Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy 23rd Birthday to my wonderful cousin Luke.  Hope you have fun today! 

Monkey Cake!

Check out this amazing cake! 

Divya had it at her nephew Rohan's first birthday party.  Beyond cute, right?  (Also, how adorable is the little guy in green?)

You can make it yourself without too much difficulty - here is how to do it! 

I'm a Little Dinosaur

Does anybody know that song?  It's great. 

Also, here is a little card I made for a friend - we happen to be going to Dinosaur BBQ for a bday dinner (yum!) so I thought this worked. 



(BTW: How cute is Jonathan Richman in this video? )

Birthday Picnic

I always wished my birthday was in June. I got stuck with December, so no pool parties, backyard bday bbqs or the like for me.

Brian's mom's birthday is today though! (Happy Birthday!) I put together these picnic ready place mats for her. The place mats have a little pouch on the side for flatware, and I made matching cloth napkins that tuck in too. Perfect for a birthday picnic, I think!

Here is a close up of the little pouch. The pattern/idea is from one of my favorite craft books, One Yard Wonders. (If you haven't already you should check it out - TONS of amazing sewing projects, great clear instructions, and as the title says, they all only use 1 yard of fabric!)

You could use these place mats at the dinner table too, I think. But if you need them to travel, I whipped up a little drawstring bag for them - just roll and go! I hope she enjoys them.

And yes, I know I've used the red fabric for a billion projects I've shared here - with this one I've finished up the last of it! Which is why the bag doesn't match, of course.

Happy Birthday Sir!

Yesterday was Julie M's birthday (previously seen here). She was abroad so I will say happy birthday today, with these cat topped cupcakes. Her cats, my frosting. Homemade cupcakes. Win!

Happy Birthday Bessie!

Happy Birthday to my sister Bessie!  She is 26 years old today!  I'm very excited to celebrate with her tonight - deep in the heart of Texas! 

Here is a silly card I made for her. 

Happy Birthday Emily!

This makes me so happy I just had to share. My cousin Emily (hip girl in pink, flashing the peace sign) had a sleepover birthday party this weekend, and my crafty aunt Allyson made the girls some awesome scrunchies using my tutorial!

They look stunning! Great job Allyson. I'm so psyched my tutorial was of use!

Today is Miss Emily's actual birthday, so:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!

I hope you had a great party, and an amazing year!

I'm on the bunting bandwagon!

I've seen a ton of these cool bunting/banner/flag garlands around the crafty blogosphere and I like 'em!  But I didn't have an occaision to make one...until now.  (More on that at a later date). 

I couldn't find a tutorial for them so I decided to try my hand at them and I'd say it was a success!  The project was free, since I used scraps.  You can make them for any occasion, or omit the letters to just add some festive fun to your everyday life. 

I'm thinking I might put together a tutorial of my own - anyone interested?  Let me know!

Hayride!

You know what is fun? Olden days transportation. Like a wagon!

Look how excited said 3 year old is? SO EXCITED!! (Me too!)

It was really lovely to see the beautiful countryside of Old Lyme, CT - quite stunning, actually, and refreshing too, coming from NYC!

The other kids had a great time - so did the grown ups!

Bessie and Dorian study the scenery of beautiful Fox Glove Farm.

Bess and I introduce ourselves to our new horsey pals, Samuel and Adams.

And look! We didn't lose anyone overboard even.


Even the little one! She is hard to miss in her hot pink though.

It felt like our hayride was a time machine to the days of yore!



Everyone was transfixed!

And happy to be there!

What better way to celebrate a 3rd birthday?

Fresh air and fun, and bangs.

Nicky is a good sport and poses with me without threatening to jump off the wagon.

Samuel (or Adams) from the rear. HA!
Jack grows a little restless.

Our new friend, miniature horse Little Debbie!

More horsey friends: Nickel & Dime.

Everyone is having fun!

Happy Birthday Dorian!!!!

The Disappearing Cake!

I spent the weekend in lovely Old Saybrook, Connecticut (good place for a fort, good place for a port) to see my family and celebrate my nephew's birthday! It was a weekend full of extraordinarily fun activities (more on that later), including eating birthday cake.

**We made Dorian eat that piece.**

This year my sister made a red velvet cake - very popular in cupcake shops of late but a new addition to our family's dessert repertoire. Judging by the speed in which it was eaten on Sunday, I would wager that it is destined to return many times over. I meant to take a picture of the luscious red interior of the cake but it was gone too fast!

I didn't do anything to help out with this cake, except eat it. (And test the frosting to make sure it wasn't poison). But here is the recipe my sister Bessie used - so good!

Doesn't it look awesome? The #3 decoration was easy to do - just take some wax paper larger than your cake, and make a stencil by cutting out the design you want (number, letter, picture, etc). Simple is best. Cut it out, put the paper over your cake, and fill the design area with sprinkles, powdered sugar, etc. Gently pull the wax paper away and Ta Da! Your cake looks pro!

Also: did you know that it is called "velvet" because of the finer crumb texture, the result of a chemical reaction between the vinegar, baking soda, and buttermilk? It's true! Science can be so tasty.

Try it out yourself!

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from Cook's Country

Cake

2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Pinch salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder

2 tablespoons red food coloring

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Frosting

*Note - I LOVE frosting, the more the better, but this recipe made a LOT. So, you could cut it down a bit depending on your preference.

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar

16 ounces cream cheese, softened, cut into 8 pieces

Pinch salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust rack into middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and eggs in a large measuring cup. Mix cocoa with food coloring in a small bowl until a smooth paste forms.

2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl down as necessary. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add half of the buttermilk mixture and beat on low until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl as necessary and repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk mixture, and finally the rest of the flour mixture. Scrape down bowl add cocoa mixture and beat on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds. Give batter a final stir using a rubber spatula. Scrape into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pan 10 minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack and cook completely another 30 minutes.

3. FOR THE FROSTING: With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese 1 piece at a time and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and salt, and refrigerate until ready to use.

4. When cakes are cooled, spread about 2 cups of frosting on 1 cake layer. Top with remaining layer and spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 days (no way it will last that long).