Sunday, December 8, 2013

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have made SO many cupcakes in my day. 
But, I've never made a red velvet cupcake!
I decided to go ahead and knock that one off my list!
Recipe c/o AverieCooks

What you need:
1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vanilla greek yogurt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1-2 tablespoons red food coloring

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
splash milk
sprinkles

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line a nonstick with muffin liners. 
I went with these cute Christmas themed ones I picked up at Walmart!
In a large bowl whisk together the first six ingredients through the vanilla, until smooth.
Add the flour, cocoa, and salt. Whisk together but don't over mix.
Next, carefully whisk in the food coloring.
Fill the liners about 3/4 the way full.
Bake about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Next, to make the frosting, combine the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.
Add about 1 cup of confectioners sugar, whisk to combine or beat with a mixer.
Continue adding sugar until desired frosting consistency is reached.
Add cream if it get's too thin.
Just a little trick I saw on another blog, while you're not using your frosting you can stick your frosting back in a glass and it won't leak out the top and it keeps it in the bottom of the bag!
Add 2-3 tablespoons of frosting to each cupcake and garnish with sprinkles.
I thought these cupcake liners and toothpick decorations were so cute for these cupcakes! 
They also had all kinds of holiday sprinkles at Walmart too. 

I also got a LITTLE excited to start icing and didn't let me cupcakes cool enough, so the icing turned out looking just a little sad!
But, I had to get them ready to go ASAP to a friend's Sound of Music watch party.
Carrie Underwood is so flawless.
They turned out SO tasty! I would put sprinkles on everything if I could.
Love the icing too! :)









Friday, December 6, 2013

It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas!

I've been so excited to get everything decorated in my house for Christmas!
Just wanted to share with you a few things that I've done so far!

Here's the start of our tree! I haven't decided what to do for a topper just yet...
Thinking of a big bow made of burlap!
Any suggestions would be great! I'm so picky about tree toppers for some reason!
This is a little of what I've done to my dining room table.
I made the Joy letters. I'm thinking of doing a tutorial on those as well. 
They are so glittery! I just used the cardboard letters you can get at Hobby Lobby. 
I painted them red, added some modge podge to the top, and then COVERED them in glitter! 
The table runner I ordered from GroopDealz. It's burlap with red JOY stenciled on the sides.
The mason jars I made as well.
They have candles in them and sit on some fake snow. 
I probably will never actually light them, but they look great on my mantle on and on the table!
Here's another look at those:
A while back I turned this mirror I found at TJ Maxx into a chalkboard.
I absolutely love it and I love changing it every season to say cute things.
Thought it'd be funny to put this little quote up there and to draw a cute little reindeer for fun!
This is probably one of the easiest things to do for decorating for Christmas.
You see these lanterns every where right now! I got some mini ornaments on sale
at Kohl's and stuck them in there and put it on my dining table as well.
I'm sure I'm going to get around to doing some other decorating but this is what I've got so far! 
I've been so busy with friends birthdays, mine, and work that I haven't had time to do much else!
But, we do have our house decor out and I'm waiting for the boyfriend to be off this weekend to put up our lights finally! 
Hopefully I'll get some pics of that too! :)

Don't forget to check out my DIY Rustic Ornament tutorial!






Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Wednesday GroopDealz Steals

I have literally been going crazy on GroopDealz lately!
So far I've racked up a scarf, boots, an apron, and a burlap table runner.
Random!

If you haven't already signed up, then get on it because they have some great deals daily.
Unforunately, they are feeding my shopping habits pretty nicely! Haha.

But, it makes it easy to stock up on your Christmas gifts for some great prices!

Here are a few of my favorites on sale today:





They also have a ton of really great holiday gifts and have great gifts for the kiddos!

Check them out! 


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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

LuLu's: Top 5 Holiday Dresses

Wanted to share with you guys my top picks of Holiday dresses from LuLu's.
Seems like every year they get better and better. 
There are so many I'm ready to order! 
So here are my top 5!
$137.00
$109.00
$44.00
$57.00
$84.00

Number 5 is by far one of my favorites! 
Check out their site for a picture of the gorgeous back of this dress!

If you can't tell I'm a fan of skater dresses.
I just think they are so flattering.
I am most definitely going to be ordering Number 3. 
I feel like that would be a piece you could definitely get a lot of wear out of!
LuLu's always has a wide variety of clothing and they are always so reasonably priced!

Happy Holidays!

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Monday, December 2, 2013

Feliz Navi-Dog! Gift Ideas!

So, if you're like me...you might have a slight obsession with your dog and you can't forget them when the holidays roll around!
I wanted to share with ya'll some puppy gift ideas! 
1. Martha Stewart Pets Teether Toy-Here
2. LaserPets-Chevron Stripe Personalized Collar-Here
3. Great Choice Christmas Bone-Here
4. Christmas Dog House-Here
5. SewItThemes-Dog Christmas Paw Stocking-Here

I thought these were some GREAT ideas for the pet lover! 
They are all priced REALLY great!
Especially the stocking from SewItThemes! It's $9.00 shipped! Such a great deal!


Zoey is pretty much like my child so I spoil her a little much!
Not even mad about it! She deserves it every bit! :)

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