Happy Birthday to Pam

I think I love wrapping presents almost as much as I love searching for them and giving them away. For Pam's Birthday today, we knew we wanted to get her stemless wine glasses (she had mentioned she wanted some) and of course you know you cannot buy someone wine glasses without buying a bottle of wine. But as I was seeking out a bottle of wine I saw this BOX of wine and thought it was so cool looking (I am a sucker for packaging) and really this box is a better option for Pam who is the only drinker in her household.

Then, as I was perusing the store, I spotted these roses and I fell in love with the color and had to get them. It was only after I brought them home did I really figure out my neat way of incorporating them (I inserted green floral water tubey things into the handle of the wine box). As for the stemless wine glasses (which were boxed up) I wanted the "wrapping" to match my box-o-wine so I scrounged around and found an old Trader Joe's grocery bag which read "PLEASE RECYCLE THIS BAG" and I said "Okay, I will do you one better and REUSE it first, then recycle it." Don't you like the illustrations on the bag? I cut out a fork to use in a future project and may specifically return to Trader Joe's just for more bags (I guess I should pick up some macarons while I'm there). So, I wrapped the box for the most part but wanted to use the handle because I thought it was a neat feature, and I left the top open and it looked like a bag. I filled it with recycled crinkle paper to finish the look. Overall, I was happy with the design.

Celtic Heart Knot

Today, I thought I would do a brief creative project: try to tie a
Celtic Heart Knot.
After watching this very simple tutorial I scrounged around for something to tie and found this old ball of hemp. I doubled it up to give it some weight and this is what I ended up with.

I'd like to try it with my Dad's boating rope this summer!

Put A Bird (or two) On It

This is a great clip, but since I don't have cable tv, I haven't actually seen the show in its entirety. Speaking of which, a recent project I did involved birds.... It is a lovely little component to an upcoming bachelorette party.


Supplies: Martini glass, Armor Etch liquid, and a brush to apply it with.

Supplies: Reusable, self-stick stencil "stuff" and Bird hole punch to create stencil.
Stencil created.

Stencil applied.


Armor Etch applied with brush.

After about 5 minutes, wipe off etching liquid with wet paper towel and rinse off.


And you're done!

Waffle House = Our House

My mother is magical. I happen to say that I did not have a waffle maker and magically one appeared on my doorstep three days later. So this morning we had waffles! And bacon. Must have bacon. I tried making maple bacon but it wasn't as good as the candied bacon we had last weekend, so I am going to have to try again with MORE candied bacon and take pictures of it before I eat it (if that is possible)....

Long time, no update!

I know it has been a long time, so today there will be two separate posts! An update from my previous post where I drew the cake I was planning on making: here it is finally made!


The beautiful Bride actually did like the cake, she is just silly :)

Upcoming Challenge

This week I will be working with Pam to create my first-ever wedding cake.

Below is a sketch of what we anticipate it to look like.

Fresh magnolias on a red velvet and vanilla bean cream cheese frosted SQUARE cake... I hope I survive!!

Blogging via email, via the iPhone

So, this is my first attempt at doing this. I haven't posted in
forever, yet I have had easy access to the Internet ever since I have gotten my iPhone. One thing I love about it is its camera, which isn't too bad for a phone camera. It even has a focus feature! These are a few of the many photographs I have taken with this camera:

some lavender on my porch

a ToyWatch- I love the contrast of the white watch and the red quilt

and my Bengal, Tessa, in one of her favorite spots- my bathtub!

Damned if I'm gonna miss a class

I may have been sick this morning, but damned if I'm going to miss my cake decorating class that I paid for and of which there are only three! (First one doesn't count, it was just an orientation!) Tonight we did roses, clowns, and other drop flowers. After my first practice clown sitting upright, we had to do one laying down and she said "Try to cross the arms in front of him so he doesn't look dead." To which I said, "Maybe I want him to look dead." So, I made a clown that looked like he had been thrown out of a 10 story building (sorry, to all the clowns that read my blog). Had I colored some frosting red I would have went to town with the whole display, but instead I just scooped him up and threw him back into the container to mix in again. But roses I like, so here are a few pics that I took at the end of class...

This is the second one I did and you can kind of tell that the icing in my bag was transitioning from the cream to the pink, not entirely on purpose, but it has a cool effect....


These next two are a more solid pink and after a little more practice. I have to say I wasn't a fan of my icing consistency because it gave me a kind of ruffled/ragged look on the end of the petals- but then again it does give it a peony look with those edges...hmm... peonies are one of my top favorite flowers, I definitely have something to experiment with this weekend....

Class has begun!

Guess what? I just had my first official cake decorating class tonight! I felt silly taking pictures during class, so all I have is the finished product here, but next time when I do it at home I will take pictures step by step. I learned about different consistencies of icings and how to use different tips. Next week we will be making flowers and clowns but I think I just had a great idea for Maggie and Phil's Halloween Party!

Before and After

I haven't posted in forever, I know! I have been into all sorts of trouble lately and just haven't had the chance! Well, not real trouble... what would you call a new job in a new state in a town where you know no one? Anyway, at my new job I was asked by my principal to design some student of the month certificates and when I asked for the school seal I was given this...

And my issue I have with this lovely electronic piece of information is that it in fact does not look electronic and you cannot blow it up, and you are restricted by the black background. It looks like a photograph of something embroidered!

So I went ahead and redrew it as a vector image so it can potentially be any size you want it to be and it is transparent.

And then I was interested in colorizing it a bit, so I played with it and did this.

My students said it looks a bit "cartoony" like the Simpsons! Which, I will give them that, it is a very simplistic in its lines, but I was sticking with the original typeface. I suppose the next step would be to do a bit more stylizing to the lines and give this a more "classic" look, but hell, that would only happen if I got paid for this!

I'm off to do some baking, now! My sisters sent me lots of baking tools for my birthday (thanks!) so now I must get to more fun stuff!

Fender Bender Cupcake Carnage

What you see here is deliciousness...
Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting (left) and Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese frosting (right). I made them in three different sizes, filled the larger ones with frosting in addition to what is seen on top. I initially saw the recipe months ago on a blog that I regularly read and had been dreaming about them and searching for a reason to make them. I had a friend's birthday come up and decided that these would perfect for the occassion! Normally I don't even think to share recipes on this, however, I have received nothing but rave reviews so I included the links above- I take no credit for the recipes, I just made what you see.

But, I will take credit for this idea below... I made a cardboard "pint glass" as a cupcake stand! Lighting was not so good in the bar, but I abhor my flash. Fellow party-goers then suggested making "pint cakes" so now I am in search of tempered pint glasses that can go in an oven, any thoughts?



Did I mention that on the way to the birthday party I got in a car accident? I spent so much time baking these cupcakes and piping the frosting, only to have them thrown about my cupcake carrier (love it) in my car. Therefore party presentation- not so good, taste- loved by all, story of their delivery- priceless.

Mini!

This is my first batch of mini-cupcakes that I have ever done! It takes a lot of careful work to fill those many little cups, but I was not let down. The frosting is a basic vanilla frosting from scratch and I learned that investing in a good vanilla extract is worth it and next time I might even try heavy whipping cream instead of just milk to thin it out and real vanilla bean. As for the piping, is does make a difference in regard to presentation! I added the dime for a little perspective on the size. Stay tuned, tonight I am making something even better!

salty

There is a story behind this mini-obsession with salt: Liz and I were hosting a Lethal Luau a little while back (that's a Hawaiian-themed murder mystery dinner party) and the main course was to be pork barbecue which called for black Hawaiian salt. We SEARCHED EVERY STORE possible with no luck, though I was pretty confident I had seen it back up north. And I did. And here it is. So, since my best girl recently got hit by a car and survived, I thought I would send her a little present. And this is how I made it. Love her lots. Thank you, God.

Therefore, here's a little DIY to make this present so much better than giving her a bags of salt (which since I was on a hunt for black I decided to get a few other Hawaiian varieties...

Step 1: Buy the salt.


Step 2: Buy super-cute jars.


Step 3: Make fun labels for super-cute jars.


Step 4: Place fun labels on super-cute jars.


Step 5: Fill fun-labeled super-cute jars with salt.


Step 6: Enjoy!

two of my favorite things

I'm pretty sure I have posted once before that two of my favorite things are flowers and ironwork. Well, recently I visited my Alma Mater and shot a few photographs. Way back when, when I went on my first campus tour it was love at first sight. I'll probably share more photographs later on, but I was using my sister's fancy camera, so I played with focusing and this is what I came up with. I wish the rose garden was in better bloom, but I think blooming season for roses is much earlier down here. This place is highly photographed though, so these are probably nothing special, its all just a lesson for me!

soooo tired....

Just got in from Relay for Life. It was a fun night, I didn't even take a nap! I didn't take too many pictures either, but a team next to us had this adorable wagon so I had to ask if I could shoot it. I totally want to have one of these when I grow up and carry garden supplies around in it. I'm not grown up yet, am I, right? Anyway, here it is on the turf in front of a tent, it almost looks like a studio shoot!

ibus

Just wanted to say 'hello!' to all my foreign visitors!
Thanks for reading!
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Salam! G'Day Mate! Olá! Salut! γεια! ¡Hola! Selamat datang!

Interestingly enough, this chart was created in Adobe Illustrator. Sure it is no Excel, but you can't create your own swatches as easily in Excel as you can in Illustrator. See, charts CAN be fun!

more sun = less drawing = more photography

The following collection is from a recent trip and brings together a few of my favorite things: blue skies, old buildings, and the contrast of nature and man-made objects. Click on the pictures to see in full quality!

front of building




courtyard











interior (fan is rotating)