Cupcake Saturday!

It's finally the weekend! All week, it's felt like it should be the next day. Oh well. So, today brings us another Cupcake Saturday. Today's mini cake is a little different than what we normally do. We decided to make jingle bell cake pops:

We saw this idea as we were perusing the internet (probably Pinterest). The lady who is famous for her cake pops, Bakerella, does such an amazing job on her cake pops. Well, ours are not so hot, but the idea was so adorable that we had to try it. Here are our version of the Jingle Bell Pops.

This was the inspiration...

(See how awesome they look?!)

And this is what ours came out looking like.

(Totally from the same batch, right?!)

Ok, so we've tried cake pops once before and those were a total nightmare. They looked awful and wouldn't stay on the sticks, no matter what we tried. These came out slightly better, but still not quite so good. I think next time, we'll spend some more time crumbling the cake up. Knowing what I know now about the whole cake pop process, I will also use a lighter color cake mix. I thought, "Oh, red velvet, that will look really Christmas-y." I suppose I should've known to use white cake, just in case it did show up under the layers. Oh well, they still taste really good, no matter how lumpy they look!

The Bell Still Rings

Happy Thursday! It is definitely one of those weeks that just crawls on by. It feels like it should be Friday. Almost there....

Today's projects are 'Polar Express'-themed party decorations we made. There are two of them. The first is a multi-use place-card holder.

These place cards are designed to look like bells. (They are actually cut from a cupcake box) The criss-crossing of the top worked out rather nicely, as they are positioned in just the right spot for the slits in the bell. They were added with black marker, but you can't see it in the picture. Since they are boxes, they open up and are perfect to give away as a little party favor. We added a real bell to the top, so when they were moved, they jingle! (And we're fully aware the 'd' is lower case. Capital 'd's are just ugly letters....)

Our second project today is another favor box:

These favors are a little bigger than the bells, measuring about 4x4x4" boxes. They were decorated to look like train cars. You can always add more riding cars to match the number of favors needed. The cars are lit up, just like in the movie. This would also serve as a cute centerpiece for a small gathering (too many and it might take up the whole table!)
Join us tomorrow for a sweet project that's perfect for young children to help with!

Just Believe- #2

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I know, not a clever post title at all. Especially since we've already had one the week with the same title. That just seems to be that kind of week. 
All this talk about being able to hear bells is starting to get to me. This morning, I was listening to Christmas music while getting ready for work, and the first song I heard started off really quiet, with some bells tinkling in the distance. Somehow I forgot that my phone was in my pocket, and all I heard were the bells. At first I thought the bell project from yesterday made the noise, but realized no one was near it.  So, logically, my next thought was that Santa was coming, of course! I only figured out it was the music when the singing began. Oh well. It would have been a little too early for the Big Guy anyway.
So, continuing on with today's project. We have another quick home decor project to share today.  We have a pretty big mirror hanging over our fireplace and decided that it needed to be spruced up a bit:

We cut out the word 'believe' in  super fun sparkly red vinyl. The shooting star was cut out in a silver an a gold vinyl. We wanted to make it big enough to take up a good chunk of room, but not to make it look too silly. It is about 1/3 the width of  the mirror. It's a little hard to tell, but any other picture would have gotten us in the reflection. We surrounded it with some greenery, as well. The mirror looks much better now that it has some pizzazz to it!
Thank you for stopping by. Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Jingle All the Way

We hope everyone is having a good morning. It seems as if this is going to be another slow week. It feels like it should be at least Wednesday. Although who can complain when you get to watch 'Toy Story' and 'Finding Nemo' all day?! Hopefully everyone else's day will be just as good!
For today's project, we have a craft that would cheer up any space. These 'wreaths' can be found at any craft store, but we made this one on the cheap- $6.00 for the entire thing.

In order to make this, all we used was some jewelry wire we had hanging around. Ours is the size of a large coffee can, but you can make it any size you want. We recommend using thick wire (or even a metal coat hanger, if you have any more of those) so the shape stays better. Ours was kind of thin, so the small size worked well. Then, all you take are some jingle bells and string them onto the wire. (The bells are on sale this week at Micheal's, for like $2.99) We used two different sizes, but you can pretty much design it however you want. Once they're all strung, you can form the wire into the shape you want and wa-la! A quick project. We added a little bell in the middle, tied with a cute gold bow!
In 'The Polar Express' if you believe in the magic of the holiday, you can hear the bell jingle. There is no way you can't hear these bells jingle!
This would be a quick little gift for a holiday grab bag, maybe, or something to make and give to yourself!

Just Believe!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent yesterday up in Bellevue, which is up near Seattle. We went for some paper and came back with more than we bargained for. Funny how that tends to happen. Unfortunately we didn't get any holiday shopping done, so sorry guys- nothing for you this year!
Continuing with this week's theme, we have a layout that would be perfect for a holiday train ride. Or a 'Polar Express' party, of course!

This layout features the magical train that's headed to the North Pole. And the only way to get on is to have your ticket:

The word "believe" was designed to look like it was hole-punched. In the movie, the Conductor is mighty talented when it comes to punching the kids' tickets. We also added some bells to the layout, which happens to be more than just the first present of Christmas (and it doesn't go to the boy known as Know-It-All).
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for a quick and fun home decor project!

All Aboard!

Happy Sunday! We hope you are all having a fantastic weekend, filled with holiday decorating and tree-trimming! It's another raining day here (surprise!) but we're filling it with holiday cheer. This week's theme is based off of the classic holiday book and movie, "The Polar Express", the story about a little boy who learns how to believe in the magic of the holiday. During our Christmas Movies in July week, we made these peppermint hot chocolate cupcakes. It's such a cute movie! So, today's project is an invitation to a Polar Express party:

The invitation is relatively simple, kind of like the movie itself. It's a "quiet" movie, if that makes any sense. We chose to make it navy blue because the story takes place on Christmas Eve. We also made a train ticket #1225, good for one trip to and from the North Pole.
Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

*Ok, so, this cupcake was accidentally posted early. We're kind of bummed about it, but here is this week's Cupcake Saturday. We'll have a new one next week, promise!*

We hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing start to their weekend. We have one more day of Christmas in July, and since today is Saturday, today's post is a cupcake! In keeping with the movie theme for this week, today's cupcake is comes straight from the North Pole, on the Polar Express. If you have never seen it, well, you're missing out!! Anyway, after a song and dance, the waiters on the train serve the children a cup of hot chocolate. While all of the other kids are drinking and enjoying their cup, Hero Boy decides to give his to Lonely Boy. 

Our cupcakes are peppermint hot chocolate.

They are a chocolate base, with chocolate peppermint candies inside. Fortunately (maybe??) the grocery store sells the peppermint mocha creamer, so we used some of that in our batter, as well. They are topped with whipped cream, sprinkled with chocolate shavings, and topped with a candy. These just remind us of the holidays!
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow to see what our next theme is going to be!