Super Delicious Maple Butter Blondies

If you ever go to Applebees, you must try the Maple Butter Blondies. They are so incredibly delicious and will cause you to eat so much that you may or may not need to unbutton your pants to be comfortable, or to possibly make room for another Maple Butter Blondie. They are that good.

Well, a couple of months ago Food Network Magazine came out with a copy-cat recipe for this fabulous treat and it tastes just as good as the original. It has become my job when my family gets together at my mom's to make the Blondies. It is a blessing... and a curse. I've created some Maple Butter Blondie addicts, and it is a hard and tasty habit to kick, and I honestly don't think that they are trying very hard to do it. So tonight I will be making another batch of goodness and passing this burden on to you, so that you too may have some addicts in your homes. I mean, seriously, where did they find these things? Heaven?

Almost-Famous Maple-Butter Blondies

Ingredients

For the Blondies:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature,

plus more for the pan

1 cup walnut pieces

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

6 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

For the Topping:

1/3 cup maple syrup

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1/2 cup walnut pieces

Directions

Make the blondies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter the foil. Pulse 1/2 cup walnuts in a food processor until almost fine (do not overprocess). Whisk the ground nuts, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat 10 tablespoons butter and the brown sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the white chocolate and the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until the blondies are light brown around the edges and spring back when pressed, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack.

Meanwhile, make the topping: Place the maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the mixture bubbles and thickens, swirling the pan, about 6 minutes. Add the cream and continue to cook until the mixture is the consistency of caramel.

Use the foil to lift the blondies out of the pan, then cut into large bars. Serve warm topped with ice cream, the maple-butter sauce and the walnuts.

Original recipe can be found here.

The Boys of Fall

My latest project. We are in full swing with football season here in my little town. That means every Friday night you can find the boys and I up in the stands cheering on our team while my husband lends his hand down on the field with the rest of the coaches. I thought that the jerseys were neccessary Finn & Big D absolutely love them. They're ready to get out on the field themselves!!

Picture Plaques with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic + Giveaway

So I have one more fun project for you, this time showing how you can use Mod Podge Dimensional Magic as an accent to your project to add a lot of personality and help bring out those little details that we all work so hard on. These are just some cute little picture plaques that I made up for a craft at a recent family reunion. And do you know what? Everyone loved the Dimensional Magic, from a 10 year old cousin to 50+ year old aunt. It's just so easy to use!

To start this project off I cut out an 8x8" piece of 1/4" thick wood.

-Here's a tip, go to your local hardware store to find wood for projects like this. Craft stores mark their prices WAY up because they are for crafts, and you can usually get a lot more product for a lot cheaper at your local Home Depot, Ace Hardware, or Lowe's-

I painted down a thin layer of Mod Podge

And then added some scrapbook paper over the top. I recommend laying your paper out how you want it before you start going all crazy with the Mod Podge, I just didn't get a picture of this step... And then paint on another layer of Mod Podge over the top to seal it. I suggest using the gloss Mod Podge to seal the paper down, I just love the finished look that it gives.

Next step, after your Mod Podge has dried completely, is to add some embellishments. Flowers, pearls, ribbons, you can use anything that you have laying around, and hot glue them onto your board.

Next I drilled a hole in each of the top 2 corners and threaded some sturdy wire through and looped it. This make the plaque easy to hang and it just cute.

Then I selected the picture that I wanted for my plaque and pinned it in place with 2 thumbtacks. I put a tiny dab of Mod Podge on the tack and added a little matching circle of paper to the top of each one.

And applied my Dimensional Magic to each one and allowed them to dry. (For tips on using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, check out our last post for the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic Dog Tags)

It added so much character to the plaques and helped pull out a lot of the colors of the project and just added some additional visual interest.

I just loved that there are so many different things that you can do with this project, and capture just about any kind of personality with it!

So are you worried that you aren't going to win the Dimensional Magic from our last giveaway. Well Mod Podge Amy has been so generous as to allow us to do a SECOND giveaway of the Dimensional Magic. I know, she does rock. And what do you need to do? Simply leave a comment telling us why you are so desperate to get Mod Podge Dimensional Magic that you simply must enter another giveaway for it!

GOOD LUCK!

Giveaway closes on Sunday 9/19 at midnight MST and the winner will also be announced the following Monday!

Dog Tag Keychains with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic + Giveaway

This Giveaway is now closed!

A couple of months ago, we were contacted by Amy of Mod Podge Rocks! and Paint Me Plaid fame, and asked if we would be interested in doing a review of an awesome plaid product (of my choice). Well I had been dying to get my hands on some Mod Podge Dimensional Magic since it came out, but, alas, was unable to find it anywhere in town, so of course I told Amy that I would love nothing more than to try it out for myself and tell you all what I thought about it! And can I tell you something? It was everything that I had dreamed of and more. Whether it is the star of your project or you are just using it as an accent, it adds so much character to whatever you are working on. It dries crystal clear and I had no problem with color bleeding or with the product running anywhere other than where I put it. A couple tips: 1) Get your bottle out a couple of hours before you start your project to ensure that it doesn't have any bubbles in it. I found it a little bit difficult to remove bubbles from my project, but by letting the bottle sit still, it got rid of the problem  2) Make sure that your product has time to dry fully before handling, it's a little hard to fix a mess up   3) When doing a double-sided project like the one I'm showing you today, make sure that when you flip it over to apply Dimensional Magic to the other side, lay your project on something soft like a dishtowel. Laying it on a flat surface can cause it to stick and leave marks if it isn't completely dry (I say at least 24 hrs) and   4) When ready to use the product, dab a tiny bit on a paper towel to get all of the air out of the tip before applying.

So for today's project I am showing you a project where Dimensional Magic is the star. This is my dog tag key chain. I have a lot of military in my family. Besides my husband, I also have a brother in the Navy, a brother-in-law and uncle in the Army, and Grandparents who have served in the military. This particular project I made for my father-in-law who is currently serving in Afghanistan so that he would have a picture of my boys (currently his only grandbabies) with him at all times. I picked up this plain dog tag at my local Army Surplus store. It's just down the street from my parents house which is super convenient when you are looking to make a dog tag key chain. I've also seen them as scrapbooking supplies, but I don't think that they are as sturdy as the real thing.

My first step was to trace the dog tag onto some cardstock and cut it out.

I did have to trim it down a tiny bit so that it would fit inside the edging of the dog tag, but this gives you a good place to start.

Then I used the pattern to cut out a picture of each of my boys that I had printed of earlier. (Dog tags are approximately 1x2" so it needs to be a little pic.)

Next I place the picture into the tag and turned it over to draw in where the hole in the top needed to go.

And then punched a little hole at the mark on each picture.

Then I painted a thin layer of mod podge directly onto the dog tag and laid the picture on top, flattening out any air bubbles. Then I turned it over and repeated on the other side. If you only have one pic don't worry about doing anything to the other side, just leave it in its original state.

Now take your Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and lay a coat down on one side of the tag. It looks blurry and milky when you first apply it, but as it dries it will clear up completely, allowing the picture to show through is if it had nothing on it at all.

When it dries completely (I would recommend waiting about 4 hours at least!! Overnight if you have the time) turn it over and do the same thing to the other side. I actually did 2 coats on mine. One on each side and then when it was done I repeated the process because I loved the thicker look, and it still dried completely clear. And I ended up with a really cool sentiment for my father-in-law that he could keep with him while he's gone, and to help keep his spirits up!

So what do you think? Do you like it? Do you want some Dimensional Magic to try out for yourself? If so, then today is your lucky day! We will be giving one lucky reader their own bottle of Mod Podge Dimensional Magic so that you can try it out for yourselves and see how you like it. All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us what you would like to use your very own Mod Podge Dimensional Magic for. Easy Peasy.

GOOD LUCK!

Giveaway closes on Friday 9/17 at midnight MST and the winner will be announced the following Monday!

For more fabulous ideas for using Dimensional Magic head on over to Mod Podge Rocks! to see some other great projects like this and this. Or check her out on facebook where she is always highlighting different Mod Podge projects, including ones where Dimensional Magic is involved!!!

The Collage Desk

My hubby just got back from his 3 weeks of being gone with the army. Can I tell you that that was the longest 3 weeks ever?!! I think that I've mentioned before that I like to redecorate my house while he's gone to keep my self busy. Well this time there was not to much redecoration going on. I was busy organizing. Organizing and organizing and organizing. Holy Cow does my house look good right now. I even spent more than 5 minutes down in my creepy basement and got all of the trash thrown out, shelves put up, and crap put away where it is actually accesable. Crazy, I know! (Side note- Tyler asked me when he saw it if I cleaned up the dead mouse in the corner. I did not see a dead mouse in any corner, and now will probably avoid any more trips in my basement that require more than a run down and right back up. Eww.) But I did one project while he was gone for my laundry room/office and it is this really fun collage desk. I thought I would share it with you all :D 

It started with this. The Carson Anywhere desk that can be located at your local Target. I got this desk because it was about a foot smaller than the desk we did have in our laundry room/office and when you have a laundry room/office, things need to be as small as is usably possible.

 They didn't have the color that I wanted, white, so I took it home, spray painted all of the pieces, and then put the desk together. I definitely recommend painting before assemblage. It's easier to make sure that you don't miss any spots.

Next I got my camera and printed off a bunch of 4x6 snapshots of my family in black and white. Then I measured my desk and cut the pictures down to where they could fit uniformly. Then I laid all of the pictures out on the desk to decide where exactly I wanted to place them. 

Then stack all of the pictures up in the order that you want them and paint on some Mod Podge, laying the pictures down one row at a time.

Once all of the pictures were down I went over it again with some glossy Mod Podge to seal them.

And then let it dry. Don't wory if there are gaps in between some of the pictures. It still looks awesome and adds to the fun of the desk.

Here is a finished view of the top.

I love that I now get to look at these little faces while I'm doing my work!

It's right at home :D