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the way her eyes lit up

September 28, 2010 by girlinspired 14 Comments

One thing that has become more noticeable to me since becoming a mom is that I’m always trying to remember things.  Remember to buy milk and diapers.  Remember baths, shoes, and brushing teeth.  Remember nap times, school times, play dates, birthdays.  Remember my keys, my credit card, my name. 
 
Most days I forget most things, I think.  I find myself running back into the house two, three, maybe even four times to grab one more thing that I forgot.  Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and my heart races as I remember something from the day before – too late.  Or I think of something that I MUST still remember when I wake up tomorrow. 
 
No adjustment to my system operation will compensate though.  Because I’ve decided that the brain can only store so much information at any given time – and mine is mostly dedicated to remembering moments.  You know the ones I’m talking about, the moments that *count*!
 
Like the way her eyes lit up when she saw her FLOWER cupcakes just as her party guests started to arrive.
 
 More party pictures to come…
 

Filed Under: Cake Decorating, Food and Recipes Tagged With: cupcakes, flowers, party decor, sweet treats

Caramel Corn

August 3, 2010 by girlinspired 5 Comments

I’m a big fan of rewards . . . and sweets . . . I’m passing out one of my favorite recipes to everyone . . . Caramel Corn – hooray!
If you do a recipe search, there are hundreds of recipes for Caramel Corn online, but they don’t all turn out like this one.  This is another one I’ve just always had, so I can’t give proper credit to its origin.  Whoever you are out there, we thank you. 
 
Caramel Corn
3 quarts popped corn
 
Place popped corn in a shallow baking pan in a 250 degree oven while making the caramel.  (I divide the popped corn between two 9×12 pans, glass or metal work fine).
 
In saucepan, mix together:
1 C. packed lite brown sugar
1/2 C. lite corn syrup
1/2 C. butter
1/2 t. salt
 
Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil.  Once it starts boiling (really boiling), stop stirring and set the timer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in:
 
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda
 
Pour the caramel over the popped corn and stir it to coat evenly.  Bake at 250 degrees for a total of one hour, stirring it every 15 minutes.  After one hour, remove the caramel corn from the oven and immediately dump it out onto the countertop.  Allow it to cool, break it apart, and start eating!  
 
Please note:  You MUST store the caramel corn in an airtight container (I like to use plastic ziploc bags).  It looks cool in a big glass jar, but once the party is over, it’ll turn all chewy if you don’t seal it up! 
 
Be sure to check out lots of other holiday popcorn and caramel corn ideas!

Filed Under: Food and Recipes Tagged With: giveaway, sweet treats

Calling All Cupcake Lovers

June 9, 2010 by girlinspired 38 Comments

Did you see the adorable cupcakes and mini-cake for Addie’s birthday party?  The body is made from a regular cupcake and the head is from a mini-cupcake turned on its side.  Ears and muzzle from mini-marshmallows, eyes and nose from chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, and tongue from pink Starburst candy.  I won’t say they weren’t time consuming, but I will say that they were worth the trouble!   I found the how-to in this book: Hello! Cupcake.  I could seriously look at this book for hours.  It has so many incredible ideas.  Just Love it!!
 
For the mini-cake, I just adapted the idea for the cupcakes into a larger version by using bigger cupcakes and regular sized marshmallows!  Instead of the chocolate covered sunflower seeds or Starburst tongue, I piped on the eyes, nose, and mouth.  I didn’t want her to choke! It turned out sweet!  I love it when things work out like that!

More Decorating Ideas for Cupcake Lovers

Rose Cupcakes + Video Tutorial

Olaf Cupcakes Tutorial

Mermaid Cupcake Toppers - Tutorial

Shopkins Cupcakes

Watercolor Cupcakes

Easy Bunny Cupcakes

Frozen Birthday Party Cupcake Toppers

Gone Camping Printable Cupcake Toppers

Filed Under: Food and Recipes, Parties Tagged With: party decor, sweet treats

Lovely Day

June 8, 2010 by girlinspired 14 Comments

A beautiful day for a beautiful baby.
My sweet little girl, happy happy birthday.

Filed Under: Sewing, Sewing Ideas and Inspiration Tagged With: family stories, party decor, ruffles, sweet treats

More Mermaids

April 15, 2010 by girlinspired 14 Comments

So, the mermaid birthday party thing….it all started when I saw the most adorable mermaid plates and tablecloth in Pottery Barn Kids.  “Hey, Livi, do you want to have a mermaid party this year?”  Of course she did!  Addie was just a couple months old and I knew I didn’t have the time to go all crazy making stuff for the birthday party so I ran back to PBK and grabbed the plates, the tablecloth, and the cutest hanging puffer fish thingee.  Easy, I thought.  She’ll be four, we’ll just have a few kids, I’ll keep it simple.  Surely, though, I could make the invitations, we only need a handful….
Hmmm…what sort of quick and easy decorations should we do?  Wouldn’t it be cute if we had some under-the-sea accents?  So, I found some really cute mermaid/starfish/seahorse cookie cutters here, and I traced them onto cardstock, cut them out, and accented them with a little Stickles.  Easy to do just a few at a time when I could grab a spare minute.  I ended up sticking them all over the windows and the walls.  Then I decided to hole-punch a bunch more and tie them from balloon strings to give the impression that the fish were swimming around the room.  I don’t know if anyone else “got it,” but I LOVED it – and the kids liked to have something to grab onto to drag the balloons all over the house.
Next, we needed activities.  I did a quick search on the internet for “mermaid party game ideas,” and there were SO many ideas.  We ended up doing a treasure hunt (mainly because I found this awesome chest at Joann’s and I wanted an excuse to buy it), sand necklaces, and a fishing game. 
Oh yes, I suppose we should feed the kids….after all, I did buy mermaid plates.  Wouldn’t it be fun to do fishy food?  Goldfish crackers, blue jello with swedish fish on top (don’t put them in it, they’ll melt and look totally disgusting and you’ll have to freak out a little and send your husband to the grocery store in the middle of the night for more blue jello), pb&j sandwiches cut out with your starfish cookie cutters (don’t you love dual purpose purchases), octopus dogs (this was so cool – cut the bottom two thirds of hot dogs into eight “legs”, boil them and they curl and look like octopuses (octopi?)
Dare to ask your daughter if she thinks it would be fun to wear mermaid tails for the birthday party. I don’t know what I was thinking when this came out of my mouth.  It really didn’t take too long to sew mermaid tails – I made eight or so, just quick, not-so-perfect tails, but still…  All the girls wore them for about five minutes of the party (which I totally could have predicted, but I didn’t consider this before I let the idea fall on Livi’s ears).  However, I think that the two or so pictures that I took before the tails came off made it all worthwhile.  I mean, how do you look at Addie’s baby mermaid tail and not smile?
Now, I have to admit that the dessert part is where things got a little out of hand.  But, we really like dessert around here.  And the “cake” is the part that I always do.  For some reason, I can’t let the cake go even though the kids really just want cupcakes.  So, you saw the mermaid cupcakes in my how-to over at Life as Lori.  I love how they turned out. 
And then the actual cake…a sandcastle, a mermaid on a rock, and about 15 hours work worth of making fish from candy molds. 
Anyone know how to photoshop that sippy cup out of the picture??
Dear Olivia… Thank you for letting me get carried away.  I really can’t help myself.  You’re cute.

Filed Under: Crafting, Parties Tagged With: mermaid party, paper, party decor, sweet treats

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It is my hope that you will find inspiration on the Girl. Inspired. blog. All photos are copyright protected by Girl. Inspired. If you wish to share something that you have seen here, I am absolutely thrilled! Please use only one picture with a direct link back to the project you are referencing. Thank you so much for your understanding!

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