MMMMM The smell of ... chocolate... In the air?

Well, This week my kids were out of school a few days. It was parent teacher conference- which I may say, is always a bit awkward.
You know, you sit and listen to the teacher tell you all the things your kids need to work on and all the things they are doing well at. But I always feel like there isn't really enough time to get to the "real" stuff, such as "Is my child being bullied?" "How is there character when I'm not around?",
However, once again my kids have been blessed with great amazing teachers who work really hard and , come on, put up with them for over 8 hours a day for pennies!

One way I can help show my appreciation to these guys is cakes. In honor of fall, I took in a dark chocolate-pumpkin cake. It's a new flavor I am working to develop, and I hope it was as good as it smelled.
To top it off I made chocolate leaves- which is really simple.
First- Pick some leaves. Wash them, dry them really well.
Second- Melt chocolate (semi or white works best) slowly in the microwave or pan over boiling water. Don't overheat here!! Add in a bit of Crisco (like 1 tbsp per 13oz. of chocolate)
Third- Using a bush, paint the chocolate on the BACKSIDE of the leaves. Make sure it is really thick and all the way to the tips.
Fourth- Pop it into the freezer for only about 2 minutes.
Take them out and carefully and quickly pull off the leaf.
Viola!!! You have a lovely leave! Make sure to keep them covered if you don't use them right away.
In the picture above I painted them using my luster dusts and LOVE the way they turned out but they look cool being just plain too.