Powdered Sugar Heart Brownie Cupcakes

For bookclub this month I wanted to make something Valentine-y
because we were actually holding our meeting on Valentine's Day (most of
us either weren't celebrating or were celebrating on another night) ;)

So, I had a look at www.lifemadedelicious.com and found this Valentine Brownie Cupcakes Recipe.



Seriously easy!
Yuo just make the brownie mix like you normally would, spray cupcake papers with cooking spray, and put 2 tbsp of batter into each section of your muffin/cupcake pan.


Then you peel the paper off, let your brownie cupcakes cool upside down, cut out a little paper heart and put it on top (which is what would normally be the bottom). Sprinkle with icing sugar, carefully remove paper, & you have your heart!


I have to say that mine did not turn out as nice as the photo on the website & I was really trying hard! ;)
Out of the dozen that I made, here's what I got:

If you've tried this before, or if you DO try it,
please let me know if you find a secret to getting those hearts to come out clearer!

News From General Mills:

Are you stocking up on cereal this month? General Mills has their free movie tickets & snacks deal going on again! (watch for specially-marked cereal, Old El Paso®, Nature Valley® and Betty Crocker® child snacks)
I've already used a couple of them! (Went to see Les Miserables with my Mom! :)

Also, peanut butter Cheerios... have you seen these? I haven't spotted them yet, but I hear they're out on shelves this month! If you check out the Life Made Delicious Facebook Page, fans will be able to grab a coupon for FREE Peanut Butter Cheerios with purchase of other Cheerios flavours including: Apple Cinnamon, Banana, and Chocolate.

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Monday Moments: "I just don't want to be peg-rant"

I just don't want to grow up and be your age.
I just want to get married when I'm 6.

how will you have enough money?

piggy bank.

oh. and what will you need the money for?

getting married.

And what will you need it for after you get married?

candy and buying things.... like candy..and lollipops...
...and a bunk bed and curtains... and dollies for my children.

What about a house? will you live in a house?

I'll live in this house because I want to still live with you- I want to be with my family even though I'll be married... but I want to get married, but I just don't want to be peg-rant (pregnant ;)

Week in Review & February Sharing Time 2013

Here's February's Sharing Time Linky- I can't wait to see what you link up this week!

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This week I shared a tutorial on how to make a Candy Cake of my 365 project.


I shared my dreams of what I would spend $50,000 on.


Talia shared her DIY Doll Furniture.


and I shared Week 5 of my 365 project. (I think I'll be sharing these photos monthly from here on)

Build Your Own Doll Furniture with Blocks

I love it when my kids get creative without any encouragement from me.
It's so fun to see what they can come up with on their own.

Talia knows that we have a blog- that we share fun ideas on it, with other parents, so they can try them with their kids if they want to. She knows that sometimes we try out products and share our experience on the blog.

Well, after she made this furniture out of our Megabloks, I told her what a good job I thought she had done and how creative she was. Then she suggested we should take a picture to share it on the blog incase other kids want to try it :)

So, here you are! What a fun thing to do!

Dreaming of $50,000 #GoldenKitten

What would you do with $50,000 cash?

Here is my honest answer: I would save it.

But that is not fun to imagine, is it? So, here’s what I would dream of doing with $50,000 if I had to spend it! I would dream of an amazing trip to Disney World for our family, I would dream of a second vehicle, I would dream of a new camera and lenses and a beautiful camera bag, I would dream of my own ipad, and man, when you give yourself permission to spend a LOT of money (in your mind), it is really fun to think about! $50,000 can buy a lot, my friends!


So, take a moment. What does your dream bubble have in it?

Okay, now imagine this- The Royale Golden Kittens 50th Anniversary promotion! There are 500 instand-win prizes up for grabs! 440 Golden Kitten Tickets are hidden inside specially marked Royale bathroom tissue, facial tissue, paper towel and dinner napkins and 60 are located online through royale.ca or the Royal Kittens Facebook Page (there is a fun game to play first, for your chance to win a ticket!)



If you get a golden ticket, you just enter your PIN code online and you could win one of 500 instant-win prizes – before being entered to win the $50,000 grand-prize or one of four runner-up prizes!

Instant win prizes include:
- Samsung TVs
- Samsung Tablets
- Samsung Blu-Ray Players
- SpaFinder Gift Cards
- Limited Edition ROYALE Kittens (plush)

Did you catch that? You could be spending $50,000 FOR REALS!!!

So, um... GO FORTH AND WIN!

Disclosure – I am participating in the Golden Kittens Blog Tour by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Royale. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Easy Colorful Crunchy Candy Cake (a.k.a. the Kit Kat Cake :)

This post was originally published at www.sugaranddots.com as a guest post.
I thought it was time to share it with my readers here! :)

I made a Kit Kat Candy Cake for a cake auction. This baby went for over $100!

You may have seen this idea before (I traced it back to this post). I loved the idea and decided to make a few alterations- making it really easy to make, and even more colorful and crunchy!
You'll need:

Project 365 - Week 5

This year I've decided to take on Project 365.

Here's what I've challenged myself to:



...and here's week 5:

Week in Review & February Sharing Time 2013

Here's February's Sharing Time Linky- I'm loving all of the links up so far!

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This week I shared week 4 of my 365 project.


I posted a tutorial on how to do a Love One Another Wall- a fun way to get your family to be aware of showing love to others.


...and I posted over at HowDoesShe about How to Teach Your Kids to Use the Library.


Don't miss those fun posts!

Fun Learning with the Library!

This week I wrote about some fun ways to teach your children about using the library for learning.



Check it out at HowDoesShe here!

Project 365 - Week 4

This year I've decided to take on Project 365.

Here's what I've challenged myself to:



...and here's week 4:

February Sharing Time

Here's February's Sharing Time Linky- a week late this month, so I hope you'll post something from last week, too!

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These last 2 weeks I've shared week 2 and week 3 of my 365 project.


Last week I posted about my love letter books idea.


...and How to Make a Playlist on Youtube.

...and this week I posted about a very fun Barbie Surprise at Talia's birthday party, and a fun Cheezie game that we played at our family reunion. :)

Don't miss those fun posts!

The Cheezie Game! (A.K.A. The Cheese Head Game)

Ever heard of the Cheezie game? (or we could call it the Cheese Head Game... I like that ;)




I hadn't, but my sister in law found it online while we researched a fun game to play with the kids at a family reunion. It was a hit with the young kids, so I thought I'd share it with you here!

You'll Need:
- A couple of bags of Cheezies
- A can of shaving cream
- A shower cap
- Some garbage bags
(none of these need to be expensive or high quality since
they won't be used for eating/shaving/holding garbage)

Here's What You Do:

1. Get a brave volunteer to wear a garbage bag for protection
(put one under them on the floor, too, for eazy clean up),
and a shower cap on their head.

2. Cover their shower cap with shaving cream...


3. Designate a line for the kids to stand behind and let them fill their fists with Cheezies. Then shout, "Ready? Set! GO!" and let them throw their Cheezies at the soon-to-be-cheese-heads!


4. Inevitably, your cheese head will try to catch a snack in his/her mouth, your kids will ignore the line they're supposed to stand behind (and you'll let them, because they're more successful when they get to dump the Cheezies right on the cheese head anyway ;) More fun that way!


Such a simple game to get going, and a big hit!
I hope you'll give it a try & have lots of fun with it!

(and you could totally just do this at home with your kids- no need for a reunion or kids' activity day! ;)

A Fabulous Barbie Surprise! (Sponsored by Mega Bloks)

Last time we hosted MommyParties® sponsored by Mega Bloks®, the girls knew about it in advance. This time, I kept it to myself as a surprise for Talia because her birthday party was going to be the place for the party, and I wanted the toys to be a total surprise to her and to her guests. (So, I was the one bursting with excitement when the box of toys arrived at our door!)

It was so hard to keep the secret! I actually shared the secret with Katrina (my 4 year old) and almost regretted that decision when she told me she had shown Talia the box of gifts I had wrapped:



Luckily, when I questioned Talia about what Katrina had shown her, all she knew was that there were a couple of surprise gifts for her party (she had only seen two, and had no idea what was inside).

Talia was totally excited when she opened the first surprise gift:
(the Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build 'n Style Pool Party)



The kids all gathered around to see what would be inside of the other gift (the Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build 'n Style Luxury Mansion which she had her eye on already, and couldn't believe she was holding in her hands!)



Then I told them that I thought it would be more fun if EVERYONE got to open a gift, and then I pulled out each of the gifts for the guests. I loved seeing their reactions! They were pretty thrilled about their surprises!


(They each got either the Mega Bloks Barbie® Build ‘n Style Fashion Boutique or the Build 'n Style Ice Cream Cart)

As soon as Talia had finished opening her other gifts, we had time for the girls to open their Barbie® Megabloks® sets and start assembling them.

I don’t know about the other kids,
but I know mine have been having a lot of fun with their toys since the party!
It took some work to get the bigger things assembled, but I'll admit I enjoyed helping! And they were absorbed in playing with them for a loooong time after the assembly was complete! These will be great for them- as long as they can keep all of the pieces together (miracle?). I'm glad we don't have any tiny kids or babies at our home to watch while they're playing!



Here's a quick video that shows you a bit about the other Mega Bloks® Barbie® toys:

(Find Mega Bloks® on facebook)

I’ll share more about Talia’s birthday party in a later post, but I wanted to share this fun part first!
I loved being able to do this!

Thanks to MomSelect, MommyParties, Mega Bloks, & BSM Media for making this fun event possible!

By publishing this post, I received free products as part of a promotional program with MomSelect. All opinions are my own.

Project 365 - Week 3

This year I've decided to take on Project 365.

Here's what I've challenged myself to:



Here's week 3:



(I missed my first and only day so far in week 3)