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!