Fresh Lime and Rasberry Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting!

I really need to break out my Photoshop program. My pictures need more light! Anyway, you aren't reading this for the pictures, you want the tasty goodness within this post!
One of my most popular flavors of cake at the bakery was the Fresh Lime. It's so light and fresh on your palette, and the smooth creaminess of the buttercream is the perfect balance to the tartness of the cake. Sometimes I do scratch, and sometimes I just fancy up a box mix. Today we're going to fancy up a box mix, and when I get that book published, you'll have the other. *wink*

You'll need:
One box of white cake mix, I used Duncan Hines.
One fresh lime
One frozen limeade, or Margarita mixer
Lemon extract, Vanilla extract
About a dozen fresh raspberries
The other ingredients for the cake mix, usually eggs and oil.

Prepare the cake mix as you would ordinarily except NO water. Substitute the frozen concentrate instead. Add approx. two tsp. of fresh lime zest, and a squeeze of that lime. Also add a tsp. of lemon extract, and two tsp. of vanilla. At the final mixing stage, add the fresh berries. Do not over mix or they will turn to mush and you won't get the pop of red you want to see in the cake.

Place your cupcake liners in the pan, or spay well with non-stick spray. (For cuteness, I did the mini size.) Fill your cupcakes about 2/3 up. I find that having several sizes of scoops works wonders for consistent sizes. If you think you'll enjoy baking, it may be worth picking up several sizes, I have three. One for minis, one for regular sized, and one for large. Did you know that you can make jumbo cupcakes in your average pan? Just buy the liners that are fluted narrow on the bottom, and voila! You should be able to find these scoops, and fun liners, at a specialty kitchen shop, online, or a restaurant supply store.

Place your cupcakes in a pre-heated 350* oven. For the minis, I baked them approx. 12 minutes. They need to spring back lightly when touched, but not be golden brown. They should still be fairly pale in color. My larger cupcakes, (in a mini bundt, actually, but sized the same as a cupcake) took about 20 minutes. Please if you have convection, these times are too long, adjust accordingly.

Pull from oven and let cool.

For the Buttercream:
One pound of softened butter
16 oz. bag of powdered sugar
Dash of milk (any % is fine)
Liberal amount of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. of lemon extract

Place softened butter in a mixer on medium speed, until creamy. Add powdered sugar, dash of milk, (and by dash, I mean less than a 1/4 cup) vanilla, and lemon. (I add at least 2 Tbsp., sometimes more!) Mix on low at first unless you want to be covered in sugar. Slowly increase the speed until frosting is creamy with no lumps.

Fill a pastry bag with round tip, or a Ziplock bag with the tip cut off. Place a dollop of buttercream on each cupcake. Sprinkle with edible glitter, fun sprinkles, fresh raspberries and mint leaves... Just have fun with it. Baking is fun, not stressful. :0)

I added fondant pieces, little cut out butterflies, swirlies, polka dots, etc... If you liked Play Doh as a kid, you'll love fondant, and it tastes so much better! You can buy pre-made at a craft store usually, or if online, look up marshmallow fondant. Easy to do, use, and yum, tasty! I will do a fondant tutorial someday soon! Here's some additional pictures for you to ponder that resulted in the finished product above!

My mini scoop, this time being used for peanut butter cup brownies!

Love the tiny pops of red berry!

 Colored fondant, powdered sugar, mini cutters and a rolling pin are basically all you need for the fun pieces on top...

The pieces are drying here...

All my little pieces drying, butterflies, balls, pinwheels, squigglies, (that is THE proper term I'm sure) dots, and ruffly carnations.

How cute it all looks together on the dessert table!

Enjoy your day!!

What a Great Sunshiney Day!

So happy to have some sunshine today! Yesterday and the day before were very snowy, so much in fact that I had a completely different opening post, as I started it then. It went something like this...

We woke to a winter wonderland today, silent and still. The traffic quiet, the ground covered, and the sounds of the world muffled by the new blanket of snow.

Sounds so beautiful. It was, for oh, say the five minutes it took to come up with that and have a few swallows of coffee. Then I had to wake my late for school middle child, "un" bury the truck to drive the oldest to school, and console the youngest when he realized we were not in fact going to grandma's, but coming back home. *sigh*

Having said all that, however, I had a great day yesterday! I met with my graphic designer about the pattern covers and contents, and wow. We were so on the same page, she threw out great ideas, and really seemed to understand my aspirations for my patterns, my demographic, and all that feel good type of stuff. I have a list of things to do as long as my arm, but I am so excited I seriously cannot sleep at night. Hoping for an April website launch date, which may be a bit ambitious, but we'll see! I worked on my new embroidery pattern, and I love it. Hopefully you do too, here's a little sneak peek...

I'm working it up in fabulous jewel tones today, and got to meet with part of my sewing group today. The hostess with the mostess made a wonderful chicken noodle soup and hot french bread, yum! We chatted and sewed, and I made a little discovery not too far from her house. Ben Franklin. Yes, the store loaded to the gills with... stuff. I can't really explain the quantity of products in this store, but it doesn't matter. This one has fabric. Not like my favorite, The Top Stitch, but it actually has Riley Blake, Moda, Studio e, and more! I was a little surprised to find those little gems in this big store of, well, stuff. So I bought one fabulous piece. (I do try to support local when I can, so I restricted myself. :0) Speaking of fabulous little stores, I found a sweet little stitchery store. If you are into cross stitch, or embroidery, visit Haberdashery. Or if online, they have their own sweet cross stitch designs to check out! So, check them out! www.haberdasherydesigns.com But while you are online checking them out, please visit my favorite local shop and see why I love it so much. www.thetopstitch.com

 I'm done shamelessly plugging a couple of my favorites now, so here's a little looksy at the colors of my upcoming poppy embroidery design. I discovered bamboo floss, and a wonderful selection of linen. Can't wait to start this!

By the way, that hot pink isn't a part of the motif, but I really couldn't pass it up, soo pretty!

On a MUCH different note, I have a big soiree coming up on Sunday with my girlfriends. Look for a tutorial and lots of pictures of yummy mini treats! Taking photos as we speak, actually... (Good grief Pinterest is killing me with dynamic ideas.)

Enjoy your day!

Gloomy Day Embroidery

Nothing makes a girl (this girl anyway) happier on a doomy gloomy day than a drawer full of colorful floss! The possibilities seem endless, and today was the day to work on those embroidery patterns. I have started some wonderful, "sophisticated funky" designs, and some sweet whimsical ones. I can't wait to share those with you, but right now I'll just share my little project.

A name tag. I need one for a work day I have coming up. I am lucky enough to work a meet and greet event at The Top Stitch, featuring Anna Maria Horner. I am even luckier, in that I get to participate in her Patchwork Prism quilt workshop! I'll use the name tag not only for this event, though, but for other shows I may do in the future. I wanted it to reflect me, what I do, but not be so huge as to be a purse sized name tag on my chest.

Here's the smallish project! Now to trim it, and sew it onto a lovely gold fabric, possibly embellish it a little more, add some buttons... Geez, by the time I'm done it will be the perfect example of "overdone". Yeah, I better stop sooner than later. I'll share the after pic soon!

Do you like the 1990's rose color of my hoop? I remember buying it with some other supplies when I got my first apartment. I was 18, and so eager to create things for my new little (and by little, of course I mean TINY) abode. I have other hoops for sure, but this one gets used the most. I learned to embroider when I was young. I don't know how young exactly, but I distinctly remember my Mom showing how to do the perfect french knot. I think I french knotted EVERYTHING. I was so proud of my new skill. She also taught me to sew, that I remember being in 7th grade. I made the prairie style skirts that were so popular then. (Wow. So dating myself in this blog post.)  Other students didn't believe me until I showed them the hand stitching that attached the lace to the bottom of the skirt. They were very impressed. I fell in love with sewing, and stitching, and all things crafty.

So you now know some random stuff about me. :0)

Enjoy your day!  

Bloggy Stuff

No really great pictures today, but surely by the end of the week! I just feel chatty, as I have clocked in with more pattern work today. The boring stuff, the written instructions. However, I have re-connected with my laptop, and therefore re-connected with some pretty fabulous blogs that I have missed for a while. In addition, I have been surfing blogs for more great things to pin, (yes on Pinterest, I am SO addicted) and have discovered much to my delight, FABULOSITY. I will be updating my blog list soon, look for wonderful sewing blogs, fabric goodness, and English style.

English style? Yes. I don't know why, but ever since I was a little girl, I always wished for a British accent. I love the accents, the words, the tea, the flag, the properness... (which, by the way, spellcheck informed me isn't a word, pfft.) I think I really must live there someday. In a cottage in Surrey, please. With chickens and a garden. I'll keep you posted on that.

I even found a couple blogs in Iceland. And German. There is of course the Google translator bar, but there is something so neat about seeing another language. I loved the pictures, visual feasts really, and wondering what wonderful imaginative things they would say. I'll include those too in case you need some other country style inspiration.

I'll stop going on and on, so you can go do something important, (like Pinterest) and leave you wondering whether I thought (or spoke out loud, try it it's fun) all of this with that British accent I've perfected. (I did.)

Cherio, and have a lovely day! :0)

What's Up Today?

Apologies for (possibly) a very boring blog post. I completely understand if you choose to bail. Now. :0)

I have been diligently working, sewing, writing, and researching daily for weeks now. Testers are getting back to me about slight helpful changes they would like to see in the patterns, and I have been quite the recluse lately. I didn't even get my book club book read. That is RARE, especially for a "recluse". I truly have felt such a creative high, I just wanted to ride that. I so wish, (really, WISH) that I wasn't such an obsessive personality. I started the year wanting to be balanced. I would wake early and exercise. (I did, solidly, for weeks, I promise.) I would devote so many hours to my business, per week. (I did meet those minimums as well.) And I would do this while keeping the house clean, cooking, blah, blah, blah.

Somehow however, my time spent working out shifted to just working. Again. I do this repeatedly. I do the same with my weight struggles. I work out and obsess over my food until I reach optimal weight, shift focus, gain weight, repeat. *sigh* Now I am obsessively working on my business, not to my family's detriment, as they are still #1, just detrimental to me. (Seriously as I type this I am munching on Chicago style popcorn. Half cheese, half caramel corn. So much for a proper lunch.)

Today is catch up day. Adelle is playing on the stereo, as she is playing on every one's stereos now I'm sure. P and I have already been to City Hall to renew my business license, grocery shopped, and hit Starbucks. We've also been working on:

Mixing our PlayDoh colors.

Working on taxes, both business and home. No fun pictures for that, unless I took one of myself ripping hair from my own head. Not alone in that sentiment surely. When I need a break from that, I do this.

I look at the stash. I touch the stash, I re-organize the stash. Am the only one who thinks that is relaxing? I organize by designer. (copious quantities of Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Moda) I organize by size. I organize by color. It makes me happy. It's a good break. Coupled with my hot coffee and dark chocolate from Trader Joe's, it's a really good break. :0)

As a side note, I had to register my daughter for high school already. So not ready. That by the way, is a colossal understatement. I want to bury my head in the sand, but alas, she is getting older. We have continuing conversations about what university she wants to attend, and how she's going to make that happen. She's a type A, that one. Once she sets her mind to something... It. Will. Happen. Love that girl.

Well, I'm thinking I have procrastinated quite enough, it's back to taxes for me. Or fabric admiring.

Enjoy your day. :0)

My Pinterest Inspired Jar of Conversation Hearts

I wanted to make each member of our family their own "Jar of Hearts", but put my own spin on it, and make them something that we would continue to use...

You see, I have teenage girls. Two of them. One is fairly good at communication, but the other, not so much. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to find out the details of a day with the younger one.  Some of you know how that is, right? Me: "How was your day?"  Teenager: "Mmm, fine." Me: "Anything interesting happen today?" Teenager: "No." Me: *Sigh*. That's about how it goes. Most days.

The older is a bit better, usually she freely spills the drama, the details of the day. *Unless. The drama involved her. Then she is sad and withdrawn, and will want to talk, just not in front of any other family members.*

So while spending an inordinate amount of time on my favorite site ever, Pinterest, I came across a jar of hearts idea. Basically it was a Mason jar filled with simple little puffy hearts, that you could place anywhere to let the person know you were thinking of them. Lunches, instrument cases, etc... What a neato project! Easy and quick. But I wanted to make these little hearts a bit more, well, conversational. So I made a list of words for each family member. Some words crossed over to all three kiddos, especially the words of encouragement, like awesome, proud, dream. Some words were very specific to that child, their nicknames, favorite book, etc... (By the way, my hubby has a whole different set of hearts, with inside jokes, nicknames and others) Each set of hearts is in their favorite color. Their main heart is embroidered with "Love", in their color, on a red background. Each child also has a heart that says "sad". This is an important one, it means that they can leave their heart in place where I will find it. I will know who's it is because of the color, and I will know that one of my children is sad, they need me to know, and they can come to me when they're ready. My oldest struggles to maintain her composure when she's sad, and this lets her off the hook from trying to talk before she's ready. (Poor kid is so much like me that way.) They can leave me their "love" heart to let me know they love me, and I can do the same. I can leave the "awesome" heart on their pillow with a piece of candy for a job well done. I will leave the "love", and their nickname hearts together to let them know that no one will ever love them more. No one will ever share that name with them. Our little secret. Each jar has a postcard with each word and what it means so they'll never forget.

The hearts were so easy, just cut out with pinking shears, layered wrong sides together, and sewn around the whole heart with a little fluff of stuffing in the middle. By the way, I just used a Sharpie for the writing. I don't plan on washing these, and I did the writing before they were sewn.

These were the Hubby's hearts. He loved them. :0)

That's all for today, Happy Valentine's Day! It's another doomy gloomy day today, lots of laundry and housecleaning to catch up on. I did however, have a wonderful brunch out with Mr. Perfect. I'm enjoying my day, go out and enjoy yours!

Happy Birthday Owlette Pattern!

This little cutie will be off to testers on Friday! I am starting to get feedback from my testers on three other patterns, so far all very positive! It is so inspiring for me to see people do my patterns in their fabrics of choice, put their own spin on them. Hoping to get the four patterns off to the graphic designer next week, to put them into a fabulous looking, consumer friendly format.

As usual, I'll keep you posted!

It is a gorgeous day today, really that sunshine can keep shining on, the computer portion of drafting patterns is a lot more fun with it!

Enjoy your day!