Magnetic Needle House Necklace

Praise the Lord, O my soul

Psalm 103:1

from my list of one thousand gifts

parents :: grand surprises :: family :: walks :: friends :: sunshine :: Sunday's :: quality time :: projects :: goals ::

Blessings, 

Spicy Guacamole

Last week we decided on a Mexican Menu for Sunday Supper.

Of course that meant that Mr. Wonderful would make his spicy guacamole and amazing pico de gallo that we all love. 

The weather has been a little unpredictable so far this summer however Sunday was beautiful so I set the table on the patio. I used lots of bright colors which was fun. 

The guac and pico were amazing as usual. No wonder they are family favorites! As for the rest of the menu, we had shredded spicy pork tacos, Mexican rice, and lots of toppings. To make things easy we used our slow cooker for the pork. 

Once the kids arrived I forgot all about taking pictures which is okay because Sunday Supper is all about quality time with our kids. However, the next time we serve spicy pulled pork tacos and Mexican rice I will be sure to take some pictures to share. 

Happy Saturday!

a walk in the park

Tyron Creek Park is always a good idea for a walk. 

Especially on a sunny summer morning.

A great way to start your Saturday.

Have a Beautiful day!

DIY custom Cornhole game

Cornhole is such a great game for all ages. In fact, we like it such much we have made 4 sets so far. 

Several weeks ago we had a 60th Anniversary Celebration for our folks which was held in their backyard. I had asked Mr. Wonderful if he would make a special set of Cornholes for the occasion. He agreed to build the boxes and then have them professionally covered as long as I designed the image. That sounded like a good deal to me so he got busy building the boxes while I figured out a design. 

He works fast so he had the boxes ready in no time. I was not far behind with the designs. Our party theme was Denim & Diamonds so I used a denim background and decided to make the two designs slightly different. Once I had them finished he sent them over to our friend who made the design into the awesome overlays. 

The Cornholes turned out just how I had hoped and were fun addition to the party. 

Go here to see our other customs corn hole games

patriotic cookies & decorations

This year I decided to make Sugar Cookie Bars to take to our annual 4th of July BBQ.

They were really quick and easy to prepare which was nice. 

While the cookies baked I put out my festive napkins, straws and picks. 

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting was a fun change from the traditional buttercream.

The napkins made great pinwheels however they were not for anything in particular. They were just fun to make. 

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Happy 4th of July!

After a lengthy hiatus from my procreate I finally had a chance to charge up the batteries and start practicing again. It is amazing how easy it is to lose track of time while creating such fun things so during the last several months I thought it was best to refrain from using it while I focussed all of my attention on the Queen Bee Tea Party and the 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. Yesterday I decided it was time to get it out and see if I could remember how to use it and sure enough, it came back to me. 

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

We Still Do BBQ: Desserts and our great CAKE secret!

Saturday June 19th was our parents

60th Wedding Anniversary!

If you have read my last few posts you know that my sisters and I recently held a special event for this big milestone. Since this was their Diamond Anniversary we decided on a Denim & Diamonds theme and thought a BBQ would keep things casual as requested. We ran it by our folks and they gave us the go ahead and the planning began.

Once my sisters and I started planning and discussing the menu we agreed that we wanted something extra special and a bit more formal when it came to the cake. Ordinarily I would have loved the challenge of making the cake but I knew there would not be enough time with everything else to prepare, not to mention the pressure of such a feat. So, my youngest sister and I started researching bakeries that were recommended by friends. We narrowed it down and went to visit the bakery we thought would work the best for us. We had a list of questions which they gladly answered and also offered a lot of ideas and a price list to refer to while we took time to sort through all the choices. Our next trip to the bakery, about a week later, was to place the order but first we met at the coffee shop next door to talk about the selections one more time and make our final decisions before going in. As we were looking again at the price lists and firming up our order we discovered that if we ordered the two double layer cakes separately and stacked them ourselves it would be much more economical. The girl at the bakery who took our order naturally assumed we were ordering a wedding style cake but we soon realized the confusion. At first she was surprised by the idea and not sure what to make of it. She was happy to revise our order though and told us she had never heard of anyone ever doing that but thought it would work. My sister on the other hand probably thought I was nuts when I suggested the idea but I was pretty confident that we could do it and, besides that, it would be much easier to transport the cakes in the car for the hour drive which was another good reason.

The cakes came in two separate boxes as ordered { the small cake was a white double layer cake, buttercream frosting with raspberry mousse filling and the large cake was chocolate with buttercream frosting and chocolate mousse filling } and I am happy to report we successfully stacked them without incident. I brought along some of the diamond trim I had to place around the bottom of the upper cake for decoration and to cover any accidental imperfections which thankfully were basically none. I love when a plan comes together! As for the cake topper, we tried to find one but did not have much luck. In the end I decided to make one to match our theme. It really made more sense anyway because it was only on top of the cake long enough for pictures.

The beautiful cake would have been more than enough, however, I wanted to make some cupcakes to serve as well. Of course, I could not resist making some cute cupcake toppers.  I made the bows and pockets with leftover supplies from the invitations.

And yes, that really was more than enough dessert but I thought we needed some mini blackberry cobblers also, for those who are not fans of cake. 

They were so easy to make with my trusted cobbler recipe and I already had the cups, lids and wooden spoons. They were finished in no time. 

I just added some diamond gems to the spoon handles, tied them to the top and put them all in the cute farm crate. Easy, peasy!

The dessert table was full and the cakes were delicious. A great ending to a very special celebration!

Happy July!