Cupcake Saturday!

Ah, Cupcake Saturday. My favorite day of the week! This week's cupcake, is of course, a s'more cupcake!! I don't know if there could be anything other than a s'more cupcake this week. Maybe a campfire cupcake, but s'mores taste so much better!

That's what they looked like before the "heat wave" we've been having. It's still weird that they think 90 is really hot. Feels like another summer day to us! But not so much for the cupcakes... This is what they look like in the heat a few hours later.

Our version has a graham cracker crust, a chocolate cupcake, and marshmallow frosting. It's all topped off with a graham cracker square. The only thing missing is the campfire!

Those cupcakes are for the kiddos. Here's something for the adults to enjoy!

S'more of the Day: Grasshopper S'mores (s'mores with a kick!)

What You Need:
Marshmallows
Graham Crackers
Chocolate Bars

Vanilla Frosting
Creme de Menthe
Creme de Cocoa


What You Do:
Before hand, add a shot of each alcohol to one cup of frosting. Mix until smooth.
Frost half of a graham cracker with frosting. Place chocolate bar in the middle of cracker. Toast your marshmallow and place on top of the filling. Sandwich together.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kid-Friendly Friday!

Good morning, everyone! It's finally Friday! Today's project is a Newspaper Sit-Upon for camping. I remember making these back in the day at Girl Scouts, for those times that we had to actually sit outside! (I think in all the years, we only went outdoor camping once. The rest of the times were in cabins, which I was definitely not complaining about!) Anyway, here it is:


Materials:
Newspaper (6 full-size sheets for each)

Duct Tape (preferably one of the fun patterns or colors. I don't know why no one thought of this before!)
Scissors (not really necessary, but just in case.)


Step One:
Working with a single open sheet, fold paper in half three times. It should be about 3"x28".

Step Two:
Make five more strips the same way.

Step Three:
Weave strips tightly in the middle, as shown. Make sure that #1 goes under-over-under so that it can be folded in.
(You don't need to add numbers, but it might make it easier for kids to see which ones to work with next.)

 

Step Four:
Fold end #1 up and over toward #9. Continue folding the rest of the odd numbers toward the middle. Use a small piece of tape to keep the ends down and pretty flat.

Step Five:
Turn it over and do the same thing with the remaining even number strips. This is what it will look like.

 Step Six:
Your sit-upon is technically done. However, since it is just newspaper, it's not waterproof, and if you're going to be outside, it probably should be. Here's where the tape comes in. Cover your sit-upon with long strips of tape to seal it tight.

This size is great for little kids' bottoms, but probably not so much for an adult. Use 8 strips of paper to make an adult-size mat. Make sure your newspaper has enough full-sized sheet. The first one I picked up only had 5! Sunday papers probably work best.

S'more of the Day: Birthday Cake S'mores

What You Need:

Marshmallows
Graham Crackers
Leftover Birthday Cake
Vanilla Frosting

What You Do:
Slice leftover cake into 2x1in pieces. Place cake on half a graham cracker and top with vanilla frosting. Toast your marshmallow and place on top of the filling. Sandwich together.

Thanks for stopping by!

Can I Have S'More?

Today's project is a fun little one. It's a great idea for gift giving or for any reason!

I'm sure you've seen the ornaments with s'more pieces doing different things (if you haven't, look up s'more ornaments- so cute!) Well, we thought this would be a fun take on the s'more. The best part is that you won't get sticky hands with this one! You can't see it so well in the picture, but the graham cracker and chocolate are detailed down to the ridges between sections.The snack mix inside is made up of mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and graham cracker cereal. Not the healthiest of snacks, but it sure is tasty.

S'more of the Day: Turtle S'mores

What You Need:
Marshmallows
Graham Crackers
Mr. Goodbar
Caramel Sauce

What You Do:
Place the chocolate bar on a graham cracker half. Drizzle caramel over candy. Toast your marshmallow and place on top of the filling. Sandwich together.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lighting the Way

Today's project is another easy-peasy DIY project. Who doesn't love the endless possibilities of mason jars?? Vases, canning, food gifts, and now lanterns.

We went to Target and found the cheapest solar lights we could. The ones we chose were $2.00 a piece. We got a pack of 12 canning jars, much more than we needed, but it's never too early to start thinking about the holidays! All you need to do is unscrew the top part of the light and attach it to the top of the jar, either with a paper band or glue, depending on the jar. The tops to our jars are slightly bigger than the light itself, so we set it in a paper ring. Set it out in the sun and wait till it lights up at night! The best part is these cost less than $2.50 to make and they can be decorated to fit any decor. Now we just have to wait for the sun to reach our little corner!

S'more of the Day: Chocolate Chip Cookie S'mores (s'mores without the graham crackers...)

What You Need:
Marshmallows
Chocolate Chip Cookies

What You Do:
Toast your marshamllow and sandwich between two cookies. Or for choco-holics, sandwich marshamllow with chocolate pieces between cookies!

Doesn't get much easier than that! Except for the whole building fire thing...

Thanks for stopping by!

The Sun Goes Down

Today's project is a double page layout to keep those camping memories!

There are a ton of spots for pictures! There are 2-4x6 spots, and 10 spots for 2 1/2 inch pictures. The title comes from The Wanted's song, "Glad You Came." I don't know about where you are, but this song is played at least once an hour on the radio. And it's perfect for capturing a night under the stars! Now we'll have to go camping just to fill it up!


S'more of the Day: Cookies & Cream S'mores

What You Need:
Marshmallows
Graham Crackers
Crushed Oreo Cookies
Marshmallow Cream

What You Do:
Frost half of a graham cracker with marshmallow cream. Sprinkle cookie pieces onto cream. Toast your marshmallow and place on top of the filling. Sandwich together.

Thanks for stopping by!

Catch Those 'squitoes!

I know out here there are a ton of mosquitoes out at night. Once the sun goes down, they come out like crazy. The other night, I had at least 5 new itchy spots. Well, no one wants the bugs to ruin all the fun. So today's project is a mosquito catcher. It's more like a mosquito attractor, but as long as they go in and don't come out, it's all good with me.

They don't look like much. I took two empty plastic bottles and cut them about 1/3 of the way down. Then, filled it with a sugar/water/yeast mixture and poured it in. Apparently, mosquitoes are attracted to dark places (I guess that's why they attack at night) so I taped black paper onto them. Hopefully this will get some of those suckers. We'll see.

S'more of the Day: Strawberry Shortcake S'mores (s'mores without chocolate...)

What You Need:
Marshmallows
Graham Crackers
Strawberry Pie filling
Vanilla Frosting

What You Do:
Frost half of a graham cracker with vanilla frosting. Place a scoop of pie filling onto frosting. Toast your marshmallow and place on top of the filling. Sandwich together.

If you use chocolate frosting, I bet it would taste like a chocolate covered strawberry s'more...)

Thanks for stopping by!

Calling All Campers!

With all of this gorgeous weather we have been having out here in the northwest, we thought we would do an outdoor theme this week. Last summer, we spent A LOT of time camping out. It was actually the first time we really went camping (not like the camping we did when we were Girl Scouts in cabins) and it was quite the experience. Over time, we definitely got much better at it. Well, this week's theme is camping, and we have some pretty cool projects that will make "roughing it" a little easier, but not as many crafts.

Today, though, we do have a quick paper project to share. While we were coming up with a list of things to work on, we had our other projects, but couldn't really think of too many artsy ones. But we like to start off with an invitation or card of some sort, so here is one for a camping birthday party.

As I was making this up, I was thinking that it would be SO much fun to have a backyard camping birthday party! Campfire, s'mores, stories, the whole deal. The pillow pulls out to show all of the information about the party.

Oh, and since this week's theme is camping, we thought we would include a "S'more of the Day." Last summer at one of the National Parks we stopped at, we found a s'more cookbook by Becky Rasmussen called, "So Much S'more to Do." There are so many "recipes" in here, from simple, to gourmet, to adult. Yumm!

Today's s'more is a Peanut Butter Cup S'more. Nothing like a peanut butter, chocolate "fluffernutter" s'more!

What You Need:
Marshmallows
Graham Crackers
Peanut Butter Cups

What You Do:
Toast marshmallow to desired level. Place peanut butter cup on half of a graham cracker. Top with marshmallow and the other half of graham cracker.

Think of all of the possibilities with different candy bars!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Under the Stars

We have reached another Friday. Hope there are some exciting plans for the weekend. We're supposed to  have a beautiful weekend. Maybe the locals will be removing their inter coats and realizing that it is indeed spring now! Until Tuesday, when it "cools" back down to 50... Anyway, as I wrote yesterday, we've been doing a lot of scrapbooking and want to share some of our layouts. Yesterday's post was the Disney page. Today's layout is for pictures from all of our camping adventures. This is probably the only camping-related thing that went well! The tent "matches" ours, and was much easier to put together, although we were pretty good at it by the end of the trip. No camping trip is complete without a treat- in this case, some nice toasty marshmallows. FYI- There are recipe books dedicated entirely to s'mores! But be warned, it could lead to some unwanted visitors! Or, a neighbor that sounds like a bear...not something you want to wake up to in the morning.

The first picture is of the entire 2-page layout.  The second is an up-close view of the title "Under the Stars". e used glitter paper, to make it look like the stars shimmering in the night. The last picture is of the visitor to the campground. He's being pointed in the right direction by the sign, and probably the smell of the marshmallows!

 

 

That's all for today! Hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend! Join us again tomorrow for another edition of Cupcake Saturday!