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I wrote this post almost 2 years ago, just before my little granddaughter Sofia was born! Since the Autumnal Equinox is on Monday, I thought I would share it again for Fun Friday this week! There are lots of links that you can follow to past craft posts and past recipes. I will link to a few other ones below. I hope you enjoy the memories!
Hello from California! I am with Alicia waiting for her new baby girl to be born! Since today is the first day of Fall, we are all working together on our Friday Fave post for our favorite season. I know that some people feel like Fall is the favorite holiday of too many people, so they want to be different. Or, maybe they don't like pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice. But, around here at 3 Winks, we love the fall for so many reasons. So, today's Friday Fave question is perfect for us:
What is your favorite thing about Fall?
It was funny because when I asked my girls this question, Alicia and Lindsey each gave me an almost identical response. They both said that in the Fall there are a lot of things to celebrate and reasons to get together with family. We have an extra abundance of reasons to get together in our family because all 3 of my daughters and one of my daughters-in-law have birthdays in October. Then, there is Halloween, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. As Lindsey put it, Fall signifies the start of the holiday season! You bake yummy food and spend more time with family. In many places, not necessarily in Phoenix, the world changes color and the air is crisp and wonderful! You get to start wearing scarves and gloves.
I was surprised that the first thing that Lindsey mentioned wasn't pumpkins! If you read Renny's Recipes, you know of her love of all things pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. It was heart warming to see that she and Alicia thought of family first! But, Lindsey did mention that in the Fall she can eat pumpkin things without being judged! Maddy also surprised me. I thought that she would mention Halloween first since she loves Halloween. That isn't surprising because her whole childhood she had Halloween themed birthday parties. But, actually the first thing she said that she loves about the season is making Fall crafts. You can see examples of her crafts here and here!
Here is what I love about Fall.
Don't forget to order your molds for Hot Cocoa Bombs here! They are on sale for a good price right now!
Because we love Fall so much, we decided to make a print to celebrate the season and share it with you, our readers! We collected all of the things that we love about the Fall and put them into one beautiful reminder created by Alicia! We hope that you love it!
Welcome Fall! Enjoy the season everyone! Click the photos below for more Fun Friday Ideas! (Or any day really!)
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For those of you who have just joined us here at 3 Winks Design, you may not realize that the reason we started this blog is because of this little creation of ours called Hot Cocoa Bombs! They are the most delicious and excitingly fun way to drink Hot Cocoa! This is the time of year when I get in full Hot Cocoa Bomb mode, making them like crazy for an annual craft show. The craft show has changed this year, but we are still doing one and I have been busy making them again. It never gets old because:
So, for Friday Faves #80 today, I thought I would do a throwback to some of our favorite Hot Coca Bomb posts and ideas! You will notice how our blog has evolved over these past 4 years as well!
If you want to make your own Hot Cocoa Bombs, you can go to the above mentioned tutorial and video. We have also published a Hot Cocoa Bomb Book that will help you with how to make them, the flavors and ways to decorate them!
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for any purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
I am not a coffee drinker. But I do love me some good hot cocoa. And, although here in Phoenix we are still waiting for some nice chilly weather to go with the holidays, the evenings have been cool enough for me to enjoy a Hot Cocoa Bomb here and there. Right now we are in full swing getting ready for the annual Ugly Sweater Express hosted by my DIL's family each year, where we will be selling hundreds of Hot Cocoa Bombs! As I write this post, I am sipping on my newest flavor or Cocoa Bomb, Gingerbread! If you haven't had a chance to go to our Etsy shop yet, you should go. That is where you can download your own copy of our booklet telling you all about how to make Hot Cocoa Bombs! We have a bunch of flavors besides original Hot Cocoa. We have Peppermint, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Salted Caramel, Cherry Cordial, Cinnamon, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Covered Strawberry and now this year we are adding Gingerbread! Because Gingerbread has molasses in it, I added brown sugar to the chocolate mixture that goes inside. Brown sugar has molasses in it, I suggest dark brown sugar for the best flavor. I did this because I have learned from experience that liquids do not do well inside of a Hot Cocoa Bomb. Next, I put in cinnamon, ginger and cloves. I put in quite a bit of the ginger and cloves for that extra little tangy kick that you get from gingerbread. I wanted to find gingerbread men marshmallows, but I haven't seen any yet, but I did find some gingerbread man sprinkles to decorate with! Click on the picture gallery to see how to drink these delicious treats!
Sitting and drinking a cup of hot cocoa is a real stress reliever for me. Getting ready for the craft show and getting my son ready for his mission are just a couple of the things that are keeping me busy. Thinking about de-stressing with a Hot Cocoa Bomb is what inspired me to come up with this little printable sign to hang in my kitchen for the holidays. You can get your own copy of it by subscribing to our blog! Within a week we will send you the link to our exclusive subscriber's free printables page where you can download your own copy!
In order to make the frame, I found these great wooden pine plaques at Michael's for under $3! Remember, Hot Cocoa Bombs make great gifts! If you aren't in Phoenix where you can come and buy them from me this weekend, try making them yourself! You can purchase the molds on Amazon.
Or for Christmas, these are super cute. They have little Christmas character faces on them. Alicia's MIL, Patricia, took some pictures for us after we made some with Alicia's mold.
You could even put together a Hot Cocoa Bomb kit with a mold, our booklet, some chocolate chips, Nesquik and Marshmallows! You could even add the printable above and some mugs while you are at it. And while you are visiting our Etsy shop, you will see a few other things to strike your fancy, like "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" printable and Tea Towel that Alicia just added yesterday!
So, make some Cocoa Bombs, subscribe and get a new free printable, give some gifts and enjoy yourself through it all!
PS- There are still a few days left to get your advent calendars ready! Here are some of the ideas we've shared!
Do you recognize the Nintendo System above? It is the original NES that came out back in the 80's I believe. My kids pinched and saved and I matched their savings at a certain point and we purchased this system many years ago. It came with Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. We still have that system, packed away and in tact. But, since then we have had (or my son has had) N-64, GameCube and the Wii. Mario and Luigi have been a part of our lives for a long time! Since today is Mar 10, it is unofficially recognized as Mario Day, because when you push "Mar" and "10" together, it looks like it spells "Mario"! So, today's Friday Fave question is...
What is your favorite Mario Game?
1. I will go first! My favorite Mario game is MarioKart for the Wii! When I first started playing this one, I was terrible at it. I always died on Rainbow Road and on almost every other road as well. But, I got better and better at it until I was able to beat people on the World Wide connection! I have to admit, I was a little addicted to this game for awhile. (It was embarrassing to my children.) I loved being Princess Peach. Whenever she would shoot someone with a shell or pass them on the road, she would look back and say in her high little voice, "Ha Ha!". It made me laugh every time. I stipulate for the Wii because I am not so great at it with the control pad. I like using the Wii steering wheel. I am a little disappointed that Nintendo doesn't support the World Wide connection anymore on the Wii. But, it is still fun to play against my kids, who can all still beat me.
2. Now we are going old school because Madalynn surprised me and chose this original Super Mario Game for the original NES! We were always way behind when it came to updating to the new game systems. We usually ended up getting them when they were about ready to come out with the next big thing. So, even though Madalynn is one of the younger siblings, she remembers playing this and how much fun it was back then. Getting Mario to land at the top of the pole at the end of a level was so exciting! The old system and the games are still available on Amazon!
3. Lindsey chose a game that we all loved. I almost picked this one as well, Dr. Mario! My kids are so good at this game, it is unreal. I could never beat them, but I kept trying! (I think I have mentioned in this post how competitive we tend to be about game playing.) When Lindsey was in college, some friends were having a tournament and "let" her play, warning her that they were all really good and she might not be able to keep up. Wrong thing to suggest to Lindsey. She wiped them all out. This game is really challenging, but there are tricks to it and you have to be quick. We would have big tournaments when everyone was home. I don't know if we ever chose a grand champion, but LIndsey and her older brother, Aaron were really competitive against each other and are contenders for the title!
4. Alicia chose in the same vein as Madalynn by picking Super Mario Bros, only for the Wii U. The graphics are so much better, of course, and the Wii U is so much fun! I feel like it hasn't taken off like it should have because having that little private screen really adds a new element to the games. Son Tyler and his wife Jessica have one and we have all enjoyed getting everyone together and playing on the Wii U. Plus, making your Mii on the Wii U is totally cool as well because you actually take a photo of yourself and the Wii uses that image to create your Mii from that. It is hilarious!
5. This week's guest Fave picker is Adrian Maruri, my son-in-law, and Alicia's husband. (He is the one that shared the delicious Ecuadorian Recipes here and here.) We had to invite Adrian because we don't know a better connoisseur of video games than he is. He especially loves the old school games and for his pick chose Super Nintendo's Mario Paint. Have you ever heard of Mario Paint? Many people haven't and Adrian says that more people need to be made aware of it. He played this game in his youth and let me tell you, I have seen him in action on it and it is pretty amazing. Not only can you design works of art on this game, but you can write music as well. I have seen Adrian design a tee-shirt design on it, plus he has written music that actually sounded good! Of course, he is an artist and a sound engineer. When I tried to make a line of music on it, it sounded like, well, like I had written it. Budding artists and musicians out there will really enjoy this game. Thanks Adrian for sharing your expertise with us!
What is your favorite Mario game? There are many more to choose from! Maybe you can celebrate Mario Day with a little family fun playing Mario together tonight! Dr. Mario or MarioKart tournaments are a blast! If it is still cold in your part of the world, Hot Cocoa Bombs turned on their sides look a lot like the bullets on Mario games. Just add an eyeball! They can add to the theme of your impromptu party! Sometimes these are the fun moments that everyone remembers later as some of the best family times. We always experience lots of laughter and excitement. Mario games are a fun and lighthearted ways to enjoy each other's company.
On another topic, many people ask me about how I went about starting a blog and how bloggers earn money. I am still working on the earning money part, but the two resources listed below have helped me tremendously to get as far as we have on our blog. Weebly makes it easy to start a blog, I recommend the Starter package to begin because then you can blog as often as you want. I have been really happy with their customer service. Share-a-sale is a way to team up with affiliate marketers whose products you like. They give all kinds of tips and ideas to new bloggers as well. So, if you have a desire to get your thoughts out there, these are two great resources.
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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