Beyond Excited!

What a great start to the week!  I just started this blog about 2 weeks ago but I can not tell you how excited and greatful I am to the beyond amazing Pizzazzerie ladies for mention Miriam's birthday party on Facebook!  Thanks so much to them and for everyone that took the time to come here to check out the party!  Have a great Monday!

Obsessed with Cake Pops!

I have been thinking about some treat ideas to make for Purim for David's kindergarten class.  I decided on Oreo pops!  Have you seen Bakerella's work....amazing!  I bought her book online yesterday, it won't be delievered until next Wednesday and I don't think I can wait that long to try these, so I think I might have to do a sample run this weekend!  I have made both Oreo balls and cake balls before, they have always tasted great, but I have struggled to get a nice smooth surface with the chocolate.  I am hoping that doing the pops instead of the balls will be a little easier as far as covering them goes.  I even got some cute tags designed last night that I am going to print and circle punch tonight!  Here is a picture of the tag that I am going to put on these, excited to get started, hopefully everything will go smooth!

New Wallpaper at Layla Grace

I am sure that just about everyone has their own personal opinion of wallpaper...myself included.  However after viewing the new wallpaper at Layla Grace I can't wait to have a room to be able to use this in, they are simply gorgeous! I think that they would be even great to use as an accent on just one wall of a room in case you are a little leary of covering an entire room in a pattern. Here are a couple of my favorites, but check out the site for other beautiful styles as well as everything else that they have in their shop! http://www.laylagrayce.com/blog/2011/02/22

Photo credit Layla Grace



Photo credit Layla Grace



New Printable Designs on Etsy

I have been working on some new invitation and thank you card sets to put on Etsy. All of the designs are drawn by me for these invitations.  Here is one of the ones that I posted last night, I will hopefully be adding some new styles this week!  My Etsy store is CJCPaperDesigns, please let me know if there is anything specific that you are looking for, I am always looking for new ideas!

One Year Pictures

We did Miriam's one year pictures a few weeks ago, she didn't sit quite as still as I was hoping she would so we only got a few that turned out.  I am ready for spring so we can get some outside of both kids!

Copeland Photography

Copeland Photography

Copeland Photography

Great Idea, Free Printable and a DELICIOUS looking recipe!

I found these great ideas that I wanted to share with you:

Check this out from House of Smith's: Spring Fever! http://houseofsmiths.blogspot.com/2010/02/hanging-roses-i-was-browsing-blogs.html, she also created a darling wreath out of the roses http://houseofsmiths.blogspot.com/2010/03/spring-fever.html. It is cold here again today, but the last week has been really nice, kind of makes me excited for spring!  I think I will try a couple of these in the colors of our living and dining room to put on the table!  May head to the dollar store to buy some crepe paper to try, in case it goes bad!  Let me know if you try this!  I will post mine as soon as I have a chance to do it!  Good luck!

Photo credit House of Smith's

Saw this great printable freebie from How Joyful http://www.howjoyful.com/2010/11/do-what-you-love-free-printable/.

"Do what you love and do it often", I have decided this is going to be my theme for this upcoming year!

 Please only use this for personal use and if you share don't forget to give her credit!

Image credit How Joyful

I have a weakness for Red Velvet, as does Jacob.  Have you ever tried the red velvet ice cream from Maggie Moo's...to die for!  So when I saw this adorable breakfast bar on Celebrations at Home http://www.celebrationsathomeblog.com/2011/02/cozy-breakfast-bar.html  that included red velvet pancakes I decided I needed to do a little bit of searching!  First, how amazing is this breakfast bar, I long for the day when I have enough energy to create something like this in the morning! I found this recipe at The Kitchy Kitchen http://thekitchykitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/red-velvet-pancakes.html, I think I will be trying this for breakfast this weekend!

Image credit Celebrations at Home

Chocolate Filled Meringues

Last week I saw a recipe for chocolate raspberry filled merinques on www.mybakingdom.com, (instructions at http://www.mybakingdom.com/2011/01/sweet-chocolate-filled-raspberry-meringue-kisses.html) they looked amazing!  A few weeks ago we were asked to make 2-3 dozen pieces of a dessert item for a Bar Mitzvah, I thought it would be great to do these in the colors of the party.  A few days ago I found out that these colors are navy blue and red....hmmm. I already had a cornflower blue food gel that I thought would give me a nice soft blue, maybe more appetizing than navy?  Decided that I would do half a batch in blue with almond flavoring and the other half red with rapsberry flavoring.  The first batch, the light blue turned out beautifully, they piped perfectly out of the bag and tasted just as great!  Maybe beginners luck or maybe the fact that my mom called while I was mixing everything and didnt follow the directions exactly.  The red, then a darker blue and then a white batch all flopped :( !!!  I am just going to send the light blue to the party since the others looked like gross little blobs (though they still tasted great)! 

 

Here is what I think made the difference:

•     When I was whipping the first batch on high I added the flavoring and coloring BEFORE it was at a stiff peak, I think that this kept me from over whipping.  On the other batches I added the flavor and coloring after it was already at a stiff peak and had to continue to whip it so that the coloring and flavoring was incorporated throughout the mixture.  It ended up being to thick to pipe through the tip, hence the blob shape instead of the pretty little meringue kisses.
•     Use gel food coloring!  I had only had the water based coloring in the red and I had to add so much (it still only ended up a very bright pink) that I have a feeling it really changed the consistency of the mixture.  The gel allows for great vibrant colors just using a minimal amount.  I used the Wilton brand that I bought at Michael's, they seem to have a pretty good selection of colors. 

Piping the meringue onto the chocolate chips!

Finished product!  Delicious!

 I will definitely be trying these again, I think they would be a great addition to any dessert table and would be beautiful in any color/flavor combination!

Miriam's Birthday Party

The planning for this party began sometime in mid October. After designing the invitation and and transitioning from a pink and black color scheme to more of a monochromatic pink scheme I started scouring the internet for ideas.  All I have to say is that there are some amazingly talented women and moms out there!  WOW!!   We were having the party at 2pm and decided to just have a dessert table and not offer other snacks or food items. Since I knew I would be throwing this party on a pretty limited budget I knew it was going to have to be a lot of DIY!  I  decided that I was going to do all of the baking, something that I always love attempting (though not always without frustrations) and all of the decorations! Enjoy some of the pictures from the day!

Invitation, Sweet Cupcake by dani mogstad, Alpha Stitches Templates by Libby Weifenbach, Block It v. 1: Card Templates by Krisis Kreations

 Me and the birthday girl!

 Dessert Table...lots of Pink! Inspired by Amy Atlas Event and Pizzazzerie, I don't think that there are enough words to describe how amazingly talented these women are and the beautiful work that they do!
I covered boxes that we had around the house with wrapping paper, scrapbook paper and ribbon.  Found some great dishes on clearance at Target and used a plexiglass box frame turned upside down, trimmed with ribbon for a tray for the cupcakes, turned out great!

 French Macarons, 4 colors, 3 fillings...not to shabby for my first attempt

Pink Candied Popcorn Favor Bags with tags I designed

Another view of the table

We had 35 of our wonderful family and friends there to help celebrate with us!
Total party cost including all food and decorations were just under $114....not too bad!

Off We Go!

So I decided a few weeks ago, after our daughter's first birthday party, that I was going to start this blog.  I have spent the last couple of weeks keeping a list of things I wanted to write about on here in my email, though I am just now getting to my first post!  I will include here and write about all of my designs, from interiors to graphic, photography to baking (the good, the bad and the ugly), and share what inspires me and hopefully you will find some inspiration too!