the way to a man's heart is through his stomach

to support this statement i present exhibit A: beer and bacon cupcakes.

i am so excited to share these because this is my very first recipe that i have created completely on my own.  pretty much everything i have made up to this point has been derived from another recipe i have found... usually i change an ingredient here or there and/or add more or less of something.  but today i sat down and  after looking through a bunch of cookbooks and comparing recipes for simple vanilla cake, i came up with my own.  i figured i'd start my experimenting with only the highest quality ale... the champagne of beers.

 

(please don't judge my terrible iPhone photos)

much to my surprise, these got the seal of approval from the toughest judge around, my husband.  both a beer and bacon connoisseur,  i knew if he wasn't satisfied i'd have to start from scratch.  but he LOVED them!  i am so happy to announce that my first trial was a success.

ladies, if you want your boyfriend, husband, the cute guy across the hall, friend with benefits, etc. to love you forever, i might suggest you order a few of these.  they would also be a good way to remind dad of your everlasting love on fathers day.

lazy sunday

mint chocolate covered pretzels, just because.

even though they are just for us, everything looks cuter wrapped up.

preseason fun

what better to do on a friday night in august than watch our superbowl champs and experiment with some cookies...?  i love me some summertime, but i can't wait for football season!

hairpieces

another thing i love to do is make feather hairpieces.  here are some i made for a friend's wedding this past may.  the yellow/guinea ones were for her bridesmaids and the white/guinea one was for the bride.  the yellow feathers were hand dyed. 

these would make a great gift for a bridal party.  can be made in any color combination with any type of button, jewel, or stone. 

fundraiser goodies

this past weekend a friend was having a fundraiser for her mother who is very ill. we weren't able to attend so i wanted to do something to help out...  everything i made was donated and all the profits earned went to helping bring her mother home.  it was a huge success and it feels great to know i contributed a little piece to her mother's happiness.

my first adventure with cake pops... a little frustrating at first but an extremely awesome end result.

i also made some of my classic chocolate chip cookies and brownie bites...

any of these treats would make a great favor for a birthday party, shower, or any occasion!  contact me if you're interested.

our wedding

some handmade details from our wedding, almost one year ago!

 

guinness cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (i made 150 of these the day before our wedding)

to make the cupcake stands i covered cake boards with fabric and attached them to mason jars filled with vintage spools of thread and sewing notions.

 hand stamped cocktail napkins added a little extra flair.

i used the same vintage looking template that i created for all menus and signage to keep with the theme, printed on craft card stock.  

my husband cut slots in 150 hockey pucks to use as stands for our menus and escort cards. (he is a HUGE hockey fan)  we intended for the guests to take the pucks with them but as you can see in this picture, they left them and we had to lug home over 100 unusable hockey pucks.

 

there was a photo booth at the restaurant so we gave everyone the $3 it cost to take their photo and paste it in our guestbook or keep for themselves.  the envelopes are tea stained and hand stamped. (my husband actually did these and they came out great!)

the table runners were made from brown craft paper that i machine stitched together.

the table #s were made using tea stained fabric stretched through vintage embroidery hoops, the #s were machine stitched on.

our favors were sweet and cheap! mason jars filled with salt water taffy from my favorite - berkley sweet shop on the seaside boardwalk.

in trying to keep with the vintage theme, i made our programs to look like an old newspaper.  since half of our guests were from new jersey and the other half long island, i included facts about both places for guests to read and learn while they were waiting for us to arrive.

 simple handemade ring pillow that our nephew the ring bearer spent most of the ceremony chewing on.