Disclosure: All of the links above are affiliate links and are provided so you can locate the products quickly and easily. Feel free to order what you need, but we encourage wise spending & buying things you & your family will truly love and appreciate. We promise though to only refer you to products that we are really loving and using. We also bought each of these fair and square- no one asked me to promote them or gave me anything. Don’t you like people who disclose far too much information? That is me! Enjoy!

Do you have any girl gifts that were a hit this Christmas? Please feel free to share your daughter’s favorite gifts! We will be back next week with great boy gifts to give!

Tags: Birthday Party, Holidays, Shopping
Posted in Gifts | 13 Comments »

Tips & Recipes for Pulling Off a Great Winter Party

Monday, January 10th, 2011

If there is one thing that I feel I do really well, it is pulling off a budget-friendly and wonderful birthday party for my children. The truth about pulling off a great party though is that it takes a lot of planning and preparation to make a wonderful party come together. Now that I have shown you how to make your own DIY Barbie Cake and elegant tissue paper pom poms to hang over your party table, I wanted to share with you our menu from this party!

We decided to host the party on a Friday evening since that seemed to work with everyone’s schedule the best. With seventeen people in our immediate family, it makes for a big party even for just a family birthday party. In the dead of winter, I wanted food that would warm everyone up, would be relatively easy to assemble (since the cake did require a bit of effort this year), and that would also make great leftovers.

Homemade party subs are so inexpensive to make and can be a fun addition to any party. Walmart sells french bread loaves for $1.50 each and turkey breast meat (behind the deli counter) is only $3.99 per pound. Each sub was loaded with almost an entire pound of meat, a layer of cheddar cheese (only bought inexpensively behind the deli counter), and then sliced and assembled on cookie sheets. Condiments were gathered on trays and fresh tomato and lettuce was cut the day before to pull out for the big party. These took about fifteen minutes to pull together, serve eight people each, and cost less than $8 each to make yourself (even with the cost of condiments included).

If you have any sandwiches leftover, store them covered in the fridge and the next day they will make fabulous paninis to serve with your leftover soup. As an aside, I make these almost every grocery day for my family as a quick meal when I am too tired to cook from shopping. It is my special treat after getting the shopping done and the kids go bonkers over these subs.

I made a double batch of our Pesto Chicken Tortellini Soup to go along with our sub sandwiches. Bowls and a creamer full of spoons were set out for our guest to dish their soup. I also set out a hunk of Parmesan cheese that could be grated over the bowls of soup to add even more flavor to it. To save on the cost of the soup, buy the pesto over in the pasta aisle (rather than the refrigerated pesto in the dairy cooler) and feel free to substitute the fresh tortellini with the cheese tortellini found in the freezer aisle.

No party is complete in our house without a punch bowl brimming over with some delicious punch. This new punch recipe that I pulled together is the new favorite with strawberry soda, cranberry juice, strawberry lemonade, and cherry 7-up. The cranberry really added a hint of tartness to the punch and this punch bowl was drained in record time this year. I have to say that my thrift store punch bowl is one of our most used party items and has served us well over the years!

In addition to punch, the coffeemaker was preset for hot coffee to go with the dessert portion of the evening.

I rounded out the party table with a couple of easy appetizers that I made the day before. My cheese ball and spinach dip went perfectly with our soup and sandwich theme, and gave guests something to munch on before and after the dinner hour.

Party supplies can really burn through a girl’s budget, but I strive to keep the paper products to a minimum. To incorporate the Barbie theme though, I did find a cute tiara and reuseable Barbie themed cup & plate for the party girl that cost only $5 total. This made the party theme fun for her, but kept my party budget right on track. Our regular dishes were used for everyone else and last year’s vinyl tablecloth made another appearance this year at Emily’s birthday party. With our inexpensive tissue paper pom poms, it still looked like a fabulous party without the need for excessive party themed plates and one-time use decorations!

Here are a few recipes that can be used at your next party!

This tortellini soup brought together all of the flavors that my family loves, but is a versatile recipe that could be created with what is at your supermarket that day or what your family loves to eat. For our vegetarian readers, the chicken tortellini and chicken broth can easily be switched to a cheese-filled tortellini with vegetable broth instead. I used basil pesto in this, but you could also try a sun-dried tomato pesto or omit the pesto altogether if it is not a favorite of your family. Versatility is the beauty of a good soup recipe and this recipe is quite versatile!

Pesto Chicken Tortellini Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans petite diced tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
8 cups chicken broth
1 pound chicken herb tortellini or tortellini of your choice (I used the refrigerated kind, but you can also use the dried pasta)
9 ounces spinach, chopped roughly
1/4 cup basil pesto

In a large pot, saute the garlic in the olive oil. After a minute or so, add the diced tomatoes and chicken broth to the pot. Bring the broth to a rolling boil and then add in your tortellini. Cook tortellini as directed on package. In the last minute of cooking time, mix in your roughly chopped spinach and stir in the 1/4 cup of basil pesto. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top. Side Note: When reheating, feel free to add some additional chicken broth to thin the soup, as the tortellini will absorb the liquid!

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You can never go wrong with a good spinach dip and this one is my absolute favorite because of the unexpected flavor that the salsa adds to the dish. You can make it as mild or as spicy as you like! I opt for a mild salsa and serve it with pita chips, tortilla chips, or fresh veggies for a little lighter fare!

Spunky Spinach Dip

2 cups salsa (approximately one standard size jar)
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese
8 oz low-fat or fat-free cream cheese, softened and cubed
10 oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)

Make Ahead: Mix ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Place in an oven-safe bowl and tuck in the fridge for Thanksgiving Day.

Party Day: Cook at 350 for 20-25 minutes (double your cooking time for a double batch) in an oven-safe bowl (covered). Serve with your favorite dipper! I served this with blue corn tortilla chips, but you could also serve with fresh celery sticks and fresh carrots to balance out the heaviness of your party day food!

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These cheese ball is so embarrassingly easy, but is always a showstopper when I bring it to holiday get togethers. Put the ingredients for this recipe on your grocery list and relish the joy in ease of the preparation and the compliments that come from it!

Bacon & Ranch Cheese Ball

2 (8 ounce) packages of low-fat cream cheese, softened
1 package of Ranch dressing mix
1 cup cheddar cheese
5-7 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled (or buy prepackaged crumbled bacon)

Make Ahead: Mix all of the ingredients together with a mixer until they are incorporated. Mold into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap,

Party Day: Roll in a plate of shredded cheese. Serve with assorted crackers.

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No get together in our family is complete without a big punch bowl that is overflowing. This punch is always a hit and it can be ready when everyone arrives. It is loved by kids and adults alike. The addition of cranberry juice adds a delicious tartness to your punch that balances out the sweetness of the strawberry soda and lemonade.

Christmas Cranberry Punch

2 liter bottle strawberry-flavored soda (I found this at Walmart)
2 liter Cherry 7-Up
1 (12 ounce) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate
1 container of cranberry juice

Mix all the ingredients together for the punch. This will fill one large punch bowl or two smaller ones.

What is one idea you incorporate into your parties to keep your birthday parties on budget?

Tags: Birthday Party, Frugal, Holidays, Recipes
Posted in Celebrations | 22 Comments »

DIY: Tissue Paper Pom Poms Tutorial

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Decorating for birthday parties can be expensive and it is one area that I am always searching for cute ideas that don’t cost a lot. My girlfriend had a birthday party recently and made the Martha Stewart Tissue Paper Pom Poms to decorate above her daughter’s party table. I loved it so much that I promptly stole it for Emily’s Barbie birthday party.

These pom poms are so easy to make, but add a lot of impact to the party decorations. Each one took about ten minutes and I was so proud when my husband came home and asked me where I bought them. We loved them so much that they have been moved to her room to hang above her dollhouse. The best part is that they only cost $1-2 to make (depending on how full you make these) so they will fit easily into your party budget.

To make the tissue paper pom poms:

1. Purchase tissue paper in your desired colors to match your party scheme. You can use one package (ideally 7-9 sheets) or you can use two packs, depending on how full you would like your flowers to be. The dark pink flower that I created used two packs of tissue paper, while the lighter pink ones only used one package of tissue paper.

2. Stack your paper and fold it accordion style (1 1/2″ wide). The crisper your folds the better the look of your flower so fold it as best as you can.

3. Secure the center of your flower with a little floral wire.

4. With your scissors, trim the corners either into rounded corners (as I did) or into points (for a star shape).

5. Do the same on the opposite end.

6. Very gently and carefully, separate the layers of tissue paper from one another and begin pulling them apart and shaping them. The fuller your flower, the longer this will take. Once your flower has been properly poofed (a highly technical term, I am sure), you can hang them with yarn, ribbon, or whatever else you might have on hand.

For more detailed instructions or other creative ideas for your pom poms, visit this tutorial from Martha Stewart.

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Tags: Crafting, Frugal, Holidays, Kids Crafts, Things To Do
Posted in DIY | 46 Comments »

The Perfect Pink Barbie Cake Tutorial

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Make the birthday cake of your daughter’s dreams with this DIY Barbie Doll Cake Tutorial. This simple bowl cake is the base of the Barbie dress to make a perfect princess cake.

Over the month of December we celebrated Emily’s 5th birthday. This was the year of the Barbie which thrilled me to no end as I had envisioned a DIY Barbie Cake for my little girl long before she was even a twinkle in our eye. Barbie birthday cakes are a true labor of love by the mothers who create them and this cake was a testament to my undying love for my daughter.

Today I wanted to share with you how we created our Barbie cake and some tips for creating this cake for your own little princess! The week will be filled with oodles of tutorials and ideas for making your Barbie party special and I hope to add a little inspiration to your own Barbie-inspired party!

For this cake you will need a white cake mix, strawberry gelatin dessert, eggs, milk, canola oil, a package of fresh strawberries, and your doll.

The doll that is pictured in this tutorial ended up not being used because the cake was not tall enough to form her dress and stand her upright. Doll toppers can be purchased specifically for your cake or you can ask your bakery if they will sell you a doll that you can use for roughly the same amount. My girlfriend also found a shorter generic one that could be found at the dollar store because the generic ones are not as tall as the real Barbies.

My best friend broke the legs of her Barbie for my cake. May you all have a super awesome mafia friend like me who is willing to donate her legless Barbie for your project.

This cake recipe is an easy mix and dump cake, but you will need to finely chop your strawberries to mix into the cake. I used my food chopper to chop these up evenly and fine for the cake. Once you have done that, you have the brunt of the cake mixing portion done.

Dump all of the ingredients into your mixer, including those finely chopped berries, and give it a good mix. I let it run for a good minute or two while my oven was preheating to 350 degrees.

Pour your batter into a greased mixing bowl. The mixing bowl I used for this project is a two-quart Batter Bowl that I had in my kitchen, a long ago purchase that I made with Pampered Chef. Many years ago when I bought it, the consultant had shared with me that it would make the perfect Barbie cake.

It doesn’t have to be a Pampered Chef bowl though, any two quart ovenproof glass mixing bowl should do the job!

Now let Barbie sit back and take a little nap while her dress bakes.

Because of the depth of the cake, this cake will take roughly an hour and ten minutes to bake.

You want to make sure that the rack is not too high on your oven or it will really brown the top of your cake.

You will also want to keep an eye on it and test the center after an hour to see how it is doing. Mine took the full hour and ten minutes for this cake though.

Once the cake is done baking, you can pull it out and let it rest for at least fifteen minutes. Invert your cake on a cooling rack and let it cool for three hours before decorating.

I prefer to make my cakes in a two day process so I went ahead and wrapped the cooled Barbie cake in plastic wrap and rested it on top of a dish, then covered the whole thing in foil. Make sure that your cake is completely cool before wrapping it for freezing. I tucked this in our freezer in a cake pan for support.

When the cake is frozen it is much easier to decorate and I have a lot less crumbs to have to work around. That little tip came courtesy of a Michael’s cake decorating course I took and has served me well over the years of making and decorating special occasion cakes.

Now it is time to make the frosting.

You can definitely skip this step and just use two 16 ounce containers of vanilla frosting (tinted to your favorite cake dress color), but the jarred frosting won’t give you the stiffness you need if you want to decorate and embellish the dress.

This buttercream decorator’s frosting uses the confectioner’s sugar, shortening, milk, clear butter flavor (pictured above and purchased at Michael’s) and a little Meringue Powder that gives it a yummy whipped and buttered taste without adding any off-colors to your frosting.

Making frosting is a messy, messy job and is one of my least favorite parts about cake decorating. One way you can really cut down on the mess is to dampen a kitchen towel and drape it over your mixer while you are whipping up your frosting. This will cut down on the confectioner’s sugar dust clouds that you will find all over the kitchen and you can wipe down your mixer when you are all done.

Really try hard to resist eating this frosting. You really will need all of it to decorate your cake.

Doesn’t it look delicious though?

Tint the frosting, with food coloring, in your desired color. In our case it was Emily’s two favorites…pink and dark pink.

Now it is time to frost your cake. I frost my cakes frozen and they turn out beautifully. You just want to give your decorated cake a few hours to thaw before the guests arrive, but frozen cake frosting is so darn easy that you will never go back. It, basically, eliminates the need to do a crumb coat entirely. Frost it the best you can and remember that you can add as many details as you need to and that will cover up any of the imperfect parts.

To get the surface even smoother, dip your clean spatula in hot water and run it across the surface of the cake in long strokes. This will melt the frosting slightly to help remove stroke marks. Wipe the spatula clean and dip it in the hot water before each stroke.

Once your cake is smooth (ish), you are ready to add your embellishments to decorate your dress. Assemble your pastry bag with some of your extra frosting. I used Wilton Tips #2D to make swirl flowers and my zigzag border, tip 3 to make the centers of the flowers and added dots to her dresses, and tip 21 for the shell borders and little loops on her dress.

You can add whatever details you prefer on your cake, that is the beauty of making your own Barbie cake. Embrace your inner-fashionista and have a blast making Barbie’s party dress!

Here is our finished diy barbie cake.

I left the top of Barbie’s dress on and tried to incorporate the lower half into looking like a continuation of her top.

Her hair was tied with a little leftover grosgrain ribbon.

If your Barbie has legs, you can wrap her in plastic before inserting her.

There is no need to cut a circle, she should wedge pretty easily without the extra step.

After Barbie was done with this party, I put her dress top in the dishwasher and it came out clean and perfect. Barbie just got a good wash in the sink and I put her away…just in case we might need her next year.

The Perfect Pink Barbie Cake With Buttercream Frosting

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Adapted from The Cake Doctor Cookbook

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 15 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 10

This cake is so moist and full of strawberry flavor. The color from the gelatin adds a vivid pink hue and the flecks of fresh berry take these pantry ingredients to another level. If a Barbie cake isn’t your thing, wait for your post next week where these are transformed into a grown-up cupcake complete with a Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting. While buttercream icing is not my favorite tasting frosting, this frosting is ideal for decorating and piping beautiful decorations on your Barbie cake. The butter flavor really adds a lot of richness to this frosting. This recipe creates a batch and a half (or approximately five cups of frosting). This will likely be more than you need, but I would rather have extra frosting than not enough and make it all over again. Extra frosting can also be used to decorate a batch of cupcakes for the adults!

Ingredients

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries with juice (approximately 1 1/2 cups whole berries)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
For Buttercream Icing (Medium Consistency): 1 1/2 cups solid white shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons [url href=”https://amzn.to/2HYXsjs” target=”_blank”]Wilton Butter Flavor[/url]
4-5 tablespoons milk
6 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon [url href=”https://amzn.to/2Wu2Rmu” target=”_blank”]Wilton Meringue Powder[/url]
Pinch of Salt (optional)
[url href=”https://amzn.to/2V0n2bf” target=”_blank”]2 quart oven-safe batter bowl[/url]

Instructions

Place your oven rack into the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a 2 quart oven-safe batter bowl by greasing heavily with cooking spray.
Place the cake mix, gelatin strawberries and their juice, milk, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.
Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for thirty seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat two more minutes.
Pour batter carefully into your prepared batter bowl.
Bake for 1 hour and ten minutes or until the cake springs back when pressed with your finger and a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool for fifteen minutes and then invert your cake on a cooling rack. Allow the cake to cool for a minimum of three hours before decorating. For more tips see the post above.
For icing: Cream shortening flavoring, and water.
Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend an additional minute or so until creamy.
Tint as desired.