Jack and Izzy Party Goods Featured on Hostess with the Mostess

Great news! This morning I received a tip that some of my party items were recently featured on Hostess with the Mostess (again!). Remember Isla's first birthday party that I shared with you about a month ago? Well, her pinwheel party made an appearance on HWTM, and so did my invitations and party stickers. How fun!

Etsy Love: Cupcakes

It's no wonder the world is all about cupcakes these days! They're cute, they're delicious, and they just make you feel happy. Here are some of my favorite cupcake finds on Etsy:

Letterpress cupcake boxes from Simplesong Designs

Letterpress recipe cards and gift tags from Dingbat Press

Build your own cupcake kits from Saint Cupcake

Also check out their website

All this cupcake goodness inspired me to create some cupcake products of my own! A long time ago, I posted about a cupcake illustration I had designed for a customer. I incorporated this image into a new line of personalized gift labels which I think are the perfect addition to kid's birthday presents. These will be offered as a color variety pack -- you get 4 each of 6 different colors -- so 24 labels in all. Here's my only question: Should I make them hang tags (printed on card stock) or stickers (printed on adhesive stock)? What's your vote?

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a Happy Halloween! We've been practicing the "trick or treat" concept with Jack all week. I'm very curious to see how it goes tomorrow night! :)

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I found these adorable Papier-Mache Treat Balls on the Martha Stewart website, and I thought I'd share them with you. A similar idea would work well for any holiday -- Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, or Thanksgiving. Just switch out the colors and the artwork, and you're good to go. For the complete How-To, click here.
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And here are some little Halloween treats that Jack and I sent out to all his buddies this year. I think it's fun for kids to find something in the mailbox with their name on it. Jack had a great time sorting all the M&M colors and putting them in the plastic cups. And I made matching mailing labels to go on the front of all the packages. I think they turned out pretty cute.

The Perfect Fall Weekend

I'm a bit behind. I had hoped to get this post up Sunday night, but here it is, late Tuesday night, and I'm finally getting around to writing about our delightful weekend. It was two full days of ultimate family time and plenty of sweet memories.

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Like I had mentioned previously, on Saturday we had our annual Fall Outing, and we visited Shaw's Pumpkin Farm and Rouster's Apple Orchard. Jack had a BLAST! And we had a blast watching him and witnessing his excitement and energy. My how thrilling the world is from a two-year-old's point of view! Through his eyes, Garret and I see things in a whole new light.

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On Sunday, we had a relaxing, lazy day at home. We cooked and ate ALL DAY long -- and we did a little pumpkin carving, too. Here's some of the yummy things we made: my sister's infamous German Pancakes, toasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin dip with molasses cookies, white bean chicken chili with homemade cornbread, and decorate-your-own caramel apples. Ahhhh ... that kind of smorgasbord is a pregnant lady's dream come true! :) I'm going to leave you with a couple of our favorite recipes from the weekend:

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German Pancakes

4 Tbsp. butter (half a stick)
6 eggs
1 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. flour

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut up the butter in a 9x13 inch baking dish and place in the oven until melted. In the meantime, combine the eggs, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Slowly add the flour and blend well. Pour the batter over the melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes. Serve with powdered sugar.

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Pumpkin Dip

8 oz. package cream cheese

(2) 7 oz. jars marshmallow creme

15 oz. can pumpkin

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and marshmallow creme until smooth. Fold in the pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Delicious with molasses cookies for dipping. (Note: We halved this recipe, and it still made a TON of dip! Also, you can add a bit of powdered sugar if the dip isn't sweet enough for your taste)

Fall Outing

Garret, Jack, and I are going to have our annual fall outing this weekend. It's one of my favorite family traditions. We will be hitting up Shaw's Pumpkin Farm and Rouster's Apple Orchard. Then, we're coming home to carve pumpkins and make caramel apples.

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Jack at Shaw's in 2007

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I found this great idea for mini caramel apples that I think we will try. And here's another mini caramel apple recipe from Family Fun magazine. I'll let you know how they turn out. Enjoy your weekend!

Holiday Card Winner

mjbeeswax:

"Love, Love, Love the cards! Katie, you do a great job. I would love to win."

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Congratulations! Please contact Katie (krubooks@hotmail.com) to claim your prize.

Fallapalooza

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Three years ago, my mom's extended family started a huge fall tradition we aptly named "FALLAPALOOZA." It's a weekend camping trip that we take every October on my aunt's property in the country. And it couldn't be more fun!
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We spend lots of time sitting around the campfire (mainly to keep warm!), there is plenty of good food, we do some kind of fall craft, and we play games (pumpkin races, the "witches" game, night scavenger hunts on "skeleton trail"), and we consume lots of hot apple cider, and roast plenty of s'mores.

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Although this past weekend was c-c-c-cold, a great time was still had by all. What are some of your family’s fall traditions?