Summer trends

colour, yes COLOUR is over taking  fashion pages this summer.  what are your thoughts?  are you into the colored jegging fad (i own 6 pairs from tangerine to green and everything in between) or just adding punches of colour in your wardrobe with fun belts or cool nail colors?

you can check out my spring colour favs on my pinterest.

http://pinterest.com/trixiejunebug/summer-colour/

Pinterest and button bowls

I love Pinterest. In addition to being a great time waster, it has given me some really great recipes that I now make regularly, ideas for fashion, and crafts that I want to try. I probably spend 2 or 3 hours a week pinning and repinning stuff. I started to feel bad that I wasn't actually doing much with the ideas I pinned, so I decided to try one out. There is this really cool button bowl that a lot of people I know have pinned. I love how it looks - the blues are perfect, and the idea seemed so fun! You can find the bowl here. Only problem: the directions were slim - as in glue buttons around a ballon then pop it. Um, hello? What kind of glue should I use? Any tips on arranging the buttons? I googled "how to make a button bowl" and found some examples of failures - bowls collapsing, the buttons falling off, etc. I was not deterred. This weekend, I decided to make a button bowl for myself. And in case anyone else in interested, here is how I did it (although I would not recommend it as the most fun craft ever. The glue gave me a headache, it was pretty tedious, and took a really long time. Thank goodness I watch too much TV :)

So first, I went to the store and got a ton of pink buttons and a tacky glue pen. The pen works well because it lets you control the glue better. Then I got a box, and taped the bottom of the ballon to the box. This gave me better control over the ballon.

Then, I started gluing the buttons around the ballon. I started in the middle, working my way out to the side. I did one side at a time (the buttons start to slip a bit so I had to give it some drying time). I used a black marker to mark up the ballon, but I wouldn't recommend that since the marker transferred to the glue and is visible inside my bowl. Or maybe make smaller marks or a color that blends in with the buttons better? 

Once all the bottons were glued down and had a chance to dry, I covered the entire bowl with Hard Coat Mod Podge. I let it dry overnight.

When it was good and dried, I loosed the ballon and slowly popped it. The bowl didn't collapse as I feared it would! Take that, Pinterest! 

A Shower and Some S'mores

This weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to co-host a baby shower for a dear friend. It was a lot of fun planning and executing this shower. And I can't wait to meet her baby girl!

In preparing for this shower, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest. Have you joined Pinterest yet? It is amazing. Let me know if you NEED an invite! I will hook you up and you will curse me for months to come because it is so addicting. Moving on. Pinterest was a great inspiration for dessert ideas. I found two fabulous dessert recipes that I will use from now on - they are soooo good!

First, mini fruit pizza - the cookie recipe came from a friend, the idea to make mini fruit pizzas came from Pinterest. I made some delish sugar cookies:

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
1 C. Butter softened
1 C. sour cream--NOT low fat
2 C. sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla (I used Almond Extract)
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
4 tsp. Baking Powder
5 C. Flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add sour cream and mix. Add eggs and vanilla (or almond extract). Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually. Mix well. (It will be REALLY sticky, but that's ok). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour (until cold). Roll dough out 1/4 inch thick on WELL FLOURED SURFACE (I actually keep whatever I'm not using in the fridge until I use it, even while I'm making the cookies, because the dough needs to be really cold in order to work best). Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
I  then made some cream cheese frosting for them (one block of cream cheese, one tablespoon of lime, and enough powdered sugar to give them a nice consistency - about a cup). The morning of the shower I added slices of strawberry, some raspberries, blueberries, and a slice of kiwi. So good. I like them best cold, but they were a hit even at room temperature. Wish I had a closer picture, but as you can see, the plate is mostly empty!

Second, S'more cups. Oh my. So good. I eat them 4 at a time. It is not good :)

They are so easy to make! The recipe came from here. Make these. You will not regret it.

S'more Cups

7 whole graham crackers (1 cup finely crushed) 

1/4 cup powdered sugar 

6 tablespoons butter, melted 

4 bars (1.55 oz each) milk chocolate candy, divided 

12 large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place graham crackers into a large resealable plastic bag. Finely crush into crumbs. Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and butter in a small bowl. Place 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture in each cup of a mini muffin pan. Press crumbs to form shallow cups. Bake 4-5 minutes or until edges are bubbling. Meanwhile, break two of the candy bars into rectangles. Remove pan from oven; place one rectangle into each cup.

Cut marshmallows in half crosswise using shears dipped in cold water. Place one marshmallow half, cut-side down, into each cup. Return to oven 1-2 minutes or until marshmallows are slightly softened. Remove pans from oven to cooling rack; cool 15 minutes. Carefully remove cups from pan. Cool completely.

Break remaining candy bars and place in small microwavable bowl. Microwave on high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring every 20 seconds. Dip the top of each marshmallow in melted chocolate. Turn top-side up and let stand 40 to 60 minutes or until set. Makes 24 cups.

And third, my amazing sister, baker and owner of Sarah's Speciality Sweets, made this beautiful cake and drove it from Scranton PA to Virginia!! Best sister ever. 

What a super fun weekend full of good friends, good food, and great memories! Hope you all had a great weekend too!