Cupcake Love

I have a confession....I'm addicted to cupcakes...and making cupcakes. Not necessarily the worst addiction to have, but not always friendly on the waistline. If my friends or family have a birthday, promotion, or celebration of any kind, they can be sure that cupcakes are what they are going to get from me. Not that they are complaining! I recently made some cupcakes that have turned out to be that absolute easiest and best cupcakes I've made so far, and it doesn't even involve making cupcakes from scratch. We're talking boxed cake mix here, folks! Well, with a slight twist. 




Ghirardelli Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

-One box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake mix
-1 1/3 Cup of water
-1/2 cup of Vegetable Oil
-3 eggs
-One teaspoon of raspberry extract
-Ghirardelli Dark and Raspberry Chocolate Squares

This part is pretty self explanatory ....just follow the mixing directions on the back of the box, but add the tsp of raspberry extract. If you want a less subtle taste of raspberry you can always substitute the water with Torani Raspberry Syrup. Now pour a small amount of batter into your cupcake liners, only about 1/4 of the way full. Place one piece of the Ghirardelli chocolate in each cup and then add more batter about 3/4ths of the way full.  Now bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened

1 tsp Vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)

2 tablespoons milk

One cup of chopped raspberries

In a large bowl cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add extracts and mix. Add Confectioner's sugar one cup at a time, at this point the frosting should appear dry. Add your 2 tbsps of milk and mix until light and fluffy. Now mix in your chopped raspberries until your frosting is a beautiful pink color.

And afterwards you should have a beautiful chocolate raspberry filled explosion of goodness....



And if you are anything like me then you're kitchen will look like this


Ha,Obviously I didn't take this on the day I made these Raspberry cupcakes, but rather when I was making my Margarita Cupcakes...but the kitchen basically looked the same after both...A tornado of powdered sugar and various dirty utensils.

Thanks for stopping by!

Disney Cake Stand and Tiny Cats

Well, it's officially frigid out there! -10 degrees isn't my idea of fun...So, I decided what better way to stay warm than staying inside and doing crafts?



I found this not so cute cakestand at The Airmen's Closet, which is a place here on base where you can get free used and new things. So, I got this little guy for FREE!



I figured a bit of red spraypaint should fix this little Disney situation.



I also found this soup tureen which didn't exactly match my kitchen, soooo since I had the spray paint out I might as well fix it up!



As I was taking this picture I had a friend join me!






This Cat is ridiculous...he climbed his fuzzy booty up on the counter and sat right in there like he owned it.



It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.



A little spray primer...



A coat or two of Cherry Red spray paint. I'm normally a Rustoleum kinda girl, but I'm loving the trigger on the Krylon cans lately. It gives a nice even coat.











It's a little too easy to really call it a craft, but I love the look, and for free you can't beat it. (Although, I would only use these for decoration, and not for putting food on)

What's your favorite craft you've ever done?

I'm linking up to:


Savvy Southern Style: Boring to Better Party

Life as Lori: Get your Craft on Thursday

My Favorite Room

If I had to pick one room in my house that was my favorite it would definitely be my bedroom. The rest of my house is a mixture of rustic and cabin, but I wanted my bedroom to be a light and airy retreat. It's not completely finished, my husband still needs to build my headboard and I need to find something to go over the bed.  But of course, I couldn't wait to show you anyway (because who knows when he'll get around to building it) !



The sachet that I hand embrodiered and sewed. My cat enjoys playing with it a little too much.



Bought this from Kirklands on sale for 7.99...I loved the Marilyn Monroe quote.



Most of the bedding I got at Target, except for the white vintage, lace trimmed pillow shams (I got them from an antique store in Allen, TX), and all of the throw pillows that I made myself.



Blue mason jars are my favorite for candle holders or flower vases. My mom bought me this one before I moved.







My bedside table (that my lovely husband built for me and I painted) with a picture of my dad and I on my wedding day. The pitcher I got at HomeGoods, which by the way we don't have here in Alaska....sighhh



I got this lamp for a quarter..yes, you read that right...a QUARTER! I bought it from a community outreach program in Allen, TX. They were overstocked on merchandise, and were selling everything for a quarter. The lamps were a hideous brass color so I busted out my handy spray paint and viola! Beautiful new to me lamps!





Another .25 cent find!



I refinished this dresser recently, and frosted these candlesticks. I have 6 of these candlesticks that all match, but I found them at 4 different stores. I kept randomly finding matching ones at random thrift stores.





My husband sits in this chair each morning and puts his boots on.



Monogrammed pillow from Kirklands.





This trunk is my favorite thing I've redone...it's my husband's grandfather's navy foot locker from the 40's. It was rusted and falling apart and the inside paper was rotting so I used Rustoleum's Heirloom White and some random brown spray paint to fix it up. My Mother in law helped me recover the inside with a material from Hobby Lobby. She also helped me make these satin pillows!



My mother in law and I disagreed on the trim for this material. She liked this blue and brown braiding and I liked a soft champagne color, so how did we decide? She stood in the aisle and asked 10 random strangers in Hobby Lobby which one they would pick! She's so funny! And she won by the way. Silly lady.



My mother in law made me these beautiful pillows from the leftover material that we used in the trunk.



The first embroidery I ever did, and also the first sewing I ever did making this pillow.



...And I'll leave you with the view outside my bedroom window... It may be cold but nowhere has a view like Alaska.

Christmas House Tour '10

Well, I've showed you my tree in my last post, so I guess I should show you the rest of my Christmas decor around the house. I didn't do too much this year since I lost alot of my decorations in the move up here, and I discovered every single strand of lights I owned decided they didn't want to work this year. Anyway, here we go!



This is my normal coffee table topper, I just added the ornaments from Target ($1) and garland (Michaels $1.99)



For being only a dollar for five of these they sure are pretty. I don't normally use plastic ornaments, but I loved these!



My paper grocery bag wrapping paper...it's free, why not!? I think the next ones I do I'm going to iron the paper, the little creases are driving me batty.



I honestly couldn't figure this little area out, but this is how it turned out.







I got these stockings at bed, bath, and beyond for 4 dollars after christmas...





My entryway...more Target one dollar ornaments and my garage sale wreath.







My little pig...I love him, but my husband says he's creepy!





Our outside decorations....sorry for the bad photo, and my ugly car being in the picture!



The garland in my arch window...I wired more Target dollar ornaments on it, and placed a glittery JOY (also from Target), and an apothecary jar full of ornaments in it.





My neighbor's dog came to visit, I thought he looked adorable sitting in front of the tree.



...and I came home to this today...I thought it was too adorable not to post..

Thanks for stopping by!!

Parties I'm linking up to:

Hooked on Houses: Hooked on Holiday House Tour

Perfectly Imperfect: Christmas Cheer Challenge

The Nester's: Christmas Tour of Homes 2010