mini pies and red velvet cake balls

 

 {mini cherry pies}

Last Friday we hosted a potluck dinner party complete with two smoked chickens, several delicious sides, many delightful friends and lots of miniature pies and red velvet cake balls. I had Friday off from work so it was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at the mini pies I've had my eye on over at Not Martha. These little cuties were so fun to make and smelled just like pop tarts when they came out of the oven!

 

{mini apple pies}

 

 {yum yum}

In addition to drooling over the recipes and craft projects on Not Martha lately, I've also been scoping out the tiny treats Bakerella cooks up over on her website. I fully recognize I'm pretty far behind on the whole cake ball bandwagon, so I figured it was high time I try making her famous red velvet treats myself.  Turns out they're pretty delicious! My favorite part of the cake ball process was either crumbling up a whole cake or watching the chocolate coating harden...it's hard to decide! The recipe can be found here.

 {first ever cake ball photo session}

 

 {sprinkles of course}

{mmm...red velvet}

What sorts of miniature desserts do you like to make?

sprinkles are the new glitter

{via}

Between the ages of 6 and 13 I was obsessed with glitter. I loved going to the hair salon where my mother got her hair done becuase they had a small section of glitterized (is that a word?), puff painted, be-dazzled t-shirts that came with equally sparkly hair scrunchies. I dreamed of being a hair stylist when I grew up because I belived their work uniform consisted totally of glitter and sparkles. {I got over that carreer aspiration pretty soon, but still think the ability to artfully cut and tame hair is amazing.}

In elementary and middle school I collected Jelly Roll pens and cherised the sparkly ones the most. Never mind that I couldn't read my 6th grade Language Arts notes when I wrote in my sparkly peach pen. The pen cap was covered in glitter! And it looked awesome when writing notes to my friends on black paper --especially when I outlined their "bubble lettered" name {confession, I still try to perfect my bubble letter "S"} in rainbow shades of Crayola glitter glue.

Now that I'm largely over my glitter phase {I still dream of owning a pair of sparkly red Dorothy shoes, however. Why does Target only make these for toddlers and little girls?} I've moved on to really adoring sprinkles. Sprinkles on ice cream, birthday cakes, or cupcakes always make me smile. Pinterest has been feeding my sprinkle obsession lately...in the form of eye candy at least. Here's what I'm drooling over today:

{via}

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Was anyone else as enamored by glittery things as I was (and generally still am?) Do you have any amazing sprinkle pictures to share?

weekend roundup

What did you do over the weekend, readers? Here's a bit of an update from our adventures.

We celebrated a dear friend's 25th birthday at Amazing Thailand on Friday night! There were beautiful umbrellas hanging from the restaurant ceiling and delish pomegranate mojitos.

{playing around with a few phone camera settings}

I also discovered we get the Reelz channel and proceeded to watch The Kennedys marathon on Saturday and Sunday morning. If you don't already know, I love American history {and Jackie O.}

We made pulled pork in the crock pot and cuddled with little nephew Anders on Saturday night. Happy Birthday to his momma, Sarah, today!

{so darn cute!}

On Sunday I explored the new Nadeau furniture store with my friend Kara and used a Groupon to bring home an awesome multi-use wicker ottoman. Not sure where it'll go yet, but we're already dreaming of possibilities.

I also glued some favorite fabrics into my collection of embriodery hoops and popped them on the wall. A 20 minute project just tied together my entire bedroom. Swatch portraits done!

{The pink Kumari Garden Collection fabric is my total fave. Thanks Mom!}

{Karl picked the apples for his favorite}

We ended the weekend watching Life As We Know It . I totally swooned over southern accents and beautiful Atlanta scenery. Further proof that you can take the girl out of the South but never the South out of the girl!

rick rack napkins

You may remember this post from several weeks ago. Turns out sewing rick rack onto cloth napkins took a little longer than I expected! I just finished this project last weekend and am so excited with how these napkins turned out. To recap, I simply added rick rack in fun colors to cotton cloth napkins I already had in my kitchen cabinet. Really inexpensive and a fun update to already colorful napkins!

 

 

 

 

monster cookies

 

I couldn't pass up the spring mix m&m's at Target today and decided to turn them into monster cookies tonight. I combined a couple different recipes and ended up with perfectly chewy cookies filled with all sorts of goodies. 

1/2  cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4  cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2  cup granulated sugar

 2  eggs

1  teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon baking soda

1/2  teaspoon salt

3  cups oats

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, and m&m's (each)

Heat oven to 350°F. Beat butter and sugars on medium speed in an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Add oats and mix well. Scrape down bowl and then add peanut butter and mix until combined. Finally, add chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips and m&m's. 

Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

lemon berry crumble bars

Today's post comes from my sweet sister in North Carolina who made these delicious lemon berry bars. I'm excited to share the recipe and try these myself!

Lemon Berry Crumble Bars

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
3 teaspoons cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 13x9 inch pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Stir together 1 cup sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Beat together egg, lemon juice, and vanilla in small separate bowl. Using a pastry cutter or food processor, cut the butter and egg mixture into the flour to form a crumbly dough. Press half the dough into the prepared pan.

Using an additional bowl, gently mix remaining sugar, cornstarch, and berries. Sprinkle the berries over prepared dough. Crumble the rest of the dough over berries.

Bake 45 minutes or until slightly brown. Cool completely and cut into squares.

i feel ya

Several nights ago Karl and I were getting out of the car in front of our house when a passing jogger called out "It's 8:00 and still light out! Yes!!!" {insert fist pump here} I totally feel ya, random jogger. It's amazing how much better life looks when the sun is still high in the sky on my commute home, the temperature is suddenly warm enough to leave the coat behind, and the blizzard-filled winter has been reduced to a few slivers of snow on brown grass. The grass may not be green yet, but I'll take anything we can get.

I took a walk over to Lake Harriet this week and brought my little camera along to document the joy of a spring sunset.

 

Welcome spring! We're happy you're here. xoxo

modpodge cardboard letters

I'm excited to share a little tutorial on how to turn boring cardboard letters into lovely, personalized initials. I first started this project back in January at Lauren's fabulous girl's retreat. Three of the 4 ladies took their initials home at the end of the weekend....Maggie, I'm almost done with yours, promise! :)

First, gather your supplies:

cardboard letters {I found mine at Papersource, but I think JoAnn's or Michaels carry them as well}

selection of heavy duty scrapbook paper

1 or 2 small bottles of craft paint {I chose a neutral gray}

Mod Podge

several paintbrushes

pencil

scissors

acrylic sealer spray

{a few of my favorite Amy Butler papers}



The next step is to choose several coordinating scrapbook papers. Most of my letters were completed with three different patterns of paper.

Once you have your paper picked out, trace one side, the middle, or the bottom (you choose!) of the cardboard letter on to your scrapbook paper with a pencil. This is your guide for how much and what shape to cut out of each paper pattern. In the photo below, I chose to use the green geometric print for half of the "M."

{adding some color!}

Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of the paper cut out. Place the paper directly onto the cardboard letter, taking care to make sure everything lines up. (If your paper runs over the edge of the letter, just trim it off later.) Press down to secure the paper to the letter. Repeat the tracing and gluing process until the entire front of the letter is covered. Let dry.

{two letters in progress...}

Once the papers are attached to the front of the letter, grab your paint brush and paint Mod Podge all over the front of the letter. Repeat process three times, letting Mod Podge dry in between coats. 

After the final Mode Podge coat is dry, paint the remaining sides, bottom, top, and back of the letter with your craft paint of choosing. My letters needed several coats of paint to look their best. Let everything dry for several hours.

{gettin' my crafy face on}



Then, go outside and spray your letter with acrylic sealer. This will give it a glossy luster and a durable, protective finish. 

Finally, find a lovely place to display your new letter! Maybe on a bookshelf, side table, or in your craft room.

{three finished letters!}

{close up}

See, easy peasy! This is also a perfect DIY gift idea!

repurposed bulletin board

Several months ago I decided my necklace and earring collection needed some serious organizational help. I grabbed an extra bulletin board I still had from my college dorm room days, a few sheets of neutral scrapbook paper, a box of brightly colored push pins and my tangled up clump of necklaces and earrings.

I secured the scrapbook paper to cork board with push pins and then evenly spaced additional push pins throughout the board to accomodate individual necklaces, bracelets, and hoop earrings. Then I found a roll of twine in the junk drawer and cut off enough to make a "clothes line" of sorts for dangly earrings at the top of the board. The final step was simply to arrange the jewelry and prop it up against the wall behind my dresser.

Now I can finally see what jewelry options I have to choose from each day!

 

{a favorite craft fair find: pink fabric earrings}

 

{lime green birdie}

{another craft fair find}