Sweet Treat for Your Blog: Bunting Banner

Today I have a sweet treat to share, but it isn't something to eat! I am sharing a tutorial for a bunting banner for the blog. You may have noticed some new features on my blog. I gave my blog a semi-makeover including a bunting heading and new buttons.

New features for my blog

This bunting adds a creative touch that helps to personalize your blog! I created it easily using free software. It was a detailed process, but simple to do.

I started the banner by creating a 750x112 sized collage in PicMonkey. I needed six pennants, so I created six photo squares and filled them with various PicMonkey swatches.

I saved the collage and re-opened it in the photo tool of PicMonkey to edit the file. I then created triangle overlays in a light neutral color (same as the background of my blog posts). I centered each triangle at the seam between the boxes. 

I continued creating triangles that I centered at each seam. I finished it by creating triangles for both ends of the banner. These triangles help form the pennants for the bunting. 

After creating the pennants using the triangles, I cropped the picture down to have the points of the pennant at the button of the picture.

To finish the bunting, I created a long, thin rectangle out of a deep maroon color. This is to serve as sort of the rope for the pennants.

I then created text blocks and labeled each pennant with the various labels for the sites that I wanted shortcuts for. The bunting is going to have links to my home page, recipe list, tutorial list, link parties list, advertising page, and the contact me page. I centered text files on each pennant.

I saved the picture to my desktop as the highest quality file. I then used an online image mapping tool, Image Map, to create links for each pennant. I wanted to be able to click on each pennant and send it to the specific website it correlates to.

The Image Map website is really easy to use, you just have to follow a few steps. First, I uploaded the picture file and then clicked on "Start Mapping Your Image."

Once the file has finished uploading, click on "Continue to Next Step" to start editing.

I created rectangle sections that dictate the area you can click in to go to a certain website. Once you define the section to click on, you enter the name you want it to be called, and the website it is to be directed to.

Finally, click on "Get Your Code" and copy the html code for your photo. Add your code to a script in the layout section for your blog. Update your code and save the changes.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial! This adorable pennant bunting creates a personalized touch for your blog.

Don't forget to follow my blog, or follow me on social media, to get all my updates!

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip cookies

Summer is almost here and nothing says summer like strawberries! I love when strawberries are in season, they are cheaper and much more flavorful. Strawberries are perfect for a light sweet treat on a hot summer day. I will garnish them on angel food cake, or even just eat them dusted with a little sugar. Today's recipe is a light, simple, and flavor packed treat perfect for summer. I have some friends who are more than willing to try out my baking experiments, and they really enjoyed these cookies!

I've made quite a few cookies on this blog, and several have had white chocolate chips in them. In fact, this will be my third white chocolate chip cookie, including - banana white chocolate chip cookies and red velvet white chocolate chip cookies. I was trying to think of a delicious summer cookie, and instantly thought of strawberries. I have always loved strawberries, especially the combination of white chocolate and strawberry. You may recall my white chocolate covered strawberry cake I made for Valentine's Day. This combination is just as tasty in cookie form, as in cake form! 

These cookies are easy to make, you just start with a cake mix base. I got around 20 cookies out of the batter. I went with a similar recipe as my red velvet cookies. I decided to use only the egg whites, though, to help keep the vivid pink color of the cookies. When I made the strawberry cake, I started with the same strawberry cake mix and used egg whites only. You could use the whole egg if you don't want to separate, but they came out great with just the egg whites.

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip cookie ingredients (yields approximately 20):

• 1 box strawberry cake mix (Pillsbury was the only brand that had strawberry in my local grocery store)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip cookie instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Separate 2 large eggs and keep the egg whites
• Whisk together the cake mix, egg whites, and oil

•  Fold in the white chocolate chips

• Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper
• Create tablespoon size balls of dough and place on the parchment paper

• Using a spatula, slightly flatten cookies
• Bake 8-10 mins
• Cool

Don't forget my Sweet Tooth Tuesday party, it is still going on! Come on over and link up your recipes, crafts, DIY projects, and anything YOU made. Each week I will feature some of my favorite projects on my blog and various social media sites.

Sweet Tooth Tuesdays #2

Welcome to week 2 of Sweet Tooth Tuesdays! I was thrilled with the first party last week, we had almost 40 posts linked up. Let's see if we can beat that this week. 

First up, I want to share a few of my favorite link-ups from last week. All the ideas were amazing, but here are some of the extra special projects and recipes that were found on the party.

Strawberry Julius from Busy Mom's Helper

Ho Ho Layer Cake from Tastes of Lizzy T

Dry Erase Board Desk from If It's Not Baroque

Terra Cotta Pot S'mores from My World - Made By Hand

If you were featured, make sure and get a button to display on your site.

<a href="http://sarahlynnssweets.blogspot.com/search/label/sweettoothtuesdays" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5442/8750299087_99bbb99e6d_q.jpg" alt="Sweet Tooth Tuesdays" width="150" height="150" /></a>

Please make sure and follow me to get updates and see who is featured! Each week I will share features on my social media sites (Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook). These features will also be displayed in the following week's party.

Here's a quick way to follow me on my social media sites:

Follow @sarahlynn630
Sarah Lynn's Sweets

Again this week, I have Shauna a co-host. Please welcome Shauna from Barefoot and Loving It.

Check out her blog for posts on parenting, baking, crafting, reviews, and more! We'd appreciate you following her as well. Here's a couple quick ways to follow Barefoot and Loving It:

Shauna Follow @purplegyrl31

Link up and have fun checking out the other projects!

Surprise Recipe Swap #2

It's the 20th of the month, so it's time for another Surprise Recipe Swap post. This is my second month participating in the group. As a member, I'm given a blog each month to check out and replicate one of their recipes. Each month (on the 20th) we all post and reveal who are secret blog partner is. 

This month I was assigned to the blog, Earning My Cape. The blog is full of recipes, yarn projects, home schooling tips, travel info, and blog tools. I loved reading through her posts and recipes. There were so many delicious recipes, it was hard to choose which one to go with. I went back and forth between various savory and sweet dishes. I really liked that she also had some recipes for reusing leftovers! But, I finally decided to stick with sweet.

For the longest time, I was convinced I didn't like lemon flavored desserts. I'm not sure why, but I would always pass up anything lemon. Then one day a few years ago I tried a piece of lemon cream pie and loved it! I realized I'd been missing out by ignoring lemon desserts. (You may recall I shared a lemon cupcake recipe on my first blog anniversary.) So, when I was choosing a sweet treat from Earning My Cape, I decided to go with her lemon square recipe!

 

These lemon squares are amazing! You definitely need to check out her blog and all her delicious recipes. You can find the original recipe here.

Lemon Squares ingredients:

Crust

• 3/4 butter (softened)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar

Filling

• 5 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbs lemon juice
• Zest of one lemon

Lemon Squares instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Mix together butter, flour, and sugar with a fork

• Press crust into 9x13 in pan

• Bake for 15-20 mins
• Zest one lemon

• While baking, combine eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat until well combined
• Pour batter over crust

• Bake for around 20 mins and cool
• Dust with powdered sugar if you want 

If you are a food blogger and would like to learn more about joining this group, check out more info here.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow as I have my second Sweet Tooth Tuesday party happening. I was thrilled that we had almost 40 entries for the first party last week! There were so many great ideas shared, you will definitely want to check out which ones were featured. As always, make sure and follow my blog, or follow me on social media, to get the latest updates and posts.

Daisy and Pony Cake

Today I'm sharing my latest cake I made for a family friend's granddaughter. The little girl's name is Daisy, so I did a daisy and My Little Pony themed cake. I love that My Little Pony is becoming popular again. I used to play with them when I was little. The fondant work is simple, but makes a big statement.

Besides the fondant, I purchased a My Little Pony toy. I actually found it at a discount store, and the toy came with a little cake, which was perfect! 

Here's how I put this cake together:

• Bake and cool a cake
• Ice the cake and smooth it
• Roll fondant to around 1/16 in
• Cut out a flower using the daisy cutter (since this cutter is more dull, I rolled the cutter on the backside to get a cleaner cut)

• Dye fondant yellow
• Roll out a small ball of yellow fondant and attach to the daisy using gum glue (pieces of fondant dissolved in water)

• Dry Daisies in mini cupcake pans to get the 3D curved look
• Create a round platform out of white fondant and make indentation where the pony and cake go
• Decorate the platform with pink polkadots

• Cut out letters of name using small alphabet cutters
• Decorate letters with yellow polka dots
• Place daisies, letters, and platform on cake

Hope you enjoy this cake! Don't forget to check next Tuesday to see the highlights from my first Sweet Tooth Tuesdays, and link up to this week's party. Don't forget to follow my blog, or follow me on social media, to get updates.

Crockpot Caramel Banana Cake

Before I get to the delicious (and simple) recipe, I want to remind you about my link party, Sweet Tooth Tuesdays. It is still going on, so make sure and link up your recipes, DIY projects, crafts, and tutorials of anything you made!

Anyone that has read more than a couple of my posts probably knows a few things about me:

• I clearly have a sweet tooth.
• I love white chocolate.
• Food Network is pretty much the only TV I watch.
• Bobby Flay and Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) are pretty fantastic in my book.
• I make a lot of recipes that include bananas.

I've always liked bananas, but I've found myself using them more and more in baking. They are just such a great compliment to so many sweet flavors! Bananas and ice cream, bananas and caramel, bananas and peanut butter, bananas and white chocolate, the list goes on and on. The proof is definitely in the number of posts I have on the scrumptious fruit. My collection of banana posts is currently at eight. That is the most used ingredient other than chocolate, or the basic baking ingredients.

Today's recipe, much like the Pi Day post, features the winning combination of caramel and banana in the form of a delicious cake. What's better than a caramel banana cake, you ask? Well, how about a quick and easy caramel banana cake done in the crock pot!

This recipe is so simple and can be put in a crock pot and then left alone for a couple hours.

Caramel Banana Upside Down Crock Pot Cake ingredients:

• 3-4 ripe bananas
• 1 stick butter 
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 box white cake mix
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 cup water
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
• Optional - 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger (I left these out of recipe, but they were included in original recipe)

Caramel Banana Upside Down Crock Pot Cake instructions:

• Turn on crock pot to high
• Line the crock pot with melted butter

• Line crock pot with foil
• Brush foil with butter

• Cut stick of butter into thin slices
• Line the foil with the slices of butter

• Sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the butter

• Slice bananas into 1/8 in slice pieces
• Cover the brown sugar with slices of bananas

• Prepare cake mix per directions
• Mix in cinnamon (optional - nutmeg, ginger)
• Place batter on top of bananas

• Top the crock pot with double layer of paper towels and foil (the paper towel will absorb moisture to keep it from being too moist
• Close with the lid

• Cook for around 2-2.5 hours (sides will be brown and the top of the cake will bounce back up when you touch it)
• Pull out the foil and let cool for 30 mins
• Flip over and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy this simple and delicious cake! Don't forget to follow me and check out my link party!

Sweet Tooth Tuesdays

I'm very excited to be hosting the first ever Sweet Tooth Tuesdays! Have some fun and link up your sweet treat recipe, or anything that you have created (DIY, crafts, sewing, recipes, etc). I can't wait to check out all the creative projects. Feel free to share my link party with others, you will find my Sweet Tooth Tuesday button in my sidebar.

Please make sure and follow me to get updates and see who is featured! Each week I will share features on my social media sites (Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook) over the weekend once the party has ended. These features will also be displayed in the following week's party.

Here's a quick way to follow me on my social media sites:

Follow @sarahlynn630
Sarah Lynn's Sweets

I'm excited I also have a co-host for the party! Please welcome Shauna from Barefoot and Loving It.

Check out her blog for posts on parenting, baking, crafting, reviews, and more! We'd appreciate you following her as well. Here's a couple quick ways to follow Barefoot and Loving It:

Shauna

Link up and have fun checking out the other projects!