Monday, May 20, 2013

9th Birthday Party - Candy Spoons, Party Favors, Water Bottles and Merci Notes

I debated on doing separate posts for the birthday party items, but decided to just put it all in one post.

Where to start.....The chocolate cake will show up in another post, but it was great and devoured!

The water bottles:  I took off the regular labels and replaced them with Paris paper.  They needed some extra strong adhesive at the seam.  I cut out pink circles and 9's, and black scallops and attached them to each bottle.  The plates had a white scallop, black circle and white circle; and I was going to copy this pattern, but I did not have the right circle punches and had already gone overboard.   They looked good   on the table.  When they ended up on the floor, the table and sticking to foreheads, I was glad I didn't go to any more effort! :)

The party favors:  I bought the zebra treat purses at Hobby Lobby and decorated them with a pink circle, black scallop, pink scallop and an Eiffel Tower bling.  The purses contained a string of pearls from Mardi Gras Outlet, a sticker that matched the plates, and candy spoons.  The pearls were very affordable and thankfully, I purchased them before Mardi Gras because currently they are out of stock.  The candy spoons were the main item for the favors.  I had first seen the idea on Sweetapolia's Blog, and I did a trial run a few months before the party.  I found black "formal" plastic spoons at Party City; they are a little bigger than a regular plastic spoon and the handles were more decorative.  I set the spoons on a jelly roll pan with the handles propped on the pan edges; this way the spoons were level.  I melted white chocolate and placed a small amount in each spoon.  I then sprinkled them with different kinds of pink sprinkles, pink disco dust, and silver stars.  After they were set up, I put each one in a cellophane bag and tied the bag with a pink and black Eiffel Tower ribbon.  Since I usually run out of ribbon, I had bought 2 rolls.  I could have used a third roll!  The ribbon was wide so it took more to make a nice bow. I managed to get enough to tie each bag, and have a piece left over for Little C to wear in her hair.

The party was at a dance studio.   The girls had an hour long hip hop class (to Toby Mac music), then ate lots pizza and chocolate cake.  Most of the candy spoons were eaten before they left the building. It was a lot of fun and I consider it a success!

And finally, the Thank You Notes.  I continued the Paris theme.  The Eiffel Tower paper is the same as I used for the invitations and water bottles.  The "merci" stamp is from Hobby Lobby.  I made flat cards and I gave Little C the white paper to write the notes on before it was attached to the back of the card.   So, now all that is left is putting the birthday scrapbook pages together.   It never ends! :)


Cake table with party favors and decorated water bottles.

Place Setting

Me with the party table

Party Favors

Party Favor Contents

Candy Spoons
Thank You Notes

Thank You Notes Front
Thank You Notes Back

Monday, May 13, 2013

Pink Paris Birthday Invitations

Finally, the Birthday Invites that I started way back in December!

It all started with the party plates that Little C picked out from BirthdayExpress.  (Picture at the bottom of post) Once those were selected, I entered the Pink Paris Obsession Zone!

I had an idea and had to do a couple test runs before I got the right look.  I knew I wanted to make the invitation information on a tag, and had to do a little looking before I found the right tag.  I ended up using the  Sizzix Bigz Die Tags #3.   The Eiffel Towers are from Spellbinders French Frills Dies - these took the most time, due to the detail on the design.  The background and tag paper are on BoBunny Blush Double Dot paper - polka dots up on the card and down on the tag.  The Eiffel Tower and tag pocket papers are from the Carta Bella Paris Girl collection.

I had to try several pinks to match the back paper to the Paris paper pink.  I stated out and stayed with a 6x6 card.  I played with tags a little too, alternating between pink and black.  The invitation information is on plain white cardstock and I had those pages printed at Kinkos.  I used pink baker's twine for the tags.  The invitations were mailed in vellum envelopes, with the design showing on the back of the envelope and the pretty pink showing on the address side.

I was so excited about how they turned out.  Little C loved them!  Soon to follow, I will have the post(s) on the matching water bottles, party treat bags, thank you notes, and the actual party.

Paris Birthday Party Invitations

Paris Party Invites with Invitation on the Tag

Paris Birthday Party Invites

Invitations in vellum envelope 

Party Plates, Napkins & Stickers from BirthdayExpress.com


Friday, May 10, 2013

Coconut Cupcakes

These Coconut Cupcakes had been on my list of things to make for about a month.  They are a Cuisine at Home recipe and are delicious!   I am sure I have seen the recipe before since it was in a 2005 issue, but it came out with an eRecipe email in March and really caught my eye!

The cupcakes have coconut and coconut milk in them; and the white chocolate cream cheese frosting is topped with coconut.   Click here for the recipe.

They would be really cute with some jelly beans for Easter.    Or maybe topped with a chocolate covered almond......

They need to be stored in the refrigerator due to the cream cheese, so they dry out if kept too long.  I ate one the next day as my post workout snack and it was super yummy!  Not the best choice, I know, but I figure the coconut has a little protein in it, so it wasn't all bad! ;)

Coconut Cupcakes

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Bunny Table Runner

This is the first thing I have made, based on a Pinterest idea.  I am so happy with how it turned out!

Click here to see where I got the idea from.

I wasn't crazy about cutting out my own stencil, so I kept looking for a bunny stamp or stencil to use.  I found this bunny stencil at Hobby Lobby and it worked great!  The runner, paint and yarn came from Michael's.  The runner I bought was about twice as long as I needed it to be, so I cut it and applied Fray Check to the cut end.

Like the original directions say, make sure you put paper bags under the areas that you are stenciling.  I also had to use quite a bit of Elmer's glue to glue the tails on.  I tried other adhesive, but this worked best.  For the tails, I wrapped the yarn around a meat fork as a dinner fork was too small.   After wrapping the yarn around about 60 times, you cut another piece of yarn to tie the opposite way, to make the puffs.  I tied this piece twice, to ensure it was tight.  The first two tails I made were a disaster - they came apart when I started cutting the loops.  But, after moving up to the bigger fork and doing a double tie at the end, it worked well.  I also changed scissors and used a pair with a fine point.  After several hours, I removed the bags and put waxed paper under each bunny, and let them dry over night.

This is my Easter craft for the year.  I have about 5 desserts I want to make, so I need to figure out which ones to make this week.  Either that or my small group will be eating Easter themed desserts for the next month!


Bunny Table Runner

Bunny Table Runner

Close-up of Bunny Table Runner

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Whoopie Pies (Chocolate with Pink Vanilla Filling)

Finally, the whoopie pies based on the ones I grew up with!
These are also called Gobs, but I think whoopie pies sound so much better and more fun!

I made these for Little C's school Valentine's Party, so the vanilla filling is pink.  I have also made them with green mint filling.    I really prefer these over the ones I made last year, as they are not as rich, and the cakes are much more moist.

The filling is made with a flour paste which sounds unappealing at first, but is really nice.  The key is to keep mixing the filling so that it is fluffy and doesn't separate.  The second time I didn't mix it long enough and the filling wasn't as pretty.  The recipe even says to mix for 10 minutes, but I guess I overlooked that detail.  This last time, I put the mixer on med/high, set the timer for 10 minutes and walked away.  The filling looked good even before I added the pink.   

My recipe is based on one from the Pennsylvania Grange Cookbook.

Whoopie Pies
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cocoa
  • 1/3 cup of coffee (liquid)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Add the other ingredients and mix well.  Drop by teaspoonful (I used a small cookie scoop) on to a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake at 350 for 7 minutes.  Do not over bake!  Cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes then place on a wax paper covered cooling rack.  Do not stack the cookies or they may stick together.  The batter is thick but, I only baked 8 at a time to prevent them from running together during baking.

Whoopie Pie Filling
  • 1/2 cup of milk
  • 2 Tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (and/or flavoring of choice)
  • pinch of salt
Cook milk and flour, until a nice paste forms.  Stir well while cooking.  Cool the paste. (I find it's best to do this before I make the cookies)  Cream sugar and butter; add cold paste, vanilla and salt.  Beat about 10 minutes with an electric mixer.  Spread filling on one cookie, then place another on top.  

Makes 2+ dozen.
If you want to be extra generous with the filling, I recommend doubling the filling recipe.

They take a little extra time, but are so worth it!



Whoopie Pies