Filled Cupcake Goodness

When I was little, I loved going with my mom to the Hostess Bakery outlet store. Mom would stock up on Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Cupcakes, Fruit Pies, etc... and keep them in the freezer for snacking. Frozen Twinkies were (still are) my favorite! The other day I tried making my own "Hostess" cupcakes. The first batch I made from scratch had too many steps, and weren't fantastic . For the second batch, I changed things up and made them with less steps - definitely my kind of baking!

Surprise Cupcakes

1 Box Devil's Food cake mix prepared as 24 cupcakes

Cream Filling:
3 TBSP Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Butter or Shortening
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Cook flour and milk until it's thick (do not boil) cool to room temperature. Whip butter or shortening and sugar together, add vanilla. Add flour/milk mixture to butter/sugar and whip for 7 minutes.

When the cupcakes are cool - cut out a small cone shape from the center of the cupcake, and then cut off the pointy end of the cone shape. You'll be left with a flat circle Add a small spoonful of cream filling into the hole and put the circular piece of cake back on top of the filling.

Frost as desired with chocolate frosting.

Enjoy!!!

Old Jean Upcycling

After clearing out some space in the girls dresser drawers, I found too many jeans that were either to short or had holes in the knees. Since our weather has been so beautiful, all the girls want to wear are skirts anyways, so I got busy. By using the top part of the jeans and adding fabric ruffles, they got something new and cute to wear!
Grand Revival Design fabrics for Free Spirit are wonderful to sew with - the two fabrics I used are from the Ava Rose collection designed by Tanya Whelan.

I didn't have to ask twice - Daphne was more than happy to model her new skirt and smocked top. What the girls love best, is how great the skirts are for twirling!

Wild Red Huckleberries & Pretty Weeds...

Everyday lately, I've had to announce I'm going down our driveway to the mailbox or I'll get in trouble. You see, it's huckleberry season and we have a plethora of berries right now and I know two little girls that can't seem to get enough of the tart berries. If I go without them, I never hear the end of it. It's one of their favorite summer things... Red huckleberries are unique to the Pacific Northwest. I've never made anything with our berries since we mainly only pick and eat our fill, but one of these days, I'll have to make something - I'm getting quite a few requests...

While on our little jaunt to the mailbox, we spotted a few "pretty" weeds too. Sydney was busy gathering flowers to make a tiny bouquet. Here's a little sampling of what we came across.

Top row left to right: huckleberries, red maids, fireweed.

Bottom row left to right: morning glory, red elderberry, buttercup

I wouldn't mind if these pretty weeds grew in my flower beds...

Something I'm Always Looking For...

are vintage ice cream soda glasses.

I've been collecting soda glasses for a number of years, and am always on the lookout for unique ones to add to my collection. Pictured above, are a few of my favorites. Some are from the 50's, but I also have pieces from the 20's and 30's as well. We use them all the time for lemonade, iced tea, parfaits, and milkshakes - they're great for so many beverages, really. I love an eclectic table setting and always use a different soda glass for each of my guests. Besides all the neat patterns, what I love most is how heavy and thick the glass is.

Things Are A Changin'...

We've officially been caring for our two tadpoles for 11 days now - so far so good. Look at the progression! They're actually looking like cute little froggies. It has been a hoot watching them swim around and now, they are starting to climb onto leaves and such in the pond.

Never a dull moment, these guys are busy, busy!

First Kiss

What an appropriate name for this stunningly beautiful rose, don't you think?

"First Kiss" is in the Floribunda class. I love this rose bush and all of its flowering sprays.
About 6 years ago my brother bought a beach cabin with a beautiful rose garden. They immediately made plans to replace it with grass - yikes! Can you imagine? I couldn't, so my mom and I asked if we could dig up the roses and transplant them in our yards. I wasn't about to let all those beauties end up in a compost pile! Let me tell you though, it was hard work digging up the twenty or so roses. These weren't small plants either - some of the plants had to be at least 15-20 years old. You should have seen the tangled mound of prickly bushes in the back of the truck - it was a sight!

Boy, am I ever glad we saved "First Kiss" along with all the others that day.

Berry Fun

I took the girls to a U-pick strawberry farm this morning.
They were both so eager to pick their very own berries. It was a beautiful morning to pick too, the sunshine had returned after being absent for a few days.
We had good pickings in this patch - lots of gorgeous red juicy fruit!

More then a few times, I'd catch someone sneaking a snack.

This girl always ends up with the evidence written all over her face...