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Showing posts with the label CONTESTS AND GIVEAWAYS

Chonky Boys: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches that Scream Summer!

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Featuring my thick and nuggy Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies, these ice cream sandwiches are the stuff that summer dreams are made of.  If you've ever had the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Disneyland , you are going to LOVE these!  These big and bold chocolate chip cookies are based on a recipe from my culinary school studies at Auguste Escoffier, but with a few modifications to give them that Jennuine touch.  They make the perfectas book for a fat slice of real vanilla bean ice cream.  And those mini chips?  You just gotta have that extra cronch! Thank goodness this recipe only makes 8 sandwiches, otherwise I would be eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  This way, my big family can help save me from my inner child diet-saboteur.   Print With Image Without Image Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Yield: 8 Author: Jenn Erickson Loaded with chocolate chips and buttery, brown-sugary vanilla flavor, these mall-sized cookies form a perfect partnership with a
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Creative Cake DIY: Beach Bucket Cake with Edible "Sand"
(and a Lemon Cake Oyster & Pearl on Top)

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The beach bucket cake is my favorite cake to make at this time of year.  It's always a big hit at the cake walk at my daughters' school carnival.  Last year, I shared my easy step-by-step tutorial for putting together your own beach bucket cake and my recipe for real-looking edible "sand".   Earlier this spring, I was contacted by Donsuemor , a gourmet bakery based right here in my home state, specializing in traditional French Madeleine cakes (that are sold online).  They had spotted my tutorial for making " Pearl & Oyster Cakes " out of Madeleines and wondered if I'd like to give their cakes a try.     They sent me a variety-box of their gourmet Madeleines which included traditional, chocolate, chocolate dipped, and lemon zest ( The box was complimentary.  I have received no monetary compensation for my review ).  The Madeleines were some of the finest I've tasted, but my family's favorite was the lemon zest.  The lem
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Summer Style: I {HEART} Vintage Clothing
A Shabby Apple Giveaway!

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"I'm a girl, and by me that's only great! I am proud that my silhouette is curvy, That I walk with a sweet and girlish gait With my hips kind of swivelly and swervy... ...When I have a brand new hairdo With my eyelashes all in curl, I float as the clouds on air do, I enjoy being a girl!" ~ Flower Drum Song, 1958 When it comes to fashion, I'm a nostalgist at heart. I adore retro style and vintage-inspired apparel. What are some of your favorite vintage style elements? For me, it's the polka dots, shift dresses and London mod style of the 1960s, the shirtwaist and full skirt dresses of the 1950s, and the Hollywood glam, pencil skirts, and fitted sweaters of the 1930s. For me, these trappings of yesteryear evoke an elegance, grace and femininity that is missing in many of today's trends. I'm delighted to be hosting a giveaway from Shabby Apple, my favorite online source for beautiful clothes with a vintage flair. Her
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The Ultimate New Year's Eve Party Food Book ~ Tiny Food Party!
{Review & Giveaway}

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  It's cute.  Oh yes!  It's very, very cute.  It's artful, clever and lots of fun too.  But most importantly (for it's a cookbook after all), the food tastes as delicious as it looks.  Sometimes novelty foods can be merely a treat for the eye, but fall short where taste is concerned.  Not so with the "Adorable Appetizers", "Itty-Bitty Entrees", Sweet Somethings, and "Darling Drinks" in Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park's Tiny Food Party! Bite-size Recipes for Miniature Meals from Quirk Books .    Just imagine a party with all of your favorite foods from around the globe, miniaturized into bite-sized treats!  Around the globe?  Indeed!  Tiny Food Party! contains diminutive dishes from Italy (Caprese Skewers), Korea (Pajeon), India (Potato Samosas), Portugal (Bolinhos de Bcalhau), Brazil (Coxinha), Venezuela (Arepas), the United Kingdom (Baby-size Shepherd's Pies), and more.   Kimchi Deviled Eggs (Made with Quail e
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Christmas Day Tradition: Make Glittered Handprint Keepsake Ornaments
{and a Martha Stewart Crafts Glitter Wonderland Giveaway}

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ESTABLISH A TRADITION:   Every Christmas, make a glittered handprint ornament with the children in your home. MAKE MEMORIES:   In the short-term, you'll be establishing a fun, easy and inexpensive tradition.  In the long-term, when the children have grown, you'll have a whole little tree's worth of meaningful ornaments and memories. WIN :  Enter to win a 24-piece set of Martha Stewart Crafts Glitter to get your new tradition started.   I am so excited to share the simplest, sweetest and most glittering little holiday tradition to start with your family!  This year we'll be playing host to all of the nieces and nephews, so I wanted a quick and easy craft project that everyone -- infants through teens -- could take part in that would commemorate our Christmas together.  The idea for these ornaments was inspired by Ms. Hollingsworth, one of the first-grade teachers that I work with.  As a holiday present for her students' parents, each child
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Crafting with Glimmer, Shimmer, Sparkle & Shine with
THE BIG-ASS BOOK OF BLING by Mark Montano
{Review & Giveaway}

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  THIS BOOK IS SO FUN! Not for the meek, (It's more for the chic) It's classy It's brassy And very unique. The Big-Ass Book of Bling is wildly creative -- a colorful compendium of clever crafts that prove that all that glitters need not be gold.  Nor do you have to be an advanced crafter, fashion designer, or break the bank to create fabulous one-of-a-kind jewelry, accessories and home decor.   Just like its author, Mark Montano , this book is fun, inspiring, clever and smart, and fabulously fashionable. Here...experience a little of the Mark Montano magic for yourself... You can also find Mark on his website markmontano.com , his blog markmontanoblogs.blogspot.com , on Twitter , Facebook , and YouTube . I had the pleasure of meeting Mark and hearing him speak at the SoCal Social in October of this year.  He is all at once charismatic and cool and exudes an unquestionable likeability and contagious creative vibe that come throug
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The Best Gift for All Ages to Foster Art & Imagination ~
Fill In the Blank (An Inspirational Sketch Book)
Review and Giveaway!

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When I was five years old, I received what at first appeared to be a regular coloring book for my birthday.  " Big whoop ," I remember thinking.  I had reached my threshold for coloring inside the lines.  As I flipped through the pages, however, hoping for a dot-to-dot or maze to break up the contrived art experience, I realized that this was no ordinary coloring book.  On each page there was a prompt, and the pictures were incomplete!  The prompts were there to tickle my brain into an excited frenzy of creation and imagination.   Instead of coloring the character ... ...I was designing a character of my own . Instead of coloring in a house... ...I was designing the house... Instead of a kid with a coloring book... ...I was an artist, inventor, architect , superhero, president, princess! I was in love!  I doodled the ink right out of my pens and filled every square inch of my book till there was nary a scrap uncovered.  From the title page of Fill
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