April Fool's Day

Can you be fooled?

I had these cute smiley face mugs and had the idea they would be cheery for April Fool's day so I ran with the colors and it kind of took off.  My daughter and I came up with fun "tricky" treats to try and fool  our guests. 

I spray painted an old picture frame red and used the glass as a chalk board.  I sprayed with KILZ primer and then chalk board paint.  I'm sure this little guy will show up again!  

I keep a big bin of colored paper balls and bring them out and add ribbon for many different parties, they are inexpensive, easy to store and add great color to your party styling. 

And I know you've seen these red table runners.....at Christmas, Valentine's Day, the 4th of July.....

Have some "bagels and eggs"!  Nah...it's a glazed donut with gummy eggs on top.  

I found these disguise mustaches at the Dollar store.  Such cuties for a buck.  Embelish my red and white straws with some printed paper punch outs and I love it!

The Dollar Tree also had the adhesive chalk board labels.  I thought they matched wonderfully with my theme. 

Oh how could you resist a few little attempts at tomfoolery?

Little favors consist of red cherry "polka dots"

Favor boxes from the dollar store here are so easy to embellish for any party!  I stock up on them.

uh, oops, not again!

A milkshake?  Maybe.....

Hamburger sliders?  Try and see!  Vanilla wafers with a few dabs of corn syrup or honey will hold a few sesame seeds.  Our burger is a tiny peppermint patty with ketchup and mustard frosting to hold it all together

I found these great windmill flowers at target and replaced their tag with my own.  

Care for an ice cream cone?  But it's not cold!   Shhh, Red velvet cupcakes hide under this mountain of frosting.

Easy Stamped Cookies

Hi Chick!

I found some great rubber stamps at the dollar store that have sharper rubber edges than most stamps, so they worked great to make impressions into fondant dough.  First, stamp the cookie, then re stamp the 2nd color and cut the shape out with a crafter's knife.  The little stars were added with a punch back fondant cutter.  

April Fool's Day

April Fools!

Here are the last few years worth of attempts on "fooling" my daughter's classmates with some food in disguise!  This year we agreed on making the pretend hamburgs....(pics to come later).

Here is purchased pound cake cut with a Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter and then toasted on cookie sheets under the oven broiler for just a minute or so.  The ketchup is simply red frosting.  I tried to recreate some kind of french fry bag, but there are better templates on the internet than this one.  

Below are "ice cream cones" with cupcakes baked in and Duncan Hines Creamy Home Style frosting.  It gives the best white stiff swirls and sets just a bit to really keep it's shape.  I added sprinkles and a maraschino cherry on top.  I used a sturdy box lid with holes drilled into it to support the cones upright to bring it to class.  

Spring Cookies

Spring Cookies

Here's an assortment of some of my favorite spring time cookies.

I made some organic sugar cookie dough with white wheat flour and lemon essence and some with whole wheat that were delicious with real almond extract. 

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

St. Paddy's Day Dinner

St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday this year, so just for fun, I was able to "dress" it up a bit for the kids.  They got into the creativity earlier in the day by squeezing fresh lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to make their own leprechaun lemonade for a picnic lunch outside.  It was fun for me to collect a color scheme of items over the last few weeks and come up with creative ways to display our tables and put it all together.  I used my new addiction to Pinterest to gain ideas and mega inspiration.  I hope some of the ideas here can inspire your creativity too!  

Fun Italian Night Dinner

That's Amore'!

Some nights I just like to surprise the kids when they get home from school with a fun theme night for dinner.  It just adds a touch of amusement and playfulness to the house!  The girls always humor me and "play" along and we all enjoy the time together just being silly and leaving the stress of the day behind us.  A few night's ago I set up a fun Italian dinner theme with easy spaghetti and meatballs.  The kids toasted our little celebration of family with their grape juice "wine"!