Moist, Delicious, Easy Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Over the weekend, I wanted to make my hubby some muffins so I revamped a recipe I saw online.

I made a moist, yummy Pumpkin Apple Muffin. These are SO EASY to make!

And, the best part is that they don't have any oil, eggs, shortening, or butter!

{Unless, of course, you add some as a topping afterward}

Couple them with a Chai and a good book, and......ahhhhh...... heaven.

To make these yummy muffins, mix these 3 ingredients:

1 Spice Cake Mix

1 {15oz} Can Plain Pumpkin 

1 Apple {cut into small chunks}

Yes, that's it! Can you believe it!?

Divide batter evenly between all 12 ~greased~ cups of your muffin tin.

Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, or until your toothpick comes out clean.

They seem to be even better the next day as the apple makes them even MORE moist.

Enjoy the easiest muffins you will ever make!

Chalkboards, Growth Charts, Signs, and Cute Baby Toes

Last month I participated in The Holiday House Spring Boutique. I usually only participate in their Christmas Boutique, but I thought it would be fun to do the spring one as well this year. Emily and Monica, The Holiday House cofounders, are such cute girls and do a great job with the boutique.

While I was working on my things to sell, I snuck away and took some pictures of this little one...

How could I not?

For the boutique, I made various sized chalkboards out of reclaimed cabinet doors. I painted them with red, green, blue, and creamy white frames. I had to do a lot of wood filling and sanding in order to make them smoothe enough for a chalkboard finish, as well as get rid of any marks left by previous hardware. Once I was finished painting, I distressed them for a pretty, worn look.

I also made oversized ruler growth charts using this tutorial {which I first found on Pinterest} except I only stained half of them. The other half I painted and distressed. I had wanted to make a few of these for a while and I was thinking about making them back in the fall for our Christmas bazaar (a different boutique put on by a couple friends and myself), but I ran out of time. Jennifer over at Dear Lillie has made a bunch of adorable growth charts and now sells them in her online shop. She has a way of making everything beautiful!

Besides the chalkboards and growth charts, I also hand painted a few signs. I love vintage typography and it was so fun to recreate them.

There is something about painting with small brushes that makes my heart skip a beat. I loved my drawing and painting classes in college and I really should dedicate more time to it now than I currently do. I think oil painting is actually my favorite. But, these signs were a lot of fun.

Here are a few more of the pictures I took of my sweetie pie. If I had toes this cute, I would play with them all of the time, too!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great weekend!

A Corsage and Boutonniere

A friend of mine asked me to whip up a wrist corsage and boutonniere on Saturday for her son's Prom. Her son's date's dress was red and sparkly silver, hence the red roses and silvery ribbons. Oh, and don't forget the silvery glitter and red rhinestone bracelet bling!

Usually I make a ton of them during the dance seasons, but now that I have Ella, I only do them for friends and family.

They are fun to make and I always have fun getting creative with them, sometimes more creative than others. Although this one is pretty traditional, the high school kids usually come up with some crazy/fun combinations of themes and colors. 

I made the boutonniere to match the corsage.

Ella and I were both sick on Saturday, so these were about all I got accomplished. That, and sleep. Lots of sleep. There was something so luxurious about sleeping while Ella napped, even if it was because I was sick.

I hope you are enjoying your week so far!

A Thank You & Plans For the Vintage Hot Air Balloon Shower

First off, a big THANK YOU!! to Candace and Nicole from the adorable, wonderful, and inspiring blog, Crafty Sisters, for featuring my blog! They are always so sweet and complimentary to me. And both of them are as cute in person as they are online! I adore them both and admire each of their amazing talents, so thank you again Nicole and Candace!

Next, I wanted to share some of my brainstorming for my little sister's baby shower that I am throwing in June. Yes, it is still a little ways away, but I love planning parties! And, I want it to be special for my sister!

She is having a baby boy, so I am going with a vintage hot air balloon theme for the party.

source

I already have this fun print. I love all of the colors I will be able to pull from it... mixed with lots of browns, whites and creams, of course!

Here are some of the ideas I have collected from Pinterest. I created a whole board just for the shower; I am so excited for it :).

 

  

source, source, source, source, source

I am going to use the various different vintage napkin pennant banners I have made... the less girly ones anyway.

I am also planning on using my vintage book page pinwheel banners.

And, as far as the food goes, I would love to do some cupcakes, mini pies or cheesecakes in canning jars, and cookies like these except with a hot air balloon stamped on them.

I have also found a few adorable things on Etsy that I may use.

I hope you had a great weekend and are refreshed and ready for a wonderful week ahead!

Vintage Napkin Pennant Banner Tutorial

I made a few pennant banners today out of old vintage napkins. I think they are pretty fun and I am excited to use them for some upcoming summer parties and barbeques. I am hoping to get a good picture of all of them together at some point over the next week. Our weather was all over the place today and there were only a few moments, where the sun was shining and the baby was napping, to get any decent pictures.

At first, I didn't know how I was going to turn the napkins into pennants because they were too wide to just sew as triangles. They wouldn't hang right. So after lots of trial and error, this is what I came up with and I put together a little tutorial. It is pretty simple and could be taken in so many different directions with all of the fun colors and styles of vintage napkins and hankies to choose from. I will have to raid the yard sales this summer and find some other fun ones to use!

First, gather up the napkins you wish to use for your banner. The ones you will need for this tutorial need to be square.

Take each of your napkins and cut them in half diagonally. It is easier to cut them {especially these flopsy linen ones} if you iron them {to create the cut line} first.

{Ignore these other fold lines. I took these pictures after I had already pressed the finished product}

 

Once you have your napkins cut in half diagonally, fold one corner on the long straight side about two thirds of the way toward the other corner of the long side.

Repeat from the other corner as well and press into place.

Repeat until you have folded and pressed all of your pennants.

Unroll a package of "extra wide double folded" bias tape and find the middle. It is easier to evenly space the entire banner if you start from the middle and work your way out. I spaced my flags 1 1/2 inches apart, but you just have to see what looks the best with the size of the pennants you end up with. Pin them into the fold of the bias tape.

Then, zigzag stitch all the way from one end of your bias tape to the other end.

And you are finished! Wasn't that easy? This could be so fun with many different vintage hankies, doilies, napkins, etc.

I like how sweet and feminine they are. I am planning on hanging a couple of them in Ella's room.

For now, I hung one of my banners on the cabinet in our kitchen. I kind of like the subtle beautiful creamy white on white. There is something so light and airy and, well, summery about it.

In the next couple weeks, I am hoping to refinish a couple furniture pieces around my home and post some pictures. I also have a few more ideas up my sleeve for projects I would like to tackle.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great weekend!

I am linking up with the fun parties here at french country cottage, here At The Picket Fence, here at Redoux, here at Common Ground, and here at The Charm of Home :)
I am also linking up to the fun Newbie Party over at Debbie Doos
Thank you to all of you for hosting these fun parties!

I am also linking up here:

and here:

 

Vintage Seam Binding Hair Bows

Today I made some hair bows for Ella out of vintage seam binding. She needed some little clips to pull back the front of her hair. There is finally enough hair there to clip back! So, of course, she needed 11 of them. I have to admit, there will probably be more.

I absolutely love the shades of these rich colors. They are so pretty-- and even prettier in person. The aged seam binding is just perfect for ~girly~ little hair bows.

My mom has had these in her stash, and I have had my eye on them for a while now. {Thanks, mom!} I need to brainstorm some other things I can do with them. They almost looks like silk.

I used some of the fun vintage buttons from my stash as embellishments {Don't worry, Ella will only wear these under supervision, and they are well fastened}. I love that people used to pull the buttons off of all of their clothes, once they were too worn, before they discarded them. I can tell that a lot of my buttons were collected this way. Many of them still have the connecting threads in their holes.

Here is Ella modeling one of her new hairbows. I thought the mauve-ish colored one matched the outfit she was wearing today the best. That is another dress I made for her while I was pregnant. I was pretty darn excited to have a little girl!

I think she might be starting to know that I am taking pictures of her because I swear she started hamming it up today while I was trying to get these shots. She smiled and smiled without me even trying... this girl is smart. I think it helped having the dog sitting next to me to entertain her a little, too.

I hope you had a fun rainy day too!