Pepper Design Blog

Liv’s 2nd Birthday: An Inspiration Board

Liv will be TWO in less than one week! I forget how quickly her little birthday comes following the holidays (I suppose it will become old habit once we’ve done this a few years in a row ) but I have kept a Pinterest board with her name on it for the last few months to bookmark any favorite ideas.

The invites are finished and went out with our Christmas cards. Just a few close family and friends. The decor awaits final decisions, but this is always the best part!

My theme is pink. Simple, easy, full of potential.

This next week will be filled with late night craft projects and a little bit of prep. We are laid back folks over here – hardly a menu planning list in site, though I’ll probably make a special dessert (I’m even thinking strawberry shortcake) a day or so in advance.

I love to plan little parties, it may be one of my favorite extracurricular activities all year and I’m already seeing tissue paper and striped straws and paper flags in my near future… will keep you posted!

PS please forgive my terrible rush with this post, today has been pouring over with back-from-the-holidays make up work. To find the credits for all of the above gorgeous photos, head over to Liv’s 2nd Birthday Pinterest board.

Merry Christmas!

Today is such a special day! Christ is born to us on earth, a little babe in human form.

It is a special day indeed, full of hope and joy and family, but we have one more Christmas gift that we are very excited to share with you…

Did you read the bottom of that card carefully? Yes! We are expecting a new little member to our very own family in June! Make that June 21st ish.

Here’s a shot of the little peanut at about 9 weeks, he/she has grown a bit since then and is now roughly the size of an apple at just over 3 months:

Looks a little bit like an old man? Ahh but pure joy. We are so excited to nurture and prepare for the arrival of this little one. And this has been one hard secret to keep!

And Liv is over the moon! She’s into babies now (rocking her dolls, shushing them, walking them in her new Christmas stroller) and the idea of a ‘baby brother/sister’ – while a little subjective at this point – makes her so happy. When I ask her where the new baby is growing, she proudly pulls up her shirt and points to her little protruding toddler belly.

A few more outtakes from our Christmas photo, I think we captured the only shot in which Liv is truly smiling (even with hand in mouth) versus the distracted ‘what’s happening over there?’ glance in the wrong direction. We borrowed our friend Anna (many thanks!!) and a red barn wall in Old Town, San Diego to snap a few photos a few weeks ago:

Liv’s hiding!

And a few dozen pictures later…

Liv shows the camera a little love, Bodie is laying at our feet, and Kev and I both pull off a presentable shot.

The picture right out of the camera will do, but with a bit of Photoshop playing in the form of Pioneer Woman’s Boost Action:

Plus a very light ‘warm’ photo filter and an adjustment of the brightness/contrast to make that red wall pop:

And I’m really happy with how the final photo turned out.

More editing tips can be found in this Christmas Card break down (highlighting both Photoshop and free image editing programs) from last year.

We teamed up with our awesome sponsors over at Tiny Prints again and played with LOTS of favorite designs before finding one that fit the family well (not cropping out Kev’s head or Bodie’s body) and with a font and layout that we loved.

 Merry, merry Christmas!! So happy to let you in on our exciting secret!

Good Eats: Rice Krispie Treat Pops

This past weekend we were incredibly blessed to witness the baptism our dear friends’ son, Gabriel, as his Godparents. It was a very special afternoon, a very joyous occasion!

After a special Mass in his name, we celebrated picnic-style with sandwiches and dessert on a big lawn outside of the chapel. My contribution was an attempt at a ‘non-meltable, child-friendly’ dessert that did in fact begin to melt (chocolate, even as a garnish, is still chocolate. oops). But the kids (and adults) seemed to approve!

Rice krispie treats are one of those no-bake wonders that require a bit of prep work, are a lot of fun to create, and fall into the monster clean-up category (hardened marshmallow 5-quart pans, anyone?). Oh but it’s all worth it.

To assemble pops, I made a usual batch of rice krispie treats just as the directions off of the box suggested. Butter + marshmallow + cereal = finished.

I smooshed my rice krispie goodness into a baking pan coated in butter and pressed the cereal into the pan throughly so that these pops would be a bit more condensed (and sturdier) over your average bar.

Once the pan had cooled, I cut the treats into rectangular shapes and added a lollipop stick to each (found at your local craft store, I picked mine up at Michael’s).

Using a double boiler (a sauce pan filled with a couple of inches of boiling water + a glass bowl that fits snuggly on top), I melted my Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips (mmmmmmmmm) until they were a smooth and satiny consistency. No need for butter or water or any other additive.

 In go the pops until the first inch or two is thoroughly coated!

A new cookie sheet lined with wax paper (also with a coat of butter) awaited the dripping chocolate treats. I kept the pops here to cool for a bit before adding sprinkles (or it can become a messy, melty task).

After a little experimenting (including dunking the pops into a coffee mug full of sprinkles), I found the best way to coat the pops was to use a plate and my (or Liv’s) fingers to manually sprinkle those sprinkles on.

Such a great helper.

Some pops received a lighter ‘glazing’ of chocolate via a 1 quart ziplock bag with the tip cut off and warm, gooey chocolate inside.

Let sit until chocolate hardens! Oh, and do keep out of the sun or store in an icebox until almost ready to serve. Lesson learned. Although I was grateful to find a cooler when arriving at the baptism so my semi-melted creation could recover a bit .

Ready for a few shots of mister handsome Gabriel being baptized? Here we are just before and after the priest surprised him with water.

Woah, what was that?

And the adorable sign that Gabriel’s mom made for the special day.

 More yummy Good Eats recipes filed away right here. Mmmmm enjoy!