Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie

This recipe is a prime example of me being my own worst enemy. For J’s birthday I decided to make him a lovely Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Freezer Pie like this one at Coupon Cousins. If you want the proper way to make it, click over to the original recipe. If you want a chuckle, keep reading. The problem is that instead of giving myself lots of time, printing off the recipe and making sure I had the proper ingredients, I bought the wrong ingredients, tried to rush through it, missed steps, and generally made a giant mess. I also didn't take the time to get nice, staged photos. Sorry.

It started when I decided to make an Oreo crumb base. Melt butter and mix with crumbs. Simple, right? Nope. I misread the instructions on the box and used WAY too much butter. To compensate, I added a lot of Oreo crumbs (the whole box) and some graham cracker crumbs until it got to the right consistency. I ended up throwing away the extra.

Next up was the pudding. The recipe called for a specific type of chocolate pudding that I couldn’t find so I just picked a random one. Because of that, I wasn’t sure whether to add the amount of milk called for in the recipe on the box or the amount of milk I thought was called for in the recipe on the website. I decided to go with neither. I added an amount in the middle of the two recipes and started stirring. Did you know some puddings need to be heated and some don’t? I do now. After stirring for a while, I read the instructions on the box and discovered it needed to be heated.

Fast forward a few minutes. I boiled the pudding following the instructions on the box. It finally looked and tasted normal. Next the recipe called for Cool Whip. Again, I wasn’t sure how much to add because of my milk miscalculation so I went with about half a container. I melted into the pudding because I didn’t let it cool so my pie wasn’t light and fluffy at all.

For the final step I added chopped Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I thought I’d let it cool enough but some of my Peanut Butter Cups melted into the pie. I stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes, took it out, and sprinkled some more crumbs on the top to hide the lumps and imperfections.

I put the pie in the freezer over night and took it out about 15 minutes before serving it. Despite all the mistakes in attempting to make this, it still turned out very well. J enjoyed it and the leftovers didn’t last very long at all.

The moral of the story? Read the instructions! Also, as long as it has chocolate and peanut butter, it'll more than likely still taste great no matter how much you mess up. 

Shared on: It's a Party @ A Creative Princess, Delightfully Inspiring Thursday @ Delightful Order, Artsy Corner @ Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Saturday Seven @ Positively Splendid, Take A Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Man Up. Link Up. @ SIMACB, Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snap Crafts

Weekly Organization Center

I have a confession; I don’t like buying things second hand. Gasp. Despite that, I often peruse the local buy and sell on Facebook because I’m convinced that someday I will find a gem. The other night it happened. I found a gem! I’ve had this Dry Erase Weekly Calendar from Crafting and Quilting pinned for a while. I saw the exact same frame for sale online for $5. I sent my darling husband to pick it up, sterilized it (I hate germs. Maybe that’s why I don’t like second hand), and got to work making my own weekly organization center.

The first step was to take out the glass and spray paint the frame. I went with navy because that ties in well with our kitchen/living room.

Next I cut out 8 different 4x6 rectangles of scrapbook paper. I debated using the same paper a few times but decided to put a different colour and style in each space.

I was going to use stickers for the days of the week but didn’t have any that I liked with the frame and paper. Instead I wrote the days of the week and “to do” by hand using a brown marker.

Finally I put it all together and hung it on the wall. J and I decided to hang it between our stove and our pantry. There was just enough space and it’s right above the counter where we keep paperwork and charge our phones so it’s a logical place to keep it.

On a separate note, we had our first snowstorm of the winter this week. Remember my vegetables that I showed you here and here? Well, this is what they look like now. If you look closely you can see the wire that held up my tomato plants. We had 30 centimetres fall between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. I guess winter has arrived.

Shared on: Saturday Seven @ Positively Splendid, Cure for the Common Monday @ Lines Across, Take A Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts, The Creative Spark @ Clean and Scentsible, Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snap Crafts, Day 31 @ Organizing Made Fun, It's a Party @ A Creative Princess, Delightfully Inspiring Thursday @ Delightful Order, Artsy Corner @ Artsy-Fartsy Mama

Halloween Pretzels

In keeping with my Halloween theme, I decided to make a yummy treat. I originally saw these chocolate covered pretzels at Mommy in Suburbia and thought they looked delicious and like something the stepkids could help with.

Ingredients:

Pretzels

Chocolate chips

Candy Melts (orange and black)

Sprinkles

Step 1: Melt the chocolate or candy melts in a bowl in the microwave. Remember to stir them often.

Step 2: Dip the pretzels. We started dipping them using a fork and then moved on to tongs. We didn’t worry about covering the whole pretzels.

Step 3: Place on wax paper and add sprinkles. Make sure you do this while the chocolate or candy is still warm.

Step 4: Let cool and eat. We tried them when they were warm but they didn’t taste as good as when they were completely cool. I like them best after they have been in the fridge.

The stepkids did most of the work with these. One would dip while the other added sprinkles, and then they would switch. I just kept things moving along and helped when one of them fell behind.

Shared on:
Link Up & Spook On @ Amy's Cooking Adventure, Wickedly Creative Halloween Ideas @ Itsy Bitsy Paper, It's A Party @ A Creative Princess, Artsy-Corner Thursday @ Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Saturday Seven @ Positively Splendid, Cure For the Common Monday @ Lines Across, Take A Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snap Crafts

Halloween Painted Jars

I’m really not a fan of Halloween. I think it’s weird and creepy and, as a teacher, I dread the days that follow trick-or-treating. Despite my feelings about the occasion, I decided to make a few Halloween projects, starting with these painted jars.

I have seen many versions of these online and, while I didn’t actually follow any of the instructions, I did use them for inspiration.  For the instructions I guessed as I went along and they worked out quite well.

First I took some empty jars. There are from Prego pasta sauce. We normally use the club size pasta sauce but I knew I needed some jars for this project so we used the normal size jars for a few weeks. I poured some acrylic paint inside the jars and swirled it around. It took quite a bit to cover the entire surface but I didn’t water the paint down because I wanted thick coverage.

Once I had the insides completely covered I turned the jars upside down and placed it on a plate covered with tinfoil. I moved the jars fairly frequently at first (maybe every 15 – 20 minutes) as there was a fair amount of paint coming out. After a couple hours I stopped moving them and left them to dry over night.

When I got up the next morning I turned the jars right side up and painted faces on them. At this point the insides still weren’t completely dry but it didn’t really matter. I used a black paint-marker and freehanded the faces.

I think I may eventually put candles in them and use them as luminaries but for now they're sitting empty on my fake-mantle.

For someone who doesn't really like Halloween, I'm surprised how much I like these jars. I’m really happy with how they turned out but I feel like I need a white ghost. Maybe if we eat some more pasta this week I’ll make one to add to the set. 

Shared on: Take A Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snap Crafts, Link Up & Spook On @ Amy's Cooking Adventures, Wickedly Creative Halloween Party @ Itsy Bitsy Paper, It's a Party @ A Creative Princess, Artsy-Corner Thursday @ Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Saturday Seven @ Positively Splendid, Cure For the Common Monday @ Lines Across

Earring Holder

Lately I’ve been trying to accessorize more but I find that if I don’t see my jewelry, I don’t wear it. I’ve been know to wear the same earrings for a month. As a solution, I’ve decided to make a few jewelry organizers to display my jewelry. I started with a small holder for my earrings, mainly studs. I know there are a lot of these floating around but here’s how to make one like mine.

Supplies:

Picture Frame

Paint and paint brush

Mesh and wire cutters or scissors

Staple gun with staples

Felt floor protectors

Eye screws

Ribbon

Step 1: Take the back and glass out of the picture frame and then paint the frame. We’re trying to pick a new bedroom colour (leaning towards blue or purple) so I went with white for the frame. That way it will match whatever colour we choose for our walls.

Step 2: Cut the mesh to fit the picture frame. I bought mesh with the smallest holes I could find because I want this to mainly hold studs (I have plans for something else for dangling earrings).

Step 3: Staple the mesh in place, pulling it tight as you go around.

Step 4: Add felt floor protectors (or whatever they’re called). These have helped protect my wall.

Step 5: Screw an eye screw (at least that’s what I call it) into each top corner. Use these to attach the ribbon for hanging. The reason I used ribbon is so that I can easily turn the earring holder to remove and replace the backs of earrings.

I've been using this for about a month now and love it. It's hung on the wall by my full length mirror so it's easy for me to pick earrings to go with my outfit, and has definitely helped me remember to accessorize.

Shared on:
The Saturday Seven @ Positively Splendid, Take A Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Wow Me Wednesday @ Ginger Snap Crafts, It's a Party @ A Creative Princess, Artsy-Corner Thursday @ Artsy-Fartsy Corner