Frozen Mint Cups

I was in the mood for something minty, when I put on my thinking cap and came up with these Frozen Mint Cups.  These are really sweet and yummy without being too rich, and they are very easy to make.  So if you're kids like chocolate mint, you may want to consider making something like this for St. Patrick's Day (or just make them for yourself, either way).  Hope you enjoy!

Recipe for Frozen Mint Cups:

Ingredients:
1 8oz whipped topping
2 teaspoons mint extract
a few drops food coloring
36 chocolate mint cookies

Directions:  Add mint extract to whipped topping. Mix well to distribute the flavor.  Add a few drops of food coloring and stir in. Add more if you like, to get your desired hue.  Take about 24 chocolate mint cookies and crush them in a food processor, or place in a ziplok bag and crush with a rolling pin or other kitchen utensil. 

Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers. (This recipe makes about 12.)  Pour the crushed cookies into cupcake liners.  You'll want to use almost all the crushed cookies, leaving just enought to garnish the top of your mint cups.  Next spoon your whipped topping mixture evenly into each mufin cup.  Garnish with remaining crushed cookies, and then stick an uncrushed cookie in the center of each cup.  Chill in the freezer until ready to serve. 

I'm linking up at these parties.

Friday Favorites - Week 52 (with Giveaway)

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to be celebrating the one year anniversary of Friday Favorites this week!  Looking back at my first week, we had 27 posts linked up (and that was with me inviting some people to the party).  And now since December, I've had 100+ posts linked up on most weeks, which is really amazing!  Thanks so much for stopping by each week to share your posts with us!

Before we take a look at this week's featured posts, I want to remind you about my Shabby Apple Giveaway.  Also, in addition to our featured posts and linky event, today I have a fun contest and giveaway to share with you.  You will find all the details below our featured posts. Have fun!

Nutter Butter Truffle Cupcakes from Inside BruCrew Life

Thrifty Tray Makeover from Make the Best of What's Around

Sloppy Joes with a Twist from Nurtured Family Life

Painted Tray from Green Door Designs

Cherry Cola Cupcakes from Tnt-cook

Now before we get to the linky, I have a fun contest and a blog giveaway to share with you!

Kim & Kris from "The DIY Dish" want to have a craft night with you and your friends! You get to invite 10 of your friends and EACH ONE OF YOU will win the Epic 6 Cutting & Embossing Tool and Letterpress Combo (each is a $169 value!) as well as accessories, di-cuts, papers, paints, etc. all thanks to Lifestyle Crafts. Catered food and a whole lot of FUN will all be a part of that craft night! 

To enter, all you have to do is send a short video (less than 1 min, 30 seconds) letting Kim & Kris know why you would love this prize package for you and your friends!!  Send them to info@theDIYdish.com. Entries will be accepted until February 27, 2011.  Check out the video on DIY Dish for more details.

Blog Giveaway! Two Simply Sweet Home readers will win 2 volumes of "Bloom" books from You Can Make This.  

Mandatory Entry:  To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post. Deadline: Feb 27

Additional Entries:  You can get an extra entry if you link up today for Friday Favorites, as well as extra entries for any way that you follow me or my blog and/or if you follow You Can Make This.

Thanks for stopping by this week! Please link up your posts below!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with these Fun Finds

Photo Credit - Hudsons Holiday

I just love looking around on etsy and have recently started creating my own treasuries.  I created a really fun treasury last week called Celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It's filled with adorable items that will help you celebrate the holiday:  cupcake toppers, cookies, banners, and fun decor!

Today I'm sharing just a few of the items from this treasury.

St. Patrick's Day Wreath

St. Patrick's Day Banner

Exquisite Fun St. Patrick's Day Cookies

St. Patrick's Day Glitter Banner

Happy St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Gift Tags

Looking for more? Check out the rest of the items in this treasury.

I'm linking up to these parties.


Disclosure:  None of the shops featured in this post are paid sponsors. I hand selected all the items for this treasury on Etsy based on my own opinions. Photos are owned by the shop owners they are linked to.

Meatball Subs and Publix Italian Days Giveaway

Stir up authentic Italian flavors and bring your family together around the dinner table during Italian Days at Publix! Now you can share the taste of a home-cooked Italian meal in the comfort of your own kitchen without spending a fortune.

From February 17th through March 2nd, visit your local Publix to take advantage of the great savings on some of your favorite General Mills brands such as Progresso, Green Giant, Pillsbury, Muir Glen and Totino´s, and save $5 when you purchase 20 participating products.

While visiting Italian Days at Publix, you can also enter the Publix Italian Days Sweepstakes, sponsored by General Mills, for a chance to win one of four grand prizes of $10,000 worth of free groceries or one of 200 $100 Publix gift cards being given as prizes.

There are three easy ways to enter for a chance to win the Sweepstakes. Enter via phone, mail or at ClickCallMail.com - a convenient one-stop website, where you´ll also be able to download great coupon savings on some of your favorite General Mills brands and other great offers from Publix.

Here´s how it works:

Click - Stay up to date with the latest General Mills promotions happening at Publix by visiting ClickCallMail.com. Once you´re registered and logged in, you can participate in any current promotions.

Call - If you´d prefer to enter the sweepstakes and participate in other promotions via telephone, feel free to call the General Mills/Publix hotline, at 1.800.627.6059, and be sure to say that you want to enter the Publix Italian Days Sweepstakes. Please be sure to provide your complete contact information (Full name/address/zip code/phone #).

Mail - If you prefer to participate via mail-in entry, print and mail your complete contact information (Full Name/address/zip code/phone #) to P.O. Box 43425 Atlanta, GA 30336 and be sure to write "Publix Italian Days Sweepstakes" on the outside of the envelope.

Photo Credit

I absolutely love meatball subs! I found this yummy recipe for them at Pillsbury.com.  It features just a couple of the participating products featured in Publix Italian days. Give it a try!

Recipe for Italian Meatball Subs

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. bulk Italian pork sausage

1/4 cup Progresso® Plain Bread Crumbs

1 small onion, chopped

1 egg

1 (15-oz.) can pizza sauce

2 cans (11 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated crusty French loaf

4 oz. (1 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions: Bake bread as directed on package. In medium bowl, combine ground beef, sausage, bread crumbs, onion and egg; mix well. Shape into 16 (1 1/2-inch) balls.

In medium skillet, cook meatballs over medium heat for 5 minutes or until browned, turning frequently. Drain. Add pizza sauce. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 12 to 15 minutes or until meatballs are thoroughly cooked.

Slice each loaf open, sandwich-style. Place 8 meatballs in each loaf. Spoon sauce over meatballs. Cut loaves in half to make four sandwiches. Sprinkle with cheese.

Win it! One Simply Sweet Home reader will a $25 Publix giftcard to help you buy the participating Italian Days products.

Mandatory Entry:  To win, you must be a follower of my blog. And leave a comment telling me what your favorite Italian food you like to serve to your family. Deadline: March 7

Extra Entries: Leave a comment for each.

-1 if you follow @SimplySweetHome on Twitter.

-1 if  you subscribe to Simply Sweet Home via email.

-1 if you like Simply Sweet Home on facebook.

-1 for subscribing to my RSS feeds through Feedburner.

-1 for sharing this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook. 

(Sample Tweet:  I want to win a $25 Publix giftcard!  http://bit.ly/gBihQs @SimplySweetHome )  (Limit one tweet entry per day.)

Disclosure: General Mills gave me one gift card to keep and one to giveaway, as part of the MyBlogSpark program. The opinions are my own. If you'd like sponsor a review or giveaway on my blog, please see my PR page for details.

Nursery and Kids Decor at Gypsy Lane Designs

I'm really happy to welcome back Gypsy Lane Designs as a sponsor to my blog.  If you're new to my blog and aren't familiar with this shop, let me tell you all about it.  It is owned by Rachel who is an artist and art teacher.

Gypsy Lane Designs features fresh, bright & beautiful artwork for Baby & Home.  If you're looking for adorable, unique, and personalized items for your child's room, you should definitely check out Gypsy Lane.  They have custom artwork, name paintings, and name blocks, which also make great birthday and shower gifts.

Gypsy Lane also specializes in custom paintings of pets. (We can't forget to celebrate the furry little ones in our lives!)

I was intrigued by how Rachel came to develop her fabulous line of children's artwork:

Gypsy Lane Designs began when I thought I would finally try my hand at creating paintings for the masses. My shop first housed mostly travel watercolors and custom pet portraits. As countless numbers of my friends have recently had babies, I began getting some requests for custom nursery work. My shop has organically grown into a haven of hand-painted and original designs for baby.

I have been having a blast creating personalized nursery designs for my Etsy customers. I love making my children's designs beautiful, completely unique, whimsical and delicate. I find inspiration every day in my art classroom as I watch my student's active imaginations. I absolutely love doing custom work and strive to make my custom artwork interactions as easy, fun and painless for you as possible.

From cars, planes, and  animals, to flowers, butterflies, and princesses, Gypsy Lane Designs can make the perfect custom wall art for your child's room that creates an atmosphere of whimsy and wonder every time your child walks in!

Connect with Gypsy Lane Designs

Rachel's Blog: Gypsy Lane Designs

Gypsy Lane Designs on Facebook

Please join me in support of this lovely artist and fabulous etsy shop  and check out Gypsy Lane Designs today.

Disclosure: Gypsy Lane Designs is a paid sponsor on my blog.  If you have a business and you'd like for me to advertise for you, please check out my PR page for details.

Uprinting Custom Poster Giveaway

Over the last two of years Uprinting has become my go-to place for poster printing  and online printing services, and I'm always excited when I get the chance to offer one of their fantastic print products to my readers.

Today I'm giving you the chance to win a custom 18” x 24” Poster.  You get a choice of Semi Gloss or High Gloss with one business day turn around.

There are so many things you can do with this prize.  Get a large print of your favorite family photo, create a cool poster for child's room, or even create a poster for your business or organization.

Giveaway Closed. Congrats to Anash from Blog Contests 365!

Disclosure: For hosting this giveaway, I will recieve a free product from Uprinting.  I was not otherwise compsenated.  The opinions are my own.

Friday Favorites - Week 51

Even though the Valentine's Day celebrations are over, I couldn't resist featuring  more of your Valentine's ideas.  Think of it as a Valentine's Day after-party!

Before we get to this week's features, I wanted to update you and let you know that I've got several great giveaways coming for the rest of this month, in celebration of reaching 1000 followers and in celebration of the one year anniversary of Friday Favorites. So be sure to come back and enter these! 

Also, be sure to check out my current giveaways.  I'm giving away a bottle of Simple Solution Stain Remover to two winners, and so far there's only a few entries.  This is a great product, particularly if you like products that are safe to use around pets and kids, so please check it out.  And there's also a fabulous dress giveaway  this week from Shabby Apple! 

Now sit back and enjoy this week's features!

Lollipop Cover Tutorial & Freebie from Silly Precious Piggies

Valentine's Day Strawberry Banana Sorbet from Miss Organic's Kitchen

Valentine's Day Party from The Farm Girl Recipes

Valentine Sugar Cookies from Frugal Christian Loving

Lots of Cute Button Ideas from Wendy's Hat

I can't wait to see what you've been working on this week!  Link your posts up below!

Shabby Apple Giveaway

I'm really excited to tell you about Shabby Apple, an online vintage dress boutique. 

Shabby Apple offers lovely dresses for women and teens as well as little girl's dresses and.maternity dresses.  They also have a lovely collection of jewelry, shoes, and accessories.

I was very impressed by the variety of dresses I found at Shabby Apple.  They offer dresses for any occasion, and they have something for every body type and style.  It should be easy for you to find something you like.

For today's post, I decided to share just a few dresses that I really liked.  I could definitely see myself wearing these!  Aren't they lovely?  Wouldn't they be great to wear this spring and summer?

And this post just barely scratches the surface! There is so much more!

Buy it!  Shop online at Shabby Apple for these lovely dresses and more!

Reader Discount:  Right now you can get 10% off your order at Shabby Apple just for being a reader of my blog.  Just use the coupon code: simplysweethome10off

Win it!  One Simply Sweet Home reader will win this lovely Cider dress (pictured above).

Giveaway Closed. Congrats to Courtney!

Disclosure:  The prize from this giveaway is being provided by Shabby Apple.  I am a member of the Shabby Apple affiliate program but was not otherwise compensated for this post.  The opinions are my own.