Cinamon & Pumpkin Swirl Cupcakes

yum.yum.yummy.

I was walking around Walmart yesterday and I passed this huge display they had on a center isle... the banner above it said "Holiday Baking" so you know I stopped to see what they had going on... mostly filled with chocolate chips and pie crusts, but I spotted some pumpkin spice jello pudding (yall know how I love some pudding filled cupcakes) so whipped these up last night and they are delicious!!

(I lost my mind and put the entire can of pumpkin puree (it's the smaller size not the jumbo) in the cake mix, but you should probably only do about 1 cup because they were so moist they fell a little flat. still yummy though)

The Hello Fall printables are free to download here from it is what it is.... aren't they super cute!?!

 

 

I'll be back this afternoon with the lipgloss winners and what I'm thankful for today....

also, a BIG Happy Birthday to my friend over at Delicious Ambiguity. Pop over and wish her a wonderful day if you can!

She called me out on it....

My post for Tuesday included an update to the artwork on my kitchen chalkboard...

bestie called me out on it (via text message, not blog comment, thanks ra)

She said there was no way that I had drawn that free hand (what can I say, she knows my skill level)

So I spilled the beans to her, and now I'll share with you...

Google "turkey"

print out a page size image of your favorite image

turn the paper over on the counter, printed side down

take your chalk, long ways, and rub the back of the image

turn the paper over and lay it in place on your chalkboard

use something pointed but DULL 

(handle of a spoon, pointy part of a pen cap... nothing that will scratch through the paper)

trace the part of your image that you need help with

on the Turkey I did the outline and then filled it in with colored chalk

I in NO WAY do I think that chalkboards need to be perfect, I change mine out very frequently and usually free hand what is there... but I wanted a Turkey on this one... and gosh darn it I tried about 4 times and I kept getting frustrated. After the last attempt, I asked the hubs "what does this look like to you?" he said "Cole?" um no, not our dog, a darn turkey! So I gave up and semi-stenciled the thing! LOL

Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple of months... looking forward to Christmas ones!! :)

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Today I am thankful for knowing how to shoot without the on-board flash... 

look what a nasty color the kitchen looks when I use it.... bleh. Thank you Photography 101!

Bacon and Cream Cheese Crescents & eeeeeeeppppppp!

I made these (along with my the usual pigs in a blanket) for the Halloween party...

yum yum.

You know they are a hit when there are none left in your casserole dish at the end of the night!

Recipe:

8 oz tub of chive cream cheese

bag of bacon (on the salad dressing isle)

or you can fry up your own bacon... overachiever!

2 rolls of pop-a-can crescent rolls

mix the bacon and cream cheese together

cut crescent triangles into halves (2 triangles)

put a dollop of mixture on the fat end of each triangle crescent

roll up and bake for 8-9 minutes

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and the eeeeeeppppppp:

Our pic is at the top of the BAKERELLA page this morning!! {{WHOOT!}}

see Bakerella here and see my post about our book signing here.

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Today I am thankful for girls night out...

Last night one of my girlfriends hosted a "Stampin Up" party 

(yes ladies, these are still cool in 2010 for us craters, and they sell MUCH more than just stamps now!)

We headed down to party with her and had dinner together on the way home. I love spending time with these ladies and I am so thankful to have them in my life.

I put it off until yesterday....

You know those projects that you really want to do... but just keep putting it off? I had a few on my list and since I had yesterday off (surprisingly) I thought I would take some time just for me and get it all done...  

(on top of the 3 loads of laundry, vacuuming, dishes, and taking the trash out)

 I saw this weeks ago on Nuestra Vida Dulce If you don't follow her... you should. 

Joi is one of the sweetest people ever! see the post that inspired me here.

I am so in love with it! I stare at all day... swoon. 

(and please no hate mail that I have a Christmas tree up in my bedroom already... 

I am an equal opportunity holiday decorator... my house is currently half Thanksgiving and half Christmas!)

I caught up on some much needed correspondence.... 

I love to send and receive regular old snail mail....

I swapped my Halloween Bat Tree (seen here) for a more fallish tree...

and I started on this (that I got at big lots for $2) but it's not finished...

I framed our wedding vows and hung them in the bedroom....

I have been putting this off for almost a year...

 and lastly I updated the chalkboard in the kitchen from Halloween to Thanksgiving!

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Today I am THANKFUL for my never ending supply of lip gloss. You are always poppin'. 
Mentha lipshine and Liplicious you never fail me, you are my hero in times of no makeup, and an immediate stinky breath pick me up.

Since I am also thankful for you, my readers, I thought I would beef up your lip gloss supply! 

I'll choose a random comment from this post and one lucky reader will get 4 of my favorite lip shines!! :) Whoot! Happy Tuesday!

November 1

 Is it just me or did October FLY BY!?! 

I am Thankful for November and happy to share this months shadow box... 

this month I used my Silhouette to cut the tree trunk out of paper that looked like cork and used my friends (thanks Stacey!) Martha Stewart maple leaf punch to do the leaves...

I've done this before with easy punches... if you would like the maple leaf paper punches just shoot me an email at pamela {dot} eaton {at} gmail {dot} com and the first 5 readers will have them mailed out tomorrow! You can cut out your own tree truck (try googling "leafless tree template" there are tons of images you can print and trace onto brown card stock) or use them for something else! I'd love to see what you come up with!

 

see previous months here...

march, april, may, june, july, august, september, october 

(oops, just realized I never posted about October!! Here it is... not one of my faves...)

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On a side note... each day for the month of November I will be sharing one thing that I am THANKFUL for... 30 days of thanks! Some days it will accompany a cupcake, craft, or lifestyle post, and sometimes that will be the only focus. I would love for you to join me (I think several bloggers are doing this) and we can all take some time thinking about and bring thankful for all the blessings in our lives!

I'd like to start off today being thankful for my co-workers and associates. I really love my job and it makes it even better when I have great people working with me. We are in the process of getting our seasonal associates ready for the holiday season and I could not be more pleased with the group we have this year. I am so blessed to be able to work with such a hard working, talented, team oriented group of people. I love my job and the stability it provides and I am thankful...

 

Happy Halloween!!

 I have really been enjoying Halloween this year... just decorating a few things around the house, attending party's, and trick or treat last night have just made me so thankful for all the sweet little babies in my life and all the time I am blessed with to do fun projects and spend time with friends. 

Hope you guys are all having a wonderful Halloween!

Made these cute candy corn cupcakes for tonight... 

one last hurrah before we start singing "Jingle Bells" for 13 hours a day!