Cake Balls!

Chocolate Cake Balls with peppermint drizzle



Yes, you read the title right!  Thanks to my friend, Margaret, I have found a new recipe: Cake Balls!!!  I'm not lying when I tell you that Margaret's balls saved me a few days ago when I was having an extra rough day with the kindergartners!!!  They were totally wound up and challenging my last nerves.  Margaret surprised me with a bag of balls, and I survived the day by eating almost every single one!  THANK YOU, MARGARET!!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!!! 



Crumbled white cake



If you're in a pinch and need something easy, THIS is it!  Here's the basic recipe:



*Bake any flavor of cake mix & allow to cool.

*Crumble up the entire cake in a bowl.

*Add around 3/4 cup of frosting (I used Betty Crocker vanilla, but you could make your own). 

*Here's the fun part----Use your hands to mix/mush the cake and frosting together so it's evenly distributed.

Ready for the freezer!

*Once all the cake and frosting are mixed, start rolling balls from the mixture (I made balls between a nickel & quarter circumference).

*Lay balls on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. 

*Freeze balls for approximately 20 minutes.

*Melt cocoa candy melts in microwave, per instructions on bag (I used Wilton Candy Melts and it took around 2 min.)

*Use fork or candy dipping tools to help coat balls and set back on parchment/wax paper to set.





Dipping in chocolate!

You are done!!! :o)  I told you it was easy!!!  If you want an extra fancy look, drizzle cake balls with a contrasting color of candy melt or add sprinkles while it's still wet!  I found peppermint/candy cane candy melts, and drizzled over some of mine! 

These are great to package up and give to friends or family!  I found that one cake mix made approximately 60-70 balls (depending on the size).  This is also a great activity to do with your children! They would LOVE the messy-squishy part!  ~Hoppy Crafting!!!

Ah, Fudge!

I FINALLY got to some holiday candy-making and baking yesterday!  I made three batches of fudge: two chocolate, and one butterscotch.  SO easy to make, but just one of those things that takes time.  I don't know about you, but time is always a struggle!  I'm finally off for our school's Christmas (YES, I said CHRISTMAS) Break, and have been running around here like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to finish things up.  Santa has the workshop all bedazzled with ribbon, bows, scissors, paper, and tape. (NO MORE GLITTER ALLOWED!!!)
Somehow this season, I've become a personal shopper for several friends and family, as well. Probably because I can usually find some of the best deals around....and let's face it, most husbands (and non-scrap-a-holics) don't even think to use coupons (GASP!!!!)!   Note to self: charge people next year! I'm done making MULTIPLE trips to stores, and am just going to focus now on getting my own stuff done.
Since I'm just finishing packaging up my fudge....I think I'll sit back and enjoy a piece before I ship it all out of my house!  Merry Christmas & Hoppy Crafting!!! :o)

Vinyl Bug!

Finally got my vinyl bug on the back of my vehicle.  I know, I know...my vehicle is dirty...  What else do you expect when all it does is rain and be "blah" near Seattle?  Hope you like it!  I'm sure my vehicle won't be confused with anyone elses now!  :O)  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Look what I found!!!

Phone pic...not as great as I would have liked!

Yippeee!!!! I'm on total cloud 9!!! I bought Car Decals a couple months back, and due to the fact that it WON'T LINK to my Gyspy, and the fact that I've been SO INCREDIBLY BUSY, I haven't played with it that much.  I had some downtime (unheard of, I know!), on the weekend, and flipped through every page of the Car Decals book.  Lo and behold, towards the end, I found....THE CRICUT HEAD!!!! 
I have been hunting this bug forever, but am not willing to pay highway robbery prices to get my hands on the other two carts they are on.  I fell in love, even more, with Car Decals, once I found the bug!  There are several options.  This cutie with eyelashes and a bow is going to be placed on my vehicle very soon!  There's also a bug head w/just eyelashes (no bow), and a regular Cricut head.  I even saw a Cricut head and body!  So, anyone looking for the Cricut, now has another option of where to find it!  I got Car Decals from http://www.cricutmachine.com/.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Things I Love....

Another project that my friend, Amanada, came up with, was the 2-year calendar renovation.  This project was soooo super cute and awesome!  I may need to make more..... :o)  We used the Things I Love stamp set, which contained shoes, a shopping bag, and chocolate, along with the phrase "things I love".  We started out with a white cardstock, and punched a small piece of patterned paper with a scallop border.  We stamped the shoes, bag, and chocolate along the top for a border, and added the "things I love" image onto the scalloped paper, along with two hearts from the multi-sized heard punch.l  Lastly, we tied a pink grosgrain bow along the seam. 

I decided to use more of the scraps (b/c I just CAN'T waste them!!!!), and also decorate the back.  I stamped the chocolates in two colors along the top and bottom, and added more hearts in the middle on top of the leftover strip of patterned cardstock from the scallop border punch.  I LOVE how this turned out!!! And, it was sooo fun! 

The most challenging part of this project, was making sure that the paper would fit the cover of the existing calendar and getting the calendar + paper back into the sleeve.  This is totally worth making and personalizing for little gifts!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Santa & Luminaries

I spent some of our gorgeous (but COLD) Saturday, at a friend's house making some cute projects with Stampin' Up products.  Thanks for inviting me over, Amanda!  :o)  One quick and easy project was these kiwi kiss luminaries.  We punched each side with the SU snowflake punch, then folded and assembled!  Of course you need to use the "fake" candles with these, but they look pretty cute! 

Another project was Santa gift tags.  Using the Sizzix scallop die, we cut the face, hat, and beard for the jolly old man.  The eyes, mouth, nose, pom on hat, and mustache (cut in half), were all various circle punches.  The nose is popped up, using a dimensional.  The "fur" at the bottom of Santa's had it actually one of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch.  Enjoy!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Thanksgiving Cards-2010

I made these cute Thanksgiving cards to send to family this year!  The turkey was cut from Simply Charmed, using various cardstock for the body, and a piece of patterned cardstock from DCWV Natural Stack, for the feathers.  The pizza was cut from Locker Talk (w/the drink hidden on the Gypsy).  The sentiment is from Great Impressions.  The lined and leaf paper is from Scribble Scrabble, called Autumn Afternoon.  I used the "Top Note" Sizzix die from Stampin' Up for the background, and sponged it with SU's Early Espresso.  Each turkey and pizza slice are popped up with foam dots, and the flowers are adhered using large Zot dots. ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Black Friday 2010

Today was Black Friday!  That means that all the crazy shoppers hit the stores early for deep discounts on all kinds of merchandise.  Well, I kicked off black Friday with a trip to Wal-Mart (.com, that is!), as well as to JoAnn's (.com).  While crazy, adrenaline-filled shoppers were beginning to elbow each other at 12:01 am, I sat in my bathrobe, with a cup of hot chocolate, and shopped online. 
Don't get me wrong...I'm a BF veteran.  I've done the whole BF thing for years!  This year, BF was not my BFF.  I just decided to try it a new way this year!  It was awesome!  Within minutes, I had the select items in my cart and ready for checkout.  Everything went off without a hitch, and I was in bed by 1:30 a.m.  I thought (briefly) about joining the rat race in the wee hours of the morning, but when I didn't even hear my alarm (from being in such a deeeep sleep), I was more than happy to SLEEP IN! 
Surprisingly, when I did venture out around 1pm today, there were still MANY "doorbuster" deals available.  I was truly surprised at the amount of items that were left from the early morning chaos.  JoAnn's and Michael's both had the Cricut Personal for $59.99 (Mike's automatically changed their sign to match Jo's, since they're about a mile apart).  When I got to Jo's, there were plenty of Cricut carts to be had.  Previous exclusives to HSN and Expression bundles, were on their display.  There was Picturesque, Straight from the Nest, and two Martha Stewart Cake carts, as well as several new releases.  I picked a couple that I haven't been able to find elsewhere, and went on my way. 
At Mike's, I picked up some paper (50% off all stacks), and a couple of presents for my nieces.  Oh, and of course, some scented pine cones (since DH came along, and was holding a spot in line w/the basket--and they are his favorite). 
Later, I stopped at Target and Wal-Mart.  Of course I had to convince DH to take a couple of Cricut-hugger photos!  He probably thought I was crazy, BUT they new Cricut Expressions were SOOOOO GORGEOUS!!!  *Sigh*  How could a person even decide??? I LOVE the green, but the Aqua and Plum were also divine!  Even the Canary wasn't as obnoxious as I had imagined!  I was totally bummed that the lites they had on sale were only the "new releases" and none of the "older" 24.  I really wanted to get Handy Man, Wildlife, Dude, and possibly Billionaire.  Oh well, just saved myself some $$$.  Hope everyone had a safe and fun Thanksgiving, and a fun-filled Black Friday!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Motivation



View from my Craft Cave.



I've got to say, there's nothing like a little motivation (in the form of snow), to whip a crafter into Christmas card-making mode!  Of course, I may have had extra motivation (to finish), due to the fact that my school has been CLOSED for TWO days!!!  Yes, we will need to make up those missed days, but this extra time right before the holiday craziness, has been utilized well!  In just under three hours, I managed to mass-produce 17 Christmas cards!  That includes: making the card bases, scoring, stamping, cutting shapes, punching, layering w/pop dots, cutting out pieces w/the trusty Sizzix machine, and adding glitter and other finishing touches!  It also included deciding on a design, which I have been thinking about over the past few weeks...I just needed to see how the "mind-design" compared with the actual product.  It obviously worked well, and now I'm about halfway done making all my holiday cards!  I love this design SO much, that I've decided to switch color palettes (from red/green/silver, to blues/purples/greens) and make another set of around 20 cards with the same design!  I will have to share this card....soon.  :o)   ~Hoppy Crafting!!!



Reason WHY school's closed (view from my classroom).















Glam "Thanks!"

I love the paper for the background of card # 6 from the We R Memory Keepers "Retro Glam" card kit!  The colors and patter are divine!  The bracket-type bubble in the middle has the sentiment "just wanted to say...Thanks!" in a mix of rub-ons and chipboard.  There are three gorgeous flowers on opposite corners, which I used pop dots to raise up.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Flower Friends!

This card (#5) may well be my FAVORITE in the We R Memory Keepers "Retro Glam" card kit!  I love how the flowers pop off the page (thanks to my pop dots), and how the sentiment is chipboard and seems to nestle super-well between the stems and blooms.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

What a Hoot!

Here's card #4 from the We R Memory Keepers "Retro Glam" card kit!  I am loving how easy these are to put together (as well as to modify)!!!  This "You are a hoot" card is sooo stinkin' cute!  I love, love, love the chipboard owl!  I also like the asymmetrical design of the borders!  The sentiment is a combo of rub-ons and die-cut letters.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Thank you, friend Card

Here's card #3 from the We R Memory Keepers "Retro Glam" card kit!  The sentiment is a rub-on (Thank you for being my FRIEND).  Again, I LOVE the green mixed with the magenta!  It really makes the card pop!  I also like that I was able to add chipboard embellishments and pop up the sentiment plaque with pop dots.  Even a card kit with specific instructions can be modified (if you feel brave!).  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Love Birds

Here is the second card I made, using the We R Memory Keepers "Retro Glam" card kit, which I found at the Creating Keepsakes Convention.  Don't you just loooove the chipboard birds and the mix of rub-ons and chipboard lettering???  I do!  And, of course, it's in one of my favorite colors....GREEN!!!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Sew Glad We're Friends

I made this card, using the We R Memory Keepers "Retro Glam" designs.  It was super easy, but looks way cool!  In fact, I'm usually not one for card kits, but at the Creating Keepsakes Convention that I just attended on Friday, I found this cute card kit, and HAD to try it!  There are 8 cute cards included in this kit!  I will share each one with you, as I make it.  :o)  The sentiment is a rub-on, and the flower & leaves are chipboard.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Birthday-U Rock!

This card was made using the Rock Princess cart.  I cut the skull from black and white, and the bow from two shades of pink. The top layer of the bow is popped up, using foam dots.  The font is also from Rock Princess, and "rock" is welded together, using the Gypsy.  I added a light pink paper on top of the dark pink card base, used a border punch, and inked it with Stampin' Ups Melon Mambo.  I LOVE how this card turned out!  ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Lisa's Birthday!

I must admit, as you may have observed, I have been VERY out of the blogging world for a few weeks.  I have been super sick, and my darling kinders continue to share at will.  I have had no energy for even the simplest crafting for at least three weeks!  Imagine the torture!  I finally (after beginning a third round of meds!), drug myself to my craft room to create a birthday card for my dear friend, Lisa!
I used the Stampin' Up set Upsy Daisy, and embossed the flowers and sentiment with a lime green embossing powder.  I used the SU bird punch for the branch and leaves in the background.  The flowers and sentiment were double mounted, and popped up with foam dots.  ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Princess Kennedi's Birthday Card!

I decided to use my Imagine to create this adorable little card for our little friend, Kennedi's 4th birthday.  The background is a Cuttlebug folder of dots.  I cut out the doll and frame from Best Friends, then used a sentiment to stamp inside the frame.  The inside of the card said "happy birthday".  I layered the little girl to make her pop up.  I also used pop dots to pop the doll further off of the card.  This card totally worked for two purposes: Miss Kennedi's birthday, and Emma's Imagine Nation Monday Challenge (http://www.creativetimeforme.com/) .  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Hubby Made a Card!

On National Card Making Day, I convinced my husband to sit down with me and make a quick card.  I walked him through a few basics, and he picked the stamps that he wanted to use.  Take a look at how his card turned out!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

National Card-Making Day (Oct. 2)

Just wanted to share a quick Halloween card that I created during National Card Making Day.  I used some Martha Stewart paper, and some dollar-bin stamps (frog, sentiment, spider), to create a cute card.  I also added silver Stickles around the sentiment, on the frog hat, etc., and added a green and black polka-dot ribbon towards the bottom.  I popped up the sentiment, as well as inked all edges with Stampin' Up's Concord Crush.   ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Hmmm....New PC Patent?

Came across this new patent listed for Provo Craft.  This patent seems rather interesting...It almost looks like a new Gypsy-type machine that will not only connect to the Cricut and computer, but it also showed a Yudu icon, as well as possibly being usable with a sewing/embroidery machine.  That's most of the information that I got out of the patent.  See for yourself, and you decide: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freepatentsonline.com%2F20100217428.pdf&h=c379f . 

A Little Bird Told Me...

I can not believe how quickly I made a dozen cards!  I used my Cricut Imagine and the Nursery Tails cartridge, to choose the bird with mushrooms and background.  I popped up all of the birds and one mushroom on each card, to add dimension.  I stamped plain cardstock with a cute floral stamp and Stampin' Up's Marina Mist (blue).  I also used Marina Mist to stamp the sentiment "A little bird told me..." on the front, and "A friend like you is hard to find", on the inside.  I used a variety of colors for the card bases (green, blue, pink, and yellow).  I used these cards to give to my friends who came to my Stampin' Up party (of course I didn't write on the inside, so they'd be able to actually use them!).  I hope you like them!  ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Stampin' Up Benefits!

I am SO excited!  My newest Stampin' Up goodies are here!  Yay!!!  I had an awesome party last week, and because of the wonderful orders my friends placed, I ended up with some really cool hostess benefits!  I am super-excited to use these new stamp sets, and am sure that a few will be lent to those who helped me earn them!  My new stamp friends include (from top left): Punch Potpourri, Long Fellows, and Because I Care.  I also earned a few other fun punches, etc.  Thank you again, everyone, for coming to my party and placing orders!  It was totally fun and we'll have to do it again, soon!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Gypsy Case

I recently ordered a Gypsy travel case from http://www.creativexpress.com/ .  I was skeptical about the case, but after reading some reviews, other users said the case would hold the Gypsy with a skin on it, no problem.  I have been using my case for a few weeks now, and have to say that I'm pretty happy with it.  The sides are not as hard as I was expecting, but still fairly protective.  My biggest fear for my G, is that I'll crack the screen (as I have done to multiple cell phones....yes, I have a history...). 

The inside is a pretty black and white damask print.  When the G is in it, you must position it "just right" in the case, in order to get the zipper to close.  I wish there had been a color choice for cases (just like there are with skins), but I suppose black will have to do.  I think my purchase has been worth it, thus far, and I look forward to using the case a ton! ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Imagine Cuts!

Here are a few first cuts from my new Cricut Imagine!  My very FIRST cut, was the frog (you would have NEVER guessed, would you? Ha ha!).  I decided to use some cardstock and create a froggie card. 

I started with a green card base, embossed brown with the D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder, then stamped the sentiment with new clear stamps designed by Sarah Pink Cricut (Pink by Design clear stamps- http://pinkcricut.com .   The frog card pieces took me about 5 minutes (or less), to pick out, edit, and print & cut, and assemble (I pop-dotted the frog)!

The rest of the cuts are all stock cuts from Nursery Tails, Imagine More, and Best Friends cartridges (I did not change any coloring, but did play around with it). I just can't get over how stinkin' cute that cow and owl are!  I love that you can choose to have or omit the sayings, and you can, of course, choose the size at which to cut these!  The print quality is AWESOME!  I love it!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

It's HERE!!!! (AND it works!!!)

I have a confession to make.  I am a Cricut-a-holic.   Not only am I a Cricut-a-holic, but I recently fed my addiction through HSN (Home Shopping Network), in a MAJOR way.  Since word of the new Cricut Imagine hit the boards, blogs, Facebook, etc., a few months ago, I have been carefully tracking info on this new and "innovative" machine.  Did I NEED it?  No.  Did I WANT it?   HELL, YEAH!!!  Did I ever "imagine" (haha) that I'd buy one so soon??? Never!  BUT, I did!
The Imagine actually arrived on my doorstep on Thursday evening (one day earlier than tracking predicted), BUT I was hosting a Stampin' Up party that night AND had to finish correcting 200 math and reading assessments for the next day (remember, I'm a teacher).  So, the Imagine patiently sat in the box all night Thursday.  Friday night came, and we had company....so again, the Imagine sat patiently in its UPS box.  FINALLY, tonight I had time to crack that puppy open and put it to use! 
I eagerly unpacked the box and inspected every piece, making sure things were in tact (I had read too many horror stories this week about people's Imagine's arriving and cartridge boxes being smashed, machines scratched, etc., to feel at ease while opening each piece).  Luckily, all of the pieces were there, and everything seemed fine.  Onto the location of my new gem!  I had a wonderful spot all picked out and already cleared on a big shelf in my Craft Cave.  It proved, however, to be inadequate....the Imagine has quite a big rear, and needs AT LEAST a 12 inch clearance BEHIND it to work correctly!  My Expression worked well in that location, but the Imagine does NOT!  *Sigh!*  It is currently hogging scrap space on my desk....hmm...Anyways....

After running all of the updates, calibrating the printing and cut quality, etc., I was ready to tackle a few cuts!  I must say, that the first card pieces took me about 5 minutes (or less), to pick out, edit, and print & cut! 
While updating and calibration of the machine seemed to take FOREVER (about 45 min., because she froze during the printing calibration), I am VERY pleased with the quality and ease of the use of this machine so far, and look forward to bringing you many projects created with the new Imagine!  ~Hoppy Crafting! 

Stampin' Up Party!

Last night, friends and family gathered at Deb's Stampin' Studio, to create some super-cute cards and enjoy each other's company!  Deb is a Stampin' Up demonstrator that I met through my friend, Terri.  You can check her out at: http://debnaylor.stampinup.net/ OR http://flyingstamper.blogspot.com/ .  I know that everyone who came just had a fabulous time!  We stamped, we glittered, we ate, and we glittered some more!  In fact, I think the word of the night WAS "glitter"!!!

I was SO happy that we could get together and spend some "girl time" crafting the night away!  I was also SOOO incredibly THANKFUL that Deb has such a wonderful place for everyone to get together and craft!   THANK YOU, DEB!!!! :o) 

So, I HAVE to share with you the adorable cards we made last night.  I think every card looks a little different (depending on just how much glitter everyone added), but the basic cards were very similar.  My two favorites of the night were the birdhouse and the hydrangea!  In fact, I ended up getting both sets we used, to recreate these at my own Craft Cave!  ~Hoppy Crafting!

 

Cricut Invasion

I admit, I'm a Cricut-a-holic.  I need to go to Cricut-anonymous.....maybe PC should create a cart for that....  Any-who, I do not store my carts, overlays, and booklets in the nice little cases they come in.  Why?  Because I own over 100 carts, and it would take an insane amount of space on my shelves to store all the boxes!  So, when I moved craft rooms, I had to decide what I was going to do with all the case.  I briefly contemplated getting rid of them (VERY BRIEFLY!!!), but just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I was annoyed that they were taking up storage space in boxes, and decided to display them in my new room.  I bought some floating shelves and now I'm surrounded by a shrine of Cricut cart boxes every time I walk into my craft cave.  ~Hoppy Crafting!

Embellishments!

Finally, for the first time since I bought my embellishment center (over two years ago!), I hung it up in the new room.  What do you think?  The Making Memories Embellishment Center holds some of my quick and easy "go to" flowers, specialty brads, etc.  The rest are stored on another shelf.  Notice how I just couldn't resist labeling all the flower jars and SORTING my flowers by color family?  That's just the obsessive organizer in me!  :o)  ~Hoppy Crafting!

A Little Foliage

I found the COOLEST website a short time ago, with SUPER-CHEAP Cricut carts and other scrapping goodies! On http://www.creativexpress.com/ ,  I was able to snag Lyrical Letters (and a couple of others) for only $15!!!  This is my first project using that cart, and I love all the frames it has on it.  I used some Basic Gray paper, along with SU cardstock and some paper flowers to create this card. I also used a Martha Stewart border punch for the leaves on the gray paper.  Enjoy!   ~Hoppy Crafting!   

Imagine...Temptation...

Well, I know the total buzz on all the boards for the past few days has been about the newest addition to the Cricut family of products: the Cricut Imagine.  For the last 24 hours, HSN (Home Shopping Network) ran jam-packed craft segments.  There was Tim Holtz, Cricut Jinger, K & Company, 3 Birds, and so many more! 
Unfortunately, I, like most people I know, worked today away (which probably helped protect the wallet!), so I surely missed many fantastic items for sale.  The one thing I made sure to watch whenever I could catch the segments, was the new Cricut Imagine. 
I really am excited about this new machine.  Do I NEED this machine? No, but would love to own one!  I've admittedly gone "Cricut crazy" the last few years, and am an avid collector of all the cartridges.  With over 100 carts, to date, I know you must wonder if there are any unused ones in my collection.  There actually are a couple: Basketball and Robotz have as of yet to be cut from.  But, I digress.
The HSN bundle looked cool, and I'll admit that I learned a couple of things that really spiked the temptation meter.  I didn't realize that there would now be printable vinyl and that you could also print the images on transparencies and photo paper.  The idea of creating professional looking vinyl with printing on it, gives me a million ideas.  Also, the ability to take Cricut images, customize them, and then also print on fabric transfer is super cool! 
Tonight (towards the end of the showings), I finally got my husband to watch a few minutes of the Imagine.  I said: "Imagine...your wife with the ultimate Cricut..."  That was a no go.  "Imagine...your wife creating professional-looking products".  Another no go, he says I already do that and don't need a new machine.  Of course he steered the conversation to items he desires, then left the room mumbling "crack for crafters" under his breath. 
Now, I'm a deal predator....but, do you think I cracked and was one of the 10,000 people ordering the Cricut Imagine today on HSN?  I guess only time will tell...