Now go make some mini cupcakes.

Frost ‘em.

Grab a foam cone and some toothpicks.

Stick cupcakes on foam cone.

Start threading your garland!

Add some chocolate covered fruit ornaments.

Add your cookie star to the top.

Lastly, make sure it’s 2 year old taste tester approved.

Some tips and tricks from the (now) pro:

-frost your cupcakes and let them set for about 30 minutes before putting them on the foam cone

-use the frosting recipe from last year! I tried a new recipe and it was an epic fail.

-make this when you are staying at home, because transit with a cupcake Christmas tree and San Francisco potholes are no fun.

Merry Christmas Eve to all!

It’s pretty hard to get a group of twenty motivated to get out of their seat, leave their conversation and appetizers behind to go play games, but the birthday girl was forceful so we did as we were told! I am glad she was because the games were pretty hysterical. We had a few rounds of flip cup, “minute to win it” type games, a water balloon toss, and a final beer drinking/running/jumping/throwing obstacle course. There was no awarded winner, but if there was, I think the gold would have gone to these little bacon, brat, and beer appetizers.

Bacon Wrapped Beer Brats

Recipe Adapted from Better Recipes

{print me!}

• 3 packages of bratwurst (or 15 links)
• 1 package of bacon (16 oz.)
• 4 twelve ounce beers (or 2 tall cans)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard or turmeric
• Any mustard of choice for dipping

Preheat oven to 425. Line your jelly roll with foil or parchment paper.

Piece each of your brats several times with a fork. In a large skillet, place half of the bratwursts and pour in 24 ounces of beer. Once the beer is close to boiling, turn it down to low and let the brats simmer for 15-20 minutes, turning after ten minutes. The brats are done with they are no longer pink on the inside.

In the meantime, cut your bacon in thirds. In a separate bowl mix the brown sugar, dry mustard, and cayenne pepper together.

Now that the brats are done, let them cool until you can handle them. Then cut the brats into thirds. Wrap a piece of bacon around the brat, roll them in your sugar mixture and place them on your baking sheet with the bacon flap side down. Bake them for about 20-25 minutes. Let them drain on paper towels before serving.

I decided to get a little crafty (what’s new?) so I made some toothpick flags for the brats. If you want to get a little crafty too, I’m making it easy for you! I found this beer Olympics image, pasted it into a word document a few times, and cut them into little flags. Then I pasted them onto the toothpicks. Want to try it? Printable here.

Add some mustard to your serving plate, and let them eat!

This recipe is actually doubled from the original because I used the second half for our fantasy football draft party the next day. These little meaty bites of deliciousness are so versatile! They go with every beer drinking event you can think of.

Enjoy the three B’s!

During my brother’s college years, I have reason to believe that Conor spent more time playing wiffle ball than studying for class. And every year at our Easter picnic, Conor manages to round up the troops for a rousing game of home run derby. Due to his random love of wiffleball, I decided that my (almost thirty but going on thirteen) brother needed a custom wiffle ball strike zone for his birthday.

Want to make one for your brother too? He might think you are the coolest sister ever.

How to Make a Wiffle Ball Strike Zone

Dimensions provided by this really cool twelve year old boy

Materials

• 4 PVC elbows
• 4 PVC T’s
• Sheet metal
• 10-15 Zip ties
• 2 lengths of PVC pipe
• Chalkboard spray Paint
• Spray paint, color of choice
• Metal Sheers
• Hack Saw
• PVC primer and glue

Dimensions

Top: 19 ¾ inch

Right and Left Sides: 22 ½ inches each

Bottom: 9 inch middle, two 2 ½ inch pieces to go between elbows and t’s

Legs: 11 inches each

Base: 4 pieces of leftover PVC pipe, keep equal but length is up to you

Sheet metal 22 ¼ by 19 ¼

To start, find a handy friend that has a rooftop deck meant for messy projects.

Cut the PVC pipe to the above lengths with the hack saw.

Cut the sheet metal to the aforementioned dimensions with your metal sheers. Puncture at least two holes on each edge of the metal, making sure to be VERY careful! This metal can easily slice you.

Piece your PVC pipes together with the elbows and T’s, as shown below.

Now that you have the frame as you want it, pull the pieces apart and put the PVC primer then glue on. Stick the pieces back together. The only pieces you should not glue together are the bottom T’s to the base legs, so you can detach for carrying purposes (they are not shown here for that reason).

Your base is glued together and flattened, so now spray paint whatever color you want. How about caution cone orange?

Spray paint that sheet metal while you are at it. Black chalkboard paint anyone?

Decorate the sheet metal as you wish. I printed out some letters and made stencils to paint on the metal. “Home Run Derby” on the front and “Score”on the back. That way you can keep track of you score on the chalkboard. Fancy, huh?

Time to put it all together! Slide your zip ties through the holes in the sheet metal and attach them to the sides of the frame. I added a little bit of hot glue to cover the sheet metal holes since they were still rather sharp.

Lookie what we got here? The SF Giants would be proud of my twenty nine year old, wiffle ball loving brother.

Noah might have one upped me on his birthday present to his dad. He went number two in the potty for the first time that day. That little guy…always stealing the show somehow.

Ready??

Play Ball!

As a seasoned daily deal consumer, I thought I would get you up to speed on when to buy a deal and when to just say NO!

Restaurants

Buy: Restaurants that you have been to and liked, restaurants in your neighborhood that you want to try, restaurants that you have been dying to go to but are too expensive to go otherwise.

Resist Temptation: Restaurants that you have never heard of, restaurants that are not in your neighborhood, restaurants that are offering coupons in many different forms (this means business is hurting and there is usually a reason why…).

Gyms/Exercise Classes

Buy: If the class or gym is in your neighborhood and you are trying to find “your” exercise class. Surprisingly, this one actually worked for me.

Resist: Classes and gyms that are not close to home or work, classes or gym memberships that you would never buy without a coupon (because if you like it, you can’t afford it in real life, or if it didn’t interest you before, you will never even use the groupon in the first place-trust me on this one).

Gift Certificates for Shops/Goods

Buy: Places where you currently shop (i.e Amazon or Whole Foods)

Resist: EVERYWHERE ELSE! If you go into that store with a gift certificate to spend, you are likely going to spend more money than you wanted to in the first place. Buying a groupon will not “save” you money… you are buying something you wouldn’t have bought without a coupon. In turn, you are spending more money by purchasing the coupon in the first place and putting yourself in a position where you will have to try to resist even more temptation once you walk into the store.

Activities

Buy: Activities that you buy with friends, or if it’s something you have been dying to try but it is too pricey (ie cooking classes or skydiving).

Resist: Activities that require friends who didn’t also purchase the groupon, obscure activities that you probably never wanted to do in the first place (ie pole dancing).

Enough of my groupon rant- now onto what brought me to this topic in the first place! My friend and I bought a Living Social deal to this event called Wine and Canvas. This broke some of my rules since it is not something I had desired to do beforehand, but I bought it with a friend and it was a good excuse for us to get together. It was $17 for a normally $35 class.

The event was at the downtown Chevy’s in the back room. I got there a little late, but was immediately thrown off when there was no wine waiting for me! A deal called “wine & canvas” sure sounds like it should include at least a small glass of wine. Fortunately, I was quickly distracted by the free fresh chips and salsa and completely forgot about the wine.

They had an easel, canvas, and paints already set out for us, ready to start our masterpiece! They had an example of the painting we were going to make that night, and they walked us through how to make it, step by step.

The instructor made each step so small that it seemed so easy, and by the end, we actually had some decent looking paintings!

These might even be wall-worthy…

Overall, this deal was a steal. You get some good deals, you get some bad ones, but no matter what, daily deals will get you out of your apartment and make you experience something. Just don’t be naive like I was and think you are actually “saving money!”

Thanks to my constant blog perusing, I found inspiration for my driftwood project over at lovely indeed a few months ago. Then a few weeks ago, daily buzz style asked for submissions of your best jewelry organizer. This gave me the extra little push I needed to finally work on my project.

And let’s start crafting!

Driftwood Jewelry Display Supplies:

• Driftwood
• Rope
• Nails
• Screw in hooks
• Paint
• Hammer
• Glue gun

Take your rope and tie it on both ends of your driftwood. Secure the rope by putting a little glue from the glue gun between the wood and rope.

Now paint your nails (not your fingernails silly, the ones you hammer!) I painted mine seafoam green to go with the beachy theme.

Hammer your nails into the wood (or find your nearest handy man to help). I staggered them along the front, but place  them wherever you feel looks best.

Lastly, screw in your hooks along the bottom of the wood. If you are having a hard time screwing them in, hammer a small nail where you want the hooks, take it out, then it should be easier to get the hooks in place.

And that’s it! Easy, right?

I kept mine pretty simple in order to keep the driftwood and jewelry as the center of attention, but painting the wood is a fun option as well.

Next time you are on a thrill seeking adventure upstream, find yourself a piece of driftwood and you can make this jewelry display too!

Due to myself being a tea (and cookie) lover, I had two separate friends send me the exact same recipe for these cute teabag cookies. They are simply…how do I put this… sooo “me”. They combine tea, chocolate, baking, cookies, and cute decorating- my favorite things. That being said, I just had to make them and unsurprisingly enough, I had the perfect occasion- a tea party.

I really like peanut butter and chocolate together, so instead of a traditional shortbread cookie, I swapped in a peanut butter shortbread cookie. Really, any type of shortbread cookie will do, so make them as you wish!

Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies

print me!

Recipe from Rosie’s Bakery Chocolate-Packed, Jam-Filled,  Butter-Rich, No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ sticks butter (12 tablespoons)
• 7 ½ tablespoons smooth peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 6 lightly packed tablespoons brown sugar
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

Supplies needed for teabag cookies:

• 6 oz chocolate chips
• String
• Fun paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Frosting tip or small straw to cut a hole in cookies

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream the butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in the egg and mix. Now slowly add in the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until everything is smoothed.

Refrigerate at least 1-2 hours before rolling it out, or put it in the fridge for a few days like I did until you have time to do the tedious part.

When it’s time to roll them out and bake, be sure to cover your cutting board in flour. Roll the dough out just as you do when you are using cookie cutters for sugar cookies.

Since I didn’t have a rectangular cookie cutter, I just cut the tea bags out by hand. To do this, cut a few parallel lines in the width that you want the cookies, and then cut perpendicular for the length of the cookies.

Once you have the rectangular shape you want, trim a triangle off the top two edges to make it in the shape of a tea bag.

Now get out your frosting top or another circular cutting object (straw maybe?) and make a hole at the top where we will insert the string.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Once cooled, we want to dip the bottom of the cookie in chocolate to make it look like there is some tea in our tea bag cookies! Either melt the chocolate in the microwave for about a minute, or melt it in a metal or glass bowl over simmering water. Just dip the bottom of the cookie into the melted chocolate and let it dry on wax paper (preferably overnight or put in the fridge to speed up the process). Once you have your finished cookies, all you need to do is put some string through the hole. Now cut a colorful piece of paper into a square, trangle, heart, etc and glue it to the ends of the string.

And lookie what we have here! These cookies sure do resemble that sacred little bag of tea I cherish every morning.

Before our brunch, I had a little crafty idea to make the day even more interesting. I like to call it Valentine’s truth or dare minus the truth. I saw this cool video tutorial via HelloBrit on how to make scratch off cards, so I made some V-day cards that you had to scratch off to find your dare. Everyone liked them, but unfortunately I didn’t make the consequences as rough as they should have been to get people to participate.

Nonetheless, we had a pretty fun and ridiculous day; brunch in Las Vegas (also known as Lime), an afternoon as the only girls at the Lookout, and an evening of Whitney Houston tributes at Mint Karaoke lounge.  If you want the juicy details, inquire within.

If you want to have a rowdy Valentine’s Day party, you might want to consider adding these scratch-offs to the list of party games. Let me tell ya how to make ‘em.

Valentine’s Day Truth or Dare Scratch-Offs

Supplies Needed:

• Cardstock (or poster paper)
• Acrylic Paint
• Liquid Dish Soap
• Paint Brush
• Scissors
• Glue
• Heart template (can easily make yourself)

Start by cutting your cardstock into 4 squares. In my case, I made 12 so I used 3 pieces of 8.5×11 paper. I think next time I would consider using poster paper on the shiny side for easier scratching and thicker paper.

Make a heart template by cutting a heart out of a piece of thick scratch paper.

Mix 2 parts acrylic paint with 1-1.5 parts dish soap. Err on the side of more dish soap than less to make sure it scratches off!

Print out and glue on or handwrite “Happy Valentine’s Day!” I also wrote “Scratch and spread the love by completing your secret mission,” so everyone would know to scratch the heart off.

Now put down your heart template and write in your truth or dare phrase. Need some examples?

• Take a picture with a homeless person
• Do a catwalk down the aisle
• High-Five everyone that walks by for an hour

On top of that, paint on your paint/dish soap mixture. Repeat 1-2 times, until you can’t see the handwriting anymore.

Let dry overnight.

Then add any finishing touches like heart cutouts, polka dots, an arrow, or whatever else the artist in you decides. Bring to your Valentine’s Party, and come up with harsh consequences for not participating!

Now that you know how to make this cool scratch off card, let me give you instructions on how to have a great Valentine’s Day whether you are single or taken.

1. Round up a bunch of friends.

2. Go to a fun brunch somewhere nearby. Preferrably with bottomless mimosas and spark plug espresso shots.

3. Get your grub on.

4. Make your friends a fun game.

5. Dare them to do silly things which will in turn make them request a new card. (Yes, you, Miss Anna. I don’t think you did what it said!)

6. Go bar hopping.

7. End the day at karaoke and sing your little heart out.

Year 3 of the V-day brunch was right up there with year one, I must say. A great day indeed.

To start, our wine glasses had reindeer and santa slippers.

Our presents were personalized

My boot of beer had a Princess Santa hat

The boys gifts had soldier’s hats and a cape!

Even our gift was hula dancing to send us off to Hawaii.

Merry Christmas to all!

Mele Kalikimaka!

See ya in a week!

I just cut up some felt in the shape of funky mustaches.

And glued them onto some pacifiers for an easy gift!

I even made one inspired by Brian Wilson’s beard.

Noah is excited to open his birthday present.

Brian Wilson would be proud.

As if he wasn’t already cute enough. But, the mustache does suit him well.

Supplies you need to make your own tea bags:

Loose Leaf tea
Muslin cloth
Cotton String
Needle
Scissors
Scrap Paper
Glue

I must say, my journey to buy muslin cloth made me realize that it is worth it to pay the gosh darn shipping cost that I can never get over. I went to the one fabric store I know of in San Francisco, and no muslin. The next weekend I had to go the east bay for my nephew’s baptism, so I figured I could go over a bit early and do some easy suburban shopping. Suburban shopping is so relaxing to me…I can find parking, the stores aren’t tiny, and usually there are multiple shops in the center that I want to go to. I was on my way into the parking lot and thinking about how nice it is to shop in the stores you grew up with and know where to find everything. Well, Joann’s was gone. GONE! MY Joann’s was gone. I was sad that my San Ramon Joann’s left, but I don’t feel too bad since it is not a mom and pop shop and I know that there are more Joann’s to be found. Anyways, then I went to Michael’s all the way in Dublin, saw a line of 30 people, and turned around and left. Then I went to Joann’s in Dublin, and it was closing too! I guess they are making a “superstore” or something. Four stores, and no muslin cloth. What a waste of $4.50/gallon gas. I finally waited in line for 30 minutes to get my muslin cloth cut at the Joann’s in Concord and it cost me a whole $3.

Now for the tea bag party favors…

First, you want to cut two pieces of fabric together into your desired shape. I chose hearts and stars.

Then start sewing…

Be sure to leave extra string to hold the tea bag.

And glue on a little piece of scrap paper for easy holding and decoration!

My 7x7 magazine helps keep my table clean

And you have some homemade teabags for party favors!

Time consuming, yes, but a perfect “sit in front of the tv” craft. I recommend Glee.

Enjoy!