Thin Mints - All Grown Up & Back In The Day Bakery

I got a new cook book a week ago, and have made more recipes from it more quickly than any other cookbook I've ever purchased. It's eye candy. It's recipes are bananas. It makes me feel happy! I first heard of Back In The Day Bakery from the talented Lilly Lui who I am lucky enough to work with every day. Lilly went to SCAD and I love hearing stories of her beloved Savannah. I happened across this cookbook one day at Barnes & Noble and knew Cheryl and Griffith Day are my kinda people. I bake often, but still needed a shopping list when I got this cookbook. Somehow I've made it my whole life never having ground cardamom, mace and sea salt in my pantry. I also restocked on strawberries and buttermilk. First go-round I made the most insanely delicious fresh strawberry cupcakes with fresh strawberry icing. It tastes like the most delicious berries and cream I've ever eaten. Like, unbelievably good. Then I made the Buttermilk Biscones - a biscuit scone good for breakfast lunch and dinner. Every time I make something from this cookbook I think it gets better and better. My most recent baking adventure was the Chocolate Mint Cookie - like Thin Mints for adults. The best cookie sandwich ever made.

This is not a paid endorsement, just a glowing little review of a cookbook full of the best recipes and tips for at-home bakers! And, I want to go to Savannah asap.

Disco Dust Edible Glitter

I love taking an idea and turning it into something else. I made these Zombie Squirrel Mints for Fiesta Resistance, and thought it would be fun to show a polar opposite squirrel mint. Lightbulb moment: glitter squirrels. Using the same base, cream cheese mints, you can create a completely different look.

This squirrel mold is proving to be quite versatile! So far I have only made delicious cream cheese mints with it, but I have big plans!

Recipe: Makes approximately 30 mints // 4 oz. cream cheese // 2 tbs. butter // 1lb. powdered sugar // A few drops of peppermint oil // Food coloring (optional) // Sugar (for rolling) // Disco Dust Edible Glitter // Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature. Use a stand mixer, food processor or hand mixer to beat cream cheese and butter together. Add powdered sugar, a little at a time. It will be crumbly at first, but come together quickly. Carefully add a few drops of peppermint oil. If you add too much the peppermint will overpower the other flavors from the yummy cream cheese and butter, so use steady hand! If you are going to use food coloring, you can add that now, but I wanted the full effect of the glitter so I kept mine white. Roll a small amount of the mint batter into a ball. The trick here is that the mint has to be completely coated in sugar and glitter to prevent it from sticking to the mold. I made two plates, one with white sugar, and one with glitter sprinkles. First I rolled the front half in the glitter, then switched plates and rolled in the sugar. Press your sugary mint ball into the mold, and carefully peel it out. Mints should lay on a wire rack to dry.

I made my mint ball a little too large and it overlapped the outside of my mold. It started out as an accident, but I thought it made my squirrel mint look like a cameo, so I went with it! For edible glitter visit Koyal Wholesale.

How to Make an Edible Cupcake Stand

So excited about this fun post I did for Best Friends For Frosting, which reached over 1,000 in its first 24 hours! This was a really fun project to create. Hope you'll make some too!
How to Make an Edible Cupcake Stand

Sprinkles To Go!

Sprinkles-To-Go is an individual serving of sprinkles, ready when you are! I can imagine using these at parties and packing them in my kids school lunches. (Why not let them put some fun sprinkles on top of their yogurt?) They're fun & quick to make and unbelievably cute.

I have to give credit to I'm With Cupcake and their blog Fiesta Resistance for the idea to stuff a straw. They filled 'em up with colored sugar and made pixie sticks. Which is SO cute. So I was just thinking about what else I could put in them... sprinkles! These straws are so nice and thick, you can literally just fold over the end and it will stay, no reinforcing needed. I cut the straws in half so the portions would be right for topping a scoop of ice cream, and folded then ends. Now they're ready to fill. Filling method: pour the sprinkles in to the palm of your hand and scoop them into the straw. If I were using a smaller sprinkle I probably would have made a little funnel, but the hand fill method is just as easy to make a couple of these just to have around. Enjoy!

Something Is Missing

This is good, but it makes me want cream cheese and lox. Step it up Rold Gold. Surely someone on your taste test team suggested Everything Bagel With Cream Cheese & Lox pretzels?

Salvage Yard!

When I lived in New Orleans I loved architectural salvage yards. I love going to this one when I visit my hometown, Roanoke, VA. Black Dog salvage is amazing: rooms of doors, shutters, ceiling tiles, old sinks, fixtures, chandeliers, and claw feet. I could have walked away with a dozen claw feet at $15 each. But before I do, off to pinterest to get some ideas.

More Washi Tape Decor

I like Washi tape. This much is clear. And so does everyone else. Why not? It's an easy inexpensive way to make just about anything look cuter. I love the designs by MT you can get at Cute Tape and yesterday I found some adorable patterns at Dick Blick. I am into all things REVERSIBLE lately, so as I was souping up some of my plain forks and spoons I did a little reversible magic. I just stuck two designs together in the middle like this:

and now I have coordinating designs and on the back and front of my forks!

The cupcake/ice cream toppers are from Hey Yo Yo. They're a new purchase and an instant hit in my house.

Tape & Ice Cream Cup Magic

I have much love for Todd Oldham's book Kid Made Modern. The book came out a few years ago and I picked up a copy. It is full of bright, well designed projects and toys for kids. If you look far enough back in this blog you can see some faces I painted on kitchen spoons after reading about it in Kid Made Modern. I was totally over-the-moon excited when I heard there would be a kid made modern line of crafts for Target. They do not disappoint! Run over and see 'em for yourself! I love love love this amazing set of paper tape, which was only $7. The kids and I had such a great time decorating ice cream cups for an after dinner treat. Look how cute!

Apropos of nothing, this cracks me up. And, yes, this is a craft blog. Sort of. Even so, have to share this amazing knife set that I would LOVE to get my husband for Father's day.

Look, Ma!

I'm a cartoon! I love the new me! Made by the fabulous Lilly Lui.

I DID IT!

No matter what anyone tells you, it is HARD work to be an Etsy seller. There are A LOT of talented people out there and it is not easy to get noticed! I am amazed how far this little idea of mine has gone, and I just hope I can take it further and keep making things other people want to use to make their parties beautiful!