It's Party Time!

Hello, hello, welcome. Come on in, grab a drink, have a bite to eat. Today we are celebrating the official "launch" of my new blog design.

Take a look around, what do you think? Personally, I think this new blog design screams "Candid Karina" and I couldn't be happier. I owe it all to my blog buddy "lissa", who has just launched "Just Design Blogs". She offered the redesign as a means for her to practice launching her design blog, how could I refuse? I sent her a few ideas, some color choices, and some photos, and she created what you see here today. How fabulous is she?

And all this she did with no request for payment, except that we promise to pay it forward.

So, I decided that a Launch Party was in order. Before we go any further, won't you have some ice cream cake? What's that? Oh right, the recipe. Certainly.

Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream "Cake"

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fudge ice cream topping, warmed (as you can see above, I use Hershey's syrup instead and it works just fine)

1 tub (8 oz.) cool whip whipped topping, thawed, divided (I used chocolate flavored cool whip this time)

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

8 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

Prep time: 10 minutes - Total time: 4 hours 10 Mins. (including freezing).

Pour the fudge topping into a medium bowl. Stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping with a wire whisk until it's well blended. Add in the dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. The consistency of fudge topping ca vary depending on what brand you purchase. If your fudge topping mixture is too thick to spread easily, stir in 1/2 cup milk.

Chop the Oreo cookies roughly into chunks. (I just break them with my hands over the bowl into random sized bits). Stir them into the pudding mixture.

Arrange 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side by side, on a 24x12-inch piece of foil; top with half of the pudding mixture. Repeat the layers.

Top the pudding mixture with the remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. The layers create a neat striped effect when sliced.

Frost the top and sides with the remaining whipped topping, it doesn't have to look perfect.

Bring up the foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal the packet. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before serving.

Makes 12 servings. Enjoy!

And there you have it. Easy and tasty ice cream cake.

But, what's a party without party gifts? I'm paying it forward by giving a few little things away.

Here are the prizes: A cute little stuffed teddy (about 6 inches high):

DVD of the movie "Labyrinth" (still in plastic wrap):

Special Collector's Edition DVD of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Still in plastic wrap):And few consolation prizes:

Three different winners will win a set of "ear buds":And one more will win this fun little Colby "earpiece" to use with your cell phone.

Yes, I know, it's a random mix of things, but I wanted to give away more than one prize, so I dug around and found all these fun little bits and pieces.

So, how do you win? That's easy, just leave me a comment telling me what you think of the new design. You can also tell me which prize you'd rather win...I will see what I can do about you getting your choice.

Okay, that's it, I'll let you mingle and converse amongst yourselves...I have to get to my second day at my new job anyway. Come on back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about how my first two days have been.