Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas Clothesline
What do you do when you recieve all your lovely Christmas cards in the mail? Do you hang them up, leave them stacked up somewhere, shove them in a drawer, display them on your fireplace mantel?...what do you like to do? Well, I usually hang ALL of my cards on my front door (inside of course) so that I can see them and enjoy the love that was shared with me each time I go in and out of the house. This year, since I'm in limbo and don't have my own place, I decided to hang the photocards I received in my bedroom. I wanted to do something a little different than anything I've done before, so I hung a small rope across the wall (using tacs so as to not put big holes in the wall) and used clothespins to hang the photos. I added a few snowflakes to bring a little more holiday decor to it...and there you have it! A sweet little Christmas clothesline for my sweet friends! What do you think? Its super economical, and super easy, and super cute (I think anyways).
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas Crafties
Trash to Treasure my friends!
We took empty toilet paper rolls (the trash part of it), wrapped them in Christmas wrapping paper, got some red cellophane and wrapped up some candy treats and slid it through the paper roll. WALLAH! Fun little yummy favors!
You don't have to spend a lot of money to make something fun, just use your imagination and start crafting! Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Baking Babes
Its that time of year for baking yummy Christmas goodies! And I'm excited that I'm able to spend the holidays with my mom this year...its been a very long time since we've been able to do all these fun things together around Christmas.
My mom and I both have a love for thrift shopping and finding good deals. Well, we decided that on our shopping list should be some fun/ugly (which ever you prefer) Christmas sweater-vests to wear while baking. We had seen some a few weeks back at the thrift store, but decided to wait to buy them since we didn't know exactly why or when we were going to wear them. Well, we finally decided that we wanted to wear them while doing all of our holiday baking. So we went out on Monday back to the thrift store we initially found them at in Moses Lake and started hunting. Unfortunately we couldn't find them, I'm sure someone else snagged them up for their fun parties. But that was ok, there were a few more stores we could check out. Sure enough, at the Calico Cat Thrift Store we found TWO MATCHING sweater-vests for only $3.99 each...we were excited! They weren't the festive red we were hoping for, but they were festive none-the-less.
Baking Day #1 arrived and we put on our lovely/ugly festive Christmas sweater-vests (that had been washed of course! LOL). Man we were HOT Baking Babes! HAHAHA!
The baking list was as follows:
A Hyde family tradition at Christmas is BUCKEYES! :) Delicious!!!
Buckeyes are a creamy peanut-butterey rolled ball dipped in chocolate...that end up looking like a buck's eyeball. Seriously, they're sooooo good! Every year at Christmas when we'd go to my grandparents house, there would be lots of yummy goodies to eat, but Buckeyes were the family favorite! They would get eaten all up so fast!!
Second on the list was some tasty no-bake cookies. Only a few ingredients needed, including cocoa, peanut butter, and oats...combine and drop them onto a baking sheet for a tasty treat!
Next we made some Butterscotch Crispies...these are my favorite! Forget regular boring rice crispy treats, who wants those when you can have these?!?! :) 
Fudge was next on our list....after it was made, we decided to roll them into balls. We rolled the non-nut fudge in some powdered sugar so we could tell the two apart.
We started the gingerbread men cookies, making the batter and chilling it. The rest came on day two.
Last on the list for Day #1 was cake pops. We baked the cake, let it cool, crumbled it, mixed in the frosting, rolled them into balls, and chilled them overnight. The rest came day two.
Baking Day #2 arrived and instead of our lovely/ugly festive Christmas sweater-vests, we wore some fun Christmas aprons
Baking list for day 2 was as follow:
Gingerbread men...rolling out the dough, using the cute cookie cutter, and baking the cookies(we didn't end up decorating these...we were going to decorate them at the end of the day, but were too tired and decided they looked great just as they were! lol)
Next was sugar cookies. We made up the dough and chilled it for a few hours. Then we pulled it back out, rolled it, used the cute cookie cutters, baked the cookies, and decorated them.
Ya, we're not the best at decorating sugar cookies! LOL
Cake pops came next....we took out the chilled balls of cake, melted the chocolate, dipped them, and rolled them in sprinkles (I've decided that cake pops are not that fun to make)
With the remaining chocolate, we dipped a few pretzel sticks and also made walnut clusters
Well, two days of baking is a lot of work! We're so glad that we're finished! :) Now its time to get some goodies wrapped for our neighbors...and of course save some for us to munch on this weekend for Christmas.
I hope you all have a very
MeRrY ChRiStMaS!!
and get to eat lots of yummy treats! 
My mom and I both have a love for thrift shopping and finding good deals. Well, we decided that on our shopping list should be some fun/ugly (which ever you prefer) Christmas sweater-vests to wear while baking. We had seen some a few weeks back at the thrift store, but decided to wait to buy them since we didn't know exactly why or when we were going to wear them. Well, we finally decided that we wanted to wear them while doing all of our holiday baking. So we went out on Monday back to the thrift store we initially found them at in Moses Lake and started hunting. Unfortunately we couldn't find them, I'm sure someone else snagged them up for their fun parties. But that was ok, there were a few more stores we could check out. Sure enough, at the Calico Cat Thrift Store we found TWO MATCHING sweater-vests for only $3.99 each...we were excited! They weren't the festive red we were hoping for, but they were festive none-the-less.
Baking Day #1 arrived and we put on our lovely/ugly festive Christmas sweater-vests (that had been washed of course! LOL). Man we were HOT Baking Babes! HAHAHA!
The baking list was as follows: A Hyde family tradition at Christmas is BUCKEYES! :) Delicious!!!
Buckeyes are a creamy peanut-butterey rolled ball dipped in chocolate...that end up looking like a buck's eyeball. Seriously, they're sooooo good! Every year at Christmas when we'd go to my grandparents house, there would be lots of yummy goodies to eat, but Buckeyes were the family favorite! They would get eaten all up so fast!! Second on the list was some tasty no-bake cookies. Only a few ingredients needed, including cocoa, peanut butter, and oats...combine and drop them onto a baking sheet for a tasty treat!
Next we made some Butterscotch Crispies...these are my favorite! Forget regular boring rice crispy treats, who wants those when you can have these?!?! :) 
Fudge was next on our list....after it was made, we decided to roll them into balls. We rolled the non-nut fudge in some powdered sugar so we could tell the two apart.
We started the gingerbread men cookies, making the batter and chilling it. The rest came on day two.Last on the list for Day #1 was cake pops. We baked the cake, let it cool, crumbled it, mixed in the frosting, rolled them into balls, and chilled them overnight. The rest came day two.
Baking Day #2 arrived and instead of our lovely/ugly festive Christmas sweater-vests, we wore some fun Christmas aprons
Baking list for day 2 was as follow:Gingerbread men...rolling out the dough, using the cute cookie cutter, and baking the cookies(we didn't end up decorating these...we were going to decorate them at the end of the day, but were too tired and decided they looked great just as they were! lol)
Next was sugar cookies. We made up the dough and chilled it for a few hours. Then we pulled it back out, rolled it, used the cute cookie cutters, baked the cookies, and decorated them.
Ya, we're not the best at decorating sugar cookies! LOLCake pops came next....we took out the chilled balls of cake, melted the chocolate, dipped them, and rolled them in sprinkles (I've decided that cake pops are not that fun to make)
With the remaining chocolate, we dipped a few pretzel sticks and also made walnut clusters
Well, two days of baking is a lot of work! We're so glad that we're finished! :) Now its time to get some goodies wrapped for our neighbors...and of course save some for us to munch on this weekend for Christmas. MeRrY ChRiStMaS!!
and get to eat lots of yummy treats!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Christmas Cupcake Catering
I was hired by Ephrata First Baptist Church to do cucpake catering for their Women's Christmas Dinner that was held this evening. The event was a total success!!
For the last few weeks I've been prepping for this cupcake event that I was catering. I spent time brainstorming ideas for decorating the cupcakes, shopping for decorations and items for the display, making displays, etc. It was fun doing all these things, but it was especially fun having the help of my mom. She was a great assistant! :) We had a good time, well besides the stress of it all! LOL!
Before it was time for baking, the display for the event needed to be created. I was told that the dinner was going to be decorated in red, white, and silver with accents of snowflakes and crystal. So I ran with the snowflake and crystal idea. Because I just moved to WA from CA, leaving most of my stuff in storage in CA, I needed to either buy displays or make them. So I did a little of both.
My mom, step-dad, and I were on the hunt at different stores looking for things that could work with this display, but not cost too much money. We were at Apple Annie's in Cashmere, WA (an antique mall) and found an AWESOME antique sled. I saw it and thought it would be great to mix a little old with new...an old sled with some silver, crystal, and snowflakes. And there it was, the decision had been made and the antique sled was bought for a steal of a deal at $24. The other items we needed were now gonna have to be made. My mom and I found some crystal candleholders at the local thrift stores, some silver trays at the Dollar Tree, and some heavy duty glue at the Craft store...it was time for crafting! I made three pedestal serving trays and one tiered serving tray (you will see them in the photos below). I also made a holder for the menu that was set for the event, but it didn't work out exactly as planned.
This menu was supposed to be held up on the stand I made for it, but when I was setting up at the event the card was too heavy and didn't stay. So it had to sit below and lean against it...but here is the cute stand that I made for it.
I used a small mirror from the Dollar Tree, a crystal candlestick from the thrift store, and a shiny new ornament from WalMart. The silver snowflake on top was added after the menu kept falling off. But isn't it so cute!? :)
Another thing that happened while setting up...when my mom and I got to the church to start decorating the table, they didn't have the size that we thought we would have. Instead of a 6ft table we had planned on, we had two smaller tables that were uneven. But, we made it work. The original vision was tweaked a bit, but it actually ended up looking great despite the setback...probably better than planned.
We cut it close today...all finished baking and decorating the cupcakes and decorating my table at the church for the event with enough time to go home real quick and get ready...just in time to make it back to the church for the dinner. We had a great night, I met some really nice ladies at the church, everyone just LOVED the cupcakes and display (some ladies even took photos with it) and only one cupcake was left at the end of the night...SEVEN DOZEN CUPCAKES were gone with only 46 attendees! LOL They were a HIT! YAY!!!
Here are some pictures of the cupcakes and displays (the pictures don't do it justice)...
In the picture below, you can see that in the front the menu sat in the middle with the four different cupcake choices surrounding it on pedestals. I wanted it to be as easy as possible for people to find the cupcake they were looking for :)
The cupcakes and snowflakes lined the top of the antique sled...
The delicious cupcake choices:
Here are a few of the pedestal servers I made...
For the last few weeks I've been prepping for this cupcake event that I was catering. I spent time brainstorming ideas for decorating the cupcakes, shopping for decorations and items for the display, making displays, etc. It was fun doing all these things, but it was especially fun having the help of my mom. She was a great assistant! :) We had a good time, well besides the stress of it all! LOL!
Before it was time for baking, the display for the event needed to be created. I was told that the dinner was going to be decorated in red, white, and silver with accents of snowflakes and crystal. So I ran with the snowflake and crystal idea. Because I just moved to WA from CA, leaving most of my stuff in storage in CA, I needed to either buy displays or make them. So I did a little of both.
My mom, step-dad, and I were on the hunt at different stores looking for things that could work with this display, but not cost too much money. We were at Apple Annie's in Cashmere, WA (an antique mall) and found an AWESOME antique sled. I saw it and thought it would be great to mix a little old with new...an old sled with some silver, crystal, and snowflakes. And there it was, the decision had been made and the antique sled was bought for a steal of a deal at $24. The other items we needed were now gonna have to be made. My mom and I found some crystal candleholders at the local thrift stores, some silver trays at the Dollar Tree, and some heavy duty glue at the Craft store...it was time for crafting! I made three pedestal serving trays and one tiered serving tray (you will see them in the photos below). I also made a holder for the menu that was set for the event, but it didn't work out exactly as planned.
This menu was supposed to be held up on the stand I made for it, but when I was setting up at the event the card was too heavy and didn't stay. So it had to sit below and lean against it...but here is the cute stand that I made for it.
I used a small mirror from the Dollar Tree, a crystal candlestick from the thrift store, and a shiny new ornament from WalMart. The silver snowflake on top was added after the menu kept falling off. But isn't it so cute!? :)Another thing that happened while setting up...when my mom and I got to the church to start decorating the table, they didn't have the size that we thought we would have. Instead of a 6ft table we had planned on, we had two smaller tables that were uneven. But, we made it work. The original vision was tweaked a bit, but it actually ended up looking great despite the setback...probably better than planned.
We cut it close today...all finished baking and decorating the cupcakes and decorating my table at the church for the event with enough time to go home real quick and get ready...just in time to make it back to the church for the dinner. We had a great night, I met some really nice ladies at the church, everyone just LOVED the cupcakes and display (some ladies even took photos with it) and only one cupcake was left at the end of the night...SEVEN DOZEN CUPCAKES were gone with only 46 attendees! LOL They were a HIT! YAY!!!
Here are some pictures of the cupcakes and displays (the pictures don't do it justice)...
In the picture below, you can see that in the front the menu sat in the middle with the four different cupcake choices surrounding it on pedestals. I wanted it to be as easy as possible for people to find the cupcake they were looking for :)
The cupcakes and snowflakes lined the top of the antique sled...
The delicious cupcake choices:
Here are a few of the pedestal servers I made...
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Shimmering Snowflakes
I made this EDIBLE snowflake for a cucpake gig I have tomorrow night that will be atop some Christmas cupcakes. It is made of Fondant and shaped with a snowflake punch. I let them set and then painted them with clear vanilla extract. Once dry, I brushed them with edible shimmer glitter. I just love them, and can't wait to see them on top of the cupcakes tomorrow! :) I'll be sure to post pictures of all the cupcakes from the event tomorrow, so be on the lookout!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Cupcake Coozie Crochet
ONE
I love to bake and decorate cupcakes
TWO
I love to crochet
THREE
I love to get yummy drinks at the local coffee shop
Put all these together and what do you get???
A super yummy
CuPcAkE CoOzIe CrOChEt
I didn't have a pattern to work with, just an empty coffee cup (small) that I saved from the local coffee shop in town. As I was getting in bed tonight I decided that I wasn't tired enough to go to sleep yet, so I got out my yarn and crochet hook and got busy crocheting my new yummy cupcake coozie. It took me about 40 minutes to come up with my own pattern and crochet the whole thing. I think its pretty cute if I do say so myself! :) Now that I know what I'm doing, I plan on making a ton more and hopefully selling them at the coffee shop down the street, as well as in
The Clever Corner's Etsy Shop
www.etsy.com/shop/theclevercorner
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