Lemon Blueberry Deliciousness

When planning the day we would celebrate my grandfather-in-law's birthday, I offered to make cupcakes. Lets face it, I love to make cupcakes and am always looking for an excuse to practice my piping skills. So I dug around until I found something good looking and fun to make. This is how I came across lecremedelacrumb's Lemon Blueberry cupcakes. They looked so summery, fresh, and tasty so I just had to try them out. Plus I am a sucker for all things lemon.


First thing first, I got all my ingredients prepped and ready (You can find the complete list and instructions via the link from the original recipe link)

Make sure that all of your butter, eggs, and milk products are room temperature. This is such an important step that I used to skip when I first started baking. It really does make all the difference. Plus I also let the blueberries come to room temperature because I was worried they might not let the batter bake or rise properly if they were cold. 

Tesla was the blueberry inspector today. She made sure they were sweet and up to par.
 

Here are the cupcakes after they finished their time in the oven. They are cooling off on the rack while I whipped up the frosting.

Waa-la! Don't they look great! No to mention they taste as good as they look. Tesla kept wanting to eat one, but she will have to wait for tonight. Hopefully she will get a nap at some time today. Hope you enjoyed!

Tinting Mason Jars

I cannot express to you how much I love mason jars. You can drink out of them, can with them, and use them for decorations. It amazes me how such a simple thing as a glass jar can be loved by so many.

Since we are doing a vintage pooh party I knew I had to involve mason jars. I knew I wanted to have them on the table to use as vases, but it wasn't until I was browsing Pinterest that I saw people tinting them. I knew it would be easy and add something extra to the party. Did some googling and found what I thought to be the best tutorial for me. Lilyshop blog has a few other mason jar tutorials on her page as well, so if you want to paint them or use them as a chalkboard there are tutorials for you on there as well.

First thing is making sure you have your supplies:
*modpodge
*food coloring of choice
*clean jars
*something to stir with
*drying place

For my drying area I used a diaper box so I could just throw it out when done and I stirred with a dowel rod that I had. Popsicle sticks also work well.

Pour your modpodge into the jar and drop in your food coloring. Mix at bottom of jar until completely mixed. Make sure you have it mixed really well so it doesn't leave streaks of color on the jar.

After mixing completely turn the jar down and around to coat the entire jar. Once the whole jar is coated you can let the excess drip into another jar to do or in something to throw out. Let jars dry upside down for an hour and then turn upright to dry the rest of the way.

It should take anywhere from 24-48 hours to dry completely. They are now only for decoration purposes. The glue makes them unable to drink out of, so please don't use them for anything other than decoration. 

Finished project! The bottoms of two of these were still drying some, but the one on the right is completly dry. 

Now just to add flowers to them for the party!

Blast From the Past- Tesla's One-derland Birthday

Like I said in the previous post Tesla had a "One-derland" party last year for her first birthday. It turned out great, but I do wish there were some things that I would have done a bit different looking at it afterwards. Her 2nd birthday is going to be even better! Here is all the goods from her birthday last year.

First thing first, our picture for the birthday invitation. I made this Alice costume just for the picture and as anyone knows getting good pictures of a child under the age of 1 can be sort of hard. So I was very happy that we got this one.

 Lots of tea sets and snacks labeled with Eat Me signs

Tesla's Cheshire cat pillow pet had to make an appearance. My sister found him for her at Disney World before she was born.

Cheshire cat favor bags personalized for all guests

Birthday cake! We went for a paint the roses red so we got the bakery to spray paint on white roses to make it appear that way.

 Party game! We had a croquet field complete with flamingos. Tesla loved playing as you can tell. She carried that mallet around the majority of the party.

I did make here outfit complete with necklace and headpiece. I was going for a Queen of Hearts theme here.

And of course, the cake. Or in this case the cupcake. I just didn't see a need in giving her a huge cake to smash when she could just smash a cupcake and make the same mess. The queen had her own special cupcake with a red rose.

The party was a success, and I cannot wait for her second birthday bash this year! Here is the link to my Pinterest board with all my ideas from here first party. Tesla's One-derland Celebration

Turning Two

Tesla is getting closer and closer to turning two and I am starting to get a little sad about it. Just today while in the bathroom she was standing on her tiptoes trying to look in the mirror. She is growing like a weed and it is all a little bittersweet. Seems like yesterday when she was just a baby and trying to pull up on everything. Now she runs around nonstop. It seems like I am going to go to sleep tonight, wake up and have to take her to her first day of kindergarten.

Speaking of birthday, that is all I have been up to lately. Prepping for the big party. It is 6 weeks away, but when you do everything yourself it can get a little hectic waiting till the last minute. That is what happened last year and I was really overwhelmed by it. It still turned out great, but this year is going to be even better. I will have to make a post on her "One-derland" birthday soon.

This year though she is all about Pooh bear. Oh goodness how she loves that silly bear. We are having a vintage pooh party. All vintage illustrations from the original story books, burlap, lace, and yellow. I already have lots of things made and bought for the party. I will post about all the crafts and items I have soon. Complete with tutorial links!

Just finished her headpiece for her dress so I will be taking her birthday pictures soon. She is just growing up so fast!

Cheese! She is so excited to wear her birthday outift. 

It is the sweet babydoll dress pattern from Whimsy Couture

I cannot get enough of this pattern!