Cupcake Birthday Bash Part 2 of 4: Action Shots

Here are some fun action shots from the cupcake party. I can't believe the kids did such a great job decorating their cupcakes. They were all very serious about what they were doing and made sure they kept the icing on their cupcakes. I fully expected them to decorate each other and everything around them. It was a blast. Even some of the adults got into the spirit of decorating.

The birthday girl. What a pose.

Doesn't that look like fun? How about those stylish aprons everyone is wearing? Stay tuned tomorrow for part 3...aprons. I'll post some better shots of the aprons as well as pattern information.

Cupcake Birthday Bash Part 1of 4: The Basics

Saturday's birthday party for my neice went extremely well. Almost everything was done in time, the kids had a great time and it wasn't a huge disasterous mess. I'm breaking this up into 4 posts to keep this from becoming too long to read at one time. (plus I want to make sure the birthday girl's family has a post with just party shots) This time I'll just post some of the party basics because I can't get over how cute a cupcake party is. If you have the time you could really create some great things.

There were a few projects I wanted to make but simply ran out of time. The old me would have stayed up all night the night before and worked frantically all day to get everything completed. I would have been tired, stressed out and wouldn't have enjoyed the party at all. That's how I know I've learned to relax some. I prioritized the to do list so I would start with the most important things, completed as much as I could and when I ran out of time I stopped and was fine with it. I even took an afternoon break before the party had lunch and relaxed. It was quite a new experience for me and I loved it. I got the kids started on the cupcakes and just sat back and watched all the fun.

I made 3 dozen cupcakes, nothing fancy just chocolate and white cake mixes. In fact, I only even decorated less than a dozen. I only did those to give the adults the option of eating some that didn't have little hands all over them. I did make the buttercream frosting from scratch though. It just tastes so much better to me and its easy, even if it is a little messy.

Just before bed the night before I saw this post about printing your own cupcake flags. Of course my printer is awol so I had to pull out some scrapbook paper and whip these up. They aren't the best version but it added something else for them to play with. (see opening picture)

Since throwing the party was a last minute decision (she was out of state on her birthday) I didn't have time to make and mail invitations. Instead I took the invitation idea and turned it into her birthday card. I found the cupcake patterned paper at Hobby Lobby and just freehanded the cupcake out of cardstock I had at home. I think it turned out pretty cute.


I even managed to find cupcake liners with little cupcakes on them. I couldn't resist! Another Hobby Lobby find.

Here's a close up shot of the decorating table. (I can't believe I forgot a picture of the entire room) It's actually my coffee table. I just pulled it into the middle of the living room and put everything there. It was just the right height for the kids to sit at and worked out great. I used pink plates and napkins since that is the birthday girl's favorite color. I split the two batches of frosting and made five different colors for them to use. (there is also a yellow one which isn't pictured) I put them into disposeable piping bags with a different type of decorating tip in each one. I used disposeable because the idea of washing out 5 messy bags was enough to give me a headache! There are a couple things I didn't get in the picture. Each of their cups has a name tag on it that I made out of scrapbook paper (which matched the flags) and I also decorated the table with large sprinkles instead of confetti.

Like I said, there are a lot of other things I would have made if time had allowed. One thing that a lot of people do is make the cupcake shaped cake using a pan like this or this. It's really very cute but unfortunately I don't have one of those pans yet and wanted to just use things I have on hand to keep the cost down and use up some of my supplies. I also wanted to make a fabric banner like this one or this one (or at least one out of cardstock) but that was one of the projects that didn't make the final cut. I'll definitely be keeping it in mind for future parties though. I also had the idea of doing pin the cherry on the cupcake (like pin the tail on the donkey) by making a giant cupcake out of poster board. I think that would be a cute party game. There are tons of other ideas out there if you do a search on cupcake party ideas. With a little planning (and more than 4 days to do it all) you could make an awesome cupcake themed party. Stay tuned for Part 2...Action shots from the party!

Happy Anniversary Nana & Papa

Today my inlaws are celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary. Well maybe not celebrating but it is their anniversary. I guess by the time you've been married over 40 years you're ready to have a low key anniversary. They've mentioned plans of maybe going to eat lunch together, maybe. They're so funny.

Tomorrow or maybe later today I'll post all the pictures from yesterday's birthday party. It was a huge success and not as big of a mess as I had predicted. Woo Hoo!

Can I sleep yet?

I’ve spent the last couple days working on getting everything ready for my niece’s birthday party that we are hosting this Saturday. Nothing like a last minute decision to throw a birthday party. And you know I can't just get by with the basics or make a run to the party store to get supplies. Nope I have to jump in head first and decide to make everything. Did I mention I was tired? It will be worth it tomorrow though.

We had to take a brief break today from all the sewing (I thought my head was going to explode) and we made some paper lanterns for decorations. They really are cute and took no time at all to make. It was nice to do a little crafting together and just relax.

First pick out the colored paper you want to use. The paper I used is a lightweight cardstock which I thought would help them stand up to a bit more wear and tear. It would work great with construction paper too. Just fold your paper in half lenthwise. (or hot dog style if you were taught that way) Make sure you get a good crease.


I used my Fiskars Paper Trimmer to cut the slits in mine. You could use scissors too but I just love this little thing because I can not cut a straight line. Plus the ruler helped me keep my cuts approximately the same distance from the edge. I cut mine leaving about one inch on the top and bottom to make sure they wouldn't tear.


After you are finished your paper should look something like this. As you can see we aren't stuck on perfection around here and our cuts are not evenly spaced. It still looks fine in the finished product.

Then you just glue the ends together. You could use tape or staples too. I just used an Elmer's glue stick since that's what we had on hand.

Now you just need to make a dozen or so more and decorate your house with them. I plan on placing some in the window sill and then hanging some from either the ceiling or the ceiling fan.

Imagine My Surprise at the Naked Ladies

...Standing proudly in my front lawn!



Had you going there for a minute didn’t I? No? Oh well, I tried. I certainly was surprised to see these lovely ladies popping up this past week. I had no idea we even had them here until the Sweet Pea spotted them out the window the other morning. I told her they were called Naked Ladies and she immediately began prancing around the house yelling “Nakie, Nakie”. At least someone else around here is enthusiastic about the gardens.

Speaking of the gardens, please forgive my sad excuse for a flower bed in the background of this picture. I know they are pitiful looking. I promise to clean them out and remodel them before next spring. I have great plans for the various garden spaces around the yard. I have visions of strawberries, tulips, mulch and butterfly gardens. It will be spectacular. Well they will be better than this anyway.

Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies with Recipe

As promised I have brought you the picture of the yummy Strawberry Shortbread Cookies I made this weekend. Don't they look tasty? They really are good, they're almost too sweet though. You could definitely make them without the jam and they would still be great. Especially if you don't want something really sweet. They are pretty simple to make too. Have you noticed that is a theme with me here lately? Can't beat tasty and easy too.

I'm not sure where I came across this recipe, some magazine somewhere. I always tear the pages I want out of my magazines so I don't have a huge pile of magazines hanging around but I never label the pages. I'm going to have to get better about that. I'm thinking they were from a holiday baking edition from a few years ago though. I'll have to do some research and see if I can find them.

I don't have any pictures of the cookies in progress because I was rushing around to get everything made and out the door in time. You don't need them though, they are easy enough to do without them. (Have I mentioned enough times how easy they are?)

Ingredients for Cookie:

1 Cup butter or margarine

2/3 Cup sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 Cups all purpose flour

1/2 Cup raspberry jam

On this last ingredient I cheated and used strawberry butter I made a few weeks back because I already had it on hand. You could use any flavor you prefer. I've made it with raspberry before and it was good. I think it would be wonderful with blueberry too. I'll have to try that next.

Combine butter, sugar and almond extract in large bowl. I used my mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping the bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low and add flour. Beat until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate until firm. Here it says at least one hour. You can easily make the dough the night before and just refrigerate it until you need it. That's what I usually do.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 1" balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Make indentation in center of each cookie with your thumb (hence the title) and fill each indentation with approximately 1/4 tsp of your chosen jam. Don't overfill with jam or it will melt out all over your pan. Yes this is experience talking here.

Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute then remove from cookie sheets and place on cooling racks. Mine barely took 14 minutes to cook so watch them carefully until you figure out how long your oven takes to cook them. You don't want to overcook them.

Meanwhile make your Glaze.

Ingredients:

1 Cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

2 to 3 tsp water

Combine powdered sugar and almond extract in a small bowl. Add enough water to reach desired glazing consistency. Drizzle over cooled cookies. I didn't need to add the full amount of water to mine so just add a little at a time.

The recipe says it makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies. Of course this depends on how closely you can get all your balls to 1". Mine are rarely even. My grandmother uses a small ice cream type scoop to make hers uniform. It works really well.

Fix yourself a nice glass of cold milk or iced tea and enjoy!

Splish, Splash...

No we're not taking a bath, we went swimming today. Well hubby and the Sweet Pea did anyway. Someone had to say out and work the camera. The hubby's aunt had a family lunch at her house today so everyone got to hang out, eat lots of food and swim. It was a really nice day for it, nice and warm but not extremely hot.

It took a while for the Sweet Pea to warm up to the idea of getting in a big pool, probably because the water was freezing cold (so I was told). We put her life jacket on and she got in with her daddy and lasted all of about 15 seconds before she was crying for me and trying to climb out. She sat in my lap on the edge of the pool for a while, then she finally dipped her toes in the water and sat there like that for about 1o minutes. Then she scooted over at sat by herself on the edge of the deck with her feet in the water, kicking and splashing at everyone that swam by.

Then she started to get brave and sat on the top step of the pool ladder for a while and finally she actually got in. Once she got in and started to splash and play with the other kids we couldn't get her out! She had a blast. Although she got a little too brave when she saw the bigger kids climbing up the ladder and jumping back into the pool; you know she had to do it too. It didn't take her long to find out that was FUN and she would jump but no sooner than she touched the water she'd start yelling "again" and out she came just to do it all over again. We'll have to make at least a weekly trip out to go swimming, it was so fun to watch her.

And take a look at these cuties. They are two of the Sweet Pea's cousins and often her partners in crime. They had a great time in the pool since they have both started to learn to swim this summer. They were so excited because they ended up having matching bathing suits.

I of course was volunteered to make the desserts. That sounds bad, I have a standing offer to make desserts for all family functions and they always take me up on it. I enjoy making them and they enjoy eating them so everyone wins. I made some yummy shortbread thumbprint cookies with my homemade strawberry butter in them. I'll post a picture and recipe tomorrow for them. They are so good. I also made a to die for chocolate sheath cake that was gone in no time at all. Thank goodness it was because I know I couldn't have resisted having it here at home, I'm a sucker for that cake. That wouldn't be good to have around since we are officially on a weight loss program here at our house starting this month. Which is great timing since I just made all those sweets, we're throwing our neice a cupcake themed birthday party next weekend and my Inlaws' wedding anniversary is this month too. Figures huh? But now that I told you all about it you can hold me accountable, I have to get serious.