Sutch an Inspiration {delicious} Edition

Hi, All!  How are your holiday preparations coming along?  I have all of my presents bought.  I think that is a first for me.  I'm usually running up and down the aisles of Target on Christmas Eve grabbing last minute gifts.

Well, it might be a little late to make something new to decorate your home for the holidays or give as a gift, but it's not too late to make dessert!  :)  Here is a quick round up of some holiday yumminess!  Feast your eyes on these delightful desserts:

Hello, Sinfully Delicious!  The hubs would flip, FLIP for these brownie covered Oreos that Michelle from Polka Dots & Pizza made.

I love trifle!  It's so super duper easy to make and is always a crowd pleaser.   I'm pretty sure I could dive into this cappuccino mousse trifle that Jillian made over at Heart of a Country Home.

One of my favorite desserts is apple pie, and this one looks divine!  Katy from Crafty Mama shares this tasty recipe.

This festive popcorn would make a perfect last minute gift!  It's fun and affordable! :)  Abbi from My Garden of Eden shares the super simple recipe.

Madigan from madigan made might be my new best friend for introducing me to these peanut butter cookies stuffed with Reese's peanut butter cups!  Holy WOW!

What dessert(s) will you make for the holidays?  I've had a sweet tooth lately so cookies, pie, and cake are in order.  :)

Let Them Eat Cake

Hello and happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I was busy, busy!  I finished, yes FINISHED Christmas shopping, baked and decorated two cakes, and celebrated our first Christmas of the year with my in laws!  It was spectacular!

The hubs had a birthday on Friday so I made him this super duper MINI Cooper cake!  Isn't it the coolest?  He has worked for MINI for almost seven years so it was the perfect cake for him.  My favorite part are the Oreo wheels!

Then I made this ornament cake for Christmas with my in laws.  I was inspired by this cake over at KraftRecipes.com.  Betty Crocker I am not so I used a box mix but to give it my own little twist, I added half a bag of chocolate chips to the cake batter before baking it.  I decorated it with a combination of icing, gel, sprinkles, and candies.  I topped it off with an ice cream cone and red licorice lace ornament hanger.

Since I'm showing off some cakes, here is one I made a couple of years ago.  It's a mint chocolate chip cake.  I added chocolate chips to the batter before baking it and added a little peppermint extract to the icing.  It's absolutely delicious.  I even topped it off with peppermint treats!  This one is always a huge crowd pleaser!

What are your go to Christmas/holiday treats?

I'll be linking up to these wonderfully fantastic parties!

Gingerbread and Pumpkin Trifle

Hello, Gorgeous Crafts & Sutch Readers!  :)  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  The monkey and I went shopping on Saturday at a thrift shop to find some clothes for his Halloween costume.  He is going to be Frankenstein because he already has got the walk down!  :)  We scored on some pants and a little blazer that I'm going to refashion and Frank up for next Sunday.

On to the deliciousness that is this final EEK WEEKS project!  A bowl full of fall goodness...gingerbread and pumpkin trifle!

Now I'm no Betty Crocker by any means, but I do enjoy a good dessert and I especially love making them when they are super, duper easy!  I've dumbed down this recipe from Paula Deen and it is pure heaven.

I followed Paula's recipe but substituted six vanilla pudding cups for the cook and serve vanilla pudding.  I also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the whipped topping a la Sandra Lee.  I've made this trifle several times and I always come home with rave reviews and an empty dish.

If you want to dumb it down even more (which I've done) or you are in a time crunch, buy gingerbread or pumpkin bread from your local bakery or grocery store.  It's just as delicious, looks just as fabulous, and saves you time.

Coming up this week:  Sutch an Inspiration, Kason's Frankenstein costume, and some fall decor.  :)  I can't believe this is the last week of October.  It has flown by and I have to admit I'm going to miss seeing all of the black and orange around blogland.  Have a super week!

I'll be linking up to some of my favorite parties!

ONE Out of this World Birthday Party

I cannot believe my little guy is ONE! This year has just flown by. We celebrated this past weekend with an Out of this World birthday party!

I started party planning by researching space themed parties on the Internet to get some ideas I could run with.  I found some great ideas here and here.

Invitation:  These super cute invitations that I made over at Picnik set the fun and spacey tone for the party!

 

Decorations:   I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot software to create a few banners.  This one is a countdown banner with a NASA rocket blasting off at the end. 

 This banner hung across another window in our living room.  It said, "Happy Birthday Kason!"

We bedecked the mantle with more NASA rockets.  Those are actually design your own shields that I found at Michael's Craft Store but I decided that when I flipped them over, they became rockets.  I covered them in aluminum foil and glued on a NASA symbol that I printed off of the Internet.  My husband's claim to fame are the flames! :)  

The rocket on the mantle is made from two formula canisters stacked on top of each other and wrapped in foil.  I cut the top and the fins (not sure of the technical term LOL) from craft foam and glued on an image of Kason looking out of the port hole.  :)  

The poster was such a deal!  I ordered it from PosterBrain.com for $14.99!  You read that right!  They are having a sale right now, and a 24"x36" poster print is only $14.99!  The quality was outstanding and I got this baby ordered and delivered in three days!

Four dozen balloons covered the ceiling to replicate a starry sky and we stapled stars onto the streamers and let them hang down into the room.

Kason's highchair was dressed up with some spacey bunting and a giant number one balloon.  The triangles are decorated with a UFO, a planet, stars, and the word ONE.  His party hat (which he didn't ever wear) is wrapped with ribbon and topped off with a big, brown pom pom.

Food:  His party was at three in the afternoon, so I thought a choice of desserts was the best way to go.  The treats were displayed in aluminum foil pans (easy clean up) and silver bowls.

We had Crater Cupcakes!  Little cakes that were dressed up to look like the top of the moon.  Each one had a Teddy Graham astronaut and an American flag on it. 

Moon Rock Rice Crispy Treats were topped off with a craft foam moon buggy that I found at Michael's on clearance.  Black Hole Banana Pudding had one chocolate chip stuck in the middle and the person who found the chip won a spacey prize.

Cosmic cookies were store bought and time friendly! :)

Beverages included Liquid Hydrogen lemonade and Rocket Fuel tea.

Kason's birthday cake was inspired from this Lunar Cake I found at Kraft.  I put my own spin on it and made it silver with crunchy moon rooks (silver sprinkles) on top.

No space party is complete without some starry-like bubbles dancing around the sky!  I found a small bubble machine at Wal-Mart for $6.00!  :)  The kids loved it, but we could only leave it on for a little while.  It started making the play mat super slick! :)

Planet Goody Balls:  Each kiddo got a planet goody ball filled with...well, goodies! :)  The big kids got squishy alien-like balls, blast off bubbles, a party horn, an asteroid ball, alien stickers, a flying saucer, starry headbands (for girls), and Starburst candy.

We sat them by the door with each kiddos party hat on top.  The party hats were too much fun.  They had shiny pipe cleaners with googly eyes glued on to them stuck in the top of each hat.  :) Very alien-like!

Kason's party was a spacey success and everyone had an amazing time!  We are so very blessed to have  friends and family love us the way they do!

I hope you are inspired to have an Out of This World party for you kiddo too! :)

Linking up to these super great parties and