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I mentioned before that one of my best friends is having a baby in February. So her sister and I put together a baby shower for her at the beginning of the month. We used a lot of stuff from the Martha Stewart Book Baby Shower for inspiration and for artwork for invites and such. I edited the colors to match our scheme a bit better and a laid out the invites a lot nicer. Here is the invite:

And Adria had somebody in her boyfriend’s family make a delicious cake. She matched the decoration to the invite! How cute.

Audry, Adria’s sister went a little overboard with the whole thing, but it turned out absolutely beautiful and everybody had a good time. Here’s the table decorations. FLOWERS. Yes. Flowers. Not stupid rattle confetti. Lovely!

And of course, Adria got a lot of loot. She likes loot.

One of my other besties from back home, Stephanie, brought her little girl with. I haven’t seen her daughter, Bella, since she was brand spankin’ new. She was a lot of fun and super friendly. She helped me take pictures!

Here’s Stephanie, Bella, Adria and me at the party. I don’t remember the last time we were all together … oh wait. It was January 2010 and Stephanie was pregnant!

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How can you tell I’m backlogged on blogging? When you’re reading a post right now about cupcakes made for a baby shower for a baby that’s already 5 months old.

My friends Erin and Steve now have a lovely 5-month old baby boy named Landon Devin. We had a shower for her back in May. YES May.

I made two kinds of cupcakes — one was a modified box cake recipe given to me by the other girl who helped throw the shower and the other was this awesome recipe I found on Betty Crocker’s website: Strawberry cream cheese cupcakes. Normally I’m a boxed-cake mix poo-poo-er but since I was already making one batch with a box mix I figured I’d do another.

I did make the frosting from scratch. Just thought I’d point that out.

Also, I made the gray cake stands in case you were curious.

Here is the recipe from Betty Crocker. These are delicious!

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons strawberry preserves
1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, cut into 24 pieces
Cream cheese frosting
Sliced fresh small strawberries, if desired

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. In large bowl, mix cake mix, water, sour cream, oil and eggs with spoon until well blended (batter will be thick). Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. In small bowl, stir preserves until smooth. Place 1 piece of cream cheese on top of each cupcake; press into batter slightly. Spoon 1/4 measuring teaspoon preserves on top of cream cheese in each cupcake. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown and spring back when touched lightly in center (some preserves may show in tops of cupcakes). Cool 10 minutes in pans; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Spread frosting over cupcakes. Just before serving, garnish each cupcake with strawberry slices. Store covered in refrigerator.

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Tuesday was my boss’s last day at Drake. *insert super sad face here*

She’s also pregnant — WITH TWINS! So we had a combination going-away-baby-shower party for her. I made chocolate covered strawberries. YUM.

One thing I learned from this round of chocolate covered strawberries (I’ve had less pretty ones created from previous batches):

BE CAREFUL WITH CHOCOLATE.  As in don’t overheat it.  Do 30 seconds at a time in the microwave in a glass bowl.  And when it looks like it needs about 30 more seconds, instead, stir it for 30-60 seconds to melt the remainder. BINGO. Perfect chocolate.  I also used a spatula to drizzle white chocolate over the top. White chocolate is even more picky, so be careful or it will get lumpy and clumpy.

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Last weekend I trekked back to my hometown to go to a friend’s baby shower.  I made her some adorable gifts (which I have and will be blogging about).  I was really on the fence about going because I didn’t think my finances would allow me to make another trip this month, but a freelance client ponied up a bit of cash up front so I could pay for gas. It’s pretty awesome having some great clients like that!

I didn’t take any pix of the shower … I felt weird because it was mostly family and people I didn’t know very well.  So, just in case you’re wondering, this isn’t a blog post about babies.

I decided that since I made the trip, I better hang out with my parents for a bit and make a stop or two on the way back to make it totally worth my gas money.  I wanted to get back by Sunday for sure so I could do some more crafting for Market Day, since it’s on the 26th.

My dad was mowing the lawn, so I didn’t get to spend much time with him. But he did find a little bitty froggie that my mom and I put in my niece’s bug box for her to see when she got home later.

My parents also managed to pawn off a box of VHS tapes and my SNES on me.  I recently inherited a TV with a built-in VCR, so I was interested in getting some VHS tapes. My parents were interested in cleaning out the closet of what used to be my room.

(My Girl and Miss Congeniality may or may not be mine …)

After a bit, I decided to head out and go to Iowa City to see a friend of mine from high school. I always love the drive from home to Iowa City … so pretty!

My friend works at a tattoo shop and was getting off at 8 PM. Just in time to get some drinks! I wanted to go to some of his bars, because last time I went to Iowa City I went to clubby bars, and I’m not a fan of those. Give me a dive bar. Please.

Of course, he delivered. We went to this awesome place called Deadwoods that was just my style.  I had to take pix of it to show the beau that Iowa City had some bars that he would like. (He’s a Cyclone through and through … he won’t have anything to do with Iowa City). We also went to this amazing place called The Oasis, which my friend happens to work at as well.

My friend Matthew at Deadwoods, with some Leinies. YUM!

After eating my delicious food from Oasis, I headed out for the long drive back to Ames. It was dark and I was ready to be home.

Finally, after a stop at a gas station and driving through a couple of thunderstorms, I made it home. Well, at least what we consider home sometimes: Welch Ave. Station in Ames. Mark and our friends were waiting for me (not sure if they were waiting for me … but they were excited that I showed up nonetheless).

Mark even (reluctantly) took a picture with me.

All in all, a pretty exciting day. Definitely a departure from my normal Saturday of staying home and crafting and working out.

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I made this cute baby blanket for a friend. It was really easy. I actually just used my method from handmade napkins but used larger pieces of fabric.  I sewed with fleece for the first (and hopefully last) time. That was an adventure! Fuzzies everywhere.  I almost poked my eye out finishing this thing too! My needle busted in half on the very last few stitches, flying up in the air and BARELY missing my eyeball. I should maybe think about wearing safety goggles?

Anyway, here it is! One side is fleece and the other side is cotton. She’s having a girl.  I know she likes pinks and teals together so I picked a fabric that I thought she would like.  It seems like something she would wear on a bag, scarf or another accessory.  I hope she loves it!

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As per usual, I’m broke.  I just found out my friend back home is having a baby shower on the 19th. My friend that I had tentatively planned to carpool with is leaving too early for me to go with her (I have to work on Friday).

Anyway, I need $50 for gas to get back to my girlfriend’s shower.  I haven’t been around since she’s been pregnant — she lives 2.5 hours away and works a completely different schedule than me.  I really want to be able to get back for her shower.  I’ve got her gift in the works (making it, of course, and will blog about it when it’s done).

Can you help me out by taking some of my creations off my hands? I do free shipping to Des Moines and Ames, and I am even willing to negotiate pricing if you convo me before purchasing.  I just really want to get back for this baby shower, and I can’t afford to do it this month.

Here are some of my pieces currently for sale.

Check out my shops:

www.chimes.etsy.com

www.todiyfor.etsy.com

Thanks, and I appreciate any help that I can get!

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