Quilt Pattern "Fabulous Friends"

When my daughter got married last August there were several people who went above and beyond helping us with the wedding.  A simple thank you card was not going to cut it.  We wanted to do something special to let them know how much we appreciated them and so we made a personalized quilt for each of the 6 people we were thanking.  This is the first of the six quilts we made.  This quilt pattern comes with all the letters of the alphabet so you can personalize it to fit your needs.  The pattern can be found at 

Parties and Patterns.

Quilt Pattern "Fabulous Friends"

Printable Candy Bar Wrapper "Shake Your Tail Fin"

Set your table with a blue tablecloth to look like water and let these candy bar wrappers swim their way onto your guests plates. These candy bar wrappers were fun, easy and quick to make for my mermaid themed dinner party.  Print off the downloadable images, cut, glue and wrap around a candy bar.  What could be easier than that? 

Printable Candy Bar Wrappers

"Shake Your Tail Fin"

Sunday Chocolate Cake

When I was growing up my mother made chocolate cake with divinity frosting every Sunday.

It was a tradition and one I loved.

Sunday Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour]
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Grease 13"x9" cake pan.  Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat for 2 minutes.  Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).  Pour batter into cake pan.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool and frost cake.

Divinity Frosting

1 cup sugar

1/4 teas. salt

1/2 teas. cream of tartar

2 egg whites

3 tbsp. water

1 teas. vanilla

In the top of a double boiler combine the sugar, salt, cream of tartar, egg whites and water. Beat with an electric mixer until frosting starts to thicken and forms soft peaks. Remove from heat and add the vanilla until blended. Frost the chocolate cake.

In our family everyone would get a piece of cake and add their own frosting. We never frosted the cake.

Printable Game "Pin The Fin"

For our Mermaid themed birthday party I made took the traditional game of "Pin The Tail On The Donkey"

 and turned it into "Pin The Fin On The Mermaid". 

 This traditional game is always a favorite and of course I always like to get the adults involved.  

I have to admit I have son-in-laws that are very good sports.   

It's not every day that you can get your adult son-in-laws to play mermaid games.  

I am sharing this free printable game "Pin The Fin" with you. 

 Download it and play it at your next mermaid party. 

Printable Game "Pin The Fin"

Printable Game "Pin The Fin"

Under Construction Birthday Cake

  

My daughter made this very cute cake for her son's birthday last week.  

It was adorable and Caden her son loved it.

What you will need to make this cake:

2 cake mixes

One 8" and one 9" round cake pan

Construction toys

Oreo cookies (crushed)

Candy Rocks

Chocolate Frosting (recipe below)

Fondant (recipe below)

Make cake mixes following package directions.  Split the batter between the two cake pans and bake cakes according to cake directions.

Remove cake from pans and let cool. Cut top layer to look like a gravel pit.  Place cakes in freeze for a few hours.

Remove cakes from freezer, frost and decorate.

Frosting:

3 sticks (1 1/2 C) butter softened

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

12 oz chocolate

2-4 tbsp milk

Chop your chocolate (unless you’re using chocolate chips) and melt in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.

Cream butter, and add powdered sugar 3/4 cup at a time, mixing to combine before adding more, scraping sides as needed.

Mix in vanilla, and cooled chocolate.

Beat in milk to desired consistency.

Fondant:

1 cup marshmallows

1/2 teas. water

food coloring

3/4-1 cup powdered sugar

Place marshmallows in a mixing bowl and sprinkle 1/2 teas. water.  Place marshmallows in microwave and microwave marshmallows 10 seconds at a time until melted.  Stir after each 10 seconds. (I microwaved the marshmallows 20 seconds in total.)

Stir in the food coloring until well mixed.

To the melted marshmallow mixture add 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  Knead together.  (At first you will need to slightly butter your hands so that you can work with the marshmallow.)  Add another 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup powdered sugar until marshmallow mixture is no longer sticky and can be rolled out with a rolling pin.  

To knead, fold dough over on itself and with the palm of your hand press down on the dough, repeat several times until powdered sugar is incorporated into the marshmallow.

Roll out marshmallow dough and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. For the road on the construction cake Emily used a pizza cutter to cut the road shape.

This fondant can be used to cover a whole cake.  (Makes a very smooth surface.)  You can also use this fondant as edible play-dough.

Birthday Activity "Around The Clock Missionary Birthday"

I sent this fun birthday activity to my missionary a few weeks ago and he loved it.  

Every hour he opened a present.  

(Just small things that he could carry in his backpack and open throughout the day.) 

You are welcome to download this free packet and send it to all missionaries that you know.  

Each present has a time attached to it so your missionary 

knows what time that specific present is to be opened. 

Inside the present is a poem that 

coordinates with the present. 

Since I wasn't there with my missionary, it still let him know that I was thinking about him all day long and it gave him something to look forward to every hour. 

Birthday Activity 

"Around The Clock Missionary Birthday"

Key-Lime Bites

Making The Tart Crust:

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 cup flour

1 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter (room temperature)

Whisk together the pecans, flour and powdered sugar.  Cut in the Butter until you have a soft dough.

Press dough into greased (use shortening to grease) mini sized cupcake tins.  You may need to use a little bit of flour so the dough does not stick on your hands.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. (If the dough was too soft when you molded the tart crusts in the tins they may come out of the oven without the bowl shape.  Simply press a teaspoon in the middle of each tart crust to reshape while they are still hot.)  Remove the tart crusts from the tin to cool.  They flip out easily with a fork.

Making the key-lime filling:

One 8 oz. container of cool whip

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup key-lime juice (found by lemon juice in grocery stores)

Remove cool whip from it's container to a medium sized mixing bowl.  Slowly beat in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth.  Beat in the key-lime juice until all ingredients are well blended.

Putting It all Together:

Fill the tart crusts with the key-lime filling.  Adorn with raspberries, lime slices, or strawberries.

These key-lime bites go great with our Mermaid themed party!

Printable Game "Treasure Hunt"

Okay, so I am not letting my married kids grow up. I want to keep them young forever.  I did this theme for my daughter and daughter-in-law and what I discovered is they don't want to grow up either.  

They loved my mermaid theme and they loved this 

treasure hunt.  

Of course the whole family got involved with this activity and everyone had a great time.  

Who says that treasure hunts are just for kids?  This free 

printable game 

packet comes with downloadable treasure map, clues and under the sea images.

Printable Games "Treasure Hunt"

4 Layer Brownies

From Megan's Corner

Brownie Layer:

1 box of brownie mix

1/4 cup hot fudge topping, unheated

Prepare brownies according to the package directions for at 9x13 inch pan adding the hot fudge topping to batter.  Cool.

Marshmallow Creme Layer:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 1/2 jars (7oz. jars) marshmallow creme

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, chopped

1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter over medium heat.  Add sugar and milk and stir until dissolved.  Bring to a boil.  Add the marshmallow creme, peanut butter and vanilla stirring until smooth.  Take off heat and add the peanuts.  Pour mixture over brownies and spread evenly.  Cool completely.

Caramel Layer:

One (17 oz.) jar of caramel topping

In a small saucepan melt caramel over low heat.  Pour caramel over the marshmallow creme layer spreading evening.  Let cool completely.

Chocolate Layer:

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together over low heat until smooth.  Pour over caramel layer.

Put in the refrigerator to set.  We prefer these brownies cold.

Printable Games "Pin The Fly"

                

Our frog theme would not be complete without pinning a fly to the frogs tongue.  Disgusting yes but the kids loved it.  This is our last frog idea.  Promise.  The grand kids tried to pin (tape) a fly on the tip of the frog's tongue.  Whoever came closest won.  

Printable Games "Pin The Fly"

Printable Game "Bobbing For Frogs"

This printable game was a huge hit at Kermit's party.  It's a race to see who can bite their apple first or, for the little ones, it's a race to see who can get the wettest.  This packet comes with instructions and frog images to give your green apples that real froggy look.  

Download, print, and get your party hoppin'.

Printable Game "Bobbing For Frogs"