Birdie Baby Shower

Babies were in this year...here is another baby shower I worked on. Mommy wanted a birdie theme and this what I came up. A banner with birdies holding it up, birdie clothespins to play a game, small birdies on nest that were done with the help of my cricut and finally I created these cute bird cages that were used to put on branches for the centerpieces.
I'd like to thank all those people who share great DIY tutorials online, from where I mainly get ideas to make neat things... like this bird cage. If anyone is interested in creating their own bird cage please go to The Birds Cafe where she shares this fabulous tutorial. Once again sorry for the bad pictures, I must invest in a good camera soon. Enjoy

Mickey Mouse & Heart Shaped Alfajores

If there is one thing I love to eat when I'm in Costa Rica it's those caramel, dulce de leche filled cookies. Although the Alfajores are more of a South American tradition there are certain places, in Tiquicia, where you can get them (Spoon & Automercado). Lately I've asked some of my tico contacts to send me some with people who are coming to Cali, but I have had zero luck...que pura vida! So I decided to make some with my boys.


You are more than welcome to use this recipe:

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Ingredients:
•12 tablespoons butter
•1 cup granulated sugar
•1 egg
•2 egg yolks
•2 tablespoons cognac
•2 1/2 cups cornstarch (corn flour)
•1 cup all-purpose flour
Preparation:
To make cookie dough:
Cream the butter and sugar together, then mix in the remaining ingredients except the dulce de leche and coconut until well blended. Knead on a floured work surface until the dough is smooth and let rest for 15 minutes.
Make the cookies:
Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch and cut into 2-inch rounds. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 300°F oven for 20 minutes. When cool, spread some dulce de leche on the bottom of half the cookies and press another cookie on top, allowing some of the dulce de leche to squeeze from the sides. Roll the sides in the coconut until the sides are covered.
Makes about 12 delicious, definitely non low calorie cookies!
You can buy the dulce de leche at most hispanic supermarkets or you can make it.
To make dulce de leche:
Method 1: Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk into 9-inch pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil. Place the pie plate in a in larger shallow pan filled with hot water. Do not allow the water to cover the smaller pan. Bake at 425 degrees F for 1 hour or until thick and caramel-colored. Beat until smooth.
Method 2: Place unopened can sweetened condensed milk in a pot with enough water to cover the can. Bring slowly to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and let cook for 4-5 hours until the milk is caramelized. Be careful! Keep the can covered and simmering slowly to avoid the risk of the can exploding. Cool the can before opening.

You can also check out blogger Matt Armendariz of mattbites.com. The alfajores he made look so yum yum yummy.
*If anyone decides to make them please share your experience.

Flower Party

This was the first party I was ever asked to assist in and here are my results. I so wished I had a Cricut back then but for being my first time it came out cute. I really enjoyed all the little projects we did to accomplish this all. We painted the flower centerpieces and glued them on tin colorful boxes. We painted tons of flowers that we used to decorate around the outside of the house. It sure was a bright colorful flower birthday party. We had tons of yummy chocolate covered marshmellows, that the kids and the parents couldn't have enough of. Also around the grassey areas we had pinwheels with flowers in the center of them. This was my first time ever trying to make a pinwheel, but it was sure a fun easy to catch on project. The mommy of the birthday girls put a lot of dedication into every single project and the dad of course supervised that everything was coming out the way it should have. In the end, it turned out to be a successful birthday for the Torres girls. May God bless you two and may you be granted many more special, fun, colorful and blessed birthdays!!

Who's Having a Baby?

Several months back I organized my one and only amazing sister an Owl Baby Shower. This is what I came up, enjoy all the fall like colors and the cute different owls that made.

Welcome Baby Loza


Hooters
Centerpieces & Menu



Water bin
Owl decorations

Other party favor
Raffle container
Another centerpiece
Stuff owl for baby Josiah

Can you Guess the Theme??

I'm working a Caleb's 1st birthday. I've come up with a cute & furious design for his invite, which at the same time I plan on incorporating into the decoration. Here is a sneak peak of the colors I'll be using. Any guesses as to what the theme might be? Roxy, Gabby and Madian you are not allowed to guess. My friend Nati gave me an idea...although I'm not as rich as Oprah, I'll give out FREE Birthday Banner to those who enter into guessing what the theme is. There is a catch you must become a follower so join in and comment after you've become one.
For my international followers...yes I will make sure to ship it out to Costa Rica (since it's the only country I know I have followers from) that is if the winner is from there. So, you may begin with the guessing. Be on the look out for who the winner is, I'll post the winner and more pictures on Friday. Hurry up enter to win a Free Birthday Banner.