Root Beer Float cake bites

Pie Fest 2011 was last Saturday. It's the first year that I was able to attend so I had to do something memorable. I don't make pies and we decided to open Pie Fest up to all desserts so I chose to make Root Beer Float cake bites and they had to make a statement.

The recipe was for cake bites but I made them into mini root beer floats. I crushed up root beer hard candies to sprinkle on top and I had some cute paper straws in my craft supplies.

I got the recipe from this book:

I started with a white cake mix and added root beer flavoring. I also made root beer frosting from scratch to mix in with the crumbled cake after it cooled. Then the fun began - 4 1/2 hours of fun. Good thing I had Kelly Clarkson's new album to listen to along with a few others.

Then, it was party time:

Pie Fest 2011

The "Crack Pie" - the one with the powdered sugar on top had just a sliver left by the end of the night. It tasted like a Pecan Pie without the pecans - very sweet but good. I think everyone had to try it because of the name, leave it to my sister Lisa to make such an interesting pie. lol

We did not give out awards but we were all winners with this spread.

Halloween decor

My entryway

Entryway table

Halloween tree

Trick or Treat

Witch hat collection

Kitchen table decor

Small Halloween tree

These are the best pics. There are a lot more decorations scattered around my house that are not pictured. Next year I should post a virtual tour.

More Halloween projects

Wicked wreath

I saw this wicked sign at Krumpet's and had to have it. I found some ribbon at JoAnn's that matched pretty close and I had some leftover ornaments from my other Halloween wreath. This wreath came together pretty quickly but I did play with the ribbon for a while to get it just right. I am not good at bows so I had to come up with another way to use it.

Halloween flower arrangement

Floral arrangements can be kind of pricey. I bought everything for this at half off and still spent over twenty dollars on it. I would even like to get one more bunch of leaves to put in the back of it but every store I have gone to to find some more is all sold out. So, this will have to do for this year.

Here's how it looks with my other decor:

I went to Roberts for Ladies Night Out and made this bracelet as a free make-n-take:

I like the idea of using buttons in jewelry. It got my creative wheels spinning. I'm sure I'll find some ways to add buttons to my jewelry projects in the future.

Now, back to decorating my house.

My office Halloween decor

I love to decorate for Halloween almost as much as I do for Christmas.

It's a lot of work though. My house is still a work in progress but I have had my office done for over a week.

Here are some pictures:

This wall gets the most comments. People love the spiders.

I was able to decorate my office for pretty cheap. Some of the decor I got for my birthday and the rest was bought from the dollar store. Gotta love the creepy cloth! It's great at making my regular decorations look spooky.

Halloween wreath 2

I love how this wreath turned out!

I was inspired at Krumpets when I saw this metal spider web with ribbons and a cute metal spider on it:

I will use this somewhere else because it was too big for the wreath I already had.

These are the supplies I bought for my project:

Small metal spider web from Krumpet's, spiders from Wal-Mart, ornaments, ribbon, and wreath from Michaels.

First, I secured the spider web to the wreath with wire and by bending the branches of the wreath around it. Then, I attached a spider on the spider web using the black wire from the package.

Next, I cut approximately four inch strips of ribbon and stacked them on top of each other. Then I took a six inch piece and used it to attach the ribbon strips to the spider web by tying a double knot. Then I spread the ribbon out so all the colors were showing.

Next, I grouped the ornaments together and secured them with black twist ties because I thought they blended better than the silver craft wire I had.

It was a fairly simple project and I was able to make it for around nine dollars since most of the items were on sale. Here's another picture of the final product:

On to my next project.....

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Today's Creative Blog

Halloween wreath

Halloween skeleton wreath

I went to the dollar store to find the materials:

As I started to wrap the creepy cloth around the wreath form, I realized that it would look better if I spray painted it black first. I ended up using black Krylon that I already had in my closet. It was kind of hard to cover completely but I figured it didn't need to be perfect since it would be mostly covered.

The result:

Then I got to work wrapping the creepy cloth around it and adding skeletons by using wire around their necks and waists to attach them. Then I hung the bigger skeleton in the middle. The whole project cost me $4.50 plus paint.

This is just the first of many Halloween projects I plan to make.

Labor Day weekend

So, I'm a little slow with my blog but I still wanted to post about my trip to Provo.

These were all the places I wanted to go while I was up there:

As you can see by the check marks, I made it to almost all of them.

One thing I wanted to do was have a cupcake taste test between some of the bakeries they have there - good thing I don't live up there because these places are everywhere.

I bought a chocolate cupcake from The Sweet Tooth Fairy, The Chocolate, and The Cocoa Bean:

We actually ate the Caramel Chocolate cupcake from The Chocolate before I took this picture and it was delicious! The one front and center is from The Cocoa Bean and it was awesome also! The Peach Cobbler cupcake was way better than the S'mores one from The Sweet Tooth Fairy.

The best part about stopping at The Chocolate was:

The Skookie - half peanut butter, half chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream on top - yes please!

I've been wanting to try this for a while now and it was heavenly.

I also like to eat at Guru's when I visit Provo.

I love their decor:

and their food:

The other reason I go up there is to see my family. We all got together for my Grandma's birthday at my mom's house and when most of the people left, I got to open my presents:

A gift certificate to The Sweet Tooth Fairy and See's caramels. Yum!

Wrinkle cream and teeth whitening supplies - which I haven't used yet. oops.

And fun Halloween decor which I'll be putting up soon!

I had a great time in Provo. Lots of shopping, lots of eating, and lots of family time.

Camping fun

When we get too hot in the summertime, we take off to Cedar Mountain.

Our home away from home.

Lots of 4-wheeling

Lots of views

Cool flowers

Lots of relaxing

Chilling by the fire

Eating S'mores

Our favorite thing to make when we go camping is dutch oven peach cobbler.  I never seem to get a picture of it because we are always eating it at 10 p.m.

For some reason, we always eat super late on the mountain. I guess we get too busy playing.

Here is the super easy Peach Cobbler recipe:

Lazy Cobbler

Use a 12" dutch oven

2 cans slice peaches with syrup (29-30 oz cans)

1 package white or yellow cake mix

Ground cinnamon to taste

1/3 stick butter or margarine

Place dutch oven over 15 hot charcoal briquettes. Pour peaches in dutch oven. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the peaches. Sprinkle cinnamon around on top to taste. Cut butter in pieces and spread evenly on top. Put the lid on the dutch oven and place 10 hot briquettes on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until done. Serve with whip cream on top or with ice cream. Yum! Sometimes I even eat the leftovers for breakfast!

One thing has put a little damper on camping this summer:

Yes, it says Bear Country and it is posted right below our camp. When we were up in June, we saw a lovely big brown bear right across from our camp. It's a little freaky to walk back in the trees or sit out by the fire at night. Casey just brings his 45 and keeps it by his side and I keep him by my side.

Camping season on Cedar Mountain is about over - hopefully we won't see the bear again!