Finito!

Well, almost.  The back doesn’t have any buttons yet, but close enough.

We’ll have the cutest girl on Easter Sunday!

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Baked

I’ve been a little into baking lately.  Hmm…okay a L-O-T into baking.  I’m not sure if it’s a pregnancy thing and I want sweets or if the timing of this pregnancy and my finding a lot of fun baking blogs just happen to coincide.  Who knows.  What I do know is that I’m having a lot of fun!

I made this cake a few weeks ago, but I didn’t love it. 

The frosting was so over-the-top sweet I didn’t finish my piece and never went back for more.  Dan on the other hand couldn’t get enough and said he liked it more and more with each piece. 

After having a red velvet cupcake while out celebrating my birthday, I decided I had to make some.  I’ve never make them before and always thought they looked a little intimidating, but they were SUPER easy and really good.  The recipe I used called for cake flour, which I haven’t used much and it made all the difference.  They were so smooth and delicious!

 

Then last weekend I was able to go out of town (ALONE!) to visit my cousins in the Quad Cities in Iowa and Illinois.  While there I finally got a chance to make the ruffled cake from the Sweetapolita blog.  My cousin Becky’s daughter is turning one very soon and we celebrated early with her first of two First birthday parties. 

What better reason to make such a girly cake than a cute girl’s first birthday?!  A food photographer, I definitely am not, so the pictures aren’t great, but it looked pretty good for a first attempt and the cake itself was so good.  I actually didn’t eat any of the frosting (I’m not a fan of eating frosting in general – I just like to play with it), but loved the chocolate cake.  We made it light yellow with pink pearl sprinkle balls.



Grace went at her cake with about as much gusto as Sophia did for her first birthday.  We all watched and waited….and waited, but she mostly just poked at the frosting and took dainty little bites.   

  

What to make next?  I saw this post on a blog and decided that gum-paste flowers would be fun to try.  Can you believe those flowers are made out of sugar?  So cute!



Hard to believe Sophia’s next birthday is in just FOUR months and I’d like to try to make her a nice, cute cake instead of buying one.  Let’s just say this new obsession is all for Sophia.  Sure it is…

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An American Classic

It was SO nice today that I wanted to make a warm weather meal.  We ended up having hamburgers (a BIG treat since we never do beef at home!), mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.  Sophia was a bit hesitant to try it at first, but ended up going crazy for it.  It was so fun to watch her eat it!

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Meet Evelyn

Evelyn Inchworm that is.  Isn’t she darling? 

And she is sitting on my newest fun book.  I got this book about a month ago (for 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics - gotta love those weekly coupons!).  I was on this blog.  This woman just had a third baby and I saw that she had made these cute homemade dolls for her daughter’s “big sib” kits for when they met their baby brother in the hospital. 



They are SO cute and I loved the idea of Sophia being celebrated as a big sister while we’re celebrating her new baby sibling, so I set off on a mission to find a pattern for a doll as similar as possible that I could make for her. 

I found this book by Hillary Lang and it’s full of super cute projects – dolls, animals and all kinds of fun things.  You can check out her fun website here.

 

The first project in the book is called Evelyn Inchworm.  It’s that cute green worm with eyeglasses.  Since my little friend Evie is a major bookworm, it seemed perfect for her! 

And what’s a bookworm without a book?  I put a crude little book together for her too.  It’s not amazing, but Ev won’t care.  :)  The only thing I’d change about this little Evelyn, would be to use white buttons for eyes instead of black.  I think they get lost behind her glasses.  



My favorite thing about the projects in this book is that you can do them pretty much anywhere.  Most of the sewing is by hand, with a little of it done my machine, so you can take your project with you wherever you go.  I love this especially, because I’m not stuck in a corner with a sewing machine (fun to do the project, but not to be isolated), and can do this in front of the TV or wherever.  The inchworm was a great starting point too.  Now, I can get started on a cute little doll for Miss Soph!

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How do you unwind?

There are many different things I can do to unwind when I feel stressed, or when I just want to do something that’s solely about making me happy.  Sometimes I run, lately I take tell Sophia that Mommy needs a time-out and leave Daddy in charge for five minutes.  I also l-o-v-e to bake.  It makes me happy.  Even if I don’t eat it, because sometimes I like to make things for fun, even if it’s not something I like to eat (like pumpkin pie – love to make it, but I REFUSE to eat it!).

Yesterday, I was browsing one of my new favorite blogs (you can check it out here:  Sweetapolita), and was inspired to make a chocolate cake.  I plan to try to make one of her amazing, very tall, six layer cakes at some point – like this one:



But, last night was not the time, so I ended up this Easy Chocolate Cake from Martha Stewart’s website.

Start with this:

 

  
End up with this:

I splurged on Vanilla Bean Gelato and it was worth it – SO SO good!!


And, since, technically, the blog IS named for her (at least for now)  here’s a picture of Sophia.  I usually carry her into stores – keeps shoes clean, it’s faster, etc., but yesterday I let her walk into a bookstore.  Mostly because we had to park a block and a half away, so I didn’t want to carry her.  She had so much fun crunching the snow with her toes!

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Would you be mine?

Would you be mine….if I gave you a big box of treats??! 

Despite being exhausted yesterday (up at 4:30 – ugh!) and not really having the energy to do so, I went a little crazy getting treats ready for Valentine’s Day.    Dan asked for something to bring into the office and Sophia’s one daycare day happens to be Valentine’s Day, so I made homemade boxes of ‘chocolates.’  (You’re also getting a sneak peek at Sophia’s Valentine bucket below…)



We made heart shaped chocolate chip cookies and marshmallow s’more  bites (graham crackers and marshmallows dipped in chocolate – Yum!  I saw somewhere online an idea to make it look like you made a box of chocolates at home and decided to make a much less fancy version for our treats.



I found pink and red foil cupcake wrappers to put the treats in and then wrapped them up.   

I LOVE holidays where you get to give people presents…especially because you love them, so this is one I love to participate in! 

Oh, and for the record, Dan did NOT let me leave the ribbon on his box of treats for work.  :)  Can’t imagine why not!

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Sew much fun!

Remember this book?  I finally put it to good use and finished my first pattern from it!

  
Introducing, the first Beth Zustiak original! 

Of course, it’s not really an original since the pattern isn’t mine, but I am very proud of the fact that it turned out pretty well.  I was just hoping it would resemble a shirt in any way, and it turned out much better than expected!  It definitely has it’s flaws, but I’m very happy with it and it’s given me the confidence to try as many patterns in that book as possible!

The back picture was taken before all the buttons were on…there are actually four buttons down the back (well, three as of now, but there will be four in the end).  Thankfully, the cover up snaps and I didn’t have to learn button holes right away!

   
Sophia was even willing to cooperate and take a few pictures with her new shirt on.  Of course, I did have to keep popping blueberries in her mouth to get to sit still for even a second!

I remember my grandmother sewing a lot when I was younger.  She even used to make Barbie clothes for my mom and aunt – I can’t imagine working with something so tiny!!  I only regret not having her teach me more when I had the time with her.  I feel like this is a way to connect with her memory while doing something lasting for Sophia. 

Next up – white pants to go with this and other shirts to come, and an Easter dress!  I’m having so much fun with this!!

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Bakery treats at home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hosted a Lia Sophia jewelry party yesterday morning and for the looongest time I couldn’t think of what to make for us to munch on.  This is what I ended up coming up with:

  

And, in case you’re wondering, no, those donuts are NOT from the bakery.  They ARE super easy, not to mention fun, to make and I’ll show you how.

You will need:

 

2-3 cans of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits - they come 8 to a can, so it all depends on how many donuts you want
A donut cutter - mine is from Kitchen Window in Uptown, but you could also use a small round cookie cutter to cut out the insides
Cinnamon Sugar

Vanilla icing (1/2 c. pwd. sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 TB milk

Chocolate icing (1/2 c. pwd. sugar, 1/8 c. cocoa, 3 TB milk)
Colored sprinkles

1 large container of vegetable oil

The name of the game is preparation.  Before you can start frying the donuts, you will need to cut the biscuits and have them ready to go

 
Make both of the icings and have the cinnamon sugar within reach.


I also lined two sheet pans with paper towels and put baking racks on top of them.  You’ll want these next to the pan so you can get the donuts out quickly when they’re finished. 

Heat the oil in a large pot, I used a dutch oven.  To test if the oil is ready, you can dip the edge of one of the donut holes and if it sizzles and bubbles, the oil is ready.

I put five in at a time – depending on the size of your pot, you’ll have to play around with the right number.  Just leave plenty of space for them to puff up.  Flip them when the bottom looks slightly browned.  They should take about two to three  minutes on each side.




Flavoring can get a little tricky.  For the cinnamon sugar donuts, you’ll need to sprinkle them almost immediately after they come out of the oil.  They taste best if you do both sides.  I sprinkled the sugar on top, but I think it would work better to have a bowl full of the sugar ready to dip the donuts in on their way out of the pot.

For the glazed donuts can wait a minute or two, but the icing will stick better if you dip them while the donut is still warm.  Make sure to dip both sides in the icing.

(This is the part where I couldn’t help but taste test!)
 

The chocolate were the easiest, but they did need longer for the icing to set.  Dip just the tops into the icing and then put the sprinkles on.

That’s it!  Enjoy your treats at home – BUT you’ll want to eat all of them, so watch out!

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