July | 2013 | Sunshine in my pocket

Archive | July, 2013

Taste Test Tuesday — Sprinkles Cupcakes

By KariV on July 30, 2013 in Taste Test Tuesday

Since we’ve been out of town, I couldn’t hold my usual taste test complete with panelists. So instead, my family & I held one of our FAVORITE tests of all time. Sprinkles Cupcakes!

This is such a great activity for you to do with your family or friends. (In fact, I love this taste test so much, and I’ve always wanted to take a trip to Sprinkles with my girlfriends to conduct one of these…and I’m sure I will someday!)

Since there were 6 of us in total, we each picked out our favorite cupcake and then took them back to the beach house. Do you like the top three cupcake decorations? We just happened to be in San Diego the same time Comic Con was there, and Sprinkles had some special decor to celebrate. 🙂

The flavors in this taste test were:

1) Salted Caramel
2) Strawberry
3) Double Cinnamon Sugar
4) Red Velvet
5) Chocolate Marshmallow
6) Vanilla with chocolate frosting and sprinkles

We cut each cupcake up into 6 pieces…which worked out great because by the time we “tasted” each of them, we had each eaten one whole cupcake.

I know, those paper towels are fancy, right? Sometimes you have to use what you have available, ha!

I think my nephew, G, might have enjoyed this taste test the most:

I just love that kid!

THE REPORT:

Sprinkles Owner, Candace, has really figured out how to master the basic cupcake flavors. Which is exactly what I would expect from this cupcakery. These cupcakes were all DELICIOUS, and we actually loved them all. But there were a few that stood out from the rest.

First place:

Surprise! Perhaps one of the most basic flavors ever, Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting, was the FIRST PLACE WINNER. It was SO good, moist, with just the right amount of chocolate frosting. And the sprinkles on top were definitely a winner with my nephews. 🙂

SECOND PLACE: Red Velvet
THIRD PLACE: Strawberry

So it seemed this time we preferred all the classic flavors, which really surprised me! So if you have to choose just one flavor to get at Sprinkles Cupcakes, don’t overlook the basic classics!

P.S. Before I go, I must mention that this is NOT the first time we’ve done a Sprinkles Cupcake taste test. (Did I mention it’s our favorite out-of-town taste test ever?)

And in fairness to you, dear reader, I’d like to report the first place winner of our first taste test of these cupcakes: Fresh Orange. Sooooooo good! We may have included that one in this recent taste test, but they didn’t offer that flavor on the day we were there. So try the orange cupcake (a surprise winner last time) if they have it!

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Dose of Sunshine Monday — Breathe

By KariV on July 29, 2013 in Inspiration

Hello to another Monday. I just got back from a glorious (2 week) vacation in Southern California. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I spent a lot of time near the beach and enjoyed every minute of it.

Now, back to real life…I think of all the items on my to-do list, and some upcoming events that I am not looking forward to. The best way I’ve found to calm down and enjoy each minute, is to practice slow breathing. Try this: Breathe in through your nose for the count of 4, hold for 3 seconds, and then breathe out of your nose for the count of 6. Repeat as often as necessary.

So this week if your life gets hectic, take some time to breathe!

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Monsters University Summer Snack Party

By KariV on July 25, 2013 in DIY, Holidays

The movies this summer have been so fun for my nephews! They LOVED Monsters University and so we decided to have a snack party with Mike and Sully. 🙂 Later, my nephews saw Despicable Me 2 and I asked which movie they liked better? They said unanimously: “Despicable Me 2!!” (It’s a good thing we had this Monsters University snack party first.)

This is such a fun and easy celebration to throw together. We found Mac & Cheese in monster shapes:

And while that was cooking, the boys wanted to practice making monster eyes:

We used marshmallows (cut into slices), m&ms (peanut butter), and black decorating gel. These would make the “Mike Wasowski” eyes for the sugar cookies.

We blended up a quick (and rather healthy) green “Wasowski” Smoothie to drink with our Mac & Cheese. Mmmmm…. These are so easy to make with a little spinach, frozen pineapple and mango, ice, water, and banana.

And then…we decorated the Wasowski Cookies! I made these sugar cookies earlier and cut them into circles and Mickey Mouse shapes. The boys were so creative decorating these.

G loves his Uncle Lann! I love that picture of G giving a hug…he so was excited for this part! We all joined in on the cookie decorating fun.

When we finished decorating all the cookies, we decided to take some over to my nephews C and L, who live in Phoenix. They just had a new baby brother! (Who doesn’t need some Wasowski cookies at a time like this?!)

If you have little boys/nephews/cousins/neighbors…get them together for a little monster snack party and cookie decorating fun. I hope you have just as much fun as we did!

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Cutting Fabric with the Cricut (and easy pillowcases)

By KariV on July 24, 2013 in DIY, Gift Ideas, Paper Crafting

I don’t remember much about going to girls camp when I was a youth, but one thing I DO remember is receiving a homemade pillow case with my name embroidered on it. I still have that pillowcase all these years later! So I really wanted to make pillowcases for the girls this year.

I was excited to cut names out of fabric with my Cricut and then iron them on. Here’s a quick video on how to do this: (It’s easier than I thought!)

I’ve seen other videos where they use fabric stiffener to cut the fabric. You have to paint on the stiffener and then wait for a day or so for it to completely dry. It seemed messy and took WAY too long for me!

So instead, I used “Heat & Bond,” which you can find at JoAnn’s or WalMart…and it worked great!

I sewed up a bunch of these pillowcases using the burrito method. There is a good tutorial here. This is a fast way to make cute pillowcases, including a sweet little piping (hot pink houndstooth on my pillowcases).

Our camp director, Krista, picked out the fabrics for these and I LOVE them! I think she has an extraordinary eye for putting fabrics together. (Thanks, Krista!)

Then I cut the fabric letters using the Cricut, and ironed them on. They turned out fantastic! And I think they look great with the waterbottles for camp.

So if you have a cricut and haven’t tried cutting fabric yet, what are you waiting for? It’s easy and there is so much you can do with fabric. I am ready to work on my next fabric project. See you next time.

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Dose of Sunshine Monday — Find something to Love

By KariV on July 22, 2013 in Inspiration

To celebrate my youngest sister’s birthday, we met in California for some cool weather and fun. One night, we rented “Life of Pi” and she loved the interesting story. Have you seen this movie or read the book? I read the book many years ago, and I thought the movie was quite fun to watch.

Afterwards, my sister came up with the quote of the day: “Well, we may have our trials, but at least we aren’t stuck in a boat in the middle of an ocean with a tiger on board!”

Well said, Wendi, well said. We decided that there could be something each day that we found to love. And that is how this thought came to be for today’s Dose of Sunshine Monday. My sister made this sign for you:

In the midst of your trials or busy life, can you find something to love every day? If you are having challenges with this right now, just remember: at least you are not in a boat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger.

Now, focus on the good!

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