Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts

Monday, August 22, 2011

Today's Guest Chocoholic: Jocelyn from Inside BruCrew Life

Hi, fellow chocolate fans!
Jocelyn from Inside BruCrew Life here with you today. I am so thrilled to be guest posting on The Answer is Chocolate.  Carol is an amazing blogger with so many fun things to keep you busy.  I always look forward to seeing what she has come up with. Thank you so much Carol for asking me to be a part of your blog today!   This summer has been crazy!  Can anyone else believe that is almost over???
joce8
I am a SAHM mom to 3 kids, and I have been married to my best friend for 13 years.  I enjoy spending lots of bonding time with my kitchen aide.  I have quite the sweet tooth and my blog has become an outlet  for me to share those crazy baking concoctions with others. My family is used to me making something yummy at least 2-3x's a week. In fact, I tease my husband that we like to eat brownies for dinner when he is working. (ok, not really) I also find time each week for card making, scrapbooking, and making flowers for my etsy shop, The Trendy Owl.

Now since I am posting on a blog named after chocolate, I felt it would only be right to give you a recipe full of chocolate.  How about a chocolate brownie cupcake filled with fudge and topped with coconut butter cream?  Yup, it doesn't get much better than that:-)  I hope you enjoy this crazy creation.  Please stop in my blog sometime.  Any friend of Carol's is a friend of mine:-)
May 11 cinnamon rolls, whoopie pies 050-1
Brownie Cupcakes with Coconut Butter Cream
1 brownie mix
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chocolate chips melted with 1 tsp. butter
hot fudge topping
toasted coconut

Preheat oven to 350*  Fill your cupcake pan with cute liners and set aside.  Mix up the brownie mix according to the 3 egg directions.  Stir in the 1 c. chocolate chips.  Fill liners 3/4 full and bake 20-22 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Scoop out a small portion of the middle and fill with the hot fudge topping.  Frost with coconut butter cream.  Drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Coconut Butter Cream
1 c. butter
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. coconut extract
4 c. powdered sugar
1 c. shredded coconut

Beat butter until creamy. Add the salt, water, and extract and cream again. Slowly add the powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Stir in the shredded coconut.  If you are going to use a piping bag to frost your cupcakes, use a very large tip, so the coconut doesn't get stuck in the tip:-)

May 11 cinnamon rolls, whoopie pies 065-1
Thank you for letting me share one of my chocolate creations with you today. I would love for you to visit me over at my blog...
just don't judge me when you see how much sugar I consume weekly:-)

Hugs, Jocelyn
Inside BruCrew Life

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Faux Oeuf en Chocolat aka Faux Chocolate Egg

I thought I'd share a project I did earlier in the month for a guest post over at The Scrap Shoppe. It was inspired by a graphic that had been put up at The Graphics Fairy, a vintage chocolate label! Did that have my name written on it or what?


I started with a plastic egg from Michaels that I painted a couple coats of  a deep chocolate brown. I used Folk Art’s Coffee Bean.
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Once the egg was completely dipped in chocolate, I was ready to decorate!
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I printed out my image from The Graphics Fairy, sealed it with a Krylon matte finish spray sealer and then tore around the edges.

These eggs have a flat spot on the back so make sure you apply your pic to the rounded side! I used Mod Podge to apply. If only they’d make a chocolate scented Mod Podge!

Once that was dry, I went over the whole thing lightly with some gold paint. I just scrunched up a plastic bag and dabbed the paint on all  over.

I had some brown and cream self adhesive pearls ( Michaels) and some dark brown paper flowers in my stash that I used to embellish the front of the egg.
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I put one whole strip of brown pearls in the middle of the label, and then used individual cream pearls as the centers for the flowers and randomly on the label.

Finally, I used self adhesive scrapbook borders by K&Co ( Sheer Simplicity , neutral collection) to go around the egg to finish it off. This collection contains neutral browns and beiges and metallic gold so I used the brown and gold of the same pattern, with the straight sides back to back.

IMG_4986

So there you have it, a chocolate egg with 0 calories!
Linking Up At: 

Monday, April 4, 2011

Visiting At The Scrap Shoppe Today!

Congrats to my friend Michelle from The Scrap Shoppe who exactly one week ago today, added a new little boy to her family! She's a great planner aheader so while she's out on her "BML" (Bloggy Maternity Leave) she lined up several of us to guest post. Today's my turn so if you want to see "eggsactly" what I'm sharing, come on over to:

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Guest Posting At" Bella Before And After "

Happy Thursday and I’d like to give a shout out to the newest followers of The Answer Is Chocolate. I’m so glad you found something interesting enough to keep you coming back!

The lovely Bella, from Bella Before And After, invited me over to her place to guest post so that's where I am today.


I'm sharing a project there that's something I haven’t shown here before…I’l give you a hint. It involves these:
Dollar Tree Washers
and the end result does not involve plumbing so if you're curious, come on over! 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Guest Where I Am Today?

504 Main

Here, that's where! Holly over at 504 Main  invited me over to guest post and share my Ballard knock off wall art today! Thank you so much Holly!! 

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Embossed Metal Ornaments

My Friend Michele over at The Scrap Shoppe is still hosting her fun and inspiring Homemade Holidays, and I was excited to do another guest post. This time I did:  Embossed Metal Ornaments similar to those I have on one of my Christmas trees.

First you'll need some metal soft enough to emboss. Walnut Hollow and Ten Second Studios sell it as does AMACO which is what I'm using here:
I got mine at Michaels but you can find it at many art supply stores. It comes in copper, brass, aluminum, and pewter as well as colors. It also comes in different weights. I like the medium.

Then decide what you want your ornament to be and find an image you can trace (or you can draw freehand). I chose a dove ( downloaded from the internet) and printed out on regular copy paper. Cut off a piece of your metal and lay your image on top:
Sorry for the pic quality...didn't realize the reflection of the light
The AMACO metal comes with a wood stylus or you can use a ball point pen , pencil, or dry embossing tool. I have a rubber mat I use but you can use magazines or a stack of newspaper to give yourself some cushion so when you trace, you get some indentation. You don't have to press super hard, but firmly.

Once you 've traced your image, you can flip it over and go around the inside or outside edge to give it more definition. Then you can start designing. I did freehand designs or you can trace a design just like you did your image:
I just made a scallop pattern around the edge and some squiggly lines in the tail.
When you're happy with your design, then cut out around the image. You can use regular craft scissors. You don't need special ones.
I added some spirals to the middle
While there are all kinds of specialty tools you can buy:

You don't have to. Sewing tools like pattern wheels work great:

I just used a perforation wheel to make random lines on this one which you'll see below. Once you've cut out your images, add a small eyelet in the center and then whatever you want to use to hang it. I added these to another of my trees :
This is the one I used the pattern wheel on just making random lines and then added "dots" using a dry embossing stylus

Hope that made sense. It can get very addicting and the metal goes a long way. I've used it on cards, as accents on altered art, etc. Here's another piece I did a couple of years ago that I aged with a little black paint:

And don't forget to go check out some of the great projects over at :


 
Linking Up At:


Photobucket 
 UndertheTableandDreaming

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

"Homemade Holidays" Guest Post

I guest posted yesterday over at Michele's blog "The Scrap Shoppe" . She's hosting a fun series called: 
I shared some more of my altered candles.
You'll need: 


  • Glass Jar Candle ( also known as prayer candles, Novena candles) You can find these lots of places.  I first found them at the grocery store but subsequently ordered a case of them from Dollar Tree's website. 
  • Scrapbook or wrapping papers
  • Embellishments...ribbon, buttons, beads, die cuts etc.
  • Mod Podge


I like to combine patterns and textures so I used three different papers:
Decide which paper you want as your base. Cut to 8x8 then tear top and bottom edges. Cut remaining papers to 8 inches length and decide how wide you want the next layer, I did 4 inches for the middle,  and then 3 for the top paper. Tear top paper across the top and bottom as you did for the base layer. Mod Podge your papers together to form your candle wrap. Should look like this:
Patterned paper base, music paper middle, patterned paper top
Mod Podge candle wrap to candle. Cover top with more Mod Podge and you'll have this:
You can make the "wrap" cover as much or as little of the candle as you like. Now it's time to embellish which is the fun part! I used various things I had on hand like buttons, self adhesive rhinestones, ribbon, silver tinsel pipecleaners.  I chose a couple of diecuts from a package by K&CO and adhered to the center with Mod Podge. Then I added these strips of rhinestones ( Michaels Dollar Section):
I also added some buttons using a dimensional adhesive or you can use hot glue:

And some more coordinating self adhesive rhinestones on top of the buttons. To finish, I like to wrap the top "lip" of the candle with ribbon or you can use wire, beading thread or whatever you can think of. I used some vintage looking ribbon yarn and a silver tinsel pipe cleaner on these.

Hopefully this made sense but if you have any questions, please leave a comment  or email me! There's really no right or wrong here. Thanks so much Michele for having me over for Handmade Christmas! 
Also linking up at:

Monday, November 29, 2010

"Guest" Where I Am...

I'm over at Michele's place, The Scrap Shoppe today! She's hosting a wonderful series called:


and I was honored that she invited me over for a guest post! You  know that in addition to my banner addiction, I've loved making altered candles. Come see the latest ones as well as get some great ideas on gifts and decor to make and give. And while you're there, check out Michele's wonderful blog filled with all kinds of creative ideas...papercrafts, scrapbooking, amazing flower necklaces, not to mention VERY helpful tutorials that have saved me hours of frustration! Look at this gorgeous PB knock off pillow:

And you should see the adorable Grandparent's frame idea she has...come on over!