food: mini donut muffins

One of my sweet friends made these the other day and raved about them - so I wanted to make some :) Donuts? Muffins? Cinnamon and sugar? All in one recipe!? Yes, please :) They are nothing short of amazing. A quick little sweet snack or dish for a brunch :)

Mini Donut Muffins - adapted slightly from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled

3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

Topping:

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease mini muffin pans (24 muffins).

Combine sugar, butter, and nutmeg. Mix well. Add flour, baking powder and milk, and stir to combine. Fill each muffin cup about half full. Batter will be somewhat dough-y. I used a tablespoon to fill each cup.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until beginning to brown.  While muffins are baking, combine the 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip baked muffins in butter and coat completely, then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.  Makes 24 mini muffins. Enjoy!

And P.S. Thank you all so much for the sweetness about my project published in the Let's Make Cards! magazine here and on FB and Instagram. Seriously, ya'll made my day :) Thank you :)

published.

Yay! My tutorial link for the Woven Paper Journal Covers was recently published in a super fun magazine, Let's Make Cards - a magazine based in the UK. The section included a bunch of fun ideas for cardmaking and beyond. I am honored to have my woven paper cover shared among so many gorgeous tutorial links. Thank you so much, Let's Make Cards! :)

New in Shop: Garden Party and Lovely Days Journals

The new journals from the giveaway are now in my shop :) 

Lovely Days - a lovely assortment of colors - lavender, aquamarine, and vintage pages. Thanks Andrea!

And Garden Party - green, red, yellow, coral and brown. Thanks Jean!

around here.

Fun and full week around here :) We started off the week by celebrating our sweet Joshua's 2nd birthday. A sweet and quiet evening with my sis and bro-in-law - BBQ, baked mac n' cheese, green beans, watermelon, and cupcakes. Presents and lots of fun :) + SaturdayAMVintage is retiring the scrap paper packs, so I grabbed one last one. Always a fun paper fix for this paper-holic. + Been making lots of salads and sourdough bread. A friend gave me some sourdough starter and it is our new fave bread. + Finally finishing the two journals from the giveaway (thank you SO much for your patience journal winners!), listing the others in my shop this weekend, and exploring new paper combos for some more new ones. + We had a fun Valentine's Day, complete with donuts for breakfast with our little ones, and a quiet "steaks and a movie couch date" with my love last night. I also captured some fun pictures of my babies in their V-Day attire. As many of you know, trying to get three little ones to smile at the same time can be impossible interesting. Needless to say, I was grateful to have snapped a few gems - and am loving the ones with Joshua wearing his blue clip-on tie ;) + Finally found Amy Tangerine's newly released wood-mounted stamps. They are fabulous! + A sweet gift from a fellow blogger sent me a gorgeous Home Sweet Home print as a thank you for posting on her blog last year :) Thanks Amy! + I spent the rest of my birthday "fun money" on this fabulous little machine - the Silhouette Portrait. It is amazing. AMAZING. Still getting to know it and how it works. But I'm super impressed. SUPER impressed :)

valentine.

I say this each year. But each year my heart continues to grow fuller :) Celebrating my love and my loved ones today. And as always, I love to celebrate them everyday, but it is fun to have a special day set aside ;) Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours. Give them an extra hug today, tell them you love them, and be thankful for those you love :)

a wedding book: bright and happy

I recently had the privilege to create another wedding book for a lovely couple in France. Their colors are bright and beautiful and it was fun working all of the colors into the book :) I was torn on the cover idea, so I created two ;) This way, the couple can choose which they prefer - washi tape or a cute little paper pinwheel :)

Thank you Maud and Damien for letting me create your wedding book for your special day! :)

a happy birthday to my sweet joshua.

Two years ago today, I was very pregnant and went in to the doctor for a routine non-stress test (I was having blood pressure issues). The NST looked great - baby looked great, and I was only a little over a week away from my due date. But my blood pressure was still really high. I was already scheduled for an induction for the following week. My doctor came in to talk with me and really felt like we should go ahead and induce (and I am not one to speed things along, but after talking with her, agreed). Completely caught off guard, I called my hubby (who was driving around in the parking lot with our then 3 year old waiting for me) and told him they were getting ready to wheel me over to the hospital next door (!?!!). Our hospital is in Raleigh, a 1/2 hour from our home. Thankful that my God has a plan, my in-laws were on the way into town from Virginia and met us at the hospital and took Jimmy back to our home. My hospital bag was already in the car thanks to my awesome hubby. 9 or so hours later, and a relatively "easy" labor and delivery, our sweet Joshua was born. Happy, healthy, and big :) 9 lbs and 3 oz. to be exact ;)

Happy Birthday my precious boy. I love you so much my little buddy. My little buddy who loves his "brohdee" (brother) and "behbee" (baby) so, so much. Who loves to snuggle, but also loves to roughhouse. Who loves food and will eat just about anything I serve. Who loves kitchen utenstils, cars, trucks, playing with shoes, putting on his backpack like his older brother, and loves handing guests their keys and phones when they visit. What a blessing and gift from the Lord. Happy Birthday my Joshua :)

make.

A couple weeks ago I finally decided that my word for this year is make. I went back and forth for awhile, trying to decide whether make or plan related more to my thoughts and ideas and goals for 2013.

I made a list for each with ideas and concepts about the two words. Make had stuck out to me a lot and finally, I just decided that was the word. 

Making is part of who I am (a part of who we all are!) - I especially like to make things with (no surprise ;)) paper. Food. Fabric. And part of my goals for this year include making some different things. But more than just those tangible things, I want to focus on making goals. Making a plan for my blog and shop. Making meal plans. Making time. Making do. Making choices.

I felt like this word encompassed both the creative side of me and the more practical side of life that I want to better employ this year (and always!).

So, I started to make a few little things to explore using the word on paper and to go in my One Little Word binder. I am loving it. I love thinking about new ways to create with the word on paper. I love having it at the forefront of my mind thus far, and trying to be more self-disciplined with the practical side of life. Welcome, make. So excited for this year :)

hello, february. let's make a plan.

After an impromptu couple week hiatus, I have returned :) As many of you know and can relate, life is busy :) But I have missed this space and being here (If you keep up with my instagram and facebook, you can usually find me there, even when I'm not here blogging everyday :)). I have been mulling over several projects and ideas, as well as finishing up some custom book orders and these two journals.

I am excitedly working through Ali Edwards' One Little Word class and will share the start of that here soon. After much debate in my mind, I decided to focus on the word "make" for this year. January flew by. The post-holiday season, gather myself together, get back into a routine month. So February, let's make a plan. Let's plan out the next couple days. The next couple weeks. The next couple months. A plan of small and big goals for the blog and shop, a plan of small and big goals for our family, and a plan of small and big goals for me personally. Let's go :)