Carmel Apple Cupcakes - Baby Shower Part 2

 

I made The* Most* Amazing cupcakes for the baby shower.

Yes, I am bragging ,

but

They* Were* That* Good !

 

 

 

Since it is fall ,

I wanted to make a "fallish" dessert.

But whenever I have a gathering at my house ,

cupcakes are expected.

Maybe even  required.

 

I had found a recipe last year for Carmel Apple Cupcakes

and made them,

but it was a disappointment.

Way too messy and the flavor just wasn't there.

 

Sooo...

I went to my go to sites ,

Pinterest and Allrecipes.com

Allrecipes was the best source and I did find several.

 

I am NOT a "from scratch" kinda baker.

I am more of a " doctor up a mix " kinda baker.

 

Sooo...

I took the "ideas" from a few and made up my own.

 

Most of the recipes call for the carmel on top.

That's what I did last year ...

one word , MESSY.

And I'm big on surprises inside my cupcakes

plus I wanted the carmel to be significant.

I was afraid regular carmel would melt to fast and kinda fade away,

 

Sooo... ( again)

I choose to use Wherther's CHEWY carmels.

They are not quite as soft , and the flavor is phenomenal.

 

 

I also wanted them to be rich and not "spice cake like".

 

Sooo...

 ( tired of that yet )

I used a Butter Cake mix.

It's a yellow cake mix but you use butter instead of oil.

YUM !

 

Here's my recipe:

1 Butter Cake Mix

 ( I like to use Pillsbury, mostly cause of the DoughBoy on the box, plus there is pudding in the mix )

Mix as directed.

2 apples , finely chopped

( I used Jonathons but I think any tart apple would be great)

Mix the apples into the cake mix.

Fill the cup cake liners

(please use liners )

1/2 full or however full you get them, mine are never the same .

 

Side Note -

One of my favorite cupcake recipes Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes) says to put 3 tablespoons of batter then the peanut butter cup then more batter . Really , I am not a going to take the time to measure tablespoons of batter into the liners. Which is probably why I do not have consistently sized cupcakes. But I'm OK with that.

 

Then ,

 and this is the really important part,

poke an UNWRAPPED Wherther's CHEWY carmel into the cupcake batter !

Top off with some more batter and

WALAA !

Carmel apple cupcakes.

 

Almost as important as the cupcake is the frosting .

Right?

 I topped these delish little guys with a cream cheese frosting.

Not just any cream cheese frosting but a butter cream / cream cheese frosting.

Oh* My* God !

 

I found this recipe on Allrecipe.com also.
 I pretty much followed that one ,

 except,

 I did add more powdered sugar than was called for.

 

I kept saying these were the best cupcakes I had ever made.

Which wasn't good , cause I couldn't stay away from them.

But Hubs still prefers the Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes.

He's more into chocolate than me .

 

Make these !

Please.

Trust me .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diaper Cake - Baby Shower Part 1

 

 

 

 

We had another baby shower over the weekend.

That's right another shower ,

but different niece.

 

My sister will go from not being a grandma to

being the Grandma of 2 in the matter of a month !

She is BEYOND excited !

 

So anyway...

being the awesome Aunt I am,

I had another shower.

With the help of Emily and Sarah of course.

 

On Friday when we were supposed to be cleaning and decorating,

( had to get the Halloween down and Fall up )

but we were  having cocktails and cruising Pinterest for ideas instead.

 

I had made "cupcakes" out of onesies and receiving blankets for Spencer's shower,

( which I forgot to take pictures of )

and I wanted to make something different for Jenna.

 

Sooo...

we were drinking these yummy cocktails and cruising Pinterest,

( so many great ideas  )

and we decided to make a diaper cake.

 

In my day  ( long , long ago ) they made them out of cloth diapers

but I knew someone had to have made one out of disposable diapers,

and guess what ?

A LOT of people did .

So many cute ideas and two basic ways to make them.

 

We picked the method we thought would be easiest and fastest.

And it was.

I think we had this cute little guy whipped up in under 30 minutes.

 

The little monster head on top is actually a hat.

Em and I think the hat is what totally made the cake.

 

 

 

The "recipe" we used called for 40 diapers.

That's what we got but we didn't use that many.

Ours was a 2 layer Diaper Cake.

Of course , I didn't take any " in progress" pictures ,

but you can find a video on the basic method we used HERE.

We did not , however , use anything as a support in the middle.

I really don't think it was necessary.

 

 

But as with everything ,

 I changed it up a bit.

We rolled receiving blankets around the diapers and secured them with safety pins,

then we tied tulle around the whole thing.

We attached the monsters feet ( booties ) to the diapers with safety pins also.

We attached teething rings with tulle to the sides and made bows to look like his arms.

 

 

There are so many ways you can switch this up .

But I am so thrilled with how it turned out ,

 I hope I have an opportunity to make another one.

 

Stay tuned for Baby Shower Part 2.

I made the most AMAZING cupcakes !

I'll be sharing those soon.

 

 

 

Fall Gardening

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Here in my neck of the woods,

there is not much going on in the garden.

Pots have been emptied and put away.

The veggie garden has been cleaned off and composted.

And seed pods have been gathered to start in the spring.

It's all kind of sad to me.

I know , I know , it's nature's cycle .

The soil and the plants need to rest.

But you know I love colorful plants and sunshine.

The gray days this past week kinda got me down .

One of the best things I have found to get me out of that slump ,

is to look for fresh garden ideas for next year.

I found a new website that is sponsored in part by Miracle-Gro,

It's called the Gardenieres.

What I liked most about it was that it features Master Gardeners from different regions.

The Midwest Gardener is from Chicago .

While I'm not in an urban setting here , we have similar climate and seasonal issues.

They also have many tips on things from container gardens,

to amending soil ,

to pruning roses.

 

My one big fall project , after clean up that is,

is always to plant a few spring flowering bulbs.

Tulips being my favorite.

I always like to add bone meal when planting any spring bulbs.

Miracle-Gro has a product perfect for that,

Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Bone Meal .

If you need some garden inspiration ,

I encourage you to check out the Gardenieres website.

Also check out Milracle Gro's Facebook page.

Miracle-Gro Facebook page

If you're a gardener at all, you  really should.

Here's on last tidbit of fall inspiration.

Find beauty in the Fall

Happy Fall Y'all

 

A Dreary Week in the Trailerhood

As I said on FB yesterday,

I love living in the boonies,

but I HATE unreliable Internet and horrible cell service.

 

I have been unable to blog or download pictures of this weeks projects

because the wind was blowing,

it was rainy ,

plus there was lightening....

 

It's back up and running ( for now )

so if you're interested ,

I'll show you a little of what I've been up to this week .

 

We put a bigger window in the part of the shed I use for my sales.

 

 

First we had to cut the tin .

 

 

Then the wood.

 

 

Yah !

My new window !

Team work .

A bit of swearing ....

but it's in and that's all that matters.

 

We also purchased a wood burning stove off Craig's List to help heat the shed.

I'm pretty excited about that too.

It was actually our first Craig's List purchase.

Can you believe that ?

Well, it was.

 

Wednesday is Addie day.

Her Mommy forgot her bag for work ,

so we met her half way at a little park.

It was really warm yet ,

but gray and drizzly.

Addie had a great time.

 

 

She never likes to leave the "play park".

 

 

So ,

after " two more minutes "

about a dozen times .

Grandma bribed her with tootsie rolls.

And we left.

Hey,

A grandma's got to do what a grandma's got to do ...

Just sayin....

 

I did get a few projects made this week in between rain showers.

But  , of course,

did not get pictures of most of them ....

 

I had made the cutest little foot stool with left over fabric from Sis's dining room chairs

( which I don't think I've shared yet either )

 Addie just loved it  and thought she needed one for her room .

I had this old one just sitting in the shed.

 

 

Time for a little make over.

I unscrewed the legs to paint them.

I have found it works really well to push them into a cardboard box.

 

 

She wanted blue fabric with kittys on it .

Huh ?

Where does she come up with this stuff ?

 

Anyway...

I found some really cute fabric that matched her room with a cupcake pattern.

You all know we LOVE cupcakes in this family ....

 

Not the best picture ,

but you know me ...

 

I also repurposed a chair for Sis for her new craft room .

Yep , you guessed it .

No pictures...

 

AND

I made some wine bottle crafts

( from Pinterest )

for the next sale.

 

PLUS,

I've been working on some benches from beds...

 

I promise to try to post some of those pics next week.

 

Ok.

Maybe I accomplished more that I thought.

It was just so gray and dreary here in the Trailerhood ,

that I just felt cross.

Which is my new favorite word.

I'm watching way too much Thomas the Tank Engine lately.

But cross is a much nicer word than I usually use :)

 

One last picture for the week.

 

 

I made this tutu for Addie"s first birthday.

She HATED it !

Now (two years later ) she loves it ....

Go figure.

 

Hope you all had a great productive week !

Sis and I are hitting a few local craft shows tomorrow

and stopping by one of my favorite antique stores.

 

I'll talk to you next week !

With more pictures .

Promise :)

 

 

Wordless ( Almost ) Wednesday

 

 

I've been working my tail off to get ready for my sale this weekend.

I thought I would share a few of my displays.

 

 

 

I've been having a lot of fun with my Circut machine !

 

Funky chairs , colorful tables and chalkboards !

 

 

Marigold yellow ,

my favorite shade of yellow for fall.

 

 

Everything at my sale is made or repurposed by me .

My creative juices have been flowing .

 

 

 

 



 

 

A Special Changing Table for a Special Baby

 

I've been getting a little flack for not posting enough .

That's OK with me .

That means people like to read what I write.

And maybe miss me a little bit :)

 

It's not that I haven't done projects.

I've been doing tons of them.

I just haven't taken the time to blog about them .

 

Well,

I have one I just have to share .

 

Over the weekend ,

Sarah , Emily and I hosted a baby shower for my Darling Niece, Spencer.

Early on in her pregnancy ,

she had asked me to be on the look out for a changing table.

This was before her mother ( my Sis ) became obsessed with buying every baby item

at every garage sale we went to.

 

But would let MY niece have a plain old ordinary changing table ?

That would be a big

 NO , I DON'T THINK SO !

Nope...

 

So I waited till I found the perfect table.

The right size.

The right shape.

Character.

 

 

And I found all that in this old sewing machine table.

It even had drawers for baby necessities.

 

I cleaned her up.

Scraped the loose varnish off the top.

Hubs cut a board to fit  where the sewing machine used to live,

( didn't want baby falling through the hole )

which I then upholstered.

 

TaDa !

 

I had a little issue with the drawer pulls.

As in , it didn't have any ...

and

new ones didn't fit the old holes .

What to do ?

hmmm...

IMPROVISE !

 

 

I found these little white porcelain knobs.

 

 

I thought they were perfect.

Very 'babyish".

Yes ?

 

Here is Spencer's perfectly imperfect changing table.

In her perfect nursery.

 

 

The nursery is full of repurposed and DIY .

Which makes me one very proud Auntie :)

 

 

 

 

 

My Princess turns 3

I know , I know ...

haven't posted for a while.

I've been really busy getting ready for another sale.

Painting everything in sight .

(More on that in another post.)

 

 

Last week my little Addie turned 3.

 Where has the time gone since her parents brought her home ?

I guess it's true ,

the older you get , the faster the time goes.

 

Addie is Princess CRAZY !

She knows all of their names and what color dress they wear.

Princess Ariel

 

Princess Belle

 

I bought her this dress

 ( after her birthday , you can never have too many princess dresses , right )

 thinking she would think it was Cinderella.

But  you really can't fool her.

She said ," it blue , but it not Cinderella."

What could I say ...

She knows her princess'.

Once again , I was in charge of birthday cakes and cupcakes.

Addie has so many people that love her ,

that her Mommy decided we should have two parties .

( ... I had nothing to do with that ,,,, )

Sooo...

I made not one but two cakes .

Now,

 I am NOT a cake decorator.

AT.ALL.

I was really a little nervous whether I could pull this off.

 

 

I was going to make her a princess cake ( make that 2 )

I wanted to make the old fashioned "Barbie " cakes like I had when I was young and my girls had too.

This is what I came up with .

 

Then ...

 I made another one.

My mantra became ,

Frosting is like spray paint , it can hide a multitude of sins.

If I didn't like the way it looked ,

I just added more frosting "stars" .

 

I used my go- to wedding cake batter  and butter cream frosting recipes.

(Which you can find by following the link or follwing me on Pinterest.)

 

It wasn't really a Princess Cake , but close enough I guess.

When grandpa walked in with the cakes ,

her eyes got big , and she said ,

" I get a fork ! "

Of course Mommy said, " No!"

But it was all this Grandma needed to hear :)

 

My princess has come a long way from then,

 

to now...

 

Time needs to slow down !

Really ,

it does!