YUMMY Peppermint Bark Recipe

I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A VERY MERRY HOLIDAY!

Are you wondering what you are going to do with all the left-over candy canes from the holiday season? Why pay over $20 for similar Peppermint Bark items that you order from a catalog (plus shipping) or purchase at the mall? I was inspired to make my own when I spotted some PB in a store at the mall a few days before Christmas. As I reached for the 8 oz. piece of candy I recoiled in shock at the $14.99 price tag! At that moment I made the decision to make my own PB....and to give it as a small gift to some special friends!

Here is my PEPPERMINT BARK RECIPE:

1 bag of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips

10 oz Bakers Premium White Chocolate Baking Squares (this equals 1 1/2 boxes)

1/2 tsp. Peppermint Extract

Crushed Candy Canes (approx. 1/2 cup)

Line a 9" x 11" baking pan with foil.

Using a double boiler method, melt the Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chips, stirring constantly.

Add Peppermint Extract.

Pour into the lined baking pan and spread and chill until set.

Using a double boiler method, melt the Bakers White Chocolate, stirring contantly.

Pour over chilled bittersweet chocolate layer, sprinkle with crushed candy canes

Chill until set, approx. 1-2 hours.

Break into bite-size pieces and store in an air-tight container.

THE HOBBY MOMMY TIPS:

For thicker bark, simply use a smaller pan.

Adjust the Peppermint Extract to your liking, you can even add it to the white chocolate layer.

I prefer the "soft" candy cane or peppermint candy. (It is still hard but melts in your mouth faster!)  

Sometimes the layers can split when you break the PB. This can be due to moisture from your fridge settling on the bittersweet choco layer. If you notice condensation on your choco layer then lightly press a fresh paper towel over the top prior to layering the white choco.  

I purchased my ingredients at WalMart and the total was in the $5 range. For best results ensure your ingredients are real chocolate and not chocolate flavored candies.  

Don't get caught with your hand in the candy tin of PB AFTER you've gifted it to those "special friends"! ;)

TuTu Ruffle Apron & Chef Hat Set..plus so much more...

I feel like I have some explaining to do.....I have not been AWOL, I promise! My camera decided to quit operating 7 days AFTER the warranty expired, (right before Christmas and at the height of Cheer Competition season)...mwwaaahhhhhhhh! The good news is that I was assured by the Tech-Support agent that there is a "grace" period. So my camera has been shipped to Illinois for a well needed check-up. My fingers are crossed that Canon pulls through with the repairs and still honors the warranty!

In the meantime, I have been busy and have attempted to document some of my latest endeavors and projects via my cell phone camera. Please excuse the poor photo quality (2mp) :(

My 5 year old Princess is busy with her 1st year of All Star Competitive Cheer. She is on a Tiny Tots Team. There are 4 more girls ages 3-4 (and 1 boy) on her team and we decided to make all the girls TuTu Ruffle Aprons with matching Chef Hats for Christmas presents.
Like most families, we are on a budget for Christmas so I opted to use mostly my scrap fabric and leftovers from previous projects. I even cut up some Tinkerbell curtains that we never hung!

As a quick afterthought, and to feed my Tulle Obsession, I added a TuTu to the ruffle of the Tinkerbell (curtain) Apron. It was an IMMEDIATE hit with my Princess and INSPIRATION was born! I added a matching TuTu to the ruffle of each apron! ADORABLE!

I am in the process of setting up an ETSY shop and plan on featuring these TuTu Ruffle Aprons & Chef Hats! I plan on offering custom options and pre-made options.

Email me soon if you want to pre-order yours!

Also, stay tuned for little boy and Mommy & Me styles. Ohhhhh wouldn't these look cute for a Little Chef Birthday Party Theme.....the wheels are turning.....;)

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I mentioned above that my Princess is involved in Competitive All Star Cheerleading. She is following in the footsteps of her big sister who is almost 17...WHEW! At present, our family is eating, sleeping, and breathing CHEER! It can be exhausting and I'm sure my husbands wallet is a little bruised, but we are making new friends and traveling every other weekend.

I am always trying to think of cute ways to show support for our gym and typically use my 3 year old non-cheering Princess as my guinea pig. Speaking of guinea pigs....said 3 year old Princess recently fed a sterling silver gold plated necklace to our friends guinea pig. I am happy to report that thusfar... THE PIG LIVES!

I digress....

I sewed an outfit for my littlest Princess to wear at Cheer Competitions. I used fabrics that featured our gyms colors of purple, black, silver and white. I used a great product called Wonder-Under to affix the ELITE letters and stars to the front of the top and her jeans. Finally, I added a ruffle hem to an old pair of jeans. Little Princess gets so many ohhs and ahhs at the competitions! Here are a couple of pictures of her posing with the ELITE CHEER SENSATION TINY TOTS.

YES! That's my Princess showing off her High V! (above)

I also created a Cheerleader Ribbon Sculpture for Little Princess. It was made to match the Big Girls uniforms and I attached it to a hair clip. Here is a picture of it next to a picture of my oldest Princess wearing her uniform.

 

I want to tweak it a bit but it turned out so cute!

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I recently took one of our vehicles to the Checkered Flag Audi dealership in Virginia Beach for it's scheduled service. I had the Little Princess in tow and the kind folks there offered to drive us to the Lynnhaven Mall to wait out the labor. We had a surprise visit with Santa Clause and I was pleased to discover that Little Princess was NOT afraid of Santa this year! In fact she chatted away and away and away......

When she got off his lap, Santa Clause just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders!

Good thing SANTA is MAGIC and ALREADY knows what the all children want! ;)

The highlight of our trip to the Lynnhaven Mall was the ride on the carousel. It was the finale and what I used to bribe the Little Princess into perfect behavior, (yes i said BRIBED!). For her little self, the carousel ride even out-ranked Santa Claus!

I was impressed to discover that the carousel was imported from Italy and was painted with authentic Italian frescos and the horse tails were real horse hair. Next go-around I will pay more attention to the details :)

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I also recently dragged the Conductor to the Dollar Tree. He bought the 3 Princesses these Super-Sized Stockings. I waited until we got home to inform him since HE purchased the Super-Sized Stockings that SANTA was going to have to fill them....hehehehehehehehe ;)

I used Wonder-Under (again) to affix the letters to the stockings. It is a GREAT product that turns ordinary fabric into an iron on. I hung the Super-Sized Stockings to the mantle with sticky back velcro. (hopefully it doesn't take off the paint...)

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If you are looking for a last minute Christmas Gift, then here is a super easy, homemade gift that will brighten anyone's day.

You can't go wrong with a cookie mix in a jar!

I borrowed the recipe from Bakerella.com (you can find her on my Blogs I Heart list) and substituted the M&M candies for the Christmas variety. I found the smooth quart jars at Michaels. I was in a crunch for time and finances so I opted to skip the investment in the cute hole punches to fit  the jar lid and used the recipes cards in the picture above, (99cents). I used mini clothes pins to attach the recipe cards to wire ribbon around the fabric squares.

The Princesses helped, and we made one for each Cheer Coach, the Tumbling Coach the Kindergarten Teacher, the Advanced Anatomy Teacher and the Bus Driver.

The Avanced Anatomy Teacher reports that the recipe is DEEEE-LISH-US!

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Finally, I returned yesterday from a trip to Panama City, Florida. The day before, my 2 youngest Princesses had their photos taken at the beach on Tyndall AFB. (The oldest Princess is absent from the photos because she is on a Christmas trip to Cancun, Mexico with her Grandparents...BOILED SPRAT!) I can't wait to receive the final product from the photographer. In the meantime I snapped a couple shots with my cell.

Conductor Comments

Hobby Mommy Blog Followers...this is The Conductor (as I am known on this site) and this is my first post ever on a blog. I am not sure how it supposed to go, however I cannot be prouder of TheHobbyMommy (my wife) for taking sewing and crafting, which, I cannot lie, thought would be a complete waste of my time and money, and turning it into something that feeds other creative minds for those not only in the local Virginia area but mommys across the United States and many foreign lands such as Australia and who knows where. Of course TheHobbyMommy has more ideas than I can keep up with so everyday seems to be a Michaels or Fabric Store Day, but when you have 3 beautiful models (daughters) to fashion your ideas...how can you not support it? I'm sorry if any guys are reading this, but it truly warms my heart to see the pride my wife takes in her work. It is a great feeling to see the passion that Carrie has for her craft and also recieve compliments on such things as Raegan's Elite Cheer Sensation outfit or the cookie mason jars I delivered to the girls coaches. Ladies...if you are reading this and have a passion...DO IT!!! Your husband will be fascinated by it. Fellas...if there are any reading this blog...dont hold her back...you will be missing out on something incredible.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY~Anatomy of a Christmas Picture

TuTu Hairbow Holder (and GIRLY bathroom)

My obsession with TULLE continues.....

Last week I made a TuTu Bow Holder to display in our girls bathroom.

I was stuck with the task of decorating the bathroom for my 3 Princesses ages 3-16. So of course, my goal was to meet all the girly tastes of such a wide age span. I searched a few stores and looked online. I settled with a cute line from Target. I purchased the shower curtain and a few of the accessories and got to work.

Rathar than use curtain hooks, I purchased a polka dot ribbon to hang the curtain from the rod.

I used the polka dot theme throughout the bathroom.

I sewed the ribbon to the towels.

STAY TUNED for future posts as I cover the wall outlets and switch covers and make custom wall art for the room....;)

Pittsburgh Steelers TuTu!

Recently I was asked to sew a TuTu. The request was for a Pittsburgh Steelers themed TuTu for a little princess to wear in a pageant. As I contemplated the options, my brain began to clutter with so many FUN ideas!  The following is a description of what I created!

Yards and yards of Glitter Tulle in Steelers yellow and black combined with soft black tulle make up the skirt.

The TuTu skirt was sewn to a pair of cotton Steelers yellow capris I sewed. A sequined ribbon strip was sewn to the sides of the legs to imitate the Pittsburgh Steeler's uniform.

I couldn't resist...so I added the same 'signature' Big Bow to the capris and TuTu that I have added to all of my recent garments. The Big Bow is made from the Steeler yellow fabric from the capris and black Steelers print cotton fabric. I LOVE THE BIG BOW!

Our friend, the Pageant Princess will wear this Pittsburgh Steelers TuTu with a Steelers jersey. This outfit will be featured when her and her mommy walk down the runway in a Mommy & Me segment of the pageant. 'Mommy' will be dressed as a football referee. I cannot wait to see (and share) their pictures.

 

TuTus, CuppyCakes AND Ponies Birthday Party (with BubbleGum Pink & Lime Green colors)

This past weekend we had the absolute joy of celebrating Princess Raegan's 3rd Birthday Party. This was an event that I had in the works for some time. I combined 3 of Raegan's favorites to create her Birthday #3...TuTus, Cuppycakes & Horsies!

Party guests were emailed a link to a website-party-invitation I designed using a free web design/hosting service, WIX.COM.

I shopped, I crafted, I baked, I sewed, I shopped some more...

As the big day approached I cleared the furniture out of a couple of rooms in our home and transformed them into Party Central.

The party tables were wrapped with Bubblegum Pink and Lime Green plastic linens purchased at a discount store. I sewed cupcake shaped placemats with cotton fabrics I found at one of the few remaining Walmarts that carry a fabric department. Tissue paper was used to create whimsical poms that I hung from the ceilings and used as napkin decor.  I also made the place cards using lime green cardstock, ribbon and a stamp kit.

I purchased the cute stick-horses at The Dollar Tree to use as party favors. I also sewed each party guest a Ribbon TuTu to wear home. They ended up being a cute decor for the metal folding chairs we rented from the Langley Air Force Base Outdoor Rec Program.

 

I baked a 3 dimensional, large cupcake from a Wilton Giant CupCake Pan. I opted for this cake pan because when I used a 50% JoAnns store coupon it was a better bargain than the Big Top Cupcake Pan I originally intended to purchase. (still love that commercial!) I sewed a skirt for the pedastal cake plate to match the party theme colors. I also baked some regular sized cupcakes to be used as a cupcake decorating party activity.

 

And it's not a party without a CANDY BUFFET! I call this one THE CANDY CORRAL! Toy horses, cowboy hats and mason jars full of candy and confections were a delight to the young party goers.

Finally, with a little help from a friend, we put out some quick decorations on the front porch to welcome the party guests.

The highlight of the party was a surprise visit from The Teeny Tiny Farm. The wonderful and friendly owner of the Farm, Deb,  brought a pony for the children to ride. She also brought a miniature horse and another pony for the children to enjoy. I was excited  for another opportunity for Princess Raegan to wear her Halloween Costume and the Princess was in Horsie Heaven!

Waiting to ride the pony!

Pony Kiss!

Did you notice the pony has Pink hooves?!

After the ponies left the party guests played some games to kill a few minutes while lunch was in the final stages of preparations.

Simon Says......

I recycled the bags that our new king size pillows were packaged in for use as sacks in a round of Sack Races!

After a YUMMY lunch it was TIME FOR CAKE!

BEFORE!

AFTER

Next everyone decorated their very own Cuppycakes! We soon discovered that the canned frosting I purchased was too difficult for little fingers to use effectively. So the parents jumped in and helped the kiddos prepare their cupcakes. The girls had several toppings to select from to create their very own unique cupcake.

The sweet treats continued with a trip to the CANDY CORRAL, then outside to enjoy some more sunshine! The weather was so fantastic that we even made SNO-CONES! YEP! SNO-CONES in November!

 

The party was truly a SMASH! We greatly appreciate all our guests and the genereous gifts Princess Raegan received!  And a SUPER SPECIAL THANK YOU to The Teeny Tiny Farm!