Cards for baby girls

This fall, I got the really awesome opportunity to make some cards for our family ministry at church.  They happen to be a big fan of homemade things and asked me this go-around to make some girly-girl cards and boy cards.   I love playing with pink, which was probably the most obvious color to do when going super girly.  Plus, I love the pink, brown, and turquoise combo!  Boy cards coming soon.  Now, off to figure out what I need to make for Thanksgiving!  

Buttermilk Spice Muffins

This has been the strangest week.  But, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I got to go to my happy place (San Francisco) for my birthday.  It was a lot of work, but tonight, we are all back under the same roof and reality is setting in.  I'm also a year older. . . 35!  Believe it or not, I just don't feel that old.  I hope I always feel young!   So, before I head into an incredibly busy (and fun) weekend, I wanted to share this delicious recipe with you.  

One of my favorite places to have a good muffin is Mimi's cafe.  The Carrot Raisin is my favorite and previously posted this recipe. My sister has always favored their Buttermilk muffin, which is pretty delicious (a close second to the carrot raisin, but still delicious!).  Also, did you know that Mimi's has recipes on their website.  Yeppers!  And it's wonderful!  It was a huge hit with the boys in my house. . . they are, afterall, my biggest critics!.  

Mimi's Buttermilk Spice Muffins
adapted from Mimi's 

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
3 eggs
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup plus 1 Tbs buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
In a mixing bowl, cream together sugar and butter.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk.  Don't over mix.
Make the nut topping by mixing sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl.   Line your favorite muffin tin with some fun liners and fill 3/4 of the way full.  Add a spoonful of topping on top of each cup of batter.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

A New Thanksgiving Tradition

I'm not at all phased that Target has had out the Christmas stuff.  I think they may be the last ones to actually put it out (Costco had it out in September, right?).  It is my favorite time of year.  Gingerbread lattes, fog, cold weather, sweaters. . . it's pretty much awesome.  I actually listened to Christmas music this morning and didn't mind.  It was a foggy drive to my son's 6 year check up and it just felt appropriate.  But, first we have Thanksgiving.  And with Thanksgiving, a new tradition.

I wanted to start a Thanksgiving tree last year, but it just never happened.  I am so glad that my husband caught on to my vision when I brought in branches from one of our trees in the backyard.  Ethan loves putting things on there and came home begging to write his "I'm thankful" tag when he got home from school.  This made my mom heart so full!  He even made his grandparents write something down when they were over this weekend.  I love that he wants to show gratitude!  

 It really came together nicely.  I used some Kraft card stock along with Hello, Honey and Tangelo Twist (from Stampin up's In Color line).  I also used their new set Gratitude for Days.  

* Note: SU's website is having issues, so I will link you up later.  

for baby. . .

I am an expert at procrastinating.   Seriously.  In college, I did some of my best work at the last minute.  This project, a work in progress for about 3 weeks, included a couple late night dates with my friend, the sewing machine.  Good times!

I was looking for some fun yellow and gray fabric for a shower last weekend and came across this sweet organic fabric at our local fabric shop.  This wasn't grey, but the super pale brown was almost like gray and the fabric was oh, so soft.  I just did a simple patchwork of 5 inch squares backed with some soft minky.  I also made some coordinating burpees to go with it.

I also made this cute card. . . following the yellow and grey pattern.  I used the Hearts A Flutter stamp set, with barely banana, and basic gray inks.  I also used the sweet baby stamp from the Bitty Banners stamp set. I also used all the coordinating framelits to cut out the shapes.  The stars were from this embossilits set.  I used the hexagon texture folder for the background.

This was a super fun gift to put together.  I can't wait to meet the newest Gerking when he (or she?) makes his arrival.  Ethan and Weston can't wait to have a new cousin!  

Thursday thoughts of randomness and Love

Today, I am home sick with the littlest.  Although, he doesn't seem to think he is sick, which makes resting kind of hard. . . so pardon my "I've been up all night" post of randomness.

November is a super full month. It's also one of my favorites!  Fall is usually in full swing and raking up leaves in our front yard is something that Ethan is begging to do, now that the leaves are finally starting to drop.  (the weather finally turned and we had to stop wearing shorts this week. . . yes, you can feel sorry for us!).  It's also my birthday month!  The big 35 is coming and it's crazy to think that's how old I will be soon when in reality, I feel like I just turned 22.  I hope I always feel this young! I also had my first Gingerbread Latte of the month year!  Seriously, this one has always been my favorite. . . even more than the PSL.  And there's something about the red cups that make me feel so happy.  Anyone else out there feel that way?

I'm completely in love with this nativity set. You should go check it out!

Speaking of nativity, I need to start getting some stuff together for our Truth in the Tinsel activities.  I am debating whether I should do something different this year or do what I did last year.  I kind of like this idea.

Last week, I was really wanting some Chipotle.  So we made our own (because, why not?).  I used this recipe and this one. . . and seriously we had burrito bowls for several days!  I was in heaven!  Definitely doing Chipotle night  err, week again in the very near future!

I have a super long list of cookies that I want to make.  I just need to make them.  Today this one showed up on my blog feed.  It might be made by the end of the day.

This free printable really makes me want to have a cookie exchange.  Maybe I will have to start planning one.

And now, I should probably start doing some house work and maybe sneak in a little nap (I'm exhausted!).

Hope you have a great day!

Halloween fun! {warning: cuteness overload}

I know I have mentioned that fall is my favorite time of year, but this year was no exception.  This year was the first year the kids didn't get overheated from their costumes and barely made it inside before it started pouring.  Let me just say, that the rain was a huge blessing and I don't think any kid that came trick-or-treating really minded. . . mine sure didn't.

Recently, Weston has been really into the cape I made him last year for Christmas.  I actually don't think I ever got them blogged about (oops!).  I found these super cute panels on Fabricworm's website and instantly fell in love.  Weston actually could've cared less about his until a few month ago.  Now, he runs around the house all crazy like shouting "super boy" and it is probably just the cutest thing. ever!  So, for Halloween, I just finished the rest of pieces of the panel to complete his costume.  He loved it!  

We borrowed Ethan's costume, because he's going to be a Jedi.  We even surprised him with a lightsabor to complete his costume!  I seriously love this cuteness!  Oh, and we couldn't find Ethan's pumpkin candy bag, so he ended up using his Easter basket.  I think I might have been the only one really bothered by this.

Happy Candy Overload week!