Oreo Cookie Truffles

I saw this treat on Facebook and I had to make them!

It is much easier than it looks or sounds!

I used:

• 1 package of Oreo Cookies
• 1 package of cream cheese
• 1 chocolate/mint candy cane (optional)
• 1 package of white candy melts (or almond bark)
• Red food coloring (I used a few tiny drops to make some pink because I just found out we're having a GIRL!!) You can leave them white or add another color.
• small cupcake wrappers

Directions:

1. Put whole oreos in a food processor (or blender) and mix until it looks like crumbs (I did about 5 at a time because my food processor is small).
2. Take out cream cheese and open package. Let it sit out for about a half hour so it gets softer.
3. Put half of oreo crumbs in a seperate bowl. Leave the rest in food processor and add half of the cream cheese (I added it in smaller chunks and that blended easier).
4. When that half is blended well and looks like "dough" add the remaining oreo crumbs and cream cheese and blend again until it balls up.
5. Scoop a small amount out with your hand and roll into a ball. Make it all into balls!
6. Put wax paper on a cookie sheet and place the balls in the fridge for at least a half hour.
7. Crush candy cane into tiny pieces
8. Melt the candy melts/almond bark/chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, 30 seconds stir repeat until all is melted. 
9. Use a wooden scewer or toothpick to pick up each ball and dip into melted candy. 
10.  Sprinkle candy cane pieces on the top of each ball truffle before they cool.
11. Put them onto the same waxpaper cookie sheet and cool in fridge for about a half hour
12. ENJOY!! Pretty much everyone will love these! Just make them try! They taste so fancy, but they are pretty simple and you don't have to bake them!

My 1st Ice Cream Cake!

The idea to make my first ice cream cake came from a dream! I had seen a commercial for Baskin Robbin's Valentine ice cream cake and thought about making my own. In my dream I did make one, but of course I didn't get to eat it! So I decided to learn how to make one for my Brother in-law Josh and myself for our Birthday. I watched a few videos online and got some ideas. I went to the store and bought:

• Double Stuffed Oreos (you can also use regular)
• Golden Oreos
• Strawberry jelly in a squeeze bottle
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Whip Cream
• Butter
• Peanut Butter cups (I used 4, but I only did one layer with them. I suggest doing all of the chocolate oreo layers with them!)
• 1 gallon of Neopolitan ice cream
• strawberries
• chocolate and multi colored sprinkles
• red food coloring

The cake I chose to do was an experiment so I used different layers to see what I would like best. All of them were great and you could use them all in one cake! I think my favorite was the chocolate oreos with peanut butter cups.

I started with a round cake pan and a round pan about the same size. I took a row of oreos and put them in a zip-loc bag. Then I smashed them with a rolling pin.

Then I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a bowl and added the oreos. I stirred the butter into the oreos. OR instead of butter, use 3-4 melted peanut butter cups (melt for about 30 seconds stir and microwave longer if needed). Then I put it all in the bottom of the cake pan that I lined with saran wrap and spread it out evenly.

I did this in two pans and froze both for a half hour. You can use one pan if you want to make a smaller one. This would be a good time to take out the gallon of ice cream and let it melt for around a half hour. Take the pans out of the freezer and scoop in a layer of ice cream. Spread evenly and freeze for 45 minutes to an hour. If the flavors melt together, that's OK! Mine did and it tasted great! While those layers were freezing, I started making the Golden Oreos with strawberry jelly. This is what I used...

I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter and added red food coloring (optional) and 1/3 cup of strawberry jelly. I stirred it up and then added a row of Golden Oreos and mixed it all together. Let that mixture cool down as you wait for the ice cream layer to freeze. Take out the pans and spread the Golden Oreo mixture on top of the ice cream.

Freeze for about a half hour. Take out of freezer and add another layer of ice cream. I put my Ice cream in the fridge at one point so it didn't melt too much. I put the pans back in the freezer over night. You should have it in there at least 3 hours before you decorate. I took both pans to the Hart family house and decorated them there about an hour before dinner and put it back in the freezer. I took the cakes out of the pans by pulling the saran wrap and unwrapped each one. I put one on top of the other. To decorate I mixed the entire container of cream cheese frosting and Whipped Cream (regular size). Then I frosted the top and sides. I cut up some strawberries and placed them around the cake. Then sprinkles! You could decorate how ever you like! Maybe use peanut butter cups, oreos and or strawberries. Here it is!

It was very good! I will be making more in the future! Let me know if you have any questions. It is pretty easy, just takes awhile to wait for layers to freeze.

-Nikki

Valentine Cards

The first one is a funny story... I was looking for fish because I wanted to do a Valentine card with fish. I came upon a silly pink fish with legs and posted it on Facebook because I thought it was so weird and cute! It took a few days and finally my friend Kari found out what it was. It is a "Mexican Walking Fish" aka "Axolotl". It is actually endangered. SAD! Save this fish! It is so cute!

Ubercool "Mexican walking fish" Nearing Extinction : TreeHugger

www.treehugger.com

Check it out, it is an interesting story! Just click on the link above and share with friends if you want. Here is my Axolotl fish heart I made today...

Love like ours is endangered!

I also made 5 cupcake Valentines. I don't know why I chose cupcakes... Just thought they would be fun to decorate. I couldn't come up with many cute sayings, so I found a few online...

 

Stay awake... Cupcake!

Have a sweet Valentines day!

You are sweet!

Have a sweet Valentines day!

I tinkle sprinkles!

-Nikki

First Glass Candle Holder Finished

I added more drips yesterday and I like how this turned out, but I know I will get better as I practice more. I need to figure out a way to make it with out bubbles. I used the paint too soon after shaking it.

I tried a few different ways to show the candle light and how the colors show through. I am using my camera on my phone so it isn't the best quality. The picture above didn't capture the colors dancing on the floor like I had seen with my eyes!

In the picture above you can see the colors on the wall. It is much prettier in person!

This is the best picture I could get! I put it in the sink and it looked so cool! This is my favorite picture!
I want to get a Pebeo Vitrea 160 black glass paint marker so I can do some stained glass looking pieces and outline them. I think that will be a better way to design. I am going to have to go to Michael's Crafts and see what they've got! We have one a few blocks away from our house! Dangerous! Hahahahaha!
-Nikki

My First Sample Glass Piece!

I waited to take it out of the oven until I woke up this morning. Plus it was too hot last night. As I do this project, I am researching and learning along the way. It is a lot different than painting on a porous surface. I also learned that if I shake the paints I need to wait awhile to use them. There are some bubbles because I didn't know that. It is OK, I will use it as a candle holder! Here it is!

I used every color to get an idea of what they all look like. I am thinking of adding more to it today. I think layers of drips will look really pretty when a candle is in there. Here is another picture...

My husband called this afternoon and said they weren't coming home for the Super Bowl! Well I guess I will work on this candle holder some more today. I will get some pictures of it tonight with candle light. I will also share some of the tips I have learned so far...

More Glass!

Today I went to get my new van from my Step-Dad Bob! Thanks Bob! I also had a fun day with my Mom and told her about my blog and the glass painting I plan on doing... any minute! She really liked the idea and we decided to check out the Salvation Army for some unique pieces. I found some really fun glasses! All different kinds and all for a great deal.

The one in the front is like a glass tea cup! We got 2 beer mugs, 1 large goblet, 2 small Martini glasses, a large vase, and 6 glasses I have never seen before. My Mom thinks they're for sorbet. Thanks Mom! Oh and she found some work pants and a maternity dress for me as well as some maternity pants. It was such a wonderful day with my Mom! I really needed some more pants since I'm getting larger every day! So anyway... I am going to do a practice piece tonight! I don't know what design or which piece yet, but maybe I'll do one where I can use all the colors to get an idea how they all look. My goal is to post a finished piece tonight!

-Nikki

Flower Fairy wings and other inexpensive wedding crafts!

I had an idea to make being a flower girl more FUN! I love wings and fairies so naturally I had to use them in our wedding! I would have worn some myself, but wasn't sure what people would think. It was very easy to make the wings too. I remembered seeing them at The Dollar Tree when I was getting other crafts for the wedding so I went back hoping they would still be there. They had all kinds of colors and exactly 3 of the fuchsia... I got lucky! I got out the hot glue gun again and glued some leftover flowers from my candle project right onto the wings and it was that simple! Here are my flower fairies in action!

Aren't they so too cute!? Nevaeh is my friend Monet's daughter and Nijah is my friend Ashley's daughter. They look like sisters with the matching hair and outfits. I love how this turned out.

They got in the wagon during the ceremony! This is another reason the wagon idea was so fun!

The picture below has the flower fairies by the altar we used. My mom had it in her garden with plants around it and we thought it would be perfect to use! They arranged some cherry blossoms and pink tulle and it turned out so beautiful. I'm not sure where my mom found it, but it may be possible to make something like it if you tried. Maybe my mom will comment below and share more about it.

I also made all my bridesmaids necklaces and gave them as part of their gifts for helping with our wedding. It is a creative, thoughtful, budget friendly way to show your appreciation!

I used a pink glass bead in the middle of the necklace and added various shades of pink and brown.
They were all unique. I made one for all 5 bridesmaids and the Maid of Honors had a few extra glass beads.

This was one of the decorations/treats for guests we had to match the wedding colors. Chocolate and strawberry flavored Whoppers candy. They were all gone before pictures were done!

We did a sand ceremony instead of the unity candles. We used coarse and fine pink bath salts from The Dollar Tree. I found some glass creamers at Target and a jar with a lid to pour them into. We saved them for romantic baths in the future.

Here we are pouring them together for the ceremony. You could use 2 different colors to match your wedding colors. I was thinking of doing pink and brown, but I couldn't find brown bath salts.

I think that is about all for the wedding crafts. All of them were done very inexpensively and turned out better than I had thought they would.
 



Wagon of Love

My Maid of Honor gave me this idea for the flower girls and ring bearer in our wedding. She used the same wagon in her wedding. I was lucky it matched the pink in my wedding colors!

She lined it with crushed black velvet and painted it pale pink. I found a wooden heart at The Dollar Tree and used a sharpie and a pink marker to do the N H N (Nate and Nikki Hart). I glued some flowers around the heart with a hot glue gun, then glued the heart onto the wagon and that's about it! Pretty easy thanks to Trina.

 I would have liked to have done a better job on the N H N, but didn't have my art supplies on me at the last minute so I made due with my Mom's. The kids made it look even cuter when the sat inside!



This is my niece Maddison and my cousin Dylan in the wagon. They are so cute I have to share a few more pictures of them!

Nevaeh and Nijah, our flower fairies (more on them next!)

I think they stole the spotlight! I recomend this to anyone who wants multiple kids in their wedding. It makes it more fun for them and they are less likely to cry... unless they're afraid of wagons hahahaha!

Some crafts I did for our wedding...

I decided to share an old craft project I did for our wedding. I wished we could have done larger ones, but these turned out pretty cute. We used them at each table as centerpieces. My friends and I made about 50 of them out of different sized mason jars. We saved the lids and my aunt reused them for canned goods afterwords. It is a great recyclable way to decorate.

I got light pink and dark brown thick ribbon and skinny brown/pink (my wedding colors) from the craft section at Walmart. I did some like this^ and some opposite. My girlfriends and I cut enough ribbon to fit around the glass jars and glued the skinny ones on the thicker ones. I would use a hot glue gun for this project. You can get one for about $3.00 if you don't already have one! My friend sewed a few of them with hot pink thread too. I also got a bunch of fake flowers and picked them off the stems to glue on the ribbon. Try to line the seams up and glue the flower on top of that.

I didn't like the tops of the jars and I tried covering them with ribbon, but it didn't look right, so I go an idea to cover them in tacky glue and dip them in sand sparkles. I ran into a problem though... I looked everywhere and couldn't find the right sand. So I bought some white sand and put a little red food coloring and mixed it until I got to a shade of pink I liked. I also used the sand to hold the candles inside. I wish I still had a picture of the smaller ones I did... I put flowers inside and didn't use ribbons. Anyway that's about it! 

Day one!

Today I decided to make a blog! This winter has been so harsh and I figured this would be a good way to pass time and share some crafts and ideas. My husband Nate went up to the cabin with his Dad and Brother, so I am going to get creative this weekend.

A few weeks ago I found some glass paints at Unique Thrift Store. It was an awesome find! Only $2.80 for a bag of 5 colors. I looked harder and saw they had 3 bags, so I bought them all. I have never done glass painting... YET! I saw a bunch of painted martini glasses at Hallmark a few weeks ago and they were really cute. I flipped one over to check the price... $25.00!? Wow, I thought to myself, I could make that! I also know I could make better ones than the glasses they had on display. They would be great gifts too.

While at the thrift store I also found a pretty little glass with an amber stem. I am going to use that as a practice piece and to hold small candle I got as a door prize from a candle party. I found a small round candle holder at Walmart for $1.00. I am going to recycle a frosted candle holder and see how that turns out too.

I googled glass art and got some inspiration and design ideas. Every time I got or saw a creative idea, I sketched it. I have about 20+ sketches, so I better get some more glass! My goal is to get really good at glass painting and maybe start taking orders for personalized pieces or sets.  I will make a few pieces and give them to family and friends.

I also want to say I have started feeling the baby move in the last few days! I find out "what kind of baby" (as my husband says) on the 16th!