{ Pups can now be pretty too }

Another link I just had to share, I mean, it's too ridiculous not to. Puppylocks (reminds me of kittywigs) is a company selling feather extensions to click to your puppy... of course! Some pet owners are so crazy! This is so over top, I secretly kind of like it, and really want the pup in the pic to have Colors of the Wind playing while I look at his majestic-ness!

{ Now Ain't that the Truth: Architecture School }

I found this hilarious tumblr had to share. Hopefully it will brighten your day, it did mine, but I've been done with school for a while. {via}
enjoy my recent fave...{click for animated gif link}

{ Steampunk Party: Part 2 }

Happy Hungry Guests

Steampunk Party: Part 2, is really the menu... or the good stuff if you will... The Loon and I slaved over this menu for a good 2 evenings.. I know we're crazy, I mean the lil' one can't eat too much, but we wanted to make sure we had fun, adult worthy, yet kid friendly foods. I don't think I mentioned it previously, but we don't have too many friends with kids, and lil' bit isn't yet in daycare or school, so we really had to walk the fine line of kid friendly (for the 3 other kids in attendance) and adult fun, for the dozen other guests. Below is the run down on what we served.

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Double Vanilla + Double Chocolate Cupcakes
courtesy of wickedcolorgirl - you might know her from
the recent food posts / blog addition.
Below are the Caprese Kabobs

Steampunk Cupcake Detail

I did make all the little flags for the cupcakes and luckily I was turned on to Michael's (the craft store) cause they had TONS of cute steampunk-ish accessories. That's where we got the gears for the cupcakes and a few more sheets of cute papers and the cupcake wrappers.

The flags weren't too difficult to make, but my first try definitely didn't fare like I had hoped and I had to re-glue a lot of the fabric.

• I took a few scraps of left over fabric I had laying around from various craft projects, 
• I believe 3 different fabrics, about a 6 inches long and maybe 2 inches high
• I places two lines of jewlery making wire about 3/4" apart 
• brushed some modge podge glue (this is all happening on the 'back side' of the fabric) over the wires and fabric
• folded the fabric over (good side showing / up) and let set over night
• I then took some sharp scissors and cut out cute flags, and wrapped around toothpicks
• Viola! done! this made about 18 flags, some better looking than others. That's why we got the Michael's Gears, plus those were just cute too!

I'll be sure to get Wickedcolorgirl to post the cupcake recipes too!

There isn't a great photo of it, but we also had Caprese Kabobs. Mainly because I didn't want a sweets overload, and the lil' one LOVES a grape tomato. These were a great addition, and SO EASY to make!
All you need are:

• 1 pint of grape tomatoes
• 1 12oz package of fresh mozerella balls (the smalls ones) I think we just got whatever was best priced at Kroger
• A few sprigs of fresh basil (from the garden) - I tried to do 2 leaves of basil per skewer
• Alternate mozerella, basil, and tomatoes on bamboo skewer
• Once done, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a little salt and pepper
• Serve!

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Green Apple + Brie Turnovers

These were also super easy, but I do have to be forward, and say they didn't look as good as I had hoped / the example one I found {via}. What you'll need:

• 1 box (2 sheets) of puff pastry, thawed - boy is that important!
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar, divided
• 1 tbsp of butter, also divided
• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, divided
• 1 wheel of brie (the small one that comes in the cute wooden box at the store)
• 1 egg (for the wash)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10 by 10-inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. Place a good-sized slice of brie and 3 or 4 this slices of apple the middle of each of the 4 squares. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon and brown sugar and top with a pat of butter. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry.

Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm. Now this is where mine went array, cause I made mine at about 2am the night before, so the next morning, they were a little soggy... but luckily a few minutes in the oven, like 15minutes before the party started, crisped them right back up!

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Salted Caramel + Chocolate Marshmellows

Now the Loon made these, and WHOA! I had no ever had homemade marshmellows, but let me tell you they were worth the headache! soooo much better than the stuff in a bag!

He went off this recipe {via}, but we didn't use the tea, and kept them fairly simple. Seeing as it was our first time.

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Nutella Meringues

These bad boys, make about 15 to 20 meringues (depends on how big you make them)

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• a pinch of cream of tartar - I know, what is a pinch? I think it's like an eigth of a tsp.But literally, I pinched it! 
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon, granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup Nutella

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Make sure you have one oven rack in the bottom third of your oven and one in the upper third of your oven.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Set up a double boiler (a pot with another pot on top or a heat-proof bowl on top) and put the Nutella in the top of the double boiler. Warm the Nutella through and then set aside while you make the meringue. (You could warm the Nutella in a microwave but I don’t own one so you’re on your own if you do use one.) Let the Nutella cool as you make the meringue.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, place the egg whites. Beat on medium-high speed until they are completely foamy.
• Add the cream of tartar and the salt and continue whipping at medium-high speed until when you lift the whisk attachment, soft peaks form. This should take a few minutes.
• Once you have reached the soft peak stage, increase the speed to high and begin adding the sugar a few spoonfuls at a time (this should take a few minutes).
• Once all the sugar is in, the meringue should be very thick (almost stiff) and when you left the whisk firm peaks should remain.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and drop in all the Nutella. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the Nutella into the meringue three or four times. You’re aiming for a swirled effect so don’t overmix. This will also help avoid deflating the meringue.
• Using two spoons, drop the meringue onto the parchment-lined baking sheets in large dollops.
• Place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, immediately lower the heat to 200 degrees F. and rotate the trays. Bake for an hour.
• After an hour, check the meringues. If they are completely dried out then turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for a few hours to cool with the oven. If the meringues still look a bit “wet”, then continue baking for another 20 minutes or so. Either way, once fully baked, turn off the oven and leave the meringues in there for a few hours. - I didn't have this luxury, because the Loon needed the oven for the cake, so I had to risk it and luckily they checked out alright and were delicious!
• When you remove the meringues from the oven they should be completely dry and cool and will sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.

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Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate + Mint, White Chocolate + Espresso
Moustaches

I really wanted something cute and chocolate-y after I saw these over at Oh Happy Day. These were super super super easy to make, once I realized you had to buy those little candy making discs, ya know...
We really wanted to make these from scratch but with time a factor, I got the discs and used the old double broiler and this CUTE candy mold from Micheal's, and froze them for about 20mins before I popped them out and started the next batch. I could never get the candy sticks to work, so I had to just improvise and leave 'em as candy without sticks, but the lil' one just LOVED them, and they worked so well with the theme!

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Bacon + Cheddar Quiches

Quiche is what I consider one of my 'bachelor' recipes. It's so easy, and delicious, and always get tons of compliments, and did I mention I can eat off of it for a while? Well these little Quiches were no exception!

You'll need:

• 2 packages of cream spinach (the microwavable kind)
• 2 packages (each have 15, so you'll get 30 mini quiches total) of mini quiche shells
• 1 16oz package of shredded sharp cheddar
• 3 large eggs
• 4-6 slices (I diced mine up before cooking) of bacon

and to make:

• preheat oven to 350
• microwave the cream spinach for half the time, more or less so it's defrosted and easy to work with, once it's done and room temp ( you don't wanna scramble those eggs if too hot!) add in the eggs, and cheese and bacon, and stir
• dish out into mini pie shells and bake for approx. 15mins, or until the tops are brown

That's it and you're done! it's pretty much the same for a regular quiche too, just bake for approx. 45mins instead.

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The Birthday Boy just loved the Peanut Butter Moustache!
more than his cake... but that was another fiasco! 

{ Steampunk Party: Part 1 }

Entry way with Gift bags

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the lil' one's first birthday. It was such an acomplishment and I was one proud momma, yes for him, but also for us. The Loon + I didn't kill each other in our first year for caring for this lil' bug. Que the song. . . So we had a lot of celebrating to do. But all my previous experience in party throwing usually just results in getting a keg and setting up a beer pong table outside. This party had to be good, and hopefully Pinterest worthy. Well first things was first, I had to hire a photographer, ya know incase it was photograph worthy, and I really didn't want to miss a moment behind a camera or just not have any decent pics. Luckily Aperture Overture Photography was in my budget and had a good portfolio (and needless to say took some great pics).

Now the Loon and I went back and forth on themes for a while, but we finally settled on Steampunk, I think I updated you last on the Steampunk coloring books I was making for favors. Anyways, it's pretty hard to find inspiration or examples for a Steampunk party, much less something baby appropriate. I think we deviate a little but I hope you see the slight inspiration and enjoy the pics and how to links.

Entry way with Gift bags, which
contain the Steampunk Coloring books

chalk board + pinwheel detail

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The Kitchen was really where all the 'partying'... can you say that at a 1year old's party? ... was happening

The Drink Station

We had an Adult Orange Creamsicle Drink (and Wine of course!),
and the kiddies had a classic berry punch

The Orange Creamsicle Drink was:

• 3 Fresh cut Naval Oranges
• 1 750ml bottle of Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka (we like our drinks strong and serious)
• 1 bottle of Simply Orange (no pulp but that's just me)
• 1 2litre bottle of Ginger Ale (we had Big K - kroger brand) and just fill it up to the rest of the container with iceThis made 1.5 Gallons (that's the size jar I had)

The Berry Punch was:

• a good handfull of blueberries and strawberries, slightly mushed up with my mortar and pestol 
• 2 Qrt Container of Earthfare Brand Fruit Punch
• 1 2litre bottle of Ginger Ale (we had Big K - kroger brand) and just fill it up to the rest of the container with ice
  This also made 1.5 Gallons (that's the size jar I had)

we also glued circle to the cups that read, Happy Birthday Donovan
and made foam mustaches and monocles 

A happy mustached party go-er!

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Here you can really see all the puffs in the background.
I made them from Dollar Store Tissue Paper and this tutorial

A happy cupcake eater and you can see the end of the balloons / photo
arrangement falling down...

I tried to attach pics of the babe throughout his first year to the balloons
over the table... it didn't turn out as great as this post, but it was still
fun to see all his lil' faces 

I also made all the bunting and garland from Hobby Lobby scrap book paper
They really had a great selection and I went on a day they all happened
to be marked down. Here you can also really see the puffs over his high chair.

The Food - I'll probably do a post on this next