Sassy Cheryl Weekly Challenge #160- A Sketch

I love working from a sketch. I find it so much easier to come up with a card when I have something to go by. Here's the sketch from this week's Sassy Cheryl's Challenge.

I like to follow it right to the letter, so here's my card based on the sketch....

Here's hoping for camping weather, real soon!

After Easter Sales

One of my favourite times of year is right after Easter when all the candy goes on sale. Then I tend to forget that I'm trying to whittle down my stockpile and I'm out looking for the best deals.
Of course, who doesn't need a Star Wars Yoda egg basket? I HAD to have it!

Then of course, there is the requisite Easter lily. They go on sale right after Easter and that's fine by me.

Wasn't sure if it would open but one bloom is on it's way. Isn't that Nature's perfection?

Then I had to do something with the candy so why not bake? AGAIN!
Here's my latest square/bar cookie featuring Cadbury Mini Eggs. I found a similar recipe on withsprinklesontop but I made a few changes.

Doesn't that look delicious??

Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1-2 cups milk chocolate mini eggs

Melt butter. Cream in sugars. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until creamy.
Slowly add flour mixture and other dry ingredients.
Fold in mini eggs.
Spread batter into a greased 9 x 9 pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted
in the center comes out clean. Let the bars cool for about 30 minutes before slicing.

It is not too late to make these beauties. There is still candy to be found. Good luck!

Company's Coming Brownies

Well, I almost forgot about my Cookbook challenge. I made this recipe from another great series of cookbooks called Company's Coming Squares. I make many recipes from this cookbook but I had never tried the brownies until I had them at my Great Aunt's house when I went for a visit. The intro says..."not only is this the easiest and fastest brownie to make, it is also the best tasting ever."
It WAS very good but I'll confess I made it in a 9 x 9 pan and it was a little thinner then I would like.

So if you don't have this book....

here's the recipe.

Brownies
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)
1/8 tsp salt

In a small saucepan, melt butter and cocoa, stirring as it melts.
In medium bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar, flour, nuts and salt. Don't stir yet!
 Then pour cocoa mixture over top and stir all together. Scrape batter into greased 8 x 8 pan.
Bake at 350 F for about 30 min or until edges start to pull away from pan. Cool and frost.
I used a can of chocolate fudge frosting for an easy way out.

The Great Outdoors

This week; Challenge 172 at Kraftin' Kimmie was The Great Outdoors. Well, if you live in Southern Ontario, there was nothing great about it this morning, we got a surprise visit from the snowmaker. Some April Fool's idea of a joke. Oh well, it will melt before we know it and then all the dog owners (like myself) can complain about the mud.

Once again, I pulled out my favourite artist, Cheryl Alger and stamped up a boy and his dog from the Set "Furry Friends". He's outside playing with his best buddy so I guess that qualifies. Here it is...

Happy Easter

Hope everyone is celebrating this joyous holiday!
We got together with family on Good Friday so here's a few things to share from our celebration.

I usually bring the desserts (no surprise there). I kept it simple because it seems like everyone is cutting down on their sugar consumption. Cupcakes...

Raspberry cheesecake and Peanut Butter Cheesecake in a JAR!

I will post this recipe once I perfect it. Everyone thought it was delicious (I didn't bring any home) but I found it a bit rich. Everyone loved the portion control, though.

 

 

We made a bunch of sugar cookies during March Break but alas, they never made to Easter dinner.

 

Kudos to my 11 year old cousin, Maddie,  who made up an Adult Egg Hunt. She printed out slips of paper and hid them inside plastic eggs and we all had to find 3 each hidden in the house. She designed it kind of like, Roll up the Rim (Canadian Rite of Spring at Tim Horton's), some were "try again", some were for Lindt chocolates, some were for prize of your choice including packets of gum, Tim's Cards and Bath and Body Works soap etc. What a creative idea. We all enjoyed it very much. 

Favourite Colour Combo

This week's challenge over at Sassy Cheryl's is Challenge 159; Favourite Colour Combo.
I tend to use teal and rose quite often when I colour and Sally Decorating Eggs was perfect for this Easter weekend.

The Copics I used for Sally were BG 11, 13 and 15 and R 83,85. Some of my favourites which I turn to time and again. I think Sally got a little too much sun on her face this weekend but we're not complaining.

Egg Hunt

As you can see, it was still a little snowy for our Egg Hunt which we celebrate on Good Friday but the kiddies LOVED it. Here's a few things I have learned over the years about running the perfect Hunt.
1. Hide the candy in plastic eggs. That way you can put in bulk candy and have a lot of variety and keep the items away from dogs and clean, no matter what the weather.

2. Assign each child a specific colour. Our family ranges from 2 to 11 so this way the younger children have a shot at getting to the eggs. Man-Man (2 years old) was assigned the colour GREEN and it was beyond adorable watching him go after "his" eggs. The left-over colours can be wild.

3.  As the children get older, they would much rather find money in the eggs, then candy. We still go the loonie, toonie route but maybe a bill in a GOLDEN egg would make it a lot more fun.

4. Take a Ziploc bag with each child's name on it to take their loot home afterward.

5. MAKE them put the plastic egg halves back together so you don't have to do it next year. Really, you'll thank me for this tip.
I enjoy putting together the Hunt every year with help from my Aunt Janet and the kids really enjoy it as too. Hope this gives you some ideas for your family gathering.