Friday, April 29, 2011

A ONEderPOOL 1st Birthday Party & A GIVEAWAY! *CLOSED*

One of my sweet friends from high school recently hosted a super cute and fun pool party for her daughter's 1st birthday!
I LOVE this table spread!  I love the color scheme and of course the cupcakes, but I think my favorite part (besides all the yummy looking food and goodies!) would be that birthday banner!  How creative is that?!?!

 




{What a cutie pie birthday girl!}

And now for the FUN part of this feature....

Check out these cute favor bags that Aubrey made for the party!
They are glassine bags that you can print and customize yourself!
And because Aubrey is so sweet, she's given me 20 5x7.5 in. glassine bags to giveaway to one lucky Pirates-n-Princesses fan to use as you wish for your next party!  Sweet, huh?  :)

I'm keeping it as simple as possible...
To enter all you need to do is go FOLLOW Aubrey's blog and come back and leave a comment telling me you did, super simple.

This giveaway is going to end Monday, May 2 at noon.
GOOD LUCK!

And if you have a party you'd like featured on Pirates-n-Princesses shoot me an e-mail at QueenieH@aol.com!!!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Hanging Flower Jars

 
Check me out HERE today!!!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Kinley Turns ONE!!!

 

My stinkin' cute niece, Kinley, turned ONE this weekend!
She's a little Easter baby!
I had the pleasure of helping out some with her party. 
Mainly these little pretties...



I made white and chocolate cupcakes and topped them with pink buttercream frosting.
These cupcakes were YUMMY, if I do say so myself.  Super moist and fluffy!
Stay tuned to the end of this post for the super simple recipe!



My sister-in-law, Kindi, you may remember her from the Thirty-One giveaway awhile back.  She did some bartering with Thirty-One products to get Kinley's smash cake.  BARTERING is key, people!  If you can trade services to help cut costs on your parties, DO IT.





 

 {Seriously... So.Stinkin'.Cute}


Great job on the party, Kindi!  Everything was so cute!  
You and your mama are a GREAT team!


Super Moist White Cupcakes
Courtesy- Sara Banze

Ingredients:
One white cake mix - I used Pillsbury
2 C. milk (room temp)
2 egg whites (room temp)
1/4 C. oil 
1 small box vanilla pudding

Directions:
Mix together all wet ingredients.  Add cake mix and pudding and mix until combined.  Do not over mix!  Bake at 350 for 16 minutes or until they spring back when touched.  As soon as you take them out, pop them into the freezer for 15 minutes.  Top with your favorite frosting.  

YUM. 





Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Spring Paper Bag Bunting

Check me out over on A to Zebra Celebrations today!
Click HERE! 

Monday, April 18, 2011

Connye's Coconut Cupcakes




My sweet friend from church, Connye, is amazing
Definitely a gal after my own heart with her Texas style, love for Hershey's chocolate coffee creamer, and awesome baking skills.
After an evening of Bunco at her house, where I must add, I went home a Loser, she shared this de-lish Coconut Cupcake recipe with me.  If you LOVE coconut, these are a must try.  Very good, very moist, and very coco-nutty.
Thanks Connye!  Definitely a keeper!

Connye's Coconut Cupcakes
Ingredients:
3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter (room temp)
2 c. sugar
5 extra large eggs (room temp) - I just used large since that's what I had in the fridge.
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 t. almond extract
3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. buttermilk
14 oz. sweetened shredded coconut
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar till light with mixer on low, add eggs one at a time, add vanilla and almond and mix well. Add together flour, powder, soda and salt. In 3 parts, add dry mixture, alternately with buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with dry. Mix just until combined. Fold in half of coconut. bake 25 to 35 minutes. (I baked mine at 350 for 15 minutes, then popped them right in the freezer for 10 minutes.)
Icing:
Ingredients-
1 lb cream cheese room temp
3/4 lb unsalted butter
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract
1 1/2 lb. powdered sugar.
Directions:
Blend cream cheese, butter and extracts, add in sugar.
Ice cupcakes and sprinkle with remaining coconut. 

Friday, April 15, 2011

Easter News Segment

 
Tonight was my Easter news segment for WCFN.  
Here's a clip of the segment in case you missed it...but now WHY would you do that???  
Click HERE to see me in action! 

 
I LOVE this table set up! 
Sweet Nancy over at A to Zebra Celebrations was so sweet to lend me her polka dot table runner and ribbon table skirt for this segment.  And as a "thank you" for guest blogging over on her blog, she's letting me keep the table runner.  Sweet!!!  I think it added such a cute and feminine touch to the table, plus it was pink, polka dotted, and ribbons...only three of my FAVORITE things!
You can check out her etsy shop and all her other goodies HERE and her blog HERE.


 

How stinkin' cute is this little bunny?  I found them at Pier 1, and guess what...
they were on SALE for 20% off.  SCORE.  They came with the little stick and everything, so all I needed to do was stick him in the pot.  EASY!

 

And I love this precious little bunny.  
If there's anything else you need to know about me besides my obsession with polka dots and ribbon, it is that I LOVE bunnies, baskets, and birdhouses.  So, like I'm going to pass up a PINK BUNNY at Hobby Lobby when it's 50% off.  Ummmmm NO.  
(Have I told you that all the cashiers at Hobby Lobby know me and my kids personally now?  Yea, it's sad.  I'm pretty sure they duke it out over who's going to have to check us out, not that I'm a difficult shopper, but my kids pretty much like to play with EVERYTHING at the check-out...especially those little round tape measure dealy's that you push the button and the tape measure gets sucked back up or because of the time Brock cried for SEVERAL minutes over the fact that I was NOT going to buy him another stuffed animal dog because he already owned the same exact stuffed animal dog.  It was the last one left and he didn't want him to be left alone on the shelf...Such a sweet, gentle heart, but NO, cry all you want, you're NOT getting it...)

Oh, good grief....where was I????? 


 
Awwww...YES.  
The adorable cinnamon flower cookie suckers 
that the super sweet Sara of Dandy Delights sent me.  
YUM-O and too stinkin' cute!
Go LIKE her on Facebook and be amazed at her mad cookie skills!
She just reached 1000 fans so go tell her CONGRATS and that Pirates-n-Princesses sent ya!


 
These are my little Key Lime Pie cupcakes with Peter Cotton Tail toppers.
I wasn't sure about using them, but last minute I tossed them in the tub of goodies going to the station.  Let's just say that was a SMART move.  I was originally going to go with this idea HERE
of the starburst carrots...  Ummm... super cute, but also a super FAIL.  I had them looking all cute and ready to go.  Put them in the cupcakes in the morning, and when I looked at them later in the day, OMGosh, a huge melty mess.  The twizzler tops had fallen out of a few, they were limp, and super glossy from getting too warm.  So, I tried to fix them while I was still at home and work some magic, but when we got to the station, there was NO way I was putting them on display.  They were a HOT MESS.  But, I think these turned out cute, so I was happy.

 

Here are the Easter basket cupcakes 
we made together in the segment so go watch for instructions!!!


 

And here are the little Peeps in bird nests that I shared back on facebook.  I got the idea from The Crafting Chicks so go check them out HERE for a How-To.  You'll also find the free printables I used in that link, too!  They would make cute little gifts for your kids' classmates!


 
Here are the Key Lime Cupcakes.  I got the recipe HERE.
They were good but I think a little more key lime juice would make them even better.
They just needed a little more punch for me.  

 
I'm super bummed this photo turned out blurry!  
This is Jennifer, one of the camera operators there at the station.
SWEETEST thing ever.  I'll get a better shot next month!



Seriously, sidenote, how stinkin' cute is that pink scarf???  
L.O.V.E. it.
I found it at Bella in Champaign.

Now that this segment is over... back to the treadmill and diet.  Testing out all these cupcakes has been KILLER on this gal.  Stay tuned for my NEW FAVORITE white cupcake recipe which is what the Easter basket and flower pot cupcakes were  up there!!!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

YaY!!!!!!

Thank you EVERYONE for voting for 
Jillian's Dora & Boots party!!!!
It won Party of the Month over at 


Best.Fans.EVER!!!  XOXOXO