My Mom's 50th Birthday/Mother's Day Celebration

May 13th my mom turned 50 so I decided to throw a little family party at my parent's house on the 12th to celebrate both her turning the big 50 and Mother's Day. I would have invited some friends of theirs, but being Mother's Day I knew that would be next to impossible. Plus I'm pretty sure my mom would have rathered it just be us anyways (I think she was sort of nervous about turning 50). A couple months before I already knew in my head what I wanted to do and after a little planning and some major preparation in the day's leading up, it all came together so well. There were 6 of us including my mom and we had such a good time eating food, enjoying eachother's company, and just celebrating the wonderful person we were all there to see and spend time with. Even though it would only be the 6 of us I still wanted it to be something my mom would love and remember because afterall you only turn 50 once! Plus we didn't get to celebrate that much with her last year because her and my dad were in Paris for the first two weeks of May. I know, the nerve!

While Ian and I were preparing everything she had such a hard time relaxing and letting us take the reins for once. On more than one occassion I had to tell her to stop and get out of the kitchen. The woman is a borderline control freak sometimes and never stops moving. It makes me laugh. Even when we showed up at their house mid-morning she was raking! Can you believe it? RAKING on her day. She's crazy! I would have been in bed wanting to be waited on hand and foot!  So anyways I really think she enjoyed her day and I'm so glad we got to make her day fun and memorable. I stupidly forgot my new camera so had to use my iphone to take pictures with, but they turned out okay.

I went ahead and got these amazing 3 foot gold balloons to spell out 50. They were awesome and epic and looked really really good.

I was going for a pink and gold theme. I made the Mother's Day banner out of an old Rifle Paper Co. calendar I had because I love their signature flower patterns which I thought would go really well and I wasn't about to just toss it. I made the two birthday banners out of gold glitter paper. They all turned out better than I thought they would. I made 5 pink envelopes with gold glitter dots to hang above the banners with happy written on them and each one contained a personal message from each of us. The letters on them that I did with a gold paint pen weren't perfect, but they still turned out cute.

The tablecloth I picked up from Target's new Threshold collection and I got some gold circle confetti to scatter around the table.

We cut up lots of delicious fruit and put them in various antique bowls my mom had.

I had initially wanted to have strawberry lemonade, but couldn't find any in my favorite brand mix (I knew we would be pressed for time preparing all the food so homemade wasn't an option) at my local grocery store so I opted for raspberry lemonade and cut up strawberries and lemons to go in it. You couldn't tell the difference and it was still very good. The raspberry lemonade looked so fun in these decanters I got from Crate & Barrel outlet. I even ordered two myself. They are so great to have around.

Beautiful tulips we got for my mom.

Although I love tulips these were my favorite that we gave her. I even put them in an antique vase I gave my mom a few years back for her birthday. It's gorgeous in person and looked amazing with these flowers in it.

Another shot of the awesome balloons.

We munched on this food for most of the day until my dad made steaks. It was perfect.

I must say all of the fruit I picked up were absolutely delicious and really fresh. I was impressed.  

My mom loves pate and cheese so we made an awesome tray full of different cheeses, salami, dried apricots, Medjool dates, etc. It was so good. We put the pate on a different plate though so it wouldn't get all over everything else as some of it was a creamy mess, but in a good way. Ian made this fig sauce, inspired by a favorite local French restaurant of ours who serves something similar with their cheese and pate plates, to go with it all and it was so good. 

My goofy brother getting in the shot.

My mom and I sat in the screened-in porch while my dad grilled steaks munching on all the delicious food and talking. I love those moments.

My beautiful mother and her birthday/Mother's day cupcakes. I put a little gold candle on the center one for her to blow out. It was cute. We sang happy birthday to her and she opened her gifts which she loved.

I made maple cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting and mango curd-filled cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting. Both were good, but my favorite and everyone else's was the maple cupcakes. They were awesome! My mom's Canadian so I had to make them. Also, it was my first time using a pastry bag with a decorating tip to pipe the frosting so I was excited about them. They almost looked like I got them from a bakery. Can't wait to share the recipes with you all!

Mother's Day banner close-up. I love how it turned out.

Birthday banner. I hung them all with pretty flowery washi tape that matched.

And, last but not least a funny shot of my mom and her babies (yes Ian included). From left to right, my brother Tyler, my brother Travis, my beautiful mother, me, and Ian. My dad took the picture so he couldn't get in it. We were all supposed to make funny faces and I don't know what my mom and Ian were doing. Goofy! PS. Now can see the epicness of those balloons!?

All in all, I'd say it was a successful day and hopefully it made my mom feel a little bit better about turning 50. What did you all do for Mother's Day?

Artsy Tuesday: Kristina Closs Original Art and Prints

I introduce Kristina from Kristina Closs Original Art and Prints on Etsy. She is a self taught artist living and working in Pensylvania. After finishing her undergraduate degree she decided to paint full time. Most of her work is inspired by nature and everyday life. Her work has been featured in a number of publications including the Martha Stewart Craft Department blog and Divergent Magazine and she has also shown her work through numerous galleries across the country.

I'm so glad I came across Kristina's work as I think it's beautiful. Her landscape and botanical work is absolutely wonderful, but her animal paintings are what ultimately drew me in. She uses such beautiful colors and they look so life like. I think it's amazing that she's a self taught artist and it's very inspiring to me. So take a look at a few of my favorite paintings from her shop.

(Hedgehog Study #4 Original Painting; Robin Study Original Painting)

(Snowy Sunset Original Painting; Green Field Original Painting)

(Cardinal Study #2 Original Painting; Small Cabbage Original Painting)

Lovely, right? I think my absolute favorite is her Robin Study Painting. Simply beautiful! Kristina also has a nice blog where you can learn a little more about her and her work and see what she's currently working on from time to time. So go take a look at more of her work in her shop and come back and let me know which one of her paintings is your favorite!

Information about Kristina Closs Original Art and Prints was provided by Kristina Closs Original Art and Prints or taken from their profile on Etsy or personal site/blog.

As always, if you are interested in being featured in one of my Artsy Tuesday posts, please feel free to email me at: kbellant16@gmail.com.

Cupcaked: Grapefruit Cupcakes with Grapefruit Buttercream Frosting

Well it's official, I'm back everyone! Did you miss me? I know I missed you all and blogging that's for sure. And, what better way to celebrate my return then with a delicious cupcake recipe? Sometime back in April Ian had brought up the idea of me making some grapefruit cupcakes after I bought some juicy and delicious grapefruit from our local grocery store. So the next time I was there I decided to pick up another bag and make these little beauties. They were very light and quite perfect I must say.

This recipe is adapted from a Southern Living recipe for Orange Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream Frosting I made a couple years back that was such a huge hit with my family. I thought grapefruit substituted for the orange would be just as good and boy was I right!

Grapefruit Cupcakes with Grapefruit Buttercream Frosting

Makes about 24 regular size cupcakes, give or take a few.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 (8 oz) package softened cream cheese
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon grapefruit zest
2 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 (8 oz) container sour cream

Frosting:

1/2 cup softened butter
4 oz package softened cream cheese
1 tbsp grapefruit zest
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp fresh grapefruit juice
1 or 2 drops red food coloring

Directions:

Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until blended. Stir in zest and juice. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients. Gradually add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream. Beat until well blended. Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes then remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely. Frosting: Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed in a stand mixer or with an electrix mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with 1 Tbsp milk and grapefruit juice, beating at low speed until blended after each addition. Beat in remaining milk and food coloring. When cupcakes are completely cool spread frosting over cupcakes with a knife, spatula, or via pastry bag, your choice. You can add whatever you'd like on top including candy pearls, candied peel, etc. Store covered in the refrigerator and enjoy!

*Notes: The frosting recipe makes about 3 cups, but I would double it just to make sure you have enough to frost your cupcakes especially if you decide to get fancy with it and pipe them. You can also substitute orange for the grapefruit if your not a grapefruit kind of person. It's just as good, trust me and trust my dad who ate about 10 all by himself the day I brought them over for my mom's birthday/Mother's day get together a couple years ago. And, Ian made the candied grapefruit peel for the top of the cupcake and if I play my cards right maybe I'll get him to spill the beans on how he made them for you all.

So I hope you try this yummy cupcake recipe and let me know how they turned out for you! Come back tomorrow for another Artsy Tuesday and then Wednesday I'll share what I've been up to the past couple of weeks and what I did for my mama on Mother's Day.

One More

So I decided over the weekend that I was going to take one more week off from the blog. I know, I know, shame on me, but I've been super busy and this time away is helping my sanity. I am excited though to get back at it as I have tons to share from this past week, new cupcake recipes to share, a free printable I've been working on for you guys, a bunch of super talented artists lined up for the next couple of months that I can't wait to feature, and some other cool things in the works so yay! And, on that note I will see you all next week!

Fave Friday

1. Paisley Scroll Dress, Anthropologie; $298

2. Minnetonka Zoey Wedge, Zappos; $64.95
3. Braided Leather Belt, Banana Republic; $39.50
4. Iris Speckled Planters, West Elm; $31-$47
5. Threshold Alicia Round Storage Basket, Target; $30.79

I actually saw that basket in person last weekend when I was in Target. It is huge and would be awesome for storing extra throw pillows and blankets. Enjoy your weekend and see you lovelies in a week!