His & Her Valentine Cupcakes

This week I had a bunch of baking projects on my plate. Earlier this week I baked brownies with my daughter, then I had 2 more projects before the weekend - both for cupcakes. One of the projects I actually planned for by coming up with a specific design. I was all set to go. Then we had a blizzard here in NYC and the event was cancelled. I was a little disappointed seeing that I was so prepared and all. (a rare occasion)

The next project was to do cupcakes for a group of 6 and 7 year old girls and boys for a Valentine's Day party. This one I thought would be easy. I don't need to plan. How difficult could Valentine's cupcakes be? Well let me tell you, way harder than you'd think! If it was just for girls it would be a cinch. Hearts, flowers, pink, red, purple - my head was spinning with tons of cute ideas. Then, I thought of the boys. Nothing. I'm telling you, a complete void. I sat there waiting patiently for some amazing idea to strike me, but still nothing.

What can I say?!? I live in a very girlie girl world surrounded by 2 little girls with their Barbies, princesses, butterflies, pink, dollhouses, hair accessories, dresses, pink, jewelry, dress-up clothes, bags & shoes and oh, did I mention PINK??? It's all over the place!! How can I think "boy" through all of this PINK??

Think blue. OK. I can do that. So that's what I did. This is what I came up with...

First I started by baking a batch of cupcakes. I needed 26. Since they were for Valentine's Day I used red liners. I like how these ended up looking because they stayed red.

Sometimes after baking, the color changes and you can see the cupcake through the liner. I was happy that didn't happen to this batch. I do want to mention something here about baking. This is not the time to multitask. If the recipe says 12 minutes to bake, you really need to pay attention. I continue to tell myself this and I really do get better and better each time. I was baking 12 at a time so the first 2 batches I really focused. By the third batch I started to stray a little and boom!! 18 MINUTES later I remembered the cupcakes!! Yep, let's just say they were a "little" well done. We'll keep those. The hubbs will eat anything as long as it's sweet. Luckily I still had enough batter for 2 more cupcakes so I really made sure to pay attention this time. I can go a whole 12 minutes without checking e-mail. Really. I can.

I decided to do a "His & Her" design with raspberry pink icing for the girls and blue for the boys. I like the way the blue came out because it was almost like a light denim blue color.

I also wanted to make hearts from fondant and use that as the cupcake topper. Now, this is where planning ahead would have come in real handy. I looked through my stash of cutters and wouldn't you know - no heart shaped cutters! At least not in the size I needed. Mine were way too big. Good for cookies, not for cupcakes toppers.

Plan B - make a template and hand cut each one. Oh no!! That will take forever!! And it did. First I colored the fondant - pink, blue and red. For the pink and blue I didn't mix it all the way so I could get a marble effect. Making the red was more difficult. If you ever want to make red fondant, let me warn you now. Don't!! Just buy it!! Another step where preplanning would have helped.

I made 2 sizes of hearts - pink and blue in the smaller size, and red for the larger size. They came out a little rough around the edges (literally), but still workable.

I attached the smaller ones to the larger ones and there you have it - my custom made Valentine toppers.

After they dried and stiffened up, I inserted them into the cupcakes.

I think it worked! Not too girlie, but still says Valentine's.

Awww - what a cute pair!

***As a side note, just a reminder that if your husband is home with you and you leave your cupcakes near an open window to stay cool because you can't control the heat in your apartment and you have to go out, make sure you TRIPLE tell him to LEAVE THE WINDOW OPEN or your fondant WILL flop! Even if it was just for "10 minutes"!!

That's all I'm saying. It's just a warning.

Hugs & Kisses

It's a couple of days before Valentine's Day so I thought I'd give you some tips in case you need a last minute gift for someone. Don't worry - you don't even need to spend a lot of money. It's all in the packaging!!

How about some Hugs & Kisses?? Chocolate ones, that is.

No, I'm not here to give you a Hershey's sales pitch. I'm using these little guys just as reference. You can substitute whatever other candy you like. I just want to give you some insight into what the gift professionals use. (that would be me) Remember in my past life I had a gift basket business? Packaging is still in my blood and I use it for my other things - just not baskets. I can't even look at another basket!

You can try some of these ideas at home.

First off, if you're going to get someone these little chocolate morsels, you can't present them in their original packaging. Unless of course you're going for that "oh crap I forgot it's Valentine's Day and stopped at the local drug store" look. In that case, you're perfectly fine. For the rest of you, it's just not gifty enough. You may not be spending the big bucks but you will need to take an extra couple of minutes to spruce it up a bit.

Idea Number 1 - Bag It!

Get a clear or printed cello bag from a local craft store (usually sold in the baking department) and fill it with the chocolates. Take 2 pieces of ribbon in different colors (you may even have some left over from XMAS) and tie a bow around the neck of the bag. You're done! See, wasn't that easy??

Idea Number 2 - Do Me A Favor

If you're having a party at work, home or school, it's always nice to have a little party favor. Everyone likes to leave with a little something to remind them of the (hopefully) fun time they had at the party.

These little pillow boxes work great and they can be customized in many different ways.

Fold the sides of the box in to form a pillow. Fill it with the chocolates,

tie a small ribbon around and embellish with stickers. That's one fabulous party favor!

Idea Number 3 - Box It Up

The last idea I want to show you is how to dress up an ordinary white box.

Take a colorful piece of tissue paper and line the bottom of the box with enough left over to stick up a bit. You want it to look a little fluffy.

Next fill the boxes with the chocolates, fold the tissue paper down and put the lid on. Now you can decorate it however you'd like. Here I used the same 2 ribbons I used for the first idea.

I also created a little gift tag with a stamp I got at Michael's.

I think the stamp may have cost me a dollar!! I just love a bargain.

I hope I've inspired you to go the extra mile when giving someone a gift. The reaction you get will make it all worth it.

And it will give me the pleasure of saying "told ya so!"

Brownies With My Baby

This week I have a lot of baking projects. My first one was super easy. Yesterday my little one said "Mama, I want to make brownies". How can I say no to a face like this?

Perfect timing!! It's about that time of month where I get that almost animalistic craving for something chocolate. This, coming from someone who normally doesn't even like chocolate! Crazy how those hormones work.

Well, I knew I didn't have all the ingredients to make brownies from scratch, so I had to check the cabinets in hopes of a box mix. Found one!! Pillsbury?!?. I know I didn't buy that one. Must have been the hubbs. If it was me, it definitely would have been either Duncan Hines or Ghirardelli. Extra fudgey of course.

Can't disappoint my baby, so Pillsbury it is.

I was excited to try out my new brownie pan that my mother in-law gave me for the holidays. It's like a cupcake pan except square.

They came out pretty well except they each had a dome. They also came out more cakey than fudgey.

After they baked, I let them cool in the pan for a bit,

then moved them over to a cooling rack,

then right to a plate.

Just for the picture of course! Who needs a plate to eat a brownie?!?

He.

He has a favorite superhero - Captain America.

He made a Captain America costume one year for Halloween and still has the shield hanging on his wall. (in case he needs to fight any evil villains)

He refers to pasta as "macaroni".

He thinks his mother makes the best meatballs and sauce. (doesn't every Italian guy?)

He loves James Bond, The Beatles, Abe Lincoln and Star Trek.

He built a custom shelf for his BIG collection of GI Joe action figures that he keeps neatly arranged. (perfect boyfriends for the girls' Barbies)

He doesn't hear a word I say unless it's "dinner's ready!"

He wakes up in the morning thinking about what he's going to eat for dinner.

He is trying to be healthy (when he's not guzzling root beer and coffee) and wants "something green" on the table every night. (do the girls' boogers count?)

He is waaaaay into Loren Graham (think back to Gilmore mom)

He loves Florida. (no comment)

He still doesn't know how to work the cable remote. "TV's broken again!"

He bought a banjo so he can learn how to play one. (stuck somewhere in the back of the closet)

He will only watch movies in widescreen.

He snores so loud every night that anyone within 100 feet needs to wear ear plugs.

He is a typical husband. (Errrrr!!)

Besides all that, He is an amazing artist.






Want to see more? Check out of his work here, here and here.

I've gotta go rearrange some Joes. It'll make him crazy. It's what I live for.

NY Gift Show

Yesterday my friend Karen and I decided to check out the NY Gift Show at the Javits Center. (this is the same Karen that accompanied me to my butcher job..uh..I mean haircut this past weekend) I used to go to this show all the time when I had my gift basket business. It had been a while so I thought it was time to check it out again. Always looking for some new creative packaging ideas. I'm also helping Karen out with an upcoming baby shower (I'm in charge of the cake and cupcakes) so we thought we might find some inspiration for that as well.

We got there late in the afternoon and they already ran out of directories. Not good! We definitely could have been more productive if we had one. Oh - one tip I want to pass on if you ever go to trade shows - don't wear 4 inch spike heels!! Ooop, forgot to remind Karen about that one. :)

The Javits Center is huge - tons and tons of aisles to walk down with loads of different products to see.

There was a sign saying "no photography on the show floor" but I managed to sneak a few shots in anyway. Yep, I can be rebellious like that.

This was a cute booth that we found. Check out all of these sweet treats! Looks yummy, doesn't it?

Now look closer at the label...

Towels!! Genius. I'm telling you, creative packaging makes all the difference. They can be found online at TowelTreat.com

For all you diy-ers out there (like me) if you check online, you can even find instructions on how to make them yourself. Would make a great favor for a baby or bridal shower.

Then my heart almost stopped when we came up to this booth.

Did I ever mention how much I absolutely LOVE ribbons? I'm sure I must have. Paper and ribbons - love them both.

These were my favorite - the ones in the middle row with the roses on them My head is spinning with tons of ideas for these. I MUST have them!!

This was like being in ribbon heaven! Best part, they have NO MINIMUM ORDER!!! Unheard of! They are called Ampelco so if you're a ribbon freak like me, I highly suggest you check them out.

When we got to this next booth - Alice Supply Co., we both stopped in our tracks. This definitely could have won the award for "Most Creative Booth Display"

Look close - her skirt is made from dust pans and her top is a garden hose!!

This girl is sporting dust brushes for her skirt. Looks lovely with her cocnut shells.

This tdefinitely akes fashion to a whole new level!

All I can say is I'll never look at my cleaning supplies the same way EVER again.

Curl Talk - Anatomy Of A Bad Haircut

I decided to start a new segment on my blog called "Curl Talk" - basically because I have unmanageable curly hair that makes me crazy and I needed a place to vent about it and hopefully get some suggestions from my other curly haired comrades. You are out there, aren't you?!?

This weekend I finally booked an appointment to get my hair cut. It was waaaay overdue! Every time I get my hair cut it ends up being a traumatic experience so I tend to space them out quite a bit. The main problem is that I don't have a hairdresser that I love so I keep trying new ones hoping to find that perfect fit. Needless to say, I'm still searching.

I decided to try a local place in my neighborhood based on recommendations. As it turns out, the day I had my appointment, my longtime friend Karen came by that I hadn't seen in ages and she ended up coming with me. She must have sensed that I needed moral support.

We get to the place ON TIME and they say there's going to be a 15 minute wait.

Off to a great start!

Finally the woman comes over that's going to do my hair and just has this look on her face. How do I describe it? Disgust? Horror? Disinterest? I'm already getting a bad feeling. I proceed to tell her I just want a little cut off - like maybe an inch because when my hair is short, it just puffs out. I can't have short, curly, puffy hair!! I told her the last time I had it cut, they cut it into long layers and angled it. I don't want that.

So she says. "ok, so I'll give you long layers and angle it"

Hellooooo!!! Was she even listening to me?!? I told her again what I wanted. I looked over at Karen and she was just rolling her eyes.

I don't know how it happened, but somehow she talked me into long layers. Don't ask me how. I'm still trying to figure that one out myself.

A different woman washes and conditions my hair, then brings me back to the first one. This is where the fun really begins. As she starts hacking away, she's already telling another customer that she'll be with her in 10 minutes.

TEN MINUTES?!? I just sat down lady!

The more she combs and cuts, the drier, fuzzier and puffier it's getting. The knot in my stomach is also growing - in direct proportion to the rate my hair is puffing.

She thinks she's doing a great job, and I have to keep pointing out the problem areas - which basically is the whole entire head! I started to feel like a shrub and she was the gardener with her hedge trimmers, "Oh, we need a little more here. Now it's not even, let's do a bit more here" As I see more and more hair falling to the floor, I'm really starting to freak out. Whatever happened to ONE INCH???

I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I grab Karen, run home, rewet my hair, and put my own products in. I then call for more reinforcements. My sister.

My sister and Karen try to save what's left of it. They proceed to take little sections of hair around my whole head and make twists to set the curls and try to decrease the fuzz.

I can finally relax.

Let's go over the final version: Here's a "before and after" picture. I don't really take many pictures of myself so it was hard to find a good "before" shot. This one will just have to do.

Do you see how much longer my hair was? You're not even seeing my whole head of hair. Believe me, it was long! Look how short that "after" picture is. Eeeek!!

Let's break it down.

First - remember I said I didn't want it short because it would puff out? Well, here's my short, round, shoulder legnth, puffy hair...

Now what's with this piece? Why did she decide to keep this ONE piece long? Doesn't match the other side AT ALL!

This is the part that really gets me. It may be hard to tell from the picture but she hacked my hair into not LONG layers, but SHORT croppy layers!!


The layers are cut to the middle of my head - right where the arrow is! I can't even tie my hair back anymore without half of it falling out!

Yes, the problems us curly haired girls must face.

Next time (which won't be for a long time), I'm going to splurge on either Ouidad or Devachan.

Until then, my hat is going to be my new best friend.

The Today Show - Accessorize To Perfection

Not sure if you caught the Today Show today but on the Style section, they had a segment on how to Accessorize To Perfection. They showed how to take the same black dress and have it go from a day at the office, to lunch with some friends, to out on the town in the evening.

The thing that really caught my eye was that they suggested HEADBANDS for 2 of the looks!!

For the lunch look they used a red headband

and for the evening look they swapped out to a black headband.

You can watch the segment here.

I like! I like!

If you want to accessorize to perfection, check out some of the Total City Girl headbands on our Etsy Shop.