January 31st, 2011
There is nothing that I like more than throwing a fabulous party. So when my turn to host Bunco was coming around, I had to find a fabulous theme! I visited the awesome Hostess with the Mostess Blog (what did we do before blogs??), and scoured the pages for some much needed inspiration. I came across this amazing Parisian-themed Baby Shower. I was super inspired and created this adorable invitation (seen below with glassine envelopes from ClearBags.com) using some clipart that I found.
Here are some photos from that night. I don’t have a wide photo of the whole “party table” but you get the idea!
Food and fun and prizes were had by all! It was such a great party, I can’t wait for next year! The straws, cupcake papers and striped bags are all from Fort & Field.
April 1st, 2009
I want cupcakes as my wedding favors. Cupcakes in cute little white boxes tied with ribbon and a cute label placed on top of a charger with a napkin and a menu card. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside
But I don’t quite know where to get them from yet. I would love to take some from Sprinkles and bring them to Utah with me… but that is highly unlikely.
I did a lot of online searching and found a few Utah companies that bring it to the table.
In the running right now are Mini’s Cupcakes, Cupcake Chic, The Sweet Tooth Fairy, So Cupcake, & Dippidee
Currently Mini’s is in first position. The nice thing about Mini’s is that they are affordable — $2.00 per cupcake including the box (though they are smaller than the other companies). They are also extremely beautiful and I’m willing to rank on a 70% beauty 30% taste scale. I am pretty much in love with the cupcakes in the above photo. The big negative that they have going for them is that I believe they run a bit on the “dry” side. I assume this is because of their small size. But I’ve never had a moist “Mini” but again thats only 30% of the ranking.
Cupcake Chic Is getting a lot of wedding attention these days. I’m hesitant to recommend anyone who doesn’t have a store front – just because I can’t go and see and taste all the greatness going on. But I do have to give them an A+ for keeping it simple and awesome. I really really want to try their red velvet cupcakes and would love to have them at my wedding. They do sell their cupcakes at a few coffee shops in Utah County, so I might just have to go in search of them. A dozen cupcakes runs $25 so thats just a hair more than $2.00. I just called and they were super nice and are even sending me 4 to sample so I can make my decision. They do bulk price breaks – for every 6 dozen you buy, you get a dozen free! So I can get my 10 dozen for $225.00! The owner (sorry I can’t remember your name) said that most likely the individual boxes wont cost extra, but she was going to calculate pricing on those. I think this might be my new number one pick, it all just depends on taste now, cause the cuteness is there and so is the price!
Third position is held by The Sweet Tooth Fairy. I have never had their cupcakes, but I am really excited to go and try them. Their website/design is so adorable and hey, that does it for me! Their cupcakes are also completely adorable and they run $28/dozen which works out to be $2.33/cupcake. I love their custom medallians – that would be rockin for a wedding. I have a lot of hope for this company so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that when I taste them, I’ll fall in love! I just found out that they can come Individual boxed for $3.00 & if you are interested in custom monograms they are $.75 more and preferably atleast a weeks notice. It might just be too pricy for me 
Another company in the running is So Cupcake. I was super UNimpressed by their flavor/moistness etc. There wasn’t really anything special about their cupcakes — but maybe my standards are a bit to high, I do admit that I am spoiled here in California. They are cute – but so are most other cupcakes. The reason they are even in the running is because of PRICE. If you’re all about the money they can’t be beat. The mini’s are $1.16 and the regulars (which are pretty darn big) are $2.16 when bought by the dozen – and they also come in a complimentary box. Money might just win over — maybe I just caught them on a bad day.
Last but not least is Dippidee. I must admit that I am definitely back and forth with this cupcakary. My first and only impression is that they over-do it a bit. Mile High frosting, filling inside the cake… can’t we just keep it simple. They look delectable but taste is just moderate — more youthful than sophisticated like the Mini’s & Tooth Fairy. I do have to say that Their vanilla frosting is the bomb, but man I had a killer headache afterwards, and I’m not a fan of their Chocolate at all. Maybe you can have too much of a good thing. I think I may have to try them again before I make my final choice. I just called to check pricing and I found that the little ones (which arn’t so little) called fun-size are $.99! killer deal. And the big tall ones are $2.99 – these are the ones with the filling etc. You can get them in individual boxes – I forgot to ask if those cost extra or not.
That is all the research I’ve amassed on the subject hopefully it will help any brides or party throwers. I’m sure there are lost more companies out there, let me know if you’ve had a great experience with a local cupcakary!
xoxo Jen Allyson
January 31st, 2009
There is this great little grocery store just a few blocks from my apartment. Everytime I go there, I look at their amazing bakery and see these fabulous jam-filled heart cookies. But of course I never buy them, and if I did, they would probably be like 3 dollars a piece. So I decided in honor of valentines day, I would make some myself! They were so easy, and exceptionally good! You should definitely try them.
I just moved and have barely any kitchen stuff, so baking presents quite the challenge. For these cookies you will need:
1. A Rolling Pin
2. 2 nesting heart-shapped cookie cutters (I found mine for $1 a piece)
3. Sugar cookie dough recipe + ingredients – or pre-made sugar cookie dough (I totally cheated!).
3b. Extra flour & powdered sugar
4. Red jam
5. Cookie Sheet
First step is to make the dough – or pretend you made the dough. When I use pre-made dough, I always add just a little bit of flour so it doesn’t stick to everything.
Next you’ll need to roll it out. I recommend 3/16″ (just a little less than a quarter of an inch) because you’ll be putting together two cookies in the end, so it gets a bit bulky. This also depends on how much your dough rises.
Once you’ve rolled out your dough, go ahead and use the cookie cutters to cut the big hearts in the dough. At this point you’ll want to cut little hearts in HALF of the big hearts.
I just made a few cookies because I didn’t want to eat a dozen or so. If you are going to make a lot of these, I would recommend making your own dough, that pre-made stuff is expensive. But if you really need to save time, it only took me about 20 min from start to finish to make these awesome cookies.
Next you’ll want to bake the cookies. Just follow the instructions on your recipe. The hardest part of this whole thing was transferring the dough to the baking sheet without ruining the shape. Here are the cookies after they were baked. I also baked the little inner hearts, but had to do it on a second sheet.
I let the cookies cool for about a minute on the pan, then they are easy to move to a paper towel or cooling rack. The assembly of the final cookies is pretty easy. I had the cut-out hearts on one side and dusted them with powdered sugar. Then the whole hearts I covered with a thin layer of jam – a bit thicker towards the center.
The final assembly consisted of placing the dusted hearts on the jammed hearts. Viola! Beautiful jam filled heart cookies! These were so so yummy, I’m going to make a big batch for Mr. Project to take to work on valentine’s day!
If you are wanting to make the dough from scratch, I found this super easy recipe online:
Raspberry Sandwich Heart Cookies
Happy Valentine Baking!
January 14th, 2009
So I was going to do a great project for you today, but I don’t have the camera I need. But rest assured, tomorrow I’m going to dust off the old sewing machine and get going. If all goes according to plan, I’m going to be making a fabulous… drumroll please… pin cushin! This may seem like a simple task, but I think the best place to start is simple. Every other attempt at sewing has resulted in me calling my mother half way (read: right after I’ve cut out the fabric) and having her do all the actual sewing. So I am going to choose a project that ensures success. This may be a good tip for success… don’t choose something too overwhelming until you are a pro!
In the mean time, I am going to post two cards that I just designed for my friend’s card site: Card Nirvana. You should check it out. We sell super easy to customize cards that you print at home! Without further ado:
I didn't draw the robots, Mr. Project did (I wonder if he'll let me call him that)
I did draw these flowers though! And hey this could come in handy in the future!
