here's the tooth!

I finally got a picture of Maggie Claire laughing where we can see her tooth! What a little cutie!

Can you tell we are excited about 4th of July?!?! haha! I love 4th of July! I've been decorating the house a little bit & we are going to have a little 4th of July party at my moms house and I am super excited! :)

I've made some 4th of July hairbows to sell over at Paint, Bake, & Create, so jump on over, check them out, and order one! :)

Happy 4th of July week! {yes, we'll be celebrating all week long!}

open for business!

I just got finished with the new Paint, Bake, & Create design on the blog! Head on over to check out all my wonderful handmade goodies! In case you've never visited my blog before I make everything from hairbows{headbands too!}, name canvas', hairbow holders, ribbon chandeliers, diaper cakes, princess hairbows, tutus, cupcake hairbows, and so much more! Plus, you can grab my cute button! Keep me in mind for baby shower or wedding gifts!

<center><a href="http://paintbakeandcreate.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="hilary surratt" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/hils4reals/buttonicon-2.jpg" /></a></center>

couponing & crafting

As you probably have been following my tweets, I have been doing pretty good couponing this week! I went to Publix on Monday, and I got some really good deals! I even got some free stuff! The deals were so good that I even had to go back on Tuesday!

Notice my new 2 cute pink reusable bags that I got for free!

{I've started my own collection}

Beth and I went to see how much free stuff we could get, and we sure did! With the sales and the coupons combined, This is what I got for $.43!!!! {Before my coupons & sales my total was $14.and some change, sorry I don't have my receipt right here with me}. Thanks to http://www.southernsavers.com/, I just love being FRUGAL! :)I was in my first craft show with my friend Allison last Friday too! It was so fun! Allison sold some soaps that her & her mom made, and Alli and her friend from work made picture frames that she sold! I of course had my "Paint Bake & Create" things out for sale! I sold my jungle children painting, and I was so excited! I also sold a lot of hairbows & headbands! Here was our setup and the layout of my hairbows! {I had some candy to attract customers} I am in another craft show on November 4th downtown at Roper Hospital 7am-4pm. It's going to be a big one and I'm pretty excited!

visit my blogstore http://www.paintbakeandcreate.blogspot.com/ if you would like to see more of my products! :) Have a great weekend everyone!

my new thing...

If you are interested, please check out my blogstore:

http://www.paintbakeandcreate.blogspot.com/

Tell me what you think! :)

{This is NOT the end to my personal blog... just an addition to myself}

my diaper cake creations

I just love doing creative things...

I started making these adorable diaper cakes a couple of years ago when my friend Christina was pregnant with Olivia. I made this pink one for her, and I made the blue one for my sister in law, Bethany when she was pregnant with my nephew Jack. I have come up with some cute themes to do in the future, these are actually pretty plain, because they were my first ones, but in the future I'm going BIG with lots of accessories to go on the diaper cakes!!! I am so excited, so if you are pregnant and you invite me to your baby shower, expect one of these adorable diaper cakes!

They are also great to use as a baby shower game of guessing how many diapers are used in the cake!

I have made more than these two, but I never took pictures of the others, and I will for now on to make a portfolio to possibly start my own business one day. But for now I'm just going to do them for fun! If you would like me to make you one, let me know and I will! :)

Baking Treats and Secret Recipes

If any of you know me well, you will know that I love love love to bake things! Here are some of my recent things that I have made for a Bridal shower and Cinderella Day at the Dream Center.


These I call "Pretzel Surprise" They are so tasty! I got this recipe from one my friends a couple of years ago. they didn't have a name, so one of my friends Chelsie from work came up with "Pretzel Surprise". I have made them for holidays, bridal showers, baby showers, and just any parties.

Here is how you do it: You need a bag of Snyder square pretzels, a bag of any color m&ms, and a bag of Wilton candy melts(any color). *Preheat oven to 300 degrees. You lay the pretzels out all over the pan and place the candy melts on top of the pretzels. Put them in the oven for 3-5 minutes until they are slightly melted on the top. Take them out of the oven and IMMEDIATELY place the m&ms on top. You will have to push them down a little bit so the m&m will harden into the candy melt. Let cool for about 15 minutes and enjoy! It's really like a surprise in your mouth of how good they are! Enjoy! :)

Mandy Waters' bridal shower wedding cake cookies!

These are my new cookies that I am making. I have only made them three times, but I am getting really good! Here is the secret recipe!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cream together 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup of sugar.

Blend in 1 medium egg and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Sift together and add to mixture: 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. baking powder, and 2 cups of sifted flour.

Cut with cookie cutters and bake on lightly greased cookie sheet or baking stone for 8 to 10 minutes. Edges should be VERY light brown.

Glazed Icing:

Blend together 1 cup of confectioner's sugar and 3-4 tsp. water. Add food coloring to get desired color.

**This glazed icing is very runny, so you cannot stack the cookies with icing on them until they are completely dry. I recommend letting the icing dry overnight. (I had to learn this from the first time!)

They make a tasty treat for your guests!

These are just some sugar cookies I made from a package with pink icing for Cinderella Day at the North Charleston Dream Center. Some of them said "Prom 2009" and others said "Cinderella Day". They were all gone really fast, so I guess they were pretty good!

If anyone does use these recipes please comment and let me know how it goes! Happy Baking!