Tailgate Truffles

Here's a peek at my latest sweet treat - Oreo Tailgate Truffles.  These guys are made from a super simple Kraft recipe using Oreos, cream cheese, and chocolate.  Just customize the colors to match your favorite sports team and that's it!
Tutorial and recipe coming soon!

Pumpkin Fun

This will be the fourth Halloween that Ryan and I have known each other and the third that we have been together.  How sad is it that this is our first year carving pumpkins together???  Better late than never, I suppose!  We begin our pumpkin fun at a local pumpkin patch...

We both picked our favorite pumpkins...

Then they sat on the back porch for a week.  Our poor pumpkins sat there unceremoniously, got rained on, and occasionally sniffed by the dog.  Until Saturday when we went to town...

Ryan carved an Incognito pumpkin...

...and I carved a swirly, girly pumpkin.

Tonight they sat glowing on our front stoop welcoming the trick-or-treaters.  I suspect their eventual fate will find them smashed on the street by a gang of unruly teenagers.  That remains to be seen, but until then....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

New Facebook Group!!

Stuff by Stace has a new facebook group! I'll be posting all of my entries there so you can follow along there to know when a new post is up. It's a great place for questions and comments too. So join me!
Stuff by Stace on Facebook

Product Review - Cuisipro Measuring Cups and Spoons

If you're looking for a great gift for the chef in your life, check out the Cuisipro Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons.  I've owned these cups and spoons for about a year now and they are fabulous!!! Their solid stainless steel construction will last you a lifetime of baking and they are truly stainless.  My set has no rust or water marks on it and they still look brand spanking new.  One of the best features of these cups and spoons is the oval shape which will let you dip them down into jars and spice containers much easier than a round spoon.  Check em' out!!

Buy the measuring cups here and the spoons here

Fall!

The air is getting crisp and the first leaves are starting to fall.  Howie is always eating leaves off the ground so he's about to be in heaven...

Summer in Wisconsin

This is my first summer living in Wisconsin and it definitely doesn't disappoint!  Seems like there is a different festival, party, or event to attend every weekend.  Guess you've gotta get it all in before it turns back into the north pole and no one leaves their house.  Here are some pics of this Summer's highlights so far...

Cedarburg Strawberry Fest

EAA Airshow in Oshkosh

Packers Training Camp

Playing with the pup in the back yard

Milwaukee Brewers games!

NKOTB concert with my friend Kellie in Chicago

4th of July on Lake Michigan

Backyard parties

It's been a good summer!  We are just starting to feel a cool down in the air this month and Autumn is just around the corner.  Crazy since it doesn't start cooling off until October in Florida!  I'm getting excited for hay rides, apple picking, and wearing cute scarves.  :)

Coming Soon!

UPDATE: This weekend was a little too much fun and not enough down time so I wasn't able to finish up everything that I need to get the shop rolling.  It should be coming this week and I will write another post once the shop is up!

On August 1st, I'll be re-opening my Etsy shop after a 2 year hiatus.  Getting married and moving across the country has been keeping me busy so I decided to set the shop aside for a bit.  But I'm back!!!

Be sure to check out http://earthjewels.etsy.com on August 1st for jewelry handmade by yours truly.  My jewelry is made from all natural materials like fine silver, pearls and gemstones.  I don't use cheaper metals that will rust or turn colors.  This jewelry should last you a lifetime and will only require a few swipes of a polishing cloth if the silver gets tarnished, which eventually all silver does.  I'll be posting a few sneak peeks on Stuff by Stace in the coming weeks so check back for updates!

Bunny Rabbit Girl's Baby Shower Cake

I made my latest cake for my friend Gina, who is one month away from having a baby girl named Lilah.  :)  All of the decorations on the cake are handmade in fondant and the insides were vanilla cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese icing.  YUM!  The decorations for the party were bright pink so I decided to make most of the cake a lighter pink with bright pink accents.  Here she is!

Strawberry Buckle

Last weekend hubby and I went to Cedarburg Wisconsin's annual Strawberry Fest.  It was a nice Wisconsin summer day...

We enjoyed walking around, looking at all the artisan stands and enjoying the yummy food including lots of strawberry goodness like strawberry wine and strawberry shortcake!

I couldn't resist the fried Wisconsin cheese curds either...

At the end of the day I picked up a pint of fresh strawberries and headed home to find a fun new recipe to try that included them.

I decided to try a Strawberry Buckle which is basically a coffee cake with strawberries in it.  YUM!  You can mix up the fruit too.  I really want to try it with blueberries or apples.  The recipe is so simple and the finished buckle was deee-licious!  Tastes just like a coffee cake with strawberry jam in it.  Here it is...

Strawberry Buckle
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Topping:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
1 In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
2 Blend in eggs and vanilla, then milk.
3 In separate bowl sift together dry ingredients.
4 Stir into wet mixture.
5 Fold in strawberries.
6 Spread in greased, floured, 9x9 inch baking pan.
7 Topping:.
8 Cream butter and sugar.
9 Blend in flour and cinnamon.
10 Sprinkle over batter.
11 Dash with nutmeg.
12 Bake in 375°F oven for 30-35 minutes.

Recipe adapted from food.com

Easy McSqueezy Rainbow Cookie Pops Tutorial

As promised, here is how I made my rainbow cookie pops!  These are super easy because you don't need different colors or consistencies of royal icing.  Just make one batch and load it into some icing squeeze bottles.  Easy McSqueezy!

First we'll start off with the recipe for the cookies and the royal icing.  I obtained these recipes from cakecentral.com so I'll just link you directly to them there.  Here is the recipe for the sugar cookie dough -->clicky and the recipe for the royal icing -->click-a-roo

A few things that you'll need before you get started.

-Lollipop sticks - you can get these at any craft store.  I use the Wilton brand

-Icing squeeze bottle - I also got these at the craft store for $2.50, they are Wilton too

-Rainbow nonpareil sprinkles

-Clear favor bags and ribbon (optional)

Step 1.  Make your cookie dough, roll out, and cut into round shapes with a round cookie or biscuit cutter.  You'll need to make the cookies fairly thick to allow some space around your lollipop stick.  Place your cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Next, insert your lollipop stick sideways into the cookie on the pan.  You can place your hand on top of the cookie to make sure you are guiding it in straight.  Bake cookies as directed and cool completely.

While your cookies are baking, make your royal icing.  You'll probably want to add two more tablespoons of water than what the recipe says to get the consistency that you want.  Think the consistency of honey.  Once you are done with the icing, carefully spoon it into one of your icing squeeze bottles.  Keep the icing bowl handy, because you'll probably need to re-load it as you go.

2.  Once your cookies are baked and your royal icing is loaded into the squeeze bottle, you can get to work! First, start by drawing a circle around the perimeter of the cookie with your royal icing.

3.  Next, squeeze a bunch of icing out into the middle of your circle and use a small offset spatula or knife to fill in the entire circle.   Set your cookies aside so the icing can dry- at LEAST 2 hours.

4.  Once your icing has dried you should be able to touch it with your fingers without it feeling tacky at all.   It should feel totally dry. This is important because you don't want the sprinkles sticking where they shouldn't be.  After you've confirmed this, break out your icing squeeze bottle again and squeeze a fun spiral shape onto your previously laid (and dried) icing foundation.

5.  Pour your nonpareil sprinkles into a bowl with high sides.  They bounce all around so the high sides should keep em' from going all over your kitchen floor.  :)  Take your cookie with the still-wet royal icing spiral, hold it over your sprinkle bowl, and begin to pick up the sprinkles with your hand and drop them on the cookie.  They will stick all over the wet spiral and any extras will fall right back into the bowl.  Do this until the spiral is totally covered and shake off any excess sprinkles.

Voila!  You'll want to do these one at a time after your squeeze your spiral on.  This way you make sure your spiral stays wet enough for the sprinkles to stick.

If you want to get fancy, insert your cookies into clear favor bags and tie them off with a cute ribbon.  Fun! :)

Stuff Stace Likes - Pinterest

As if Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger weren't enough, now I have a new site to obsess over.  It's called Pinterest and it's a place to keep and organize all of your favorite tidbits on the internet.  See a photo of a decorating idea that you'd like to remember?...pin it!  See a recipe you'd like to try?....pin it!   See an outfit that you'd like to duplicate?...pin it!  Here are a few of my pin boards...

So now if I want to reference a recipe that I saw on the internet, I know exactly where to find it.  Case in point, I pinned a Wisconsin Beer Cheese soup in my "Recipes to Try" pinboard and decided to make it this week.  Yummy!

Not only can you keep your own favorite things in one place, but you can also see what your friends are pinning.  It's so fun and addicting!  Give it a try, and while you're at it, click my "Follow Me On Pinterest" button on the right side of my blog to see what I'm pinning.  You'll surely get sucked in, but don't say I didn't warn you.  ;)

Rainbow Cookie Pops

Remember these lollipops that you used to get at the fair?

When a benefit bake sale came to my attention I thought it would be fun to recreate those lollipops as a cookie pop.  Here is the end result!

They are super easy to make too.  Tutorial coming soon!

Rose Swirl Birthday Cake

I made my latest cake for my mother-in-law Karen's birthday.  The inspiration came from this entry on iambaker's blog.  I love how fancy the rose swirls look, yet they are still simple.  I decided to add a second tier and a fondant bow and pearls to finish it off.  The cake was a 6 inch tier and a 3 inch tier, so I made some cupcakes to make sure there was enough to go around.  We brought it into her work and it was a hit!  I also got to use my fun black cake stand that my hubs got me for my birthday this year.  Hurrah!