Finished Quilt

After being shown this Youtube video, I was blown away! It's like doing origami with fabric! I absolutely HAD to try it, and with Christmas coming it was the perfect excuse.

 It took a bit of finagling trying to figure out how to get the diamonds between the different blocks when piecing them together. I love the gradient with the chevron I used for those corner stones.  (Can I call them cornderstones?)  I ended up taking the 4 finished blocks, and using them like I would the four pieces of fabric.  With all the twisting you do, I was holding my breath each time I put another four together!

 And the red square, let be honest, could I make something without throwing in at least a little red?

My Happiness Project

This past summer, I have fallen in love with the book "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. She realized that though she has everything she really needs and has a great life, she isn't has happy as she could be. One of my favorite comments that she makes is that she doesn't want to change herself, but better accept herself and find more fulfillment in the world around her. Similar to Ben Franklin who identified thirteen virtues which he wanted to cultivate-temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility--Gretchen Rubin broke down her life into twelve different categories with concrete goals of things she wants to work on to make her life fuller, more meaningful, and as a result-happier.

Being far too caught up with school, work, dating, and just life in general I enjoyed reading the book last year, but never followed through with actually implementing much of it! What better time to try again than the new year, right?

Family Tree

It's taken far too long, but I've finally finished it!  I finally finished painting the tree on Mom's wall!  I absolutely love the pictures we chose, they're more of the fun, old pictures that we don't usually usually display: the little blue trailer, Grandma and Grandpa having a snowball fight, Mom and Dad waiting to get their wedding certificate signed are some of my favorites. 

 It was more complicated than I though it would be, being over a stairwell.  After figuring out how to build out the stairs with cinder blocks, it was much easier.  Regardless, I refuse to pain over a stairwell again!  

Decorating my Kitchen

I've been having fun decorating a new apartment.  

 I haven't had curtains in four years!  It's exciting stuff...

Lucky in Love-Scratch Cards

Who doesn't love scratching off the silver boxes on lottery tickets or gift cards to see the message underneath, it's at least one of my favorite things. Thanks to Pinterest, I learned how to make those. It's one of the easiest things and I loved making these cards.

All you do is write your message, laminate it or they said covering it in packaging tape works just as well. Then, mix two parts metallic paint with one part dish soap. I had to do two or three layers to cover the writing, but I'm so happy with how these turned out. It works so well!

Valentine's Cookies

With several phone calls to my sister, I love these sugar cookies that I made, the love letter ones especially which I think are perfect for a missionary.

The pink ones are actually peanut butter cookies. After I made the dough i added a two caps of red food coloring and rolled them in red and white coarse sugar. The hugs instead of kisses, were put in the middle half way through baking. I found if I put them in at the beginning the chocolate melts too much.

Chunky Chicken Soup

This recipe is so good and really easy to make. I've become a big fan of the Pioneer Woman blog, (thanks Bri!), and it's one of her recipes. I've never cooked with parsnips before, and I'm not sure I like the taste, at least not how strong it is in this recipe. I probably would make this again with one less, and add more celery to give it more structure and change in texture. I loved it though!

Ingredients

• 1 whole Chicken
• 1 whole Bay Leaf
• 64 ounces, fluid Unsalted (or Low Sodium) Chicken Broth (you May Use Half Broth And Half Water If Desired.)
• 1 whole Large Onion, Chopped
• 3 whole Ribs Of Celery, Sliced
• 3 whole Carrots, Peeled And Chopped
• 3 whole Parsnips, Peeled And Chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Ground Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Place all ingredients but the pepper into a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until chicken is done, vegetables are tender, and soup flavor is divine. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve in a bowl, then sprinkle black pepper over the top.

*Note: Adjust broth levels and/or vegetable amounts as needed.

Book Wreath

Thank you, Pinterest. I have another craft I have to do! I thought this was beautiful, though I felt so guilty cutting up a book to make it. I found The Count of Monte Cristo and Camille by Alexandre Dumas at DI, which are my two favorite books. After four sticks of hot glue, burnt fingers, down one book, and 200 cones later, this is what I came up with! I love looking at the pages and being able to recognize the story, I smile every time.

Overdue Update

This semester has been so busy and I've gotten too far behind on my posts. Now it's time to play catch up!

To start off the semester, I made a birthday cake for my roommate, Hannah. Happy 22nd birthday, Hannah! (You're just going to ignore that this is three months later...) I had so much fun making this cake and it was probably one of the easiest ones I've decorated! I experimented this time with a Swiss meringue butter cream, which is much more forgiving than regular butter cream and not nearly as sweet, where the icing is a good inch thick. I love how fancy it looks, when all I did was take a petal tip, and a few zig-zags later, voilà!



My favorite part of the cake is the layers, all five of them. I did a gradient from dark yellow to white with an easy raspberry filling in between.
I slacked off and got busy with school, I didn't do too much for a few months until Christmas time. Merry Christmas! Mom gave me a small budget and asked that I do a Christmas/wintery display in the nook above the dining table. I absolutely love decorating and went to town at Hobby Lobby. I think Mom almost died when she saw I was buying dark red feathers and gems to put in the garland, but I like how it turned out.



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Over the past couple of months I've become addicted to Pinterest. (Thanks Amber and Sarah!) I've learned things from fashion and hair tips to homemade dishwasher detergent recipes to more craft ideas than I'll ever be able to do! One day I saw a picture with baked marbles and I thought that they were absolutely beautiful, (much to the cringe of Mom who made these in the '60s). After I baked them, doused them in cold water and watch them crack, I had to figure out something good to do with them...with a little bit of practice I twisted wire around them and came up with this:






I absolutely love these. I have one hanging on my car mirror and it sparkles so much in the sunlight!

Lemon Cake

This cake needs a little bit of work still. It's a lemon cake with a raspberry filling and a white chocolate mousse icing. Next time I just need to make more mousse and add just a touch of sugar to the raspberry filling. Still, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only thing different from the recipe is I added a package of white chocolate instant pudding to the mousse, I made this before and without that it's way too runny.

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 8 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, garnish

Directions

1. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for two 9 inch round pans. Cool cakes completely, then split each in half to make 4 layers.
2. To make Raspberry Filling: In a blender or food processor, puree raspberries. In a saucepan, heat pureed raspberries until boiling. Mix cornstarch with a small amount of water and stir into raspberries. cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Set aside to cool.
3. To make White Chocolate Mousse: In the top of a double boiler, heat white chocolate with 1 cup of the cream, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm. Whip the remaining 2 cups cream until soft peaks form. Stir in the vanilla. Fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture, then quickly fold in the remaining whipped cream. Do not over-mix, or the mousse will become grainy.
4. Place 1 cake layer on serving plate and spread with white chocolate mousse. Place the next layer on top and spread with raspberry filling. Repeat next layer of cake with mousse. Cover with the final layer of cake. Frost top and sides with mousse. Pipe a border with remaining mousse. Garnish with fresh berries.

"Funny Face"

Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite people; she was so classy and very intelligent and always very modest. I tried to draw the Audrey Hepburn picture that Fred Astaire took at the beginning of "Funny Face." It's been a long time since I've drawn so it was a little rough, I need a little more practice, but I'm really happy with how the eyes turned out.

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."
- Audrey Hepburn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI0ZHQON_IQ

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

This is just about as close to heaven as you can get: cheesecake stuffed strawberries. They might be one of my favorite treats, and it only took about 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts fresh strawberries
• 1 box Jello No Bake Cheesecake
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Chocolate for drizzling

Directions

• Wash berries and hollow out the centers
• Mix cheesecake according to directions. Put cheesecake into piping bag and fill each strawberry until slightly overfilled.
• Dip into crushed graham crackers to coat the top
  
• Drizzle with chocolate

These are addicting, I can't get over how good they are! I got this idea from http://juneberry-lane.blogspot.com/

Pinwheel Bouquet

My apartment needed a new summer center piece and what's more summery than pinwheels? I felt like I was back in first grade. I got the idea from http://juneberry-lane.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-tuesday-diy-paper-pinwheels.html which is becoming one of my favorite blogs, I have so many new projects I want to do.

Well...

I didn't make this, Mom did for me about two Christmases ago. I was excited though, when I moved out of my old apartment at the beginning of last summer we misplaced it...until a few days ago! It makes me smile, the kitchen is finally complete.

"I'll Take You For a Ride on my Big Green Tractor..."

What's the quickest and most sure fire way to get me to do something? Pretty easy, tell me I can't. Someone told me I couldn't make a tractor cake and I had to prove them wrong. (And this has nothing to do with being a Shaw and slightly competitive...)

The tractor was pretty easy, I ended up making it out of rice krispies

Cowboy Boots and Tractors

Chocolate, mmmh. White chocolate, wonderful. White chocolate with mint, even better. Then turn it into tractors and boots, oh it's marvelous.

Sisters

Sisters really are the best friends.

I absolutely loved this project, there couldn't have been anything easier; staining a wooden block, vinyl lettering, a few flowers and jewels, tie on a ribbon...