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Now that they are making good progress on our new house, my husband has suggesting it is time I start thinking about what I want to do with the kids new rooms. It doesn’t seem that long ago since I worked on my little girl’s nursery and I think I will just reuse most of the décor items in her room until she is ready to be moved up to a big girl bed.

For her nursery, I chose a hot air balloon theme. I wanted something bright and girly and it seemed like an easy theme to pull off with a few simple DIY projects.

I started with a bright bedding set and we added stripes of blue and pink paint around the room. The blue stripe served as a sky-like background for simple 3D clouds I cut out of poster board and glues together using rubber cement.

For the air balloons, I simply attached paper lanterns onto dollar store wooden baskets using ribbon and hot glue. Each balloon was finished off with the addition of a cute animal in the basket and hung from the ceiling.

We ended up using the crib and furniture from my son’s nursery, but I did find her a special pink chair.

I carried the balloon theme through onto some wall art I hung by the chair in basic white Ikea frames.

I am very happy with the finished space and will be a little sad to leave this house after spending so much time doing each of the kids nurseries. I love the pink, green and blue color scheme and I am pretty sure there will be a similar color palette once I do design her a new room.

Doll House, Our Forever Home

The start of my new kitchen!

August 26, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

Our latest visit to the new house was pretty exciting. The railings are now up and our cabinets have been delivered.

We wanted to keep things light and bright in the kitchen so we opted for natural maple cabinets. They were roughly laid out when we visited and it was nice to get a better feel for the space.

It is significantly more cabinet space then our current house so I should never have a reason to complain about a lack of space. It will be so nice to have the extra working space on the island and I am looking forward to using it when hosting parties.

The wood portion of the railings are also a natural maple. There will be glass panels coming for the open spaces and it still needs varnished, but they look beautiful so far.

Friday Favorites, Recipes, Sweet

Friday Favorites: Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

August 23, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

I decided to bake up some quick cupcakes earlier this week for the human members of our family to enjoy on the dog’s birthday. They weren’t supposed to be anything spectacular, but they turned out so tasty I just had to share.

For the cake part, I just used a Mrs.Fields boxed cupcake mix from Dollar Tree. I absolutely love these mixes and try to keep one chocolate and one vanilla on hand at all times. They make one dozen cupcakes versus the 24 cupcakes you usually get from a standard boxed cake mix – perfect for our family of four. The liners and cupcake toppers were a kit I found at Dollarama and had sitting around in the pantry. The multicolored sprinkles were my 3 year old son’s addition.

Because we had just gone berry picking the day before and I had a bunch of fresh raspberries, I thought why not add them to the buttercream icing. After a quick google search I came up with this frosting recipe from myrecipes.com. It whipped up quickly and tasted amazing! It was just the right amount of sweet and tart, with a pretty pink hue. I enjoyed it so much I may just have to make it again for my birthday in a few weeks!

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (almond would be delicious too!)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (16-oz.) package icing sugar

Directions

1. Beat butter, raspberries, vanilla and salt with electric mixer (medium) until smooth and creamy.

2. Gradually add the icing sugar, blending in slowly after each addition.

BONUS FAVORITE Since we are on the topic of Dollar stores and cupcakes, I thought I would share one more favorite – these awesome cupcake carriers I have found at both Dollarama and Dollar Tree. I always struggle to find a way to store my cupcakes at home or take them to events so these are perfect. At only a couple dollars each they are a lot cheaper then a lot of other versions, and I feel like I could afford to lose or leave them behind without being too heartbroken. I only wish they had them for mini cupcakes!

(I was going to take a picture with cupcakes in it but by the time I thought of it, the cupcakes were long gone! They were that good.)

Doll House, Our Forever Home

Covering up the walls – siding and paint

August 20, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

At this point, I was really hoping to have a picture of the front of our house all sided and looking pretty. We visited Friday and the back and sides were done, but the front was still yet to be touched.

I don’t know why I am so anxious to see the siding all done. I think it is because we chose the colors over a year ago so I don’t really remember what we went with and I am very curious to see what it all looks like. I also think the house just looks so much more complete with the siding on.

The disappointment I felt over not having the exterior done was made up when we went inside to see the ceilings had been textured and the first coat of paint was on the walls. We went with a neutral gray paint for the entire house so the paint in itself is not all that exciting, but it is good to see progress.

We also noticed the pile of wood in the living room and figured out it was our stair railings. We have opted for a wood railing with glass inserts to keep things open and airy. We love the look and I really hope I am not going to completely regret the choice with two young kids and dogs. I think we may be going to Costco to stock up on Windex!

And, so far, my favourite room in the house is our master bedroom. That may change once my kitchen cabinets and granite are in, but for now I am in love with the vaulted ceilings and the sunken tub in the ensuite.

It’s slowly coming together and I am beginning to get stressed at the thought of having to pack and move. The cabinets and railings are set to be installed by the end of the month and once those are in I think my panic will really set in.

Celebrations, Everyday Life, Four Legged Fun, Parties

Happy Birthday Hound Dog! Plus a doggie cake recipe

August 20, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

I border on the edge of crazy when it comes to my dogs. They are dressed in themed costumes at Halloween, they each have their own stocking that gets filled at Christmas and birthdays are always celebrated with gifts and treats. Nova’s 5th birthday on August 19 was no exception. I baked her a homemade birthday cake using this recipe and made some vanilla raspberry cupcakes for the human members of our family to help celebrate.

Bassanova is a half basset hound and half English bulldog mix. She came into our lives as a total impulse purchase after I spotted her behind the glass at the pet store. I tried to walk away. I really did. She was just such an adorably unique mix that, before even consulting my husband, I found myself turning around and offering up my credit card to make her part of our family.

The kids absolutely adore her and she is one of the sweetest, most sensitive dogs I have ever met. At 70 lbs, she is way too big to be a lap dog but that doesn’t stop her from trying to find her way up for a snuggle.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! Thank you for bringing such joy to our lives.

Celebrations, Recipes

Peanut Butter Delight Doggie Birthday Cake

August 20, 2013September 2, 2014 chantelledoll

I try to make a homemade cake for the dogs birthday’s each year, but there have been a couple times life has gotten in the way and they have ended up with store bought. When it is homemade, my default recipe for the last 4 years has been this peanut butter delight cake. Many of the dog cake recipes I found were meat based and I like that this one uses regular baking ingredients and is closer to a cake I would enjoy myself. It smells great cooking and I don’t have to worry when the kids try to get in on the action!

Peanut Butter Delight Dog Birthday Cake

1 cup white or whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup shredded carrots

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a small round pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese

1 container of baby food bananas

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix ingredients together and use to frost cake.

Enjoy!

Our pups have enjoyed this recipe as both a full cake and cupcakes. I have baked it in a loaf pan and cut it out to look like a bone and I have done it as a small round and added several cupcakes to create a paw print shape.

It doesn’t matter how it is decorated, my dogs love it!

Celebrations, Parties

Cupcakes by the Dozen: Keira’s First Birthday

August 17, 2013October 3, 2013 chantelledoll

We celebrated my little girl’s first birthday at the end of May with a pink, blue and green extravaganza of cupcakes. When I was first pregnant with Keira, I told my sister I would prefer to have a second boy, but I am so happy we ended up with one of each. Girls parties are a lot of fun!

Invitation

I started by designing the invitation with a cute cupcake graphic and a pink, green and blue chevron print to match a pennant banner I had ordered several months earlier.

Décor

I carried the same cupcake image from the card onto the drink and cup labels. You can also see the chevron banner below that I dolled up with cupcakes I cut from scrapbook paper.

The fireplace was decorated with a banner of giant cupcakes I crafted from coffee liners, and small paper lanterns I glued a crepe paper icing swirl to. Her name was cut out of poster paper in my color scheme and strung along the same line as the cupcakes. Above the fireplace was a framed image of her monthly shots and some chalkboard art.

I also found cheap photo mobiles at the dollar store so I decided to use those to display photo’s of all her “firsts” – first solids, first car ride, first Halloween, etc. The flower bouquet was a last minute addition, but were in my party colors and too perfect not to pass up at Costco.

Cupcake Buffet

I considered the cupcakes part of the party décor and chose icing colors and cupcake liners that coordinated.

I wanted a cupcake buffet, so I made 4 different types of mini cupcakes to give a good variety. Flavors included mint chocolate, cotton candy, neapolitan and cherry lime. Small egg carton containers were also provided to allow guests to take mini cupcakes home with them.

Birthday Cake

I already had a giant cupcake pan from my son’s first birthday so making a giant cupcake cake was an obvious choice. Even though I hate working with chocolate, I decided to attempt a chocolate liner for this one and was surprised how simple it ended up being. White buttercream was swirled on the top of the cake and I finished it off with tropical flavoured Mike’N’Ikes for the sprinkles.

Food

My original thought was to serve nothing but cupcake shaped food and I had a whole board of savoury cupcake ideas planned. I finally realized that this was a little overly ambitious and went with more of a barbeque theme menu that included just a couple cupcake shaped items.

I think the favorite food item by far was the twice baked potato cupcakes with sour cream icing and bacon bit sprinkles. We also served pulled pork filled cornbread cupcakes and I made the tortilla chips for the mango salsa cupcake shaped.

Favors

I wanted to give something useful as a favor so I came up with the idea of doing bleach pen shirts with each of the kids initials. They didn’t turn out quite as I expected, but they were still cute. To finish them off, I wrapped them around a cherry sucker and put them in a bowl to look like cupcakes. I also had some leftover stickers from the drink cups so those went on bottles of bubbles for the kids to play with at the party.

It was so much fun planning this party and I am thrilled with the way my first girly party turned out. There are tons of cupcake theme ideas out there and it was hard narrowing my ideas down – especially when it came to choosing the cupcake flavors! To see some of my inspiration and other great cupcake ideas and recipes, please visit my pinterest board here.

Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites: Target Party Aisle

August 16, 2013August 16, 2013 chantelledoll

After much anticipation, I was very excited to have Target finally arrive in Canada. I could spend hours browsing the entire store, but my favourite aisle by far has become the party aisle. The selection of character brand supplies is excellent and I like the modern patterns and bright colors on some of their more generic themed supplies.

I decided to take the kids yesterday to pick up a few things for a small birthday celebration we will be having on Monday. I have been eyeing up this felt “Happy Birthday” banner for months so I decided this was a good excuse to finally buy it. Although I found it too late, it would have fit in perfect with my Go Dog Go party. It is a nice basic piece and I am sure I will find lots of use for it with future celebrations.

Next we perused the pet aisle to find the perfect gift for the birthday girl. A squeaky cupcake seemed to fit the bill!

And when you have a three year old in tow, no shopping trip is complete without a trip through the toy aisle. While my son checked out the latest hot wheels, I got a start on my Christmas shopping and grabbed this Little People set for my littlest person. She loves her Princess Castle so I was very excited to find this set.

Now to get to work on the DIY decorations for the birthday girl’s cake!

Doll House, Our Forever Home

Starting From the Ground Up

August 12, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

It is hard to believe it has already been an entire year since we began the process of finding financing and starting the paperwork on our new custom home. The decision making has been overwhelming at times, but it is exciting as we’ve been able to watch our dreams go from paper into an actual house.

At this point, the shell of our home is finished and we have a good idea what the spaces feel like. Drywall has just finished and we are reaching the finishing stage for the house which means I am growing more anxious to see the more cosmetic things like paint, flooring, faucets and lights go in.

The selections process was several weeks of driving around to different suppliers and doing our best to come to stay within our budget and reach a quick agreement. All in all we did pretty good and I think our final choices are something we will both be happy with for a long time to come.

One of the first selections appointments we had was for the plumbing fixtures. We both tend towards a more modern design, so it was fairly easy to narrow the selections down to those items with a square, geometric look.

Next up was lighting and we continued with the square theme.

We did splurge a bit on the fixture for the front foyer and in the dining area. I first showed these to my husband as a bit of a joke, but apparently I know him better then I thought because he instantly loved them.

For the kids rooms, I chose to do something a little different and am hoping my little guy likes this adorable plane fixture as much as I do.

Our kitchen and bathroom cabinets will be a natural maple and the bathroom countertops are the laminate sample shown below. The counters in the kitchen will be Steel Grey granite.

The kitchen backsplash will be the light grey tile below with a strip of the mosaic tile throughout as an accent. Between the grey’s and stainless steel I think my kitchen is going to end up looking fairly masculine so hopefully I can add a feminine touch with accessories.

Finally, the flooring we have chosen is a natural hickory hardwood on the main floor. We both love wood with a bit of variation and are hoping the lighter color choice might be a bit more dog friendly.

So there you have a quick glimpse of our new home. I can’t wait to share the final product, but we are still a few months away from that. It has been a long wait, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Celebrations, Parties

Happy National S’mores Day!

August 10, 2013October 10, 2013 chantelledoll

August 10 is National S’mores Day. I know this because it was included as part of the info on the wedding invite I designed for my sister’s camping weekend wedding last summer. At this time last year I was up to my elbows in marshmallow, graham crumbs and chocolate buttercream working to create the perfect wedding cake to fit in with the S’mores bar at her wedding.

For my first attempt at a tiered wedding cake, I’d say it turned out pretty darn good!

The inside of the cake was made up of graham cake, chocolate cake and a layer of homemade marshmallow. The outside was coated with buttercream as per the bride’s request and gave a bit more of a rustic feel. I have still never worked with fondant so I was happy to fulfill the buttercream request – homemade marshmallows and stacking cakes was enough new stuff for me to figure out with this project.

The decoration was fairly simple. I used a mixture of plain and toasted marshmallow’s and had them cascade down the side of the cake. Some twigs of decorative pearls finished off the look and added that little bit of sparkle.

As much fun as a 3 layered wedding cake was, I think I will keep things simple this S’mores day and attempt these S’mores cookie bars from Chocolate, Chocolate and More. For these and other great S’mores recipes, check out my pinterest board.