How about a fun day?

I think you deserve it!  Hope you had a fabulous weekend and took some tine to celebrate Mother's Day with the ones you love. 

I'm spending my fun day coloring.  Do you like to color?  I have found that I can't get enough of coloring. I love exploring new techniques and old techniques and just enjoying the process of seeing an image come to life. 

One of my favorite stamp sets is the Flourishes Gerber Daisies.  I was inspired by all the beautiful flowers at Home Depot yesterday.  I love that they come is so many bright and vivid colors.  Today I pulled out my copic chart and picked colors that I thought were close to some I saw yesterday.  I colored each flower by using just 2 markers.  I colored each petal fully, then went back in and dropped some darker color over where the image had already supplied the shadowed area.  Then blended the darker with the lighter marker.  Its so easy and really does yield stunning results. 

This is my card for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #219 challenge, black accents.  FTTC219 I used black ribbon and gems as my black accents. 

 

This weekend flew by.  We were busy all weekend, but really didn't do much.  We just spent the day around the house.  I had the urge to bake something so I came up with a recipe for mint chocolate chip cupcakes. Truly the cupcakes can be eaten along they are wonderful!  Or you can dress them up with your favorite topping. 

The cupcakes
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water
Mix in mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Then add
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. 
Fill cupcake papers 3/4th full and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until top bounces back.  Remember the chocolate chips will look melted. 

The icing
4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature.  Mix in mixer until creamy. 
1.5 pounds (28 ounces) confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
green food coloring
Mix until light and fluffy.  Divide in half. 
For the mint frosting add 1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract, its very minty so be very careful, less is more in this case.
For the chocolate frosting add
2 ounces semi sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!  I made some with just chocolate icing as my husband isn't a fan of mint, and some with just mint.  It's like eating a different dessert each time you try one. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day!