Back to School for Mr. Self

My husband, who is a 4th grade teacher, started back to school a couple of weeks ago. I decided him & his fellow teachers probably needed some special treats to get them back in the rhythm & help endure teacher in-service! We decided apples, of course!

We tried the apples over a year ago, they were actually one of the first really creative cupcakes we made. Let me tell you, they are MUCH better the second time around now that I have had more practice actually creating with cupcakes!

They are actually really easy to make, especially if you have a candy cutting helper like Drew! The leaves are cut out of sour belts, the stems are crafted tootsie rolls & the apple gets is realistic shape from a horizontally cut mini chocolate donut, all covered in icing w/ red sprinkles!

As a tip, if you are going to make these & take them somewhere, do not stick the candy stem & leaf into the cupcake until you are ready to go, day-of. Otherwise, overnight the tootsie roll gets very sticky & both the leaf & stem will be very wilted. We learned that from last time!

My husband's school colors are blue & white, so I quick iced a dozen to go with the two dozen apples.

We made ALOT of cupcakes! I wanted to make sure everyone got one, or two!

How about this candy jar? It was an actual end of the year teacher present my husband received from an awesome student his very first year teaching. How cool is that? Let me tell you, elementary teachers get the best presents!

Drew said they were a hit with the teachers at school. YEA!

Back to the Cakes

My friend Kara contacted me about cupcakes for a baby shower she was hosting. She needed 2 dozen full size cupcakes, half chocolate, half strawberry. We used my favorite butter cream icing in the colors pink & turquoise.

She wanted two of my flower pots to use as decorations. I still LOVE this flower pots!!

On a side note (and as a slight dig to my husband), notice the ruffle around the top of the pot? Kara was going to use her own bows around the pots, so I didn't make any. I didn't realize this would be a problem until it was time to take pictures of them. They needed something to finish the look. Because I may have a slightly messy craft room & be a tiny bit of a hoarder, I found these ruffles in a drawer left over from making my lamp. Perfect last minute touch! And one of the reasons I don't throw everything away!! (see Drew!)

I just love these piped flowers every time I make them! So pretty & delicate!

Notice the set up today? My friend Jessica Klima is an amazing photographer in the Bryan/College Station area where we live. I have been asking her advice on how to take better pictures. You've already seen her influence with the better lighting & focusing, now I am trying to get better at "staging" the pictures. My real problem is how I have my lighting area jerry-rigged, I don't always have enough room for all the cupcakes! UGH! I am dragging her with me to Hobby Lobby sometime soon to help me get the materials for a better photography stage!

Better photos then before, but still not as great as I want them to be! I guess that's why my focus is cupcakes & not actual photography!!

World Traveler

Venice, Italy

Here's a couple of pictures to explain my absence lately. I have been doing lots of traveling! Part for work (yes, I have the best job ever!) & some of it personal. Here's some of my favorite shots!

I always joke with my husband that all these old, amazing & beautiful churches almost make this Baptist girl want to be a Catholic! 

Awesome!

The Cathedral in Florence. The 4th largest Catholic church in the world. It was breathtaking!

 I loved Florence!!

My favorite trip this summer is the one I got to take with my husband! Here's Drew & I in Times Square.

Drew loves the Yankees! We sat in really great seats in right field. SOO much fun!

I was loving this Barbie foosball table at FAO Schwartz. Too bad I don't have an extra $25,000 laying around!

Drew at the American Museum of Natural History. :)

Even though I've been so many awesome places & done so many cool things this summer, I am soo glad to be home! I don't have any more major traveling scheduled until November, so maybe I can get settled back into my routine & catch up with my cupcakes, crafts & DVR!

A crafty summer

I'm sorry it's been so long! I have had such a busy end of summer both work & personally, I have barely been in my kitchen, let alone had time to share with you what I've been up to! I think it's best to just show you :)

We took a family road trip to Louisiana for 4th of July weekend to visit my grandparents. My niece Jolie rode with us, so of course she needed a special outfit for all the pictures we planned to take!

This is the view from the back.

I think it turned out really cute! And she looked adorable in it!

Later in July, a friend from work asked me to make these tshirts for her daughter & friends to wear to church camp. Love the colors they chose!

I'm thinking I might make one for myself when I slow down!

I have an obsession with ruffles at the moment, so I made myself a lamp! I intended to make two & put them in my living room on either side of my couch. But, as I tried it out in my bedroom, I decided that was where it was destined to go!

I love the soft, satin ruffles! It totally girlies-up my side of our chocolate & blue bedroom! I will probably be making more of these...

Gifts for baby Emmy. Some of my very favorite things I've made!

I absolutely love the front of this onesie. How cute will she be with that flower e?

 This is the back of the e onesie.

Like I said, obsessed with ruffles! Doesn't this make you want a ruffle butt? Okay, it does me!

This is the first bib I've embellished. Very quick & easy but super cute!

A custom diaper wipes case to match! 

A close up of Emmy, which is short for Emaline.

I also made this bow holder for Emmy. They used it as at the shower.

Here's a purple and black bow holder that I made for my sister-in-law.

Meet my nephew Cade! I made this cute little watermelon shirt for him for a very important cause. We participated in the Watermelon Run for the Fallen, a 5K walk/run for fallen soldiers. They didn't have shirts for babies, so of course Aunt Kelly had to make sure he had something to wear!

Here are both of my favorite little people!

I've also been making some little tie onesies for my friend Amanda's little boy Archie but I was in a hurry & didn't take pictures! Here's one I stole off her blog The Parr Family Adventures

Isn't he the cutest?!!

Okay, I think that gets me pretty caught up on crafts for the summer!! I did have one flower cupcake order & a back to school apple adventure for Drew that I will be posting ASAP! Stick with me, I'm back in town & back in the kitchen!

A wedding shower

Stacy, who contacted me about Amanda's baby shower cupcakes, had me create some cupcakes for her soon to be sister-in-law's wedding shower. The wedding colors are red, black & white, so we did red & white flowers in black liners. I could not find black mini liners anywhere in College Station, so the minis had to be lined in white.

She needed three dozen full size & two dozen minis.
Her flavor choices were half buttermilk & half marble (a mix of chocolate & vanilla). I was excited she chose the marble because it was a flavor I hadn't tried yet. They were really yummy!

I was skeptical on the colors, because red is one of the harder colors to get right, but I think they ended up very pretty!

Okay, one more :)

I love the piped flowers, one of my all time favorite designs!

Happy Birthday Jolie!

My amazing little niece Jolie's 3rd birthday party was June 4. My brother called me & asked if I could do the cupcakes. Of course I can!! Anything for Jolie :). After much debate between fairies, pirates & who knows what else, Jolie decided she wanted a Tangled themed birthday party. Having never seen it, all I knew was that it was Disney's newest version of Rapunzel. I definitely had to do my research to get it right!

Cody (my brother) wanted to make sure we had a tower, so that's where I started my search. Luckily, anything can be googled these days, and I found one that I could make that was totally edible.

The majority of the tower is made from pecan spin rolls (love those nasty things btw!) with icing vines & flowers piped around. Add a large size cupcake & an upside down dipped waffle cone, & you have Rapunzel's tower!

I made lots of piped flowers to go with the tower to make it a whole scene. I went with purple, pink & yellow flowers because those are the majority colors you see in the movie. -I know this because the entire time I was icing the cupcakes at mom's, I was watching the movie. Super cute!! I love Disney!

Here is my entire creation. Good news- Jolie LOVED her Tangled cupcakes!

This is my brother Cody, sister-in-law Teria, and their daughter Jolie, the birthday girl!

I mean seriously, look how excited she is?! This is the first year she really knew what her birthday was all about, & it was soo much fun to watch!

 That's Jolie's little brother Cade behind her with the spoon. He is 7 months old & super adorable!

 She did very well blowing out her candles! I don't know if you can tell, but the flames are colored!

Jolie's personal cupcake is the one in the middle, that is slightly larger than all the rest.

I really wanted a picture of me & the birthday girl, but she was way more into the cupcake her parents were finally letting her eat!

LOVE this!

This is what was left of Jolie's cupcake. We asked Jolie-"where'd all your icing go?", to which came the reply "in my tummy!"

I got her to try on one of her birthday shirts at the end of the party to make sure they all fit!

 "STINK!"

So, the birthday party was a super success! It was hands down the most fun & excited I have been to make cupcakes! Like I said, anything for Jolie!

Can't wait til Cade turns 1. I'm sure Cody will have something super boy up his sleeve. Better start working on my camo....