Ain't love {SWEET}

If you aren't swooning over this set-up....STOP and check your pulse! I created all of these yummy treats for a recent wedding at The Festhalle Barn in Amana, IA. I've been a guest at several weddings held in this venue, and this was hands-down my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE dessert display here...I swear I'm not biased - lol! 

Little Fishy Cake Pops atop Cupcakes

Butter Pecan Cake Pops

I worked with the bride for over a YEAR on all of the details for her dessert table. She had SO many amazing ideas, a DIY-girl through-and-through....I loved hearing about all of her projects and brainstorming ideas. It was such a {TREAT}to finally get to see her vision COME TO LIFE! I just {LOVE} it when someone gets as excited as I do about planning an event...and this girl...lemme tell ya...she's in a league all her own!

The "Ain't love sweet" sign was BEYOND adorable...it made such a cute statement above the dessert table!

Cupcake Tower

The sweet Rosette Cake ;)

 I was so incredibly proud of this display. I think, in part, because it was a true collaboration! I just loved everything about it...and hopefully the bride felt the same way :)

{CONGRATS AMY & TRAVIS}
~Thank you both SO much for trusting me to bring a little extra sweetness to your most special day ;)
 
~Audrey

The {CUPCAKES} are coming!

Good news everyone....after a short break this summer...the Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats'  

Cupcake of the Month Club

  is making a triumphant RETURN! 

I'll be taking registrations through the entire month of September!!!

 Contact me at sweetcheeks@southslope.net to join!

Here's how it works:

-You pay a one-time 6-month membership fee of $60 (plus tax); payment is due before you receive your first batch of cuppies.

-Each month (for the next 6 months) you will get a half-dozen yummy Sweet Cheeks Cupcakes in the specialty flavor I've created for that month!

-Most orders are pick-up ONLY. Businesses with 5 (or more) CCMC members will have their cupcakes delivered FREE of charge! I generally do my CCMC baking toward the middle-end of the month, and try to give everyone one week’s notice before they are ready.

This is perfect for those of you wanting to sample some cupcakes because 6 isn't too much to handle....really, that's just an after dinner snack! Need an awesome gift to give to someone....buy them a Cupcake of the Month Club Membership!!! 

Examples of previous CCMC flavors:

January 2012 CCMC flavor: Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes, Chocolate Malt Cupcakes topped with Malted Milk Buttercream Frosting

February 2012 CCMC flavor: Sure Thing Cupcakes, Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes with a Strawberry Marscapone filling, finished with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

March 2012 CCMC flavor: Caramel Latte Cupcakes

April 2012 CCMC flavor: Pink Freak Cupcakes, Strawberry & Raspberry flavored cupcakes topped with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

May 2012 CCMC flavor: Vanilla Crunch Coat Cupcakes, Vanilla Cupcakes topped with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and finished with Vanilla Crunch Coat topping (from The Dairy Queen!)

June 2012 CCMC flavor: Rocky Road Cupcakes, Dark Chocolate Cake topped with chocolate syrup and mini-marshmallows which are then encased in Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting, finished with more chocolate syrup and chopped walnuts.

October 2011 CCMC flavor: Back by POPULAR DEMAND, Black Magic Cupcakes! A Devil's Food Cupcake topped with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

September 2011 CCMC flavor: Cookies-N-Creme Cupcakes, Dark Chocolate Cake with crushed Oreo Cookies in the batter and also in the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

August 2011 CCMC flavor: Margarita Cupakes, topped with salted Lime Buttercream Frosting

July 2011 CCMC flavor: Orange Dreamsicle Cupcakes, Vanilla-Orange Cupcake topped with Orange infused Buttercream Frosting

June 2011 CCMC flavor: Fluffernutter Cupcakes, Rich Peanut Butter Cupcake topped with Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting and finished with a piece of peanut brittle

March 2011 CCMC flavor: Dark Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Chocolate Mint Ganache

February 2011 CCMC flavor: Pinkalicious Strawberry Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
January 2011 CCMC flavor: Hot Cocoa Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

November 2010 CCMC flavor: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
October 2010 CCMC flavor: Black Magic Cupcakes! A Devil's Food Cupcake topped with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

September 2010 CCMC flavor: Spiced Apple Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting

August 2010 CCMC flavor: Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes with tart Strawberry Lemonade Buttercream Frosting

Contact me to join today! sweetcheeks@southslope.net

Thanks!

Audrey

Local Customers only please...I'm not able to ship cupcakes at this time :)

Short & {SWEET}

I've been BEYOND busy lately! Between wedding orders, birthdays, bridal & baby showers, Farmers' Market and my day-to-day existence...I'm having a hard time keeping up. Clearly, there are worse problems to have :)

I thought I'd do a little ROUND-UP of some of the treats that I've sent out the door recently....you know...so you all didn't think I've been on vacation or something - LOL! I post a LOT more frequently on my FB page {HERE}...so if you want to keep up be sure to pop on over and LIKE my page.

 .ENJOY!

Sweet Teal Cake Pops

Piggy Cake Pops & Cupcakes

Cake Pop arrangement

Cake Ball Cones

Hippo Cake Pops

~Audrey

ART Gallery for the KIDDOS!

I have another non-treat related post to share...from the Kiddos' Playroom...by now you've about had the full tour! 

I've wanted to create a FUN space for the kiddos to display their artwork...like, FOREVER! I've found SO many fun ideas...and...I've pinned a TON of them, but it was so HARD to narrow it down :) Anyone else have a serious problem with PINNING but not actually DOING!?!? I always have more projects than time it seems.

One of my FAVES was a Kids Art Display from Clean & Scentsible {HERE}. I think the main reason I was drawn to it was because it incorporated clipboards...and I just happened to have stash of them sitting in a box doing nothing important. So, I spray painted several of the clipboards with metallic spraypaint to achieve the same look.

I had a custom vinyl wall quote created by It's Written on the Wall to install above the clipboards. You may recall, they also created the vinyl quote for our Raingutter Bookshelves {HERE}. The saying is taken from a  quote by Maya Angelou, and it is absolutely PERFECT for this wall!

The actual execution of this project ended-up being SUPER quick & easy. We had everything up and finished before the kiddos' got up from their afternoon nap. They LOVE their new gallery and have been BUSY the past few days working on masterpieces to hang in their NEW space!

Enjoy!
Audrey

I'm LINKING UP!
You can find TONS of inspiration by visiting these WEEKLY LINK PARTIES!
I always do...and I'm sharing this project with them NOW!

Monday
Making Mondays Marvelous hosted by C.R.A.F.T.
Made by you Monday hosted by Skip to My Lou
Monday Link Up Party hosted by Making the World Cuter
Just Something I Whipped Up hosted by The Girl Creative
Market Yourself Monday hosted by Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Creative Me hosted by The Southern Institute

Tuesday
Get your Craft On Tuesday hosted by Today's Creative Blog
Take-A-Look Tuesday hosted by Sugar Bee Crafts
Show Me What Ya Got hosted by Not JUST a Housewife

Friday
Feature Yourself Friday hosted by Fingerprints on the Fridge
Friday Flair hosted by Whipperberry
Catch as Catch Can hosted by My Repurposed Life

Farm Fresh!

I haven't posted any CUTE Cake Pops in awhile...so I figured I should do something about that!

Farm Animal Cake Pops

 I created these super adorable FARM ANIMAL Cake pops for a recent birthday party order. I made an assortment of cows, sheep, ducks and pigs...and...it was my first time trying cows and pigs! I LOVE getting custom Cake Pop requests...I'm so busy with orders these days, that unless I have a specific reason to try a new pop, I don't really get to just play around in the kitchen!

Cow Cake Pops

They both seriously CRACK ME UP! I always figure I did a decent job when I'm laughing OUT LOUD at my Cake Pop creations :)

Pretty Pig Cake Pops

Happy Baking!
Audrey

Sweet Cornbread & Honey Cupcakes

I was trying to think of a fun cupcake flavor to make for The 4th of July when I came up with these little beauties. I should have been preparing for The Farmers' Market this coming Saturday...but it seems like my BEST ideas always come to me when I have other "stuff" on my plate. I've learned by now that my mind won't be able to focus on anything until I tackle said-new-idea....so I went with it!

 

Naturally I thought the new flavor should be something that would fit in at a backyard BBQ. We LOVE Cornbread around here. My cornbread recipe is already pretty sweet (of course)...so I took those same basic concepts and decided to put them in cupcake form .

The end result were these delicious
Sweet Cornbread and Honey Cupcakes! 


 I used my basic yellow cupcake batter as the base, added yellow cornmeal, Noble Bee Honey from the Amana Colonies, and some yummy creamed corn.

After the cupcakes cooled I added MORE honey to the top of each one. Then, to finish, I topped them with an UBER YUMMY Noble Bee Honey Buttercream Frosting.

We took a pile of them along with us to our 4th of July gathering and they were VERY well-received....which always makes me happy! One person even compared the cupcake to Famous Dave's Cornbread Muffins...I took a few without frosting. I've never had the Famous Dave's version, but I was told that it's a compliment to be compared to them :)

I will be taking these with me to market this weekend...so see....I really wasn't procrastinating...I was preparing for market all along!

Happy Baking!
~Audrey

Something {SWEET}: Ripped Fabric Window Valances!

This post isn't TREAT related...but it's still SUPER {SWEET} so I just had to share!

I've been cranking out a BUNCH of FUN and EASY projects lately. Stuff I can tackle while the kids are taking their afternoon naps...so the easier, the better...and often-times the CUTER as well ;)

Here's one I'm currently OBSESSED with!

RIPPED FABRIC WINDOW VALANCES 

 I made these for the kiddos' playroom downstairs. I needed something that would add some FUN color, but didn't really want to block out too much of the natural light that comes in. I've seen variations of window treatments using ribbons on Pinterest, and another version from One Castle in the Kingdom that involved sewing (super cute, but I needed to make them even easier). So I went with simply ripping the fabric and tying it directly onto tension rods. So easy, inexpensive and UBER adorable!



If you want to make some of your own all you'll need is a stack of fabric scraps in whatever color palette you're working with. I actually went out and bought a pile of 1 yard pieces. I have a "THING" for fabric, so any excuse to go snatch some up and I'm there. Honestly though, I don't sew...I just {LOVE} buying the stuff! It's so cheerful, bright and happy...maybe I should learn a few tricks with my sewing machine....in my spare time - LOL! 

I also bought two inexpensive tension rods so we didn't have to actually add any hanging hardware.



I ripped the fabric in 1 to 2 inch strips, no measuring, just eye-balled it and went to town ;) I think it adds to the organic feel of these...you really CAN'T mess them up! Plus, it's a project the kids can even help with! I didn't quite have it finished up before naptime was over...so they helped me layout scraps and decide which colors should go where.

That's it...simple, fun, and SUPER cute ;) I'm planning on making another rod-full of these for Harper's bedroom...they're just TOO adorable!
ENJOY!
~Audrey


I'm LINKING UP!
You can find TONS of inspiration by visiting these WEEKLY LINK PARTIES!
I always do...and I'm sharing this project with them NOW!

Monday
Making Mondays Marvelous hosted by C.R.A.F.T.
Made by you Monday hosted by Skip to My Lou
Monday Link Up Party hosted by Making the World Cuter
Just Something I Whipped Up hosted by The Girl Creative
Market Yourself Monday hosted by Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Creative Me hosted by The Southern Institute

Tuesday
Get your Craft On Tuesday hosted by Today's Creative Blog
Take-A-Look Tuesday hosted by Sugar Bee Crafts
Show Me What Ya Got hosted by Not JUST a Housewife

Friday
Feature Yourself Friday hosted by Fingerprints on the Fridge
Friday Flair hosted by Whipperberry
Catch as Catch Can hosted by My Repurposed Life