Cupcake Mania

The end of the year has been a very busy time for cupcakes!  

From summer birthday celebrations, to end of school parties, to birthdays, to teacher retirement parties and more, what is a better treat then cupcakes?

Rock Star Cupcakes for my daughter's summer birthday celebration. Her special cupcake had a picture of Justin Bieber on it.  Half were chocolate and half were vanilla. Everyone loved the bright colors.

Vanilla penguin cupcakes, with vanilla buttercream frosting and fondant penguins.  These were my other daughter's summer birthday cupcakes.  The penguins were a big hit.

These were special cupcakes I made for my daughter's second grade teacher's retirement celebration.  The "math books" are fig newton cookies.

  These cupcakes were for adults only for a summer kick off party.  They contain double chocolate and sake.Yum!

Calling all soccer fans!  These were for a soccer fans birthday celebration.  They were vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and fondant soccer ball pieces.

Here Comes the Bride

Here Comes the Bride

First came the dainty flowers and leaves (not pictured here) in slightly different shades of green.

Next, came the chocolate fudge wedding cake with butter cream frosting and white fondant.

For a more vintage look I added simple dots and elegant flower and leaf accents.

SIMPLE ELEGANCE

In addition to this beautiful cake the bride also asked for matching cupcakes in a wedding cake flavor with a real vanilla bean frosting.  This is a new modern trend for weddings.

 If you look closely, you can see that the frosting is not pure white, but has speckles in it from the vanilla beans!

SIMPLY DELICIOUS

Recycled Rainboots

Recycled Rainboots

I came across this very cute idea to recycle my kids rain boots by using them as planters.  I just added a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage.  The kids helped pick out the flowers for them. 

Strawberry Picking...

This was our first strawberry picking adventure and it was a ton of fun!!  Thanks to my amazing friend Nichole, who very graciously showed me how easy it is to make freezer jam... strawberry picking is sure to become an annual event for my family.

  This is just one of 16 boxes!

Only to yield a freezer shelf full of strawberry jam.  I added a pretty ribbon to some of the jars and gave them as teacher gifts.  They were a big hit.

 It's A Boy

 Here is a gift box shower cake I created for a baby shower.  Complete with a little blue pacifier.

 Simple and sweet.

DIY Outdoor Chalkboard

Expanding creative horizons from inside to outside with a homemade outdoor chalkboard.

 Let the fun begin!