that's mellifluous!

Oscar loves twine

2012-01-27T17:18:00.001-05:00

he likes to pretend like it's a fancy necklace.

so pretty. so fancy.

puppy chow

2012-01-26T09:28:00.000-05:00

have you ever made this before?

I used to make it all the time when I was in high school a century ago. I kinda forgot about it and was in the cereal aisle the other day and remembered! So I bought the Chex cereal and went to town!

1 box of Chex cereal (corn or rice. I used rice)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2-2 cups confectioners' sugar

(when I was young I omitted the butter and vanilla)

Melt butter, peanut butter and chocolate chips together. Add vanilla. Stir.

Pour chocolate mix over cereal and stir (or mix with hands) until coated.

Add confectioners' sugar to coat. (if you put the mix in a bowl with a top that seals on tightly, you can put the sugar in and then seal the bowl and shake it up, baby!)

Next time I think I might replace the peanut butter with Nutella!

I know. I'm wild.

;)

origami cat!!!

2012-01-25T10:38:00.000-05:00

needless to say I was super excited when I came across this.

More difficult than a paper crane, but totally worth it!

his face hooks over the top of the page... adorable!

the perfect book to use a cat bookmark on.

wedding picture project

2012-01-24T00:12:00.000-05:00

Mister got me this distressed frame when we got married and it has been so naked for the past 10 months so I decided to dress it up.

I used Picnik to edit some of our wedding pics into a cool retro black and white, then I cropped them into squares.

It cost less than $5 (including shipping) to print them on Shutterfly as 4x6 prints (not bad considering some other sites who would charge at least $1 per print. I had 16 printed.)

Still have a ton of leftover jute twine from the big day.

yay!

cutesy pootsy!

black bean and mushroom chili

2012-01-23T11:10:00.001-05:00

inspired by this pin.

I saw this and I had to make it. I didn't want to make it in the slow cooker because we didn't have time. So I just cooked it in a big pot (dutch oven... whatever)

A little spicy so if you're weird about spices... eliminate the chipotle peppers with adobo sauce and you should be okay.

we like cheese in our house.

mmm.

oscar loves pillow fortresses.

2012-01-20T15:24:00.001-05:00

no one can penetrate his wall of pillows.

back to regular posting next week... promise!!

Oscar loves box springs

2012-01-13T00:18:00.003-05:00

someone got a new bed frame... which means Oscar finds a way to climb to the top of the vertical box springs and chill.

holding on for dear life.

gettin' comfy.

gettin' really comfy.

DIY felt flower

2012-01-12T00:37:00.000-05:00

It's always good to know how to make a felt flower... you never know when you may need one.

tools. felt, scissors, hot glue gun.

cut a strip of felt.

I eyeballed it. It's about 1.75 inches wide.

hot glue it in half.

*make sure you hot glue just the edge.

cut small slits all the way down the edge.

*opposite the hot glue edge, fool.

stop, drop and roll.

*stop and drop are optional.

this is what it should look like upside down.

and right side up.

now use your fingers to fluff the petals.

whoa! they're multiplying!!

*notice different slit widths make a different looking flower.

**a shorter length on the felt gives you a smaller flower.

Now you can make a flower for your hair, make a wreath, gift wrap, make a picture frame, make a pizza... NO do NOT put felt flowers on your pizza. I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

creamy caprese pasta + cheesey garlic bread

2012-01-09T12:11:00.000-05:00

this pin inspired me.

gathering ingredients.

creamy and tomatoey.

penne not my fave, I may try it with farfalle or a different type of pasta next time.

CHEESE!

garlic bread was easy peasy.

french bread, butter, minced garlic, topped with mozzarella and Italian spices.

meatless.

marvelous.

oscar loves drawers

2012-01-06T10:39:00.000-05:00

not drawers like undies, sicko.

drawers that clothes go in.

"your chest of drawers is a little outdated, mom. maybe we should refinish it or paint it or something."

I know, Oscar. I know.

beware: this milkshake would certainly bring all the boys to your yard.

2012-01-05T15:42:00.000-05:00

I have a friend who claims that she hates nutella. I don't really fully believe her. I mean, seriously? How can you hate this stuff? I think she might have something wrong with her. I'm not naming any names, but her blog is here. haha.

This was super easy to make.

vanilla ice cream (about 3 scoops for one serving), a heaping tablespoon of nutella (I mean, heaping), milk (I eyeballed it. more for thin, less for thick). Hang on to your syrup.

mix, pour in a wine glass (it will make you feel fancier, trust me) and pour a little choco syrup on the top.

so good. SO GOOD!

goals, aspirations, hopes, dream boards

2012-01-04T23:58:00.002-05:00

our new New Year's tradition.

"aren't we done talking about New Year's yet?" you say?

not quite.

We've done it before, but not on New Year's. I think it's most appropriate to do on the first day of the year. Like starting anew. Reclaiming your life.

no. the couch is not where they belong.

the top of my board.

my whole board.

the mister's board. He put chocolate chip cookies on it just because he loves them. he's kinda awesome.

DIY sparkly star

2012-01-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

we went to a casual party for New Year's, so we didn't get dressed up. I wanted to be sparkly though so I made this to wear in my hair. Here's how it went down...

I drew a star on card stock, cut it out, traced it onto some felt (any color would do) and cut it out again.

I glued the card stock star to the felt star.

I painted the card stock a metallic gold.

(you probably could skip this step, but I wanted to make sure kraft color didn't show through the glitter)

After the paint dried, I put a thin coat of Mod Podge on the star and immediately covered it in glitter.

shake, shake shake and there you are!

hot glue a barrette on the back...

and stick it in your hair!

now I'm sparkly. thank goodness!

meatless new year's

2012-01-02T13:55:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make a little something something for lunch on New Year's Day. We don't really care for the greens a lot of southerners cook on New Year's so we went with broccoli.

chopped and ready to prep.

I also decided to make black eyed pea dip instead of boring old black eyed peas.

recipe here.

oh the broccoli's done!

recipe here.

our meal.

blackeyed pea dip, oven roasted broccoli, and cheddar cheese biscuits.

yum.

2011 memories.

2011-12-31T21:31:00.001-05:00

January - a special party just for my man and me.

these girls are the most incredible hostesses anyone could ask for!

February - lots of wedding prep. Don't know how I could have gotten it all done without my friend Bethany. This is not Oscar, by the way. Her kitty is his doppelgänger.

March - the most amazing day of my life. I got married to my best friend.

April - I got chosen to be the page turner for Pete the Cat, a book reading and signing that my brother and I took my nieces to. This is my awkward face.

May - we were kinda boring during May. However, we did make it to a party. So here we are with our friend Burgin.

June - at the park picnicking and listening to the symphony. Ah. We're so cultured... haha.

July - I got a stress fracture. Rocked the boot the best I could.

August - hit lots of rocks floating down the river.

September - the mister's birthday... his cake ended up looking like a glowing orb.

October - cheeky pumpkin month.

November - I took some fun pictures of the mister. He started a blog. AND he got a real grown up job! It was a good month.

December - my family. I love them. I especially love cooking with them.

It's been a spectacular year filled with love, new beginnings and great experiences. I hope you have a really wonderful New Year filled with light and love. Happy 2012!

Oscar loves Korg 8-track digital recorders

2011-12-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

he's thinking about the next song he wants to record.

We told him we have a better one he can use, but he prefers the older model.

Christmas dump, part 5... blueberry breakfast cake

2011-12-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

oh, Pinterest! how you inspire me with recipes and projects!

I made this for breakfast on Christmas morn.

it was gone very quickly.

I think my family liked it.

Christmas dump, part 4... creative wrapping

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

I couldn't help myself. I just had to hot glue buttons onto my gifts this year!

Christmas dump, part 3... green velvet whoopies

2011-12-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

my sister-in-law (not you, Deborah) was calling them Grinch pies as my nephew was downing them Christmas day. All I did was replace red food coloring with green... maybe something to think about in March???

"my poop was green today from your whoopie pies." - Katherine, my niece

Christmas dump, part 2... DIY sparkle letters

2011-12-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love handmade gifts. I love giving them and receiving them. Here's what I did for my nieces this year...

I came across these chipboard letters at the craft store so I painted them with acrylic paint.

easy peasy.

then a little mod podge and glitter.

I love sparkles!

added a felt flower and some ribbon to the back!

ready to hang on 2 little girl walls!

Christmas dump, part 1... elf doughnuts

2011-12-26T13:17:00.000-05:00

I hope you had a super fantastic holiday!

This week I'm posting my Christmas projects that I finished up last week and didn't blog about.

I can't say this was my idea... this has been floating around Pinterest throughout the holiday season.

I thought that since I was spending Christmas with the nieces, it would be a fun project to do (and it was fast, too!)

Cheerios, powdered sugar, candy melts, and sprinkles!

powdered doughnut.

green sprinkles!

setting up for the elves to go back home.

yum yum!!

oscar loves his own reflection

2011-12-23T17:06:00.000-05:00

look at that face. how could you deny it?

snowflakes from junk mail.

2011-12-21T01:30:00.000-05:00

inspired by this pin

I always loved making snowflakes as a child. It was just as fun to make them as an adult. Especially since it puts my junk mail to good use. It also makes me feel good to have some sort of snow in my life since it's staying in the 50's and 60's around here. blah.

Oscar loves wreaths

2011-12-16T10:05:00.001-05:00

He just loves Christmas time. He can't get enough.

send me an angel... right. now.

2011-12-15T02:23:00.000-05:00

so at our little shindig the other day, I decided to give these a go.

inspired by this pin.

cream cheese + peppermint extract + powdered sugar + powdered sugar + powdered sugar + just a little more powdered sugar = these little angels

don't you love my heavenly effect?

DIY Christmas dishtowel

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I got crafty last week and decided to put some fabric flowers on a dish towel.

(for fabric flower tutorial, click here.)

so I picked up some scraps of red, green and yellow and made fabric flowers (minus the hot glued buttons)

figured out how I wanted the flowers on the towel and then pinned them in their spot.

sewed buttons on.

this keeps the flowers in place.

you have to make sure that you catch the fabric on your needle so be sure that your flower middles aren't too large (or buttons too small!!)

and done.

something that can be easily done while watching episodes of Intervention you've DVR'ed.

it's a really good show.

partay!

2011-12-12T13:19:00.000-05:00

we had a little Christmas get together this weekend.

we served a few treats...

simmered some wassail (I also made eggnog from scratch, not pictured)...

handy John hung up my handmade snowflakes...

we put out fresh flowers (time for the cats to throw up everywhere!)...

and Oscar enjoyed some new laps.

Happy Holidays!!!

Oscar loves fuzzy socks

2011-12-09T09:08:00.001-05:00

oh, fudge.

2011-12-08T22:58:00.001-05:00

I've not been having the best of luck lately with my baking. Things still taste fantastic, but the look and texture has been a little off. Really frustrating. Today we'll talk about fudge. I'll be posting other awkward treats next week.

marshmallow fluff, butter, sugar, etc... everything's melting just fine!

and boiling up beautifully.

hmmm... a little thick for fresh out of the saucepan, but I haven't completely lost hope.

cakey, crumbly, doo-dooey looking fudge it is.

it's better to taste marvelous than to look marvelous... or something like that.

my Christmas wreath

2011-12-07T14:06:00.001-05:00

feliz navidad!

Christmas bird

2011-12-07T00:32:00.001-05:00

I love having an embroidery machine. It saves me a lot of time and money when I need something done. Here's a little something I threw together last night in an attempt to make my kitchen a little more Christmasy...

oscar loves Christmas lights!!

2011-12-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

peppermint + chocolate = a winning combo!

2011-11-29T09:24:00.001-05:00

peppermint and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combinations.

peppermint bark is something that I get really excited to make when the holidays roll around.

here's a peek at my first batch of the season...

I usually put my peppermints in a plastic bag and go at them with a hammer, but this time I used the food processor... requires much less effort, but much more cleaning.

bottom layer.

top layer.

tasty!

our first Christmas.

2011-11-27T23:44:00.001-05:00

So Thanksgiving came and went and it was a glorious feast... now I need to run 100 miles this week to make up for all the junk I ate.

My brother's mother-in-law gave us an "our first Christmas" ornament this weekend and it was so nice. I was excited because I wanted to have one to hang on our tree... when I pulled it out of my suitcase to show the mister, it fell off of the hook and shattered. Sad day!!

So I decided to throw together an ornament for us to have on our tree. We happened to have some clear balls (ornament balls, sickos!) and some old programs from our wedding. So I cut up a program (minus the front piece with the birds and the date) and stuffed the ball with the cut up program.

it was a fast project... and sentimental! Can't beat it!

Oscar loves sewing

2011-11-25T11:37:00.001-05:00

he needs to learn how to replace the bobbin.

DIY burlap stockings

2011-11-23T00:32:00.001-05:00

too soon???

nahhh.

I decided to hand embroider names on the stockings...

you know, just to be more difficult and time consuming.

I found a pretty font, printed everybody's name and traced it with a pencil on fabric.

It's not too difficult to make your own template for a stocking. So I got 3 pieces of card stock, taped them together, drew a big fat stocking and cut. it. out.

hand embroidery time!

using the template, I cute out 8 pieces of burlap and 8 pieces of lining

using pinking shears, I cut squares of the names I embroidered

I sewed the names on the unfinished stockings, then sewed the stocking together inside out, turned it right side out, put a ribbon on it and...

aw.

aren't we a cute family of stockings!

apple cobbler cookies

2011-11-21T14:05:00.001-05:00

recipe here.

They taste more like an apple crisp than cobbler, but who's asking all these questions when all a girl wants to do is eat cookies. It's basically oatmeal cookies with chopped up apples instead of raisins. Why do people ruin oatmeal cookies with raisins anyway?

and of course you could eat these and call it meatless monday!

Oscar loves polka dot pj pants

2011-11-18T10:29:00.001-05:00

pinterest made me make a quesadilla

2011-11-16T21:34:00.001-05:00

inspired by this pin.

I am determined to not be a person who just sits around and pins things and doesn't make the things they pin. So here we are.

next time, I may need to use pre-shredded mozzarella.

it was juicy juicy.

I love cheese... don't judge me.

I love that golden brown.

makes my heart smile.

I wish it was time to eat again.

DIY gold striped platter

2011-11-15T01:09:00.001-05:00

I am really in love with stripes right now... and I thought it would be really super cool to have a pink and gold striped platter. So I made a big and a little. Here's the DIY.

you can buy clear glass plates and platters pretty cheap and you can do a lot of cool projects with them

(um, hello? Christmas presents!)

Tape off the platter with painters tape to make stripes. You could do a gingham pattern, too... or even Chevron if you're feeling fancy!

spray it. (notice I paint on the underside so I can still put food on the platter :)

wait for the paint to dry and peel tape.

Spray with contrasting color.

cool!! Don't look too closely. The lines aren't perfect, but I'm keeping it so it doesn't matter so much :)

breakfast for din din.

2011-11-14T09:57:00.001-05:00

pancakes for dinner? you know it! I used this recipe. It kept me from going to the store to buy any ingredients... score!!

Did you know that if you put white vinegar in milk, it sours it like buttermilk? Pretty cool.

I used an ice cream scoop to measure out and pour my batter. It keeps things even. I like things even.

yum...

and yum.

oscar loves Whole Foods

2011-11-11T11:01:00.001-04:00

...and chalk.

Whole Foods does have good bags!

cranberries!!

2011-11-08T13:26:00.001-04:00

I felt like I wanted to practice a Thanksgiving recipe this weekend and this pin inspired me.

cranberry salsa.

I food processed mine a little more than my pin, but it was so delectable.

even the husband liked it.

we devoured it. I was so happy that it was so tasty that I jumped up and gave my husband a big hug. ha!

veggie paella

2011-11-07T17:14:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I went to a wedding and the bride's brother-in-law made a huge pot of paella to feed the guests at the reception. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was so sad that it had meat in it because I really wanted to partake in this beauty, but instead I just stared at it, enamored, chewing on celery sticks and carrots (and wedding cake... who am I kidding?)

waiting to be chopped.

yay for meatless mondays!!

I took this recipe from an old Vegetarian Times magazine. I'm sure you could probably search for it online.

oscar loves his daddy.

2011-11-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

this happens most mornings.

this particular morning, I was already up and moving and I hear, "Al, Oscar loves David! Oscar loves David!" coming from the bedroom. So here ya go, hun.

Oscar loves David.

the mister.

2011-11-03T02:00:00.000-04:00

I took some pics of David the other weekend. Here's just a few...

ah there's that awesome lemon tree!

we don't usually keep our piano in the backyard, but he thought it would be cool for pics... so we did it.

In other news, he now has a blog that I haven't blogged about yet.

check out the mister!

pumpkin. protein. fail.

2011-11-02T13:19:00.000-04:00

I am on the hunt for the perfect protein bar recipe. I feel like it's so difficult to find a protein bar with no artificial sweeteners and not a ton of sugar.... like super difficult. So I found a recipe for pumpkin protein bars sweetened with stevia and loaded with vegan protein... yay! I was so excited.

I was so excited to make this... this is after I baked it. It was just a big rubbery failure.

sad face :(

the protein bar search continues...

mummies!!

2011-11-01T10:23:00.000-04:00

okay so Halloween's over... but I wanted to squeeze this post in.

My sweet little niece turned 5 yesterday and she had a Halloween birthday party. My sister-in-law asked me, the vegetarian, to make these pig in a blanket mummies. So here's my meat post. The easy part was not eating them as I made them ;)

uncooked mummies.

has this ever happened to you? it just exploded out of the end!

snuggle bunny mummies.

leftover dough... it looked like a scary Halloween face, so I snapped a pic!

happy halloween!!

2011-10-31T16:06:00.001-04:00

did you carve a pumpkin this year?

Oscar loves duvet disguise.

2011-10-28T00:48:00.001-04:00

DIY flaxseed neck wrap

2011-10-27T15:17:00.000-04:00

I made a ton of these last year for Christmas gifts. My husband has been needing a heating pad so I made him one and decided to make a tutorial out of it.

Cut out 2 pieces of fabric (preferable 100% cotton. quilting fabrics work great!)

20 inches long, 6 inches wide.

sew right sides together only on the long sides.

fold one short end to look like this and then stitch it together.

measure out a 1 or 1.5 cups of flaxseeds.

carefully pour the flaxseeds into the casing and stitch about 6.5 inches up from short end seam.

pour about 3 - 4 cups of flaxseeds, it should look like this pic.

finish by stitching about 6.5 inches from other end, pouring 1-1.5 cups of flaxseeds into the last section of the wrap. Finish by folding the end in just like the other end and stitching shut.

finished product.

after about 3 minutes in the microwave (in 90 second increments)

modeled by the mister.

buttonhead

2011-10-26T11:02:00.001-04:00

I've really been needing some new hair accessories, so I sat down and threw these together pretty quickly.

buttons, hot glue, and bobby pins.

super easy. super cool.

looky what I discovered in our backyard!

2011-10-25T14:00:00.000-04:00

I was walking out to our garage and noticed a piece of fruit on the ground. I picked it up and realized it was a lemon! Then I realized that the tree in the back of our yard that I never really paid close attention to had lemons all over it! We have a lemon tree! Is it wrong that I never noticed it before now?

black bean and corn quinoa

2011-10-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

mmmmm!!

recipe here.

oscar loves john.

2011-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

you're a real friend if you come over to play video games and Oscar passes out on your leg.

can't. stop. making. treats.

2011-10-20T01:33:00.000-04:00

I know I've been really delectable lately. I can't help myself. I pinned this pin several weeks ago based solely on the fact that it just looked so freakin' tasty. So the mister was wanting a treat the other night and I had all the ingredients on hand to make it...

awesome because you don't dirty up dishes really. it's all done in the skillet.

fresh from the oven.

no vanilla ice cream. I guess we just eat a little extra cookie to make up for it!!

easy apple snack

2011-10-19T08:30:00.000-04:00

We had craft night last Friday night (another blog post to com) and I was scrambling to make a snack. Here's what I came up with...

apple havarti crescent bites

peeled, "cubed" granny smith apples

one block of havarti cheese

refrigerated crescent roll dough

honey (optional)

cut dough in small triangles (about half the size of the precut triangles)

wrap an apple cube and a small cut of cheese

for a slightly sweeter taste, add a small dot of honey before wrapping

Bake according to directions on crescent packaging

not one leftover!

yum yum to the tum tum!

messin' around with braids again.

2011-10-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

meatless monday: black bean burritos

2011-10-17T11:50:00.000-04:00

filling: black beans, onion, red bell pepper, garlic, jalapenos, cilantro (and cream cheese... sorry, vegan sticklers)

I spend a lot of time watching the guys at Moe's wrap burritos. I'm getting there.

oscar loves old PC's

2011-10-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

he really loves that floppy disk drive. I can see it in his eyes.

pumpkin whoopie pies

2011-10-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

it's October. Time to get pumpkin-obsessed. Come on. Everbody's doing it...

dry ingredients.

pumpkin mix.

happy to use my little ice cream scoop to make perfect pumpkin balls.

whoopee!

I took these to my next door neighbor's house for an Oktoberfest party. A hit.

sparkle!!

2011-10-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

As a massage therapist, I usually have to keep my nails ridiculously short. People will see my nails and ask me if I'm a nail biter because I'm not supposed to have any white showing.

However, since I have been massaging less, I've been able to have a little fun with my nails.

hooray for sparkles!

basil spaghetti with broiled cheesey tomatoes

2011-10-11T13:29:00.001-04:00

how can you say no to cheesey tomatoes???

parmesan and mozarella melted on sliced tomatoes.

basil, garlic, olive oil.

pasta plus infused olive oil.

tomatoes with pasta. yum!

Forks Over Knives

2011-10-10T14:55:00.000-04:00

So it's been a while since I've posted a Meatless Monday post, but last night the husband and I watched this documentary and it inspired me to post today...

really educational and will change the way you think about the way you're eating.

As a vegetarian who eats dairy and eggs (and occasionally gets suckered into eating fish), it definitely made me rethink a few things. Not sure if I could imagine a life without cheese, but I'm definitely up for cleaning things up a bit. We'll see how it goes...

oscar loves pondering life's most difficult questions

2011-10-07T10:52:00.000-04:00

such as how can I get out there and start eating some grass? and why don't I realize that I puke up grass about 15 minutes after I eat it?

cornbread!

2011-10-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

I was asked to bring something to my husband's family dual birthday celebration the other weekend and when I heard that we were having vegetarian chili, I figured I'd whip up some cornbread.

*I am very particular about my cornbread. I like it moist and sweet (unlike many Southerners who like a more dry version) so I made 2 versions

normal cornbread muffins first...

melt butter.

dissolve sugar.

add flour and cornmeal.

muffins! easier to serve to large parties and kids.

sweet and moist. bam.

now we do fun zucchini cornbread.

shredded zucchini.

mix in onion, eggs, corn muffin mix, salt + pepper, cheese

crazy yum.

DIY painted curtains

2011-10-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

I saw a scarf several months ago that someone had painted a quote on and it gave me the idea to paint song lyrics onto curtains. So I did it...

paints I had on hand and the cheapest curtains I could find.

I think it looks pretty cool, but I think I should have stuck with one color. I'm not committed to hanging them yet. But I loved the idea and it was fun to do.

Just in case you're curious...

We chose "So in Love" by Cole Porter

If you haven't seen De-Lovely, it will make you fall in love with that song.

blue cake

2011-10-01T13:59:00.000-04:00

we had a party last night.

oscar kinda likes birthdays.

2011-09-30T10:18:00.001-04:00

...but he won't be still enough for me to take his pic... he'd rather go sit by the door and meow all day.

sweet little zoe loves birthdays for sure!! She was happy to celebrate.

Happy Birthday David (again)!

it's someone's birthday today... let's have ice cream cake!

2011-09-28T15:46:00.001-04:00

today is my husband's birthday.

happy birthday, David... the best husband ever (seriously. Other people just think they have the best husband ever)!

David loves this picture of himself. That is why I chose it.

My husband's favorite cake is ice cream cake. I usually spend way too much purchasing one, but last year I made ice cream cupcakes and they were delicious. So this year?? We're turning those cupcakes into a cake. Let's see how it turned out...

I baked a chocolate cake in a springform pan.

scraps from leveling it off... tasty and dangerous.

melty ice cream (my husband would give his right arm for this)

melty ice cream spread on top of leveled cake.

now for the most frustrating cake frosting ever..

don't judge. it's hard to frost melty ice cream... even after I let it harden in the freezer over night.

he loves chocolate... it's gonna be a happy birthday!!

DIY tiered monogram plate

2011-09-27T12:49:00.000-04:00

I made this for a dear friend of mine...

first, I spray painted the inside of a dessert glass.

then, I printed out a monogram and taped it face down on the top of a glass plate.

then I just painted over the monogram... this works great if you aren't great at freestylin'

next, I spray painted a contrasting color on the bottom of the dessert glass and plate.

here they are after they dried.

final step to glue the dessert glass to the plate. I like it upside down so that it has a broader base.

voila! under $15!!!

oscar loves pedicures

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

look at that face... filled with disgust. he can't even bear to look at that mess.

glad we don't have a close up on the toes... whew!

my style: honeymoon dress repurpose!

2011-09-20T15:16:00.000-04:00

I was so excited to buy some beachy clothes for our honeymoon so I bought this dress off of Modcloth...

aw.

Since I haven't worn the dress since the honeymoon (6 months ago), I figured it was time to make a little use out of it. So I cut the top off of it and made it into a skirt!

I like this length much better.

tank top: old, cardigan: Forever21, skirt: Modcloth repurposed, shoes: UO

gifts for the kiddies.

2011-09-19T12:13:00.000-04:00

My friend Heather has 2 awesome little twin girls who celebrated their 7th birthday with a spa party this past weekend. Heather asked me to come down and help, so I didn't want to go empty-handed.

I found this pin and decided to put 2 together (one for each girl).

supplies... rope, suction cups, clothes pins, twin bed sheet, flashlight, ribbon

I sewed the ribbon to each corner of the sheet.

put clips, suction cups and flashlight in the small bag the bed sheet came in and then embroidered a felt piece, resized a pillowcase and turned it into a drawstring bag and put everything into the bag. Pretty cute! I made one for each girl. It was a hit!

oscar loves yellow scarves

2011-09-16T10:40:00.000-04:00

I'm going old school with Oscar today... this is Oscar-before-he-had-an-official-daddy-cat.

hangin' on.

still hangin'

refuses to surrender

I tried to edit my plumber's crack out... maybe I should have cropped a little more. Let's just focus our attention on the cat.

DIY fabric flowers

2011-09-14T22:46:00.000-04:00

After making my fall wreath this past weekend, I decided to post a tutorial on how to make some of the fabric flowers I glued to it. So here's what I made this afternoon...

supplies... a strip of material (this is about 2.5 inches wide and 11 inches long), fabric scissors, needle and thread, buttons, hot glue gun

fold the strip of material in half longways

begin to sew along the open edge of the strip weaving the needle through allowing the material to bunch up on your needle.

when you've made it through the whole strip, it should look like this. pull the thread through and connect the sides so it makes a full circle.

add a few stitches to connect each side, then trim thread.

when you turn it over, it should look like this.

hot glue a button and there's your nifty little flower!

Attach it to a headband, clip, purse, shoe, wreath or whatever you want to add a little snazz to!

weekend craftiness

2011-09-12T00:12:00.002-04:00

this weekend, my friend Bethany and I decided to do a Pinterest project. She's been wanting to make a yarn wrapped wreath and I could definitely use a new fall wreath, so...

here I am wrapping my wreath

this was our progress after a few hours so I went home and we finished our wreaths separately

Bethany's wreath with felt flowers

my wreath with fabric flowers

fishy.

2011-09-10T20:33:00.004-04:00

my cool fishtail braid.

oscar loves hand cuddling.

2011-09-09T09:23:00.000-04:00

my childhood art.

2011-09-07T23:36:00.000-04:00

Since I have married, we have spent quite a bit of time going through all of our stuff and deciding whether or not to keep it, chunk it, sell it, or give it away. Since both of my parents have already passed away, I am stuck with "sentimental" items such as...

Mother's Day 1987 plate... ha! what is that green, red and black rectangular thing on the lower right hand side? It looks like part of an animal cell (mitochondria or something?)

So what do I do with this stuff? I have a lot of it and we just don't have the storage or need for it. Do we keep it for sentimental value?? The answer to this question is no. We do not keep it. This is what cameras are for. We take a picture of it and chunk it!

my other website.

2011-09-02T20:56:00.006-04:00

I don't usually like to put professional stuff on here... I like to keep my creative life separate. However, I just recently made a website and wanted to share! So here it is...

exciting!!!

oscar loves guitar

2011-09-02T10:17:00.000-04:00

before & after: the relationship lamp

2011-08-30T16:22:00.000-04:00

My husband and I have been working to de-junkify our house since we first got married. The initial merge was pretty overwhelming and stressful since we both are sentimental beings who have trouble throwing things away. So far, we've been successful.

Since we first put our bedroom together, I've kept his lamp by my bedside and he has nothing. He hates this. So I was glad to find that we had not gotten rid of our relationship lamp. This lamp was an old lamp that he had when we first started dating and we decided to paint it all different colors after about a year of dating. We started calling it the relationship lamp because we had a big talk about our relationship and love when we painted it.

We should call it the clown lamp... what were we thinking?!

ah. much better. I feel like such an adult now. And mister gets his old lamp back.

pizza party!

2011-08-29T15:37:00.000-04:00

Every Sunday night, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend come over for dinner and True Blood. We usually plan a meal and cook together and then watch the show while we eat. This week, our friend John came by as well. We made pizza... it was fantastic!

husband tosses the dough

is that dough or granny panties??

Did you know that you can go to most pizza places and they will sell you the dough. I wanted to make dough from scratch but didn't have time so sister-in-law went to Hungry Howie's and they sold her 2 extra large doughs for under $3!!

John enthusiastically brushes olive oil on.

chop chop

delectable.

oscar loves sandwiches

2011-08-26T16:03:00.000-04:00

especially when they're filled with tuna salad made by Daddy!

nutella AND rice krispies treats? you know it!!

2011-08-22T09:07:00.000-04:00

it's been a very long weekend. yesterday as we were planning our evening, I remembered this pin and decided to make the very same treats.

holy cow. super awesome and really easy to make.

Oscar loves feet.

2011-08-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

not my hairy leg.

holy crap

2011-08-16T15:57:00.000-04:00

we went on a float trip this weekend with a group of friends... I thought tubing was supposed to be relaxing???

rocks hurt.

I also have a huge, awesome bruise on my left cheek (not the one on my face), but a little too pornographic for the blog.

In other news, we were watching Hoarders the other night and as the camera was scanning the "hoard" of a man's house, we saw this....

thank goodness for DVR and the ability to rewind and pause so I can take a picture...

She's on the phone and on the throne? yes. she. is.

Oscar loves origami

2011-08-12T15:26:00.000-04:00

my faves... blogs

2011-08-11T10:11:00.000-04:00

my top ten favorite blogs of people that I don't personally know (in no particular order)...

click on the pic to go to the blog.

DESIGN LOVE FEST

Healthy Tipping Point

color me katie

paper cranes

2011-08-09T21:47:00.000-04:00

for our wedding, we folded 1000 of these things...

and we hung for the ceremony...

and I didn't want to fold another paper crane for a very long time.

However, my sweet nieces asked me after the wedding if I would make some cranes for them to hang in their bedrooms. And this weekend I finally got a spark that made me want to fold cranes again. So here they are... a little more exciting paper for little girls' rooms!

still need to be strung up to hang...

oscar loves fridays.

2011-08-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

I've decided to turn Fridays into Oscar loves Fridays. Oscar is my sweet kitty who loves to cuddle up to anything that we leave around the house. We love to see the funny things that he ends up falling in love with.

Oscar loves Playstation 3.

oh so sweet potato fries

2011-08-01T11:47:00.000-04:00

I forgot I made these a couple of weeks ago.

sweet potato fries + a veggie dog

just in time for a meatless monday.

simple. deadly.

recipe here.

braid practice

2011-07-25T23:31:00.000-04:00

I'm on a mission. A braid mission. I want to braid well. I've been practicing different braided looks. Here's my latest favorite...

yay for braids!

rejection stinks.

2011-07-23T17:44:00.000-04:00

this week I have submitted food pics to foodgawker, craft pics to craftgawker, and my wedding pics to Ruffled. All three sites declined my submittals. what a way to kill a girl's ego!

So feeling a little dejected, I opted to make cookies instead of go to the gym this morning.

chocolate chocolate chip... I feel better already.

my tomatoes are gonna go bad...

2011-07-21T11:36:00.000-04:00

until I saw this post on Scissors & Spatulas

When I told my husband I was making tomato pie, he immediately turned his nose up like I had just told him I was making poopie pie. Funny that he went back for seconds.

delicioso!

PS... I made my crust from scratch! Bam!

boot-ilicious!

2011-07-13T22:45:00.000-04:00

so I got this hip little boot today due to a stress fracture on the top of my foot...

sassy.

my face looks crazy... trying out my balance since I felt so lopsided.

at least I can still do yoga.... sorta.

summer din din

2011-07-12T12:01:00.000-04:00

my sister-in-law and her boyfriend came over Sunday night to watch True Blood and eat dinner. We usually cook a little something when she comes over so they brought over stuff to make quiche and I made a strawberry spinach salad. It was a fine time, indeed!

we like to put a True Blood quote on our chalkboard each week.

gathering ingredients.

caramelized onion and gruyere quiche + strawberry spinach salad = yum!

I'm kinda obsessed with braids right now.

2011-07-07T19:31:00.000-04:00

rainy fourth

2011-07-05T13:08:00.000-04:00

we had a party for the fourth. it was rainy. then stormy. my tent broke. we had to move the party inside. I took one pic.

when you DIY your own wedding, you have tiered stands and drink dispensers on hand and ready to use.