Home | Catch My Party

I'm excited to introduce you to Molly Allen, our new baking contributor, and the woman behind CakeFYI. Here's Molly's first yummy recipe for Catch My Party. Don't these cupcakes look pretty! Take it away, Molly...

What better way to celebrate Easter and spring than with these easy-to-make Spring Vanilla-Mint Cupcakes  with a hint of mint in the vanilla batter. Then swirl your cupcakes with light mint icing, and finish them off with Pearl White Sugar Sprinkles for an extra decorative touch.

SPRING VANILLA-MINT CUPCAKES

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Butter, softened
• 1 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Mint Extract
• 1 1/4 Cups Flour
• 1 3/4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Cup Milk

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then add the vanilla extract and mint extract and mix well.

Add a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until incorporated.

Add half of the milk and mix well.

Add another third of the flour, mix, and then add the remaining milk.

Add the remaining flour and continue beating until well mixed.

Using a measuring cup, pour batter into a lined or greased cupcake pan.

Bake for 16-18 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool before icing.

MINT ICING RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Butter, softened
• 2 1/2-3 Cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Mint Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Milk
• 2 Drops Green Food Coloring

 

Beat the butter and a 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar.

Add the vanilla and mint extracts and milk and continue beating.

Continue to add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.

Add green food coloring and beat until color is well incorporated.

Once cooled, top cupcakes with Mint Icing. Top with pearl sprinkles.

Enjoy at your upcoming Easter celebration or just because... they're that good!

Thanks, Molly. Can't wait to share more of your deliciousness with our readers!

Nicole from Tikkido and Tradewind Tiaras is back with a great DIY for spring -- real leaf placemats! 

Years ago, I went to a wedding. A huge, amazing, extremely expensive, extraordinarily beautiful wedding. A food-we're-still-talking-about-13-years-later, $30k-just-on-the-favors wedding.  Everything at this wedding was perfect, including the flowers.

In particular, I've never forgotten the gorgeous tablecloth made entirely of real leaves that covered the cake table.  So lush, so natural, yet so elegant!  I've always wanted to duplicate that look--though on a smaller, more doable scale.  And so, with warm spring breezes on the air and fresh leaves on the trees, I figured out how to bring a little bit of that floral magic to my own home.

Materials:

• Leaves
• Paper towels
• Glue gun

1)  Gather a big pile of leaves, whatever is fresh and abundant in your yard.  Here in Phoenix, that meant lemon tree leaves.  But this would work with absolutely any type of leaf.  The larger the leaf, the less gluing you'll have to do, however!

2) Tear off a length of paper towels to the size you want your placemat/table runner to be.  You can also use scissors to trim the paper towels into any shape.  I particularly like circle-shaped leaf chargers under plates.

3)  Use the glue gun to glue the leaves to the paper towel, overlapping the leaves so that no paper shows through.

That's it!  Fast, easy, dramatic, inexpensive. Just the kind of craft I love!

Thank you, Nicole, these would be perfect on a spring Easter table!

I like to put out festive decorations during the different seasons, and what I love about Easter is the colors. Pastels make me happy and they definitely make me think of spring.

So when I was at Target a few days ago browsing through the $1 bins, I saw this wooden box ($3) and these rub-on transfers ($1). I decided to put the floral transfers on the box, hoping for a kind of shabby chic look and I love how it came out.

All you do is cut out the decorations...

Peel off the back and stick it to the box. Then using your fingernail, a spoon, or any other hard object, rub the transfer so it sticks to the box.

Peel it off and voila! This is seriously the easiest craft to make, and so much fun.

Now I've got some quick spring decor and a place to store my Easter chocolates! :)

For more Easter inspiration, check out these gorgeous Easter parties  and free Easter printables on our site.

I want to introduce our first official contributor to the Catch My Party blog... Wanessa of Wanessa Carolina Creations! Wanessa is such a creative powerhouse, born in Brazil and now living in the US, Carolina adds a multicultural touch to every beautiful thing she does. Be on the lookout for her lovely printables and fantastic DIYs.

In fact, check out this delightful collection of FREE "Bunnies and Birds" Easter Printables she designed. I not only love the pastel colors, but I love all the great chevron and polka dot patterns!

The collection includes: mini party labels, party labels, drink wraps, cupcake wraps, party flags, favor tags, blank tented cards, "Happy Easter" banner and garland, and wine glass markers (love this!).

TO DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING

Thank you, Wanessa for this gorgeous collection. I especially love the Easter garland and the drink markers!

To learn more about Wanessa and see more of her designs, please visit her blog, Facebook page, and Etsy shop.

Also, for more Easter inspirations, check out all our free Easter printables and all the great Easter parties on our site.

Just thought I'd let you know that we have a new party page layout we've added to our site. It's our spring and Easter layout.  Hope you like it... let me know what you think.