3 Posts that Make Me Want to Shirk my Chores and Dare to Share Saturday

This week has been spent unpacking and working to get the house liveable.  I'm so glad to have the house but it's been a lot of work and I'm ready for a break.

So I was so glad to have such wonderful posts to look at when I did have a chance to sit down.  You guys made me want to take a day or two or five off this week and get back to my love of reading.  If you missed it, here were three great book posts that made me want to shirk my chores.

1. 30 Must Read Books for Summer by Pink Heels Pink Truck

2. Coloring Page Bookmarks for Kids by Oh My Creative

3. Make your Own Bookmark by The Country Chic Cottage

I can't wait to see what you've been up to this week.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Most Addictive Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches EVER

Beat the heat this summer with these addictive Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches.  You won't be able to stop eating them and enjoying the rich flavors and cool textures.  You can print the Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich recipe here and make these delicious desserts all summer long.

One of the greatest joys of having a house again, is the oven.  While living at the hotel was nice and we did have a lot of amenities, we really missed being able to bake.  I know we are a little too addicted to sweets, but it's one of the joys in our life and we missed it.

So the other day, we were baking chocolate chip cookies.  We love these cookies.  I've shared the recipe as a printable at the bottom of the page, if you are looking to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it's been my experience that most people like their "family recipe" and don't want to try new ones.

I like our recipe because it has oats in it, so the cookie has some texture and interest when you bite in to it.  But I know everyone is different.

Anyway, we were making cookies and the Daredevil (my 15 year old son as he's known here) decided we weren't making cookies fast enough.  So he dug out the ice cream scoop and proceeded to make cookies that were the size of our fist. 

I admit, I was a bit dubious as to how they would turn out, but after a few timing errors, we got the cookie to come out soft, gooey and delicious.  While we were eating them, we had to open the milk and get out the ice cream as a celebration.

You can imagine what happened from there.  These cookies that are GINORMOUS were turned into ice cream sandwiches.

You're probably thinking, duh.  But we had never done that before.  Why?  Who the heck knows?  But I'm slapping myself now, because we are totally addicted to these things.  They are like manna from heaven around here.  (And so I only managed to get one saved to take pictures of.)

They were super easy to make as you may imagine.

We took our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (but I imagine you can use it for just about any cookie type) and used a regular ice cream scoop to dish out 6 mounds of cookie dough on to a cookie sheet.  Cook in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

With our recipe, the dough will be set around the edges but slightly mushy in the center.  This makes them super soft and as they cool they will set up with no problems.

Allow the cookies to cool and then scoop 1 to 2 scoops of your favorite ice cream flavor on to one of the upside down cookies.  Place another cookie on top and mush down enough to secure the cookies and ice cream together.

Now enjoy, and don't blame me if you become completely addicted to these during the summer heat.  Especially since it means you don't have to go buy the over priced treats at the store or through the Ice Cream truck.  You can enjoy them anytime, even when the kids are asleep as a late night snack!

Here's my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, the Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe, and a double printable in case you use a 1/2 page recipe binder like I do.  (FYI, one of the double recipes is up side down because this allows me to have the white paper edge on the side that I poke the holes through when I bind my recipes.  It's just a way to make it a little prettier.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe	Recipe Card Prints	Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe

GREAT Coupon Deals for the REAL Mom

When you are raising a family, it can get expensive.  So it's nice to be able to save a penny or two so you can enjoy a little more.  But who has time for the power shopping of the big sites?

Here are a few good deals I found and actually used this week.  If you act fast (sometimes these deals can go super fast), you should be able to enjoy a little extra jingle in your pocket so you can spend a little more on the celebrations in life.

Office Depot: 16 pack of AA or AAA Duracell Batteries

MONEY MAKER

• Visit Ebates to sign in to your account (or set up a new one if you don't have one already)
• Go through Office Depot link to get 3% cash back
• Add two 16 count AA Duracell batteries to your shopping cart.
• Add two 16 count AAA Duracell batteries to your shopping cart
• Sign in to your Office Depot account to get rewards back
• Ship to your house to avoid paying for gas to local store
• Check out
• Wait up to 5 weeks and get $55.92 back in Rewards

Duracell Batteries AA pack              13.99 x 2  =  27.98

Duracell Batteries AAA pack           13.99 x 2  =  27.98

Total                                                                   =  55.96

Ebates Cash Back                               -3%             - 1.68

Office Depot Rewards                      13.98 x 4   =  -55.92

Total Cost for 64 batteries           +1.64

CVS: M&M Candies

• Visit Swagbucks to sign in or create an account
• Visit the coupon area to print out your coupons and get 10 points per coupon used
• Go to your local CVS where they have single MandM candies for 0.88 each.
• Add 1 of your favorite flavor MandM candy to your basket and 1 MandM Crispy candy.
• Use your reward card and coupon to check out.

MandM Crispy Single Candy              = 0.88

MandM Plain/Peanut Single Candy    =  0.88

Total                                                 =  1.76

Printable Coupon                                 -0.88

Swagbucks                                 10 points

Total Cost for 2 single candy bars        -0.88

Rite Aid: Gain Laundry Detergent

Gain Laundry Detergent (50 ounce)            =  4.94

Total                                                             =  4.94

Online Coupon with Card                               -2.00

Total Cost for 50 ounce Laundry Soap       -2.94

Walgreens: Irish Spring 6 pack Soap

Irish Spring 6 pack Soap                      =   3.49

Total                                                     =   3.49

Store Coupon                                       =  -1.00

Register Rewards                                    =  -1.00      

Total Cost for 6 bars of soap           - 1.49             

Finding Dory Birthday Party

I'm swimming with excitement over this Finding Dory Birthday party.  With so many great photo booth ideas and party games, you'll be finding a reason to throw this party for your next birthday.

This Finding Dory Birthday party submitted by The Mom Creative at last week's Dare to Share linky party is the perfect inspiration for a summer birthday party.  With lots of detailed project ideas and inspiration to get wet and swim with Dory, this party is perfect for a summer party theme.

Here's what Jessica said about her party, "It’s hard to believe that our sweet Adeline is five. We have been planning to have a Finding Dory party since November when we learned the movie was coming out the week of her birthday. Little did we know I would go to the premiere and meet Ellen just weeks before the party!

The party came together perfectly and I have SO much to share about it. Finding Dory is the hit movie of summer, and I imagine lots of kids are going to be having Finding Dory parties in the coming months. I hope this post provides lots of information and resources."

I just love when a party host not only shows you great inspiration but tells you how they created their party.  I don't think there's anything more frustrating than wanting to recreate a party project and not knowing where the host got supplies or how the decorations were made.

Go check out this amazing Finding Dory Birthday party, and don't miss these amazing elements:

Sea Shell decorations to help you find your way to the party.

Photo booth with great Party Props.

Coffee Pot Pong and other themed Party Games

Be sure to check out all these great Finding Dory birthday party ideas and how Jessica at the Mom Creative made them for her daughter's birthday.  There's lots of projects and ideas to pin.

For more Finding Dory birthday party ideas, check out our Finding Dory Pinterest board.

10 COOL Ice Cream Recipes to try at Home

Stay cool and celebrate National Ice Cream month by making some home made ice cream in your favorite flavors.  These 10 ice cream recipes will help you celebrate in style with a sweet tooth that your family and friends will love you for.

I love July. Everything about this month just screams "eat ice cream".  It's National Ice Cream month, but also has National Ice Cream day, National Vanilla Ice Cream Day, and National Sundae Day.  Can life get any better than to scream at you to eat as much ice cream as you can all month long?

Since I've been working on Ice Cream party printables and party ideas all month, it all just kind of fits together and makes the world perfect.

Unfortunately, my budget doesn't let me go out and enjoy ice cream at our favorite ice cream store every day in July, so instead I've been searching Pinterest today for some great ice cream recipes to make here at home.

Enjoy these recipes with me tonight and have a sweet Sundae or Banana Split to celebrate July.

1. Root Beer Float Ice Cream by Your Home Based Mom

2. No Church Cherry Ice Cream by Growing Up Gabel

3. Jello Sherbet Ice Cream by Smart School House

4. No Churn Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream by Family Fresh Meals

5. No Church S'mores Ice Cream by Fox and Briar

6. Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream by Life in the Lofthouse

7. No Church Turtle Ice Cream by The Recipe Rebel

8. Cookie Dough Ice Cream by Julie's Eats and Treats

9. Homemade Cookies and Cream Ice Cream by Love From the Oven

10. Cold Stone Slab Cake Batter Ice Cream by Copykat Recipes

Enjoy these and many more home made ice cream recipes on my Ice Cream Recipe Pinterest board.  There's always something cold and sweet to eat here.

3 Ice Cream Treats to Cool Off with this Summer and Dare to Share Saturday

We did it.  We survived two months in the hotel and two days of moving in 2000 degree heat. 

Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but there were times I wasn't sure I was going to make it.  I can not seem to get used to this heat after the lovely boring weather in Colorado.  South Carolina may do me in.

But we are out of most of the boxes.  I just can't seem to find any of my dishes.  I am not sure how they hid them since we are down to about 10 boxes still unpacked.  And we won't even begin to talk about the state of my kitchen and linen closet.  Oh well.  At least we are Home now.

That means finding ways to cool off and new recipes to try for our Ice Cream housewarming party.  In case you missed it, you guys shared some great ice cream recipes last week.  I wish I could feather them all.  But I do hope to be able to try them all as soon as I find my kitchen.

If you missed them, check out these three ice cream treats to cool off with this summer from last week's Dare to Share Saturday.

1. Maple Bacon Waffle Ice Cream Cake by Dizzy Busy and Hungry

2. Birthday Cake Milkshake by Living Lavida Holoka

3. Banana Split Sundae Push Pop by The Crafty Blog Stalker

If you are out there looking for Pokémon this week, then be sure you have enough Pokeballs to catch them all.  This Pokémon Pinata from my friend and co-host Pam at Pam's Party and Practical Tips is perfect for your Pokémon party or as a fun decoration for a Pokémon room.  Be sure to go check out the easy directions on how to make your own.

I can't wait to see what you've been up to this week.

An InLinkz Link-up

Ice Cream Cone Chocolate Covered Oreo Thank You Gift

Be cool this summer with a sweet thank you for everyone on your list.  These chocolate covered Oreos are a yummy treat and packaged oh so cute to look like a double scoop of Ice Cream on a cone.  Such a fun gift to both give and receive.

Is it just me, or is coming up with the perfect Thank You gift REALLY hard?  What do you get someone who has done so much for you that isn't more clutter for them or really shows how much you appreciate what they do every day?

I don't know.  But here's one more idea to consider while saying thank you to the guests at your Ice Cream party or for a teacher gift or any other need for a Thank you.

Start by making some chocolate covered Oreos in your favorite ice cream "flavors".  I used chocolate Wilton candy melts for the "chocolate" ice cream, and white colored candy melts for the "vanilla" and "strawberry" flavors.

To make the chocolate covered Oreos, you'll need candy melts.  Melt the chocolate wafers in a microwave at 50 percent power in one minute increments, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Add a little bit of chocolate to the bottom of a Spinning Leaf plain Oreo mold.  Tap the mold against the top of your countertop to smooth it out and then place one Oreo down into the chocolate.  Tap the mold again and then place another spoonful of chocolate on top of the Oreo and smooth it again and release any more air bubbles.  Refrigerate your chocolate covered Oreos for a half hour until they pop out of the mold clean and easy.

While your Oreos are in the refrigerator, print out the Cherry Thank You tags at the bottom of the page.  Use a 1 1/2 inch circle punch to cut out the cherries.  Then use a regular hole punch to add a hole at the top of the cherry to attach to the thank you gift.

Once your Oreos are ready, add a Nutter Peanut Butter Cookie to the bottom of a 3x10 inch cello bag for the ice cream cone.  Now add your Oreos to the top to look like scoops.  I was able to get three in a bag but it was a tight squeeze, so I settled on having a double scoop ice cream cone for my Thank you gifts.

At the top of the Oreo "ice cream scoops" tie the bag closed with some green ribbon and add one of your cherry tags to the top.  Add some curly ribbon and secure the bag closed.

Now give a scoop or two of ice cream with these Ice Cream Cone Chocolate Covered Oreo thank you gifts to everyone in your life.

How to Get to the Blog Linky Party First and Get Your Blog Post Seen

Don't be late to the linky party!  Be one of the first and get your blog post seen by everyone who's anyone.  It's easier than you think to be organized and run your blog on the go. 

I have to admit that I'm glad that summer is slowly winding down.

I'm ready for the fall holidays and the themed crafting.  I think I may have a form of Crafting ADD in that I like to jump all over the place with trying new mediums and doing new ideas.  It's kind of hard to keep my brain focused, which is why I have structured my blog to concentrate on one theme from beginning to end.

I'm not sure it's the best blogging style since it seems that a lot of readers like to jump in to get ideas for whatever party theme they are working on and then run off to find more ideas or start creating projects.  I am totally fine with that, but it means I have to constantly work to get my new ideas out into cyberspace for readers and creaters to find.

Which is why I absolutely LOVE blog linky parties.  They are such a great way to pin new ideas, meet new friends, and get that blog post that I love out to where people can see it and remember it for when they need it.  If you are into blogging at all, you have seen these parties and read the posts on how to make your post stand out in the crowd.  You need to have good pictures, creative tag lines, and get to the party early enough to count.

While I am no expert at the first two, I have learned how to get to the party early and my page views have really benefited from that.  There are thousands of blog parties out there with each one on a different day and starting at a different time, so it's really important to be able to find a system that works to keep each blog linky straight so I can be the first to the party.  That took me some serious trial and error to figure out.

I finally found the LocalCalendar.com website.  (I am not an affiliate or anything, I just LOVE their service.) It is an easy web calendar that allows me to add each of my favorite blog linky parties.  I can add all kinds of information to the entry so that I can know the name of each party, where it links up, the day and time that it starts, and any other information that I want to add. 

I try to add little notes to the entry if the party has a specific theme or I put an astrix by the party name if it's a group linky party so I can remember to try and get there first.

Since I always have my phone with me, I attend a lot of blog parties on there.  So to help me, I always have two windows up in my phones browser.  One has my Blog Linky calendar  (I posted it on the "Linky Parties" page on my blog so I would always have access to it) and the other has my most current blog post.

This allows me to quickly access the calendar when I know a blog party is about to start.  I can bring up the page and click on the next linky party.  Since I already have my post qued up and ready to go, I can quickly jump into the party and add my blog post.

Sometimes, the blog owner doesn't have a set start time, will start the party early, or I haven't quite pinned down the exact start time yet, so I will try and look ahead an hour or two in the party calendar to check out the upcoming blogs when I'm standing in the grocery store line, waiting to pick up my kids, or just sitting at work during a quiet moment. 

This system has worked wonders for me in my party attendance, and my blog views.

If you want to see where I like to party, check out the Linky Parties link on the toolbar above.  And be sure not to miss our Dare to Share Saturday linky party each Friday night at midnight EST.

Summer Olympic Games Party

I just can't help but cheer for this amazing Summer Olympic Games party.  With so many wonderful details and ideas, it's just in time to keep you rooting for your home nation at the Rio Summer Olympic Games. 

This Summer Olympic Games party submitted by The Real Thing with the Coake Family at our Dare to Share Saturday linky party is a great inspiration for a family party as you watch the Olympic Games next month.

With so many detailed DIYs and fun game ideas, you're family will love to get out and run around before coming back to enjoy these sweet party treats.

This is what KC said about her party, "We are huge Olympic fans at our house. I planned fun games for the summer Olympics 4 years ago and the winter Olympics 2 years ago for our co-op. This year with my oldest daughter being in school, I wanted to plan something that she could be a part of as well. I came up with some fun water-based games and we invited some friends to join our fun."

Go check out her great diy projects and games.  Be sure and don't miss these party details:

Olympic Ice Ring with detailed tutorial

Olympic Medal Cookies

Water Balloon Skeet Game

Sprinkler High Jump

There are so many amazing party ideas and party games at this Summer Olympic Games party submitted by The Real Thing with the Coake Family that you'll be trying to decide if it's better to play the Olympic party games or watch them as you enjoy the sweet party desserts.

For more great Olympic Party ideas, be sure to check out our Olympic Games Pinterest board.

3 Summer Drinks to Help you Beat the Heat and Dare to Share Saturday

We final move in date and are looking at the end of our hotel stay.  Whew.  We are all ready to be home and in our own beds again.

That means that we also have an actual date for our Ice Cream housewarming party.  With all these heat, I'm ready for some ice cream and some cool.

I'm so glad that you guys shared some great drink recipes at last week's Dare to Share Saturday to help with the summer blahs.  I've been sharing them on Instagram this week as well as enjoying them in the afternoons when we are hiding in the hotel room from the crazy South Carolina heat.  (And they tell me it's not even "hot" yet.  I'm so in trouble here.)

In case you missed them, check out these 3 Summer Drinks to help you cool off.

1. Sparkling Berry Basil Sweet Lemonade by Sweet C's Designs

2. Strawberry Slushie by Dabbling Momma

3. Peach Tea Recipe by Quirky Inspired

My friend and co-host Pam from Pam's Party and Practical Tips has been enjoying the summer months away from her teaching job and joined in the Ultimate Recipe Challenge this week.  These Strawberry Chocolate Muffins look so good.  I can't imagine anything with chocolate and strawberries would be bad though.  But I'm certainly ready to give them a try and give her my "objective" opinion.  How about you?

I've been working on my Ice Cream party and shared a few fun projects for that this week, as well as a round up of great treats in case your kids are out catching those Pokémon Go characters.  Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter this month to get all the great projects delivered directly to your inbox, as well as the Ice Cream Party Light Covers and other free printables each month.

I can't wait to see what you've been up to this week!

An InLinkz Link-up

How to Make a Banana Split Candy Bouquet

Surprise someone with this Banana Split DIY Candy Bouquet as a birthday gift or as a centerpiece at Ice Cream party this summer.  It's an easy diy project and so much fun to eat and enjoy using simple ingredients like Dum Dum candy suckers, Styrofoam balls, ribbon bows, Twizzler candies, and an ice cream candy dish. 

I love to make candy bouquets for just about every occasion.  They are the perfect gift for everyone because who doesn't love candy and they won't get stuck in the back of the closet waiting to get regifted!

While thinking about the centerpiece for my Ice Cream housewarming party next week, I thought it would be perfect to make a Ice cream sundae candy bouquet.  But after looking around and starting to gather supplies, my sundae became a banana split with 2 scoops. (Don't you just love how projects have a tendancy to evolve on you while you're working on them?)

But who doesn't love 2 scoops instead of one when it comes to Ice Cream?  Or candy?

To make a Banana Split Candy Bouquet, you'll need:

• 300 count package of Dum Dum suckers
• 2 4 inch Styrofoam balls
• 1 package of yellow Twizzler candies
• 2 red bows (Found mine at Dollar Tree)
• 1 large serving dish (also found at Dollar Tree)
• a pair of scissors

Start by seperating the dumdum candies into different colors.  This wasn't easy since the colors were a little subjective on some of the candies, but I let my 11 year old do it and they turned out pretty good.

Find out which colors you have the most of.  I ended up with red, purple, and blue being the majority of my sucker colors.

Choose one of the candy colors to focus your "ice cream scoop" on, and trim the sucker sticks at the bottom of the candy wrapper. 

Start by pushing the sucker sticks into the center of one of the 4 inch Styrofoam balls.  Continue around the center of the ball in a line.  (It will kind of look like one of Saturn's rings!)

Once that ring is complete, move up a row and make another ring until you reach the top of the Styrofoam ball or run out of color.  I was able to complete about 4 rows with one of the colors, the second I added some of the brown suckers in to look like chocolate chips to complete the rows, and completely fill the top half of a third ball in another.

Add the ribbon bow to the top of the empty space on your sucker balls. 

Now it's time to assemble your banana split.  Start by adding some of those non-matching colors to the bottom of your banana split bowl.  These will help you balance your "ice Cream" balls.  Place the candy filled Styrofoam balls side by side on top of the sucker base.  It may take some doing to balance them depending upon the size of your scoops and the banana split bowl.

Remove three of your yellow Twizzers and place on each side of the banana split bowl to resesemble bananas.  Now add a little bit of party fun, and enjoy your Banana Split Candy Bouquet!

Who would you give this yummy candy bouquet to?