Thursday, June 25, 2009

Win Number: 41


Thank you so much to Mommy's Quiet Time Blog for doing a super review of Electra's Monograms and for giving me the opportunity to win my very own cool vynal wall decal! I chose the circle letter monogram for Diego's room. I got the letter "D" for him, we want to put it on his wall right as you walk in his door, there is a little section of wall with nothing on it and it would look great there! i also really liked her check book covers and car window decals too! Thanks again to Mommy's Quiet Time, I sure could use some myself!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Peter Potty Giveaway


The Mud Bug is having a super giveaway! They reviewed and are even giving away a very cool Peter potty to one lucky reader. Now I don't know about you but this has to be the coolest potty ever for a little boy. Diego would have to learn to use the potty early if he had this to pee in, his on urinal, how awesome is that!!!

So if you want to try to win one head on over to mud bug and leave a comment, check out the you tube videos too, so funny!

Win Number: 40


I finally hit win number 40! If you read enough Mom blogs and review blogs you'll win this much too I guess! One of the more review oriented blogs, it actually looks more like a great website, is My Mom's View. I have probably enter a hundred of her giveaways and I finally scored a win, yippie! It's a great one too! I won a $50 gift card to Eco Bebe Boutique and I have tons of stuff to choose from. I am deciding between the beetle baby chair, the food grinder, and some awesome stainless steel bottles, I might have to go over the gift card limit!

So if your wondering what the Canadian Moms are talking about shoot on over to My Moms View and check it out. She just did a review on "my feet Squeak" shoes and I totally all about those, so awesome!
Update: I ended up speding my gift card on the food grinder, and the stainless steel bottle. I am all about the stainless steel bottle. It has come in so handy and everyone asks me where I got it from! Diego loves water so that is his "water bottle" since the nipples that I use for his milk are to fast of a flow for water. I am super happy with everything I got and in the company!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Win Number: 39


Thanks to Prissy Green because of her great review and giveaway I am getting some Amy's wraps to try! I like Amy's stuff already but I don't normally splurge on it because they are expensive. Thanks again to Prissy Green who does great reviews and stuff for healthy and green products!

Update: I got the prize pack and it included a whole bunch of cool recycled Amy's products and some great coupons for free Amy's products. I gave them to my Nanny who brings Amy's wraps everyday for lunch as a nice treat. It was a great prize!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

My Very First How To! How To make Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

How To Make Pickles and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

So many people had asked me how to make these that I went ahead and documented the whole thing so I could make a tutorial. I made these for my friend Natalies Baby Shower, the theme was Pickles and Ice Cream! So here is how we did it.


Step One: Baking

Place ice cream cones in your cupcake baking pan using aluminum foil to create and extra wall to hold them upright. The foil will not brown the cones so use as much as necessary to hold up each cone.


Use any cake mix that would normally allow you to make cupcakes and follow directions per the box. I used my favorite funfetti mix for these cupcakes.


Fill each cone with the batter but only fill to the middle of the cone to allow for rising. Spoon batter into cones slowly as it will seep into the nooks and crannies at the bottom of the cone after a few seconds.


Follow baking guidelines from box but keep an eye on them as they may take slightly less time than normal cupcakes. Mine were two minutes faster than the box stated. Once you can stick a toothpick in and pull it out without any residue than they are finished.


They should rise to the top of the cone, if you used too much and they are overflowing up and out of the cone use a sharp knife to level them off and save the extra cake as a snack for yourself.



Step Two: Display

You obviously can't serve these on a regular plate or cupcake tower as they are unstable and would fall over. You can make your own display holder by using a cardboard box and some wrapping paper. I got these perfectly sized boxes from my local liquor store, they are used to store cases of beer and they are the perfect size! You'll want to measure around using a cone and make your holes a little bigger than the bottom of the cone. cut them out of the box allowing for at least 12 holes per box.


Wrap the box like a gift then from the underside, cut an "X" into each hole with an exacto knife.


Fold the excess paper under the box and secure with scotch tape.


Now you have a nicely decorated holder for your ice cream cupcake cones!



Step Three: Decorating and Storing

Using fondant that can be found at your local baker or cake shop I rolled out three balls of green fondant. One is for the outside of the pickle, one for the inside and one for seeds. I had also considered using one color and making individual sized solid pickles using the same fondant but just the one color. Use your imagination.


Like rolling sushi I made the darker color wrap around the inner color and created an easy to cut roll.


Once it was rolled I cut the pickle slices using a sharp knife and hand rolled little seeds to add to the top of each slice. After I finished I chilled these so they would firm up a bit.


Next I used a pastry bag and a large star shaped tip to ice the cupcakes like ice cream cones (soft serve). I put them quickly into the freezer to firm up so that the icing would not slide off.


Once in the freezer I added a pickle slice to each cupcake as the finishing touch.


Then Walla! I have an interesting and delicious desert for my pickles and Ice cream themed Baby Shower. I think in the future I would make these for a regular party, only I would add jimmies to make them look more birthday party-ish.


Thursday, June 4, 2009

Win Number: 38

I have been too busy lately to read any blogs let alone enter any contests, but the other day I took a half hour to enter some and read some reviews too, because I enjoy it and I was taking some time for myself. It paid off because my name got drawn! This is really similar to my first win ever. I was over at lille Punkin' Reviews, she reviews food and children's stuff as well as keeps us info med of new products and recalls. So thanks to Lindsey i am getting a great prize pack from huggies and juicy juice, my two favorite things! Diego wears huggies and I have been using the little swimmers since he does like the pool and I have been drinking juicy juice since it came out I think! mmmmm cherry. Thank you to Lindsey and thank you also to Huggies and Juicy Juice, Huggies has been doing a lot for babies and families lately so you should definatly give them a try.

Update: This turned out to be a way bigger prize than I thought, I got over $100.00 n free coupons including two 100 count boxes of diapers and a free 400 count box of wipes, not to mention free juicy juice (my favorite) and a bunch more stuff, I was shocked at how much I got!