Saint Patrick's Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Had time to bake some cupcakes yesterday (cheated and made from box mix). Found these toppers, candies,  and adorable shamrock paper wrappers at the local craft store a couple weeks ago. Added green coloring into the batter prior to baking. Colored vanilla frosting and Viola! You definately get a green tongue afte reating them.  Gave away cupcakes to a couple neighbors as a "good luck" surprise.  Everyone enjoyed them. My girls will have the rest gone by the end of the week. YUM!

"Luck of the Irish to ya"

BALSAMIC GLAZED CHICKEN WITH GRILLED VEGETABLE SALAD

Here is my new recipe this week.  Balsamic glazed chicken. I made this for dinner last night. I cooked the chicken in a grill pan on the stove. My outdoor grill has not been uncovered yet. Spring will be here very soon and that "puppy" will be put to use nearly every night for months. I love the taste of grilled/ charcoal grilled foods. Ok, enough about the grill and on to the recipe. I am a semi- homemade kind of cook, and when I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it. 

RECIPE:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 C olive oil, use some for vegatables too

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. Dijon- style mustard

1 red pepper, sliced thick

1 red onion, sliced thick

Mix ingredients in 1 gallon resealable bag and place chicken breasts in bag and turn to coat. Marinate for 2 hours -overnight in refrigerator. Remove chicken from marinade and discard bag.  Grill chicken on medium about 14 minutes or until cooked through. Turn chicken over half way through. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil. salt and pepper to taste. Add vegetables to grill and cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add warm vegetables to bed of baby spinach. Dress with favorite dressing.  I also added a little crumbled blue cheese. Viola! This salad looked so "gourmet" it really could not have been easier or more delicious.

Here is my try at MOJO128. I pulled out the trusty SU! color wheel and picked these colors- saffron, Amethyst, and Celery. I used 6x6 DS paper samplers- mixed and matched. I found these great light green bling stickers at a local store and used them on my shamrock cards last week-wanted to use them again on this cutie. I am so in to owls... I think I have 10 single owl stamps and 5+ sets with owls in them. I even found some funky carved owls for my living room. They remind me of the 70s and the decor of my house as a child.

Material: So Saffron, Almost Amethyst, and Certainly Celery CS; XL 2-Step Bird Punch (branch and leaves);Scallop Trim Corner Punch; 1 3/4 Circle Punch; Fox & Friends Stamp Set (owl); Scallop Mega Punch; Green Sticky Rhinestones.

YOU'RE LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE

If you have not got your tickets or have not seen the new Alice In Wonderland you are LATE... it's fantastic! Bizarre, Burton-like, Thrilling, Humourous, Colorful, and Action packed... I loved it. We saw it in 2D and it still was great. Gotta love Johnny Depp! Yum!

I was totally inspired by this month's STAMPIN' SUCCESS examples on page 13 for these cards. This was a pefect opportunity for me to hit the scrap bin again. I used multiple green scraps punched with triple heart punch to make the shamrock cuties. Used up some old 1yd spools of ribbon bought at local store. I did not purchase the GOING GREEN individual stamp as used for my inspiration pieces (highly suggest you get this one,it is perfect to use for St. Patricks cards. I used an old (probably 10+ yrs. old) St. Patricks verse from multiple holiday set. I stamped on a 1 3/4 inch circle and mounted on a coordinating green square. Embellished square piece with mini silver brads in 3 corners. Stuck a bling/bead in center of the shamrock to give a finished look. I had some extra hearts punched and some more sahara cs scraps so I chose to make some tags. I love tags...they are so easy and fun to make. Now, I have to decide what I will do with the tags. Any ideas? give me ideas in your comments.

GOING GREEN individual stamp #117074
1 3/4 circle punch # 112004

silver brads #104336

sahara sand CS #105328

Heart to Heart punch #113694