Silly Old Bear

Winnie The Pooh Baby Shower

So, it's been a baby-filled year for me. First one of my best friends had an adorable baby girl, Delaney. Then my little sister had the cutest baby boy, Joseph. Don't you think they'd make a cute couple? In about 20 years? I think so.

Swimming Baby!

Happy Baby!

I've noticed my Facebook timeline (when I bother to look at it) has been filling up with pictures of babies. Luckily, they're cute, so I don't mind taking the time to look at them :) And I always say, as long as I can hand the baby back when they start crying/pooping/etc I'm a happy camper. Just call me Aunt Awesome. Oh wait, they already do...

ANYWAY, still more babies popping out here at work and of course that means baby showers and dessert tables. The latest and greatest being a Winnie the Pooh themed shower that I enlisted my parents help in...again. Even though they didn't even know my co-worker. Aren't they the greatest?

While I was painting flower points to look like Winnie the Pooh Honey Pots...

















...my dad was putting together this AWESOME Hundred Acre Wood sign. In case you're wondering (and I know you are), we even did our research on Vintage Winnie The Pooh spelling and went all Christopher Robin on this sign.







Next on the agenda was baking honey bee and hive sugar cookies. My mom and I stayed up late doing the baking and my sister Betsy (sugar cookie decorator extraordinaire) helped me out with the piping/flooding/making pretty-ness.

Note to self: Do NOT teach your mother how to play Words with Friends before starting a project. She will ignore said project until the entire game is completed and it's midnight. Also, make sure she limits the smack talk.




Because I like to share, the Sugar Cookie recipe & Royal Icing recipe is at the end of the blog. They were really yummy and although time-consuming, relatively easy to make.







Sugar cookies

















Lemon Cupcakes & Chocolate Cupcakes with Honey Bees
















Creamsicle Cake Pops
















Honey & Lemon Hive Cake. Borrowed this idea from Amy Atlas and her Sweet Designs book. So cute and edible! The best of both worlds really.

The Perfect Candy to make an appearance...Bit-O-Honey and Lemon Drops

And the last of the decorations....

I had so much fun making this Winnie the Pooh Dessert table and will most likely be using it again for some birthday parties in the future. Now I just need to convince the parents...

SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE

Preheat oven to 350 F at 1/2 hour before baking these cookies.

- 6 Cups flour (reserve 1 cup for rolling dough)

- 3 tsp. baking powder

- 2 Cups unsalted butter

- 2 Cups sugar

 - 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla (or desired flavoring)
- pinch of salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and flavoring. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to batter slowly until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill dough 1-2 hours.

Roll to 1/3" thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes or just until the edges of cookies turn brown.

Makes approx. 5 dozen 3" cookies.

ROYAL ICING RECIPE

4 Cups sifted powder sugar
3 Tbs. Meringue Powder
6 Tbsp water
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. (oil free) flavor or extract

Mix on medium speed for approx. 10 minutes, or until icing holds a stiff peak. (For piping...Add more water to create icing for flooding.)

Icing should be used within 2 hours. After this time, icing may need to be beaten again.

Be sure all tips and bowls with royal icing in them are covered with a damp cloth to prevent crusting. If icing crusts it should be thrown away.

Starry Night Bridal Shower

One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world is getting married in September and the bridesmaids recently threw her a rather fantastic bridal shower (if we do say so ourselves).


Of course I was desperate to make a great looking dessert table that would feed 50 or so ladies (we can put away a lot of cupcakes, you know). Angela (the bride!) picked some great flavors for me to work with and the colors of the shower were purple, silver and black. I think it may be my fanciest looking dessert table yet. Props to Amy Atlas and her book Sweet Designs for some of my inspiration.

And even BIGGER props to my awesome dad for making me a kickass cupcake stand all for my very own. It's amazing. Times twenty.

Breaking it down....(click on the dessert names for the recipes I used)

Champagne Truffles

Angela's favorite. I had to hide extras and promise to give them to her afterwards so she would share the ones on the dessert table.

Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Coconut Cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing. Vanilla-Almond Cupcakes. Lots and Lots of Cupcakes.

 Color appropriate candy :)

 Key Lime Cake Pops

Good lord these were tasty. I could have eaten ten. I mixed a key lime cake (recipe) with vanilla icing, dipped them in white candy melts and sprinkled crushed graham crackers on top.

I'm officially obsessed with hand-stamping wooden utensils for parties now. I got my alphabet stamps from The Tomkat Studio. It's a cute and easy way to make something themed and original.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Tried and true - these are always popular. The best recipe and step-by-step instructions can be found on Bakerella. She rules.

 

 Cream Cheese Mints

 

 I told you every lady loves her cupcakes!

 

Such a fun day, followed by a fun bachelorette party later that evening. No pictures of that party, my parents read this blog. :)

Babies Everywhere!

This was a baby-filled weekend for me, with my little sister's baby shower AND one of my best friends brought an ADORABLE baby girl into the world.

I've been like Martha Stewart this past month getting shower stuff ready with three other ladies (Abby, Angie and Lisa) to make Betsy's shower perfect. I have to admit that we out did ourselves here, it was a travel theme (Cars, Planes, Trains, Trucks, etc) based off of their nursery. Here's a look at everything!

Invitations:

Ticket to the Party

Bring a Book Poem

Also included in the invites was a library card and envelope to put in the book you gave the baby with a little note.























Goodie Bags:

Goodie Bags

In each guest's "luggage" was  some candy, a hand-stamped spoon and a cupcake box. The goodie bag was used to take home leftover desserts and candy from the dessert table.

Spoon, Candy, Twine & Napkin

Cupcake Boxes

Hand Stamped Spoons

Luggage Tags

Decorations:

Guest Tables with Airplane Centerpieces

Diaper Motorcycle

"Dump Your Gifts" Table

Guess the Cotton Balls

Luggage Baby Crossing Sign

Dessert Table:

Finally, my favorite part!

This one wins for cutest dessert table I've ever made. Now all I want to do is outdo myself with something better! Luckily I have a bridal shower coming up that I'm baking for...

Vanilla-Almond Cupcakes

Champagne Cupcakes w/ Whipped Strawberry Frosting

Gum Balls and Chocolate Cake Balls

Almond Flavored Plane and Train Mints (courtesy of Mom)

Orange Cake Pops

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

The whole she-bang

Dessert Crossing Sign (courtesy of Papa Rad)

A few quick side notes. I made orange cake pops for the first time ever, they taste like creamsicles. Make them. Eat them. Now.

I have the cutest pregnant sister in the world.

I think all pregnant women are cute.

All baby showers should have little kids in attendance. They are hilarious to listen to.

My dad is the best handy man in the world.

My mom is the most amazing mom and mint maker ever. All of my creativeness comes from her. No offense dad. My ability to change a headlight, check the oil and change the washer fluid in my car comes from you. All are equally as important.

Mom-to-Be and hostesses

Betsy & Missy's babies greeting each other :)

That's it! I have wedding cake balls to make in a couple of weeks, a party in June and a bridal shower in July. The excitement never ends!!!