18 December 2011

Festive

The holiday season is rapidly approaching. Christmas (if you celebrate) is in one week! Over the last week I've been getting my festive on in cupcake, sweater and glitter form! The holiday party with my work peeps was on Friday night. It as at a co-worker's house and everyone was to bring a dish to pass, wear an ugly Christmas sweater and bring a white elephant gift for yankee swap.

Can you guess what I brought?! I knew I was going to bake something, but waffled back and forth about making a more elaborate cake and the festive cupcakes you see below. So obviously, the cupcakes won out!


I found the recipe on Pintrest. (Hello! I'm still pretty new to Pinning, but am somewhat obsessed!)  Chocolate cake with a peppermint cream cheese frosting. Super easy to make, but it looks like someone else did the fancy work! I was a little dubious about the distribution of striped frosting, but the recipe had a great tip for making it work.

I love how the snowman looks like he's rubbing his belly in anticipation of eating ALL of the cupcakes! "Get in my belly!"

One year for a Christmas present for our boss, a few of my co-workers and I booked a portrait session at Sears and we all wore ugly Christmas sweaters. This was like four years ago, before the ironic Christmas sweater craze really took off. I scooped up a few sweaters at Goodwill so we'd have some to choose from for our portrait session. I brought them back to Goodwill post photo shoot, so I had to come up with something special for the party. 

Back to my favorite Goodwill with fingers crossed.  No actual ugly sweaters to be found, but I did find the red sweater above in an unadorned state. I bought the plush Santa and Snowman ornaments at Goodwill, knowing they were destined for the sweater. I found the Santa fur trim and sewed that on. I already owned the belt, which I feel really pulls the whole ensemble together in a very Santa-riffic way! It was a fun project to orchestrate and a riot to wear! I'm set for years now with this creation.

I've seen a lot of glitter manicure photos on blogs recently, but remember seeing my first, done beautifully by ...loveMaegan. Of all the different photos she's posted since, this has been my favorite look. The pink she used was much more pink, but the subtle pink is what I already had. I finally got some silver glitter glue and gave it a go. Subtle, yet still glittery and festive. I love it! 

What are you doing to get festive for the holidays? 

05 December 2011

OMG Cookies!


I made these cookies yesterday! I found the recipe on Bakerella. She calls them Dark Chocolate Chip Comfort Cookies and I would have to agree on the comfort part. I haven't had or baked a cookie like this...ever and I've baked a cookie or twelve in my time! Chocolate peanut butter dough with dark chocolate chips...ridiculously delicious and they have a perfect texture. They were fantastic to bring to work as a treat to celebrate my five-year work anniversary! They now have a place in my regular cookie baking repertoire and may just be my new favorite.

What's your favorite cookie to bake and/or eat?