S'mores Cupcakes

I was in charge of making some yummy cupcakes for the Treasure Trade and I chose to make some S'mores Cupcakes and they were absolutely delectable! I found the recipe on yourcupofcake.com. I definately recommend them to anyone and everyone! YUM!!! There are graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the cupcake cups as well as in the frosting and a creamy marshmallow filling! Oh my goodness, I'm in LOVE!

Try them out today!!

Cali's 5th Birthday- A Mermaid Party!

Cali chose a Mermaid theme for her birthday this year! She has also fallen in love with the color turquise, so I thought it was perfect!

I designed this invitation for her mermaid party and sent them around to her friends and then changed the time to 7:00 and gave those to family. Yes, we did 2 parties in one day! Alot of work, but at least I didn't have to decorate twice, and yes I would!!

 

The cake alone was quite the adventure! I have never done a cake before, let alone used fondant! I know, I'm crazy! Needless to say it took me an entire day and into the evening to make this masterpiece! I found the inspiration from bubblynaturecreations.com and the tutorial from bubbleandsweet.blogspot.com. I made the ruffles out of fondant and yes, I colored each layer separately so it got darker as it went down. What a pain! Haha! The topping is graham cracker I put through my food processor. I got the pearls (white sixlets) from Zurchers and Cali and I made the chocolate seashells with a candy mold. She loved helping out!

 The inside was also colored turquise! And it tasted so good too!

 The goodie table

 Cali and I made some Mermaid posters and fishies to hang all over

 I made chocolate cupcakes with a turquise buttercream frosting topped with our candy seashells we made :) YUM!

 I made the kids Cali's favorite, PB&J shaped like fishies! And of course Cali's favorite snack to go with it, GOLDFISH!

 I also made a blue jello fishbowl with sweedish fish swimming around in it! Didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but it was still fun!

 I LOOOve Candy! A party isn't a party witout CANDY! We have blue gumballs, turquise jelly bellys, and turquise and white sixlets!

 We made some seaweed with streamers and bubbles with opaly-white balloons

 The kids jumping in the fishbowl tramp

 and fishing in the pool!

 I also made Cali a fishtail mermaid tutu skirt with toole

 Blowing out the candles!

 Happy 5th Birthday, LOVE!

Colin's Party

Colin's Thomas the Train Birthday Party!

Here is the goodie table full of yummy treats! It has the cake, cupcakes, Sweedish fish, blue and red gumballs, M&Ms, licorice, and taffy! All of Colin's favorites! I used a white tablecloth on top, so as not to drown out all the bright colors, with a blue tablecloth around the bottom. I also added some balloons around the edges to make it more playful

Here is the candy! On the left, I used a Blue bucket with white polka dots to fill with licorice, Colin's favorite. In the middle, there is a glass jar that I glued onto a candlestick, filled with sweedish fish, and added a blue bow with toole. On the right, I jsut used a plain old jar from Tai Pan and filled with blue gumballs and added a bow with blue ribbon with white polka dots. YUM!

 So, for the candy on this side, I did some of the same things as the other. On the right, I used another bucket to hold taffy, the jar in the middle is also glued onto a candlestick with a rafia bow, and the left jar is just a fun jar I found with a light blue lid that I used to hold the York Pieces to add some more blue to the candy

 Here is my cupcake stand with all the yummy cupcakes on it :)

 I made chocolate cupcakes this time with flufffy white frosting (From my Better Homes and Gardens red checker cookbook). I added some extra almond extract to the frosting to give it an extra yummy flavor as well as blue food coloring and sprinkles. For the topper, I found a cute Thomas picture on the internet and shrunk it waay down and cut them out. I used one on the front and one on the back and glued them together with a toothpick in the middle

 I found this glass dome at DI a while back and decided to make it into a cake stand. I also found the glass vase and plate at DI and glued them together. I think it looks super cute with the glass dome, especially after I added a blue dotted ribbon on top!

 I would love to say I made the cake, but I would be lying....I badly need to take a cake decorating class. I definately lack in those skills. BUT I did find this amazing cake lady who made this not only super cute, but yummy cake. She did out of a butter cream frosting and smoothed it out like fondant. She put it on a larger board and made the track go around the outside on the bottom. The very best part is the tunnel on the side! She dug it out a little and made the track come out of it as a place for Thomas to sit. Colin absolutely loved the tunnel! Soo Cute!

 I found this idea on Pinterest! It is just my vegetable cans covered in scrapbook paper for utensil holders! So cute and practical and costs almost nothing! Find it here

 Another Pinterest idea! I talked Paul into making this track with electrical tape for Colin to scoot on with Thomas the train! All the kids loved it! Find it at maddycakesmuse.blogspot.com

 I found these cute lanterns at Hobby Lobby and just love them! So cute!

 Last, but not least, comes the ballon streamers! My favorite new idea! You just blow up the balloons and use a needle and thread to make them into a garland to hang! It was a pretty breezy day, and they didn't go anywhere! Great idea if you don't want to go get all your balloons filled at the store!! Find it at agirlandaboy.com

 I had so much fun with Colin's birthday party! All the wonderful Pinterest ideas really came in handy! Thank you Pinterest, Cakes by Deanna, Tai Pan, Hobby Lobby, DI, and a great husband to help pull the whole thing together!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little boy, Colin, who just turned 2!

Cinnamon Roll Cake!

So, I am the kind of mom that would LOVE to make my family homemade cinnamon rolls every Sunday for breakfast, but they take so much time that I just don't have. Here is an amazing recipe for Yummy Cinnamon Roll Cake found at jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com!

My family LOVED it..... and it didn't even take all morning! A definate score on my part and my family didn't even miss the homemade cinnamon rolls one bit! It is a definate must-try recipe and your family will love you for it!

Baked Donuts

This recipe is from loveveggiesandyoga.com. My family loves donuts! We eat them waay more than we should! I recently bought a donut pan and wanted to try some baked options. I'm sure these are still not healthy at all, but they are at least baked, not fried. They are also something I can make myself instead of buying them! Wahoo!

These are super yummy and the kids don't complain that they're not from Krispy Kreme either!

Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies

I made these Homemade Nutter Butter cookies a while back and they are absolutely amazing! I found the recipe at sixsistersstuff.com. I was able to share them with friends who also loved them! If you are a Nutter Butter or a peanut butter fan, this is a must-have recipe!

They weren't hard, they were fun and my kids loved helping me make them!

Lofthouse Sugar Cookie Bars!

One of my favorite helpers joined me in making the most yummy recipe of Sugar Cookies I have ever made!

 The best part is there is no rolling out and making messes with this one! You just moosh the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, like this:

 Then you make up your frosting, but the recipe calls for real butter, and I did use it for the cookies, but I wanted to make the frosting with margarine, to lessen the real butter. Big mistake! Just follow the recipe haha. My frosting was really salty! Here is what they look like, but Cali wanted ours to be purple :) Still yummy either way!

Find the recipe at chef-in-training.com! Make them today!

Easter Ideas

Check out these cuuute Easter Egg Candle holders! They aren't too hard either! Just some spray painted wood pieces, eggs, and glue! I love them! Find the instructions on thecsiproject.com!

Here are some super cute bunny pops made from rice krispy treats, dipped in chocolate! Yum! Can't get any better than that! See recipe on lhj.com!

Sick of giving your kids so much candy at Easter? Here are some great ideas of things to substitute for all that candy! See the full list at familyvolley.blogspot.com

Here's a fun Easter Decoration! Love these cute little birdies! Find your free tutorial at blog.birdsparty.com! Love these! Good luck!

These Peep cookies are super cute and there are full directions on sweetsugarbelle.com. I am a HUGE peep fan! These are so fun to get the kids excited for Easter!

I found this yummy treat at kidscooking.com. Super easy and fun for the kids! You just make Rice Crispy Treats in a muffin tin and top with green coconut and jelly beans or chocolate eggs! Yum!

You can take your kids to go egging people's houses! Not like you think! You hide eggs in their yard and see if they can find them all! See full details on sunscholars.blogspot.com

Hope you and your family have a great Easter! I know I have plenty of ideas here to get me going! Good luck to you!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I found this Blueberry Breakfast Cake posted on Pinterest and had some fresh blueberries on hand and wanted to see if it was as good as it looks! So last Sunday morning, I gave it a try

My family loved it and it wasn't very hard either! I found the recipe on http://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/

Try it out! You will have a happy family and you wont be disappointed!

The Pinkalicous Par-Tay!

The most important table at the Pinkalicious Party! Dessert! I made some yummy Pinkalicious cupcakes, just like in the book! I also made some marshmallow cupcakes with large marshmallows that I dipped into white chocolate, dyed pink, and topped with sprinkles and a candy cherry. I was going to make a BIG pink cupcake for Cali's cake, but a few days before the party, we had a service auction for Relief Society and I won the service to have a sister in my ward make a birthday cake for Cali! How wonderful is that? I also put out some of Cali's favorite PINK cookies and pink wafers. I added in the Pinkalicious plates and pink napkins along with Cali's Pinkalicious doll and a pink rose.

 My daughter, Cali the birthday girl, took this pic. I love how it turned out-and she's only 4! The Yummy table from the view of a child!

The amazing cupcake just like the one in the book!

 They were delicous too! I added some extra almond flavoring to batter and frosting and used only the most fattening of ingredients! YUM!

If you haven't heard of, or read the Pinkalicious book, it is a super cute one about a girl that ate too many pink cupcakes and turned pink! It is so cute and I definately recommend it! I had so much fun doing a Pinkalicious themed birthday party for Cali! It was truly a special day for my special little girl!

Overnight Honey-Wheat Rolls

I made these rolls last Sunday for my husband's family for Sunday dinnner and they were a HUGE hit! They were super easy! My favorite part was that you refigerate them overnight, so on Sunday, all you have to do is tie them in a knot, let them raise, and cook! The knot part sounds a little scary, but if you roll it in flour, it ties super easy. I think I ate like 4 myself after everyone was finished eating!

I found the recipe through my Taste of Home magazine. It is definately a Must-Try recipe! Let me know how you like it!

Candy Cane Cake

I got a new cake platter for a Christmas decortaion this year and wanted a bundt cake to put in it. I tried twice to make a bundt cake and it broke apart both times! So, it ended up that I made 2 pound cakes instead. They BOTH came out clean and pretty, but the best part was the taste!

It is made with a cake mix, but you mix a part of the cake mix with peppermint and a little red food coloring and it looks really cute and tastes even yummier!

Mmmm! See my new cute Christmas cake platter decoration?! I lOVE it!

My mom shared this recipe with me from Betty Crocker.com

December 2010