Product Review: Nordic Ware Mini Heritage Bundt Pan from Williams-Sonoma

I got this lovely Mini Heritage Cake Pan for Christmas and couldn't wait to try it out. I wanted something like a mini loaf pan that I could make my pumpkin bread and other things in, but this one is so much more fancy than just a regular old loaf pan. I was nervous the cake would stick but I read every single comment on Williams-Sonoma.com and it gets great reviews so I thought I would give it a try.

I whipped up a box of cake mix I had on hand, sprayed the pan with non cooking spray and dusted it with flour before pouring the batter. They only took about 20 minutes to bake, then I let them sit on the cooling rack for another 10 minutes. Then turning it over and with a few enthusiastic taps (bangs) on the bottom of the pan, they came out beautifully.

If I had time, I would have photographed them with a dusting of powdered sugar and cute packaging. 

I was very pleased with my pretty little cakes! I'm very happy with this product and can't wait to use it again. (No one paid me to say this, just thought I'd share.)

A "Frozen" Birthday Party! (with ideas and links to sources)

We had so much fun putting on a Disney Frozen birthday party this past weekend for my daughter. I feel like saying "This birthday party brought to you by Pinterest," because seriously. I could not have done it without so many ideas and online links from Pinterest!

Welcome!

If you've never seen it, "Please open up the gates" and "Love is an open door" is from the movie. I thought it was a fun way to greet our guests. There were balloons, but it was so windy they didn't last long.

We had the living room decorated with streamers and any Frozen paraphanelia I could find. The bags are from the Target dollar spot. I had the sing-along version of Frozen all cued up so that as guests came in and we were waiting for everyone to get there, they could stay excited and occupied by singing along. We also did that as the party was ending and we were waiting for pick up.

We all loved the chalkboard art I drew! But I can't take credit for it, I just searched "Frozen chalkboard" on Pinterest and copied an idea I found.

The cake was my favorite! After looking at tons of ideas, I decided upon this idea where you make a sheet of homemade hard candy and then break it up to look like "Elsa's ice" and decorate the cake with it. My kids had these Pez candy dispensers so they let me brake the tops off so we could decorate the cake with Elsa, Olaf and Anna. Then I took a number candle we had and painted it purple. The idea for the cake and "Elsa's ice" is found here, although if you are an amatuer candy maker like myself, I highly recommend reading the more detailed instructions on making hard candy here.

For an easy activity, I printed these placemats I found here for each guest, with a Frozen "plate" picture for them to color, which I found here and cut into circles and glued on, which I had them color when they came to the table while I was cutting cake and scooping ice cream.

I printed this personalized Frozen banner I found here and glued onto some scrapbook paper. My daughter also wanted to color some pictures and hang them up for decorations like the ones here.

The plates, napkins, hanging snowflakes, party favors and streamers I got for cheap on Amazon. I got better prices than Walmart.com and Target.com with free shipping.

We played "Do you wanna build a snowman?" with this super cute Olaf game printable from here. The winner got a prize.

And we played "Krostoff's Ice Chipping" game. I took small toys and froze them in water in cups. Then I gave them each a butter knife and just let them go at it (after giving them a warning to be careful!) I didn't know how it was going to go or how long it would take, but they seemed to know exactly what to do and just went for it! It was hilarious and ice was flying everywhere as they just hacked at it fast and furious. A couple girls got to their toys right away! And the first winner got a prize. The only thing I would do differently is freezing them in tupperware or harder plastic cups since these disposable ones ripped apart easily.

Another really fun game we did (I don't have a picture of) was a scavenger hunt with clues of movie quotes. I had a Frozen plastic cup from Target filled with Frozen fruit snack bags as the treasure they had to find at the end. It was a hit! They had a great time doing this, I thought it was the most fun game. Found here.

For the favors it was totally worth it to buy a favor pack from Amazon. It came with 6 things for 8 girls and was cheaper and faster and easier than trying to buy a bunch of different little things. It ended up being about a dollar a person. If you're not shopping online, you could probably do the same by buying 8 Frozen things from the Target dollar spot. I know they had a ton of Frozen stuff around Christmas time. We ordered these super cute thank you photo cards from Walmart which matched her invitations.

Overall, it was a super fun, super cute Frozen party! I know my daughter loved it so that's the most important thing :)

Have a great week! ~ Rebecca

Easy Christmas Treats (With a Shoe theme!)

I was in charge of a Christmas / Shoe themed event for teenage girls at my church. This is what I came up with:

High-heel pull apart cupcakes:

Chocolate dipped nutella shoe decorated cookies:

And they were delicious to "boot"! :) Happy Christmas eating :)

Flower Party Part Two {Flower Cupcakes}

A Cowgirl Party. (Yee-haw!)

Garland courtesy of Cowgirl's aunt which I saved and of course re-used from birthday past. Cabela's truck and horse trailer courtesy of daddy :)

Pin the tail on the pony! I was SO proud of this drawing!!! Horses are hard to draw!

Here are some of the cowgirl and cowboy cuties modeling their vests we made from brown paper bags. I just happened to find western foam stickers and horse stencils at the Dollar Tree to decorate them. I printed up sheriff star name tags and glued them on. This awesome party cost me about $5!

Homemade banner made from computer and left over scrapbook paper from the invitations. Cowgirl picked out pink and brown as her color choices for this shin-dig. She has great taste!

Authentic Wyoming rodeo poster brought home straight from cowboy country!

"loot" bags! Tried to make them old fashioned looking with brown paper bags and painted names.

Awesome horse cake made by *moi*. Tasted as good as it looked! I had to hand paint the candle pink and brown to match. Have you ever tried this? It's a little secret of mine.

Cowgirl's favorite movie "Flicka 2". Please notice the Barbie Horses and authentic cowgirl boot decor!!!

PROJECTS Week of July 4th: baby shower preparation

This has nothing to do with the shower, but I made some homemade blackberry jam for the 1st time.
SOO GOOD!

My 2 awesome friends are throwing me a baby shower tomorrow. I am so excited! It has been over 5 years since my last one and this time everything will be BLUE instead of PINK! I put together little bags for each of these hostesses to show my appreciation.
Here is a quick project I did with the leftover foam board I used for my chore chart to make them each a monogram wall cutie.
Supplies: foam board, monogram letters printed from computer, scrapbook paper, fabric, scissors, glue gun.

I cut two 6" squares and covered the front with fabric. On the backside, hot glue the corners down first, then the sides. Then I glued a small piece of ribbon for the hangers and a scrapbook paper square a little smaller than 6" to make it look nice on the back.

Then using my printed letters as stencils I put them over the scrapbook paper of choice and cut out the letters. I mounted them with foam mounting tape and VOILA! Done.

My next endeavor was chocolate cake balls for party favor thank you's for all the lovelies who will be attending tomorrow. Apparrently these are the newest thing and I've seen them all over blogland although I had never actually had one.
I used a basic chocolate cake from scratch from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, chocolate frosting, and chocolate almond bark. I mixed the directions from here and here to my liking.

Here is the "dough" as I scooped the balls.

I used two little appetizer forks I had for dipping.

And here is the result! They're not as pretty as some, I need more practice, but I was pleased with the results. They taste pretty good, too!

These are all the leftover balls! It made 55 total, so I froze the rest.

Here is my adorable tag for the favors.

Finished product!

Have a great weekend and stay posted for pics from the shower!!!

I LOVE CREATING CAKES

I LOVE making my kids' birthday cakes every year. This is an art I began learning and observing from my dad. When I was little I watched him fashion beautiful roses out of frosting and I love using this "talent" for my own loved ones. I am definitely an amateur, but I really enjoy it nonetheless. Some time this year I borrowed a copy of this book from the library. "Creative cakes anyone can make" by Jill Foster. I highly recommend it to beginners. Her method explains that basically you can decorate with frosting by using cursive letters that you repeat in a design to decorate the cake, along with the other basics of cake making and decorating.
Another reason why I like making cakes is because I am a do-it-yourselfer and it is resourceful. Not to mention it is great customizing it to your own little princesse's desires. It is SO exciting to say "I want a lavender cake with blue decoration" and VOILA your momma creates it just for you!
In this book, she made a "Happily ever after castle" cake. So I basically copied it and this is what I came up with:

Here is the princess herself in front of the cake table. TAKE NOTE: YOU CAN DO THIS TOO, AND SAVE YOURSELF LOTS OF $$$! Homemade cake-cake pans from garage sale, leftover halloween candy-free, how to book-free from library. Reused princess wrapping paper for table covering. Princess watercolor art done by my daughters from gigantic coloring book for $1 from garage sale. Belle princess dress $1 garage sale. Belle happy bday garland and 2 packs of invitations, $1 from another garage sale. Belle princess shoes $2 from consignment sale. Streamers, pink plates and cellophane goody bags from Dollar tree. Party favors: homemade cookies with leftover cake frosting, scrap scrapbook paper, and 5 year pics of bday girl taken by yours truly and downloaded on walmart.com.
This is an art, people! I've talked about this before, but it's all about your shopping habits throughout the year and training your eye to find what to look for, and training your mind to learn the smallest cost you can pay for what you need and want.

My daughter was THRILLED with her princess party, and that CAKE what THE CUTEST thing you have ever seen! I can't wait for the next party!!!