Margarita Cupcakes

Since we were having taco salad for my Grandma's birthday lunch we decided to stick with a Mexican theme for dessert. I found these margarita cupcakes on Pinterest. I used this Margarita cupcake recipe , but since I didn't have a box mix I make the cake mix from scratch. So this is the DIY white cake mix recipe I used, but in my opinion it needs a little tweaking because the cake itself was heavy instead of fluffy like a cupcake should be. The lime buttercream frosting was simple to make and delicious to boot! I added a few drops of green and yellow food coloring to give it a lime hue. I topped all of the frosted cupcakes off with a sprinkle of kosher salt which not only kept the true margarita flavor, but also was a nice touch of saltiness to accent the sweetness of the frosting and cake. Finally, what would a baking post be without a few pictures?!

This is the first dozen I frosted. You can kind of see the light green hue in the frosting. Disclaimer: I am certainly not a professional. Although, I'd love to take a cake decorating class at a bakery or craft store someday.

Here are the second dozen...the frosting job turned out a little better on these ones.

So there you have my latest baking adventure. Stay tuned in the next week or so for my detailed report on the wedding invitations. :)

June Garden Update

It's been since May & April when I last posted about my garden. Everything has grown a lot since then. Check out these pictures to see for yourself:

Big picture view of raised bed, raspberries, small bed, blueberries.

 Close up of the two new blueberry bushes I planted. Finally dug up the lemon balm, and added a few friends for my lonely blueberry bush.

Raised bed: 2 tomatoes, 3 bush beans, 2 corn, & chives. In front is carrots, swiss chard, & kale. I'll post about making kale chips later. :) Look at that raspberry patch! I picked the first 4 berries off it today, & they were SO yummy!!

Big picture of the left side of the garden. Look how tall those peas are...taller than my 5'1" that's for sure!

A better view not looking through the peas. It's hard to see, but in the middle is mystery squash (note the 4 garden labels). After the wind blew over my green house these are the squash that came up, & we'll see what they produce. This also gives a good picture of the soaker hoses I finally got out of the shed.

Here's a better view of the spinach, & leaf lettuce that were in the shade of the last picture. They look a little thin because I picked some for salad. :) Might I add that it was delicious salad!

This is the "small" garden off to the side of the raspberry patch. Sadly my radishes have all bolted. :( On the other hand that one cabbage is doing great!

The flower bed by the house is looking a lot better since the April post. Mostly due to the fact that I've been working on weeding it. My dahlias are coming up! The fenced in plant has decided to grow super tall this year. :/ Like the peas it's taller than my 5'1", and continues to grow!

Thanks for taking a peek at my growing garden! Sorry that the pictures are not the best quality since I took them with my iPod touch (I have seemed to misplace my regular camera).

Versatile Blogger Award

Looking at my blog traffic sources the other day I found a blog address among the usual Pinterest and Google searches. So I clicked on it and it took me here.


Turns out she was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, and listed my blog as one that she nominates for the award. Thank you Stitchknit for the nomination!! Up until now I never knew there were awards for blogs. Like her I can knit & crochet better than doing things on my laptop so bear with me if not all the links work properly since I just learned how to use the link feature. There are a few rules that go along with being nominated:

• Thank the person that nominated you...check
• Link back to their blog...check
• Tell that person 7 things about yourself
• List 15 blogs you follow & nominate for the award

Here are 7 things about me:

1. Living in Seattle, Starbucks coffee is a necessary part of life. I'm a proud Gold card holder! My favorites are the Salted Caramel Mocha in the fall/winter, and either the Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino or the Green Tea Frappuccino in the spring/summer.
2. As I've written about on my blog, I love to garden! I find that pulling weeds is a great way to decompress after I get home from work.
3. I love creating! Anything really it doesn't matter if it's knitting, crochet, sewing, card making, scrapbooking, or making sample crafts for my pre-k class.
4. I like to travel, but wish I had more time and money to do so (who doesn't?). My favorite trip so far was to Hana, HI on Maui.
5. Also previously seen on my blog, I have two adorable rabbits. Although I admit Teacup is in the spotlight more often since she's only a year old, and is very curious. Pumpkin is older, blind, and is content to snuggle (which I don't mind).
6. I love to cook and bake! Experimenting in the kitchen is one of my favorite things to do. I admit that not all of my adventures have turned out like I thought (for example the chocolate peanut butter pillows I found on Pinterest), and I admit sometime there are tears. It doesn't stop me though.
7. Lastly, I'm addicted to Pinterest! I know I've mentioned it here before, but it's true and I'm not ashamed to say it.

Now for 15 blogs I follow and nominate:

1. Decorating with Lola! 
2. Moore Babies 
3. Thrifty Decor Chick 
4. Skinnytaste 
5. Longing for Home 
6. Julie's Stamping Station 
7. Happy Dog Buttons 
8. The Dainty Daisy 
9. The Purl Bee 
10. Never Not Knitting 
11. Speckled Owl Studio 
12. Make It and Love It 
13. On the Refrigerator Door 
14. House of Smith's 
15. A Friend to Knit With 

 Okay, I think all the links will work. A note to the nominees: you're not obligated to accept, but I highly recommend that you do since I've have fun doing writing this post. :)

A Sneek Peek

Last night for girls' night Diana and I finished her wedding invitations! FINALLY!! Well, technically they're not 100% complete yet since I still need to cut a few more belly bands, score them, and glue them. The big thing is that all of the embossing is done, and now I know that embossing 44 cards is not an easy task. Also, all the printing for inside cards is done, and Diana enjoyed cutting those apart and putting them in the pockets. :) Since the invites haven't been sent yet I'm not allowed to post all the details until the end of June, but I was allowed to take a preview picture to show my embossing accomplishment.

This is after I edited it a little in Instagram. I love, love, love that swirl pattern stamp! I can't wait to share all the details with you later this month.