Wednesday WIW

Okay, so this past week I had 2 outfits that I liked how they turned out….

This is the black sweater I got from Miya Designs last year and LOVE it. Pink pants from Aeropostale on sale a couple weeks ago. Pink moon-looking boots from Forever Young Shoes a couple years ago. Pink purse from the DI last year. Ruffle scarf from Pick Your Plum last year, and lacey boot cuffs I made last month.

Yellow cardigan from Chadwick's a few years ago on clearance, gray ruffle shirt from DI, brown tank from DownEast Basics, brown purse from Target years ago, bracelets from Target (I think) years ago, clock necklace from Shabby Apple, skinny jeans from my sis-in-law that just had the cutest baby I get to see this weekend!!! and riding boots from my aunt.

I cropped off my face cuz I was making weird faces in both pictures. Meh.

Who Needs Hostess?!

Not me, that’s for sure!  I’m actually not a fan of all those preservatives, but my boys are.  Unfortunately, they don’t get the treats all too often.  When we found out Hostess was going under, we bought some Twinkies. 

This was the first and last time that my little Monkey had a Twinkie.  Oh, and that is Deege in the picture.

Jingus just turned twelve.  For his birthday cake, he wanted me to recreate Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes. 

I did, and I posted it on Facebook.  That recipe will come next.  Anyway, Ash and I have a cousin named Brady.  When I posted the chocolate cupcakes on Facebook, Brady asked if I could recreate a Twinkie.  I’m always up for a challenge, so I tried.

The results?!  Awesome!  Here’s what I did:

I started off with a sponge cake recipe and cooked it in some muffin pans.  You could use this pan to get the Twinkie shape…

…but I just used a muffin pan.  On to the recipe:

Classic Sponge Cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup butter (lightly salted)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl with paddle attachment for 5 minutes.  Do not skip this step!
2. Add sugar, and continue beating for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and stir on low until just combined.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients.  Add to eggs and sugar on low speed until just combined.
4. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter on low heat just until butter is melted.  Add to batter, beat just until combined.
5. Pour into two greased and floured muffin pans
6. Bake at 325 until the middle springs back when touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean--about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire cooling racks and cool completely.
Hint: Cakes are close to being done when you start to smell them.

While the cakes were cooling, I whipped up this fabulous frosting/cupcake filling from my favorite ladies at Our Best Bites.

Now, there are two ways to fill cupcakes.  You can inject the filling with one of these…

…or icing bags and tips.  I would have done this, but my supplies were still needing to be washed from the chocolate cupcakes.  So, I did this instead:

Take a cupcake, and use a knife to cut a circle in the center.

Use a Ziploc bag with a corner snipped off to pipe some filling into the hole.

Replace the circle you cut out.

Flip it upside down…

…and you’ve got a Twinkie! 

***WARNING***

These are MUCH tastier than Twinkies!  :)

They are a lot of work, too.  If I wanted a super tasty dessert, I would definitely make these.  If I just wanted to snack on a Twinkie (ewww gross, but if I did…) I would just pick up a box of these:

But, if you want some homemade tastiness, try these out.  You’re sure to love them!  :)

Enjoy your recipe, Brady!  :)

Fancy Pillow

My daughter got a Fancy Nancy book for Christmas. Correction. She got 4 books. She loves Fancy Nancy. The other day, she comes out before breakfast, and informs me she wants a fancy room like Fancy Nancy. She even has a book to show me.

So I ask her what she loves about the room so I know what she wants.

And she points to all these parts of the room. So we had to go to Target that day, and I had an idea start marinating.
This isn’t new, I’m not claiming credit. (I’ve seen it on the Nate Show, here and here.) While there, we came across this purple sequin shirt for $7.48

She almost chose turquoise, because that’s a fancy name. But she went with purple. I stuffed a pillow inside of it, turned inside out to make sure it fits. I basted around the bottom, then sewed on one side. I stuffed the pillow in to make sure I knew where the 3rd side should go.

Then I left the pillow inside of it while I sewed the last side.


I unbasted the bottom to pull out the pillow, and trimmed around the edges.

Then I put in a zipper in the middle of the open side, because I have more zippers than any non-store should.

I sewed up the 2 sides of the zipper, then shoved the form inside.

And used up an hour doing something I wasn’t planning on because it sounded like more fun than cleaning bathrooms

We’re redoing the girls’ room fancy bit by bit. Stay tuned.

What I Wore Sunday: Week 49

…52 weeks of shaking up the wardrobe…

The Rules:

1. Wear a different outfit every Sunday.
2. Incorporate at least one article of clothing or accessory that was either refashioned, sewn myself, or handmade.
3. Outfits can be worn more than once; just not the same way

This is what I wore Sunday:

This is yet another way to wear that cute dress I bought from Shabby Apple.  The only handmade things I’m wearing in this ensemble are my watch:

…and my earrings:

Still, I really liked this outfit.  That dress sure has a lot of possibilities!  :)

What are your wardrobe staples?  Do you have one item that can be worn several different ways?