Happy National Cookie Day

Possibly one of the best things in the world is the scent of baking cookies in my humble opinion...especially when you know you'll get to eat a warm cookie very soon! So, I'm happy to celebrate National Cookie Day today.

There are a ton of stamps and digital stamps that feature cookies, including some super adorable gingerbread cookies from Lawn Fawn. I have their set of Gingerbread Friends dies and can't wait to make some for tags this year. Megan Quinn made this card with the dies for Lawn Fawn here.

They have this mini set too and I loooovvee anything small so these make me smile.

This die set from Mama Elephant is for Sugar Cookies with the icing but they also have a gingerbread cookie and milk set of stamps and dies.

If you're a digital stamp-and-color person, you can buy this set for $4 over at Little Fox Digital on Etsy here.

And if you cookie alphabet letters, you can get those here from Sandy Ford on Etsy!

Here's a couple little Pizza Cookies I made to add to mini pizza boxes from Stampin' Up that I decorated for Christmas for my nieces and nephews, just to make their gift cards a little more exciting a couple of years ago.

These are just sugar cookies with red icing, green mini M&Ms, brown regular M&Ms and shaved white chocolate for cheese. I added green Mike 'n Ike's sliced to resemble green peppers. 

I'd be remiss on Cookie Day if I didn't leave you with a tasty cookie recipe...so here you go...Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Food Network.

I'll be curling up with a cup of tea and a cookie tonight to celebrate. How about you?

Happy Friday!

Chark

Happy Chocolate Pudding Day, Puddin'

So, yay for chocolate pudding...one of those fast and easy desserts when you just need something chocolate and creamy. I love the individual puddings meant for lunch boxes but my favorite flavor, Snack Pack Chocolate Marshmallow is hard to find anymore...and I'm guessing that means they don't sell it but it was tasty good. 

My daughter loved to make instant pudding when she was a kid because it was easy and she could add in chocolate chips or marshmallows and her little brother thought she was the best :)

One of my favorite ways to make a pudding dessert is to make a chocolate cream pie with it. I will almost always order that if I find it on the menu somewhere. I've included a recipe for Chocolate Cream Pie on this blog post, even though it's my post for Lemon Cream Pie Day...I figured if Lemon  got their day, Chocolate should too.

Since it's summer and hot here in Ohio, here's a Frozen S'mores Pudding Pie recipe
from Shaken Together that uses instant chocolate pudding. I've used a similar recipe before but in addition to adding marshmallows, I added in crushed oreos, white chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips. If you want to add these in, just decrease the amount of marshmallows so you end up with less than 2 cups of additions. 

There's something really fun about this frozen pie...it's not like an ice cream pie and not creamy on account of being frozen, but it's perfect for summer. And, yep, it's an easy one! I highly recommend it! It does need 3-4 hours in the freezer before eating, so make it in the afternoon so you can have it after supper.

And, if you don't even have time for instant pudding, just put a Snack Pack pudding in a bowl and stir in some marshmallows and chocolate chips and gram crackers crumbs. It'll freeze faster too, since it's smaller...win/win.

Since it's still quarantine time, you could buy some little pudding cups and leave them on a friend's doorstep with a little note that says, "Hi, Puddin', Happy Chocolate Pudding Day!" Add in a little free clipart pudding cutie and you're good to go!

My husband has taken to saying, "Hello, Puddin'" to me like the character Ray-Ray from the Rock's version of the movie Walking Tall...I've tried to find a video clip of it, but I can't. If you're a Rock fan, you've probably seen this movie and know just what I'm talking about. However, I didn't watch that one and so I had to have it explained to me. I do think it's funny, though.

Hope you'll join me tomorrow for a special extra weekend blog hop!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Strawberry Month is My Kind of Month

It's National Strawberry Month, y'all! My favorite berry gets a whole month of celebration, so I thought I'd better join in!

This cute Strawberries Time digi is from Sweet Escapes digi.

And this quirky one if from Julia Spiri.

The classic strawberry stamp I've colored up below is from Power Poppy Stamps. I love their nature stamps so much and this digital set is on sale right now for $1.99 instead of $6!

The chocolate covered strawberry I drew from an image I saw online. You can tell I'm an amateur because I didn't make the seeds right. In real berries, they are symmetrically placed, because nature has her methods. I just drew them randomly because I didn't do enough studying beforehand. Dipping berries in chocolate is my favorite way to eat them...but I'm pretty sure I'd eat them any old way.

Of course I had to throw in a tasty strawberry recipe today and I chose these Strawberry Muffins from Once Upon a Chef.

And if you're feeling my favorite chocolate and strawberry combination, here's a cute idea with instructions.

How do you feel about strawberries?

Happy Friday!

Chark

Lemon Cream Pie Day

I'm pretty jazzed to find out today is Lemon Cream Pie Day...I super love the lemon pie at Bob Evans. There's whipped cream, lemon filling and a little lemon candy on top. It's just the best...and now I'm wondering if they have lemon pie in the fall...hmmmm.

Here's the history of National Lemon Cream Pie Day from NationalDay.com

"Food historians believe lemon desserts have been around since the Middle Ages! Whipped cream, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer: it didn’t show up until the 16th century. It first appeared in recipes in Italy in the mid 1500s and then traveled to France and showed up in recipes there just after 1600. Somewhere between then and now, someone had the brilliant idea to marry them together in a way that’s basically sunshine baked into a pie dish. 

Here's a lemon cream pie recipe if you're a baker. I like baking way more than cooking and this seems doable...but it's a little involved. I like this recipe better, and you don't really have to be a baker to attempt this one.

I'm a pretty big fan of lemon, but I know some people aren't...so I'm going to throw in a recipe link for a chocolate cream pie. Shhh! I'd probably pick chocolate over lemon :)

If you only want to craft to celebrate National Lemon Cream Pie Day, here ya go. This is $1.50 digi image from JW Illustrations, it's colored here as pumpkin pie, but I think you could make it lemon.

You can hop over to Tutorial Tuesday to see how Denise made this lemonade card...though it's not pie, it sure looks tasty!

This free lemon digi art comes from A Little Sugar and you can check out how they used it here. Let me know what your favorite cream pie is!

Happy Friday!

Chark

July 4th Fun and Games

The 4th of July is just days away and if you're wondering how to throw together a fun get-together, I've gathered a bunch of easy ideas for you. And if you don't celebrate the 4th, maybe you'll find something fun to try anyway!

I love this easy craft because if I like one thing, it's glitter...and if you add crafty tapes, I'm extra happy. I could see getting one wooden background and substituting different washi tapes for the seasons, a heart for Valentine's Day, a star for Christmas, etc. It's easy to remove and I'm betting you have some themed washi you could use. Head to No. 2 Pencil to see more.

If you want the kids and the adults to get in on the fun, you can get the supplies for this craft and set up an outdoor craft station to make popsicle stick flags. You can go here to Giggles Galore to find more directions.

If it's hot like it is here in Ohio, here are some cooling games to play at your party, including a Duck, Duck, Goose game called Drip, Drip, Dunk that uses a cup of water. Buzzfeed has some dry outdoor games in this link as well. I'm loving the Yard Yahtzee.

No gathering is complete without delicious treats, so add one or more of these recipes to your menu for red, white and blue fun! These whoopie pie cookies from Fun Squared look easy and delish!

If you're more of a fruit-for-dessert person, why not make these fun kabobs? Fork and Beans has a watermelon "cake" idea too.

I also love how delicious this drink looks, though I'd add a festive blueberry or flag topper.

What if you're not in the mood for a party? Then I suggest popping in your favorite themed movie (Independence Day, Jaws, 1776, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), making some holiday popcorn and enjoying the air conditioning.

Happy July!

Chark

Rainbow Treats

Over at the Stamplorations blog, the current Cutplorations (die cut) challenge inspiration is this picture. I love the striped look of these eggs and though I could never pull this off in, say, jello form or egg dyeing form, I used the rainbow stripes in paper form. 

The paper is from Lawn Fawn and the dies are both from Stamplorations that I got recently during their Spring Sale (through April).

I cut the sentiment from mirrored silver cardstock and the flowers from scraps of colored cardstock in my stash. Love how festive these flowers are in multi-colors.

You have until Tuesday to join in the challenge here, using one Stamplorations product and whatever dies you have. 

If you're feeling the rainbow and want some jello treats now, here's a recipe for you.

Or if you're like me and this seems way too time-consuming, you could always color some cookie dough in rainbow colors like this.

Rainbow food is yummy food!

Happy Friday,
Chark

Bonjour, It's International Coffee Day

Saying "bonjour" is about as international as I get, though I suppose I could pull up one or two French phrases from college. More importantly, it's International Coffee Day! Now, I have to admit, I am more of a tea drinker obsessive. But I do love the smell of coffee and I adore chocolate cupcakes with coffee added, it really enriches chocolate in baked goods. My aunts and a few nieces and nephews are definitely coffee lovers, and the aunts even drink it with their pizza...which seems odd to me, but there you go!

So, without further adieu (so international of me), here are some ways to celebrate this very cool holiday.

If you're a crafter, you should run, not walk, to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers site here, where they celebrated National Coffee Day on Saturday and have a blog hop with prizes and cards/projects galore to inspire. 

If you're like me and love the smell of coffee, this craft for Coffee Sugar Scrub Cubes from A Pumpkin and A Princess might be right up your alley.

And if you're looking to make a coffee-themed stool, sign or canvas, you could try this craft, using sharpies and templates found here at Remodelacasa.

You can read a coffee-themed mystery book like one of these, listed here.

If you want to eat your coffee, instead of drinking it, you can head to this article for 23 Incredible Coffee Desserts, which includes a mocha cupcake!

Lastly, for you crafty and caffeinated friends, here are some cute coffee stamps that anyone would love.

Your Next Stamp has such great stamps and this cute cup set is a mix-and-match bunch of fun.

This Darcie stamp set has tea and books too, so you know I'm going to need this one.

This cup die set from My Favorite Stamps is just perfect for creating cups to go.

If you prefer your coffee crafts already made, you can pick up these earrings on Etsy here.

That's it for today, hope it's a good International Coffee Day for you!

Happy Monday!

Chark

Shiver Me Timbers

Ahoy, mateys! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day...and it started as a bit of a joke between friends in the 1990s and apparently Dave Barry mentioned in in 2002 and people just started to run with it. So now it's more popular and lots of people observe it and this landlubber is jumping on ship to join in! 

Here are some pirate jokes to start you off right.

How did the pirate buy his ship so cheaply? Because he got it on sail.

Why did the pirate buy an eye patch? Because he couldn't afford an iPad.

Why couldn't the pirates play cards? Because the captain was standing on the deck.

And have I got some cute pirate stuff to share. This is a set of stamps from My Favorite Stamps.

And I love the sentiments in this Neat and Tangled set.

I'm a huge fan of Hannah Lynn's art and this Hidden Treasures pirate is a fun digi stamp that you could get today and start coloring right away!

If you're feeling like you need to celebrate with a fun treat, you could make these yummy goodies.

Or my favorite—cupcakes—would be easy to make today.

If you'd like to go with more healthy fun, you can make these with a little ribbon and a marker.

I'll leave you with a clip of my favorite film pirate from The Princess Bride.

Happy Wednesday, ya scurvy dogs!

Chark