Adult & Tween Double Birthday Party BBQ

Another last minute birthday party, this one for my sister-in-law and young cousin. I used bright girlie colors and everyone brought food for a BBQ. 

 

Colorful poppers doubled as entertainment and party favors.

 

 

Drinks and candy! Starbursts matched perfect with the decor!

This is the present I got for my sister-in-law who is an excellent cook! She has a box of bulk spices that are kept in baggies, so I got her 20 glass spice jars (from World Market) and labels to go with them.

Cake Balls!

This was my first attempt at making cake balls. As soon as I saw this idea on Bakerella.com I had to try it!  It was a lot of fun, but A LOT of work! The best thing would be to let the balls sit in the fridge for 4+ hours before dipping them in chocolate, and make sure you don't burn the chocolate!

This was my extremely mess attempt, but they were deeeelicious!!

One box of red velvet cake mix made about 60+/- It was like a never ending cake ball event!

Some day, when I have a bunch of time on my hands, I will get back to making these again.

Canning in August

So I'm just posting the canning I did in August. It was my first time, and Momma Lou showed me how. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. Four boxes of peaches is a lot of peaches! I got about 40 jars!

Sister - In - Law Birthday Party

We had the family over for desert for my sister-in-law's birthday. It was a last minute decision and I found this awesome recipe for a double layer yellow cake. It turned out beautifully and was delicious!

TO MAKE

head to smittenkitchen.com

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I searched the internet for homemade laundry detergents and found a dry one to make. 

Pros: 

It was very easy to make

It lasts forever!  

Ingredients were easy to find at grocery store

It's cheaper than buying it from the store... a lot cheaper.

Cons:

Shaving soap is hard work! I ended up using my blender, which was not good on my blender.

The smell of the ingredients gave me a headache, I could only do it with the doors and windows open.

RECIPE

Mix Equal Parts Borax and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 Fels Naptha Bar* to every cup of mix (shaved)

I also added Calgon water softener to my mix

*other soap bars work just as well (ivory, pure & natural, etc.)

TO USE

1 or 2 TABLESPOONS per wash load