Happy National Donut Day!

 My celebrations will probably resemble those of these lovely ladies:

Bring on the Donut Scepter! Where's my crown?

Margarita Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Margarita Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes:

1 package white cake mix
1 can (10 oz.) frozen Margarita mix, thawed
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 Tbsp grated lime zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line standard muffin pan with baking cups.
2. In large bowl, combine cake mix, Margarita mix, egg whites and oil using electric mixer.
3. Stir in lime zest; mix completely.
4. Fill prepared pans 2/3 full.
5. Bake 22-24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool in pan on cooling rack 5-8 minutes.
7. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely.
8. Frost cooled cupcakes with icing and garnish, if desired, with a strawberry and/or lime twist. Can also roll the frosted edges in colored sugar to simulate the salted rim of a Margarita glass.
Yield: 24 cupcakes.

Frosting:

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp key lime juice (or 1 Tbsp lemon, 1 Tbsp lime)
1 tsp key lime zest or lemon zest
4-5 cups confectioners' sugar

1. In large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese, juice and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add 4 cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time; continue beating until light and fluffy.
3. If icing is too thin add additional sugar 1 Tbsp at a time.

A red and blue farewell party

A very dear friend of mine is moving next week. I think the general consensus among our friends is that we are heartbroken that she is leaving, but we wanted to give her family a good-bye party to let them know how much we love and will miss them. We decided to have the party on Memorial Day in the evening at our neighborhood park. We chose a nautical "Bon Voyage" theme which ended up being more just red and blue, which was perfect for the holiday! And because we just weren't up to feeding 100 people ourselves, we decided on a dessert potluck. My contribution was a platter of summery Strawberry Rhubarb Bars.

I hauled two 6-ft. tables and a stack of vintage tablecloths, vintage blue glass canning jars, and a bundle of handmade pinwheels all to the park with the help of my kids' wagon!

 This adorable banner, a gift from my mom, was the perfect addition to the tables.

And of course there had to be stripey straws! The blue straws were from Amazon, and I was a bit disappointed when the arrived because the blue is really more turquoise than the royal blue I'd been hoping for. They still looked cute in my vintage Hull pottery and I'm sure nobody but me noticed the color mismatch.

The cute checkered tin is a recent purchase from Cost Plus World Market. I can't find it listed on their website anymore, but they are made to look like a vintage-style printed metal picnic tin with a lid. Since I've had zero luck finding any real specimens out in the wild, I was happy to plunk down $15 for this one.

I think I might put some Styrofoam down in the bottom and poke those pinwheels into the foam for a cute patriotic decoration that will work all summer long!

It was fun to create a pretty, vintage-style party setting even in the middle of a park, even if it meant half a dozen trips with a wagon back to my car to haul everything!

Weekend Junk Finds

 Hello, friends! How was your weekend? We were busy around here, but it's been the good kind of busy. Last Wednesday, The Mister and I went to a fantastic concert. Friday evening we attended a graduation party with lots of friends in the neighborhood park, Saturday morning I went and got my hair done (stayed a redhead!), and then yesterday evening I helped throw a farewell party for a dear friend of ours who is moving--pictures of that one to come.

I did sneak in a trip to the Goodwill on Friday morning and found an unexpected treasure--pictures of that one to come as well! For now, I have some past junk finds to share.

I am always attracted to these multi-strand beaded grandma necklaces that must have been sold by the hundreds in every five-and-dime in this country 50 years ago. This one is particularly pretty, with beautiful aqua and green beads. I can't wait to wear it! I bought the matching earrings, though since they're clip-ons and I prefer dangly stuff anyway, they'll end up in my crafting box.

Also headed for the crafting box are the black beaded earrings and the two sparkly pins at the bottom of the photo--one is red and clear, the other is purple and clear. The bracelet on the top is to wear--I loved the colors even though they're not my usual palette with the orange and olive green. I'm trying to branch out more this summer and with my new red hair, orange and green have taken on a new appeal.

This find is one that made me squeal and clutch it to my chest in the thrift store, lest anyone see my treasure and try to wrest it from my hands. This is a Royal Haeger ashtray in the shape of the state of Colorado! It's in the most perfect shade of greeny blue and it is perfect--no nicks or chips or anything. It's hard to gauge size from this photo, but it's about the size of a sheet of paper.
I consulted the Haeger expert, and although it's not worth much, it's awesome and I adore it! I have a guest room that is decorated in old travel souvenirs with a special emphasis on the places I've lived so this would fit right in, but I love it so much that right now it has pride of place on an easel in my curio cabinet.

Did you fit any junking into your Memorial Day weekend? I'm joining Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Memorial Day.

Maren's Fabulous Bake Sale and Lemonade Stand

So here's the thing: I haven't been blogging because my last post was #899, and I wanted to do something big for #900. However, I've been swamped and just haven't been able to get a post or a giveaway put together, so instead of waiting forever to blog the perfect #900, I'm just going to make this one it. Still want to do a giveaway, but it's going to have to be the Big 902nd Post Giveaway! or something like that, when I get it all put together.

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you all about Maren's Fabulous Bake Sale and Lemonade Stand. Actually, let me back up a bit. Last Wednesday, I helped put on a tea party for 35 of the cute little girls and their moms that I work with at my church. I decorated the entire thing, five tables' worth, solely with the contents of my house: vintage tablecloths, strands of pearls, my great-grandmother's antique tea cup collection, vintage hankies, and silver spoons, as well as all of the cake pedestals and other serving pieces. NONE of which I have a photo of, because the ONLY thing I forgot the entire night was my bloomin' camera! :( I also hand-lettered the place cards, baked 60+ mini cupcakes decorated with pink icing and blue sugar pearls, and had the pleasure of dressing up in one of my vintage dresses, a feathered fascinator, pink cat-eye glasses, pearls, and white gloves so I could give an etiquette lesson as Miss Manners. The whole thing was very fun and I think the girls and their moms had a great time, but it was just a ton of work, especially falling in the same week as the Lemonade Stand.

I tried to get things ready for the Lemonade Stand ahead of time: I baked two batches of Peanut Butter Blossoms on Tuesday and popped those into the freezer. We built the framework for the awning on Sunday, and on Tuesday evening I went to IKEA and bought the striped fabric. They were all out of the black and white striped Sofia fabric that I really had my heart set on,

so I ended up with the hot pink and white striped fabric instead.

I also loved the red and white but since I had planned a pink and yellow and black color scheme for everything, I thought this would work better.

On Thursday, I sewed the awning. I should note that our PVC pipe Lemonade Stand was loosely based on this one from Not2Crafty. However, we built our stand around a 6'6" table so our measurements were different and I sewed the awning a bit differently, but it did give us a great jumping-off point.

On Friday, I baked like a madwoman. I made Devil's Food cupcakes with butter cream frosting (two dozen),

 lemon cupcakes with citrus cream cheese frosting (two dozen),

Knock You Naked Brownies (two pans),

a batch of Oreo truffles

four pans of French Vanilla Rice Krispie treats, individually wrapped and tied with pink and white baker's twine and displayed in an old pink-painted soda crate with a hand-stamped sign and vintage pink velvet ribbon.

 All in addition to the six dozen cookies already in the freezer from Tuesday.

Basically, I was a flurry of sugar and butter all day long. That night, I finished the awning and The Mister helped me make signs

with Cricut letters and hand-drawn lemons and cupcakes. I purchased a cute money box in Target's seasonal section, we got change from the bank, bought pink napkins from IKEA and stripey paper straws from Amazon. Heck, I even pulled out my cute vintage trash can to use at the booth. I had thought of every single detail.

And then we woke Saturday morning up to this:

 and this

and this.

And just like that, all of my work, all of my planning, all of my wrestling yards of fabric through my sewing machine (how do you quilters do it?), all of my baking--totally wasted. I'd been watching the weather report all week--Saturday started off as 80 and sunny, then 76 and sunny, then 72 and clouds, then 68 and rain later in the day, then 62 and rain later. Not ideal weather for selling cold, refreshing lemonade, but do-able, especially since the folks across the street were holding a HUGE yard sale and I was counting on piggybacking on all of their traffic. But 45 degrees and thunder and pouring rain? No go.

I thought Maren was going to be devastated. I thought there were going to be tears, and I'd have to console my poor sobbing little 7-year-old girl that the event we'd been talking about for literally a month, the one that she asked daily how many more days it was until her Lemonade Stand--wasn't going to happen. And you know what? I think I was more disappointed than she was. After all, I'm the one who invested hours and $$ into it. I'm surprised I didn't cry.

So then we were left with dozens and dozens of treats that weren't going to keep. I hurriedly invited over everyone to a "Lemons into Lemonade" party that night to just help us eat everything. We had a few take us up on the offer and help us eat our way through the spread, but many of our friends had taken part in a CRAZY race that morning in the 42 degree rain and mud and were still at home trying to stop shivering, so they couldn't make it.

We set up the awning in the front room and I laid everything out, if nothing else than to console myself by making something pretty.

We still had pink lemonade, this time in my pretty glass dispenser instead of the insulated 5-gallon thermos jug.

I even had a pretty pink, black and white vintage glass pitcher for water:

So there it is. I'm tickled with how the awning came out--it is just the way I pictured it in my head, which doesn't always happen for me. And I truly believe that if we'd been able to have our sale, Maren would have raked in the cash! I've already promised her that we'll set up the stand in front of the neighborhood pool one busy Saturday this summer, and I believe the neighborhood holds another garage sale day in August as well. Now that we have the awning, I'm determined to find uses for it, and I really do want Maren to have the opportunity to earn some money.

But maybe I won't bake quite so much next time.

Weekend Junk Finds: Just Down The Street edition

I live in a fairly new area, so it's rare that I'm lucky enough to find anything vintage at a garage sale--it's usually baby toys and the like. However, sometimes I do get lucky! Not long ago I was driving Maren to school in the morning and went past a house just a few blocks away that was having a yard sale. I recognized the house from a sale they had last year, because I scored several vintage goodies then. After I dropped Maren at school, I ran back by my house to grab my wallet and headed down the block to shop.

I had hoped for some vintage goodies again, and I wasn't disappointed!

This pretty painted aqua tray was the first thing I grabbed. Love the bright colors! I also picked up a jar of white buttons and a pair of vintage silverplate advertising spoons (Donald Duck and Spaghettios). I have the matching Mickey spoon already, so maybe these cute spoons need to find a shadowbox to live in.

Two old books on gardening that I picked up for decorative use. The small one's title is "An Unexpected Result." That about sums up my gardening adventures.

The larger green book has the cutest yellow watering can on the front!

This vintage 1960s Playskool toy has a set of cards that fit together like puzzle pieces. You have to match up the animal and its home and there's even a little cardboard frame for the one you're working on. The illustrations are charming!

One other item at the yard sale that I had my eye on was a black vintage rotary phone. It was marked $10 and I heard the seller tell another man that her best price on it was $8. I didn't have enough cash on me and I considered going back home to get more money, but didn't in the end. Still wondering if I should have bought it--it would have been a fun display piece! Rats, the more I think about it, the more I wish I'd gone back!

Hope these ladies continue having sales--nothing like being able to walk a few minutes from home to buy vintage goodies! Did you find any treasures?

I'm linking up with Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds!

The Unicorns and Rainbows Birthday Party

I've been sitting on these photos for more than a month now, putting off posting about them because I knew the post would be a stinker to write with all of the links and photos--and I was right! But I need to get it done before her next birthday rolls around!

Last year, I suggested to Maren that it might be fun to have a Unicorns and Rainbows theme for her 7th birthday party. Full disclosure: I wanted to have a Unicorns and Rainbows birthday party, but that's not really as socially acceptable for a 34-year-old as it is for a 7-year-old. Lucky for me, I have the same taste as a 7-year-old girl, so she went for the idea right away! I've been collecting ideas on my Unicorns and Rainbows party Pinboard for months and I was able to use several of them to make her party really fantastic!

You may remember the invitation we made using rainbow-striped paper from Michael's and a Cricut cartridge. The unicorn even had a glittery mane and tail! We asked the guests to come dressed in their favorite color of the rainbow.

For party activities, we started out making our own edible Unicorn horns, inspired by this pin. I used sugar cones and dipped them into melted white almond bark while the girls were waiting.

We put each dipped cone on a paper plate with the girl's name on it and then they got to decorate their horn. I raided my baking supplies and set out bowls of anything that looked girly or magical. My favorite was the sparkly gold sugar.

The pink sugar pearls were really fun too! One of the reasons I like almond bark much better than Wilton candy melts is that almond bark hardens very quickly. While the girls were outside doing the next activity, my mom put each unicorn horn into a cellophane bag decorated with a name tag and a piece of rainbow striped ribbon.

One thing I repeated from the cupcake party we had a few years ago--we had the girls do their sprinkling over a cheap plastic tablecloth. When they were done, I just gathered up the cloth and tossed it, spilled sprinkles and all.

We sent them out into the front yard for the next activity so that we could get the kitchen cleaned up and the unicorn horns packaged up. Maren saw this unicorn pinata at the party store months ago and it was the thing she was most excited about. She kept saying how cool it was to have her "first birthday party with a pinata."

In my craft stash I even found little paper sacks in all colors of the rainbow for the girls to collect their candy.

After the pinata, we went back into the kitchen for our next project. I purchased these rainbow craft kits from Oriental Trading Company. When we were ordering, Maren actually told me she wanted these rainbow beaded bracelet kits but I screwed up and bought the hanging rainbows instead. They weren't my favorite, but the girls seemed to enjoy making them.

After the craft, we sent the girls outside on the back deck to eat lunch. For lunch we had Unicorn Calzones (inspired by this pin),

rainbow fruit kabobs (inspired by this pin)

and rainbow Goldfish crackers. The Unicorn Calzones were really very good and they ate up every single one! I ordered unicorn and rainbow plates and napkins from Oriental Trading Company as well.

When the girls were done eating, they came inside for cake. I'd been dying to try out the infamous rainbow cake that is all over Pinterest and this finally gave me an excuse! I made mine from two white cake mixes, each divided into thirds. The cake was still tall but not unmanageable. I made the cake layers the day before the party and wrapped them in plastic. I can't even remember how many batches of homemade white buttercream frosting it took--maybe 4?

The morning of the party I decided that the cake looked too plain and sent The Mister out to buy Skittles. Unfortunately the store didn't have the original rainbow color package, but I did the best with what they had and I think it looks fine. The skinny rainbow candles came from the party store and the glittery green 7 came from Target. The girls really did gasp when I cut open the cake and they saw all of the colors! It was quite the showstopper.

For goodie bags I bought plain white paper sacks at Michael's and decorated the tops with a rainbow punched from scrapbook paper. The goodie bags had twisty rainbow suckers, erasers, unicorn necklaces, and unicorn stickers, plus the girls got to take home their unicorn horns, pinata loot and hanging rainbows.

For decorations I used mostly rainbow crepe paper. I had solid colors and then after I bought those (of course) I found rainbow striped paper at another store. It was too much work to take all of the solid paper back, so I just used them both.

I also bought a dozen balloons in rainbow colors and Maren even wore rainbow-striped Hanna Andersson leggings that I found at Costco. I am nothing if not devoted to a theme!

The whole party was so much fun and I'm so pleased with how it all turned out. Maren and all 11 of her little friends had a good time. My parents came for the weekend to help celebrate and I put them to work during the party--it took all four of us adults to keep things running smoothly, and I'm so thankful that I had their help! I don't think I could have done it without them.

Maren rarely gets invited to 'at home' birthday parties these days--the kids in her class usually have their parties at those bouncy places or at little girl salons. It's a lot of work to have 12 little girls in your home; to plan all of the activities and bake and decorate and then clean up all of the mess afterwards. To me it's totally worth it and I hope that someday Maren will have fond memories of the fun parties we planned together! And maybe next year I'll actually let her choose the theme. ;)