The evolution of a fairy Garden

So, I can't post this on Facebook, because I do not want to tip off the recipients of the anonymous Faery Garden, but I don't want this not to be out there for people to see.  And, yes, I'll switch from Faery to Fairy, because I can't decide which spelling I prefer, thank you very much.

There are these two little girls, children of a dear friend, who truly, deeply and completely believe in fairies.  So, My sister, my mom and I made them a "Faery Garden" surprise, and snuck it into their backyard.  My mom deserves extra props for coming up with the plan.

Here is a photo collage of how the work went down.

You can click any image for a bigger version.  Yeah.  It's awesome, I know.

 Here's the Ice Tea on a Tray.  I picked up the tea pitcher and glasses at a miniature shop called Crickets and Caterpillars.  The tray is made from a beer cap.  Megan bent it with a multi-tool.

 

Tiny pot, early edition..  It changed slightly in the final product. It's filled with a couple of layers of packing foam and then potting soil, covered with Spanish Moss.  The mini toadstool house came from Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  The stepping stones are mosaic tiles flipped upside down.  And the flowers are from Michael's. 

 The wheelbarrow is from Hobby Lobby.  I painted it myself.  I was really adamant with myself about having a yellow walled black tire.

 The gardening tools are from Hobby Lobby.

 I made a bug rock, we didn't use it.

 Here is the hand sewn throw pillow and Hand Crocheted afghan my mom made to go with the Cute metal bench we bought at a Garden place called Another Place in Time.

THIS  IS a HAMMOCK made from leaves.  It's gonna go in another garden we make.

HERE are some more pictures with the two different Pots that are linked together with a staircase made from a picket fence from Joann Crafts.

The bird bath is a potpourri warmer from the dollar tree!

And here it is, dropped off for the girls, with little moss covered letters for their names.

 Also, a hand written letter thanking them for being friends of the Fae folk.  Sealed with a wax seal with an F in it.  For Faery.  Underneath the letter are personalized key chains with tiny faery keys.  Signed with a Gaelic Salutation at the end.  Oh, yeah.

Here is a graphic to pin, if you would like to do such a thing:

Homemade peanut butter cups.

I made homemade peanut butter cups.  IT IS SO EASY! I will share the hows:


NEEDS:
Creamy Peanut Butter
Chocolate Candy Melts (Milk or Dark or White, take your pick)
Pastry bags.  Always use pastry bags.  They make life better.  They also now make some that are made with corn based plastic, so they make life better and less guilty.
Small Candy mold.  I got mine in a mini-cupcake baking kit from a scholastic book fair.  Best purchase ever, it came with a tiny cupcake silicone pan, a couple of fondant cutters and little pastry bags and tips.  And a recipe book.  SO CUTE!

STEPS:

Melt Candy melts inside pastry bag in the microwave.  I use half power for 1 to 2 minutes.

Put a few tablespoons of creamy peanut butter in a pastry bag.

Once the chocolate is melted, pipe a small layer into the bottom of the mold.  Let it set.  After it has set, pipe your creamy peanut butter into the mold in a pile.  Do not let it touch the sides.

Now,  Pipe the melted chocolate into your mold, letting it drizzle around and settle about the peanut butter.

Let candy set (Put in freezer for one minute if you aren't patient.)

Pop out and enjoy.

The end.

I said this on facebook, and someone made me this picture.

Belated Christmas.

So I took a break.

I never intended to take a break.  It's not like I was giving it up for Lent, or NaNoWriMo or anything remotely awesome.  I just, didn't want to talk about myself.  Which is weird.  But I am weird, so it actually isn't weird at all for me... or is it?

I have some pictures to share with you.  I made some peppermint bark and some tuxedo popcorn for Christmas for my uncle.  I've listed my peppermint bark secrets here before, but my tuxedo popcorn is new.  And sort of made up on the spot by my mom and I.

So here are some pics:

My peppermint bark.  I added red and green melts to the white bark this time around.

And my tuxedo popcorn, based on the idea of popcorn drizzled with white and dark chocolate: (in lieu of white, i used red and green tinted white)  Switch up the color of the candy melts for any holiday... pink and lavender for Valentines, green for St. Patrick's day, pastels for Easter... and so on...

You need fresh popped popcorn (We use a stove top hand-crank popper) with no butter or salt.  Then drizzle with melted white and dark chocolate.  Let set on a cookie sheet, then break up to package in a tin or bag.

These were my great endevors.  Well, that's not true.  A few weeks ago, I made a nutella/ferrero rocher cupcake for a coworker, and it was pretty fantastic, but no pictures, so i guess it didn't really happen.

My battery is about to go kaput, and I had a million things to blog about that I've been thinking about since last I dialed in, but I just don't have time now.  enjoy the foodie post.

-Robyn