Happy Birthday, Sis!

Today is my “baby” sister’s birthday, and what a beautiful day it was! The weather here in the northeast is just gorgeous – a little on the hot side, but not oppressively so.

We celebrated with a scrumptious buffet brunch at this awesome place in Westchester called Kittle House, courtesy of my dad and stepmom. 

And because no occasion is complete without cake, I made some cupcakes. These are chocolate cupcakes, topped with a double dip of chocolate ganache and little fondant rosebuds. But the surprise is that there’s a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup in the center of the cupcake! Yup, I baked ‘em right in. I put them in the freezer first, and then pressed them gently into the top of the batter before sticking the pan in the oven. The part of the candy that didn’t get completely swallowed up by the batter is nicely hidden by the topping. What a happy little experiment that was! Although I confess that I haven’t tried one yet. I hope the cake isn’t too dry – I never used this particular recipe before.

Oh, if you’re wondering about the card, I used PTI’s Lily of the Valley set, copying Nichole’s idea of stamping on kraft and filling in with white craft ink. I found that using q-tips like she did didnt’ give me enough control, though. I had a few Fantastix laying around since forever, and that worked much better for me. The leaves are colored with Copic Markers YG95 and YG97. The butterflies (of course there had to be butterflies!) are punched out of one of the patterns in Pink Paislee’s Bayberry Cottage pad. It was a little too bright for the background, so I toned it down with a W3 Copic. Tiny rhinestones adorn them. Of course.

Hmmm. I think I have enough WW points left for a cupcake. Happy Birthday, sweet sister! This year has GOT to be better than the last!