Cupcakes: Take 2

Wait, where is Take 1 you might ask. Too bad, it's already been eaten! They were Chocolate Salted Caramel cupcakes, but I would call them more Mocha cupcakes with Salted Caramel frosting. They were yummy and are now gone.
I've been having this cupcake "thing" lately, I think it started at our school's auction fundraiser. Our table won a bunch of cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. I had the Lemon Drop (YUM!) and then split a Chocolate Salted Caramel one with frosting that was just amazing!! They've been on the brain since then.
So, today in an effort to test-drive a recipe for a friend's birthday treat, I made Carrot Ginger Cupcakes with an Orange Ginger icing both recipes from MarthaStewart.com.

I'm not sure how this is different from a muffin other than the frosting on top. I'd be happier calling it a muffin and eating it without the frosting. If you know the difference between a cupcake and a muffin, other than frosted vs. unfrosted, please leave a comment and enlighten me. Also, please know that I belong to the camp that believes that Costco muffins are cupcakes without frosting.
Now, don't get me wrong...the cake is yummy, but not quite what I'd consider a cupcake in texture. The frosting was really flavorful and yummy, but not super fluffy considering the amount of dairy in it, and a little too cream-cheesy for my liking, but great combo of flavors. The ginger and orange together...mmmmmm.
This would be really good over your favorite gingerbread recipe!
If I were to try this again, I'd halve the cream cheese, up the butter and conf. sugar, and use milk or cream to smooth as needed. Also, thinking this might make a good loaf recipe...
I'm on a roll, but I'm not going to be so ambitious as trying a different one each week, but 2 a month is pretty doable!
I definitely will be attempting a Chocolate-Bacon-Maple Buttercream concoction I tried from Whole Foods about a month ago...stay tuned!

Sunny days...

...sweepin' the clouds away! It's been a Sesame Street kind of week, you know friendly neighbors, sunshine, the occasional grouch. :)
Spent some time outside with the kiddos in the yard -had some fun, did some work.
Here is an example of fun my son and I had:

I was pretty pleased with my no-previous-practice Cookie Monster, but my son added the verbage and the giant chocolate chip cookie to make it even better! We had some other characters hanging out in the driveway too, but C.M was my favorite.

 Now, for a couple of challenges:

 A little Color Throwdown, and mix in some Mojo Monday

And you get:

Believe it or not, the green in this card is Old Olive...it looks way brighter, thanks to the fabulous sunshine we've got this morning. I loved the color combo in this weeks color throwdown, and the sketch was simple enough to my liking, but with enough elements to challenge me.
I used: Upsy Daisy set; Old Olive, Marina Mist, Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede c/s; Pumpkin Pie Patterns DSP (Brights pad); Old Olive & Versamark inks; 1 3/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches; Watercolor Crayons (Old Olive, Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie, & a little Daffodil Delight); Big Shot Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder; Big Designer Buttons (Springtime Vintage -Olive); 1/8" taffeta ribbon -Marina Mist.

Enjoy!

Christmas is coming...

12/20/2010
Thought I would take a break from cookie baking, etc. to post what will likely be my last blog of the year.
I just wanted to share a few things I've been working on, but as I mentioned before, I can't post many so I won't spoil any Christmas surprises.

(fade to new year)

Happy New Year everyone!!

I started getting this post ready some months back and got swallowed up by the holidays and the busy-ness of whatever rolled my way.

I've missed you!

Here are a couple of bags I made as Christmas gifts:

Gifts I made also included button bracelets, ornaments, tons of cookies and goodies, snuggies for the kids, and one for my brother-in-law that included a matching one for his rifle. That was a hoot to make and give.

Hubby was busy too and made some beautiful wooden puzzles.

The new year has just flown by so far, I once again volunteered to lead  a class auction art project (same teacher, different child this time). Again, I opted to do a quilt. This time, instead of having the kids draw on it, they got to design their own squares, which my helpers and I translated to fabric. It turned out amazing!! Here's a sneak peek:

I'm so excited to attend the auction and see how it does -every dollar counts for the schools in this economy!!

If you missed it the first time, here's a link to the first class quilt I did.



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My oh my! What a Thanksgiving week we have had. The week started off with snow -the kids only had one day of school, the rest were cancelled for snow. This is quite unusual in the Seattle-area especially this early!
It was fun to have everyone home though, take the kids to the sledding hill, and have homemade hot chocolate (like mom & grandma made) laden with mini-marshmallows.

Roads cleared up enough to do last minute shopping at the grocery store (along with the rest of the neighborhood!), and make it to my sister's for a blessed holiday meal.

Yesterday, my daughter and I, along with some fellow Girl Scout troop friends, participated in the Macy's Holiday Parade. I had such a good time -totally able to "anonymously" ham it up! Cannot wait to do it again!

Today we did some shopping, and managed to avoid the crazy crowds of yesterday. We were also able to do all of our holiday decorating, with the exception of our tree which we won't put up for another couple weeks. I am soooo excited -love coming into the decorated house!

Bread and Jam for Nancy

I love the story "Bread and Jam for Frances" by Lillian and Russell Hoban. I love the images of that little badger girl eating her slice of white bread with a spread of purpley-pinkish-red homemade jam. I actually found a stamp some years ago (over 10 dare I say), with my favorite image.
I made my first batch of homemade jam this year today, and there is just something about homemade jam that brings out the nostalgia in me. To me berry jams just capture the pure essence of summer. You can taste the sun and the soil that nourished the berries, you can taste a warm afternoon, you can even catch a mild summer breeze. It always amazes me when I bite into a pb&j topped with homemade berry jam -the sunny places it takes me.

I love jam!!!

*Yawn & Stretch*

Good morning,
I thought today, I would blog just to blog...no cards or other projects to share today. Just hanging out, taking a breather from a busier than anticipated, and slightly sleep-deprived week. Hubby is off today, perhaps we will take the baby down to the chocolate shop for a drink (they've got great coffee, tea, etc.), or maybe I'll take a nap (not likely). DD is in her first year of Girl Scouts, and we have been having fun with cookie sales. She has been achieving the goals she has set for herself, and we've been having "geeky" fun figuring out the most popular cookie flavors by tallying and making graphs (I'm pretty sure I said "geeky" -we like math). Baby is busy cutting teeth, scootching across the floor, and finding her loud voice. DS is crazy Lego building constantly -he'd go 24/7 if we let him. DH has a great project started out in his "man cave" can't say anything here as it's a gift, and well, spoiling surprises just isn't cool, but I suspect his weekend will consist of quality time out there makin' noise and sawdust. :) I am attempting to re-organize my crafting/stamping stuff, cleaning shelves parting with supplies I haven't used lately, etc. Once I'm finished, I'll post a list so any of you out there looking for retired SU! supplies can take a peek.
Well, it's time to get the kids off to school, and I've been up for 5 hours, so I think I'll let Daddy walk them to school, and I may go catch a few winks before the baby gets up.
Have a great day, and I'll be back soon!

Stamping Cruise 2009

Ahoy! Land Ho...the Stamping cruise has sailed and made it's last docking in Seattle on a beautiful fall day.
This is also where we started our journey!
The next stop was in beautiful Victoria, B.C. where friends shopped, sipped tea, and enjoyed the beautiful inner harbour on a sunny day

Then onto Nanaimo, B.C. aka: "The Sunporch of Canada" and/or "The Bathtub Capital of the World".
What a beautiful city! The weather was amazing and it was so fun to see lots of families and folks walking their dogs out and about. My sister-in-law and I had a nice time wandering around and doing some shopping for our families.

Isn't it gorgeous??? It was a great trip with amazing weather, good food, great conversations, and of course tons of stamping projects and fun times!!

This is post 1 of at least 2 for this year's cruise...the next one, I'll feature many of the projects we did.

Thanks to all of those who joined us and HUMONGOUS THANKS to my amazing demonstrators who helped with so much and designed many projects -you are wonderful!!!

Looking forward to sailing with you all again soon!