American Crafter Auditions Taking Place Now!!

Hey everyone!

Go check out the American Crafter Auditions going on at Naptime Crafter. There are tons of great prizes!

Have a great Thursday!

Fabric Covered Orbs

Last Christmas time I saw this post about fabric wrapped ornaments on Under The Table and Dreaming. I thought it would be a great project to help decorate up my lving room.

I got a bunch of styrofoam balls that were my Grandmother's over Thanksgiving and I used the leftover fabric from my Roman Shades as a starting off point for color inspiration. I really like how they turned out. I think they kind of look like round Easter Eggs :).

I love the way they look in my chicken wire basket I got at Hobby Lobby!

It was a pretty easy project that didn't take very long (once I started)!  I used my rotary cutter to cut the strips instead of tearing them. I also used 4 different size of styrofoam balls.

Here is the lengths I cut for each size ball

4" ball- 12 1/2" strips (3/4"-1" wide)

3" ball- 10 1/4" strips (3/4"-1" wide)

2" ball- 8 1/4" strips (3/4" wide)

1 1/2" ball- 6 1/2" strips (3/4" wide)

Place the first piece down with straight pins.

Then cover up each set of straight pins until no styrofoam is showing.

I will be linking up with some of These Parties!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wordless Wednesday- Someone's in Trouble!

Linking Up Here with MamaDweeb,

Happy Valentine's Day- Creamy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! I hope that all your days are filled with love!  Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays- always has been. Even when I was in my late teens and never had a boyfriend on this day. I just love making Valentine's for my family and friends and sharing the love! 

This Valentine's Day I made some yummy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes for my coworkers, hubby and family.  I also got a new frosting decorator so they are really pretty! It made it so easy to make the swirl on the cupcakes.  I wasn't able to eat them due to dietary restrictions but I have it on pretty good authority that they were yummy.

I used a chocolate cupcake recipe I have used before.  I omitted the almond extract just because I didn't have it on hand. It is so good. Moist and yummy!

For the frosting I used a new recipe found here. I ended up using partially chunky peanut butter (I ran out of smooth!) and a little more milk than it called for. This is a good recipe for frosting- my coworkers absolutley loved it. Plus it looks really cute on the cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

10 Tbsp Butter

 1 1/4 cup white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flower

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In large bowl mix butter and sugar with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend until smooth.

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and then add to wet ingredients. Add milk. Mix until just blended.

Pour into cupcake liners. Fill liners 2/3 full.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean from center of cupcake.

Let cool completely on rack. Frost with your favorite frosting. I used Whipped Peanut Butter Frosting.

Whipped Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used about 1/4 cup crunchy)

2 cups powdered sugar

milk as needed

Combine butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar in large bowl. Mix until well blended.

Add small amount of milk, blending until you get consistancy you want. I added about 5 Tbsp total.

I would not recommend using chunky peanut butter if you are going to use a cake decorating dispenser. Some of the chunks got stuck in the tip and made it a little frustrating to decorate!

Enjoy!!

I had originally planned on putting Reese's Peanut Butter hearts on all of the cupcakes, but they were not quite as cute as I though they would be. Also my husband told me they were way too rich with the additional Reese's on top so I just put them on some.

I will be sharing with some of These Parties!

Have a great Valentine's Day and Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Fried Rice- From Zoe's Kitchen

I love chinese food- I love it so much in fact that I shouldn't order it because I would eat the whole box (probably more than 2,000 calories)! So here is my "slimmer" version of chicken fried rice. My husband even approves! I love this because it doesn't take too long and it fits into my new diet (I will talk about THAT more next Friday).

Chicken Fried Rice

2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces

olive oil

1 med. onion

1 bag stir fry mix ( I like the asparagus or snap pea mix)

4 cups cooked brown rice

2 eggs

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp curry powder

1 Tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add raw chicken pieces.

Cook until they are 165 degrees F.

Add sliced onions- saute until they are clear.

Add stir fry mix and cook until tender- usually about 7 minutes.

Add cooked rice to skillet and stir.

Add all seasonings at this point.

Crack eggs over top of the rice and turn up heat.

Cook over high heat, stirring frequently until eggs are done.

Enjoy!!

I will be linking up with some of These Parties!

Thanks for stopping by!