Blackberry Muffins

My mom went blackberry picking a couple of months ago, and she gave me a TON. We've been eating blackberry pancakes, blackberry smoothies, blackberry cobbler, and blackberry syrup on ice cream. Yum, yum, yum. I wanted to find a good blackberry muffin recipe, but I just couldn't find one anywhere. I did some combining and review-reading to come up with this recipe, and it is a hit. I think it could use some tweaking, but as-is they're amazing, and I guarantee there will be none left.

Blackberry Muffins

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups blackberries (rinsed, and dried, and dusted with flour)

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup milk

Streusel Topping:

4 Tablespoons white sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

1 tsp cinnamon

2 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir with a whisk.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream the 1/2 cup of butter with the white and brown sugar until fluffy and light. Add eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

Gently stir in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk until well-combined.

Add the blackberries, and fold lightly.

In a separate bowl, use a pastry blender (or two knives or even a fork) to mix the streusel topping ingredients.

Using a 1/4 cup scoop, fill a greased (or paper-lined) muffin tin. Sprinkle approx. 1/2 Tablespoon of streusel mixture on top of each muffin, and bake for 25 minutes.

Personalized Tag Blanket

I LOVE this idea! I can't wait to make one for one of the many, many babies in my life.

Had to share

I've made this cake a few times now, and it is always a HUGE hit. It is so easy and delicious that it's just too good not to share. It is made from a box cake mix, whipped cream (in a tub), Butterfinger bars, and caramel sauce (in a jar). Couldn't be simpler. If you're looking for an easy cake to take to a party or potluck (or if you're just craving sweets!), go make this cake.

Kelly's Butterfinger Cake

Baby Shower Activity Idea

Me, Leslie, Casey, Kim

A couple of weekends ago I helped to host another baby shower for one of my very best friends. She is expecting her second boy next month, and we wanted to bless her socks off. I am a big fan of doing something at a shower to create a lasting memory for the guest of honor. In this case, we made personalized onesies using fabric backed with heat and bond. It was such a hit, and everyone was so super creative. But the best part about this idea is that you can be as simple or as filled-with-creativity as you are comfortable with being. It really works for anyone.

The set-up

I made a sample to get the ball rolling

Instructions and supplies

We hung the onesies as decoration. Guests could go pick one and take it into the dining room to embellish.

The process: tracing, cutting, iron, embellishing

Some of the finished products - SO cute!

More party details: Cupcake toppers courtesy of the Cricut

Favors: Candy bar in the shower colors

This was probably one of the most fun I've ever had at a shower. If you're interested in the idea but don't feel up to re-creating it, look for the kit in my etsy shop this fall!

Cookies and Milk

I threw a mid-morning cookies and milk baby shower for a great friend (at another great friend's house) a couple of weekends ago. It was a fun, simple morning, and I thought I'd share the details in case anyone needs any ideas.
The color scheme was chocolate brown, cream, and turquoise blue. The budget was very limited, so it was a fun challenge coming up with cute details at very little cost.

For these centerpieces, I just rolled diapers, tied them with raffia, and filled some blue glass vases we usually have in our master bedroom. Then, using double-sided tape, I wrapped them in ribbon to finish the look. Simple, practical, and precious!

Here's the cookie bar. I chose cookies that froze well. So I spent one week making one dough a day and freezing it. Then I just pulled them out the day before the shower and just baked and baked. The containers were all clear glass tied with raffia and a label in the color scheme.Lots of the details were made using the Cricut, a tool I'd highly recommend!
We played 2 games that turned out to be a lot of fun. The first was a game where I listed 20 crazy celebrity kids' names, and everyone had to guess whose child it was. The second was a match-the-mom-to-be game. I provided a word that's typically associated with a phrase or saying. Then people filled in the blank afterwards with the first thing that came to mind. For example, one was Little Boy _________. Another was Mom __________. We all had to fill in what we thought the mom-to-be would say. The prizes were the cookie-in-a-jars pictured in the center of the table below. Both game ideas were my talented, creative sister's.

The favors were cellophane bags to fill with cookies. Then I cut strips of tulle to use to tie them and strung all of the recipes on the tulle.

Fun weekend. Fun celebration!

One of my favorite projects ever!

One of my very best friends is preparing for the arrival of her second sweet son. I saw a similar quilt somewhere (can't find it now to give credit where credit is due!), and I knew it would be perfect for her. I immediately got to work, finished this quilt weeks ago, and couldn't wait to give it to her this morning at her shower. I love, love, love how this turned out! It was so much fun to make too!

Recent Projects

I have been sewing and crafting up a storm lately with little time to blog about it. Here are the contents of one of my latest boxes I shipped the other day. A great college friend of ours has a very sick baby girl. She's been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately they were out of town when she got sick, so their two boys are at their grandparents' house. They haven't been home in weeks. This is probably my favorite tag blanket ever. It's a prayer quilt/taggie to comfort their sweet baby girl. I also made a set of alphabet bean bags (each bean bag has a button that the letters can be attached to) with a drawstring peek-a-boo bag to hold them. I loved both of these projects and had such a great time making them. I hope the recipients are blessed by them!