Books I Crave

Amy Atlas is smart, clever, and oh so crafty. She invented the dessert table phenom that's kind of sweeping the nation. Her blog provides more inspiration in a single post then one girl can handle. I can spend hours sifting through the details on her blog, so you can imagine how excited I am to buy the book! Sweet Designs: Bake It, Craft It, Style It will be published on April 24th...and you know I already pre-ordered a copy. The anticipation is killing me!

SprinkleBakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist is another book that I'm really looking forward to. I like how Heather Baird combines sweets with art. Baking is an art. It takes a certain level of skill to make a dessert look really great.

I. need. these. books.

Acorns, and squirrels, and leaves..oh my!

I made these sugar cookies for my family's fish fry over the weekend. My brother is an avid fisherman who caught enough fish to feed my gi-normous family (thanks, Eric!). I used the basic sugar cookie recipe from Cookie Craft. I love this book for fun decorating ideas. If you're looking for a way to eliminate the hassle of trying to make sugar cookies, then you need this book. I learned how to use cookie slats to roll out the dough to a perfect 1/4 inch. I also learned the trick to rollout the dough before refrigerating. The cookies cut out really easy if the dough is stif

A co-worker shared how to make these super easy acorns with me. She saw them used as cupcake toppers at a bake sale. It's really more of a craft project. You need mini nilla wafers, kisses, and baking chips. I used the multi-color nilla wafers, milk chocolate kisses (the candy corn variety would look great), and Reese's peanut butter chips. I used leftover icing from the sugar cookies to "glue" the components together. The acorns were a huge hit at the party. The little kids enjoyed them the most!

Here's a close up of the cookies. I wanted to add additional decorations, but time ran out. I think they turned out okay. I'm working on my piping skills...it's definitely a work in progress!

Play Like a Toddler

It's awesome to be Stella's Mom. She's 2 1/2 which is a fun time filled with exploration and learning. The real cool thing is I get to play, too. I'll admit that sometimes I'm not necessarily in the mood to color, but after I join Stella, it always lifts my mood. We build tall towers with blocks. We empty the coins from the piggy bank and separate them by size. Quarters are "big money" and dimes are "teensies". We read books like Where the Wild Things Are, Pinkalicious, and I Spy With My Little Eye (the art work is amazing). We draw and color monsters and birds and airplanes and elephants.

The other day I told Paul that I can't wait until we can start making crafts with construction paper and glitter and glue. Stella will soon be able to wield children's scissors, but what am I waiting for? Why not buy the supplies now and get our craft on?

Need proof that playing is good for the soul? Check out this article from Tiny Buddha.