Wedding clothes and treats!

This past summer I was able to spend all summer creating with my mom and sisters!  I didn't get many pictures but I can share a few things that we did!

My new sister in law's family is quite crafty and had amazing ideas for wedding clothing.  They gave my mom a pattern and all the fabric for these skirts and my mom, sisters, and I went about sewing them up!  They ended up being adorable!

We also made the bow ties for the little guys (you can't really see them)....

and sewing the gold ties on the girls dresses!

We also made all the food for the wedding!  All of the food tasted soooo goood!!!Here are some links to recipes we used!

Key lime cupcakes  (Soooo yummy! We added a little coconut extract in the frosting....amazing)

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes (Also amazing!)

Oreo, Coconut, Raspberry, and Almond Truffles (You can pretty much do any extract you want with whatever topping you want!)  

We also made Spinach Puffs and Sandwich Wraps that were from the "Lion House Entertaining" cookbook, and White Chocolate coconut cheesecake from the "Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook."  

Mickey Mouse Birthday Party!

The Mickey Mouse party came and went - so now I have time to blog about all the things I created for the party!  I didn't get a good picture of how it all came together but it was really cute and the little man was really happy!  I have to thank my Cricut cutter and double stick tape for doing all the work for me and making my life soooo much easier!

I made these cupcake toppers for 1/3 of the cupcakes.  They ended up looking really cute on the cupcakes! 

I made the "Happy Birthday" banner that you can barely see in this picture...and I also made the two cupcake towers out of cans and cardboard circles. 

I also made these little containers out of some nut containers I had saved.  I used them for the plastic utensils.  

These cupcakes were the 2nd out of 3 different kinds.  They were little man's favorite ones because they had "cookies" on them!

These are the 3rd of the 3 types of cupcakes - mickey sugar decorations and mickey sprinkles.  These cupcakes were a new recipe "Cookies and Cream Cupcakes" (with a hidden Oreo in the bottom).  The recipe wasn't my favorite so I am not posting it but the idea was awesome!  I would think that you could put an oreo at the bottom of a regular box cake mix and get a similar result!  

Here are the invites again!

And the treat bags!

I may have gone a little over board on the party but it was sooo worth it!  I love to make people happy and I love to craft so this party was a success!  

Birthdays and more Birthdays!

April is a big month for birthdays in our family and friends!  We have 2 siblings, 1 brother in law, 1 son, 1 grandma, and many friends who have birthdays all within a few weeks!!!  Needless to say birthdays are the main thing on my mind!  I have been slowly learning how to decorate cakes - I have learned that I don't have the steadiest hand, and that I can't write on cakes.  I guess slowly those will come!  My two friends have birthdays a day apart so I made them a cake for our girls night!  I am not creative so I copied a cake out of a Wilton Cake Decorating book - but I was impressed with how it turned out!!!  Pretty good for my first attempt (I am building my self up so that I will attempt it again)!

Now for the next Birthday - My little man is turning 2!  Here is a little preview of the things I have been working on for his party that is happening in about a week!!!

(These below are treat bags for the kiddos)

Now I have to decide if my self esteem is high enough for me to attempt a "Mickey" cake of some sort!!  

Spring Time Wreath

One of my friends here in Florida thinks that I have too many decorations - so I decided to start decorating outside!!  I personally think that you can never have too many decorations - life has to be exciting right?  Plus....my sanity is creating things so more decorations it is!!  I got the idea for this wreath here.  I needed to do it really cheap - because I am cheap (and poor) so I got the twig wreath at the dollar store and my 2 friends and I shared some "fat quarters" that were 30% off at the fabric store.  That made the cost of this wreath come down to $2!  YAY!!  Thanks Kacey and Kali for a fun craft day!!

Fluffy White Frosting

I know....2nd post of the day!  I am on a roll!  I am beginning my journey to become a cake decorator.  I do not plan on being an amazing one - just one that can decorate cakes that my kids will be proud of in future years.  My husband is loving the journey I am on because I make cupcakes to practice my skills on - so he has had a lot of cupcakes to eat!  (You would never be able to tell because he doesn't look like he has consumed many cupcakes.)  I found a recipe for fluffy white frosting on allrecipes.com and LOVE IT!!  It looks so pretty and even I could pull off some professional looking cupcakes!  I used the recipe below and the Wilton 1M decorator tip......Magic! (And it tastes like marshmallow cream.)

 Fluffy White Frosting

1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar.  Cook over medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubble.  In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks.  Gradually add the sugar mixture while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 10 minutes.  Frost the cake of your choice.

(Some of the comments on the recipe says that it colors really well too!!!)  Enjoy!

Getting Creative with Trash! :)

When you are living as tight as we are - decorations for Holidays are not on the top of the list.  My hubby tries to humor me by looking at the things I make, but really doesn't see a need for decorations.  I do see the need for decorations when I am stuck at the house all day every day and need a little bit of excitement!  So I decided to start saving our trash.....aluminum cans, glass jars, egg cartons, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, etc.  Husband doesn't love this either - but he does love that I am not spending money on crafts!  This project was free for me since I had all the stuff already!

A few things I have learned:

1) Pickle jars (and a few other food items) will always smell like what was in them - no matter how many times you wash them!  

2) You never know when you are going to use some of that random craft stuff that you have laying around.

3) Never throw away your paper towel rolls if you cut vinyl because after you cut your design, you just roll it up and put it in one of those and you don't have to worry about it getting ruined!!  

I have been a little distracted....

by this....

I am soooo loving that it is 80 degrees outside right now and we can hop in the car and go to the beach at any time!!  Little man loves to find sticks and chase the birds all over the beach and jump in the water!  I really have been loving it....but a lot of beach going means I may need a new one of these.....

Yes is this not the cutest suit you have ever seen?  Oh you just wait....there are 54 more different patterns, designs, and colors waiting for you if you click here.  I must warn you though...if you are on a tight budget like mine....this suit is well out of reach!!!! Maybe I can convince my hubby to let me use my babysitting money (don't I sound like a teenager??)  Well back to 80 degree weather and the beach!!