I know it’s the holiday weekend and you’re all out celebrating, swimming, camping, and enjoying the great outdoors for one last big summer blast. I thought I’d share a couple fun giveaways for you to enter if you get time.

Here are the links to check them out:

Win a free one year premium subscription to Picnik. This contest ends at midnight September 8th, and is a $24.95 value if you purchased it. It would be great for editing those party and holiday photos!

Don’t forget about the My Fruit Roll Ups customized fruit roll ups giveaway, win a box of customizable fruit roll ups, they’d be great for those fall parties. This contest ends at midnight on September 1st, so enter quick!

At Mother Earth’s Garden we’re giving away a children’s butterfly gardening set. This contest also ends at midnight on September 1st.

One Book Two Books is having a different giveaway every day. Today’s is Archibold’s Swiss Cheese Mountain, looks like a really cute book. Enter before midnight tonight.

Have a great weekend!

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  Hope you have a wonderful extended holiday weekend. Here are some weekend food related reading and recipes. Not all healthy, but definitely fun.

• Hot Raspberry Cider
  A warm drink to keep you warm on those cool Autumn nights, perfect for a Harvest or Halloween party.
• Personalize Anything with Lazertran Decals- What do you like to keep at the ready on your counter when you cook? Salt, pepper, your favorite herbs, parmesan cheese …? Eileen illustrates how to create a matching set of labeled canisters for your countertop cooking essentials with Lazertran Decals.
• Cyndi at Busy Family Meals has developed a recipe for gelato that her family thinks is just about perfect!
• 7 Healthy After School Snacks- After school snacks don’t have to be complicated with these make ahead ideas.
• Lunch Box Memories- Back-to-school and lunch box memories bring to mind ideas for lunch snacks and noon time meals.
• Monster Cupcakes- A frightfully cute idea for halloween cupcakes from Family Fun.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Image via Stock.xchng

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Dora is a favorite party theme for preschool girls. My niece had a Dora theme birthday party a couple years ago, so that inspired me to find some Dora cake ideas to share here. Check them out and let me know what you think.

Image via Flickr

This one has a cake and some cute Dora cupcakes to go with it.

Image via Flickr

Here’s a cute cake with Dora and Boots. Just trace your picture on wax paper with Wilton Piping Gel, then transfer it to the cake by laying the side you traced on with the piping gel directly on the cake. You will be able to see the piping gel outline, just use a star tip to fill in your design.

Image via Flickr

Cute! Looks like they used a Dora figure and filled in the background with icing, a star tip, and leaf tip.

Image via Flickr

Here’s a fun Dora the Explorer cake topper and a Dora cake pan, to help you create your own Dora cake.

Dora the Explorer Cake Pan
From: Birthday in a Box

Dora Cake Topper from Celebrate Express

For more Dora the Explorer cake ideas check out:

Dora The Explorer Edible Cake Images

More Dora The Explorer birthday party ideas and supplies

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Family Fun is one of my favorite websites to find party ideas. Check out these really cute mini monster cupcakes.

They make him with mini cupcakes, but I think you could use regular cupcakes too.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 mini cupcake

Blue frosting

2 candy eyes

Red whip licorice

1 Circus Peanut, halved

How to make them:

1. Unwrap the cupcake and turn it upside down. With a writing or star tip, frost the cupcake from the top down.
2. Add the eyes, the licorice antennae and peanut halves for sneakers.

Family Fun has several other Halloween cupcake, and party ideas.

Image via Family Fun

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It’s that time again, time for some fun weekend food links. Happy weekend reading!

Barbara’s Watermelon and Feta Salad- It’s National Watermelon Month. Do you know how good watermelon is for your health and for your figure? Add in the benefits of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you’ve got a winning and unusual taste combination.

Raspberry corn muffins…oh my! Are they a side dish or a dessert? YES!

We had Ghost Sticks- A simple Halloween party treat made with pretzel sticks and white chocolate.

20 Ways To Use Those Fresh Tomatoes- Is your counter overflowing with tomatoes? Here are some great ways to use them up.

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I think I posted this fun, easy Halloween party treat last year, but since it’s one of my favorites here it is again.

I have oodles of Halloween party ideas, decorations, ideas, games, food, and goodness coming up in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned!

Halloween Ghost Sticks

Supplies and Ingredients:

Pretzel Sticks
White Chocolate Bark (or white melting chocolate)
Chocolate Sprinkles
Mini Chocolate Chips
Optional: Cellophane and ribbon for decorating

How to make your Ghost Sticks:

• Melt the white chocolate or white chocolate bar in a bowl in the microwave, or on the stove with a double boiler. Follow the instructions on the chocolate package. Most can be melted in the microwave (that’s my favorite method).
• Dip the pretzel into the melted chocolate, and lay on aluminum foil, or wax paper to cool. You can also prop them upright in cups, to avoid having one side flattened.
• While the chocolate is still soft insert two chocolate sprinkles for eyes, and a mini chocolate chip for a mouth. You can also wait until they dry, and use black jel icing to make the eyes and mouth.

Fun ideas to dress up your ghost sticks:

• Bundle several Ghost Sticks together, tie them with a decorative ribbon, add them to a mug, and wrap them with festive cellophane.
• Add them to other Halloween treats, cookies, or cupcakes to make a haunting Halloween party tray.
• Wrap them in decorative cellophane tied with a bow, for your as a trick or treat gift, or Halloween party favor.
• Add them to a Halloween gift basket, for a grandparent or teacher.

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Here are some food links for your weekend reading. Happy cooking! We’re off to the fair. My son’s in 4-H so most of our week will be spent at the local county fair. I hope to find some delicious food inspirations there to share with everyone.

I’m always challenged to come up with something for supper during the summer, Cyndi at Busy Family Meals has a solution with, two weeks worth of summer menus.

You all know I love cooking with kids, About Cooking For Kids has a yummy recipe for corn chowder that brings together all the best flavors of summer. Enjoy it with a hunk of French bread and a green salad. Yum!

Robust Cooking has, a recipe for, Chicken Skewers on Watermelon and Feta Salad, a tasty way to celebrate National Watermelon Month.

Kid’s Birthday Fun shares that making your own cupcakes for a birthday party doesn’t have to be complicated, just add sprinkles for cupcakes kids will love.

Here at She Knows Parties I featured a recipe for artichoke and bacon spread, to make a delicious, quick appetizer for your next party.

Since everyone’s buzzing about the Olympics, Light the Torch has some fun and tasty recipes for your Olympic party.

Today’s Spinach Español Recipe from Jean at Ageless Beauty is a side dish and features the following Sonoma Diet powerhouse foods: spinach, olive oil and raisins.

Scrapbooking Family Recipes, Mary Emma Allen, at Country Kitchen, gives you ideas on preserving your family recipe heritage.

Cupcake image (c) L Gerlach all rights reserved

Technorati Tags: recipes,summer menus,corn chowder,cooking with kids,cupcakes with sprinkles,artichoke bacon appetizer,Olympic food recipes,sonoma diet recipes

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I have a couple giveaways going on at my other blogs, please stop by and check them out.

At She Knows Parties I have two giveaways going on:

• The first giveaway is for a 10 pack of their new Celebration Single Use Cameras®, they’re perfect for parties! Click over there to enter before midnight Sunday August 17th.
• The Second giveaway is for 3 copies of SplashShopper Data Organizer Software, great for getting organized when your planning birthday, or holiday parties. Enter to win before midnight this Sunday August 10th.
• I’ll have a couple more giveaways at She Know’s Parties coming up in the next couple weeks, so check back there often.

At Mother Earth’s Garden you can sign up to win 6 cans of Thompson’s Water Seal Aerosol Waterproofer. Enter to win before midnight this Sunday August 10th.

Good luck! Have a great weekend!

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If you’d like to save a little money and decorate your own cupcakes, it doesn’t have to be hard. Just whip up some buttercream decorating icing, and add your favorite color.

If the cupcakes are for a kid’s birthday party pick a fun color to go with the theme of the party. I use a Wilton Decorating Tip 2D to ice the cupcakes, then add some fun sprinkles to match your party theme, or just get brightly colored rainbow sprinkles.

Kids love sprinkles on cookies, or cupcakes, so your quick and easy cupcakes are sure to be a hit. Just line them up on  a cookie sheet, or a cardboard sheet wrapped in aluminum foil.

I put a tiny dollop of icing under each cupcake to hold it in place on the sheet, especially if the cupcakes are traveling. They make a very nice display all together. You can also put the cupcakes in a cupcake Stand (Wilton has one of my favorites), when you get to your party destination.

Have fun with your icing colors, and your sprinkles. Betty Crocker has some fun colored icing already to decorate, no mixing, no mess.

More on cupcakes

Cupcake image (c) L Gerlach all rights reserved

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