TMNT Cookie's

For Caden's party I wanted to make cookies I had grand ideas of making sugar cookies and then decorating them with royal icing with the different head bands etc. WELL the party date came upon me and I ditched that idea and went for green cookies ... lol.  I found this sandwich cutter on Amazon that worked perfect for cookies.

What you Need:

TMNT Cookie Cutter

Green Gel Paste Food Color

Sugar Cookie Recipe (my fav is below)

Color the sugar cookie recipe to the right shade of green. I like thick cookies which when using a cutter that has lot's of design helps get them out of the cutter! I did have a little problem with the sides of the mask coming out but I just reattached them after I shook them out of the cutter :).

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

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TMNT Cupcake Toppers (Made from Modeling Chocolate)

Yesterday I showed you the Mountain Dew Cupcakes I made for the party, today is what went on top of the cupcakes. I've become a huge fan of modeling chocolate, so easy to work with and it holds up to the temperatures we've been having lately. And who doesn't LOVE some chocolate and shaped into something amazing!

I just kind of eyeballed this and ran with it! 

What you need:

Modeling Chocolate (Green, Red, Orange, Purple and Blue) - see recipe below

Candy Eyeballs

Circle cookie cutter

Square cookie cutter

Knife

Roll out your green modeling chocolate, I like mine to be on the thick side. I then cut out circle's for the face's (I made 24 total). I set these aside on some parchment paper and got to work on the mask. I made all 4 characters so I needed 6 mask total. I rolled out each color then I took a square cookie cutter. I cut each square in half and then using my fingers shaped them into mask. Each one was a little different do to this but I loved they had character. I then took 2 Wilton Candy Eyeballs and added to the mask (use a little water as glue). I then dabbed a little water to the back of mask and attached to the green circle. I had previous bought a TMNT cutter (that I wasn't impressed with) but I liked the mouth piece. NOW you can do this with a tooth pick also.

I let them sit out a while to harden up then attach to the top of my cupcakes! And your done!

For those who haven't seen my post about Modeling Chocolate:

Modeling Chocolate

12oz Candy Melts

1/4 Cup light corn Syrup

Melt your Candy Melts in microwave (mine takes about 2 minutes). Stir them to become smooth and add the corn syrup.  It will become thick and form a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit out and dry.  Takes a few hours or over night is best. (Alexis note: I found to roll this out use a little powder sugar (like you would do with flour), also you have to kneed it a little like you would dough to make it easy to roll out).

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TMNT Themed Party .. Mountain Dew Cupcakes with Mountain Dew Frosting

For Caden's school party I made these Mountain Dew Cupcakes and they were such a hit I had to make them for the pool party we did also. These was a pretty simple recipe and the color was such a great pop and tasted pretty yummy also!

I found this recipe for Mountain Dew Cupcakes on All Things Cupcakes.

For Caden's class party I had a little more time on my hands so I made modeling chocolate TMNT characters to go on top. For the pool party I just featured the cupcakes!

Mountain Dew Cupcakes

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup Mountain Dew
1/4 cup of lemon and lime juice (juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime)
zest from 1 lemon and 2 limes (separate into 2 piles, one for buttercream)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

** Neon food coloring (I added this in to the cake mix also)

1. Beat butter on medium for 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar and lemon, lime zest. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, Scrape sides of bowl in between additions
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to mixer bowl. Turn on low for 5 seconds.
5. Add the Mountain Dew, lemon/lime juice, and lemon extract (and food coloring) . Mix to combine.
5. Scoop into cupcake papers about two-thirds full.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Mountain Dew Buttercream

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
4-5 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Mountain Dew
Juices from half of 1 lemon and half of 1 lime.
Lemon and lime zest (rest of zest from cupcake recipe. Or zest from half of 1 lemon and 1 whole lime)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
neon green food coloring (yellow and blue if you dont have green)

1. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment
2. Beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy
3. Add half of the sugar, turn mixer on low for 5 seconds.
4. Add the Mountain Dew, zest, and lemon extract . Beat until combined.
5. Add food coloring to the desired color.
6. Gradually add remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Making the Cupcakes:

Making the frosting:

Cupcakes on the table at Party!

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TMNT Fruit Plate

Next on our TMNT birthday party was a easy party tray! I'm sorry this is one that was made at the party and I didn't get a progress shot.  Simple and so cool and perfect for the themed party! Now I saw several photos of this on pinterest no one person to point it to, if you were the one that created this let me know and I'll link to you!

What you Need:

Green Grapes (Costco $5.99)

Red Raspberries (Costco $5.99)

Blue Berries (Costco $4.99)

Round dish (Dollar Tree)

Fill out the round dish with your green grapes. Make the mouth of the TMNT using blueberries. Cover the top of the plate with red raspberries for the mask. Add a few blueberries to make the eyes! BAM your done and a healthy treat that all the kids thought was so cool!

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TMNT Shell Invites

Yesterday I showed TMNT Head Invites I did for friends, today I show the invites I made for the class. I knew most would get thrown away and was not going to spend 10 hours like last year for something that will go in the garbage. So I went on the search for a easy invite for the class I found this Shell template on Craving Some Creativity. Now her PDF is just one invite on a page. I printed this scanned it and turned into a jpg that I then added to a Word doc, and put 4 per page. Since I loaded into Word I was then able to add a text box using my FREE TMNT Turtle Font to add the wording I wanted. 

NOW you don't have to do all that work, you can print the 1 per page and hand write the party info. I'm all about saving paper (especially Card Stock paper that is spendy).

What you Need:

White Card Stock

Printer

Scissors

Green Envelopes (if you want)

Clear Address Labels (if you want)

Either print one per page or my way 4 per page and cut them out and hand them out!

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Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

TMNT Birthday Party - TMNT Head Invites

WOW is all I can say for these last few weeks of lot's of parties and a lot of work that needs to be done also! My little buddy Caden turned 8 last Friday, we had a little personal issue and we totally didn't get to do his day ... BUT I did throw him a party earlier so I don't feel like such a bad mom .. lol. I planned the party right after school started since Caden was worried his buddies wouldn't be around to go. We had a huge turn out and the party was a blast!

 

I did 2 different invites one that I sent to our friends (since they were so labor intensive) and then one he gave to his buddies at school that didn't take me hours to make .. lol.

Here are the time intensive ones that were so cool but I only made for the people I know would actually keep for more then 10 secs before throwing away.

What you Need:

Card Stock (Green, Red, Blue, Orange, Purple and White)

Printer

Scissors

Craft Glue

I printed a template I found I copied into a word document so I could do 2 per page to save me a little paper. I then cropped the eyes and and printed a sheet of those on white heavy hard stock. I copped just the mouth and printed those on red card stock. For the mask I cropped those in word and put 3 per page and printed on red, blue, orange and purple. Once I had everything cut I attached with craft glue. For the back I printed a head onto white and then printed the words onto the backside (make sure the backside or when you're trying to attach it won't line up right. It sounds a bit complex and it may be ... lol probably why I only made 15 of them. But I love how they turned out, if you need help let me know :).

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A fun look at Last years invites and this years
Thank you TimeHop!

Sparkling Wine Spritzer

And of course we need a drink for our party! I made this spritzer for my mom's surprise party so I thought it would be great to do for our 4th of July party!  WELL our turn out for the party was a bit small but that left more for me and my bestie to have. 

What you Need:

2 Bottles Chardonnay (I used Middle Sister Bubbly Sweet White Wine)

3 Cups of Sprite (more or less, depending on your taste)

Fresh raspberries & black berries

I thought perfect for a red, white and blue colored themed drink. Empty all the ingredients into the container and you're done! And later on you have a fruit to eat that has soaked up the wine!

Enjoy!!

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Firecracker Cupcakes

And for a cupcake for our 4th of July Party I found on Oh Nut's Firecracker Cupcakes. I took her cupcake and made it my own, I'm a use what you have on hand type of girl .. lol.

What you Need:

Marshmallow

Red Melts

Black Licorice

Frosted Cupcakes

Sprinkles (blue or red, white and blue)

Melt your red melts in the microwave (mine takes 1 min 30 secs - check after 1 min). Once melted (be-careful not to burn) dip your marshmallow into the melts. I used my candy melts spoon to get the marshmallow out. I placed onto parchment paper to dry. I had on hand black licorice (you can use black licorice wheel also). I cut my licorice into 4 pieces and then cut one end to look like a firework exploding! I took a plastic tooth pick to make a whole in the marshmallow and then pushed the licorice into the hole. I placed in the fridge to harden up.

I did a small amount of frosting on the cupcake and rolled in blue sprinkles. I then placed more white frosting on top of that. I then placed a marshmallow firework on top. I wanted a red, white and then blue look with the layers. 

LESSON LEARNED: Washington was having a crazy HOT day we hit around 98+ degree's we are use to high 70's. SO by the time I got to the party my cupcakes were melted ... LOL. Next year if it's this hot I'll skip the cupcakes.

Enjoy!!

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Patriotic Mini Fruit Tarts

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. We enjoyed with some great friends and watched everyone light up their hard earned money .. lol. This year was low key with a lot of people canceling out the day of and days before. It actually turned out better and the kids and the adults had a blast.

I made a few things but with the unusual HIGH 96+ temps my cupcakes melted by the time I got to the party! But hey everything tasted good .. lol

First thing made, which really could be made for any party not just the fourth is Patriotic Mini Fruit Tarts. I made them a little bit my own and loved them, I actually had to walk away not to eat the whole tray!

What you Need:

• 1 pkg. (14.1 oz.) ready-to-use refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts)
• 1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping 
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries 

Directions:

• Heat oven to 450ºF.
• Spray 24 mini muffin pan cups lightly with cooking spray. 
• Cut each pie crust into 12 wedges. Press 1 wedge up and around inside of each prepared cup to form shell, pressing edges of dough together as necessary to completely cover bottom and side of cup. Bake 10 to 12 min. or until golden brown; cool slightly. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Meanwhile, beat pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP; spoon into resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate until pie crusts are cooled.
• Cut off one bottom corner of filling bag; use to fill pie crusts. Top with berries just before serving.

ALEXIS NOTES: Instead of using pie crust and turning on oven in the HOT weather I picked up pre-backed phyllo dough cups (for less the $2 you get 15 cups). I've used them before with the Mini Chocolate Chip Cannoli Cups. I also used Blackberries and Raspberries. I used my pipping bag instead of ziplock bag.

Enjoy!!

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Featured on Teach Me Tuesday #62

I was so excited to see Tuesday my chalk dipped wine glasses and table set up were featured on Teach Me Tuesday #62. These glasses were one of my favorite part of my mom's surprise 60th birthday party. Thank you so much Bobbi for the feature!