Happy Birthday, America!

I know it's been a while since my last post. I honestly have not been able to bake as often as I would love to as the school year got crazy and was coming to a close. I did want to share with you my little cupcakes that I made for the Fourth of July.

I used Wilton Star Sprinkles and red/blue sparkling sugars to create these festive little treats!

- the close up -

Valentine's Day

I really do love this time of year... when everywhere you go you're punched in the face with pink and red and hearts. Pink being my favorite color, I couldn't be more thrilled!

I saw a post on Pinterest months back of mini brownies topped with marshmallow hearts. I made it my mission to find these marshmallows this year! After some searching, I eventually found them at the local Walmart. They are so small and cute, I wish they had them all year round! I made my own adorable valentine's day brownies and they came out looking like their original inspiration (I'm sure you've seen these cuties on Pinterest!). The white chocolate drizzle really makes these perfect!

Some other treats I made with the heart-theme! These are cake balls and chocolate covered pretzels. I love these teeny tiny heart sprinkles. I got mine at Williams-Sonoma, but I've seen Wilton brand ones as well!

Christine's Bridal Shower

My best friend from college is getting married... MARRIED!!! In T-minus 2 months, she will be walking down the aisle and getting herself a husband. Her bridal shower was a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to share the dessert table that I created in honor of my amazing friend, Christine. Her other bridesmaids and I stayed up late putting last-minute things together, and we were able to throw a beautiful shower for our beautiful friend.

Here are some pictures of the day!

I particularly LOVE how this little cake came out! We went with a romantic-and-slightly-rustic theme, so this naked cake was perfect. This is a 3-layer 6" yellow cake with lemon buttercream and raspberry preserves in between each layer. Fresh, vibrant flowers topped off the cake, and my friend, CraftySong made the beautiful, glittery cake topper.

- Yellow Cake with Lemon Buttercream and Raspberry Filling- 

When you don't particularly enjoy the taste of royal icing, have leftover buttercream, and are running out of time, this is how you can decorate your cut-out sugar cookies! I had leftover buttercream from the cake and didn't have the time to whip up a batch of royal icing in different colors, so I let the sprinkles do the talking... For the engagement ring cookies, I mixed gold disco dust with drops of vodka to create a paint, and painted on the gold band.

-heart-shaped sugar cookies with buttercream and pink sanding sugar-

-engagement ring-shaped sugar cookies with buttercream and sparkling sugar-

No party is complete without cupcakes! I made some chocolate cupcakes and topped them with vanilla buttercream and gold sparkling sugar. How cute are these gold and white striped baking cups? Them scalloped tops though... I found these at my local TJ Maxx for $3 for a pack of 24! They don't even need to be baked in a baking pan; you can just pop them on a baking sheet! Be careful not to crowd the pan though, as the heat needs to travel around each cup for the cakes to bake evenly thoroughly.

-chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream-

 

I had a lot of fun making these rice krispies treats. I always loved eating these when I was younger. My mom would never buy us the pre-made ones, saying that they were too sweet and had lots of things added to them. She would make it for us at home and cut down on the amount of marshmallows.... (no fun!). I used the recipe on the box and used the full amount of marshmallows! To make them even more decadent and pretty, I cut them out using a heart-shaped cookie cutter and dipped half of them in peach-colored melting chocolate. I personalized them by adding a white fondant circle with the initials of the happy couple painted onto them using the gold disco dust + vodka paint.

-mason jar floral arrangements-

-i love polaroids-

-guestbook with personalized pages-

 -77 days!!!-

-pinwheel backdrop-

-activity for guests-

-table shower games-

-a blurry picture of our masterpiece-

love you, bestie! <3

Another Year Gone...

Wow, 2014! Where did you go? The years are getting faster, right? It has been an eventful year, though it went by so fast I have no idea how everything fit! I kept my resolution of posting at least once a month about 80% of the time (which I don't think is THAT bad....). OK, I will try harder this year. Maybe I'll even post twice a month! 

To end the year, I tried my hand (again) at making those pesky-but-beautiful french macarons. I'm always hesitant when making these because 1. the ingredients are not cheap and 2. these things are so high maintenance (humidity, resting period, etc). 

I picked a nice, dry day to make these again, and I was really happy with how they came out. They had a crisp outside and the insides were soft and chewy. I let them rest for a good 30 minutes so they had cute little feet. Half of them were filled with chocolate ganache and the other half with buttercream. I'm now not afraid to make these! :)

For Christmas this year, I did most of my shopping online. My new favorite website btw is RedEnvelope.com. They have lots of different gifts for everyone in the family, and they also personalize a lot of them (giving it an extra special touch!). I ordered these kitchen towels for myself, and LOVE them!

- Have a Happy New Year!!! -

Happy Halloween!

I realize I missed last month's entry...... I had bought these adorable candy decorations at Michael's, which I were dying to use! I remember seeing these last year during Halloween season, and regretted not buying them. These little mummies are holding even smaller jelly pumpkins. Since our school has a nutritional policy and took away all the fun of school parties, I decided to make some cupcakes for the staff. Hey, at least we can have some fun!

 

- look at that adorable face -