Look ma, no prepackaged mix!

In my mind, there is nothing better than a nice, fluffy cupcake. It is always easy to use a cake mix and just whip up some cupcakes, but I have been on the hunt to find a made-from-scratch cupcake that would knock my socks off. Lucky for me, I was introduced to this website. My next decision...which one of these cupcakes would I make... FIRST. Because at this point, I feel like I want to try every single cake she has posted. I scrolled through the last few months of posts and found a recipe I knew I would try first. Pumpkin cupcakes made my mouth instantly start watering...and the BEST part...I had almost ALL of the ingredients for the recipe minus the pumpkin puree. There is nothing worse than reading the title of some recipe and then I see what ingredients it calls for...and half of the items I have NEVER heard of. Lucky for me, I have heard of everything on this recipe. Thank goodness. Since Bruce was on his way to Colorado today, I had a lot of down time. The first batch I made was destined for the Queen of the Holy Rosary Queen's Ladies bake sale. I made the cupcakes, tried one, LOVED it, so I knew donating them for a good cause would be my best decision. I also love any excuse to bust out the BEST wedding gift ever...my Kitchen Aid mixer. Woot! Here is the cupcake batter getting mixed. Yum!

I am TERRIBLE at filling cupcake cups so today I decided to use a mixing cup to help pour the batter. Made my life so much easier. The recipe called to fill cups about 3/4 full...hell if I know exactly what 3/4 full is...so I made my best guess.

Not only does this recipe spell out the steps for the batter but also for a tasty eggnog buttercream frosting. Yea baby yea! Here are some of the cakes cooled and iced! Nothing fancy...but that is my next project...become a professional cupcake decorator.

I have my eye on snickerdoodle cupcakes to try next. To be continued... MB

Champagne cork monogram

Well I told you I would post on a champagne cork monogram...Im just surprised that I was motivated enough to get it all done in one evening. After a long day of teaching, I have next-to-no energy to do anything but lay on the couch. Not tonight! I started the monogram before my soccer game and polished it off after the game. Bruce's sister and husband are on a huge champagne kick lately. They have saved a lot of their corks and the last time we saw them, they handed us a plastic bag full of corks. I guess Bruce had a craft project of his own in mind?! Who knows. I was shocked when we brought this bag home. Anyway, about a month ago I saw this post from a friend and really liked the idea! The monogram was made with wine corks, but I figured it would be just as easy to substitute champagne corks as well. With the corks ready to go, and my hot glue gun close by, all I needed was a large wooden letter. I stopped by Michael's after work today and with a trusty 50% off coupon, I spent next to nothing on this project. Woot! I did a "dry run" with the corks and placed them on the wooden letter in the positions I wanted.

Once I had everything where I wanted it, I started gluing. This was a super easy project and I think it turned out pretty cool.

MB

Button monogram

Alright, so I have started "following" the Archivers blog. I enjoy looking for new ideas on what I can do to take my scrapbooking to the next level. The lady who writes the blogs recently talked about this website called Pintrest. I have heard about it from a few friends but I never gave it a second thought. After reading the latest Archivers post, I HAD to check out Pintrest for myself. O.M.G. This website is AUH-mazing. It has made me feel like I can be creative even with my basic knowledge of gluing and sewing. I have a few projects lined up but the button monogram was the first one I wanted to try. As soon as I saw this post I immediately thought of my niece, Simone. She doesnt have too much hanging on her walls and I know when I was her age, I LOVED having my name all over my room. Her favorite color is pink (and has been for a few years now) so I knew I needed to make this button monogram out of nothing but shades of pink. I went to Joann's one weekend and purchased all of the necessary materials.

The post where I got this idea used a fabric wrapped canvas but I wanted something a little cheaper. I went back to the wood craft department and picked a decent sized wood plaque. I knew I wanted to give this monogram a "soft" look so I wanted some batting to use between the wood and the fabric wrap. My biggest issue was going to be the fabric. Ugh. I HATE shopping for fabric. My mom has always talked about the remnants area of the fabric department so I went straight there. Sure enough...I spotted some fabric that I KNEW I wanted...without having a clue as to what I really wanted. Perfect. Pink satin fabric. SOLD! I picked up a few packs of buttons and I was on my way. I got home and got started right away. I simply glued the batting to the wood board and then did the same with the pink fabric. Piece of cake.

I knew the hardest step of this whole process would be button placement. I had to have done a dry run with the buttons at least 10 times before I finally got a result that I found acceptable...and then I started over and did it again. FINALLY! Done! I busted out the hot glue gun, stuck those puppies to the fabric, and attached a pink ribbon so the monogram could hang from the wall. DONE! I will wrap this and give it to the little lady for Christmas. Of course I got a Barbie toy as a back up...just in case.

My next project...a monogram made out of Champagne corks... MB

MNF

Well after the MNF game, it was a loooooong week. I am so glad I made it to the weekend without any kids being harmed. ;) Those Chiefs always know how to keep their fans on the edge of their seats. After a long game, they decided to tie the score and send the game into overtime. What an intense game! Bruce and I headed out to Arrowhead with Jim and my cousin, Jake.

We were out in the parking lot as the gates opened and had a good time tailgating. We played washers and cooked some brats on the Weber grill. Once we headed in, all the fans were handed white rally towels. It was such a sight to see all those towels waving in the air. The pictures do not do it justice.

The Chiefs ended up pulling out the victory!!! It was such a great game and even though we got home late (midnight), it was well worth it! Thank goodness for the weekend and sleeping in! And it was daylight savings time! Woot!