it's been so long since i blogged, but the cupcakes made me do it

i've not blogged since forever ago because i've really been trying to work on my schoolwork when i have "free" time. but right now i'm in this teeeny tiny space between spring semester and summer work... so what do i do? well, i could fix all my photo links in my blog since they all broke due to updates to my gallery :( but decided to do something less necessary instead :) my lastest craftiness is of the baked variety -- i make cupcakes. or as here, cupcake "bites."

this was my first test run and although they didn't end up looking as great as i thought they would, they were yummy:

molded for cupcake shaped cake bites.


what happens when you overheat chocolate wafers... they're supposed to be all smooth and liquid-y... instead, gross and crumbly. ruined an entire bag :P


so i used white candy melts instead. but apparently, i have NO idea how to dip stuff into melted candy.


mia approves of my mistakes, though.


the first finished cupcake bites... they seem cute but really, not as adorable as i was going for.


the end-bites. sort of deformed... but taste good :)


so in the end, they tasted ok and looked meh, but oh well, just means i have to practice practice :D

she killed my gingerbread house

i left marco with mia the night after i made my gingerbread house. three hours of decoration went into that house. and then... i get a phone call. it's an emergency.

the house is destroyed. mia has brought down on herself and broken it. it is salvageable, but honestly, i'm too bummed to fix it.

in an attempt to make up for the fact, though, mia tried to decorate a gingerbread house herself... not the same, but lots of love in it anyway and i have to forgive her because she's the sweetest and i can't stand to be mad at her :)

In the holiday spirit... i made a gingerbread house!

i've been waiting WEEKS to build and decorate our gingerbread house. for the perfect day where we can all sit around and decorate and mia would love it and we would have great family fun... er... didn't work that way. we picked out a day and time and as i was gearing up for decorating fun, the little one fell asleep. and then marco started playing with his computer and he sat there and watched me decorate our gingerbread house (well, he did line up the m&ms for the roof for me and made appreciative comments, so i guess that counts for something). anyhow, here's the finished product (and the pre-decorated, post-built pic as well). yay for the little gingerbread girl

Thanksgiving Dinner Cupcakes - Drumstick & Mashed Potatoes

marco asked me to make some cupcakes for work tomorrow, so in the spirit of thanksgiving, I made some thanksgiving dinner cupcakes - drumsticks and mashed potatoes! here is a sampling of them, even though i actually made 13 drumsticks and 11 (mini) mashed potatoes. they're actually really funny (and a lot of cake!). i got this particularly awesome idea from Hello, Cupcake. it's such a cute book :)

mia eats cupcake

just wanted to show a picture of my little one and her pumpkin cupcake ;)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

i made these tuesday for mia's playgroup's halloween party. i think they turned out super cute ;) they're just white cake and vanilla frosting (tinted orange ;) ) the stems and curly green tendrils are chocolate and vanilla candy and the eyes are white m&ms.

and the best part? they were gone in a flash! a big hit with the toddlers.

here are all the shots i took of my cupcakes :) :S :o

when i see these cupcakes, it makes me feel like i'm the best mom

i saw these amazing cupcakes in a woman's day magazine and i thought that i could make them exactly the same. i fully expected my very first cupcake (not only the first one i make with those instructions, but my first cupcake EVER) to be as perfect as those glorious, professionally made cupcakes with the amazing morphos butterflies (but since mia's theme was monarch butterflies, i made them in orange wings). yeah, and so thirty pairs of butterfly wings later (all done freehand, i'm so proud), i finally got them to look halfway decent... not completely perfect, but oh well. i'm thinking of remaking them for my babywearing meeting :) they do make me feel like i'm the best mom, though, because i made them ESPECIALLY for her birthday... and especially for her :)