Cupcake Roses from a Coat Hook!

Tomorrow night we're having a special night at our church for some young pre-teens. I've decided to do something different. Okay, okay, call me Rebel is you want! Hah. But I was thinking of some pretty roses on some cupcakes. Now, I cannot for the life of me do them with the cake decorator tubes so I have to improvise. Below will tell you what I did. Read on, chickadees and bunnies!!

I have a little coat hook that I've had for probably 15 years. As I've said before, there is rarely anything and I mean anything in my home that isn't beautiful, and if not beautiful, then useful. Jack excepted here!! Um hmmmm........okay. So anyway I thought well, why can't I make a mold out of that little rose coat hook? I did.......

I took some Sculpy and just pressed it into the rose and baked it in the oven. Then put it in the freezer to harden quickly because I was in a hurry to get them done to put on the cupcakes.

Here is the finished product. Voilà!! So easy. Now, of course, I used some fondant I bought at the store today but it was like Sculpy only softer and sticky like sugar. I used red food color because they don't have pink. But I kept adding water to get a pinky color and it turned out quite well actually. So here you see the different colors: white, red, pinky. Just fun and soooooo easy to do.

Bunny Bowl, Bunny Bowl, Who Is Your New Owner?!

Oh, bunny bowl, bunny bowl, who will your new owner turn out to be?? Hmmm, give me just a minute to cut up the names, put them into your innards and pick a name.........................................

The winner is

Shirl!!!
Congratulations, my little chickadee.

I'll try and get it out today if Jack cooperates!

Vintage Valentine Swap or "I Ate the Bunnies Ears"!!

The bunnies ears are missing!!

No, not entirely true as you can see from these pictures. There isn't a bunny but there is a lot of candy..........uhhhhh, I mean there was a lot of candy - Spokandy - my partner was from Spokane. As you can see from the fifth photo I ate part of the cherry vanilla fudge. I tell you I couldn't wait to get this photographed yesterday so I could delve (a nice way of putting "pig out"!) into that cherry vanilla confection! My mouth was drooling. Well, I just "ate the bunnies ears" on that confection, but I finished off the chocolate heart with the angel on it. Oooooh my it was delish!!!!! I savored and enjoyed it until it sent me running to "la salle de bains" as chocolate has a habit of doing that to me. BUT trust me, it was worth every step there!!

Look at that lovely box Catie made me. All hot fuchsia pink and covered with roses, pearls, lace, netting, sequins, foamy hearts and an embroidered patch with my name on it!! WOW, what a creative chickee she is. Then she added a little wire basket with PINK beads on it. Chocolate fudge, cherry vanilla fudge, 2 little purple danglies, 5 or 6 sheets of ephemera, a beautiful tag, a valentine shaped notepad, a vintage pink and white doily, a little plastic heart with an angel inside, a heart and a hand cookie cutter and some vintage sheets of bingo cards. This chick is soooooo creative and on the ball!! I love everything she sent.

Just look at the close up here of this frou frou-y delight!

The other 3 sides of the box have little glitter foam hearts.

Here we can see where I "nibbled at the bunny ears"!! I've never had cherry vanilla fudge before but it was creamy and smooth and ooohh soooooo good!
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Thank you so much to Catiean for this delightful and much appreciate mix of romantic valentines and confections.

Chick, Bunny and Rose Plates I Found Today!!

Are these adorable or what?!?! I went to the "big city" today for fabric and to eat out with hubby and found these also. Jack wanted me to get more of the roses plates! Will wonders never cease?! But I said "no" that 2 are enough. I truly had to restrain myself but what am I going to do with 4 rose plates when I already have more than I can hang on the walls, fit into cabinets, lean against baseboards and stuff in boxes in the attic. Am I having a senior moment or what?! I think hubby was also stunned at me for turning down extra roses plates! Hmmmmm....... Anyway, here they are. My group of PRH sisters on an ebay group (who I refer to as chicks, chickees, chickadees, bunnies, sweets, sweetpeas, gals and various other terms of endearment - bratski for my daughter who is a member) of decorating and creating romantic homes will probably drool over these. And look at that little pink hearts bag in the background. It is adorable also. In fact, I'm sure they'll drool but they are mine. However...........................tune in tomorrow!

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Okay!!!!!!!!! Now for the good part on this saturday......... I'm going to be giving away the bunny bowl. All you have to do is respond to this post and your name goes in a hat for a drawing next week to win it. Simple and easy. Even men could figure this one out! Hah. I love men!!

Don't Tell Me You're Photographing My Food Again!!

And this is after it's cooked for about 9 hours! It's yummy!!

OR the Great Chile Recipe!!
OR hubbies just don't get "blogging"!!

I've made chili for 45 years but decided about 7 or 8 years ago to come up with my own recipe instead of making it from a cookbook. I like it much better. The main reason is the chili powders I found back then. The pictures below are a pot of chili that is simmering on my stove today. I cook it all day long so the pot below isn't simmered down yet, but I am very visual and have to include pix with most everything I send people. (Much to their consternation, I afraid.) :-) Anyway, today I'm sharing with you a truly great recipe with specialty chili powders that you can find at most any Mexican market. DO NOT use the regular chili powder you see in the spice section of your local supermarkets; the taste difference is definitely in the chili powder. Oh, and the alcohol in the wine cooks off for those of us who are non-alcoholic drinkers. (ME!) But the taste is superb and the recipe is below scanned from my actual recipe card.

Oh, and if your hubby views this over your shoulder and wonders at the pix????? Just tell him it's a chick "blogger" thing! He'll never understand that, but then again, hubbies just don't get the blogger OR the shabby thing!! Hah. But that's another story completely, chickadees! Sigh.............