Easter Bunny Bait

My good friend sent me a great new popcorn mix recipe. I was skeptical but she convinced me that once you took a handful, it would become a dangerous new addiction and she was right! It could be changed up for all occasions by using different colours of candy and sprinkles.
I also packaged up some of my other white chocolate candy mix, the Easter bunny was busy with deliveries this past weekend.

Bunny Bait
1/2 cup popcorn, unpopped
1 lb of white chocolate melting wafers ( I guestimated)
1 1/3 cup pretzels, broken (original recipe said use squares, I think it could have used a bit more)
1 cup or so M and M's ( I used the lovely pastel spring ones)
Sprinkles, as needed
I also added peanuts as I like the salty/sweet combo

Pop corn.
Melt chocolate in microwave or on stovetop.
Drizzle half over dry mixture and toss gently to coat.
Drizzle rest of chocolate over and toss. You can throw in some sprinkles here
and mix it in a big roasting pan.
Then pour it in a single layer onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.
Let harden and break into pieces.
Store in an airtight container.

They were adorable packaged in these see through cones. Everyone really seemed to enjoy this mix.

More Table Favours

As mentioned in the previous post, the table favours related to the mason jar theme. I made about 50 jars of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies just before the fundraiser and my reliable worker, Anne Marie had already put together the tags and the baker's twine so all we had to do was add the fresh cookies. I had to do a few prototypes ahead of time, since I made my earlier cookies too large and they wouldn't fit through the jar opening so by the time the Crop rolled around, I knew exactly how large to roll them.
Here's the tag up close.....

The sentiment is from The Cutting Cafe and the downside was I had to run them through the computer one by one.

That was a LOT of cookies.
I also made 2 dozen of the layered cookie mix so some Crop participants were going to have to bake their own. Pretty simple though, just a couple ingredients and mix it up and your cookies are ready to bake.

The Mason jar theme was so fun to work with, there are hundreds of great ideas. I think everyone enjoyed their table favours.

Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I made up some delicious baked caramel corn and packaged it up in clear, icing bags. I used my Cricut to cut out little heart tags (Art Philosophy) and used a cute Stampin' UP sentiment; Happy Mother's day. I think they looked really cute but the popcorn didn't need any embellishing. It is very addictive.

Caramel Corn
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp salt
2 cups nuts (peanuts or cashews)
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 Quarts popped corn (I used one cup unpopped)
1 tsp vanilla






Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and corn syrup and salt.
Boil on low heat for 5 min (stir almost continuously, burns easily)
Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and nuts.
Gradually pour over popcorn and nuts.
Mix well.
Turn into a large roasting pan.
Bake at 250F. Mix thoroughly every 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
Break apart and store in covered container.

Pillow Box Gift Card Holders

I've had some computer issues again, so I haven't been keeping up with my challenges and blog posts, plus it's golf season, don't you know? I was lucky enough to get together for a weekend with my like-minded crafting buddies and I made up a few of these as gift card holders. I used the Tim Holtz Pillow Box die and embossed the textured cardstock flowers to add some dimension. I loved playing around with the colour combos and was able to use up single sheets of patterned paper that I've been saving for a rainy day. A cute idea just in time for Mother's Day.

Packaging Treats

Presentation is everything! That's what our mothers always told us so when I give away my candy and other Christmas goodies, I always like to put them in a cute package. The problem is when you do many for craft sales etc, it's difficult to come up with quick and cost effective solutions. Thank goodness for the Dollar store.
Here's some ideas that I used this past season....

I'm a sucker for anything with a clear display window. Aren't these adorable?

These held a dozen Snickerdoodles quite nicely.

These were perfect for fudge and nuts and bolts or you could use portion cups with snap-on lids for a less costly alternative.

Another quick and easy way to dress up some candy is with a doily folded over the plastic ziploc bag. I would have decorated this up a bit more but I made quite a few for my little Christmas sale so time was a factor.

I love it when my house looks like Santa's workshop but unfortunately I don't have any elves to help with the clean-up. Time to get organized and set up for the wrapping station. Hope you liked my ideas.