Welcome to the Big Show

Are there any Ace of Base fans out there?!?

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. ;)

"I saw the siiiiign, and it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign.  Life is demanding without understanding." 

OO!  Or maybe this one!

"Allllll that she wants, is another babeh, she's gone tomorrow boy, alllll that she wants is another babeh, uh-a-uh..."

AWWW!

You sang along, didn't you?

...weirdo...

Just kidding! 

It's alright.

I mean, just because you have had a not-so-secret-anymore obsession with a 90's band whose members boasted ...awesome?... names like Ulf and Joker...

WHICH aparently wasn't even his real name. 

(Joker that is.  Nobody would make up Ulf.)

I know right?! 

I was shocked and, I'll admit, slightly hurt when I discovered this terrible truth as well.

Can't say as I blame him though.  His real name was Jonas...

...yep, as in the Disney manufactured and strangely well-dressed trio of brothers who kidnap preteen hearts all over the world on a semi-regular basis...

Okay so not really, but wouldn't that be crazy???

Anyways, what does this have to do with my pictures.

Absolutely nothing.

Sorry.

I suppose I could try to pull something together though.

Lemme see...

1. My mom ordered some circus tiger cake pops.

2. Thought of family.

3. Thought of when we met my sister-in-law for dinner last week.

4. Ate with sister-in-law at Moe's Southwest Grill.

5. Moe's had one of those fun 100 flavors Coke machines.

6. I got diet cherry Coke.

7. "Chica cherry cola" lyric from Savage Garden's "I Want You" came to mind.

8. Thought about popular music from the 90s.

9.  BAM!  Ace of Base

Phew!  Didn't even break a sweat! :)

Sugar & Love Everyone!

It's Moo-velous Darling!

I've been craving chocolate chip cookies like CrAzY lately.

Problem is, I'm trying to avoid eating junk food.

And we don't have any chocolate chips.

.

.

.

OKAY FINE!

It's actually because I mowed through a 3lb bag of Reese's and KitKats and a 1lb bag of Take5's in about three days last week so I should probably cool it on the sweets for awhile.

Don't judge me - I like chocolate.

Anywho, to get my mind off the need for a sweet treat fix, I went to Pier 1.

And was smacked with glorious coffee mug inspiration.

... yep.

That just about says it all.

I'm UDDER-ly speechless! :)

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! :) :) :)

I know right!? :) :) :)

With these pops currently in hand, I cannot believe I almost didn't go through with making them!

I mean, duh, right?!

Chia Pets + Cake Pops = GOLD!

It's like they were ::looking dreamily off into the distance:: meant to be.

Okay, sorry.

Deep breaths.

Chia dog cake pop.

...I'm calming...

Chia pig cake pop.

...I'm calming...

Chia turtle cake pop.

Annnnnnd I'm calm...

Chia Cake Pops!!! - body parts are hand sculpted candy clay.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! :) :) :)

I'm sorry, but they are just too darn cute!


Sugar & Love Everyone!

If All the Rain Drops were Lemon Drops & Gum Drops...

Interesting fact about me:

I swam in a rain puddle once.

You read it correctly.

I said I swam ...in a rain puddle.

I did not say I got very far.

While I'm sharing, I should mention I've also competed in hog wrestling.

.

.

.

...I was a strange kid.

Anywhoozy, it's been raining off and on the past few days and as much as I'd love to make a mad dash for the swimsuit and galoshes, it's February here in the Midwest and, much to the dismay of my cold weather lovin' husband, I still have not magically transformed into a polar bear.

So I decided making cookie Safari BUD ducks would be the next best thing...

Obviously. :)

Cheetah Duck

Zebra Duck

Both BUD ducks are sugar cookies that 
have been hand painted with royal icing.

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Do a Grouch a Favor

There are quite few things I would say "I'm not a fan of":

-Spiders

-Chicken livers

-Grown women who wear "Team Edward/Team Jacob" t-shirts... to work.

But most of the time, these things pretty easily avoidable:

-I scream for El to kill the giant man-eating spider while hightailing it to the room that's farthest away.

-I steer clear of the "parts" section of the grocery.

-I try my best to avoid contact with the undead.

Easy peazy.

But recently, I've been having a heck of a time avoiding a bad mood.

It's getting to be like that creeper kid, Brainy, from Hey Arnold who breathes over Helga's shoulder all the time. 

Right?  

It's creepy.

Fortunately, thanks to an afternoon spent snuggling up to some Red Velvet Cupcake Wine, I turned my bah-humbugged-ness into something useful...

Oscar the Grouch Cookies!

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Anniversary... kind of

Today is the 6th anniversary of my husband and I officially "going steady".

And for those of you who are curious, I do still like, like him. :)

Most of the time.

Anywhoozy, instead of spending the day either glued to the computer with work stuff,

-i.e. surfing Pinterest or creating fun inspiration boards on TheKnot.com-

or screaming at him from the kitchen because my old lady hands are literally stuck clasped around a piping bag...

don't laugh - that's actually happened... sadly, more than once...

I decided I should probably pay attention to him.

That being said, I'll just show you the cookie and cake pop shenanigans I've been up to lately and that'll be our schpeel for today.

Yes, you read correctly.  

I was just able to work "shenanigans" AND "schpeel" into the same sentence.  

BAM YO!

Red velvet cake pop.

Red velvet cake pop with marshmallow feather things...

One of my FAVORITES!!!  This was for the New Girl Adorkable Cake Pop Contest.  It's my interpretation of the Thanksgiving episode. 

Each character and the turkey were pumpkin spice cake pops.

Valentine's day cookie and cake bite order that was due this week.  The white containers with the cookies were supposed to give the impression of milk cartons- hence the straws.  (cookies & milk?)  Imagination power folks.

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Monday Mystery: Yo Gabba What??

So... I was asked to make a Yo Gabba Gabba themed cake for a 2 year old's birthday this weekend.

Client Question: Do you know what Yo Gabba Gabba is?

My Answer:  I don't have kids, but pathetically, yes, I am familiar with the show.

Now if you've never seen Yo Gabba Gabba before, it's a show that was designed by two dads who wanted something more from children's television.

  

Like actual music.

AND celebrity guests... 

 because as everyone knows, a hefty prerequisite for any good preschool nowadays is a vast knowledge of the Kardashian family and why they're famous.

...

Hmm, wait.

Why are they famous again? 

 .

 .

 .

Awkward.

Anywhoozy, if you're interested in checking to see what Yo Gabba Gabba's all about, step one is to sit down.

Trust me on this.

 There should be a warning before the show starts.  

Something along the lines of:

"This show is not recommended for individuals with balance issues.  Please remain seated throughout the entirety of the show.  Please do not watch if you have taken medication within the last 4 to 6 hours."

Okay, so here's a clip:

Yo Gabba Gabba Show Opening

You're glad you sat down right?

Told you. :)

Before the characters were added...

...

This was the smash cake.  It's DJ Lance's hat! :)

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Valentine's Day Edible Scrabble Tutorial

Have you ever played Bananagrams before?

(Okay, be honest.  Who just spell checked "bananas" by singing the Gwen Stefani song?)

Bananagrams is basically Scrabble only the tiles come in a cute little banana-shaped bag, there's no board, the tiles don't have numbers on them, you shout out words like "PeeL!" every so often, you build your own crossword...

Okay, so maybe it's not like Scrabble really.

But you do:

1. Use tiles with letters on them - like Scrabble

AND

2. Create words all crossword-style-ey - like Scrabble.

Ahh, see!  

Everything connects in some way. :)

Anybody wanna sing "It's a Small World" with me??

No?

 ...okay then...

Ahem, as I was saying, Bananagrams is kinda, sorta, not really at all like Scrabble, but I'm too cheap to go buy it (Seriously, I never knew the demand for games was so high that they could charge ten bucks for Uno.), so my husband and I play using Scrabble tiles.

Funny thing is, we have a really nice Scrabble game.  

It's the turntable board with real wood tiles and everything.

Ahh well.  

I think maybe it's the whole make-up-your-own-crossword part I prefer.  With my own board, no one has to painfully watch as I take half an hour to think of super duper triple word scores like "CAT".

But anyways, this mixture of games got me to thinking about edible twists I could put on them.  Hence, today's post of  

Valentine's Day Edible Scrabble.

The ingredients you'll need are: Graham Crackers, a sharp knife, a grater, frosting (marshmallow frosting would tatse AMAZING!) or melting candy/chocolate, food/icing coloring (optional), a piping bag and piping tip #3.

First, you take the Graham... (Sandlot flashbacks anyone?  LOVE that movie!)

Carefully break the graham cracker into four pieces along the lines.

***Sharp Object Alert!***  Please don't let kids do this step alone!

Now take one of the fourths and cut it in half.

 

 

 Use the grater to smooth any rough edges.

 

 Next, prepare your icing, candy or chocolate and piping bag.

Pipe the letter onto the square.

 

 Don't forget to pipe the number in the bottom right-hand corner! 

If you're making Scrabble tiles, I mean. :)

Now just repeat the previous steps until your message is complete and...

VOILA!  :)

 Sugar & Love Everyone!

P.S. These would make super cute cupcake toppers... just saying. :)

Love: Ninja Style

WARNING!

Do not click on another page yet!

You are about to catch a glimpse of the elusive...

DUN, Dun, dun!

Brownie Bite Love Ninja.

Okay, wait.

Let's try this again.

So it's gonna be that way huh?

Fine.

Two can play this game...

Come out with your hands up!

That's more like it. :)

Prepare yourself for something really corny in

3

.

2

.

1

.

Now that you've seen Love Ninja, did he steal your heart too?

Sugar & Love Everyone!

P.S.  Love Ninja is an agile brownie bite clothed in stealth black candy clay so he can do more cool ninja stuff.

Mmmm Mmmm Monday

I was going to make Valentine's Day themed ice cubes today (I realize now how lame that sounds), but being the Shaky McGee that I am, I couldn't snap a clear picture before they melted.  

On the bright side, my countertop is now the proud owner of a beautiful lake of pink water! :)

AND I have an excuse to post the scrumptious heart-shaped cranberry scones I made my hubby for breakfast this morning!  

I put them on a tray that was actually a framed picture of the two of us an added a little love note/utensils ring to up the cutesy factor.

 Hey, I'm not saying I deserve a gift for this, but if he wants to get me something for my sweetness, I wouldn't tell him no. :)

Okay fine, the jig is up.

Technically they're heart-shaped cranberry "sweetened biscuits".

In case you're a nerd like me who stays up at night ponering those types of questions, here's the breakdown according to KitchenSavvy.com:

Scones tend to be richer, frequently including both eggs and cream in the recipe, though not always.  Some biscuit recipes will enrich the dough with eggs, but use milk or buttermilk instead of cream.  Scones also use a bit more liquid than regular biscuits, which should make them a bit more cake-like in their consistency. While biscuit recipes may or may not call for sugar, scones typically use sugar, but not as much as sweetened biscuits.

KitchenSavvy: Scones vs. Biscuits http://www.kitchensavvy.com/journal/2005/08/scones_vs_biscu.html#ixzz1jeCXCGVB

Now that we have that settled, I'll give you my super simple semi-homemade recipe.  

Sandra Lee would be so proud! :)

Ingredients:

2 cups Heart Healthy Bisquick

1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like your biscuits)

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Mix Bisquick and sugar until combined.  Slowly add milk until soft dough forms.  Fold in cranberries.  Dough will be sticky; add small amounts of Bisquick to be able to work dough into ball shape with hands.  Place ball onto lightly floured surface and roll out to approximately 1/2 inch thickness.  Use heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out biscuits.  Place biscuits on greased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes approximately 8 heart-shaped yummies.

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice

"There's gonna be a new kid on the block."

Just so we're clear...

I am NOT pregnant.

.

.

.

But the hubby and I's best friends from college are!!!

They officially announced it on Facebook earlier this week, because, as everyone knows, ain't nothing official til you post it on Facebook. :)

So I thought I'd dedicate today's sweet treat creation to them and their soon-to-be baby girl!

They'll be such wonderful parents!

Sugar & Love Everyone!

Come Fly with Me

Okay, okay.  I know.

I doubt seriously if this cake pop pig would actually sing Frank Sinatra.

But come on folks!  Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief?

Maybe he's a hipster. 

(although he's definitely not anymore since I just called him out on it.)

But maybe he used to be a hipster that digs the Rat Pack.

AND he's wearing sunglasses.

Which...

.

.

.

technically makes him seem kind of mysterious...

.

.

.

which totally proves my point that he could have all kinds of interests we're unaware of, ole Frankie being one of them.

BAM!

You can take that logic to the piggy bank!

 

Sugar & Love Everyone!