Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

I made these for work, and they were a hit! Everyone was also impressed that they were from scratch.  They are super simple to make, they just take time since yeast is involved and there are a few rise times.  This was my first time working with yeast. If you haven't worked with yeast yet, this is a great first recipe to try!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Original Pin     Recipe: Pink Parsley

Hints:

• You can halve (or maybe even 1/3) the brown sugar cinnamon mix. As you can see from the photo, I coated mine liberally and still had well over half of the mixture left.

• Rolling the dough was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.  Just remember that you're going to be rolling from the long side so make sure that it is fairly straight.

• I melted the butter used to put on the cinnamon sugar mix - it spreads easily and you only need about 3 Tablespoons that way.

• I also had to re-roll my cinnamon rolls because once you start slicing (I used my pizza wheel), they start going flat.  I'm thinking if I had put them in the cupcake liners right away, they may have fit without re-rolling.

• My rolls didn't always touch the bottom of the cup so some of them went flat in the middle after they cooled. It was also easier to take the paper out, put the roll in the paper and put them back in the pan.

• You could halve the icing recipe as well.

 Enjoy! :)

Flubber

My parents hosted the pastor's families for lunch yesterday and I was in charge of making the experience fun for the kids.  There was a 2 year old and seven kids between 7-12.  I needed activities that would work for a wide range of ages.

The kids had pizza for lunch.  I decided to have a cupcake station.  I made confetti cupcakes and then let the kids add their own vanilla or chocolate frosting and sprinkles.  They loved it!  We had movies playing and they played with the toys in the basement.  We also made candy bags for the kids to take home.

For something extra, I wanted to do a project with them.  I had added this to my Pinterest account a week or so ago and thought it would be fun and simple.

Yesterday, I completed my first project that I found on Pinterest!  Gak!

Flubber

Original Pin.  Recipe: Steve Spangler Science.

What You Need:

8 oz glue (Edit: Elmers glue works the best)

Borax

water

food color (optional)

bowl

teaspoon

measuring cup

What To Do:

• Gather materials - this is a quick process so having everything on hand is best.
• Pour 8oz of glue into a large bowl
• Fill the empty bottles with water & shake to help get all the glue out and pour the glue/water mixture into the bowl with the glue
• Mix well
• Add food color to your mixture (Optional) and continue mixing
• Add 1 teaspoon of Borax to 1/2 cup of warm water & mix
• Pour Borax mixture into your glue mixture a little at a time
• This forms quickly so once you see it has initially formed dig in and mix well with your hands, adding water as needed until you get the consistency you prefer.

Hints:

• When you first pour in the Borax mixture, it will instantly begin to turn into Gak. At this point, you start using your hands.  Keep adding water.  After a bit, I pulled mine out of the bowl so it wouldn't be as wet.

• At first, it will stick to your hands-a lot. Just keep kneading it. As it began to firm up, I would run my hands around the bowl to get any additional mixture I may have missed and add it to the "ball" I was working with.  After working it for a while, it looses it's stickiness and turn into a silly putty consistency.

• I cut the recipe in half (4oz of glue).  It mixed up much better when I didn't cut the water/Borax mixture.

• You can only mix so many colors, so (despite warnings) we had a little lesson in colors. But otherwise, the colors come out bright and fun! 

My mom is an amazing hostess.  She can decorate a table like no one's business. She chose a black and white theme for the table settings upstairs.

Afghan Braggin'

I love crocheting.  I especially love it when I can create something for someone I care about and they enjoy it.

I found the pattern for this Broncos blanket online.  My brother's been a Broncos fan for years and when I found this, I thought it would be great.  I made it for Christmas of 2007 and I was informed he still loves to use it.

This is the first large pattern that I've created. I made this blanket for Eric for Christmas 2011.

Here he is after opening it...holding it up to give perspective on size.

I'm pretty proud of these accomplishments.  I think the next thing I'm going to attempt is a Christmas blanket for myself.  I've had a pattern in mind for a while.

Organization and inspiration

I've had a big pile of papers and several places where papers were sort of organized. I was actually keeping a lot of stuff I really didn't need in several places.

All the papers and places they were stored

I went through and sorted out all the papers, magazines and more (some of this stuff was years old) and got rid of several things I've been holding on to way too long that I've never actually needed.  It felt really good!

Instead of a file box and an accordion file, I was able to just have the file box and it's much lighter! I also filed all my letters from Mivelene (the girl I support through Compassion) and created an Inspiration Notebook. I used to have a small Inspiration Notebook but it really wasn't doing the job so I decided it was time for something bigger. The picture on the front is of an outfit I find inspiring. I've had it for several years and it's one of those things that I think, "I wish I had bought that dress!" Ah well, at least I still have the inspiration!

The one big pile of ideas was broken into separate piles.

What it looks like when I'm working.

My Notebook is separated and color-coded. (Who's shocked?)

 I've got:

Black - Ideas for decorating
Blue - Things to make to decorate with
Green - Things to create
Orange - Holiday Ideas
Yellow - Places to visit/eat/things to do in KC
Green folder - Patterns for crochet/quilting/etc.
Purple folder - photography information

This actually helps me accomplish more than one of my goals since it not only got me organized, but I also got rid of things I didn't need, created room in my closet and it's one of the places I'll find my favorite ideas!  So far, I'm motivated!