RECIPE :: Think Pink CUPCAKES

 

Think PINK Cupcakes

by Kimberley 

Have you checked your girls lately? Perhaps not. Like most women, we are busy, too busy to take care of ourselves. But this month, we are reminded why it is so important to take care of our health first. Breast cancer is a part of our lives. If we haven't been directly affected, then someone we know has. But it doesn't have to be this way. I will never forget a poster in our high school nurse's office that stated "80% of all cancer is preventable." This has stuck with me. Because whether it is lifestyle choices or early detection methods, we all have a hand (pun intended) in preventing cancer. 

 

To celebrate the "girls" and your girlfriends, why not bake up a batch of these easy, tasty cupcakes with pink frosting and serve with a cup of tea? That's what I will be doing.

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes with Pink Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

This recipe makes approximately 24 mini cupcakes plus 6 regular cupcakes, or 18 regular cupcakes.

In a large bowl, cream together 1/3 cup softened butter, 1/3 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 egg.

Add 1 3/4 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt. Combine and then add 3/4 cups milk.

Scoop into lined muffin or cupcake tins.

Bake minis for 15 minutes, bake regular cupcakes for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Pink Frosting:

Cream 1 cup softened butter in medium bowl, and slowly add 2 cups confectioners sugar. Add 1 tablespoon of milk (or more) to smooth out. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

When completely smooth, add color- 3 drops of liquid color or a small dab of paste color. Blend until color is incorporated.

When cupcakes have cooled, frost with Pink Frosting. You can spread on or place frosting in a zip top bag, seal, and snip corner to pipe out frosting onto cupcakes. You may want to decorate with some cute pink candies.

Enjoy! (and be sure to check your girls!)

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Guest Contributor: Kimberley Mulla

My Mom gave me my first cookbook when I was six years old. I have been baking & cooking ever since.

I specialize in artisan marshmallows & confections. I want to sell a product that I would feed my children. The ingredients are simple, often local, organic & fair trade as well. 

I love making marshmallows. Every single one. It brings me so much joy to create something unique, tasty, and delightful.

You can follow Kimberley

facebook | twitter  | blog/website | pinterest

{THE results} Cancer & my pink bow

     

     

     

I am taking this moment, today, the last day of breast awareness month, to wrap up my series from a couple weeks ago on BREAST CANCER AWARENESS! 

Does this mean I am abandoning the topic? Definitely NOT! I have been, continue to be & will ALWAYS be an advocate for breast cancer awareness but wanted to follow up on MY story.

 

If you happen to miss my previous post explaining WHY I am posting about MY results, you can catch up quick by checking out this post.

I apologize for NOT posting sooner as I know a few of you had emailed me because you remembered that I was meeting with a surgeon last Wednesday & were anxious to hear what they said. I have no excuse as to why I didn't update sooner other than . . . . it took a while to actually "sink in" & to wrap my head around the whole experience & just take a minute & spend it in "the moment". I NEEDed that. I did that. But now I am ready to move forward.

So does my story have a happy ending? Do I get to wrap it up with a nice pink bow??

YES!!!!!!!! 

  

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The whole week waiting to meet with the surgeon was BRUTAL . . . .not gonna lie! I tried to keep busy with work & was so grateful for being soooo soooo busy as it kept my mind off the looming date fast approaching. 
I think I did pretty good, for the most part. Didn't lose it too much during that time, cried a few times when I would think about it but I had some wonderful support.

It's AMAZING when you put yourself "out there" & share a story of what you are going through, the amount of people that will offer their support. People that are not afraid to  . . . share "their" story, lend an ear, a shoulder to cry on . . . .some of the people I haven't heard from in years but they were there for me. Other people - my fans here through my blog, took the time to email me & offer support, some left blog comments (I LOVE those & THANK YOU so much for that!!!!!) and others simply prayed for me. ALL OF IT and I mean ALL OF IT!!!! . . . .was so much appreciated and meant the world to me - you have no idea how special those little gestures were!!! They were HUGE to me! xoxo

I was feeling blessed. I was feeling LOVED from all of you & my family & friends. I was starting to be optimistic more & more. Then, the night before, I had to fill out a "book" of paperwork from the surgeon's office with all the medical history on both sides of my family. After several phone calls to some family to fill in the gaps, I found out my great aunt had breast cancer. OH CRAP! All of this time, I thought NO ONE in my family had. So I must admit - started to freak just a little. Then I don't know about you all, but one of my 'guilty pleasures' is watching a show on Tuesday evenings called Parenthood - you may have heard of it? If you watch it, then you can guess where I am going with this . . . .the storyline has one of my FAV characters finding a lump, going to the doctor, etc. and LAST Tuesday - the night BEFORE I have to go - she finds out her results & HAS to have surgery!!!!!!! I CRIED LIKE A BABY! I couldn't believe it & was PRAYING my story would be so different the next day! 
And it was! ;) 

My mom came with me to the surgeon's. We met with him. He did an exam. He looked at my results from my mammogram & ultrasound. He DID confirm that I have a lump that is 3 cm & there IS a mass around it BUT he did CONFIRM that it is NOT cancer!!! I will repeat that - I DO NOT HAVE CANCER!!!!!!

Of course I asked him all the questions that you are thinking right now: "well are YOU sure?", "what IF you are wrong?", "then what the heck is it?", etc.

He said based on all the facts, the info, the conversation we had, etc, it does NOT have any characteristics of cancer. He also said IF I would like some more 'piece of mind' he could biopsy it or he could cut my breast open & remove the whole thing. Honestly, I personally would PREFER to get it out of me for MY 'piece of mind' but not really up for getting cut on right at the moment - ya know what I mean?

So I am going to get another ultrasound/ mammogram every 6 months for awhile - just to be sure it is NOT growing but he said since this was my FIRST mammogram, they need a 'starting point' to compare this lump with & coming in every 6 months will give us that.

What he did tell me was that I have a fibroid condition going on . . . .which did NOT surprise me that it was that because I have dealt with fibroid tumors in some capacity my whole life. But that is as far as I go with that because that is TMI for you! ;) For those that are not familiar with fibroid tumors, they are pretty common for the most part & are not dangerous nor do they need removed if they are not 'bothering you' so I think I will take my chances with this one & just keep an eye on it. If for some reason it starts 'buggin me' - then it will be removed . . .outta here! But until then, I have told it as long as we have no 'issues', it could stay.

Later that afternoon, I finally updated everyone on Facebook about my results. I found it "odd" as I struggled with 'what to say exactly'. It was so bizarre the feelings I had trying to say the right thing. After re-writing it about 50 times, I settled on something like "I do NOT have CANCER. I repeat I do NOT HAVE CANCER!" and then a little something after that. So what was going on in my head? As soon as I hit "post" & sat there & watched as people wrote comments, liked the post, etc.  something happened that I could not wrap my head around for awhile. I sat there at my desk for TWO HOURS & just balled my eyes out!  

I cried because all of the feelings and emotions of the last few weeks came rushing out all at once. I cried at the realization of the severity of the situation and realizing my outcome could have been sooooo different. I cried because I felt GUILTY because I was lucky to get GOOD NEWS & most women don't. I cried because of all the people who took the time to support me through this process. I cried because I was happy. I cried because God had me in His arms the WHOLE TIME & it is such an amazing feeling when you step back & realize that! I cried because I was alive!

I don't know if I will ever know why I went through all of this. Like I mentioned in my last post, maybe it is NOT about me. Maybe it was to share & save just ONE person. I surely hope if nothing else, my experience has made you aware & to NEVER ignore anything that is just not right with you or your body. Listen to it. Get it checked if you need to. Take care of it.

What I will take away from this whole experience is this. Be kind. Be supportive of other women. We ALL go through some CRAP every single day. Some people get a bigger dish of crap some days but the bottom line is be compassionate. Be there for someone else. Be NICE. A simple comment, a text, an email can mean SO MUCH to someone else - knowing that YOU are reaching out to them. I know it did to me. THANK YOU again for all of it. 
 
The other thing I will take away from this is . . . .right here, right now, I promise MYSELF that I will NOT put myself LAST anymore! I WILL take better care of myself because I can NOT be any good to anyone in my family if I am not around. Hopefully we, as women, can ALL start thinking of ourselves a little more & taking better care of ourselves without feeling GUILTY about it!!! We deserve that! We NEED that.  

I THANK GOD that today, on this last day of October, that I am sitting here writing and sharing with you. I THANK Him that I am alive! That I am writing the end of THIS story.  And that it is sporting that little pink bow now! :)

{READER ROUND-UP} IDEAS for Breast Cancer Awareness

     

Today I wanted to share some FAB ideas that were sent in from my readers. I thought I would lighten the 'mood' here from this week & take some time to see what the readers are doing as far as fun, creative ideas to cheer someone up, a craft project, etc. to help get the word out!

We continue our series this week talking about

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS!

 

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Alison, from Sparkling Events by Alison Johnson, made these goodies to raise awareness for Breast Cancer! Don't they look delish??

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This is a "Think Pink" yard display sent in from Chris Ann Dale, from Flamingos2Go.  Her company creates these yard displays to support people going through treatment. She has more photos & details about her "Think Pink" program here.

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These adorable flags were sent in from Kristin, from Stampin' Fanatic.  She made these for a family member battling Breast Cancer when they went to see her at the hospital. These would be fantastic to have for a fundraising event or to wave at the end of a fundraiser walk as well. You can visit her & get more info here.

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Keri, from The Sweet Life, designed these cakepops for the 5K run she participated in & is donating a portion of the proceeds this month to Breast Cancer Awareness. 

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Thanks so much to all of the readers who took the time to send in some FUN & creative ways to spread awareness or support Breast Cancer.

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PAST SERIES POSTS:
DAY 1: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS- Free Subway Art

DAY 2: PREVENTION is KEY: Breast Cancer Awareness 

DAY 3: FREE Breast Cancer Awareness Tags: Free Download

Feel free to share!

FREEBIE :: Breast Cancer Awareness Tags

     

We continue our series this week talking about

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS!

I have heard of many people who organize events, provide gifts to people fighting this disease and celebrating a loved one and their successes along the way. So I wanted to provide YOU with another FREEBIE this week to help with that! ;)

Enjoy the FREE Breast Cancer Awareness Tags! 

These can be used at a fundraising event, attached to a gift & used as a gift tag or printed & strung together to create mini banners - lots of uses & IDEAS you can use these for! 

Simply print them out & get creative!

I'd LOVE to hear your ideas. Or see pictures!

Enjoy! :)

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Click for your Breast Cancer Awareness Tags & ENJOY! 

**by clicking & downloading this subway art you ARE agreeing to the RULES & copyright guidelines below! 

All I ask in return is just ONE thing . . . . 

please if you are not already, become a fan of my FB page, 

Eye Candy Creative Studio, here or leave me a comment here on the blog letting me know that you downloaded this FREEBIE. 

Either of these lets me know that you were here & you all enjoy these 

& will only encourage me to do MORE for ya'll! =)

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**RULES for FREE DOWNLOADS:**

• Eye Candy Creative Studio printables are designed for your PERSONAL USE only.  
• Please do not re-sell, re-distribute, or claim them as your own.
•  I encourage you to share with your fans, friends, on your blog and all I ask is to PLEASE, {be kind} & post/ tag a link back to this website so I know who's enjoying them. Thanks - I appreciate it! =)
• And PLEASE do NOT remove the copyright mark - thanks! 

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PAST SERIES POSTS:
DAY 1: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS- Free Subway Art

DAY 2: PREVENTION is KEY: Breast Cancer Awareness

Feel free to share!

{PREVENTION is KEY} Breast Cancer Awareness

     

Howdie all – It’s Melissa, from My Party Passion, returning again this month to bring you a special post.  As I would rather be guest blogging about Halloween and Harvest parties, I am blogging about the “other” topic that is on our minds for October. 

In 2012, it is estimated that there will be over 250,000 cases of breast cancer in women in the United States alone.  It is also estimated that close to 40,000 of these women will die of breast cancer.  In men there will be over 2,000 new cases in 2012 and over 400 of those men diagnosed will die. 

I have one word for you today – PREVENTION!    
PREVENTION is the KEY!   

If you do nothing else this year for YOURSELF, I beg of you to get your annual checkups and mamagrams (check with your doctor to see what tests would be right for you). Self-exams are just as important for early detection.

I give myself a birthday present each year and schedule my mammogram for my birthday.  It’s a day where I spend to myself.  It’s a day when I can proudly say I think of ME and ME alone.  It’s not selfish – it’s the opposite!   I will do everything in my power to see my children grow up and grow old.  I know that someday my daughters will be alive to see the CURE for this disease.  For now, I will educate them on ways to prevent getting it!

On behalf of Team Eye Candy – I repeat that word – PREVENTION!  
 It’s the Key!

Breast Cancer Fact source:  Susan G Koman Site

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Party Tips Contributor: Melissa Newell

Melissa Newell has been planning and executing parties for over 20 years - parties have always been a passion of hers.

Melissa’s motto is Go Big or Go Home! She celebrates with her children every chance they get - making each day a celebration of Life!

Creativity on a budget and the attention to the smallest of details is what she is known for. Her blog, My Party Passion, highlights all of the parties that she throws!

You can follow Melissa

blog | website | Facebook | Twitter

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Have you CHECKED?!

Please join us in encouraging a LOVED one to CHECK the 'girls'  . . . better yet, encourage them to get a MAMMOGRAM! Early detection is KEY to saving a LIFE!
 

If you AGREE with us here, please comment below that you commit to getting checked, to get a mammogram this year AND that you will encourage someone as well to do the same! 

If not, please share this post with someone you LOVE or on your page to help us STAND TOGETHER & encourage people to CHECK 'the girls'! 

**btw - I practice what I preach & I am going in for MY 1st mammogram this thursday - laura ;)

PAST SERIES POSTS:
DAY 1: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS- Free Subway Art