Flower Cupcakes

Yesterday I made these flower cupcakes to take to my husband's nurses.  He is in the hospital for a routine check up, and I have been spending a lot of time there hanging out with him.  I know this is bad, but when I realized there were people there that would eat my baked goods, I was like, "Finally!"    My husband is not a sweets person and it is usually just me that eats all the desserts!

I love the pink and purple colors.  Not very fall-like, but that's ok.  I am having a hard time getting into the seasons and the colors and decor.

The little pearly balls on the top really make the cupcake, don't you think??

I got a new carrier too, it holds cupcakes with higher frosting, which is awesome!

Tutorial for these cupcakes to come!

Cake Wedding Music - my way

My husband and I picked a bunch of songs for our wedding.  It was hard to find good song lists on-line for weddings, so I thought I would share the ones that we used.

I (bride) walked down the aisle to:
Would You Go With Me by Josh Turner ~~~ We love this song and it is so romantic.  It was great to walk down the aisle to something different that totally fit us.

Our Grand Entrance:
Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake ~~~ We both love Cake, but I am a super hard core fan.  We skipped in and I tripped on my dress a little I was loving it so much.  :)

First Dance:
Oh by Dave Matthews Band ~~~ my husband is a CRAZY Dave fan.  He seriously never used to listen to ANYTHING else.  I would get in his car in high school and every time, he had Dave on.  I hear Dave and I think of him, so this was perfect.

Cake Cutting:
Turn the Lights Down Low by Colbie Caillat - mellow and fun

Father Daughter Dance:
Back in Black by AC/DC : I remember dancing with my dad to AC/DC when I was a little girl.  My mom would leave on the weekend to get a little "me time" or run errands and we would turn up the music and dance!  She even said, "what song?" When I told her I picked this.  She would always turn it off when she came home, or just WAY down.  :)

These are my favorite picks that were the most different from the cheesy stuff that wedding sites tell you to use.  I hope this helps anyone that is looking for good songs for their wedding.  Think outside the box.  You don't have to pick all cheesy love songs!  People loved it!

Free Printable Art

I love browsing pinterest and my favorite blogs for cool printables.  I have printables for my bathroom, craft room, kitchen, you name it.  I love instant printable art, and the best part, is that all of these are free.

{get this one in any of these colors here}

I printed this one in the marine blue color and plan on pinning it above my sewing machine.  You could put it in your kitchen, garage, studio, work space, etc.

{Get this cute printable here}

I think this would look great in a babies room or in your bedroom.

{get it here}

You might say, "this isn't instant art!"  Oh, but it is!  Art for your face.  I printed these out on super thick card stock for a mustache party last year.  So fun!

{Heart print here}

{super cool art printable here}

{from the same site as above, tons of super cool printables here}

{love this one}

{bakers kitchen art}

Get some nice thick paper, a color printer, and get these babies framed and spice up your space!

Tucson Botanical Gardens

Last weekend, my husband and I went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  Right now they have the butterfly exhibit and the weather is perfect for a day outdoors.  The butterfly exhibit goes from October until April, and is a great opportunity to see tropical butterflies up close and personal.

These are just a few of the photos I snapped during my visit.  I am no pro, but they look great.  The butterflies are everywhere, you have to be careful not to step on them.  There are tropical plants, orchids, plumeria, etc. throughout the greenhouse.

The Gardens are open 8:30-4:30 daily

Pomegranate Trees

Vibrant Colors

MORE beautiful cactus

There is so much to see and the butterflies are amazing.

Handmade Pillow Covers

My couch is awesome, but it came with super ugly matching pillows.  I have been wanting to make covers for them since I first saw them, and today was the day!

The first pillow cover finished.  I hand stamped the center fabric with a handmade stamp from The Mayberry Sparrow on etsy, and an "Oh Happy Day" stamp from Michael's.

Envelope fold back {p.s. I LOVE THIS FABRIC}

Awesome stamps.  So pretty!  The polka dot fabric is from last months quilt show that I went to. 

I covered all 3 pillows tonight.  WHEW!  Yeay!  I love them.  They brighten up the room and make the couch look comfy.  {Hope the hubby likes em}

I think I spent $7 total on these puppies.  What a deal.  2 yards of clearance fabric from Home Fabrics in Tucson, a fat quarter of the polka dot fabric, and some plain cream cotton from JoAnn's.  (not counting the stamps and fabric stamp pad of course.)

Flanked by the quilt I made for my husband on the left and a vintage fabric quilt that I got at a craft fair in Hawaii, they look awesome!  I think that about does it for the living room.  Next victim room please.

The B Line

My husband and I went downtown to 4th avenue the other night to walk around and grab a bite to eat.  It was a weeknight, but there were still a lot of people out and we had a good time people watching and window shopping.  Oh, and we found street parking in about 5 seconds.  That was a nice change from Hawaii.  You can't find street parking there without feeling EXTREMELY lucky and awesome for having scored a spot.

{Cody being a good sport, let me take his picture}

We decided to eat at The B Line, my pick. We both had the vodka penne, he got salmon with his.  The food was good, the atmosphere cozy and casual, and the bill was decent.  You order at the counter and then they bring you your food.

Yum!  Garlic bread and pasta...

Beer on tap and wine.

You can sit and people watch looking out at the street, or you can sit upstairs at one of the tables. 

The B Line

Open: Sun-Thurs (7-9)

F-S (7-10)

Phone: (520) 882-7575

Located: 621 N. 4th Avenue

Go to their site for menu/location/hours/happy hour specials/wine specials

New Items

New Tissue Cases in my shop! These are so cute.  I use them on my nightstand because I don't like how the big boxes of tissues look.  Oh, and they take up nearly ZERO space.  LOVE!

I have some new jewelry up too. I love these dangly earrings.  I have an identical pair, but mine hang from a hoop.  So cute and classy.

Sale is still on until October 30th, so go check it out.  The holidays are only a month and a half away, and if you are shipping gifts, you only have about a month!  WHoa!

Copper Country Antiques Tucson

I went to Copper Country Antiques again this weekend.  I love going there and spending time walking up and down the aisles.  Browsing through each booth and looking at all the old pieces of everyday life.

My favorite things to look at are the kitchen items.  I love the bright colored pyrex bowls, the old mixers, and the dishware.

Here are a few of the goodies I found this weekend.  I love this milk glass lamp.  I couldn't pass it up.

Doesn't it look awesome on my nightstand?

My favorite part is the key turn light switch.  Oh, and the milk glassiness, love the bumps and color.

I got this awesome vintage quilt for $10!  what?  super steal. I was thinking of either re-backing it, because the backing is a little nubby, or using the fabric in my own creations.

I love the retro fabrics.

I also found this super handy jewelry box for $6.  Tiny, totally packs a lot of storage space, and in good shape.

Here it is stuffed with some of my jewelry.

Copper Country is a large antique mall.  They have over 250 dealers and lots of great stuff.

{photo from copper country website}

You can find them just by looking down the road and seeing this huge buffalo on their roof!

{photo from copper country blog}

This Buffalo is in their parking lot.  Love it!  

Copper Country is located at 5055 East Speedway

(520) 326-0167

M-S (10-6) Sun (11-5)

Check out their site to go virtual shopping, read up on latest sales and events, and get more info.

Visit their blog for photos of some of their latest additions, sales, and info.

Sabino Canyon

My husband and I spent a few hours in Sabino Canyon last weekend on his day off.  It was really nice to get outside and enjoy the desert.  We took the little tram that you can ride into the canyon and enjoyed the late evening there.  This would be a great thing for people to do that don't like to hike or can't hike very far.  It is almost 4 miles to the top of the tram line if you take the Sabino Canyon Trail. There are nine stops along the way and you can get off and on at any one of them.  You can also take the Bear Canyon Trail.  It runs all day, so my suggestion is to go early and enjoy the afternoon in the canyon.  Maybe have a picnic, or just relax by the stream.

The tram is 2 cars long.  You can get the schedule on-line here.

I never would have thought Arizona would look like this.

Look at all the Saguaro sticking up across the hills.  

One of the many areas that would make a good spot to rest.

Thimble Peak

I am totally loving being outdoors.

We went in the evening, so we got to see a bit of the sun going down in the mountains.  I love the colors during this time of day. So beautiful!

You can learn more about the canyon and the tours on their site.  I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Tucson, even if you don't like walking or hiking.  If you like the outdoors, you will love their tours.  Plus, you can pretend you went hiking.  Nobody will ever know the difference.

New Honda Fit!

Well... you may remember when I had a minor accident with my Civic earlier this year.  I had to say goodbye and stick to the moped until we moved.  I recently got a Honda Fit.  I love it!  It is compact, yet roomy, drives smoothly, is great on gas, and is so cute.

Here I am driving it off the lot.  Cody went with me and we spent the day at 2 different places.  There was only one white one left...  I wanted it.  The other colors are kind of ugly, so I was pretty happy that they still had one!

The inside is really cool.  It is all back lit and easy to use.

I love the side windows in the front, they remind me of my old bug.  Except they don't open and create "air conditioning" like my bug windows did.  I also love that it has 57 cubic feet of space when you put the seats down.  The seats also go up, and you can slide your bike or large item right in the back door.  Pretty sweet!  No awkward lifting, and it is really easy to put the seats up or down.

So far I LOVE it.  :)

Soft Pretzel Recipe

A few nights ago I was craving mall pretzels.  You know, the super soft cinnamon sugar ones that you used to get all the time in junior high when you went to the mall with your friends?  (and MAYBE you still get them when you go just for the pretzels...)  Anyways, it was 9:00 at night, no pretzel stands open, and I had to have one.  So I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and made some for myself.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites

My favorite part was eating the first batch while I kept rolling and baking the others.

Pile of unbaked bites.

When they come out of the oven, brush them with butter and them top them.  I tossed them in cinnamon sugar, but you can salt them, dip them and leave them plain, or make up your own.  Parprika and garlic, parmesan, garlic powder, icing, etc.

RECIPE: 

4 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. white sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F)

5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

butter for brushing on top

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt.  Make a well in the center, and the oil and yeast mixture.  Mix and form into a dough.  If the mixture is dry, add a tsp or two of water, if it is too wet, add a little flour.  Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 or 8 minutes.  Lightly oil or spray bowl, place dough in it, and cover with seran wrap.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large bowl dissolve baking soda in hot water.  

4. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces.  Roll into a rope and twist into pretzel shape or cut into bite sized pieces.  Dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet.  

5.  Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.  Brush with melted butter when they come out and top with salt or cinnamon sugar.

These were super easy.  I made them while I watched tv.  I froze over half of them and when I want to eat them, I just pop them in the microwave and top them as if they were fresh from the oven.  They freeze great and are nice and soft when they are warm.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below!  Happy pretzel making!