Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy, Happy Birthday My Love!

It seems to me that I can turn almost any occaision into a Dorie occaision...we celebrated my husband's birthday with yet another TWD Rewind. Here we have Gooey Chocolate Cake with raspberry sauce...yummy!!!

It was totally fab but who would have thought that molten lava cake would actually melt a candle???? Oops! Don't eat that piece of cake honey!!! I believe this recipe was chosen back in July shortly after Simon was born and all I have to say is thank you! This simple cake was lovely!!!

We actually celebrated my husband's birthday a few weeks ago with this cake however, how can you not celebrate on the actual day of too? So, the kids and I set to work after school. We got presents in order, they made crowns for all of us and we had ourselves a partea!!!


Aren't they all stunning? Here is Martin with Simon (I know, he doesn't get enough airtime so here he is with his very own crown!!

When we were out buying supplies and gifts we stopped into the florists here in town and they gave us these lovely roses! Thank you to Willy's Flowers in Beamsville!


Willy's would also be where Sean chose this gift for Martin...can't quite explain it but this was THE gift!

Sarah on the other hand was quite intent on giving Martin an ornament (poor guy is going to be Christmas'd out in no time!) Anyway, I figured we should create him an ornament from one of his favourite shops in town...Home Hardware of course!!! So, we scoured the aisles looking for just the right bits...

Not only did Martin get this lovely wreath that Sarah made but he also got all of the leftover bits to add to his toolbox. A win, win if you ask me!!!

Here is Martin's turtle signing out...

Enjoy!
Heather

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Trinity Card Night

I cannot even describe how busy the last week has been for me...I was asked to run a Christmas Card Class as a benefit for our church and of course last night was the only night we could agree upon...of course, today is my husband's birthday so...well, there is no rest for the wicked as they say!!!

I was delighted to run the class and I hope the ladies all had fun even with my craziness! I brought along Simon, our 4.5 month old baby and he kept my hands full!!!

We made this sweet sour cream pouch using SU! DP, ribbon, inks, stamps and cardstock. Isn't it delightful? We filled it up with kisses and had a great time using my mini-crimper!!! It's so fun...my mother finds the best stuff at the dollar store!!!

I wanted to do something a little different and keep it simple so we created this lovely ribbon tree using Michaels' ribbons, and some gold wrapping paper my hubby saved for me (he's becoming as crazy as I am!!)

Everyone just loved my little rudolph card! Here he is...it was so fun watching the ladies use all different DPs and create their own rendition of this card...it was delightful!!! Papers, ink, ribbon, glitter and stamps are all SU! I used my Cricut to cut the card and reindeer and punches for the circle and scalloped circle.

Last but certainly not least was my gift card holder card. Now, this is the one that I made a mistake with...I forgot my 'Sparkle' Stamp at home but the ladies took it quite well as we subbed another stamp in. Again all supplies used in the making of this one are SU! The white part is a folded envelope so that you can slip a gift card inside for that special someone.


Well, I need to get back to my kitchen as it is DH's birthday and there is some BIG clean-up to do! I am looking forward to sharing some of our fab celebration with you soon!

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Rewind - Mmmmarshmallows

Well, I joined TWD after they did the Marshmallows and I have to tell you...it was one of the recipes that inspired me to join the group!!! I mean who doesn't LOVE marshmallows???

So, when Creative Bug was asked to host a Winter Themed Birthday Party for 6 year old Bryar (you saw her picture on Sunday), I thought...what better thing to make than marshmallows???

So here are some very cornstarchy girls...



After we finished tossing the marshmallows we put them into bags and boxed them up with hot chocolate and chocolate covered spoons...
Yummy! I forgot to mention...the first batch I made of these I made a small error...well, maybe a big error...instead of using 2 packets of 1/4 ounces of gelatin, I put in 2 1/4 ounces of gelatin...I do not recommend trying them that way!!! My husband suggested they were much like India Rubber!!!

Enjoy!
Heather

Sunday, November 23, 2008

It's a Buggy Birthday!!!

Give the birthday girl a hand!!! Today we had our first official Creative Bug Birthday!!! Here is Bryar with her cornstarch covered hands as she makes homemade marshmallows.

Here are the girls showing off their treats...we made marshmallows, chocolate covered spoons and packaged them all up with Hot Chocolate to keep us warm on these cold winter days! And check out those aprons!!! Don't they look great? I received them just in time for the party!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Bryar!

For more information on birthdays hosted at Creative Bug Headquarters please contact me at hhabgood@hotmail.com

Enjoy!
Heather

Friday, November 21, 2008

Have your cake and eat it too!

Well, about a month ago I was asked if I would do cupcakes for a big 40th Birthday. We couldn't find a cupcake stand that would work so my DH built this for me...

Here is some of the work in progress...

Here is the final product all set up at the hall...
Not bad for my first big cake order...
Enjoy!
Heather

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

TWD Rewind - Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

I feel like my blog note about Simon's Baptism was a little weak on Sunday so I just wanted to add another photo...it was a wonderful service. One of the great parts was that Sarah & Sean were invited to help out during various parts. Here you can see Sarah, Sean and Monique (Simon's Godparents' daughter) pouring the water for the baptism.

The kids all really enjoyed being involved...
Now, here is a better shot of the actual cupcakes I made for the baptism. Martin's colleagues should be enjoying them today...the chocolate ones are the Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes from TWD a few weeks ago. I would have to agree with many of the posts that I read...they are a bit dry. I baked them for less than the suggested time and still found them on the dry side.
Be sure to check out the other TWD'ers who made Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa's selection of Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (Or Both) on pages 412 and 413. Maybe I can get next week's selection of Thanksgiving Twofer Pie* made but we'll have to wait and see as things are looking pretty crazy over the next week! I will definitely have a rewind for you again next week though!

Enjoy!
Heather

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Today was Simon's Baptism...here he is with our Minister. Don't they look great together?

After the service we had a little celebration for Simon and for Martin's birthday...I have an order of cupcakes to be done for Friday so I did some playing around and made Martin a little cake and made cupcakes for Simon. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make the car as I might have but it was fun to make this simple design anyway...

Be sure to watch out for the cake and other activities I have going on later in the week!

Enjoy!
Heather

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Spinning in Circles?


Ever have one of those weeks where everything is moving except for you? Well, I am finally coming to after a terrible bout of poison ivy...it was really bad. I have been in a fog for the last week between the benedryl, the antibiotics and the pain...so now I am down to a minimum amount of meds and I realized that with 1 kid home sick with the baby and I on Monday then all 3 kids home on Tuesday led to certain disaster in our house!!! So, today I exited my fog and cleaned most of the 1st level...must disinfect!

So what do you do when you are home with sick kids? Ours were fighting like cats and dogs...I was drowsy and woozey so there wasn't a lot to go around. So, in the morning they enjoyed a new video...and in the afternoon another episode from the video...then I finally came to enough to do a little craft with them (good thing it was already all organized, I don't think I could have pulled it together on my own!)So we made pinwheels...it made them happy...until they were done at least. Then we headed to the library where they continued to fight...imagine fighting over books that they are going to bring home...they live in the same house!!!

Fortunately, they are both back to school now and we found out in the nick of time that there was a birthday in Sarah's class today so I managed to pull this card together this morning...I don't know how but I was happy to do it as the birthday girl is a sweetheart! This card was inspired by Mercy...I stumbled across her blog the other day and just loved it!


Anyway, I need to get some sleep so I can fit in everything I need to find energy for tomorrow!

Enjoy!
Heather

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

TWD Kugelhopf

Well, I debated participating in this week's selection because it had mixed reviews and it seemed a little time-consuming but then again...with the agony I am in due to poison ivy a little distraction is always appreciated!!!

So here I am with Yolanda's choice of Kugelhopf it can be found on pages 61-63. Just look at all that ooey gooey butter!!!

Now, I let mine rise while I was out at the doctor's yesterday...Sarah has strep, Simon is good (just a cold) and my poison ivy is the worst case they had ever seen...so, we got home at about 5pm and I was meant to be leaving the house again around 6:30pm....hmmmm....

So, I baked the bread/cake anyway and didn't read the part about putting the butter and sugar on it while it was still hot out of the oven. Ooops! I just did that this morning since I couldn't sleep anyway...the latest prescription I am on I am supposed to take with food so I figure a couple of pieces of kugelhopf couldn't hurt...

Then I put the rest in a container for my husband to take to work with him...now that I have been up for well over an hour...the burning/itching agonizing pain seems to be subsiding thanks to the benedryl. I am looking forward to picking up the latest cream that has been prescribed this morning at the pharmacy to see if this one actually works...

So, I am going get my itchy self out of here and I am looking forward to making next week's arborio rice pudding as selected by Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa.

I hope my husband's colleagues enjoy the bread because it is going, going, going...

Enjoy!
Heather

Thursday, November 06, 2008

30 Cards for $30!!!

A number of you have been asking what this year's 30 Cards for $30 Class looks like and unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get everything together until today! So, here they are....
As you can see, this year's colours are a little more traditional...some nice real red, old olive, whisper white and chocolate chip.

I also have new stamps to share this year and lots of fun to be had! Register TODAY!!!

Enjoy!
Heather

One Little Word - New Challenge

Why is it there is always something new and cool to do??? I recently came across a Challenge Site called One Little Word (OLW)...if you like scrapping this one is definitely worth checking out! This site features a word every 2 weeks and you create based on that word. So here I am late with the the word IMAGINE...

I had a lot of fun putting these pages together with pictures from our Halloween party! The kids all had such a great time and I do LOVE putting all of the theme related shtuff together!!!


I also used Pencil Lines Challenge #104 to pull this all together. Thank you for the fabulous inspiration!

Enjoy!
Heather

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Happy Birthday Elmo!

This weekend we headed off to an Elmo party for 2 year old Jenna...now what's an Elmo Party without an Elmo card? So the kids and I worked out this card for Jenna...

For those of you who don't know, our son is lactose intolerant so we often bring cake for Sean to the parties we go to. I was working with limited supplies but for the first time ever Sean got theme cupcakes!!! I am sorry I don't have a picture of the cake as my friend did a great job but here are Sean's cupcakes...


I used marshmallows and chocolate chips for the eyes, skittles for the noses (Peanut M&Ms would work better but between the milk chocolate and the peanuts they were out!) and Oreo Cookies for the mouths. Not bad for a quick job before we headed out for Trick or Treating.

Sadly Elmo did acquire pink eye over night so I had to cut new marshmallows and plunk them in. I won't make that mistake again! Sorry I don't have a picture to share...it was pretty funny!

Enjoy!
Heather

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

TWD Rugelach

Alright so I took my first week off since Simon was born...it has been a bit overwhelming keeping up with all my Tuesday with Dorie friends and trying to work from home with the kiddies underfoot! I also wanted to make sure that my blog was not so heavily weighted with lovely Dorie treats!!!

This week's treat is brought to us Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal she chose Rugelach (any guesses on how to pronounce that???

There was a lot of excitement around this recipe...first you make the dough...then let it rest over night (or 4 nights in my case!) Then you roll it, put in the filling (destroy the dough with marmelaide that is too hot, oops!), press the filling down (I kind of liked that part). Cut and roll then put it back in the fridge for 30mins (uuuhhhh, when are the cookies going to be ready?) Go to school, do errands, come home with screaming baby...brush egg and water mixture on them and throw them in the oven...FINALLY! Then we are late to pick up Sean because the cookies were still baking!!! AcK!

So here they are...they don't look as beautiful as Dorie's but what can I say...I got them done!

Now here are my little buttery friends all packed up and ready to go to work with DH. His colleagues have been asking when the next batch of treats are coming (I think they should start a slush fund to pay for my cooking adventures they get to enjoy!)


Goodbye and good luck my little friends...my waistline will appreciate this departure!
Be sure to join us next week when we continue our adventures on TWD with Yolanda, The All-Purpose Girl who selected Kugelhopf.

Enjoy!
Heather

Monday, November 03, 2008

Well, I have to admit as much as I love Hallowe'en I am happy to be through the craziness of October and heading into the madness of November (I hope I can blog some of my November adventures as it is looking like there will be plenty!!!)

We went to another Hallowe'en party where I was responsible for only one treat...so I made Broomstick Cheeseballs...I am quite pleased with how they turned out...unfortunately we didn't get a picture before the feast began but here they are anyway!


Sean was responsible for the treats in his class for Hallowe'en so I spent Wednesday and Thursday working through 26 of these puppies!! They were a lot more work than I anticipated but the kids loved them!!!

There is a family that sells pumpkins down the street for charity every year...this year was their last year doing it so I thought I would include this. What a great fundraiser...thank you for all of your hard work over the last 25 years.

Here are the kids...pleased as punch with their pumpkins...I had a tough time getting a photo in the patch as it was late in the day and my shadow was falling on the kids...something about Simon being in the Snugglie and my hands being full...don't ask how the pumpkins got in the car!!!
Finally, at Sarah really wanted to show Great Grandma this year's Costumes so here is Grandma with the kids...she was delighted to see everyone.

Enjoy!
Heather