Blueberry Muffins

The World's Best Blueberry Muffin Recipe!

4 rounded cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
16 ounces frozen (or fresh) blueberries

*Preheat oven to 350*. Sift together dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Add the eggs, oil, butter and milk & vanilla. Gently hand-mix until all the liquid is absorbed. Fold in the blueberries. Using an 8-ounce ice-cream scoop, place 1 scoop batter into each unit of a large (texas/jumbo), parchment paper-lined 12-unit muffin pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on the doneness of the muffins, they should be firm to the touch and golden brown on top.

^^^^^^ This recipe makes the biggie jumbo ones, BUT if you do not have that type of pan or simply prefer the regular sized muffins...just reduce the amount of time in the oven and check them for the first time after 20-25 minutes. I also sometimes add a streusel topping OR sprinkle the large raw sugar on top prior to baking for extra goodness. A simple streusel topping can be made by cutting half a stick of butter into a mix of 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Sprinkle on top of muffins evenly prior to baking. The above photos have this topping.

Coffee Crumb Cake

I love this cake. I think it is the first "coffee cake" recipe I've ever tried that actually used COFFEE in it! And a brown sugar streusel topping...that makes it all so good right there. :)
I don't have the recipe onhand, but I may have to jump back in here and do an edit to add that in if I find it again :)

p.s. the missing square? *someone* had to taste-test it, right??? :D

C.C. Cookie Sewing Pin Set

I love these :) A handmade felt booklet with sewing pins stuck inside, adorned with teeny tiny chocolate chip cookies! And a bakers' dozen at that! Early next week when I've got extra time on hand (extra time? what is that again??) I will be putting these up on my Etsy for anyone who is interested in the set. :) Will also be conjuring up more ideas of other 'toppers' for more pins! These were just too much fun to make to stop at one set.

Dragonfly sparklies :D

This morning we woke up and it was actually somewhat chilly outside! So we decided to skip the park for today and make some crafts at home. :) Dragonflies with sparkly glitter and glue! Here they are all lined up in a row, drying their wings. I had made this "stand" a few months ago for making cake-pops and needed a place to stick them while they were setting up...well it is perfect for this function, too! :) Take a peek :)

By the way, I have no idea how to move the photos around or put my words exactly where I want them to go by the photos...so that is why my blog is probably the wonkiest one out there hahaha :D

Rainbow Cupcakes!!!!!!

Let me tell you how much fun these were to make!! And the kids LOVED them. :) I think these will be the perfect pick for a birthday party. There were a lot of sites online that showed how to make them- it was something I saw and just had to try. I'm glad I did! :)

Bandana Tablecloth

This bandana tablecloth is a cinch to make! And even a beginning sewer such as myself can do it. :) I made this one for a friend who brought me the bandanas for the project. I wanted to make sure it was flat on the underside so it would be smooth across the table, so I sewed the 'flaps' down as you can see in the first photo. All in all it took just under 3 hours or so to put together and complete the stitching. :) Cute~!

Cupcake Pen and Stand

I kinda miss this pen! It was sold a while back but I was browsing my crafty-pics and saw it and thought I'd share. I particularly like how the stand came out on this one. I have another cupcake pen on my Etsy at the moment... different colors/look than this one, but cupcake none-the-less!! :)

Glass Frog Earrings

...and SOLD!!! A cute pair of dangle/drop earrings made with handcrafted glass frog beads and seed beads. :) They're off to their new home tomorrow!

Ice Cream Cone Earrings

Today has been a nice sunny day!! Not too hot, not too cold...just right :) The perfect day to enjoy a little ice-cream after a trip to the park. With that kind of inspiration, here we have handmade earring charms complete with swarovski crystal accents. Also listed in my Etsy store with more photos! :) Enjoy :)

Mini Toolboxes

I made these "mini toolboxes" after seeing a number of other online sites showing how-tos for making them. All they required were empty altoid tins and some hardware from the local tool shop. And spray paint! They turn out super cute and you can use them for anything you wanted to store! The only downfall is that they become a little tougher to open around the corners, but at least that keeps your stuff from flying out everytime you pop it open hahahaha ;D

Bakers Clay

While we were at the real cookie cut-out making, we went ahead and
made some bakers clay for fun! These are painted with acrylic paint
and just regular ol' markers. And of course, some not painted at all. :)

Cut Out Cookies

I have been on the hunt for the perfect "cut out" sugar cookie recipe along with the ideal icing recipe to go with them for a long time now. This cookie recipe didn't disappoint! However..still looking for the good icing. This one was okay, but was too hard and "crunchy" after only a day. So we will keep trying until we get it. :) Never-the-less, the kids always enjoy being my cookie taste-testers :D

Miniature Cake Ring

I don't know why this is underlining...but anyway, I've had this ring for a little while now and I love the pictures we took of it. So I thought I'd make it a showcase for today. :) It's a polymer clay chocolate layered cake with strawberries on top of whipped-cream piles. :) I wish I had the real thing right now! This next-best-thing is listed up on my Etsy if you'd like to see more.

Garden Gnome

Sold!!

The cute little garden-plant gnome has gone to a new home over the weekend. My very first listing up on Etsy...he kinda hung around for a while watching over the rest of the items being listed. Then his listing expired and I debated over keeping him or putting him back up again. I went ahead and put him up and the next thing you know, he stole someone's heart! I hope he enjoys his new home :)

S'Mores Ring

Sold!!

The S'Mores ring I had listed on Etsy sold in just a day, I'm happy to say. :) Always kinda sad to see something go, but nice to know someone likes my work! I am thinking about making some more (har har) of these soon ;) tee-hee!

Birthday Cake

The birthday girl (friend's foster daughter) had her big first birthday!! This was a couple weeks ago, but I only just recently had time to get the picture off the camera (ok I forgot to do it until just a while ago...). I got to make the cake and she wanted a big number "1" and "pink". So I made pink frosting and left a border unfrosted around the edge as you can see... I thought gave it a nice, sophisticated look. And the cake itself is also pink! :D Yummy, too! :)

Check it out :)

Tatertots and Jello: Guest Project: Bandanna Dress Tutorial


^^^^^^^click the link^^^^^^^^

This is a tutorial I ran across this morning in my browsing and thought I'd share the link since it is such a cute idea! I'm still not the world's most confident sewer, but even I might give this little dress a try. Someday. hehe :P