Valentines Day Cake with a whole lotta' hearts

I haven't gotten around to posting anything for Valentines Day (see previous vday shenanigans here) which makes me sad because it really is one of my favorite holidays!

So to feel like I haven't slacked completely, here's a fun idea (and super simple) for anyone who wants to add a touch of love to their valentines treats. You could do this on cupcakes, or cookies too. They look like tiny little hearts (some a little more skiwampus than others ha) and my Sagey girl actually thought I hand did each and every single one of them. I may or may not have told her that I didn't.

Sometimes, there's something slightly satisfactory about making people think something took you waaaaaay longer than it really did. :-)

All you need is:
-a frosted cake of your choice (I used this recipe but used small rectangular pans)
-decorating gel (you can find it in the baking isle)
-a container of frosting (yep, it's the pre-made kind)
-toothpick
***if you want to make a small felt ball banner I got mine from Hello Maypole

Christmas+Lumberjack+Baby Shower

My friend Emily and I threw a baby shower for our friend Liz who was pregnant with twins! It was the beginning of December, so we decided on doing a baby shower with a Christmas twist (as far as decor goes).

We used a lot of woodsy things, wooden platters, a lot of trees and stumps, birds, deers; and used colors like red, burlap and gold. We served monkey bread, gourmet cheese and crackers, fruit parfaits, french toast with three different syrup flavors (my fave was the butter syrup, obviously!?). I mean, it was better than any brunch you could get anywhere else I'll tell ya that much!

I had a letter framed for Liz that she wrote to her unborn twins sitting next to the entrance for people to read throughout the open house. It was the sweetest thing, telling them what a blessing they are; and the series of events that lead up to them receiving such little miracles. As the guests left, I gave each of them a wooden ornament to hang on their Christmas tree (see post from yesterday for DIY).

One of my favorite things was the sonogram garland I made...just by making copies of all her sonograms and stringing it on a thin ribbon. I hung it on the mantle right by the gifts so everyone could take a peek at the little guys.

The amazing thing about this whole baby shower is that these little twins are miracle babies, and Liz was on bed rest for quite some time. She was always so positive and she had little John and David a few weeks early weighing in at a little over 1 lb. each.

They are all doing so great and I am just so grateful we got to shower her with so much love and cute baby necessities before all the real craziness began!

DIY wooden ornaments with a little sparkle

A little over a month ago, I helped throw a baby shower and made ornaments as the party gift. I know it doesn't have much to do with babies, however it was right before Christmas and the theme was very "woodsy" and so it was perfectly fitting.

So, my parents had this pepper tree in their backyard that they chopped down. My dad saved a bunch of the branches and a bit of the trunk. So I ventured out and picked the best branch and my sweet dad sliced about 60 of these ornaments for me! He even drilled little holes in them too...seriously I have the best dad in the entire universe. Don't argue with me on that, you'll totally loose. :-)

So after everything was cut and drilled I got a glue stick and spread some on top of each slice of wood and sprinkled some sparkles all over. Glitter really is the butter to my bread when it comes to things like this :-). Than I just tied a ribbon and they were good to go...

Tomorrow I'll be posting all the photos of the shower, so make sure to check back! 

DIY lollipops

My mom use to sing this song when we were kids that went like this, "L.O.double L.Y.P.O.P you see, it's a lick on a stick guaranteed to make you sick...lolliPOP for me!"

So you can imagine the singing that was taking place as we made these...with a few curse words in between considering I was dumb and accidentally touched the hot melted sugar and couldn't get it off my finger, which felt oh so good. So with that said, use extreme caution when boiling candy. There's nothing worse than getting molten candy stuck on your skin.

There is something about a lollipop that makes me so happy. I will admit I always have a good stash of dum dums in my car for when I, I mean for when my kids hit a sugar low.

These are simple, colorful and the best part is not one is the same. It's almost like a piece of edible stained glass on the end of a stick. Such a huge hit with the kiddies too!

All you need:
parchment paper
cookie sheet
candy thermometer
lollipop sticks
sugar
corn syrup
flavoring oil
food coloring
***see below photos for direction

DIRECTIONS:
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
2/3 cup water
1/2 tsp. flavoring (coconut and butterscotch are my fave and you can get it at any baking store)
food coloring

line a cookie pan with parchment paper and lay about 8 lollipop sticks in a line giving the top room for the lollipop. Over the stove stir together sugar, syrup and water. Bring to boil, stirring until thermometer reaches 302˚ F. Remove from heat.

you can either do one color and one flavor, or carefully divide the mixture into separate bowls for the different colors and flavoring you want to use. when the mixture has stopped bubbling, spoon a dab over each stick creating a fun lollipop shape. Let cool and lick away! :-)