Golden Shoes + A Freshly Picked Giveaway

Last week, I was giving another great opportunity to work with Freshly Picked, and I couldn't have been more excited! Josie was in dire need of a new pair of moccasins because after six months of wearing her old ones, they finally started to wear on the soles. They succeeded a true test of time, because Josie literally refused to take them off the entire Summer. She wore them indoors, outdoors, even to bed. 

Her new moccasins arrived on Monday, in extremely quick timing and wrapped nicely in a cloth drawstring bag with a cute FP button attached. I pulled the drawstring and to Josie's absolute amazement, I pulled out a new pair of shiny, golden moccasins. The look on her face was that of a child's face on Christmas morning - she was so happy and excited! She couldn't wait to put them on her feet. So we pulled off her old brown moccs for retirement and slipped on the new ones. It's been a full week and she has barely worn anything else. 

Tutu // Sears Top // Joe Fresh Leggings // Old Navy  Denim Jacket // Walmart Moccs // Freshly Picked
Gold is obviously one of our favourites, so I was happy these were in stock. Although, I do wish the new Stay Golden suedes were available before I ordered because daaaaang, those moccasins are so gorgeous! And those Radiant Orchids will never go out of style. 
What's your favourite colour of Freshly Picked moccs? Which would you choose for your little one? Comment below and enter seven other ways for a chance to win a pair (There's a bonus entry for 3 points if you do the Instagram Challenge)! Contest ends Friday, September 26th and will be announced that day. United States and Canada only.
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recipe // easy cream cheesy whoopie pies

Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup milk

1 tbsp vinegar

Cream Cheese Filling

1 pkg (8oz. or 1 cup) cream cheese

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 cups of icing sugar, sifted

Gel paste food colouring (optional)

♥ Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).

♥ In a medium sized bowl combine flour, cocoa and baking powder and whisk until well combined. In a seperate small bowl, make your buttermilk by adding the vinegar into the milk and stirring. Let sit while you do the rest so it can thicken up. You can also use regular buttermilk, but this is a great substitute as most people don't just have buttermilk laying around. You can also use lemon juice if you don't have vinegar.

♥ In your stand up mixer, or in a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about two minutes). Crack open your egg in a separate bowl or cup and then add to mixture. Add vanilla. Beat until just combined. Alternating the flour mix and buttermilk, add it to the butter mixture. Start with the flour mix and end with the flour mix (3 additions of flour, 2 additions of buttermilk).

♥ You can drop by 2 heaping tbsp on a greased baking sheet, but I like to pipe it into mounds with a Wilton 1A piping tip. You be the judge of size. For 12 to 16 whoopie pies, I'd make them about the amount of 2 tbsp but you can make them bite size or large if you'd like!

♥ Bake for about 12-13 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool on a rack.

To make filling:

♥ Beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla once it's smooth. Sift icing sugar one cup at a time into the bowl and beat on low-medium speed. (Tip: I cover my stand up mixer with a tea towel while doing this to avoid a big cloud of sugar dust!) Add the next cup of sifted sugar. This should be more than enough icing sugar but if you like your fillings really thick you can add another half a cup or a whole cup. I don't like my icing that sweet though, so I stick to less as possible.

♥ You can add gel paste food colouring at this point if you'd like. I used Wilton Violet gel paste for mine to make a nice pastel purple, but you can use any colour you want. You could even mix it up and make a few different colours for extra fun! I wouldn't suggest using liquid food colouring as it will tamper with the texture of your filling and make it runny.

♥ After the cake has completely cooled, you can either blob the filling onto the flat sides of the cake cookies and smush another one into it like a sandwich. Or, again, you can pipe the filling on with a 1A piping tip for a smoother, more pretty look.

Show off your cute little desserts and share with your friends and family. Come back and tell me what you think!

P.S Don't forget to enter to win a pair of Freshly Picked baby moccasins, contest ends tonight at midnight EST!!

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CLOSED review + giveaway // freshly picked moccasins

I was over the moon when the opportunity struck to partner up with Freshly Picked. Not only am I obsessed with how adorable those little moccasins are, I truly am inspired by Susan and her ability to jump start her business so well and so quickly. I gushed over seeing her on Shark Tank so hard, I'm pretty sure Jesse thinks I have a crush on her. It's just that I'm so proud of her and her team (I mean, come on - that is the best story of starting a business!). I definitely look up to her a lot. Anyway, when I was asked if I'd like to do a review and giveaway it took me 0.000001 seconds to decide YES.

They arrived in a pretty drawstring bag with the logo on it in a secure bubble package - gotta love that! Josie scooped up the cutest, and in my opinion, most versatile pair of weathered brown moccs. Although I do love the vibrant and gorgeous colours they carry (see below), I wanted Josie to be able to wear the crap out them before she grew too big. To me, brown matches basically everything and I can pass them on to my new nephew once he's big enough. 

They're the cutest shoes I've ever seen. After fully inspecting them (because I'm a nut for checking out other people's work), I discovered they are really well made and will stand the test of time. The best part about them is the hidden elastics around the ankles, which are perfect for keeping those little feetsies inside the shoe and prevent them from being pulled off so easily. A great feature for babies! Josie tried pulling these suckers off 10 times while taking this photo shoot to no avail. She was not impressed about this entire endeavor... Toddlers.. am I right?

The only problem I had with the moccs were the measurements. It's actually pretty basic sizing but I'm a ninny and the chart confused me a bit at first. I accidentally used the chart wrong and sized up a little too much. But, as a mom, I'm not even mad about it because Josie will grow into them eventually. There's nothing worse than getting a pair of shoes for your baby only to find they don't fit or probably only have a few days to wear them. 

Overall, I am so so happy that Josie finally owns a pair of these great quality, adorable moccasins. They are definitely made with babies in mind and worth the price, for sure. Freshly Picked moccasins are built for comfort and speed and I would definitely recommend them to everyone with a baby!

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Not ready to put out $60 on a pair of baby shoes? Here's your chance to win a pair of your choice! Just enter below in the Rafflecopter window - there's plenty of ways to enter after you've liked us on Facebook!

The Contest:

- Is open to US and Canadian residents only. 

- Ends on Tuesday, March 18th at 12:00pm EST. 

- Winner will be announced the following day as a regular post, and will be contacted via email.

- Bonus: Enter on Instagram by following @thewhaleandwasp and tagging 3 of your friends to the contest photo who you think would love to win a pair. Just make sure you come back here and add that you did so in the Rafflecopter window <-- The entry will not be valid unless you do this!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

The product in this post was given to me as a gift, courtesy of Freshly Picked, specifically for this review.  All opinions of this company and product are true and are my own. That being said, I only recommend products that I fully believe in and love and know would be of value to my readers.