birthday blues

with my birthday coming up this sunday (the big 2-6!) i've been feeling a little bit of the birthday blues, you could probably compare me to eeyore.

my mom and sister recently moved back to our home state of Oklahoma and it has been a very tough transition for me...i'm the daughter that enjoys showing up at my mom's house unannounced just because i can; i think it's more fun that way! 

my sister graduated high school this year and started her first year at a community college near my mom's house in Moore and she is working part time at Buffalo Wild Wings (Yummmm!). i am so proud of her and can't wait to see her again....birthdays / life just aren't the same without her!

maybe i'll make some cupcakes tonight, that always helps...remember "you can't buy happiness but you can buy cupcakes, and that's practically the same thing"

until next time...have a great hump day! xoxo

S is for Snickerdoodles

recently my boyfriend and I started a weekly tradition, sunday dinner at his mom's house. his mom makes a new fun dish each week and i bring the dessert. sunday dinners have become something that we plan around and look forward too. this week i made snickerdoodles for dessert...

side note: i used the ribbon and another box from my last trip to Michael's

until next time...happy baking xoxo

sometimes all you need is a can of paint.

happy monday to all and i hope you had a wonderful weekend...i know i did! for the last few weeks my boyfriend and i have been staring at our side table trying to figure out the perfect place for it in our apartment. it finally hit me last weekend....if i change the color i will probably be able to find a nice place for this piece in our home. our house is mostly grey and white with a little bit of black, so the original bright red color of this piece didn't exactly work well with anything. after much debate we decided that a couple coats of paint would be best and of course we agreed on white.

this saturday dustin and i headed to Vista Paint (they have the best prices!) to pick up a quart of paint. i assumed this would be an easy process, all i needed was a can of white paint. not as easy at it sounds, there are about 500 different shades of "white" and after going back and forth with the gentlemen that was helping me, i ended up with the perfect shade of Egg White (only $8 a quart and $0.84 for a brush). i started by lightly sanding and then painted a light coat of paint and waited for it to dry completely before i added a second and third coat. i'm pretty happy with how it came out and i can't wait to go to Ikea to stock up on goodies to add to my "new" side table.

before...

after...

 until next time...happy painting xoxo

they're called cupcake liners...not pancake liners

i don't know about you guys but i get so frustrated when my cupcake liners flatten and they no longer fit correctly in my cupcake pan, how can i possibly achieve the perfect cupcake with cupcake liners that look like pancake liners? so last night a sought out to find a way to make sure my liners stay in tact. i was going through my kitchen trying to find something, anything that would help....and of course i found one the thing that should have been my first guess....my handy dandy cupcake pan! i placed each stack of 25 in a separate spot and let them sit for 30 minutes and when i pulled them out they were good as new!

such an easy idea and you can use something that is already in your cabinet

until next time...happy baking xoxo

peanut butter birthdays

today is my friend Sarah's birthday and because she is a lover of all things purple and all things peanut butter i decided to combine the two for her on her special day. so i set out to find the perfect combination of purple party favors to jazz up her cubicle. here's what i found:

now that i have all of my supplies, the madness can begin. first i started by making chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting, basically a large peanut butter cup.

the finished product -- all supplies from above were used (all from Michael's with a 40% off coupon)

don't you love the purple glitter bag with the matching ribbon and of course the monogrammed sticker! the bag has a loofa, bubble bath and a nail file from bath and body works (also used a $10 off coupon). i want people to know that it's not hard to put a fun gift together even when you are on a budget. in total this cost $30 and i have 10 more yards of ribbon, an entire set of stickers and 2 more cupcake boxes that i can use for the next birthday.

next time i think i'll do red on black...what do you think?

until next time...happy baking and happy birthday to my wonderful friend Sarah who inspired this post xoxo

it's all about the presentation

in my last post i talked about my house being the crafters version of hoarders. i have recently become very into ribbon and matching stickers. this probably seems pretty juvenile seeing as i am a almost 26 year old woman, but the stickers make great gift tags. i've never been a fan of huge gift tags that dangle around ribbon, i think it takes away from the elegance.

any time i am going to visit someone or even if i just feel like surprising someone with a sweet treat, i pull out my wilton cupcake boxes that i picked up at michael's with my 50% off coupon (if you haven't already downloaded the phone app, do it now, i save a ton of money!), a colorful ribbon that matches the person i am delivering too and of course a matching monogrammed sticker to address the box.

see my examples below.

boxes - pack of 3 $4.99 at michael's
ribbon - 1 spool $2.99
stickers - 1 pack $2.99
total price = $11.00/plus tax
but if you use your handy dandy michael's coupon you can save up to 50%

until next time...happy baking xoxo