Baby Girl Bucket

My daughter's teacher from last school year is due any day now with her baby girl. We wanted to give her a little gift to say congrats. She is a super sweet person and I absolutely LOVED her teaching style. It was so enjoyable to visit her class as I volunteered for different activities or parties. She will also be a great mom!

For this gift, I used a pink galvanized bucket similar to the ones I used for Easter, but this one I found in the gardening section at Target and it's just a bit bigger. I cut out her name in white vinyl using my Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the Cricut. I like to use the "tall ball" option on the cartridge for names. After I applied the name, it needed just a little more pretty, so I tied three pieces of ribbon to one side of the handle. What's inside the bucket? ---A cute baby toy with different textures and colors and a baggie with hair accessories for baby. It has a couple cute hair bows, a big, brown gerbera daisy hair clip and some headbands. I hope mom and baby enjoy the gift!

A- Day 2011

Laci showin' some love for the Crimson Tide!

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! We certainly did!
Now switching gears a little bit. I wanted to share the pics from the A-Day game we went to a couple weeks ago. It's the University of Alabama's spring football game in case you're wondering what that is. It was a breezy, sunny day to watch some football and take in all the sights surrounding A-Day. Why do we go to A-Day games? See the picture below of my dad's shirt! Roll Tide!

Kyle, Lena and Laci

Rama Jama's restaurant, which is right across from the stadium. We stood in line a while, but it was worth it for that good cheeseburger and onion rings!



Lena and Laci waiting on lunch. This place was so packed. Seriously the line was out the door. If you saw someone get up from a table, you grabbed it or you may not have a place to eat!

The guy table!

Flag football game before the actual football game.

We always enjoy going to this game with my family and spending time together. It was a fun day!

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Just thought I'd share one more treat with you before Easter. These little cuties are Easter Basket Cupcakes. I think big and little kids alike wouldn't mind these baskets for an Easter dessert!

To make them,I baked cupcakes using a boxed yellow cake mix(you could use your favorite). After they cooled, I frosted them with vanilla frosting I had tinted green with a few drops of food coloring. I also tinted coconut with green food coloring for the grass effect that I sprinkled on top of the frosting. I added three Cadbury mini eggs and then put in a chenille stem into each side of the cupcake for the basket "handle." Just remind kids that they can't actually hold their cupcake by the "handle" and to remove the chenille stem before they eat it!

I hope all of you have a very happy Easter!

Cottontail Cones

Here's a cute and quick Easter treat idea for ya!-- Cottontail Cones! These little cones are adorable and would make a fun goodie for an Easter party or a cute addition to your dessert table.

I first saw an idea similar to this a couple years ago in Paula Deen Magazine. You know Paula! She always has cute stuff in her magazine, y'all. Well, I had to give these a try with a little twist. I filled my cones with Cadburry robin eggs! The best Easter candy ever!


To make Cottontail Cones, fill sugar cones with your favorite, small sized Easter candy and top cone with cotton candy! Enjoy and be sure to stop by Mandy's Recipe Box for Totally Tasty Tuesdays where I'm sharing this idea and for other yummy recipes!

Easter Buckets

These will be the kids' Easter buckets this year. I couldn't pass them up when I saw them in Target's Dollar Spot. They are galvanized buckets that are a bit smaller than an Easter basket, but they are a little bigger than the buckets they have had many times in the Dollar Spot. Great spring colors, too! We'll be using these for Easter treats and goodies, but not for hunting eggs. They will need a little more room for that. Good thing I have the other 25 baskets and buckets from past Easters out in our storage building......... Okay, maybe not 25, but close.

I used my Cricut to cut each of the kid's names and applied them to their buckets. Quick, simple and cute! Ivy will love the pink one since she is all about pink at the moment. Laci will love the green since she is so anti-pink right now. Trent, well, I don't think he cares one way or another as long as it has some goodies in it!

Strawberry Cobbler

Two words. Strawberry. Cobbler. Oh-my! It is so good! Possibly one of the best desserts I have ever put in my mouth! Seriously! The first time I tasted a strawberry cobbler was just last summer at Peach Park in Clanton, AL. Now, being the southern girl that I am, I thought I had eaten just about every kind of cobbler their was; peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, apple cobbler, chocolate cobbler and my grandmother even makes a sweet potato cobbler. But no, I don't remember any strawberry cobbler. Trust me, I did not forget it when I had it last summer. I'm not sure why it took me so long to make one, but this is a great recipe. It is sweet, with a gooey, yummy strawberry filling and the crust. Oh the crust! It's light, yet has that little bit of crisp on the top and the sugar sprinkled over it makes this crust even better! Plus, it's a good time to make your strawberry desserts because they are in season and at a good price! So, go get you some strawberries and I'm thinking most of you have the other ingredients already in your pantry and make this! Get the recipe below!

Check out Miz Helen's Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday where I'm sharing this recipe today and Lark's Country Heart for Made It On Monday! Wait, there's one more! Visit Sweet As Sugar Cookie's, Sweets For A Saturday as well!





Strawberry Cobbler
3 c. fresh strawberries, cut into fourths(can use 3 c. frozen strawberries,thawed)
2 c. sugar
1 stick butter
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
2 Tbsp. sugar

Combine strawberries and 1 c. sugar.(If you're using frozen strawberries,mix with only 1/2 c. sugar)Melt butter in a 9x13 dish. Mix remaining 1 c. sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and milk together. Pour into dish. DO NOT STIR. Top with the strawberry mixture. DO NOT STIR. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.Let cool for about 5 minutes and sprinkle 2 Tbsp. sugar over crust. Makes 8-10 servings.

Poor Man's Lasagna Rolls

Today I have a recipe to share for Poor Man's Lasagna Rolls that I found at Little Kitchen On The Prairie. This recipe caught my eye because it looked sooo tasty and was a little more cost effective than a regular lasagna. Don't get me wrong, my family loves homemade lasagna, but it is an expensive dish. Once you by three different cheeses the cost goes up! We usually save it for special occasions. So these lasagna rolls are a good alternative. We gave them a thumbs up!



Poor Man's Lasagna Rolls
from Little Kitchen On The Prairie
adapted slightly by Missy

10 lasagna noodles
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can or jar pasta sauce
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg slightly beaten

Cook lasagna noodles. Drain and set aside. Brown ground beef and onion. Drain.Transfer beef to a bowl and add 1/4 c. pasta sauce,1/2 c. cheese, and egg.Mix together.

Spread each lasagna noodle with about 1/3 c. or so of the meat mixture.Carefully roll up the noodle and place seam side down in an ungreased 13x9 pan. Pour remaining sauce over top. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake, uncovered, for about 5 to 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Blast From The Past- My Stamped Cards

Wow! What a blast from the past! I was browsing through some of our backed up pictures and came across some of the cards that I've made. Just thought I'd share a few of them today.

Their was a time that I made all of my own cards; b'day, wedding, baby. You name it! And used to be an avid stamper. I'm sure Stampin' Up loved me because I gave them lots of business! I just don't have the desire to stamp that much at the moment. I get my stamps out every now and then and do a few things here and there,usually stamping things other than cards, and maybe I'll get back into it later, but for now I'm enjoying other types of crafting a bit more.Have a good day and enjoy creating something!

Struesel Apple Pie Minis

I absolutely love mini and individual desserts. They are just so cute and petite! Love em! So I came up with these adorable Struesel Apple Pie Minis. Bite size goodness..........well, maybe two bites! My family loved these!!

Get the recipe below and stop by Miz Helen's Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday, where I'm sharing this as well.




1. Roll out one refrigerated pie crust until it's about a 13-inch round circle.

2. Cut out the crusts for your pies with a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.


3. Put your crusts into mini muffin tin, pushing crust up edges.


4. Fill cups with about 1 Tbsp. of apple pie filling. You could use a fresh apple filling, too.


5. Make struesel topping :

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. quick oats
1/4 c. butter, softened
Put all ingredients in small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or fork until it is combined and resembles coarse crumbs.


6.Sprinkle struesel topping on top of pie filling. I didn't use a specific amount. Just enough to cover the pie filling. I did have some struesel topping left over, which would be good for muffins.

7. Bake pies at 350 for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Yield:24 mini pies

Bridal Shower Dessert Buffet- Part 2

I have a few more pictures and a recipe to share with you for part 2 of our dessert buffet. See yesterday's post for part 1.

We chose to go with 2 different flavors of cupcakes. We got really wild and went with chocolate and vanilla! Ha! Ha! They turned out yummy, as well as cute! My sister purchased damasked cupcake liners from Fancy Flours.Look in their Printed Design-Baking Cups section. The package said they would retain their color and design during baking. I was a little skeptical, but they did! The liners were just as cute and vibrant as when they went into the oven!


Here are the cupcakes along with chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter balls and an empty platter for the chocolate dipped strawberries. Guess I should have waited to take this picture!

You can get the recipe for the peanut butter balls here!


I thought I'd also show the napkins I personalized for the shower. I used simple white dinner napkins and stamped an "A" and a pretty scroll design with black Staz-On ink. It's important to use Staz-On ink, which "stays on" its surface rather than a water based ink that could rub off. We wouldn't want people wiping black ink all over their mouths! Yikes!

Stop by tomorrow for Struesel Apple Pie Minis!