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Violet loves Gecko from PJ Masks (it's part of her superhero play) and for her birthday I decided to try making a cut out character cake for the first time. It proved to be super fun cake therapy for me and she LOVED it. Some people were asking if I was going to put together a tutorial so here goes! And here are links to the whipped cream frosting, small star tip, and black sparkle gel I referenced; the other supplies (e.g., food coloring) are standard.
The holidays can be wonderful but let’s be honest, there’s also a lot of crap, be it emotional or physical. Gift-giving unfortunately is often fueled by obligation, and the more is better trap can loom large during the holidays. In Episode 18 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I share 9 ideas for how to relax the craziness around gifts -- without tamping down generosity -- and keep the physical crap to a minimum. It's such a great episode, I hope you'll take a listen!
Halloween is supposed to be fun and simple but for many families it’s evolved into a source of excess stress and expense. Let’s just take it down several notches, shall we? In Episode 11 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I share 7 tips -- ranging from big picture perspective shifts to tactical strategies around costumes, decor, and dealing with candy -- to help you de-stress your Halloween. (Added bonus? You get to hear what Asha sounds like when she's punchy!)
Laurel has for sure inherited my obsession with all things gold. Her birthday wish list only included a handful of items, and most of them were pretty gold things from Paper Source. I love Paper Source -- I worked at the Cambridge location for a short stint while I was waiting for my postdoctoral funding to come through and it was such an awesome experience! Violet and I had fun shopping there for Laurel’s birthday; the wealth of gold gift options inspired this post.
It's apparently Bake Cookies Day. For real. Get on it! Now, about the title of this post. During the holidays, for me cookie perfection isn't about fanciness or uniformity; instead, I want to make cookies that: 1) are delicious; 2) are easy to make; 3) yield generous batches (i.e., work well for gifting); 4) can be made in small bite-sized portions (i.e., make for happy sampling); and 5) freeze well (so you or your recipients can save leftovers for a less cookie-saturated time). Here are 10 cookies that fit that definition of perfection for me.
I love cookies. Truly love them. And from the reaction I received on Instagram and Facebook when I posted this picture, clearly y'all love cookies too. On Thursday I'll share more cookie inspiration, but first, here are two amazing cookies I brought to a cookie party on Sunday. They're classically holiday (in the buttery goodness sense) and worked well as small bites for the sampling party. Many people asked for the recipes/sources, so here they are:
One item on my minimalist holiday manifesto was about creating opportunities for together time projects. The girls and I had such an awesome time working on clutter-free kid-crafted gifts last weekend that I'm fired up for more this weekend! Following an earlier post on 10 easy DIY food gifts, I wanted to share 15 more easy DIY food gifts, spanning sweet to savory. Click through the links for recipes, more photos, and further creative inspiration!