Inside Out S'mores

Nothing says summer is here better to me than a warm, melty, gooey, chocolaty s'more! One of the best things about a s'more is that there are a ton of different ways to make them!

s'more pops

s'more pie

s'more party favors

s'more cake in a jar

s'more milkshake

s'more cookie bars

s'more turnovers

s'more cupcakes

See, I told you! A ton of different ways to make them!

But an inside out s'mores is one thing I haven't seen...at least not the way I made them anyway:)

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To make Inside Out S'mores, you start with a JUMBO sized marshmallow {I picked these up at our local grocery store, but I have seen them at both Target and Walmart this summer so they should be pretty easy to find.}, mini teddy grahams, and some milk chocolate chips.

Using a very sharp knife, cut a slit into the top of the marshmallow being careful not to cut all the way through to the bottom. I was surprised at how easy it was to cut through the marshmallow even though it did get the knife pretty sticky. You can clean your knife in warm water after each marshmallow to make cutting them easier.

Stuff your marshmallow full of chocolate chips and broken up pieces of mini teddy grahams. Any kind of graham cracker will work and you could even try graham cracker crumbs, the mini teddy graham were just the perfect size for stuffing my jumbo sized marshmallows.

Another variation I tried was Nutella and broken pretzel pieces....YUM! It would also be really yummy to stuff small pieces of Snickers or Reece's cups inside your marshmallows too, but those aren't technically s'mores so we'll save them for another post:)

After you stuff your marshmallow, seal it up by squishing the cut edges together. Then put your marshmallow onto a roasting stick in the opposite direction that you cut your marshmallow.

Roast your marshmallow over a campfire or your gas kitchen burner until it is warm, melty, and gooey!

You can eat your Inside Out S'more right off of the roasting stick or eat it with your hands {and get your fingers good and sticky}! Either way the yummy melted filling makes these s'more a ton of fun and impossible to resist eating at least three:)

What is your favorite way to eat a s'more?

Red, White, and Krispy Treats

Rice Krispy Treats are a favorite quick snack at our house, and nothing makes Rice Krispy Treats better than dressing them up for the holidays with a little bit of food coloring:)

To make Red, White, and Krispy Treats you will need to make three separate HALF batches of Rice Krispy Treats.

{1 1/2 tbsp of butter, 2 cups of marshmallows, & 3 cups of Rice Krispies}

You also need a 9x13 pan, a 9x9 pan, a star shaped cookie cutter , and red & blue food coloring.

Start each batch by melting down your butter and marshmallows. Leave one batch plain...

...add a little bit of blue food coloring to one batch....

...and a little bit of red food coloring to the other.

Make the blue batch of Rice Krispy Treats first and put them into the 9x9 pan that has been sprayed well with cooking spray.

Next make the red batch and add it into your 9X13 pan filling up only half of the pan.

Last make your batch of plain Rice Krispy Treats and add them into the 9X13 pan with the red treats.

Once the Rice Krispy Treats have cooled, turn them out of the pans onto a cutting surface.

Using a bread knife, cut the white and red into long strips about an inch wide. I ended up with 4 strips of each color.

Place your blue treats into the top left corner of the larger pan and estimate the size that you want it to be. Trim off the excess blue treats with your knife and then place your blue square of treats into the pan.

Starting at the bottom with a red strip of treats, add in the strips alternating red and white, ending with red. I used 4 strips of red and 3 strips of white. You will have to cut the top three or four pieces to fit into the pan next to the blue treats.

Use the star shaped cookie cutter to cut a few stars out of the leftover strip of plain Rice Krispy Treats, and then add them on top of the blue section of treats.

Even though there are a lot of steps, this is actually really easy to assemble...the hardest part was washing my pot between each batch:) I'm sure adults and kids alike will be really excited to see this fun patriotic treat on the dessert table for the 4th of July!

Wordless Wednesday: Pool Pics

Outdoor Toy Organization

We have been working on a patio makeover for the last few weeks. One thing that I knew needed to be worked into the new design was better storage of the kids' outside toys. We have a big plastic patio box that previously held all their toys, and while it is convenient to just toss everything into the box, all of the smaller toys seem to constantly get lost at the bottom. So when my mom gave me this {used to be ugly and brown} shelf, I set out to find some kind of container that could withstand the outside elements and three boys!

 After three separate shopping trips to about 10 different stores, I finally found exactly what I was looking for at a small hardware store about 20 miles north of me. I bought 6 galvanized steel buckets at $6 each, then came home and got busy with my Silhouette. I cut out some fun oval shaped labels to correspond with all the little toys that were in the boys' outside toy collection. Now instead of digging in the big patio box for their sand toys, they can take the sand toys bucket off the shelf and head over to the sand box to play:)

 For a decorative touch above the shelf, I added an old window that I embellished with some bright and cheery yellow chevron fabric. I still think it needs a little something, and I really want to add a vinyl quote or saying....I just don't know what just yet!

I am in the process of turning the old plastic patio box into an outdoor bench, and when that is complete the patio will finally be finished and I will share it with you. In the mean time, if anybody has any ideas or suggestions of what I can add to the old window please share them!

Go HERE to see the completed patio makeover.

Monogrammed Flag Tees

If you have been reading my blog for long, you already know that I have a love of homemade holiday shirts. Check out the evidence here, here, here, here, and here:) The 4th of July is actually one of my favorite holidays to make shirts for because after the 4th the shirts can still be worn without looking silly {like you would if you wore a Christmas shirt in the middle of March}! Last year my boys had cute {but sort of plain} gingham flag shirts, so this year I decided to make their shirts a little more interesting!

I started by using my Silhouette to cut out the first letter of each kiddos name in a wide letter as similar to the shape of the US flag as I could.

I picked up 1/4 yard of red striped fabric and 1/4 yard of solid blue fabric at the store {this was more than enough for me to make 3 kids' shirts}. I used the outline of the letter that I cut out with my Silhouette to help me line up the fabrics to look like a flag. The red and white striped should cover most of the letter and the solid blue should be in the top left corner of the letter.

You could simply cut out your letter by hand using the outline as a guide, but I decided to try out the fabric interfacing that I bought when I got my Silhouette. I ironed on the interfacing according to the directions, lined my material up on my cutting mat using my paper letter as a guide, and then I let my Silhouette do the work of cutting out the letter. Can I just say the fact that this machine can easily cut fabric makes it work it's weight in gold to me:)

Now that the hard part is over, the last step in making your monogrammed flag tees is to iron on your letter and then sew it in place. If you don't sew, you could easily buy the heavy duty iron on and skip the sewing step altogether.

Two of my models are going to VBS this week, so my littlest photography assistant helped me out with my photo shoot:)

Do you show your patriotism by wearing a red, white, and blue on the 4th of July?