A Mother's Day Brunch

Last weekend, for Mother's Day, we hosted my parents, my sisters, Mother-in-Law Red and her beau, Mr. Bear for brunch.  I have so loved owning our home for many reasons, but by far my number one reason?  I love to entertain. 

I spent quite some time deciding on the perfect spread - balancing the necessities of sweet and savory breakfast items to please all those in attendance, and I did pretty well, if I do say so myself!

This, to me, is the perfect brunch spread:

Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

Hashbrowns

Bacon - soft and crispy!

Smoked Salmon

Strawberries and Bananas with Nutella

Cheesey Egg Bake

 

and

 

A Mimosa Bar (duh!)

 

And obviously, no Mother's Day is complete without some gifts.

 

 

My gifts for Mother-in-Law Red were lovingly bought at a craft fair (the adorable sign) and the phone case is from Etsy.

 

For Gardening Momma, I got a little crafty and my Pinspiration was from none other than the Saw it-Pinned it-Did it Queen herself, Steph! 

 

My Pinspiration:

{Pinned}

 

My Creation:

 

I went with a big of a fluffier succulent arrangement, and a different type of wooden letter, and skipped the bow for Gardening Mom's wreath, but I loved Steph's so much I just couldn't stray too much for her adorable wreath.

 

I wasn't the only one who got crafty for Mother's Day this year, Sisters Swimmer and Singer worked with Hat Dad to create the coolest succulent planter for GM also!

 

So cool, right?!

 

Sisters showing off their handiwork.

 

Linking up with: The Vintage Apple, Something Swanky, Vintage Wanna Bee, Ginger Snap Crafts, Lil Luna, I {Heart} Nap Time, A Diamond in the Stuff, Live Laugh Rowe, 504 Main, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Six Sisters' Stuff, C.R.A.F.T., Delightful Order, House of Hepworths, Positively Splendid, BEAUtiful Mess/Keep Calm and Carry On, Southern Lovely, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, A Night Owl, House of Rose



Adventures in Pinterest: Mini Apple Pies

I am so annoyed with myself for taking forever to get these up on the blog, mostly because they were such hits that I wanted to brag right away!  But scheduling posts tends to lead to a delay between real life and blog recap, so here we are almost two months after I made these adorable guys, finally seeing them on Stress Case in all their glory!

 

My Pinspiration:

{Pin}

{Original Source}

 



My Version:

 

I don't actually even like apple pie, but I had to try these out since it is a fave of Hat Dad's, and I made these for this birthday!  I'll direct you over to Stock Piling Moms for the full recipe and instructions, as I followed them to the tee and they turned out wonderfully!

 

I used a tumblr I had lying around (shout out to our wedding photographer, D2 Photography!) to cut out the perfect size mini pie crusts!  It didn't fully cut the shape out, so I used a paring knife to cut around the shape.

I was quite liberal with the pat of butter atop each pie.

 

What I didn't photograph was cutting out the inidivual shapes to go on the pies.  I used the above paring knife and just freehanded each letter and the hearts.  I did Daddy because I am five years old it was his special day, and I wanted it to be personalized!  I did hearts on some, and even left some naked!

These were such a hit with the fam, I can't wait for another occasion to make some mini pies!

Linking up with: The Vintage Apple, Something Swanky, Vintage Wanna Bee, Ginger Snap Crafts, Lil Luna, I {Heart} Nap Time, A Diamond in the Stuff, Live Laugh Rowe, 504 Main, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Six Sisters' Stuff, C.R.A.F.T., Delightful Order, House of Hepworths, Positively Splendid, BEAUtiful Mess/Keep Calm and Carry On, Southern Lovely, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, A Night Owl, House of Rose

Adventures in Pinterest: Easter Treats

Sometimes I wish I was one of the fabulous bloggers who thought out all their holiday crafts, recipes and decor; made them in advance and took the most gorgeous photos; and then shared their amazing ideas with their readers inspiring them to use their creativity to make their holidays even more special than years past.
 

But I'm not.
 

I'm just a girl who likes to ramble, who sometimes make some recipes and crafts and shares them on the blog.  And most of the time, if they're for a holiday?  I'm sharing them after cause I just made them that day.  Such is life.
 

This Easter, I made two adorbs treats to share with our family.  And shocker of all shocks?  They were both Pinspired.
 

Colored Easter Deviled Eggs

  

Pinspiration: 

{Originally pinned from}

Mine:

  

I sort of love how mine got this random speckled look, though I'm not completely sure how they did.  I'll refer you to the original link for the instructions, but I used about a cup of hot water, combined with about a teaspoon of vinegar and a very small amount of Wilton gel colors.  I do not have liquid food color in my house, and the gel worked just fine.  The only thing I would note that was a bit different than the original link is that I left mine in the colored water for much longer than I thought I would.  Maybe it was because of the gel icing?  Anywho, I left them in the cups of colored water for 3+ minutes each.

And just because I know everyone does it a little differently, my yolk mixture is pretty basic: egg yolk, light mayo, garlic salt, Tapatio, and dijon mustard.  

After the appetizer came a wonderful dinner full of steaks, crab legs, homemade coleslaw, green bean casserole and more!  And after that, came these:
 

Easter Nest Cupcakes

  

Pinspiration:

Mine:

 

Shout out to HH for being a hottie hand model! 

I'm gonna keep it real and admit that I used gasp box cake mix, canned frosting and obviously premade candy atop these little cuties, and you know what?  No shame.  These are very basic, and the instructions at the original site are super helpful! 

Linking up with: The Vintage Apple, Something Swanky, Vintage Wanna Bee, Ginger Snap Crafts, Lil Luna, I {Heart} Nap Time, A Diamond in the Stuff, Live Laugh Rowe, 504 Main, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Six Sisters' Stuff, C.R.A.F.T., Delightful Order, House of Hepworths, Positively Splendid, BEAUtiful Mess/Keep Calm and Carry On, Southern Lovely, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, A Night Owl

Christmas Came Early: STAND MIXER DECAL GIVEAWAY!

 

Today, I have a fantastic giveaway for the baker in your life, or a great little add-on gift if you're gifting anyone a stand mixer this year for Christmas!  Or if you've got a mixer of your own, this is the perfect addition to take it from functional to functional and adorable!

 

Julie from the Etsy shop, Lil Punkin Creations is giving away the Swirls Vinyl Decal set for Stand Mixers!

 

 

Adorable, right?!  And look at all the gorgeous colors you can get your decal set made in:

 

 

Enter below via Rafflecopter!

And come back tomorrow for a chance to win something sparkly!

And fellow bloggers, don't forget to enter yesterday's Sponsorship Bundle Giveaway!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Adventures in Pinterest: Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies

When we were invited to Cute Apartment's beau's house for a Breaking Bad premier viewing party, I knew I would bring a dessert.  The idea of something resembling meth popped into my head, but was quickly replaced by these cookies (sprinkles just do it for me, what can I say?) when I saw them on Pinterest.

Source: cookincowgirl.blogspot.com via Casey on Pinterest

The original recipe is from Cookin' Cowgirl, so please go check out her site and see some other fantastic recipes!

I gotta be honest and admit that I'm not entirely sure why these are called Funfetti Cake Batter cookies, in that you don't really use Funfetti Cake Mix, but I'm thinking it sounds cute so I'll go with it.

Check out the recipe below, just slightly modified from Cookin' Cowgirl's original creation.

Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies

Yields 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size

1 box yellow cake mix

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix cake mix and baking powder.

In another bowl, beat together eggs, oil and vanilla.  Add this mixture to cake mixture.

Stir in sprinkles, one 1/4 cup at a time. 

Drop in spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-12 minutes (shorter time produces much softer cookies, bake per your preference!).

Ta-Da!

Linking up at these fabulous blogs: The Vintage Apple, Something Swanky, Vintage Wannabe, Ginger Snap Crafts, I Heart Nap Time, Lil Luna, A Diamond in the Stuff, Live Laugh Rowe, 504 Main, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots & Jello, Six Sisters' Stuff

Easter Rainbow Cupcakes

It has been way too long since I've shared a recipe with, y'all, hasn't it?!  I have a good one for you today!

I made these sweet cupcakes for Easter Sunday, and they were quite a hit!

Rainbow Cupcakes

So cool looking, right?!

I got the recipe and instructions from Kevin and Amanda, so I am going to direct you right on over to their page for the deets!  But here are some photos of my process!

Note: I did use the frosting recipe they recommended, but did not make the cake from scratch.  I actually prefer cake box cake...I'm weird!

I used these Wilton icing colors: Christmas Red, Cornflower Blue, and Lemon; mixing them to make the green and orange shades.

I split the batter into 5 bowls, tried to make it as evenly divided as possible, and used the 3 colors to make the 5 colors I wanted.

 Spooned the batter into the cupcake liners, about 2 teaspoons of each color in each liner.  Popped those suckers in the over, whipped up some amazing vanilla buttercream, and voila!

{Fabulous Valentine's Challenge} Day 6: Love to be Creative

<center><a href="http://stresscasey.blogspot.com/" title="Valentine’s Day Challenge"><img src="http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac293/munchkin_land_designs/BlogDesigns/Buttons/ValentinesChallenge.png" alt="Valentine’s Day Challenge" /></a></center>

Now that you ladies have had the weekend to rest up, can't wait to see the rest of your awesome V-Day Challenge link-ups!

Today's Topic: Love to be Creative

Share some Valentine's Day crafts, recipes or gifts you've got up your sleeve!

(See all topics and dates HERE.)

Pinterest is my best friend for things like this, because in the real world?

Stress Case don't have time for all this fun stuff!

Between work and school and trying to maintain a speck of a social life - the creativity unfortunately gets slid to the backburner.

But, if I did have the time,

this is what I'd be doing!

I'd be decorating my (non-existant at the moment) house like this:

Source: itsthelittlethingsthatmakeahouseahome.blogspot.com via Casey on Pinterest

Source: thehouseofsmiths.com via Casey on Pinterest

Source: 1.bp.blogspot.com via Casey on Pinterest

Making these adorable crafts:



Source: bedifferentactnormal.com via Casey on Pinterest

And, of course, I'd be baking up these yummy treats:



Want to see more of my Valentine's Day Pin Board?

What creativity are YOU putting to use this Valentine's Day?

Link up!

Tomorrow's Topic: Love Blogging

Why did you start, what posts are your favorite, share anything with us!

(See all topics and dates HERE.)