Coffee Table and Paper Flowers

Jon and I recently went on a shopping spree at Joann's to use his employee discount, which they double every so often. Well, really I went on a shopping spree, and showed up at the end so I could use his discount.

Anywho, I got 2 wooden boxes, among other things. The boxes are about coffee table height and are unfinished. This is perfect, because I've been fruitlessly hunting for a coffee table since we moved into our new apartment in May. I'm working on staining and finishing these boxes to be used as movable coffee table surrogates. I'm sure I'll trip over them all the time now that I'm accustomed to not having a coffee table... at least we'll have somewhere to sit in front of the tv to stuff our faces, not that there isn't a perfectly fit dining room table less than 3 feet away.

I've got the tables stained with a charcoal grey tinted stain. I'm planning on putting a few layers of poly-crylic sealer on then doing decorative line-work in black acrylic paint with a few more seal coats on top.


Our wedding is now just 6 months away. I've been working on our guest list, which seems like its never going to end, but not much else beyond that. I'm in a planning stage, more-so than a doing stage. I know what I want my invitations to look like, but I need to finalize the format so I can get quotes on printing prices. I'm excited to do more now that we're starting to run out of time. I've also decided to do paper flowers, based on either a tutorial I found online, or these neat punches I've found at Joann's. I need to do a test run on these and get enough to make a sample of our centerpieces. I'll be putting red paper flowers into mis-matched pieces of white milk-glass.

Lots of planning, now I need to get down to the doing.

Alright, hopefully my next post will be more interesting and have pictures of things I've done!

Peanut Butter Pie

I love peanut butter desserts. Reese anything, buckeyes, Hollywood squares, etc. Chocolate + peanut butter = the best thing ever (especially after a crappy day).

So the recipe I use for this is super SUPER easy & there's no baking... The recipe makes two pies, but you can easily split the recipe and make one, but you'll probably have leftover pudding.

Here we go:
2 graham cracker pie crusts (store bought or home-made, up to you)
1 box devil's food pudding (jello is the only brand that makes this flavor... a regular chocolate pudding would sub.)
1 block cream cheese
1 cup peanut butter
12 oz. cool whip

-Make pie crust if not using store bought
- Prepare devil's food pudding mix according to "pie" directions on box, and divide between the two pie crusts, let chill in refrigerator until set, about 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Mix block of cream cheese with 1 cup of peanut butter until well blended.
- Fold in 1/2 the container of cool whip.
- Divide peanut butter mixture between the two pies.
- Top both pies with the remaining cool whip.

I always let it set up in the refrigerator so the peanut butter layer cools off and sets up a little thicker before serving, which makes it easier to cut. Also, I use the devil's food pudding because it isn't as sweet as the regular chocolate pudding. I like my sweets, but really if it's too sweet tasting it can be a little overwhelming... My mom will eat this pie, and she doesn't like many sweet things.

I end up making two pies every time I make this, because I always make it for parties and family gatherings where I know plenty of it will be eaten It works out that you need one package of each of the ingredients, other than the pie crusts... so if you make one pie, you would have left over pudding (but that doesn't sound like a bad thing).

So... you should make this, and have friends over, and eat pie, and be merry.

Summer!

Summer is here, which means I've graduated [yay!] and have more time on my hands!!! woo!

So, I'm going to tell you about my life a bit here, then we'll move on to some things I've made recently!!

I am a townie. Jon will be a townie with me once he finishes up his summer class and graduates with his MBA... I graduated with my BA in Art History. Graduation was hectic, but I had a lot of fun with my family and later that night my friends. This is what I decorated my cap with:

So. Now that I've graduated, and have a job (we'll see how long-term this job ends up being) I have time and money to be making things!! Yay! Expect to be seeing what I make all summer! Until then though, I'm-a show you what I embroidered for the past while.

I worked on a few projects while I was still in school, mostly associated with the ongoing Hoopla Swap going on in Craftster's Organized Swaps Board. The swaps are really fun, and its nice to make things for other people, and them do the same for you in return!

Each swap has a theme, and you create for your partner based on a questionnaire they fill out and further communication with them in private messages on the site. There are swaps for all types of crafting, but I've mostly done embroidery swaps, as that is the craft I'd most like to hone right now. I've done three embroidery swaps since the owl related/any craft swap I posted about before.

I got into the Hoopla Swap in round three, which was the OTT/One Tiny Thing edition: Requirement for this swap was one hoop of any theme, but it had to be TINY! 4" or smaller in diameter. The smallest hoops I could find for this were 4" and I had two partners. My first partner was a caffeine addict and loved nerdy science, so I stitched this for her:

Hoopla Round 3 - OTT Edition

My second partner for the Round 3 OTT swap liked bikes, and natural looking things, so I stitched her an image inspired by a painting I found on her Wists in an awesome frame that looked like wood (was actually a rubber outer ring).

Hoopla Round 3 - OTT Edition

All I worked in for both of these hoops were backstitch and satin stitch... I've gotten a few books since then that have illustrations and explanations of other stitches, so I can expand on that.

For the third round the theme was Diptych, so for your partner you had to stitch two hoops, but as in diptychs in art, they had to be related. She really liked vintage and creepy horror things.

Hoopla Round 4 - Diptych

Hoopla Round 4 - Diptych

The outlines of the figures were of vintage Victorian line drawings, and I did the skull detailing in white, which matched the fabric in the hoop... You couldn't really see those details at first. They looked like face-less people, until you could see the stitches. I was really very proud of these hoops, even though they were still mostly back stitch and satin stitch, with a bit of split stitch.

For round five the theme was Color Spectrum. The hoops for your partner could consist of shades of a color instead of many colors. One of my partners really liked natural colors and rich browns so I did a few different shades of just that. She liked pin-up girls and reading and such, so I re-worked an old pin-up image to do this.

Round 5 - Color Spectrum

I used back stitch, split stitch, satin, and the heart shaped border I did in what I think was called Peruvian running stitch?

For my other partner, who really liked both Tina Fey and the color turquoise, I did a text based hoop. Here I used back stitch, chain stitch, and long and short (on the smaller what).

Hoopla Round 5 - Color Spectrum

Maybe I'll post what I've received from my partners over time since I've been doing these swaps...

So that's some of what I've done in the past while... as far as embroidery. I did make an awesome stocking for my niece for Christmas, and cooked a whole lot. Hopefully I can find pictures of all that so I can share.

I'm excited to post more. I'll have a lot to be posting for my wedding (that I NEEEEEEEED to start working on again), and things for other peoples' weddings, as I have a few friends getting married too! Yay love and such.

I NEED TO POST MORE

I really need to post more. Its ridiculous how much I've abused this blog...
I do work A LOT and paired with school, it has not made an environment conducive to being productive outside of those two very time and energy consuming suck-fests.

There will be more posts... soon.

I have done some embroidery for a few swaps on Craftster since my last post.
Aaaaaand, Jon and I are finally moving into a new place (WITHOUT ROOMMATES) at the end of May, so there should be plenty of me making stuff to make our new home lovely and organized. By this point I will also have graduated. So yes. More crafting, cooking and posts in the future.

Very excited for all of that.... oh, and the wedding planning has pretty much stopped so that will pick back up again too!

Yay! So stick around/come back and see, it should get awesome.

More Owls

So doing the owl swap left my head storming with ideas of owl-y things to make. I made this for my niece, and hopefully that gets the owl obsession to stop for at least a little bit.

I keep seeing really cute nesting doll/matryoshka themed things online, so it inevitably melded with my owl obsession in my mind.

I got a set of blank, unfinished wood matryoshkas at hobby lobby and they were pretty cheap. I coated each of them with a different color of watercolor paint. Once that was dry, I painted on the owl details with black acrylic paint. After another length of drying, I did two coats of mod-podge.

I really liked the finish after the mod-podge, but I'm not entirely sure how practical it is for use with a toy, so I told my sister she should probably use it as a decoration until she gets to be a bit older.

I've been working on a lot of ideas and such for wedding things... hopefully I'll have something tangible to post about that sometime soon.

Wedding planning has been pretty fun so far too. I got my dress already. We toured a few venues for the ceremony/reception, and decided on one, and even put down a deposit! I have some hardware for my centerpieces (which I'm really excited for).

Once I actually make something, I'll put it here for you to "oooh" and "aaaah" over, or whatever it is you do on the other end.

Strawberry Galette

So the strawberry galette I decided to make on an UNGODLY HOT DAY, came out perfect. So much so that I didn't get a picture of it before Jon and I devoured it.

Jon called it toaster strudel-pizza... t'was a fitting description. I said to serve warm, but we ate it after it was well cooled, sliced like a pizza.

I've also played around with making one with store-bought pie dough with strawberries and canned peaches, and that was decent too... the made-from-scratch dough I first used though was so much more flaky and perfect though.

I have a post about a peanut-butter pie I make coming up!

And, I really need to post more. What kind of person starts a blog saying, oooh I'm going to make stuff then doesn't?! Me apparently... that will end now.

Side note = yesterday I bought some things necessary to begin embroidery. I'm pretty psyched!

What the hell was I thinking?!

What the hell was I thinking?!


Do you want to know what the hell I was thinking?


I apparently thought it was a good idea to make a pastry dough, on a day that is peaking over 100 degrees, and no access to a food processor.


Wow.


As of now, this is seeming like a horrible idea... but I'll let you know just how bad of an idea it was when I actually finish the Strawberry Galette I'm making for Jon's birthday tonight...


Check out the recipe by Martha at her website: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/strawberry-galette
I'm going without the fried basil and the cream, I am however going to throw a few slivers of fresh basil over the top after it has cooked and cooled.


Wish me luck!

Corn Salsa Rip-Off

I should probably post more often.

I have pictures of things I've made in the past few weeks, I just haven't gotten around to posting them.

One of the things I've made in the past few weeks is corn salsa! It's pretty much my rip-off version of how I assume chipotle makes theirs...

It's really easy to make, and the recipe is somewhat vague... You can adjust things to your taste, and you really just throw some stuff in a bowl, let it sit, then enjoy...



CORN SALSA RECIPE:
1 Bag Frozen Corn DO NOT DEFROST (not the 5 lb. economy size, just the standard bag. If I were thinking I would have taken note on the actual size before throwing it away)
1 or 2 Jalapeños Diced (discard the seeds for less heat, keep 'em if you like it hot)
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Onion Diced
Juice of 1/2 to 1 Lime
Handful of Cilantro Chopped
1 to 3 TBSP Kosher Salt

After dicing the onion, jalapeño and cilantro, place into bowl with the bag of still frozen corn (choose bowl large enough to hold the recipe).  Add the juice of 1/2 a lime, and mix until the corn, onion, jalapeño and cilantro are well mixed and coated in lime juice, if you feel like you need more lime juice, add more! Once you've settled on the lime juice amount, add your salt, and toss again.

Once all ingredients are mixed, leave on counter to defrost (or in fridge if not using that day)... As the corn defrosts, it soaks up the lime juice, salt, and cilantro flavors. Its pretty damn good, and tastes a hell of a lot like Chipotle's corn salsa.

I figured this out after Jon and I decided to try and replicate a Chipotle dinner at home one night... this time though, we had cheese quesadillas with black beans and cilantro lime rice. It was damn good.

So other than this, I made something really cute for my niece and a super tasty treat.

Oh, and my friend Ashley had a birthday party for her dog... It was the cutest effing thing ever. All the dogs got to frolic and play, and their people sat and ate and talked while they galavanted about our feet. And, OH AND, there were PUPCAKES! Cupcakes friendly for dog consumption! Oslo really enjoyed it, and it may inspire me to make doggy things.

Love & Rockets
-Heather
(I watched an episode or 3 of My Life as Liz earlier today, don't hate me!)