Rainbow Party Fun

I'm back! We spent last week celebrating Taylor's birthday, and we have spent the past few days trying to recover :). I took a break from cookie orders to get ready for all of the birthday celebrations but cookies pick back up this week.

I have some party pictures to share with you, but I thought I would share Taylor's party cookies first since it has been so long since I have posted any cookies.

Her party was rainbow themed with some ruffles and chevron, so I had so much fun doing cookies with all of these fun colors!

Rainbow Chevron Frames

Ruffled Cake on a cake stand (with 2 candles of course:)).

Ruffled Rainbows

Ruffled Rainbow Cake

I can't take any credit for the cake :). I debated on making it and then decided it was worth my time to have one of my favorite local bakeries make it. I absolutely loved it and was SO happy I passed that duty on to someone else!

I also made a ruffled table cloth to match. I knew I wanted something fun and girly and I thought this was the perfect combination of the two!

I posted a pic of the table cloth on Instagram and I have had a lot of people ask me how I made it. I will do a tutorial in the next few weeks for those of you that have asked. It was super easy and super cheap!

I also made Jolly Rancher suckers from Pinterest and stuck them in vintage blue Ball jars for a fun effect on the table. Parker helped me make these one day while Taylor napped. This is a perfect and fun activity for a toddler.

I love Mason Jars and knew I could squeeze them in somewhere :). 



I also made white cupcakes with white icing and a rainbow topper for all of the guests.

I made the toppers with extra icing from making cookies. I'll show you how to do that too. Its the perfect way to use up any extra icing without wasting it. A topper made out of dried royal icing is good for a year if stored air tight. Fun, right?!

I also made a chevron birthday banner..........

and labeled the water bottles with chevron labels...

I will share more party pics and party people after I get them downloaded and edited. But for now I will leave you with a pic of the birthday girl because I can't resist!!

Reese's Cupcake Recipe

I have taken off about 10 days from making cookies to get ready for Taylor's birthday this coming weekend and I have found myself baking away anyway! No sugar cookies, but a lot of other yummy treats.

Yesterday afternoon Parker and I made these Reese's Cupcakes for Jason because he LOVES anything peanut butter.

And yes, they are as good as they look and they are SO easy to make!!! I had a handful of people ask me for the recipe after I posted an Instagram pic so here it is....

Make your favorite chocolate cake. I love Better Homes and Gardens and this cake recipe is one of the best I have found. Or make your favorite boxed cake mix.

Quick sidenote: I really want these recipes I post to appeal to the working mom or busy moms who have kids at home and don't have all of the time in the world to be in the kitchen. So I know its not the most appropriate as a baker to recommend a boxed cake, but its true, I make a cake from a box sometimes! As long as it tastes good, right?!

Anyway, after you've made your chocolate cake, let your cupcakes cool completely. While they are cooling begin to make your Peanut Butter icing. Get ready for the best thing you've ever tasted. It tastes exactly like the middle of a Reese's.

Peanut Butter Icing

1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-6 Tbs milk depending on how thick/thin you want your icing

Soften (do not melt) your butter. Mix butter and peanut butter with mixer until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar alternating with the milk until you have your desired consistency. There is no right or wrong consistency, you just don't want the icing to be too runny.

The icing is really what makes the cupcake. After you ice your cupcakes top it with a Reese's of course! I used a regular size Reese's cup and cut it in half and it fit perfectly. You could also use mini Reese's, Reese's pieces, or crumbled Reese's candy.



Yeehaw and Gymnastics

I had every intention of posting these on Thursday, but my poor blog has been broken. It magically fixed itself today so I'm crossing my fingers nothing else happens

I was so excited when sweet Megan asked me to do cookies for her twins cowboy/cowgirl themed 1st birthday. I love the western theme, and combined with the fact that it was for boy/girl twins, these made some cute cookies!

Megan was so easy to work with and basically told me she was using pinks and blues and she wanted cowboy boots. I added a sweet pink bow to half of the cowboy hats for sweet Sloane, and a sheriffs star on the other half for Knox. 

I also did some pink and blue #1's with names to add some color to the set.

And of course some cowboy boots. I did half pink/half blue.



Oh, and did I mention I did 100 of these???? :)

I can't wait to see pictures from this party, Megan has been posting the CUTEST tidbits of the party on instagram. It's going to be adorable.

Speaking of adorable.....

These two started gymnastics this week. CUTEST. THING. EVER.  I'm totally going to be that crazy Mom in the bleachers when my kids get older and start playing sports. I wanted to jump through the glass window at the gym and tell them they were the best and that what they were doing was awesome. All over a front somersault. But really, it was the best ;).

If you are wondering about the rock heart, Parker told me Peyton would really like it if he held his heart in this picture. My parents get us something for our garden we built for Peyton every year on his birthday. They got us this heart this year and we love it so much we have kept it in the house as a sweet reminder of him.

I really love these two. Their daddy and I pretty much think they hung the moon :).

Southern Charm

Remember how I told you I had some really fun cookies this week? These are definiteley some of my favorites I have done, and I think its because they scream Southern!

I love living in the south. I hope I never leave the south, and I hope Mason Jars never go out of style. We decorate with them, drink out of them, can veggies in them, and now make cookies shaped like them!



I was super excited to use my Mason Jar cutter :).

Chalkboards

Sunflowers

(Decorators: I used white sanding sugar for the middle of the sunflowers. I iced all of the petals, let them dry completely, and then flooded the middle with brown icing. I then sprinkled a layer of sanding sugar on, making sure to get rid of all of the excess sugar so the brown still showed through.)

I have a feeling this will be the first of many Mason Jars. I will try to work them in to any order I can :).

And because I can't help but share these pictures, I got a quick glimpse of my life in about 12 years.........

Little man was not playing around. He washed every inch of that car.

I'll be back tomorrow with another fun set!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

..........with cinnamon cream cheese icing. These are so incredibly good and easy.

Fall is just around the corner and this is my very favorite thing to make!

I love to bake something from scratch, but I don't always have the time to do that. Most of the time the faster, the better.

I found this recipe in a Food and Family magazine last fall, and if you like anything pumpkin, you will love these!!

Ingredients

1 boxed spice cake mix

(you can also make a spice cake from scratch)

1 cup sour cream

1 can pumpkin (15 oz.)

1/4 cup oil

3 eggs

1 package of cream cheese (8 oz.)

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 16 oz. package powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first five ingredients with a mixer until combined. Spoon into 24 cupcake liners.

Bake for 20-22 minutes. Make sure the middle of your cupcakes are set before you take them out. This cake is dense and it cooks slower than a regular cake.

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a bowl until combined. Add powdered sugar and cinnamon. Ice your COOLED cupcakes!

It doesn't hurt to put your icing in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. It makes it easier to work with.

Come on Fall!!!!

*This is a KRAFT foods recipe.

Making Memories

We have had such a fun week around here. The kiddos started  off the week at Grandparents playing for a couple of days, and then Wednesday night we headed off to a Naturals baseball game with some friends from small group.

Daddy and the kiddos before we headed out.

P and T before we left. They were both so excited to go!

They were totally uninterested in the game, but enjoyed swinging like monkeys from the stair railing and eating a bunch of junk food :). 

Friday we spent the morning at the park, having a breakfast picnic and playing in this much cooler weather we are having around here.

It was so nice to get outside and play. The kids have missed playing outside, it has just been too hot!

Friday afternoon we took the kids to a local Festival that happens every August. We started off the night with a local spaghetti dinner they have on the fairgrounds. This town is know for their Spaghetti and fried chicken; Jason and I have spent many date nights at Mama's Z's stuffing ourselves with their yummy food!  After we ate we headed out for some fun!

Me and the kids heading into the Festival.

I snapped these pics with my Iphone. We all had so much fun. Taylor was in sensory overload taking in all of the sights and sounds. She was right in her element :) Parker was trying to figure out how everything worked and wanted to ride all of the adult rides. Which brings me to this:

(Sorry for the blurry pic, Jason was scared the worker would see him taking this pic, ha!)

Parker was dead set on riding the Ferris wheel as soon as we pulled in the Festival. As we were walking onto the ride I noticed this. Yes, that is the entire ride resting on a small wooden block. The best part is we still got on and pretended we weren't terrified. WE WERE.

This, combined with the people watching made for a memorable night :). If you are local and don't have anything to do tonight go people watch at the Grape Festival. BEST. ENTERTAINMENT. EVER.

I have two super fun orders this coming week and I can't wait to share them with you! I will be back tomorrow with a pumpkin cupcake recipe and a new tutorial this week! 

Picture Rundown

I have had a busy past week in the cookie world. I shipped to PA, AL and TX  and because of that I have gotten a little behind on posting pics.  Here are some of the orders from this past week!

I took this pic before I finished their mouths, oops!

CARS!

Lingerie Shower

Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse's  bow

Baby shower

Chevron and Polka dots

Monogram for a bridal shower.

I am slowly cutting down on the amount of cookie orders I take, and I am excited to have more time to share recipes, tutorials and fun stuff with you!

But for now, we are headed to swim and I am getting my hair done today. AHHHHHHHHH :).

Giveaway Winner

We have a winner!!!!

Thank you so much to all of my blog and twitter followers for spreading the word and having some fun with this giveaway. This is the first of many cookie giveaways, and I am already looking forward to the next one!!!

Congratulations  #57 Ashley E. from Pumpkin Butter!!!!

Please email me at thedoughmestichousewife@gmail.com and I will be in contact with you!

Winner was chosen by Random.org.

So sorry for the blurry pic. It is from my Iphone and this is as good as I could get.

I will be back tomorrow with last weeks cookie orders!