Camo Cupcakes!

 My sweet little nephew was born last week and his daddy asked me to make some Camo Cupcakes for visitors to enjoy while in the hospital.  I'm pretty proud with how they came out!

Doogie's Game Day Dip

Hello blog world! It's been awhile since I've posted anything here lately and i'm very sorry for that!  Today, what I have for you is actually a concoction of my husband's!  Today is the LSU vs. Alabama game and he REALLY wanted some chips and dip (b/c let's face it, what's football without some chips and dip?). 

Here's what you need...
1 lb. ground beef
16 oz. Velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel (we used w/ lime and cilantro)
1 packet Taco Seasoning
1 can Refried beans (we used spicy)
4 oz. Sour Cream
Bag Chips

Here's what you do...
Brown your meat. Add the juice of the Rotel and just a little water. Mix in the Taco Seasoning.  Cut up the Velveeta and add to mixture.  Add half the Rotel. Continually mix until cheese is melted (otherwise, cheese will stick to bottom of pan).  Add the rest of Rotel and Refried Beans.  Stir.  Add Sour Cream.  Stir.  ENJOY!!

Homemade Peanut Butter

First of all, let me say that Pinterest is AWESOME! I'm prolly going to have to start posting more things on this blog other than just food stuffs...that's how proud I am of my creations! And Pinterest has a lot to do with it!  Just the other night, I tried my hand at homemade peanut butter that I had heard from Pinterest and from my sister-in-law.  My sis explains it a whole lot simpler, so I suggest you go to her website...(let me brag on her for just a sec...she's doing this 50 Pinterest challenge with her daughter where she picks 50 different projects...whether it be food or crafts...and they do them together and then she blogs about them.  She's got some pretty neat things they've done.  So, check out her website-- My Awesome Sis)

Boy or Girl??

The hubs and I are having a baby (yay), and we decided that we wanted to tell everyone a fun way.  So I made cupcakes (of course)!

It's a boy!!



IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE...

NO! IT'S SUPERMAN!

Thanks B.M. and J.C. for helping me out! I had a lot of fun with you both!

Tip: DO NOT try to "flood" a cake like this.  It's messy and it just does not work!

The Perfect "Pear"

Over the weekend, I made a Wedding Shower cake for our youth pastor at our church and his new bride (she's so sweet).  The theme was everything pear b/c John and Shauna are the perfect "pear."  This beast of a cake had to weigh no little than 35 pounds and had 4 layers of yummy goodness.  The layers were separated by a Nutella icing which was a bigger hit than I was hontestly expecting!  So, cuddos on that!  Also, that green stuff is my first attempt at homemade fondant!  Took

me and my husband 2 HOURS to perfect!  All it is, is melted marshmallows and enough powered sugar in it to where it's no longer sticky and makes a "dough-like" blob.  Mix in some green and yellow food coloring and you've got yourself the color of a pear!

Plexus-Slim Party!

Yesterday I got the pleasure of making a cake for 2 special ladies.  They recently became Emerald Ambassadors!  Not even sure what all this entails, but I do know you get a cake for doing it!  So...Good job Joy and Rachel! Way to Go!

HOMEMADE CAKE STANDS

Ok, it's project time!  My fancy cake stand broke during our moving from one house to the other...the one I had gotten for my wedding and when I looked at the glass, I noticed that it was very thin and that it was really only a matter of time before it broke.  So, I got on Pinterest and found some cute cake stands that you can make out of household items!  This sparked my interest.  So, I got to work.  What you need is an old plate and an old glass (I went to our local Goodwill/second hand store and bought 3 of each), and any color spray paint that strikes your fancy.  Lay out some newspaper to protect your surfaces and start spraying! Spray on a few coats just to give it that solid color.  Next glue the glass onto the bottom of the plate and voila! A cake stand!  Reviews I've read said not to use super glue, Gorilla glue, or hot glue.  I used this stuff called "Instant Krazy glue--ADVANCED" and it seems to work perfectly.  Now, these stands are NOT food safe, so please use a doily or cupcake liners when using them. 

HAPPY SPRAYING!

(P.S. I was just told-and just in time, too-to glue the glass to the plate before you spray the underside of the plate b/c the paint acts as a barrier and if you spray it first and then glue it, the glass could pop right off)

Instagram



I  just discovered the Instagram App on my phone and have been having so much fun taking pictures of my desserts!  Those cookies, it makes me think that I can reach into the computer and actually touch one of those things (I can't, I tried). These desserts I made are for Sunday morning for our coffee shop that we have at our church.  We sell them and the proceeds go to Missions.  We are a very missions-oriented church and we are pretty excited about it!  The coffee is delicious and the atmosphere is contagious!





BIGGEST ORDER YET

Just got a phone call from a good friend of mine, wanting to order some cupcakes for her daughter's 5th birthday party for this Sunday!  So excited!  I had shown her some pictures of things I had done in the past, and she wants me to make 3 dozen tye-dye cupcakes!  That's the most I've ever done for someone before but, I can do it!  Pretty excited about it! Here's a pic of them!

Happy Birthday A.D.!

Breakdown...

Last night, I had what can only been considered a nervous-breakdown.  My brother-in-law is having a cook-off/bake-off at his work this morning.  After much coaxing and a little frustration my husband (love you, babe!) decided that he was going to enter the cook-off.  So, since he did that, I decided that I would enter the bake-off.  The only problem is: I had to work this morning! Boo on that! So, my husband was going to have to take my baked goods to the judges for me.  After  I got off work last night, we went to the store and bought supplies for him for the cook-off and then bought supplies for me.  We didn't get home until 8:00pm and I still didn't have anything baked yet.  At about 10:30, I'm not even done decorating and I more or less just crumble.  I'm exhausted, I'm irritated, I'm hot, and I just want a shower.  My husband and I get into, shall we say, SPAT.  He's mad, I'm mad.  I feel like he should know everything going through my head without me even saying so and that he should just KNOW my moods.  That's not to much to ask...right?  (Love: if you're reading this, I am so very sorry...again).  All this to say, I finally got to bed at 1:15am.  Took me about 15 minutes to get to sleep b/c my feet were hurting so bad, but my cupcakes turned out good.  I'm actually pretty proud of them.  I made some more high heel cupcakes.  Have a happy Saturday! (by the way...my husband won the cook-off! Holla! I, however, did not win the bake-off.  What's up with that?? Some lady that made a pecan pie did.  Who likes pecan pie?)

OOOH, LA LA

Great for a Bachelorette party!  Heart-shaped cookies ressembling lingerie!  Ohh, LA LA!

Tye Dye!

 Who DOESN'T love colorful things, much less colorful cupcakes?? Not me! I love working with color.  If you are looking into to start baking cakes, I highly suggest you start playing with colors first and then work your way up.  Trust me, you will not be

disappointed! And neither will your consumers!  I think my all-time favorite thing to do is to make the cake/cupcakes look all prim and proper on the outside, but have a party on the inside!

"Oh the places you'll go"

This cake was for the lady that contacted me on a Wednesday wanting it for the coming Saturday.  It was a close call, but doing this cake allowed me to know that I can make cakes in a pinch!  This was for a young lady that had just graduated college in Early Childhood Education and the pictures on the white tier were from lesson plans that she had put together and taught while student teaching.  There's the Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Changing of the Leaves, a Shark, Crab, and the 6-Eyed Monster.  And the inside is dyed rainbow for Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You'll Go."  I had a lot of fun with this cake.  Everything is edible.  The figures are made out of Airheads.

HIGH HEEL CUPCAKES (the real ones)

Here are the REAL high heels.  This is what they are SUPPOSED to look like.  I am so very proud of these cupcakes! And that bow is so adorable.  It's made out of a stick of gum! And, I've had alot of people ask me what the sole of the shoe was made out of.  That, my dear blogsters, is a graham cracker dipped in white chocolate.  And the heel is one of those Pirouettes cut in half.  I bought these at "Ross" for $1.99/canister.  They normally go for $5 or more at any other store.  If you've never been to a "Ross" before, I highly recommend you go to one...PRONTO!  That's

the first place I go when looking for  baking supplies.  Basically, it's a glorified Goodwill but everything is brand-new (everything still has the tags).  And they sell everything from kitchen supplies, to clothes, to furniture.  Did I mention that it's AWESOME??

Happy Graduation!

Happy Graduation to all Graduates!

Nervous-making...

I had a lady facebook me on Wednesday night wanting me to make her a cake for THIS Saturday!  Talk about close! And of course I'm making some cupcakes for another cliet for tomorrow, too!  But I can do this!  It's going to be an interesting night tonight.  I'm going to need some coffee!  The cupcakes for the 1st grad party are going to be high heels and I am so pumped about making them.  I feel it's time for me to seek redemption for making really, REALLY sucky heels while practicing.  Don't judge me by this picture please! And you must know that it took everything I had in me to share this picture with the blogging world!  It was around midnight and I had just finished making the baby shower cake.  Thankfully, however, the lady wants black, white, and pink for her daughter's graduation colors--because red is just horrible! More pics to come and I PROMISE they will be better! :)

Mums for Moms

Our church has a coffee shop inside called "Common Grounds Cafe" and they decided that they would like to sell some cupcakes to the church goers.  They were alot of fun to make!  Want some? Come visit our church- Life Church.  Need directions? Send me an email!

Baby Shower

This was my first time to make a 2-tiered cake.  There was a bunch of stress and anxiety involved with this cake, but i'm pretty proud with how it turned out.  Thanks, JW, for giving me this opportunity!

I just love donuts, don't you?

Chinese Birthday



Icing noodles, green tootsie roll

broccoli, starburst eggs and pork

For my husband's birthday, I asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner and what kind of cake he wanted.  He wanted Chinese food...for both!







Apple Cupcakes

These are some apple cupcakes that I made for my sister's (gotta love sisters!) mother-in-law's birthday.  They were my first BIG project and let me tell you...they took some TIME and effort.  I thought "Yeah, sure sis, I'll make some cupcakes for you.  It'll take about an hour."  Um....negative!  But as much time as they took to create, that's when I fell in love with creating cake into "art."



The process of making the apples.
cupcake, icing, donut, icing, sugar



Creative Desserts

I love to bake.  I love to create.  Why can't I have the best of both worlds??  Thanks to Hello, Cupcake and their incredible cookbooks (that I can read and re-read for hours on end), I can do just that!  It all started with a birthday party when I decided that I was sick and tired of just a plain-ole birthday cake with chocolate icing and those crunchy sugar "Happy Birthday" candies.  I thought, "It's time to funk things up."  So, I went out and bought me a bag of M&M's and the rest is history!


My First Cake!