Cupcakes for Africa

So I saw this post and I know it's last minute ( items have to be there by the first of December) but I thought I'd let you all know about this great cause.

These wonderful women are raising money to build ( another!) well in Africa. Clicky clicky for details.

So these little cuppies are headed to their etsy shop to try and help. And I thought maybe you might have an hour today to make something to send along as well? Or maybe you're one of those super crafty gals that has a shop of her own, or a pile of pre-made things lying about? If so, would you think about sending one or two to this cause?

I promise the warm feeling you get from giving will make your day.

birthday cupcakes

for my little peachy girl.





Chock full of love.


See the heart?



And sugar.











I wish I had gotten a shot of the whole six dozen of them, all decorated and cupcake picked, all on one b-i-g tray!

there's still time...

to make a handful of these before Valentine's Day.



Because really, nothing says *love* quite like a cupcake.



I took this idea, and tiny-ed it up to cupcake size and tada!





These are so cute and satisfying, you can make a ton in no time. I glue-sticked two hearts together then hot-glue-gunned the picks in and stuck on the third heart. Tie 'em up with a little ribbon and they're ready for anything, like....

Maybe a certain little angel is turning one?



Yep, they're just right for that.

(Edit: She's not my daughter really, but she's the closest I'll have, she's my beauuuutiful niece!)

holy butter, batman!

Phew,



While I usually trust any recipe by Miss Tessa Kiros, the vanilla cake in Apples for Jam is just plain butterriffic.



Yes, that's a word, I made it up just now.



I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I certainly got no complaints from anyone on these.



But who can complain about anything that had chocolate cream cheese frosting on it.....?

(Next time I'll cut it back a few Tablespoons and see how it goes.)



Ooh you can see my new tea cozy in the back of this one. See? See those stripes?

I can't get out of the kitchen....

Cupcakes, cupcakes everywhere...
I've had cupcakes on the brain for days,





so I had to get Harry to make some with me.





I got to use my new paste food colours,



and he got to use the sprinkles.





And the neighbors got to eat them.

There. Everyone's happy now.



ps - Happy Cinco de Mayo! We have bright plans for the day. Show you all tomorrow!

hippity hoppity

Both the boys are sleeping and I should be doing dishes and folding laundry but it's rather gloomy out and I'd rather share some bright things with all of you instead.

What's she up to now, right?

Pretty paper.....some sketching and tracing.....snip, snip....add some ribbon..... Tada!



Cupcake picks! (blogger refuses to load this photo correctly. booo.)

Baby spring bunnies, just in time for Easter! I think this may be an Easter tradition, remember last year's?

I had a such a good time making these, I made an extra half dozen for you.

Just leave a comment and I'll put your name in a hat. I'll draw one on (edit:) Thursday. ( so they'll get to you in time.) Link to me and I'll put your name in twice!

Maybe these aren't your favourite colours?


(Okay, I've never done this before, and I don't have any fancy programs to work with, so someone has to try it just to let me know if it works.)


I made a sheet of bunnies for you to print on your own!

Just click over to the flickr page and download to original size. Print to fit an 8 1/2 by 11 page and it should work. They'll be super cute on dessert, but wouldn't they be cute on the olive tray before dinner?

I'd love to see if anyone makes some. Let me know.
Okay, the boys are still sleeping after all this, I think I'll at least switch the laundry now.....

edit: Our winner is Anne Marie! Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! And thanks to Cassi for featuring me at The Crafty Crow.

my new favourite dessert, or, how to turn a cupcake disaster into something pretty.

And use up some jam you have that you like enough but maybe don't love. I realized I have way too much blueberry jam. way too much. I'm not the biggest fan of blueberries to begin with, and this winter has really worn me out on the jam as well.

Back to the dessert. Somehow, I managed to dump an entire hot pan of cupcakes over into the oven while I was trying to take them out. Not good. One even managed to roll to the very back of the oven requiring tongs and oven mitts and a prayer to get it out without burning myself. A whole dozen cakes scrunched up beyond repair. No problem.

Step one: Whip up some instant vanilla pudding.

Step two: Layer it with the offending jam and crumbled cake in some leftover clear plastic cups.

Step three: Feed it to the husband and brother who will eat anything as long as it's presented nicely.

Tada! cupcakes resurrected and half a jar less of jam in my fridge.

Plus, I get to eat all the leftover pudding.

sshhhhhh....

With all the super secret Christmas crafting going on around here, I don't have much to share lately besides the fact that my blog title is getting truer and truer. So when I realized that the people getting these little gems are too little to find my blog, I had to post them.

These are for all the little girls in our life. We have numerous nieces, and practically all of our friends have little girls.

Tada! Composition book covers. With handy-dandy crayon pockets! (washable crayons of course.)

They can be easily switched when the book is full, and the great thing about comp books is you can trim the cover a tiny bit if it fits too snug.
They're quick and easy ( and cheap) to make for all your last minute needs. Really, what crafty lady wouldn't like one of these. Just stick some coloured pencils in the pocket instead. I have to make some boy ones as well. There's some tutorials for the same idea here and here, but I just did some math and faked it.

The only other thing I can share is tons and tons of sweets. We've been making cookies every Wednesday. but I realized yesterday that I had been collecting little things to decorate cupcakes and hadn't made a one yet. Last night we made four dozen solutions to that.

The lighting isn't perfect, it was getting late, but a couple made it home for the natural light photo shoot here.

Snowmen with orange slice noses and chocolate mini chip eyes.

Tiny sugar gingerbread boys with tiny white trees and tiny snowflakes.

I know crunched candy canes is hardly inspired, but it looked so pretty on this fabric print.

Ribbon Candy!

Oh! And these great little bobble head Santas I picked up in the summer.

Aren't they cute? I hadn't made any cupcakes in quite awhile. I was starting to get a little twitchy. I feel much better now. Phew.

Now I just have to wrap the notebooks, finish up a super secret big gift, get some gift certificates to the movie theatre, and decide what to make for the twelve dozen cookies I need for the big Christmas Eve cookie swap and Aunt Cheri's.

No problem.....

Halloween bash

Look at the hour! Are you just arriving?

We've been having such fun, we must have lost track of time.....

A whole slew of old friends dropped by today! Grab you a drink, I'll show you around!

The pumpkin princess herself,

The Sisters Sough,

And old Grandma Grimm.

And since we hadn't been together for such a long time, we feasted on so many sweet things,with altogether too much icing. (Okay, just enough icing...)And all sorts of other supreme crudites... I'm sure there's more to be found.Did I mention the hot cider doughnuts...?Well! After all that, I just had to sit back and put my feet up.So we decided to all relax a bit, and feet went up all over. Ghosties and witches and the like lounging on floors and ceilings and any open surface.We had a round of our favourite songs of the season, what with so many Pumpkin Choral Society Members there.Before you knew it, the sun had gone down, but the songs went on and on. And the stories and jokes, too. It seems like this party is just getting going.....

See more festivities through The FancifulTwist.