Chocolate Frog Delight

A frog just doesn't taste the same without some chocolate.

True statement.

I found a free printable to make replicas of the chocolate frog boxes used in the movies {HERE}, but I didn't want to use up my ink and I wanted to be able to cut them out using my Silhouette {the thought of cutting 40 boxes by hand makes my fingers cramp up}.  I do have the new Silhouette Designer software which is supposed to make it possible to import images easily, but I didn't want to try to figure it out right now.

Soooo, I found a cute little box in Silhouette's online store for $0.99, bought some purple cardstock {hydrangea} and let the Silhouette do the work while I watched Monsters, Inc.

Since I was trying to avoid printing anything I decided not to do labels {ink is so expensive}, I thought cute gold frogs on top would be a nice touch.  Once again, I found the frog in Silhouette's online store for $0.99 and watched Silhouette work her beautiful magic.

I heart her.

I assigned the privilege of making the actual chocolate froggies to my sister months ago.  I am starting to get better at delegating since planning my wedding.  It is really difficult to plan an event with this much detail without recruiting help.

Over time I have come to realize that, while I am super awesome, I am not a miracle worker.  I either need smaller ideas or more hands.  The former was clearly never going to happen.  Well, I guess the latter isn't possible either, but I know a lot of people with hands.  And I have learned that people really do want to help, I just have to ask.  Asking is hard for me.

I'm getting off track here.

Here are the sweet frogs my sister made.

You can find the mold for this particular frog {HERE} and the chocolate candy melts can be found at most craft stores.  My sister bought hers at Michaels {HERE}.

Her first attempt at the frogs was with a recipe she found online somewhere, wherein she was told to melt chocolate wafers in the microwave.  From this she learned that chocolate wafers do not melt in the microwave {at least, not hers} and her smoke alarm needs new batteries.

All in all, I'm sure she enjoyed every moment.

And now...

... here we are, all packed up and ready to party.

Be sure to check out the rest of my Harry Potter party posts.  

Potter Inspired Canvas Art

Pages O' Potter Book Page Wreath

Potter Party Invites

Felt Hogwarts' Ties

Chocolate Frogs

Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans

Harry Potter Party Reveal

Ariana's Sweet Shoppe Birthday {A Little Something to Entertain Until I Return From the Mountains on Sunday}

In October my sister put together a sweet shoppe birthday party for my darling niece, Ariana.

It was a big hit with the kiddos {and the grown-ups, but don't tell anybody}, I mean, look at all this loot!

And you HAVE to love this cake that I made for my sweet little Bia.  My sister sent me a link of what she wanted it to look like {check it out here} and I delivered!

We did have one minor candle blowing incident...

My daughter, Maia, is to Ariana's right and as you can see here the candles are being blown out by her, not the birthday girl.  This put a damper on the spirits of the birthday girl.  She finally emerged from her bedroom...

... but her candle blow out was a little bit "ho hum."  As you can see Maia is in glumsville because she got in trouble for blowing out Miss Ariana's candles.  Oh, birthday drama!

Here are a few other shots of the birthday set-up.  

What a great party it was!  Birthday parties around here are done big and require complete family cooperation.  Put us all together and we do a great job!

We love us some Ariana!

Two Months of Marital Bliss {and we haven't even tried to kill each other once}!

Photo by Dana Pleasant.  She is an outstanding, rockin', knock your socks off photographer!  Check her out!

Today marks two months of wedded bliss for us.

Dana blows my mind.

If you haven't clicked on the link yet, now is the time.  Dana Pleasant is amazing!

Yes we are beautiful people, but it still takes a superb photographer to take photos like these!

There are about 500 other photos that I would love to post right now, but I shall save them for another time, or maybe another several times.  

**Deep, happy sigh**

Ok, so to mark the momentous occasion I baked chocolate chip cookies, my least favorite things to bake - BLECH!  Weird right?  Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies?  Well, I don't, and I eagerly await the day that I meet another who shares my awesome opinion.

Anyway, our wedding vows consisted of promises written by the other that we were not privy to in advance; one of the vows my love wrote for me was a promise to bake chocolate chip cookies at least once every other month {our vows were kind of perfect in every way}. So here we are two months in and right on schedule - as promised - he has his revolting precious cookies.  They definitely look delicious and per Miss Maia, they taste as good as they look {I will take her word for it}.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Recipe from AllRecipes.com.

I'm not really sure how anyone eats these things, but hey, we all have our things!  Anyhooo...

Sneak peak alert!  

Tomorrow I will be posting my first ever advent calendar!  I am super excited about this project and cannot wait to share!  Here is a glimpse ...