Super Mom Makes Candy Sushi!

This week was Super Mom week at the Moore home; with my hubby out of town; for the first time EVER without us... Andy and I were so lonely! But tonight he is BACK! Hooray!

I tried to keep busy, and keep Andy's mind off daddy...and I wanted to spoil him a bit. I asked him (age 32 mo.) what his favorite food was at the beginning of the week, and he actually requested sushi! I think it's because he knows that sushi is MY fave food... But he answered...
"sushi, like in the movies!"
"what movie Andy?", I mean has he been watching Japanese art films while I'm not looking?
"like Monstas INK!" (written phonetically for your enjoyment)

So OK... were gonna have sushi... I had all these big plans. Well you know how THAT goes... and before you scare me with your personal horror stories about toddlers and raw fish; lemme assure you... I would not give a child raw fish... at least raw fish I bought in Illinois; perhaps if we were on the coast... but an Illinois bred California or Unagi Roll never hurt anyone.

Tuesday afternoon I decided we were NOT going to drive the required 10 miles to aquire GOOD sushi... or sushi making supplies... so I improvised... a short trip to Jewel later we were ready to craft some kid friendly sushi.

Forgive the darkness of this picture; I have weird lights in my kitchen...

This is made just like regular sushi rolls... but instead of Rice we have Rice Krispy Treats, and instead of Salmon we use Swedish Fish (only the red ones... or orange perhaps). The "Nori" is made from fruit roll ups! I used a regular ole Bamboo Sushi Mat to assemble the Roll... but a placemat or just a piece of plastic wrap or waxed paper would work too... Here is an AWESOME tutorial on regular sushi roll assembly if you are interested.

The end results...

I think they turned out fabulous! The instruction on how to create the Nigiri style candy sushi's is probably self explanatory... just cut the Krispy Treats as usual and wrap a strip of the roll up around the rice/fish combo. Plus they taste pretty good... I ate a few and didn't die of sweetness.

The super cool pottery slab/tray was created my my Uncle Mike... a wonderful artist who you should check out.

Now I am off to teach a 2 year old how to use chopsticks... wish me luck!

I Heart Cupcakes!

I have started a new addiction... Cupcake Blogs. Just reading them makes me happy and fills my mental tummy. They seem to satisfy my love of cake and cute in one little hand-held bite. They have also enabled me to purchase the following items from Target.

I am in love with this new JUMBO line from Wilton... take a look at Wilton's site for the entire line of Jumbo Sprinkles... NEAT!

The sprinkles on the right are also by Wilton; but were made exclusively for Target. This entire line; paper plates, napkins... it's all amazing; really bright and colorful! Look for this exclusive line in the Easter section. The other stuff was from the kitchen section; Jumbo muffin tin, Jumbo cupcake liners and those nifty sprinkles.

Now on the subject of cupcake blogs; please visit these blogs on a full stomach! Be sure to tell 'em "Sarah and the Stampstars!" sent you!

Vanilla Garlic
All cupcakes, all the time
Cupcake Bakeshop
Cupcake Frenzy
52 Cupcakes
Vegan Cupcakes
Cupcaketastic
Couture Cupcakes
GiGi Cakes
Stepped in Cupcake Batter

Yum...Magnolia.
Originally uploaded by AnnecyEmily.

What? You say you don't bake??? Well that's ok... you can get yourself a dozen yummy cupcakes from some of the BEST cupcake shops in town... Lemme know your fave in the comments below! (yummy Magnolia Bakery Pic shared on Flickr by AnnecyEmily)




Albuquerque: Cake Fetish
Beverly Hills: Sprinkles
Chicago: Swirlz Cupcakes
Glasgow: Cupcake Cupcake
Houston: The Cookie Jar Bakery
LA: Suzie Cakes
New York: Magnolia Cupcakes
Seattle: Cupcake Royale
San Francisco: Citizen Cupcake
Singapore: The Cupcake Bakery
Sydney: My Little Cupcake
Vancouver: Cupcakes by Heather and Lori

My personal fave; be sure to get the yellow cake white butter cream frosting WITH sprinkles. Find this yummy bakery in Elk Grove, IL... they also make the prettiest vintage inspired cakes. Get 2 dozen... they freeze well!
Chicago Burbs: Jarosch Bakery

Make this Duck!

Felt Duckie
Originally uploaded by IamSusie.

If you are local... Chicago/NW burbs.... you SHOULD join the Chicagoland Craft Collective! We will be making this ADORABLE felt duckie next Month (March 22nd).

You can Visit the Chicagoland Craft Collective at Meetup.com and check us out... we are a diverse group of women (and hey men are welcome... we don't bite). We have been meeting in Schaumburg, IL. The members take turns offering a craft for the group to make. We always bring Crafts to share and we leave feeling inspired!

This adorable duckie was made by my CCC friend Susie Z. You can see all her work... and some of the cool crafty swaps she's received HERE. She is what I call a "supercrafter"... everything she makes is just dripping with adorable!

Look Ma! No Stamps!

If you are like me you have a BIG jar of miscellaneous buttons sitting around. I have actually MOVED with buttons; extras sewn onto dress tags, buttons that fall off a shirt I later give to charity rather than mend... and buttons that just appear seemingly from nowhere! Who the heck is leaving these buttons all over my house? Button Pixies???

Well some of them are just so pretty... so I made them into a button bracelet! I used Stampin' Up Linen Thread to string it up... and it's surprisingly quite sturdy. I have worn this bracelet several times already and I love how the thread gets a bit more frayed and worn each time I wear it. It was quick and simple to make too.


If I didn't just get a HUGE stamp order I would have more time to make other crafts like these! I also have some projects I am working on for www.sideshowstamps.com. They have some amazingly quirky stuff; and I am making some VERY special things to show off to all of you retro lovers. I am going to start to switch things up a bit more here at Sarah and the Stampstars... more of what I love to create and less of what I think my customers and readers want to see... I hope you all stick with me! I truly LOVE blogging for you all... I am just feeling a need to create more for me and the love of creation; not just the love of Stampin' Up!... you follow?

I also want to welcome the newest member of the Stampstars team; Creative Katie! She is a total stamp addict who lost her "dealer" and decided she would rather be a pusher than a junkie! She OFFICIALLY became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator on Wednesday, and she is so excited! Be sure to visit her blog Katemade Designs and say howdy and welcome to SU! I am so happy to have her on my team and look forward to getting to know her better!

Oh and another bit of unrelated info... several of you asked me who WON the Googley eye challenge... You can see the winners HERE. They're ok I guess... not as cute as my little tomato trapped in a box... the tomato is still "alive" by the way; I am letting him age so I can get an "old man tomato" picture of him... stay tuned!

Well I better get to bed; it's 2:00 AM here. The sky is an odd color of pink and it's windy "as all get out" here in Elgin, IL. If I had a hatch to "batten down" I would batten it... whatever that means. Off to lie in bed and watch the Weather Channel.

Help! They plan to make me into salsa!

Bloggers Needed!

Hey bloggers! Craft Critique needs your help! We are hosting a blog carnival next week on Paper Punches; and we need your posts! If you have anything cool on your blog regarding punches; tips and tricks, projects or reviews we want to know about it! You can also write something about paper punches this week and submit it to us! If you are NOT a blogger, but a blog lover, you can still submit your fave posts to us!

Visit Craft Critique and take a look at the sidebar for more details... and dates. I hope some of you will play!


Totally OFF TOPIC...

I forgot to share these pictures with you... I created them for a contest I participated in a while back (which by the way I did not win). Amy Sedaris, who is a laugh riot, hosted this cool and weird contest where she asked her fans to stick googley eyes on food and photograph it. HERE are my submissions. And HERE is the Flickr group set... all so cute, weird and funny! Enjoy!