4th of July

The last week or so just got away from me. So here I am trying to play catch-up with my posting. Seems like there has been so much going on - car shows, celebrations, parades, bbq's, and camping - I don't know where to start, so I guess I'll start with the 4th.

Jay, Kathy, Fred, Christy and Ms. Kennedy were all in town for the weekend. We started off a very hot day with a trip to the Farmer's Market, followed by Pasco's Grand Ol' Fourth parade. Here's our sweetie pie enjoying her first 4th of July parade.



After a bit of a break - and some time inside with air conditioning - we all headed over to Sharlyn's for what has become our annual 4th of July BBQ. I was directed to bring the cupcakes for the event. I wanted to try out a festive recipe from my Crazy About Cupcakes cookbook, so I made Blueberry / Raspberry Cupcakes, with fresh blueberries and raspberries baked inside and cream cheese frosting. I wasn't sure how they were going to taste, but they turned out to be pretty darned good! I decorated them up with red and blue sprinkles and flags for the occasion.

That was not the end, however, of my baking. Billie requested chocolate cupcakes as well. When asked if she wanted chocolate cake or chocolate frosting - she said BOTH. So, I made another 2 dozen Triple Chocolate Fudge cupcakes with choclate-cream cheese frosting. I thought they were delicious too - even from a non-chocolate lover like myself.

And finally, I had been working on a 4th of July project for over a week or so. I was inspired by a project from Leigh Ann Baird that she entered as a guest on Papertrey Ink's site. I loved the idea, so started out making a template, adding my own twist. I made a dozen, essentially one for each of the gals at the BBQ. Rather than making a greeting card, I decided on these fans, that looked and felt like a card, with a practical element - keeping cool in the 100 degree heat!