Sorta Samoa Mini Donuts

I had some left over coconut pecan icing in my fridge. I've been eating it with a spoon when no one is looking. Its delicious. I've also been craving donuts lately. I started thinking combining the two would be a great idea. Thus the Sorta Samoa Mini Donuts! 

 I used my Babycakes Donut Maker to bake their Buttermilk Spice Donuts. Then I dipped them in melted dark chocolate. Once that was set I topped the other side with the coconut pecan icing, drizzled caramel over that and then more melted chocolate. This donut recipe is pretty firm so it was almost like a donut cookie!

I'm going to go wait by the phone. I'm sure the Girl Scouts will be calling me to market these donuts any second now!

Easter Tablescape

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter holiday!  This is my small, modest Easter tablescape for this year.

I made these daffodils from crepe paper. Flower making is my latest endeavor. Expect to see lots more of these!

Happy Easter!

Suspended Mason Jar Herb Planters

I love cooking with fresh herbs, especially basil. I use a lot of basil. I love how it makes my kitchen smell, I love the flavor, and I love the bright green color. Since I live in Minnesota and its not exactly warm year round, I wanted to find a way to bring fresh basil into my kitchen.  However, I also have a really small kitchen. I don't have the space for a counter top herb garden. So I came up with this idea instead!

I filled mason jars first with some gravel and sand, then potting soil and I split a fresh basil plant in two. The jars are suspended by hose clamps. The hose clamps are connected to the cabinets by a metal plate and screws. 

Now I can have fresh basil whenever I'd like! I may even add a couple more jars with different herbs too.

Farewell Fiesta

It seems there has been a lot of changes at my full time job lately. I had to say goodbye to another long time coworker, John.  John retired from my company so we threw him a going away party. John wanted to have a taco feed and his favorite cake, German Chocolate with traditional Coconut Pecan Frosting. We threw "Taco John" a Farewell Fiesta! I brought the cupcakes of course! It was my first time making the coconut pecan frosting from scratch.  Wow, I could stick my face in the whole bowl and eat it up! It was delicious! The cupcakes turned out pretty fun too, John loved them!

 

 Its been a pleasure working with you John.  Happy Retirement!

Makeup Organization Ideas

Spring has finally arrived! That also means its time for spring cleaning. One of the many organization projects I have on my list is to get my makeup under control. I do not wear much makeup.  Mostly eye makeup and lipstick/gloss. Somehow my "minimal" approach to makeup still dominated my bathroom. I decided it was time to purge.  I got rid of a lot of shadows and liners that are old and I'll probably never wear again. I sorted my makeup into categories of everyday wear and special occasion wear. The special occasion (a.k.a. makeup in crazy colors that I can only pull off at night, on the town with the girls) was neatly put away in a case in the closet. Then I was left with my everyday wear.  It was not enough to make it worthwhile to put in a big bulk case, but not small enough to just leave out.  I decided to try magnets!

I glued magnets to the backs of all of my shadows and....

Viola! Now all my everyday shadows are on the inside of my medicine cabinet!  Off the counter, out of the way.  I love it and so does my boyfriend who is cursed to a life of sharing a bathroom with a girl.

Now there was of course the pesky question of what to do with my brushes, liners and mascara. So I headed over to Michael's with my handy 40% off coupon and picked up a square vase.  Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a 99 cent bag of split peas....

Taaaa Daaa!! Organized brushes and liners! Now everything is in plain view...no more digging around in my bottomless pit of a makeup bag. 

It all looks so nice and neat that even my boyfriend thought makeup organization was cool.

What spring cleaning projects are you working on?

An Airport Farewell

Last week I bid farewell to a beloved co-worker of mine.  Tracy and I have worked together for about five years.  He's moving on to bigger and better things.  To send him on his way, we had a farewell cookout at the airport (this happens to be where we work by the way!). I got to make the cupcakes for the event.

Our company does maintenance work for a major airline so I made tools and airplanes flying in the sky!

I love these little airplanes! They were a big hit at the party.

Best of luck Tracy!

Orange Leopard Nail Art

I've been wanting to try a leopard print for awhile now but my box of nail polish is overflowing. Buying a new color was just something I couldn't justify.  So I decided to try it with a different shade, orange! I used orange polish as the base, gold and black for the print.  If you've read my nail art posts before, you know that I only do my ring finger.  I personally love the look, but also it makes nail art way less intimidating when you know you only need to do it twice instead of ten times!

Im loving the way the orange turned out!

Any suggestions for nail art I should try in the future?