Friday Favorite - I Hasa Hotdog

This week’s Friday Favorite is I Hasa Hotdog. It’s part of the I Can Has Cheezburger family that was a previous Friday Favorite. They have some of the cutest puppy pictures and funny captions.

I was going to post a few of my favorites but can’t seem to get it to work right. Grrrrrrr! So instead I am going to post 2 more pics of The Amazing Cocoa Puffs!!

P.S. Go check out I Hasa Hotdog!

I'm easily distracted...

...can’t you tell?

Yesterday I was supposed to post about the wreath I made. For my craft room. That I don’t have...yet.

I edited my photos and started preparing the post in my head. Then I got distracted. So now the post is on hold until next week. I’ll have it ready then. I mean, I should have it ready by then. I mean, I hope it’s ready by then. {blush}

Mmmm...Fuuuudge!

What’s the worst thing that can happen when you are craving something sweet? Not having ANY ingredients to make something sweet. AAAAHHH! This happened recently. I wanted same plain ‘ole chocolate fudge and had NONE of the ingredients to make it. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to make fudge. So now I keep the pantry stocked with a LARGE jar of marshmallow creme and bags of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. On the back of the marshmallow creme was a recipe for “Fantasy Fudge” which you can find here. It’s SO easy to make this fudge and it cooks faster if you put the pot on the burner THAT IS ON. (Yeah, I know, I actually was stirring the pot waiting for the butter, sugar and milk to heat up on the wrong burner. *blush*)

Fantasy Fudge (adapted recipe) - Chocolate Mint Version

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter

5 oz. can evaporated milk

1 (12. oz) package chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet but could you imagine using dark chocolate?? Yum!)

1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme

1 tsp peppermint extract

Line a 9-inch pan with foil. Make sure to have plenty hanging over the sides to be handles when you pull the cooled fudge out of the pan. Place sugar, butter and milk in saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil on medium heat. (And make sure your pot is on the correct burner...lol) Boil 4 minutes and stir CONSTANTLY or you will have a mess in that pot! Remove from heat and add chocolate chips and marshmallow creme. Stir until completely melted. Add peppermint extract and stir. Pour into prepared pan; spread even. (I cooled mine in the fridge but the recipe on the jar said to let it stand 4 hours or until completely cool.) Once cooled, cut into bite-sized chunks and enjoy the creamy, minty, chocolatey yumminess. LoL

No picture of it cuz, well, WE ATE IT ALL. LoL I’m trying this peanut butter fudge recipe next. Can’t wait!

I'm linking up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace and Delicious Dishes @ It's a Blog Party! Check out both parties for more yummy stuff!

M.I.A.

I have been M.I.A. for a week now. Oops. Unfortunately, last week some personal issues came up and the last thing I was interesting in was blogging. Or crafting.

This week I am feeling a bit better, although check with me again later in the week! LoL

Here’s my sneaky peek of this week:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday - a yummy, EASY candy recipe

• Craft Therapy Wednesday - My craft room wreath. (For the craft room I DO NOT YET HAVE...lol)

• Friday Favorite - A website that makes me chuckle and go “awwww” at the same time.

Hanging Flower Ball

Have you seen the flower balls on the internetz? They’re awesome! I’ve always loved the look of the flower ball. I even made some for my ring bearer and flower girl {both were girls} when I got married almost 9 years ago. I found some purrrty flowers and decided I was going to make one for myself.

I had some rainbow-ish silky ribbon that I had bought a while ago. I think it’s the kind of ribbon used for ribbon embroidery. I love the texture and color. I cut off lengths of it twice the size that I wanted hanging from the ball.

I folded the ribbon in half and twisted some wire around the middle and left a tail of wire to stick in the bottom of the styrofoam ball. {I think I used a 3 or 4 inch diameter ball. I tried to keep the ball small since it would grow larger with the flowers added.}

I snipped the flowers off the stem bunch leaving an inch of the stem attached to the flower. {My first attempt at putting the flowers on the ball was a disaster because I was making myself do twice the work. Duh. I would snip the flowers completely off and rewire them to stick in the ball. Then I realized what a dork I was and left the inch stem. Yes, sometimes I truly am THAT stupid.}

I used a high-tech poking device to make little holes in the styrofoam for them stems. My high-tech tool? You might have one--a toothpick. {grin} I got into a routine, poke hole in styrofoam-dip stem in glue-push stem into poked hole. I made my way around the ball until I covered the whole thing.

I took some more ribbon and made a hanging loop. I poked a bigger hole in the top and glued the hanging loop to the top of the ball. Some areas of the white styrofoam were showing through so I filled in gaps with more flowers. Once it was dry, I hung it in my window. I love it and I am thinking about making some for the different seasons and holidays coming up!

I’m linking up with A Little Craft Therapy @ Life in the Pitts.

Blueberry Pie

We have 3 blueberry bushes out by the shed.

This one is taller than me.

These bushes yield a billion berries every summer. Or at least it seems that way.

This is a 6 cup bowl. It didn’t even make a dent in our blueberry amount.

I used to love blueberry pie. I say used to, because I have a wheat allergy. I know there are wheat-free pie recipes out there, I just haven’t bothered to try them out yet. LoL So to use up some of the blueberries, and to satisfy the blueberry pie cravings my family had, my mom made a pie. At least my parents and hubby can have some. LOL

This recipe came from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Prepare pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie. {We cheat and use a refrigerated crust.} Combine 4 cups fresh blueberries with 3/4 to 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg, and a dash salt. Line 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with berry mixture. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon lemon juice; dot with one tablespoon butter. Adjust top crust over filling, cutting slits for escape of steam. Seal edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream!

I'm linking up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace and with Delicious Dishes @ It's A Blog Party!

Blog Bash Party

Hi there! Welcome to my ‘lil ole blog Creatively Melissa. My little “show and tell” on the webz.

• I’ve been a crafter for as long as I can remember. I used to be heavy into plastic canvas needlepoint at one time but I haven’t really done much of that in a LONG time. Now I just see what the newest trends are in crafting and go from there. I mostly craft for myself or family. One of these days I want to open an etsy store. Eventually. Someday. Maybe.

• I’ve been married to David since 2001. He doesn’t seem to mind my crafting obsession and will even enter a craft store. At least...until he gets bored then tells me he’ll be a few doors down at the bookstore.

• I am a blog lurker but I do comment on my favorite blogs. (Much to their dismay.) I spend too much time checking out blogs and then finding new ones on those blogs. I have a bookmark folder for blogs I want to check out.....so far it has close to 50 entries. I. Am. Obsessed. Or just bored.

• I have a chocolate cocker spaniel named Cocoa that was given to us in November 2009. I had been wanting a dog for a while and had my heart set on a chocolate lab but fell in love with Cocoa the moment I saw her. No regrets. Love her so much. But why didn’t anyone ever tell me that cocker spaniels scream? Unfortunately, we think she was abused, SO much scares her. But she is SO sweet and my constant shadow.

I’m jumping into the Blog Bash party at Not Your Average Teen. Do your post then link up to the party!

1.) Why do you blog? Because I like to show off my crafts and have people tell me how purty it is. Nah. Because I have so many blog buttons I have collected that I needed a place to show ‘em off. Nah, not that either. It gives me a way to connect to people...comments make me smile!

2.) What do you blog about? I blog about crafts I’ve made or a recipe I have cooked. It’s more like “Show and Tell” from first grade. I don’t do tutorials because I don’t have the patience to teach...ANYONE. Most of my crafting and cooking is from the interwebz and it’s my version of their idea.

3.) What do you find to be the biggest reward you get from blogging? There’s rewards involved? Dang! I shoulda begin blogging earlier than this I suppose! Comments are the best! I only get a couple but it’s nice to know someone besides my husband reads my blog. :-P

4.) How long have you been blogging? If you search back it says January 2009 but I had this blog before then, just didn’t use it. Teehee...

5.) Let's hear the story behind your blog title! :) Crap! I was supposed to have a story for it?!?! I should have went with “Craftsy” since that’s what my husband used to call me before we were dating. But I try to be creative and my name is Melissa so......Creatively Melissa it is!