Caramel Dipped Pretzel Rods

Today is MY big day! I'm SO excited to be a part of the Holiday Bake, Craft, and Sew Along with dozens of fabulous bloggers. Make sure you head on over to A Southern Fairy Tale to see how I make Caramel Dipped Pretzel Rods.

Be sure check out the other holiday gift and craft ideas being posted daily! Or click here to see all past projects in one place and all of the creative bloggers involved! Get started on your projects now and lose the stress during the holidays!!

**If you're wondering about my visit with the ADORABLE Ms. Bridget.....I hope to get a post together for you real soon!! A 2 day visit was NOT long enough! lol

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Christmas in July

I know for many of us, the temps outside are hot hot hot....but before you know it the leaves will be changing colors, temps will be dropping and the holidays will sneak up on us like they do every year!

I don't know about you, but many of my friends and I love to make handmade gifts and goodies for our loved ones, teachers, neighbors and friends!

Every year I wait until the last minute to gather my ideas and supplies and start whipping up gifts all while having a panic attack that time is running out!

This year the brilliant minds of Cindy of Skip to My Lou, Rachel of a Southern Fairytale and Kelly of According to Kelly have joined forces and will be hosting a Handmade Holiday Christmas in July extravaganza!

They have gathered over 3 dozen amazing bloggers who will share their talents and inspire us for the holidays! If we get started now, by the time the holidays are here we can be sitting around the tree sipping hot cocoa and eliminating some of the stress.

Starting this Monday each blog will feature a different blogger, and a new project. Rachel will have all the YUMMY edible goodies, Kelly the crafty gift ideas and Cindy all the sewing ideas. *I will be posting a holiday recipe on Sunday July 25 at A Southern Fairytale {squeal}

They have “listed” all of bakers, crafters & sewers HERE and will be using the hashtag #handmadeholiday on Twitter.

EVERYONE can upload photos of their handmade gifts to their flickr group HERE.

With that said...I'm off to pull out my new KitchenAid Mixer and dust off my sewing machine. :)

Do you make homemade gifts for the holidays? I'd love to hear what your plans are and if you start early!!

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I'm Lovin' It - Patriotic Style

Welcome to the Party!!

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Since this weekend is 4th of July, I thought I'm Lovin' It would be the perfect time to share all of the great "patriotic" ideas I've seen around the web recently.

I've got to tell you......there are some VERY creative people out there!!! I bow down to each of you!!

I LOVE each of these fabulous ideas!

Raise your glass high with these incredible layered Jello cups from Glorious Treats

Flag wreath at The Picky Apple

Let Freedom ring with a patriotic whale from Fowl Single File

When I see cute little outfits like this, makes me wish my girls were still little.

Stained Glass Jello Stars at Brown Eyed Baker

Patriotic Popsicles at The Idea Room

FREE {printable} cupcake toppers from Bella Grace

LOTS of FREE 4th of July printables from Tweedle Dee Designs

You know I always love the FREE desktop calendar themes
Julie of LeeLouBlogs has each month....

2x4 Decor {craft} for the 4th at How Does She?

Centsational Girl shows us her fabulous patriotic porch

History meets home decor at Positively Splendid!

Amy shares a tutorial and applique patterns for making these fabulous patriotic outdoor pillows.

and in case you missed them.....
My Red White and Blue Cupcakes

did you see them over at Cupcake takes the Cake!?



and Patriotic Delight Dessert

Lastly, many of us will want to photograph fireworks this weekend.....
Darcy has written a fantastic post on

How to Photograph Fireworks!

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below.

What is I'm Lovin' It Fridays? get all the info, how to's and button here

*HURRY------Now thru midnight EST on Friday July 2, 2010 you can
use the discount code FRIEND at checkout, you will get 10% off any subscription,
or coupon code LOVECM for 20% off a lifetime subscription.

Mother's Day ideas

Still in need of a last minute Mother's Day ideas?

I thought I'd share some quick ideas I've seen around

Click on the pictures to follow the links

What Mom wouldn't LOVE a little CASH?! How Does She? shares this cute idea.



Amy at The Idea Room shows how versatile Paper Key Tags are for crafting



Cathe Hoden of Just Something I Made has put together a FREE download of funky retro Mother’s Day Clip Art from her private library of cool stuff!



FREE Printable Mother's Day Card & bookmark from Amy at Living Locurto

FREE Printable Cupcake toppers from TomKat Studio

Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer shares a really meaningful gift for mom ♥



These home made sugar scrubs I made for Christmas would be perfect for Mom!



Do you have plans for Mother's Day? I'd love to hear about them!

~REMINDER- I'm Lovin' It party will be up this evening around 10pm CST


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a BIG FAT thank you to my top referrers for the month of April! You guys are AWESOME!
Bake at 350
A Soft Place to Land
320 Sycamore
Somewhat Simple
Just Something I made
How Does She
Blue Cricket Design
I Heart Faces
University of Cookie
Tatertots and Jello

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Hard Boiled Eggs how -tos {repost}

I originally wrote this post last year, but thought some may find it useful again this year!

Photo from American Egg Board

Today, like many others, we are dyeing our Easter Eggs.

I thought I'd share some of the information I have found on how to

Hard Boil Eggs

So.....let's get cracking!

Did you know that it is called hard-cooking? That's right! I've always called it hard boiling, but according to the American Egg Board, it's actually called hard-cooking

Hard-cooked, not hard-boiled. Although the cooking water must come to a full boil in this method, the pan is immediately removed from the heat so that the eggs cook gently in the hot water. This produces tender, not rubbery, eggs and minimizes cracking.

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Set your eggs in a layer in the bottom of a saucepan.

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Cover with water, 1" over the eggs.

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Cook over medium-high heat until boiling, do not over boil

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Remove from burner and cover, letting eggs stand for 15 minutes (12 minutes for medium eggs, 18 minutes for extra large).

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Run cold water over the eggs to cool them

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Banish the greenish ring. This harmless but unsightly discoloration that sometimes forms around hard-cooked yolks results from a reaction between sulfur in the egg white and iron in the yolk. It occurs when eggs have been cooked for too long or at too high a temperature. Our method - cooking eggs in hot, not boiling, water, then cooling immediately - minimizes this.

Very fresh eggs can be difficult to peel. To ensure easily peeled eggs, buy and refrigerate them a week to 10 days in advance of cooking. This brief "breather" allows the eggs time to take in air, which helps separate the membranes from the shell.

To peel a hard-cooked egg: Gently tap egg on countertop until shell is finely crackled all over. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell. Starting peeling at large end, holding egg under cold running water to help ease the shell off.

So there you go! If you'd like more information on eggs, check out the American Egg Board

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After we dye eggs, we'll be making cupakes to go with

our Easter Cookies that I made last week.

Last year I made a Banana Cake for Easter that turned out DELICIOUS!

We had a great turn out for the I'm Lovin' It party this week!! I'm still trying to make my way to all the links.........if you missed the party, you can still link up thru Sunday evening!

Have a GREAT Easter Weekend!!

What are your plans?

This post sponsored by:

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I'm Lovin' It! ~Easter Cut-Out Cookies

Welcome to the Party!! I'm Lovin' It is a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate things that makes us happy....things we are loving! Please share anything from a new(or old) product, to a recipe, a picture you took, a project, or even your children or family.....really anything that you would like to share that you are loving right now!!

First I have a bit of business to address........

• You may want to pop over here to see if you were the winner of The Rusted Chain Giveaway {hint, there's a little something for everyone!}
  

• Did you see who was the guest poster here on TidyMom yesterday? Stephanie of Somewhat Simple posted a few great projects you can see here and I will be guest posting on her AMAZING blog today(friday)!!.......so when you're finished here, hop over to Somewhat Simple and say hello to me over there and take a look around while you're there!!

This week I am loving the Easter/Spring cookies I made!

I used my Butter Cookie recipe and decorated with Royal Icing and sprinkles.

I owe some BIG thanks to Bridget for all of her wonderful tips on Royal Icing!.....
if you've never decorated cookies with royal icing, or would just like some tips from a pro.....Bridget has a few fantastic posts .....

Royal Icing 101 and Royal Icing 102

See that cute green egg with the yellow hearts?

Learned how to do that snazy trick from Sweetopia here

you'll never guess how easy that was!

and I think these little chickies are my favorites!!

Bake it Pretty has an awesome video on how to roll out cookie dough!
see the video here.

I'm not very steady with my piping .......but click the picture below to see my cookies from last year!

This was my first attempt at royal icing......not bad, but I think I've improved some!

Over the weekend I got together with a few friends to show them how easy it is to decorated cupcakes!! - didn't they do a fabulous job?.....You can see more pictures on Angie's blog. - I'm going to warn you though, she shows you how messy I am when I decorate! LOL

Check out these great parties that I linked this post to:
Bake at 350, Strut Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff Easter/Spring, Ultimate Recipe Swap,

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

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Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address in the MckLinky form below (need help with finding the permalink? click here to see a great post Darcy wrote on this!)
   
2. Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is loving today and have an opportunity to contribute! You can use the code below to add the banner to your posts or blog if you'd like.
   
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what makes a party fun!! You don't want to come to a party and have no one talk to you!!
   
4. Let me know if you have any questions, problems or need help!
   

MckLinky will stay open until April 4, 2010 11pm CST.

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It's Your LUCKY Day! St. Patrick's Day Freebies!

I've seen some great St. Patrick's Day ideas around that I thought I'd share with you!

Amy of Living Locurto has made some adorable St. Patrick's Day cards, tags and notes you can download and print for FREE! Thanks Amy!

The creative ladies over at HowDoesShe?com have adorable FREE St Patrick's Day cupcake toppers & label download

Janet of From Captain's Daughter to Army Mom is getting her Irish on by teaching some of her friends how to decorate cookies by baking and decorating some awesome shamrock cookies!

Janet says........

These Shamrock cookies would never have been possible

without the kindness of my blogging-buddy, Diane, who

went out of her way to Send me this cookie cutter!

Blogging is SO rewarding when you realize the friendships that grow and the generosity of others! Janet has been known to be a very generous blogger, not only what she shares on her blog, but the friendship she has shared with me and others.........please pray for her family, as her brave son, Brandon has recently left to fight for our country! Brandon and his family could use your good thoughts and prayers for a safe return home.

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I also want to introduce a new TidyMom sponsor, The Rusted Chain!
Be sure to click over and check out the fabulous jewelry........and keep your eye's peeled for a giveaway later this month!