Cake Auction for the Scouts

Recently we had a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for our boy scout troop.  It included a cake auction and the boys were asked to donate a cake they had made.  Some of the boys made desserts, but clearly some of the parents helped out as well.

 

 Pretty sure this guy's mom helped him out juuuuuust a little, the frosting job is pretty good for a 12-year-old.

 This is a cinnamon roll cake my oldest boy made.  He found it on Pinterest.  Here is the link to the original recipe. 



 

I decided to help my second-oldest boy out by making a back-up batch of cupcakes to donate.  My friend who was in charge told me themed items seemed to raise the most money last year, so I decided to try a variation on a fun idea I'd seen on YouTube.  I found red and white polka-dot cupcake liners, and baked dark chocolate cupcakes in them.


 

While they cooled, I covered a cut and taped cereal box in aluminum foil.  (Don't you love my beat-up table?  Someday I'm going to refinish it.)


 

Next, I used double-sided tape to wrap a red polka-dot grosgrain  ribbon around the box





Then I used my Mickey Mouse punch to punch Mickey heads out of black card stock.  I affixed those to the box using the double-sided tape.  (You can really see the glory of the table in this shot.) 


 


I frosted the cupcakes with a dark chocolate and pushed mini-Oreos in for the ears.  I used plenty of frosting, so I didn't need any toothpicks.  I left some of them like that, but I also sprinkled crushed Oreos on top as well.


 

The finished product. I'm pleased to say they raised $50 for the troop.  We had just enough left over for each family member to get one and they were a hit!

Blog Candy!

Well, we've hit a couple of milestones. They're little ones, but hey--any excuse to celebrate, right? First of all, I hit 25 posts this week. When I first started, I thought that it would take me forever to get there. I had planned on updating only 1x week. I soon discovered though, that I have a lot more to say than that. (Who'd have thought?)

Second, as I've mentioned previously, its the Utah Chocolate show this weekend. Chocolate in an of itself is a reason to celebrate, right?

Third, and this is where you can help me out, I'm within a stone's throw of reaching 500 hits on my blog. I put in the counter about a month ago, and I'm so excited to see that people are coming to check out my blog. Soooooo, in anticipation of this third one, and in honor of the other two, I'm going to be giving away some blog candy. I'll be giving away the 8x8 tile pictured below. So what do you say? Leave a comment & I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner Monday Morning.

Thanks for playing, and thanks for visiting!

It's Friday!

It's Friday, and I'm so glad. (Of course it also means I have to tackle laundry, but we can't have everything, right)?

This new sign uses a fun font called Passion's Conflict. It's one of my favorite new fonts (along with Ma Sexy). I think this will work well for some of my scrapbooking titles as well.

Do you have a favorite font?

Wash Your Mouth Out.

What more needs to be said???

LOL. The chocolate show starts tomorrow, and we've had so much fun getting ready for it. Who knew there were so many great quotes about chocolate out there? I also just wanted to say thanks for your kind suggestions & complements.

I actually have managed to do a little scrapbooking and card making in the midst of all this. My friend Peggy hosted a 10-10-20 at her home, and we made some great cards. I'll be posting them over the next few weeks.

I also finally had a chance to work on my mini-scrapbooks from our craft day at the church. I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product when it's done. It may take me a while, but I will get it done. :D

Have a great day!

Hand Over the Chocolate.

Well, it was a busy day today. One of my sweet kids got a cold & has been miserable. Fortunately the kidlet is feeling better tonight. I also sent off a "care package" to Jodee full of ready-to go vinyl quotes.

It looks like it will be a busy weekend for her too.

Is it Love?

So how many of us have secret stashes of chocolate? ::raising hand:: Guilty as charged. I have a secret stash of dark chocolate (my favorite) that I indulge in when I've had a rough day. What can I say? It makes me happy.

Apparently it makes my daughter happy too. When she was potty training, all she wanted for rewards for using the potty were chocolate truffles.

Now there's a girl after my own heart.

I guess you can say Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Balanced Diet

It's been a very long day, so I will make this a quick post with one of my favorite quotes. (See above). Let me clarify right now that I'm definitely a chocolate lover. I just adore chocolate--especially dark chocolate... mmmm. And I'm one of those people who think a lot of things taste better dipped in chocolate. Things like pretzels, nuts, & strawberries, as well as raisins, & peanut butter (so long as it is a butterfinger).

Afterall,

There are four basic food groups-milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.
-Anonymous

Have a great chocolate day.

(Oh & in case you are wondering, I will be posting chocolate quotes all week--I'll do two tomorrow to make up for missing yesterday. On Saturday I'll be giving away some blog candy in celebration of the Utah Chocolate Show).

Hot Chocolate...mmmm

Well, yesterday I mentioned the hot cocoa mugs we sold at the Utah Chocolate Show, so I thought I'd post a picture of them here. We used a different grade vinyl than what we normally use for the walls. (It's a stickier vinyl which adheres better when the mugs are washed--handwash

only). We also did a mug & plate set with "Santa's Cocoa" and "Santa's Cookies" on them.

Jodee came up with this idea, and it's been really popular. Last year I offered them at a few holiday craft boutiques locally & personalized a several for teacher gifts. And one of the craft day projects we did this year were mugs with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Santa & Teacher's cocoa on them. They all turned out really cute.

In my own family, my kids like having their own mugs. It means no fighting over which mug belongs to whom--much like the personalized Trick-or-Treat buckets. (I love doing things that cut down on fighting). Last year we started having hot chocolate as their after school treat. It's cold walking home from school!

Chocolate anyone?

One of the nice things about fall and early winter is that chocolate seems to be in abundance. Those yummy truffles at Costco come back (they are covered in cocoa powder and literally melt in your mouth). There is also hot chocolate, homemade fudge for the holidays, and cookie exchanges (the more chocolate the better).

Next weekend is the Utah Chocolate Show in Salt Lake City. We did some signage for them last year and sold some of our cocoa mugs at a booth. This year we're making up some 2 ft. long quotes for boards or for your wall (personal choice). We've found some hilarious chocolate quotes, and as I prepare them, I'll be posting pictures.

This one I've prepped the vinyl, but I haven't applied the application tape just yet. I'll be sending these unmounted to Salt Lake, where Jodee (my friend who started this business with me) will be putting some on boards and selling some as unmounted quotes. I'll definitely post pictures of any finished products I've got. Afterall, who doesn't love chocolate?