Archive for February, 2012

Do you enjoy this link party each week? I hope so! If you have benefited from my party, I ask one simple favor.

PLEASE vote for my blog to be the #1 DIY blog online. I would DIE if I won The Homies with Apartment Therapy. And only YOU can make it happen.

Click here or the above image to vote for HoH!

Thank you for letting the world know that you think House of Hepworths is better than cherry pie. xoxo

** So, are you new here? I throw the Hookin’ Up with HoH Party every week to give all of you a chance to find other awesome blogs to read. Below you will find several hundred mini links to other people’s blog posts. Have fun browsing through the links in search of new ideas. Also, if you are a blogger, please feel free to add your own links to the list!

!! Any projects I feature will be pinned on My Pinterest Board for everyone to see! Follow me on Pinterest to get in on the pinning action.

* Please refrain from posting links to shops and stores.

Please note: RECIPES/FOOD is a separate link. Please make sure you are linking in the appropriate section.

Here are my favorite links from last week’s party:

I love this painted sign from Holy Craft! So fun!

Excellent tutorial on how to easily make your own Roman Shade by Brown Paper Packages.

Creatively Living had a header beam in her house that wasn’t the most attractive, so she added some moulding and paint. Now it’s amazing.

Classy Clutter wanted a yellow and white striped shower curtain so she made one!

It all Started with Paint has a great tutorial with lots of tips for framing out your bathroom mirror.

Imperfectly Polished wanted a Pottery Barn table for less than Pottery Barn prices, so she built one herself! Amazing!!

I am dying over these mouse trap clips by Suzy’s Artsy-Craftsy Sitcom. They are creative, adorable, and totally functional.

Artzy Creations made the easiest custom art that looks awesome. Click through to find out how easy it is to make your own!

I love this beautiful pillow with ribbon from Visual Eye Candy.

Pinch a Little Save-A-Lot LOVES her readers! She provided for FREE the cutest printable freezer labels. Click through and download yours today!

How cute is this pillow from Mommy by Day Crafter by Night? The fabric and little pom poms are so cute. Plus she gives a tutorial for you to make your own.

My Life and Kids is up to her usual antics again. This gal is freaking hilarious! She “broke into” Young House Love’s house and “hung” my “Awesome” artwork above Sherry’s dresser. I’m dying. So hilarious. I do have to admit, the artwork looks like it was made for that spot!

To see the InLinkz party you will need to click through!

To view the remainder of this post please CLICK HERE

{Yes, this is me BEGGING you! Please! It’s only a couple clicks.}

Do you LOVE House of Hepworths and think it’s pure awesomespice?

Well, the big Apartment Therapy contest — the The Homies — is running this week to name The Best DIY Blog of the year.

I’ve never been nominated for an award, much less one this huge! I’m so excited that my blog is on their Homies Nomination list!!!

If you think House of Hepworths blog is the bee’s knees, PLEASE go vote! PLEASE! I’m seriously begging.

How’s that for a title? I kill even myself sometimes.

Bada-bing!

Um… er… uh… {innocent whistling}…

Let’s just get on with the post, shall we?

Before Valentine’s Day two weeks ago, K and I made a bunch of Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

{tutorial here}

During that chocolate making session we also made another fun treat! And let me tell you, these bad boyz are delicious.

Marshmallow Pops!

Yup. We took a ball of sugar, dipped it into chocolate sugar, then dipped it again into sugar sprinkles.

Do you see a trend here? Sugar dipped in sugar dipped in sugar.

Might as well call them Diabetic-Coma-Inducing pops.

I prefer to call them “The Perfect Sugar Trifecta”.

I’m pretty sure the strawberries were the only healthy thing on the island that day!

To make these Sugar-on-a-stick delicacies, we bought marshmallows and sticks. Except the grocery store didn’t have Popsicle or sucker sticks. So I found these mini skewers on the grilling isle.

We were totally just going to do good ol’ regular marshmallows, but then we saw these monster-truck-sized ones too!

Jumbo. JUMBO? Are you kidding me?

So of course I had to buy them. And let me tell you, the jumbo marshmallows are the size of my fist. Not kidding.

We anticipated quadruple the sugary goodness of a regular marshmallow (not to be confused with the pathetic wimpy mini marshmallows that are only good for adding to jello salad or rice crispy treats).

However, the fist-sized jumbo marshmallow was so ridiculously enormous that it wasn’t even fun to eat.

So, in my very professional opinion, I’d say pass on the jumbo ones.

The Marshmallow Pops are so easy to make that I didn’t even document it in photos. So, here’s the deal…

Take a marshmallow and stick it on the skewer. Dip the skewered marshmallow into melted chocolate. Remove from chocolate, tap off excess, then dip into a bowl of your favorite topping. Set on wax paper until the chocolate has hardened. Piece o’ cake.

We made a variety of flavors including:

After lots of sprinkle dipping and chocolate drizzling, we got antsy, which brought on even more creativity.

We tried a double marshmallow pop, which was fun to eat, but was hard to dip in the small chocolate container.

Then something happened. Something brilliant. Something Marvelous.

I was struck with the idea of graham crackers.

Now, I don’t know if these have been made before or not, but for me, the idea to make

S’mores Marshmallow Pops

was a brand new idea. Uncharted territory, if you will.

So I went there. Oh you better believe it. I smashed up a few graham crackers, then I rolled that chocolate dipped marshmallow in the crumbs.

And at that moment, the most delicious, most amazing treat on the planet earth was born.

The sprinkle pops are good, don’t get me wrong. But the S’mores Marshmallow Pops?

Decedent.

They are literally like a bite-sized S’more on-a-stick. They taste as good as a real-for-real straight-off-the-campfire S’more. And I do not take S’more making lightly.

If you do nothing else this year, for cryin’ out loud, please make a S’mores Marshmallow Pop and just try it. Humor me. I swear, you will not be disappointed.

We ended up making 50 more the night before Valentine’s day so the kids could share them with their classes at school.

I would say we made a plethora of them.

They were seriously that good.

When we were at Disney World in December, I had the fortune to purchase a chocolate-dipped marshmallow from Downtown Disney. This idea is not my own, I simply recreated it. However, I’m being totally honest when I say I have never seen a S’mores Marshmallow Pop… ever. So, let me give credit to Disney for the chocolate marshmallow pop combo, but I’ll claim victory with the graham ones. M-kay?

Have you ever made these? Have you ever tried them, or even seen them before?

Are they like, one of those things that’s been around forever and I’ve been living under a rock this whole time? Well, if so, and if you are living under a rock too, I’m just spreading the wealth of recycled knowledge. Just doin’ my part to make the world a better place.

This is also a great activity to do with your kids.

And since I’m on the subject of candy making and baking, I’ll leave you with a few more yummy recipes.

You are welcome. xoxo.

Check out a few more HoH approved recipes.

I am not liable if you gain 50 pounds from making and eating all this yummy stuff.

Have a finger-lickin’ good day!