Cake Pops

I had the day off today due to Veterans day. What to do on a day all by myself at home? Try something new! I have long been a fan of Bakerella's cake pops but haven't had an occasion yet where they were my go to. So today I decided to try my hand at cake pops. At Bakerella's website you can see some of the ridiculously cute & fabulous things she makes her pops into but since I am a beginner, I thought I would stay simple with sprinkles. I did have a couple of pops that didn't make it, but for the most part, they were a success!! Drew got to pick out the flavors so we have carrot cake, cream cheese icing & vanilla candy coating. They are pretty yummy! Since I didn't make them for a specific occasion, I'll be taking half of them to work tomorrow while Drew takes the other half to school. Wish I could share with yall!

MY BIRTHDAY!!

October 24 is the best day out of the entire year. Why, you ask? Because it's MY birthday!! I am one of those people who absolutely loves birthdays, but especially my own! I go above & beyond to make sure the people that I love have great birthdays so I get super excited when it's my turn. Luckily, this is something my husband Drew understands & does a really great job of making happen for me. This year we decided to have a party for our friends at our house. Drew usually cooks, but we had about 22 people confirmed, which meant a lot of food, & Drew outside on the grill all night. Not something I want to happen when it's my night & I want him to be with me! Selfish? No, this time it's valid. :) So, we ordered chicken/beef fajitas, rice/beans & all of the sides from Rosas's Mexican food. All we had to do was pay & pick up! Best part was, NO clean-up!

The food was great, but the best part of the entire evening was dessert. I love, love, love cake. Whether it be in cupcake form or layers, I LOVE cake. But I can't make my own birthday cake, so Drew to the rescue! He followed my mom's old from scratch strawberry cake recipe & made the best birthday cake I have ever eaten! He even made the frosting from scratch! ALL by himself. I didn't help, at all! It was super sweet of him & I bragged on him all night. Everyone was super impressed with him & loved it! That's my man!

Yea for being 26!! Thanks for the cake Drew, it was yummy!! I love you!

Action Shots

While I was decorating the buttermilk cupcakes for Katharine's shower, Drew decided he wanted to take some action shots of me doing my thing. He loves the fact that I am so obsessed with cupcaking at the moment, because that means a lot of uninterrupted TV time for him, mostly football. I have to say though, I think I'm getting the better part of this deal!!

Some of you will recognize the shirt, Sinton lady Pirate softball playoffs 2002. Makes me feel old!

All finished!! Now just 35 to go...

A Shower for Katharine- piped flower cupcakes

One of our friends is engaged to be married in December. Her sister Kristen (also our friend) & our friend Jennifer were the hostesses. They called me and ordered Baby Cakes for the desserts. We went with all pink buttermilk flower cupcakes. We again did the mix of full size & minis. They were a hit & fit in very well with the princess themed shower. The shower was BeAuTiFuL & the bride got lots of great stuff! For a detailed look of the custom made decorations click here.

Something Different

The month of October is ridiculous for my family when it comes to birthdays. We have 7 (1 on the way) birthdays, with 5 of them being in a span of 7 days! And of those 5 are my mom, my sister-in-law Teria & myself. My mom is very easy for me to buy for since we like the majority of the same things, and I can shop for her pretty well. Teria, on the other hand is harder for me. She usually wants gift cards for clothes. But, since she is 8+ months pregnant this year, clothes were not on her mind. Once again, after visiting my friend Jennifer's blog, I had an idea. I was going to try something new, to make a hand painted sign (by myself) to hang in the baby's room. I was very nervous but after some coaching from JP, I think it came out pretty awesome!!

"our little trooper" because my brother, Cody is actually a Texas State Trooper. Get it, our little trooper? I know, I am SuPeR impressed with myself!

And good news, Teria loved it!! Cody had it hung up in the baby's room the next night! Pictures of baby Cade as soon as he arrives! O, and, I might be developing a new sign making obsession!!

Bible Study Halloween cupcakes

I am in a Tuesday night Beth Moore bible study this semester. Our class is so big, we have to sign up in groups of 5 or 6 to bring desserts for the class. When it was our turn, everyone of course was expecting me to do cupcakes. But, since it was Halloween & we had a Monday holiday (Columbus day, I think!), I suggested that we do a group cupcake decorating party. I made the cupcakes Monday morning, brownie & buttermilk this time, and the girls came over in the afternoon to decorate. I looked up some easy designs for the groups through the Wilton website & Martha Stewart's since most of the girls were beginners on piping. I also pulled out all of my sprinkles, in case some felt more comfortable just flat icing & sprinkling. Our main Halloween designs were a candy corn, mummys & pumpkins. Since it was for bible study, we decided to leave out some of the other designs I would have gone with like the witch, Dracula, ghosts, or spiders. Since I get to decorate pretty regularly, I did a couple of examples & mostly sat back & watched the girls create lots of super cute cupcakes!

Did I mention we decorated almost 100 cupcakes?

Here are the girls! Kristi, Crystal, LeeAnna, Ragna

We had a really great time decorating & if left overs mean anything, the women really enjoyed them!!

Tiffany's Baby Shower- flower cupcakes

My best friend Tiffany is having another baby. She has a little boy & is now having a girl! We are soo excited for Kallie to get here! Since this will be the first girl out of 5 cousins, we decided she needed a small baby shower so that we could buy lots of pink!! We had it at my house with our closest girlfriends. Of course, I made the cupcakes. We did a mix of full size & minis, strawberry & buttermilk, as well as one flowerpot. As you can tell our theme was very girly!

(the flowers in the right corner are my anniversary roses from Drew!)

pink for strawberry, yellow for buttermilk

I love the minis, but you eat so many more without realizing it!

The shower was a hit & Tif got lots of great things! Pictures of baby Kallie to come when she arrives!

Present!

I have a friend named Jennifer, who is very crafty. She has a great blog, Paisley Pink Polka Dots, that I check regularly to see what all she's been up to. Well, I am a sign person. I LOVE to have signs with all sorts of sayings all over my house. (My husband is not as big of a fan of my obsession, but that's another story!) One day on her blog, I see this great sign that she made, Imagine. As I was decorating my kitchen at the time, inspiration struck! So, I called her & begged her to make me a sign for above a set of my kitchen cabinets. She didn't have to ask, of course it would be pink! She had it made almost the next day & it is perfect!! Don't you think?

It makes me happy every time I see it!! Thanks JP!!