Blue's Clues party

It's party time once again because my niece, Miss V, turned 3! She is an awesome little girl and she specifically asked for a Blue's Clues party. Now if you know, Blue's Clues isn't even on the air anymore, but thanks to the joys of old videos, she's currently hooked on it.

Now what do you do when there are no party supplies in your party theme? Well make them of course! Her momma, Kris and I DIY-ed this party like no one's business.

Kris scoured thrift sites and eBay for anything Blue's Clues, and she found lots of stuff. She got Blue's Clues toys, stuffed animals, a Memory game, and books. She even managed to get a thinking chair! This made the perfect chair for the birthday girl!

We printed TONS of Blue's Clues (aka paw prints) and used them as decorations all over the place. We put them all over the walls and even on the sidewalk coming up to the house. You could tell that Blue was here.

We also used the paws to decorate plain paper bags that were our goodie bags for the kids. They were filled with candy, bubbles and even a handy dandy notebook and crayons for each kid.

It's also really handy that Eddie, Miss V's dad, is a great artist. He drew the invite (which is above) and also a welcome poster for the front door. We had to let people know it was party time...

He also drew a pin the clue on Blue game (which we totally forgot about playing...). Isn't Blue so cute?

And I had to make cupcakes. The ever demanding Miss V told me she needed blue cupcakes for the boys and magenta cupcakes for the girls. Who was I to deny her? I baked up vanilla and milk chocolate cupcakes in blue and magenta wrappers and frosted them with blue and magenta buttercream.

Kris got a bounce house for extra fun and the party was set.

Miss V and her brother, X, had a great time at the party, and so did everyone else. Can't you tell by those crazy faces?!

Needless to say just cause your theme is obscure doesn't mean you can't have a great birthday party. With a little imagination and some quick DIYs, you can make any party as awesome as you can make it.

Happy Birthday Abuelo & Abuela

Today is a very important day around here, it's my grandparents' birthday!

I was so very lucky to have grown up with all 4 of my grandparents. Abuelo & Abuela are the ones we spent the most time with. 

When I was about 8, Abuelo retired and was there every day with my brothers and I. He was our chauffeur, picking us up from school and taking us for snacks, to the park and anywhere else. He taught us to swim in the pool at their house. And was more than happy to play lifeguard every afternoon during the summer as my brothers and I and the cousins had a pool party every afternoon. When we slept over, he would make us fried eggs and tostada (Cuban toast) for breakfast. Abuelo made the best chicken soup and his puerco asado (roasted pork) at Christmas is something I miss every year. My Abuelo (Angel was his name) is no longer with us, but was one of the best men that I knew.

Abuela worked from home when we were little and watched my brothers and I after school. She would make us steak and rice for dinner almost every night... it was so good. She is still my personal seamstress. I never knew that everyone's grandma didn't make them all of their clothes until I was about 7 or 8. I was so used to getting any dress I wanted made at the drop of a hat. She is the reason I sew. She never really taught me, but I feel like I learned just by being around her sewing all the time. Her handiwork is so perfect (and sometimes better than off the rack clothes), that it's intimidating for me to make clothes. I just can't do it half way. She's my roomie now, and still makes those yummy steaks and tostones. And the best congri de frijoles negros. And yeah, she's still sewing. Gotta love her.

So, a very happy birthday to Abuelo, who I know is one of the Angels that watches over me. And a super happy birthday to Abuela who is my partner in crime and a great role model. Los quiero!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy, happy birthday to Mom! Everyone may say their mom is the best, but mine really is. She's crafty and loves to take pictures and loves her family like no one else. She's often my partner-in-crime out going shopping or helping me at a craft fair. I can't imagine not having this awesome woman in my life. Hope you have a very happy birthday, Mom. Here's to many, many more!

Hello Kitty party

My best friend and I had no problems picking a theme for my niece, Veronica's 2nd birthday party, it had to be Hello Kitty. This little one is obsessed with the kitty, so we just had to make the kitty-ness our own.

We had a simple cake and ice cream party. With a LOT of Hello Kittys all over the place.We thrifted Hello Kittys anywhere we could find them.

I got some hello kitty coloring pages for the kids to have fun with. The birthday girl got very serious about coloring.

Then it was time for cupcakes and ice cream. The cupcakes were a group effort. Rachel baked them, and I made the frosting. We had both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and I made pink cream cheese frosting and purple buttercream. I brought my tips to frost them all pretty and added these Hello Kitty cupcake toppers.

The ice cream bar was super fun. We had marshmallows, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips. candies (which were the birthday girl's faves) plus chocolate and caramel sauce and waffle bowls. It was yummy.

Miss V seemed to love the cupcakes!

This was a simple party, but with a few handmade touches we really made it into something special. Veronica loved all the Hello Kitties everywhere.

Happy 2nd birthday Veronica!

 
What was your favorite birthday party as a kid?

Abuela's birthday

Yesterday was Abuela's birthday, and we had birthday fun all week. Monday we took her to the Micosukee Casino in town. She just loves playing the slots. Then, yesterday we took her out to dinner at her fave BBQ place in town, Shorty's. We also got her some great gifts including a new purse (she's a bit of a purse fiend) and a telenovela she wanted on DVD (which she has been binge watching like nobody's business). It's great just to be able to spend the day with her and relax.

I know everyone thinks their grandma is awesome, but mine takes the cake. She's my partner-in-crime, my roomie, my personal fashion designer, and makes a mean congri de frijoles negros (rice with black beans).

Here's to the happiest of birthdays Abuela! Felicidades!

Quadrito square cake

I was baking again this weekend. It was another co-worker's birthday, so I made him a cake. I decided on a cake this time, instead of my usual cupcakes, to go along with his nickname "Quadrito" (which means little square), so square cake it was.

I borrowed my Mom's square cake pan and made a Funfetti cake with classic vanilla buttercream. I had to mix it up a little, so I used some chocolate buttercream as a filling in between the cake layers. Here's a tip, to get your frosting to look uniform on the outside and not show your filling on the outside, pipe or just spread on a little of the outside frosting on the edges of your cake, then spread on the filling inside of the frosting "edges." When you frost the rest of the cake with the outside frosting you won't be able to see what the delicious filling is.

See, you can't even tell there's yummy chocolate on the inside. Now this vanilla buttercream was just too plain, so I decided to try out the "sprinkle stencil" technique.

I printed and cut out a "Q" on a piece of paper and placed it on the frosted cake. Now came the messy part, I put sprinkles on the top of the cake, all over the top of the cake. I pressed them in so they would really stick. Then I removed the paper Q to reveal the buttercream Q. Success! (Well except for cleaning up sprinkles for a half an hour...)

The cake was a hit. Quadrito was totally shocked and suprised by his homemade birthday cake, and best of all it was delicious. Sometimes the simplest cakes are the yummiest.

What's your favorite cake flavor?

Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes

Another birthday celebration means another batch of cupcakes. This time it was for my friend Karina. I knew I wanted something fruity, fresh and summery for her. Every time I make cupcakes she claims that whatever I make is her new fave. Karina had been been raving about the lemon cupcakes I brought in not too long ago, but had to give them a new twist for her birthday. Nothing is more summer than lemonade and strawberries, so I combined the two to make strawberry lemonade cupcakes.

This is another doctored up cake mix creation. I took some lemon cake mix and added fresh lemon zest to the batter. Before baking, I dropped some strawberry preserves in the center of each cupcakes. Once you take a bite you'll get a little bite of strawberry. I dropped in the preserves after filling the cupcake liners and the cake baked right over the preserves. Plus it's way easier the pouring in batter, then preserves, then batter.

For the frosting I made a basic cream cheese frosting. Just cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar.

Then I added some lemon zest.

After the frosting was ready to go, I folded in about a half a cup of preserves.

 I love the swirl of berries in the frosting. (You can see the full recipe below).

I decorated the cupcakes with fresh strawberries and paper straws to play up the "lemonade" part. And I even used my teacup cupcake molds for the first time. They are so cute.

Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese frosting

2 sticks of butter (room temperature)
1 8oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 pound of powdered sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
1-4 tbls. heavy cream
1/2 cup of strawberry preserves

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese. (You can use a stand mixer or a handheld one.)
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix slowly at first, so you don't get powdered sugar everywhere. Then increase the speed and mix until it is all mixed in well and looks fluffy.
3. With the mixer still going add the vanilla and salt.
4. Keep mixing and add the cream a tablespoon at a time until the frosting is your desired consistency.
5. Add the strawberry preserves and fold in by hand.

Yield: Should frost 20-24 cupcakes.

The birthday girl loved her cupcakes. She hasn't stopped raving about them.

My birthday!

It was my birthday this past weekend and I took advantage and celebrated all weekend long.

Friday I went out with my friend, Melissa. We hadn't yet celebrated her birthday which was earlier in June, so we had a great time doing a double celebration and a catch up day. We went to the brow bar to get our brows done, then out for burgers. After that it was time for a mani. It was great just being able to chill and chat and spend time with one of my most amazing friends. And I almost forgot to mention the awesome gift Meli got me. She is a runner too, and got me this amazing Nike running tee. It's so me!

Saturday was my actual birthday, so in the morning Mom and I went to Old Navy for the $1 flip flop sale. I don't think it was a coincidence that the flip flop sale was on my birthday, Old Navy knows I'm a "chancletera!" (That's Spanish for flip flop wearer.) Later in the morning, I went to breakfast with Mom, Pop, Abuela, Richard, Casey, Michael and Hannah. We had a nice morning eating too much yummy breakfast food. I even got pancakes, it was my birthday after all. Nothing is as yummy as eggs, bacon and pancakes with strawberries.

Then I got a great birthday gift, Kristina came down from Orlando to help me celebrate! It was the best ever to have her down here with me. I think she's only come down to see me all by her lonesome once before, so it was awesome to have her here, especially for my birthday.

Saturday night the girls and I headed to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my birthday. They showered me with way too many gifts and I had an awesome time just being there with all of them. We had originally planned to catch Man of Steel at the movies too, but got too caught up talking and enjoying the time together.

Please note the misspelling of my name on my birthday cake plate. Yes, they spelled Diana, D-A-Y-A-N-A, only in Miami!

Monday the celebration continued at work. My friends decorated my desk with a running theme. It was perfect for me and my quest to my half marathon. I had trophies and balloons and medals all over. It was too cute.

The afternoon concluded was with a great cake that was really a total surprise. It was so delicious.

I have to say that if the rest of the year is as good as my birthday weekend was, then this year is gonna be amazing!

Thanks again to everyone for all the gifts and time and most of all the love!

Chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate milk frosting

I've been busy making lots of cupcakes for the end of June birthdays. There is at least one birthday a week for the next few weeks, so I'll have lots of chances to try out some new recipes.

First was Jorge's birthday celebration. He's a total chocoholic, so I knew I had to dial up the chocolate for him. For his cupcakes, I made chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes with a chocolate milk frosting.

I'm a big fan of using a boxed cake mix and then just doctoring it up. It just makes it all a little easier. For these chocolate cupcakes, I used a triple chocolate fudge cake mix. After filling the cupcake liners, I dropped in some semi-sweet chocolate chips for even more chocolate.

 

Frosting, on the other hand, is one thing that I like to make it from scratch. I wanted to try my hand at a chocolate buttercream, and I gave this recipe from Joy the Baker a whirl. I loved the addition of the Ovaltine, plus I also added a touch of espresso to bring out more of the chocolate flavor.

The birthday celebration wouldn't have been completed without some decorations. Jorge's love of all things Pixar made it an easy to choose a theme. After I figured out the theme with another friend, we got ot the printing. All of his office was covered with Pixar characters.

 

Here are the cupcakes right before we sang happy birthday. I also added some paper straw decorations to play up the chocolate milk angle of the cupcakes.

 

The birthday boy was so happy to see his chocolate cupcakes. He's always complaining that we only get vanilla cakes for the birthday celebrations, so he was loving all of the chocolate.

Needless to say, the chocolate milk buttercream will be a great addition to my frosting recipes. I can't wait to try it with a chocolate chip cookie cupcake.

Have you baked anything lately?

It's June, birthday month is here

June is birthday month for me, so many friends and family are June babies, and so am I. The first of the June babies is a really important one, Pop!

Pop turned the big 6-0 and we celebrated with lasagna and cake. Mom made her pina colada cake (filled with coconut rum and pinapple preserves), and decorated it with a cupcake design. It was so yummy.

Happy birthday Pop! Here's to many more years of fun and cake!

Disney birthday fun!

My awesome nephew, Xander, turned 6 last week, and I had to go up to Orlando to see him and help celebrate. Along with his Mom and Dad (and sister, Veronica) we decided to take X to Disney for the day. X's Aunt Rachel and cousin Alice joined us for all of the fun too.

Since we were celebrating X's special day, we went to a character lunch at the Crystal Palace. X got to meet Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh!

Rachel and Kris had to get a picture with Eeyore too.

We had to get the obligatory mouse ear pictures of the kids. (And I was lucky enough to get all of them smiling!)

The day was great, but once the sun started to set it started to get chilly out, so we bundled up before walking around some more and checking out the new Fantasyland.

The new Fantasyland is so pretty at night all lit up. Xander is totally as strong as Gaston.

We stayed late to catch the Main Street Electrical Parade. Now I haven't seen the parade in years, and it was totally nostalgic and awesome watching it with X. He loved checking out who was coming on the next float.

I've gotta say it was an awesome day spending the time with Xander in Disney World for his birthday and spending time with Veronica and Alice too. Xander told me he had so much fun. We might have to go again soon, especially since we all got annual passes.