Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

So if you didn’t already know, Flickr is a rabbit hole. It is up there with StumbleUpon in Life’s Handbook, Chapter 11: “Ways to Blow Hours on the Interweb”. Seriously though, I have been blown away with the talent & creativity that people possess! So much to see, drool over, drink in - I finally had to step away from it, not because I began to feel incredibly inadequate (which I totally did) but because I looked at so many pictures that I kept going cross-eyed. However in preparation for the upcoming holiday, which, by the way, do NOT understand why I’m so excited about. I have always hated Valentine’s Day but am succumbing to its squishiness very quickly & I found some fun pictures to hopefully inspire you to create love. And not in that way. Or maybe - I’ll let you decide!

1. Handwritten “Love” Chocolate Heart Cookie, 2. Pink roses close-up on the red background, 3. mini cookie “cakes”, 4. So yummmm, 5. shadows of love, 6. Sweeter Love, 7. sweets for my sweet!, 8. Love without demand {Explore FP}, 9. cookies, 10. Happy Valentine’s Day!, 11. LOVE revisited, 12. I love you, 13. happy valentines day!!!, 14. Rubber Ducky Love, 15. Assorted Box of Cake, 16. Pink Martinis…All in a Row!

A few weeks ago one of my dear friends Amy asked me if I would make a cake for her, & not just any cake but a surprise-gender cake for her, her husband & their family. They are having their first baby & were headed for the big ultrasound. They wanted the u/s tech to keep the gender a secret, they would then bring me the information & I would put either a pink or blue layer of icing in the center of the cake to indicate what they were having. Then the family would gather together that evening so they could all find out together. A pretty cute idea right? & I’d be lying if I didn’t feel a little drunk with power as they handed over the results & I watched her husband squirm at the thought that someone other than the doctor knew what they were having (sorry Jared!).

I had made the cake the night before (using Bakerella’s scratch yellow cake recipe - wonderful & relatively easy I might add) & once I had the ultrasound results in-hand I assembled the cake.

I have to say that I’ve iced cakes before but never trying to do a smoothed buttercream finish. I was quite nerve-wracked about it but it wasn’t that difficult. The best part about doing a buttercream finish is that if you mess up, you can smooth over the smudges pretty easily. I still need to perfect the overall “smoothness” but for my first go with it, ever, I wasn’t hating the results. I had to add the dots because I love polka dots & after Conner’s birthday party I was itching to use my icing tips some more.

Over all it was one of the funnest projects I’ve done in awhile - I got try something new & for something so fun as letting mom & dad know what they were having. I should add that I had to make four - yes, FOUR - batches of buttercream frosting. There was about three layers around the cake with two thick layers of icing on the inside & the thing weighed eight pounds (I got out the wii fit balance board & weighed it) - it is serious. I kept telling mom to prepare herself for the diabetic coma that would inevitably follow. I love having these types of projects to do - new, fun & a gift of sorts.

Oh, & they’re having a baby girl. Congratulations Amy & Jared!

So my baby boy turned four last week. FOUR! How does that even happen? One minute he is this red-faced screechy little baby & the next he is my fun, smart, articulate, hilarious little man. For a few months before his birthday he kept telling me over & over that he wanted a pirate party. Just for jokes I would ask him randomly, “So Conner, you want a clown party?” or “You’ve been asking for an animal party, right?” and each time he takes a deep breath & says, “No, mom, a piiiirrrrraaaattttte party. Pirate.” Isn’t he adorable? I found a stamp set I wanted to use, gathered some paper & started planning. I definitely got into it - I mean, in the invitation I really used the term “come have a swash-buckling good time!” *insert eye roll* but it was a lot of fun, especially the cake!!

Isn’t it awesome? Beth at Taste Selects, a local bakery took my design & ran with it. Love how it turned out! I did the red cuppies to accompany it & our good friend Ryan Portnoy came to snap the pics.

cupcakes…..yummmmmmmm

This is the pennant I made, which was super easy - cut out triangles, hole punched the edges, slide cotton yarn through, hang, voila - pennant. Conner loved this thing. When hubby & I were hanging it his eyes lit up & he kept asking, “Is that for me? Is that for my party?” The concept of alllllllll of this being for him was blowing his mind.

I am such a fan of cookie favors. I highly highly recommend doing them for your next party. No annoying toys that fall out of that awkwardly small little bag, no more leaked thing of bubbles all over your car, no. Instead, you spend a fraction of the cost (even if you buy already made sugar cookies & let your kid decorate them) & your guaranteed that everyone will love & use your favors.

These are the thank you’s that I did & while they were time-consuming they were still fun. Any excuse to nerd out with paper crafts & I am there! Piecing the squares together took the most time, but after that they came together easily.

Overall the party was a blast. I got to see my little guy set loose with eleven of his most-loved peers & while it parted my hair quite a few times, they all had a great time.

Happy 4th birthday my sweet Conner!!!

Well, I guess it’s week 1 for me since I’m just now jumping in. I was thinking of tackling mini-posts but even those can be a little intimidating. There’s Top Ten Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday & I keep thinking I want to start a Confession Thursdays cuz Lord knows I got lots of those…

So anyways, back to 52 new things. Brandi, I don’t even know if I’m doing it right but I’m giving it a shot! One of my goals for the new year was to try a new recipe every week. I hate cooking. I love baking (love. love. love.), but hate cooking. Because of said hatred, I cook the same things over & over. I’ve got a solid dozen recipes, but we’ve been eating those over & over since hubby & I said “I do” seven years ago. Hubby loves when he comes home & dinner is on the table. Seriously, he beams - that’s the only reason I do it. That & I don’t want my children to tell their teachers that “mommy makes the best turkey, cheese & ketchup crackers ever!” So to try & make the whole thing enjoyable for everyone I am experimenting with some new dishes. This one I did last night & it was so good, but so unbelievably filling I am pretty sure I was still stuffed well into this afternoon.

It’s Warm Tortellini Salad & Roasted Tomatoes with Green Beans. The only thing different that I did was I didn’t cook the green beans with the tortellini, but instead sauteed them with extra virgin olive oil & garlic salt. It was super delicious & like I said verrrrrrry filling. Go on, give it a go!

WAIT! Nobody move just yet! I make no promises a post shall follow up this one in the next 30 days (or 6 months) but dang it I’m gonna try! Blogging is one of those things I wish I had more time for. And it’s not that I have no time, it’s just what free time I have I just can’t make myself do it. But I am giving into the siren’s call yet again so y’all pray for me cuz I really want it to work this time. Sometime I feel like this blog is just a bad boyfriend, yanno?

First, did I blow debris into anyone’s face as I dusted off this thing? Yeah? Sorry about that. I feel like we need an icebreaker game or something, get reacquainted again. Many of you are following me on twitter so you know what I’ve been up to. I thought about posting one of Amanda’s fun Top Ten Tuesday list of all the things I’ve been up to since we last spoke but man alive, I blacked out thinking about that. You would’ve been bored to tears. So instead I’m just gonna hit the ground running with what’s been on my mind-grapes. Oh, & for those of you who don’t know, I am slightly obsessed with the show 30Rock. Love it. LOVE. IT. I think my goal for last year was to work as many quotes from the show into every day conversation as I could & hubby can attest to that as I tried. He said, & I quote, “Please stop, you’re killing the magic”. So be ready to catch ‘em (Heather, so far you’re the only person who’s risen to the challenge of identifying them but I challenge others. Maybe I’ll start doing a contest or something).

Okay so this was a little painful! Easing back into blogging is definitely intimidating. I know I’ll get the feel for it again & don’t want to be scared away but geeeez I feel rusty! Okay wait someone wants to say hello:

Hey Conner, what’s up? You wanna tell them what? ‘kay, go ahead sweetie

Aww that’s so sweet, well…what…oh, sorry…

K, are you done? I don’t want to be rude…

….how ’bout now?

G’nite to you too.

I have re-stocked my shop for the last and final time. While my doors may not officially close, I doubt I will have any more opportunities in the future to stock it again. I am no longer doing commission orders so if you see something you like you better get it cuz once it’s gone, it’s gone (especially these girls caps that are perfect for fall). Thank you so much for your support, whether you bought something from me two years ago or just a few months ago. I appreciate it so much!

If you follow me on twitter you know I am slightly obsessed with poptarts. And by slightly obsessed what I really mean is I eat them all the friggin’ day long. I hadn’t eaten one in quite a few years (because I never really liked them all that much to begin with) and bought some for Max when he was going through his picky-food-phase, literally grabbing one of everything in the breakfast foods aisle hoping something wouldn’t end up being thrown on the floor in his fit of hunger-rage.

I decided to have one for breakfast one morning and, well, a switch was flipped and I CAN’T TURN IT OFF. I jokingly told my husband that I should make a poptart cake and then the idea was born. With some help of some of my fave twitter peeps I was encouraged to tackle this endeavor (encouraged…harrassed, what’s the difference, right?). A cake seemed too difficult but also kind of strange. I kept invisioning stacking poptarts on top of one another and then covered in icing? But then a pie could work. And not just a pie made of poptarts but a pie that tastes like one giant poptart.

Ahhhhh yes. This could be done.

It only took three attempts (and quite frankly I’m surprised it only took three) but I am now proud to share with you all - friends, fans, people who just want the recipe and will never return to this blog again - I give you the poptart pie. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Poptart Pie: Beta

Now, I have to say it’s in beta since I feel like it could use a little more tweaking, but that will be done on my own time. For now, it is still delicious and I must share the love. Oh, and it’s so easy!

1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp corn syrup
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 ready made pie crusts (you could opt to make your own but why?)

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) In medium bowl whisk sugar, cinnamon and flour. Mix in butter and corn syrup until all ingredients are blended. Pour into prepared pie crust, smoothing over entire crust and then cover with remaining pie crust. Poke holes in the top with a fork, toothpicks or a knife.

3) Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely

Maple Frosting

This is optional but why not go all the way. What’s a plain poptart? Not very good, that’s what!

2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp maple flavoring
2 tsp water

Combine all ingredients into a runny paste (you can add a smidge more water if it’s too thick or a little more sugar if it’s too runny). Pour over cooled pie and let set.

*For the icing, you don’t need to pour all the icing if you’re not a big fan, it’s totally your preference. I liked it with more, hubby said it would’ve been just as good with less, so he could taste more of the pie filling. Also the pie is better the next day, so make it the night before and indeed have it for breakfast. Or lunch. Or all day. I am not here to judge.

And for my next trick: A Frosted Strawberry Poptart Pie. Hold on tight, my friends, I think we have opened Pandora’s box.

Hello my peoples! This post will be short since I am tired and in nine short hours I will be facing a twelve mile run (ugggggggggg. I mean, er, yay! go running!). There is much on the horizon and while I am so excited about it, I am finding myself feeling so overwhelmed. And after cleaning my entire house from top to bottom (first form of therapy), I tinkered around with some new dies and let out some more of my pent up energy.

I’ve wanted this cupcake die for awhile now and it’s every bit as cute as I thought it would be. And red, pink and brown is such a sweet combination. Almost as sweet as pink and teal, but that’ll be the next attempt.

Okay, that is all I’ve got today. Have a fabulous weekend!

Back in January I went through an organizing overhaul and no closet, drawer or cabinet was safe. I can say I cleaned out and organized everything in this house. It was wonnnnnnnnnderful. Keeping it organized has been fairly easy (thanks in part to my understanding husband who complies with almost all the crazy rules I implemented
post-organization) yet my studio gets the raw end of the deal almost every time.

Since it is the first room you see when you enter our home, keeping it messy isn’t an option for me - drives. me. bananas. So when I’m done with a craft, I just stuff supplies back into drawers, cabinets, behind the island where it can fit that will not be seen. This type of unorganization makes things most difficult when I want to work on something fast and can’t find a darn thing.

I’ve really been into paper crafting lately so I decided to move out old craft supplies that I have temporarily lost interest in and were continuing to collect dust and organize the supplies that I was using now and those I will need for the upcoming holiday season. And like any good organizing project, it must get worse before it gets better, right? And what was assumed to be a small one-day project has turned into almost a week and I’m being so meticulous even my OCD is rolling it’s eyes at all the labeling and cross-referencing.

I tackled the paper first. I have lots of paper. I love it so much but even I did not realize just how much I had until I pulled it all out and began to separate it.

Some I had forgotten about so I am now super excited about knowing exactly where it will be so I can actually use. Crazy idea, I know.

So anyways, went from this (paper packs, card stock bundles still bound and in the original packaging)

to this

Ahhhhhh. Feels good.

I dissected all the paper packs, pulled them a part, labeled it all and everything.

And even my card stock got organized.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

And the best part is I forgot to make a card for a bridal shower I was going to and had to do it fast and it literally took two minutes to gather the supplies as apposed to the ten minutes it would’ve taken me because I couldn’t find the right shades of paper, inks or stamp set that I needed.

Stay tuned for the exciting sequel to this post: organizing all my stamps. It’s sure to be an award-winner. *snore*

Maybe not yours, but definitely mine! I hosted a baby shower for my dear friend Amanda last weekend, and while having a third child is (socially, unfortunately) not shower-worthy, she is having a baby girl after having two little boys so forget etiquette - throw some pink at the woman!

Pink and white was the theme, and please forgive the photo quality. I had to get photographer-friend-extraordinaire Kelly to show me how to use my external flash again (it had been almost two years since I had last used the thing and had forgotten how to use it *blush*) and then after, well, the difference it makes! But the before pictures were a nightmare to edit and I finally just gave up. You get the general idea, even if the color is a little wonky.

Anyways, cuppies are my favorite thing to do for a party or event. They are playful, adorable and so simple. And Michaels finally carries the larger icing tips now so the icing-to-cuppiecake ratio was split pretty even - just as much sweetness on top as cake on the bottom. Just how I like it!

More cookies from the fabulous Kelli Tripp (who will hopefully have a website soon if her designer would get her blog together. Wait…that’s me…oh right…)

Love Amanda’s excitement over my choice of plates and napkins. This woman is easy to please!

Amanda is a talker. When first meeting her, you never have to worry about awkward pauses with her - she can find any topic of conversation and go with it. This picture makes me laugh so hard because it looks like Amanda is sharing some salacious gossip (which Amanda never does) and her face shows her obvious feelings about it, and Jen is interested yet wary?

This is our good friend Keisha. She found out she was pregnant shortly after I did (with Max) and later found out she was having twin girls. After the initial congratulations and squeals, Tim says, “No fair, they get two!”.

Joy also has two little girls (not twins) who are the most precious, girly-girls you’ll ever meet. Amanda will not be lacking for moms in her life who know how to raise amazing little women.

This is Andrea and Meagan. I can post this picture of Andrea because one, it makes me laugh and two, she doesn’t read my blog and can’t get mad (heehee).

And we had a special guest at the shower - Sharon Obsorne! She heard Amanda was a fan and graciously made an appearance. (This is actually Kelly’s mom, Dawn, who is just as fabulous as Sharon herself).

I never understood all the gushing and babbling that happens at baby showers until I started having children, but to be with your closest girlfriends, celebrating another life that will be introduced into your life and your family’s as well, there’s something so special about it. Even more so when it’s a baby that you know has been hoped and prayed for for so long. Congratulations Amanda - we can’t wait to meet Addison Elizabeth!

So until the good Lord decides to bless our family with a little girl of our very own, I shall live vicariously through my friends who have them. Everyone tells me that in about ten years I’ll have all the little girls I can handle (following the boys with their tongues wagging!) but I’m holding out hope…and crossing fingers, toes, legs and anything else that our next addition will help balance out all the dude-ness in our house.