How to Make a Treasure Candle

One of my favorite candles I liked to make are called Treasure candles. Treasure candles are really neat because they have little treasures you find when you burn the candle. It's a great gift for a friend. You can even have special meanings for the items to personalize it. You can create a key so they know what it means after they find each trinket. You could use it to give a bigger gift like a car or a ring. You could even hide a gender announcement or ask someone to marry you. Just find some small metal letters to spell out the letters.

Treasure candles
Candle holder
Wick
Wax. I like granulated wax because it melts faster. You could recycle old wax if you wanted to.
A big can
A big pot
A few small metal trinkets. Make sure they aren't plastic or they will melt.

Melt the wax in the can over boiling water. Be careful not to let the can fall over or allow water in the can.

Prep the candle holder with a wick and wrap the wick around the pencil at the opening of the mold. I like wax coated wicks for this. It helps it stay in place better.

Pour a layer of wax in the holder and let cool. Place a trinket on the layer and then pour the next layer on and repeat until to you get to the top of the candle. Trim the wick and you have your very own treasure candle.

Be very careful when handling the wax and the trinkets after burning. They will be hot.

Easy and delicious Stuffed Shells Recipe

 

I love Italian food in all shapes and sizes. I love the cheese and the sauce. Parmesan is my favorite cheese. I also love garlic. It's one of my favorite things. There is no such thing as too much garlic in my opinion. However, it does need to always be fresh. The only time I use garlic powder is when I make Chex mix. Fresh garlic is always the best. 

One of the recipes I like to make is stuffed shells. I don't make it as often as I like because it makes a lot of food. I am not even sure how long I had the box of jumbo shells in my pantry, the date was still good. It just sounded so good. So I made it before Noah and I watched The Wizard of OZ. It was his first time. I'm surprised I was able to convince him to watch it. 

I wanted to share my super simple stuffed shells recipe. Try saying that five times fast. 

You will need:
19 jumbo shells (cook extra incase they break)
15 ounces of Ricotta Cheese
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan 
5 cloves of very minced garlic (I use the Nextrend Garlic twist to mince it)
Spaghetti sauce (I use Hunts in a can) 
1 cup  shredded Mozzarella 
A few sprinkles of Italian seasoning 

Cook the shells in boiling water for 8 minutes. Let drain and cool. 

In a bowl mix the ricotta, Parmesan, garlic together. Sprinkle in a little bit of Italian seasoning. Be sure not to go overboard. 

Coat the bottom of your 13x9 pan lightly with sauce. 

Stuff a spoon full of the mixture in the shell. Place in the pan.

Pour over the remaining sauce. 

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. 

Sprinkle Mozzarella on  top and return to the oven for 5 minutes. 

Enjoy!

The garlic is such an important part of it. The garlic really comes through beautifully. It really gives it a lot of flavor. It's such an easy and fun recipe to make with your family. Many stuffed shell recipes call for egg but I don't use it. 

I am really looking forward to dinner tomorrow.

How to make simple bookmarks with things around your house

I love being crafty. Years ago, I was going to a blogging conference and I didn't have business cards. I know I know, bad Sheilacakes. I decided instead of printing business cards, I wanted to be different. I had started making bookmarks randomly. I had purchased a bookmark making kit on clearance and decided to try it. I made bookmarks in the past for my mom and her friends. It was just something fun to do before I started blogging. I quickly went through the materials in the kit. I wanted to make more. Honestly, all I used was the cardboard base. I purposely kept a bare cardboard base and started making my own out of random pieces of cardboard and cereal boxes. Making bookmarks is easy and fun.

How to make beautiful bookmarks:

Cardboard from a cereal box or any other thin cardboard.

Patterned Paper If you don't have patterned paper you can stamp or draw on them

Solid colored paper

Hole punch

Double sided tape

Different flat embellishments like shaped paper shapes, stamps or stickers

Cut bookmark shaped pieces of cardboard. You can use any bookmark you might have around the house.
Repeat the shape with the patterned paper and solid color paper

Using double sided tape tape the patterned paper and solid colored paper on different sides

Embellish any way you would like

Punch a hole towards the top of the bookmark and tie ribbon on it. 

There you have a simple handmade bookmark made with love.