Insta-Friday

Happy Friday!
We had a really nice week, here's a peek...hello, sweet sleeping boy.I had the tough job of "taste-testing" cookies this week.
Monica's Gourmet Cookies, yum!this boy is a rolling maniac.
I keep finding him wedged in corners and up against furniture, cracks me up!I'm so thankful to have a girl that likes to craft as much as I doa random trip to Target and I walked out with washi tape for me and a huge pink ball for Claire. Clearly not the most necessary trip.
there he is again, hello my boy!
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Have a great weekend!

Instagrammers, find me on Instagram at : coraannedesigns

life rearranged

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A Pinktastic Party!

Our local civic theater is currently showing Pinkalicious, and because I have a little girl who happens to love all things pink, we just had to make a fun day of it. Along with our awesome neighbor girls and their moms, we had a pink-filled day complete with lunch at our new favorite restaurant, Licari's Sicilian Pizza Kitchen, the show, and then a pinktastic cupcake and bracelet making party afterwards.
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(this may be my most photo-heavy blog post ever, consider yourself warned!)
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First, a little party-prep...
I used a variety of pink cupcake liners, all purchased from Hey Yo Yo on Etsy
(FYI, this shop has ridiculously fast turnaround time on orders!)
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I made vanilla cupcakes, but didn't think to dye them pink, oops!
Here's the recipe :

Ingredients :
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 egg whites from large eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs, shortening, milk and vanilla.
Mix on low for 2 minutes.
Scrape bowl.
Add egg whites and mix on high for 2 minutes or until fluffy and smooth.
Fill liners 1/2 to 2/3 full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (I found 22 to be the best length of time!)
Cool for 10 minutes.
Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
Next for the frosting, I used this Almost-Homemade Vanilla Buttercream recipe found on the Odd Girl Out Blog.

Ingredients :
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
16 oz marshmallow creme
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Beat butter in mixer on medium speed until fluffy.
Add marshmallow creme and beat until smooth.
Scrape sides.
Add powdered sugar and vanilla.
Beat until light and fluffy.

(hey, I never said I was serving up healthy party food!)
Next, for cupcake toppers, I used these free Pinkalicious toppers found here
I used my 2" punch to cut them out, and then used tooth picks and my hot glue gun to assemble themta da!
and the whole batchAt each girl's place setting was a packet of Pinkalicious activity sheets that I found at www.thinkpinkalicious.com. I had them printed on heavy paper and tied each packet together with a ribbon. I had jars filled with pink and red crayons in the center of the table.
also at each girl's place setting was a favor bag filled with cherry slices and topped off with pink and white ribbon and more of the cupcake toppers that I punched using my 2" scalloped punch
each place setting also included a pink pencil and some pink candy in a small pink cupcake liner
the last detail on each place setting was pink and white stripe straws, also from Hey Yo Yo in glass bottles (which are actually Starbucks Frappuccino bottles, that's my little secret!)all I know is if I was a four year old girl walking up to a table full of all this pink goodness, I'd be giddy with excitement!
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Now, for the day of...
everyone wears pink to see Pinkalicious, of course!
Claire's pettiskirt is from Dream Spun Kids on Etsy.
Buying one is definitely a splurge, but they're so dreamy and so worth it!
(Grand Rapids folks, check out their store in Ada!)
lunch at Licari's with our sweet neighbor girls and their moms
the show definitely did not disappoint.
and seeing your girl beaming while meeting Pinkalicious, so sweet!
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after the show it was time to head back home for our pinktastic party...YUM!
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after cupcakes, strawberries and pink punch, we moved on to craft time...a neighbor was kind enough to make pink clay beads for each of the girls and had all of the supplies needed to make bracelets divided into pink muffin cupsassembling braceletsadorable!
Whew, that's a lot of pink!
What a special day, I'm so grateful for these fun memories with our neighbors!

linking up with :
Tatertots & Jello


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Insta-Friday

Happy Friday!
Whew, this week FLEW by. Here's a peek...
road trippin', oh yeah!yay for family getaways!this kid is generally always happy......but was really off one day this week, poor guy.Tuesday morning, why wouldn't you put on the most fancy thing you own?Instagram peer pressure caused me to rush to Target to buy these owls.
One for me, one for a friend.
Oh Mad Men. Why are you only on one night a week?This girl and her harmonica.
(it's loud)
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and in case you haven't seen this yet, just watch...


Happy weekend, everyone!

life rearranged

fellow Insta-addicts, find me at : coraannedesigns

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Insta-Friday

Hi all! I hope you're having a good week!
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Sorry about no Insta-Friday post last week. The combination of Claire being on Spring Break + nice weather outside meant my screen time was very minimal, so I'll be doing a little Insta-Friday catch up this week!girlfriend got herself a hula hoop! She's getting the hang of it. I on the other hand tried it and immediately realized I no longer have any sort of hula-hooping skills!yes, he is always this happy.pretty new shoes for me!
they were so not what I was shopping for, but I just couldn't resist.hi!laundry room : CLEAN!
you know it only lasted for a nanosecond, but for that nanosecond it sure was nice.I've been trying to track down a "Z" at Hobby Lobby to match the "C" and finally asked a store manager only to find out that the "Z" has been discontinued. WHAT? Who gets to decide that a letter of the alphabet is discontinued?!? Now to figure out what to do with a half-finished wall in the kid's bathroom...my Grandma used to refer to herself as "small but mighty" and I always loved that. I was missing her an exceptional amount this week, so this shirt sure made me happy!
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Have a great weekend, everyone!

fellow Insta-addicts, find me on Instagram as : coraannedesigns

life rearranged

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