Key Fobs

My 14yo daughter has a shopping addiction. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to fund it. As a mean mother, I force her to earn spending money. One of those ways is through sewing. She has made doll clothes in the past, but now that she is a little older she is transitioning to new sewing ventures. Her first product line is key fobs. I have them listed in my shop if you are interested. If you click on the pictures it should take you straight to the listing as well.

So, now it is your turn...

What was your first source of income? Did you have a babysitting job? A lemonade stand? Mow lawns? I did a tiny bit of babysitting and I also tutored students in English after school.

EASY Dark Chocolate Truffles

I love truffles! Especially dark chocolate truffles! I have made truffles several different ways and these are definitely the easiest. I am almost embarrassed to share this recipe because it is so easy!

I make these for teacher gifts (some teachers have even requested them) and put them in a cute little tin or jar. The minimal effort in making these does not mean I appreciate them any less, but I do feel a little guilty when anyone is impressed by them.

Ready for the recipe with step by step pictures? It took me longer to edit pics and blog about these truffles than it did to make them.

These are your ingredients. Yup. That is it! One pack of cream cheese (I think I do prefer Philadelphia just a bit) and two bags of Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips. You can use other chocolate if you prefer, but this is my favorite.

Melt one bag of chocolate chips. I used to have a chocolate melter, but the kids broke it. My other tactic is this one: pour a bag of chocolate chips into a plastic, microwave safe container. (I use plastic because after it is empty you can put it in the freezer and then squeeze the container so the hardened chocolate bits pop right out. Easy clean up!)

Melt the chocolate for one minute at 50% power. Stir. Place chocolate back into the microwave at 50% power and stir every 30 seconds until melted.

Put the cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. I guess you could soften it, but it always seems to be soft enough for me to work with. Your call.

Pour the melted chocolate over the cream cheese.

Mix the chocolate and cream cheese together.  You are going to need some sort of mixer for this one, especially if you didn't soften the cream cheese.

Roll the truffle mixture into little balls. I have a small cookie scoop that is the perfect size and keeps them pretty uniform. Place the truffles on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.

Place the truffles in the refrigerator or freezer until they are firm.

Melt the second bag of chocolate chips as before. I like the chocolate a little thick so I do not add any wax or oil. I am not great at chocolate coating, though, so do whatever works for you! Dip the truffles into the melted chocolate. I just use a fork and tap off the excess chocolate before placing them back on the cookie sheet.

Since the cookie sheet should still be cold the chocolate hardens right away.

That is it! Easy, right? You don't have to share the recipe. No one will know.

If you want to pin it for later...

Here are some more chocolate recipes that you might enjoy...

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

DIY Spring Moss Wreath Tutorial

It is not too often that I actually make something for myself. I actually do not have a great place to display this wreath, but I made it anyway and I really love it!

I had some foam wreath forms a friend had given to me a long time ago and I just hadn't found a use for them. Recently, I was browsing Pinterest and saw some cute moss wreaths I thought I could make. For myself!

The wreath form was free, but they do carry slightly smaller ones at the Dollar Tree. I also got a bag of moss at the Dollar Tree. The flowers came from Michaels. I actually wanted coral ones, but there was a sweet older lady who asked my 12yo which flowers she recommended (I guess we have similar taste, my daughter and I) so I found something else. Anyway, this was a really cheap project!

So, gather all of your supplies...

A ribbon to hang would be helpful and is not shown. You also need hot glue sticks, a glue gun, toothpicks, and green floral tape.

Now, the moss part was a mess. I made this on my kitchen counter, but anticipate snibbles of moss everywhere!

Just take small bunches of moss and hot glue them onto the wreath form. It takes quite a few sticks of hot glue. Check for any thin spots and add more as needed.

It is actually still pretty cute plain!

Next, add the flowers. Cut them apart and lay them on the wreath until you get an arrangement you are happy with. My flowers had enough stem to poke into the wreath but I added some hot glue around the bottom of the flower just in case. Attach the leaves to toothpicks using hot glue and green floral tape. Stick them into the wreath as well.

Pretty easy, right? Hot gluing the moss is a little messy and tedious, but I priced similar wreaths at $30. The moss sheds a little, so I don't want to hang it on a door that is opened and closed a lot, but on a wall it is pretty!

If you want to pin it for later...

You may also like these posts...

Spring Quiet Book

Painted Plastic Eggs

Scrapbook Paper Frame

Drop Cloth Farmhouse Pillows

Spring Decluttering Challenge Giveaway

How did the Spring Decluttering Challenge go? Did you join in, even a little? (Giveaway at the end of this post!) For me, I was not super consistent in decluttering a little bit every day. Life happens. I got a little carried away some days, though, so it all evened out. I have been sharing some of my decluttering progress over on Instagram. (Click HERE if you want to follow me!)

Because they are always satisfying to see... a couple of before and after pics:

I am still working on a few projects but I will eventually blog about the playroom. I actually removed 2 more garbage bags of stuff after I took the after pic above!

This was my boldest move... I threw away almost all of our DVD cases! They were in terrible shape anyway. No one put things back right. It just made sense. I got some zippered file cases from Amazon and put them all in those instead.

I can honestly see a big difference in our home at this point. It is easier to clean things up, especially in the kids' bedrooms. Clutter still accumulates in certain areas- don't get me wrong- and we still have messes, but it is getting to be more manageable.

My grand total of garbage bags purged during the Spring Decluttering Challenge is.... (drumroll).........

25

Not too bad! I am pretty happy with my progress.

Now for the giveaway...

***UPDATE!!! The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Taryn for winning the $25 gift card!***

To Enter: Leave a comment letting me know how many garbage bags of stuff you purged during the challenge. It could be stuff put in garbage, donated, given to someone else, sold, etc. You will get one entry per bag. Honor system. I trust you.

The Prize: I overthought this quite a bit. I don't really want to add any more clutter to someone's life after they just decluttered! So, I am offering a $25 gift card to your choice of store or restaurant (as long as I am able to get it for you).

I will use excel to do a random selection (because I love spreadsheets sooooo much!) on May 11th at 8am EDT.

More decluttering inspiration...