Mother's Day, good friends and cupcakes...

I hope you all enjoyed this mother's day weekend as much as I did! Mine was definitely busy, but tons of fun! I spent most of it visiting with family and friends, and in the kitchen making cupcakes :) My little friend Sydney turned 9 this last week and asked if I would make the cupcakes for her party. She was pretty excited when I told her she could pick any kind she wanted and even more excited when she found out we could put chocolate pudding in the middle of them ;) We decided they would be vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate pudding in the middle, oh and they had to be pink and red.

I was so happy to hear that everyone loved them! Good choice on the flavors Syd!

Here's a few pics of the finished product...

We usually combine  Mother's Day with my Mom's birthday as they're only a few days apart, so this year I had the family plus my two good friends Lisa and Lisha over for dinner. Such a good time! My stomach hurts from laughing so much! So glad they could all make it! Instead of cake this year my mom requested cupcakes... The recipe for these little beauties came from the ever so lovely and talented, Miss Martha Stewart. The pics below are mine from tonight.. not bad for my first attempt :) Click here to find the complete instructions directly from Martha herself! They turned out to be super cute, and actually pretty easy to make!

Wishing all you amazing Mamas out there a fantastic Mother's Day!
Love Tam xo

A very special partnership...

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Helping Hearts Photography.

Helping Hearts is a project created by my good friend Melissa & her friend and fellow photographer Michelle with the goal of being able to provide free photography sessions for families with children who are suffering a life-altering illness or disability.

Over the last couple of months they've acquired an entire team of over 100 photographers that now stretches all the way across Canada! This amazing team is dedicated to donating their time to Helping Hearts because they believe in sharing the gift of photography with as many families as possible. After their session, each family receives 20-30 fully edited, print ready images on disk and an 8x10 print of their choice.

I'm so pleased to be able to announce that Blue Lily will be working with them as an official event sponsor! We'll be donating our time wherever we can, to help organize and execute fundraisers and events for Helping Hearts across Canada.

This particular organization is something that I've loved from the beginning. Anyone who knows me, knows that children have a very large and special place in my heart, and anything that I can do to help spread some happiness to these families truly makes me smile. :)

Last week Helping Hearts launched a new promo video. The song was written by Helen Austin, a very talented lady from Comox BC. To take a peek at the video click here, and be sure to get the tissues ready! You can't help yourself from tearing up! It's so very beautiful, and this song is now one of my new favorites :)

If your family, or a family you know has a child that is suffering from a life-altering illness or disability, or if you're a photographer and are interested in being part of their team, please email Helping Hearts through their website here.

I promise I'll be sure to keep you all up to date on what these lovely gals and guys are up to!

Wishing you and your families much love,

Tam xoxo

Photo Credits: Melissa Knowles Photography ~ Jill Hardy Photography ~ Melodie Hillman Photography ~ Tamara’s Photography & Design ~ CL Buchanan Photography ~ JessicaRae Photography

Restful weekends = good friends, campfires, and banana boats...

Happy Sunday Morning :)

I had such a busy week last week. Between contract work, meetings with brides and other clients, and my own stuff, I burned the midnight oil a few times! It was really nice to be able to spend at least one day of my weekend doing whatever I wanted. :) Friday night I got together with some friends at a local pub. So great to catch up and just laugh. I'm pretty lucky, I really do have the bestest and funniest friends ever. :) Love them all.

Saturday was puttering around home and getting ready for the bestie who's visiting with her kidlets from Banff, to come over for some "pretend camping". We told Thomas that when we're able to go swimming we'd really camp out at my house. We had a campfire, roasted hot dogs and made banana boats for dessert! sooo yummy and it brought back memories of the days when the bestie and i used to be in Brownies together. See how lucky I am?... I've known her since we were 6!

{the little cutie pie Emily... she was ready for the weather! }

Just in case you all don't know what a Banana Boat is, I'll give you the scoop! Best camping treat ever and super easy to make. The kids can make their own. :)

{Yummy, Banana Boat}

What you need:
a banana
2 teaspoons of mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon of chocolate chips
tinfoil
a sharp knife or steak knife
oven mitts

What you need to do:
With the banana still in the peel you need to make one cut down the entire length of the banana. leave about 1 cm on each end. Stuff the marshmallows and chocolate chips into the slit. Feel free to stuff in as many as you can. Wrap the banana in tin foil leaving a room for a bit of air or steam to move around inside. Place directly into the coals of the campfire for about 10-15 min. Remove from fire and let cool. Open up and eat directly out of the peel with a spoon! So terribly yummy!

Kim suggested that ice cream would be heavenly with is as well.

Hope you all have enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Love Tam
xoxo

Pickle Fest 2010....

I can confidently say that my mom makes THE best pickled beets ever! I've never tried pickling and Lisa and I were keen to learn so we asked if my mom would teach us. We went over to my parent's place and spent the next 12 hours.... yes... 12 hours pickling everything you could possibly imagine! So much work, but so much fun as well.

Did you know that the secret to crispy dill pickles is to soak them overnight and right up until you're ready to put them in the jar in basins of ice water? Seems reasonable, but we had no idea.. :) It was a really nice day spent passing down family traditions and recipes and with good friends. This is a photo of our finished product :)

Hope you all have a good night!

Tam xo