recipe: Apple-Walnut Spice Cake with Cream Cheese & Praline Frosting

This apple bundt cake is sooooo yummy. And the photos I remembered to take before it disappeared don't do it justice!

Have you read the Brown Eyed Baker's blog? If not, I highly recommend that you start - she posts some wonderfully delicious stuff! I get the updates emailed to me and am starting to think i might need stop reading them when I'm ready to lose the baby weight - or have some serious self control - since she targets baked goods, which are definitely my weakness :)

When I saw this recipe for apple cake I knew it would be perfect for us right now! Our little ones have taken to asking for "big" apples for snack time, meaning whole apples, and most of the time they only eat about half of the apple before they lose interest (which leads to a bowl full of brownish apple pieces in the fridge). A recipe like this was just what I needed to use them up!

The only things I changed were to use whole wheat flour, un-peeled apples and walnuts in place of the pecans, and the result was just scrumptious.

If you'd like to make your own, here's a link to the recipe - enjoy!

<3

looky looky!

 light and bright heart handled bags

We've got something new in the shop!

 rich and wintery heart handled bags

 party brights heart handled bags

 These little bags (5" tall from the top of the handle to the base, 2" deep and 3 3/4" wide) are just the right size for giving small gifts, sending home party favors, serving treats and displaying party goods. I'd love to package up a bunch of cupcakes in them, wouldn't you?

They can be made in any color or pattern and in any quantity. And, soon, I'll have a hand-stamped version available to coordinate with the stamped cupcake toppers.

In the next few days and weeks I'll be posting photos of ways that they can be customized, too! There are so many ideas running around in my head .... these will be so much fun! : )

a little boy's cowboy party, part 2 - decor and party

Here's the rest of Ian's cowboy party (the first post is here)!

 

I used some of the blue jars to hold the silverware, and the plates were a bit of serendipity from Hobby Lobby (clearance! ye-haw!)

At the beginning of June I was 3 1/2 months pregnant and finally had my energy back. I had a bunch of ideas from my Pinterest idea board that I wanted to do - and actually got most of them done! Looking back, I should have taken more photos of the details (like cactus on the front door to greet our guests or the little cows and horses we dug out of the toy bin to scatter around the room), but these give an idea. :)

the view from our front door (can you spy the cactus? there are a few against the half walls)

looking from the table to the drinks bench, kitchen and the "chuck wagon" - I've added the red, white and brown star garland to the shop if you'd like one for your own cowboy :)

red, white and kraft stars

the red were from the dollar store, originally gold and silver foil from Christmas that I spray painted (and I think I like them better this way - can use them for the 4th and Christmas, too!) and the white and kraft are from this tutorial.

 

Cowboy Ian!

He and Em loved running back and forth under the "wagon". It was simply a small folding table with a cloth, and John attached the cardboard "wheels" to the corners with twine.

What Western themed party would be complete without some "snakes"? :)

and of course, some silly stick on mustaches!

the cutest little buckaroos, ages 3 and 2 (the backdrop idea is from here), so excited for the party to start!

 he wasn't too sure about our family birthday hat, though. :)

His favorite gift was the lawnmower. It was also the first to be opened - he was so enamored with it that we almost didn't get to the rest of the presents!

Darling boy, we love you so much. You are all boy, but also a bundle of love and tenderness. This next year is going to be wonderful!

a bit of shopkeeping

You probably know by now that we are expecting a baby girl to arrive in about, oh 3 or 4 weeks. :) (so excited!)

With that in mind, I realized that I'm going to need to take some time away from the shop! I've got some help lined up for while I'm away (such a relief for me to have that checked off of my to do list!), but have decided to temporarily discontinue the silhouettes. I'm hoping to offer them again the first 2 weeks of December (that depends on how adjustment with the new little one is going, though), and then discontinue them until the new year.

Sooooo, if you want one for a Christmas gift (for yourself or someone else), now is the time to order!

You'll have from now until October 31.


<3

p.s. You might like to know - the silhouette prices will be increasing slightly starting the first of the year (so it's an added incentive to order as soon as you can!)

2 of the reasons posts are rather sporadic around here:

reason #1:

 reason #2:

mmm, yeah. there's others, too, but these little cuties are the main ones (at the moment).

pretties from the bloggy world

Have you seen my "featured on" page recently? I've just updated it with a few of the lovely blogs that have featured some of my items or events that used items from the shop (seriously gorgeous events!).

Here's a sampling:
Style Me Pretty has had a few different posts with things from the shop:

photo source

A gorgeous wedding that they featured last October where the bride requested some extra large hearts garlands in book pages to warm up the back wall of the church.

 photo source

A wedding in Ireland where the couple used  some of the Romantic Vintage Heart garlands in the backdrop for their cake table. So sweet!

A New York Valentine wedding. The event planner did a custom request for chair garlands, and they became so popular that I have since added them to the shop!

photo source

And an Australian engagement session where the couple used the Romantic Vintage Hearts garland as one of their props - their photos were stunning!

photo source

The baby blog On To Baby featured one of the sweetest baby showers I've seen, and it just so happened that the girl who threw it, Mona of Birds and Honey, had asked me to make her some custom "It's a Boy!" cupcake toppers for it (another item that has become so popular that I've added them to the shop!). They were just darling and really complemented the rest of the shower decor.

Anyway, those are just a few! Aren't they gorgeous? Every time I see photos of where people have used my products I am amazed at how sweet they turn out and how they fit into different settings so well. If you have photos of an event where you've used some of my creations, I'd love to see them! And if I'm able to use them here on the blog or on facebook, I'll send you a coupon for your next order!