Ice cream season...almost

Over the summer I received a ice cream cone cupcake pan - a what you ask??  It is a pan that has molds for the top and the bottom of a cupcake.  One night I was feeling adventurous and decided to give it a try.  On the back of the pan box was a recipe for a pound cake which I decided to follow as well. I filled the first 3 bottoms and tops and they were ready to bake.

I also added sprinkles to the top as suggested by the recipe.  I set the timer for 50 mins and realized I was in for a long night if I wanted a dozen of these!  I waited and waited and waited until the buzzer went off.

I also realized after the first batch the reason you use the pound cake recipe is because the tops are so heavy the base needs to be sturdy enough to hold the top.  Once these cooled off they were ready to be frosted.  I put a drop of frosty between the top and bottom as glue and frosted the top. 

They look pretty good and actually like ice cream cones!  These are not made for one person - they are probably large enough for two people.   They were very time consuming since the batter took a long time to bake all the way through and was hard to judge when it was ready.  After baking all the batter I realized next time I would use regular cupcake batter and no tops.  I will also use frosting as the top and not add a baked top.  By using only frosting on the top these would also be manageable for one person to eat!

I also made some cookies for the holiday this past weekend.  My mom gave me the cookie cutters and with some sprinkles, sugar cookie dough, green dye, and a festive plate they were all set to share at work!

YUM

And finally I am ready to share my painted bathroom with you all but first here are some before pictures.  Our bathroom was a cream color with blue tiles - I am not the biggest fan of blue but since the previous owners were I have learned to like it. 

The first picture is from the door and the next is looking from the toilet to the shower.  As you can see the color scheme is blue, brown, and cream.  I really like green though so I decided to pick a color which is more of a khaki color.  I wanted to choose a color that would bring out the tan in the tiles.  After bringing home more than 20 colors I finally found the one!  After convincing my husband that I could paint the walls and only the walls I was determined to paint it in one weekend.  I started on Saturday and finished on Sunday! 

I was now ready to pick the new shower curtain, pictures, bath rug, and tissue holder.  All the items I replaced I had in the bathroom for a few years and were starting to look a little ragged.  After a few trips to HomeGoods I am ready to reveal the new bathroom. 

There doesn't seem to be a huge difference in the paint but if you look at the trim you can tell there is a difference.  I know I have said this before but I really like green so I am glad I was able to pull the green in.  I am not completely satisfied with the hand towels but for now they work.  I hope you all enjoyed my home DIY project...stay tuned for more.

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

Let's tie one on

The other night I was invited to a get together at a friend's and naturally didn't want to go empty handed so I thought about what I could bring.  I knew she would have a lot of food and so I didn't want to bring something I made and defaulted to the standard bottle of wine.  Who doesn't love a bottle of wine - I know I enjoy when people bring bottles of wine to my house.  Then I thought about how could I make it a little more thoughtful then just a bottle of wine...of course a wine tie!  You have all heard of a wine tie, right?  That's what I thought so here comes the wine tie lesson.

First you start with some ribbon, floral wire, and some sort of adornment.  I had plenty of flowers I bought to top my Christmas presents so I decided to put one to good use.

The ribbon was left from Christmas too - it wasn't one of my typical dollar rolls of ribbon but it is 10 yards which you don't find too often.  Next I made a ribbon with the bow.   Make sure the ribbon you select to use has wire or else you will have one floppy bow. 

Two more loops to go.  Once I had all the loops I tied wire around the center and made sure it was tight enough to secure the bow.  Next I took the flower and curled the stem around a pen or pencil so that there are no sharp edges.

Now that the bow and flower are all set I put the bow in front of the stem below the flower and secured it with the wire.

I then cut a small piece of thinner ribbon long enough to tie around the neck of the bottle.  It doesn't matter what the ribbon looks like as it is hidden by the bow and flower.  I used a dark purple ribbon since that was what I had but anything smaller will do.

I cut the excess floral wire and tied the purple ribbon around the neck of the bottle.  This is a great way to turn a bottle of wine into a more thoughtful gift and it takes no time to do.  I was thinking about it earlier and you could also tie a cookie cutter on it or a wine stop to the ribbon as well.

The finished product - these were all things I had hanging around the house however I know most of you probably don't have this stuff.  If you keep your eye out for ribbons and floral picks on sale at craft stores you will be all set next time you need to bring something to a friend's house.

Until next time...stay creative!!

Somethings Borrowed..

My dad likes to send me pictures of projects my mom does at home, as a friendly competition so I thought I would share the latest.  Unfortunately I can't tell you how to make these things since I have only seen pictures but either way they are pretty great.  When I told my mom about the wreath I made last weekend she said she had a wreath as well but she didn't share the details until my dad sent the picture.  I will have to say I am a huge fan of the wreath.  It is green and if I haven't told you yet I love green!

I like the nest - it is a nice spring touch!

Later that evening she prepared a Martha Stewart like dinner although I will be honest I have yet to hear how it tasted but I am willing to bet it was delicious.  I don't have a recipe but she is sharing it with me this weekend so I will definitely share it after the weekend. 

She raves about the potatoes so I can only imagine how great they are.  My mom is a really good cook and always prepared a home cooked meal each night when we were growing up.  I strive to be able to do that as well once we have a family so we will see.  Maybe I will still be blogging and sharing meals!

My last something borrowed is a recipe (no picture) and one of the best things to ever hit my tongue.  A few weeks back my friend brought over these cookie dough balls which we put in the fridge and forgot about until the next morning.  My husband and I each had one and it was love at first bite!  During the week we each had some and by Thursday I decided I had to make them for work.  With any luck there would be leftover to take home for the weekend - and there were!  These are so simple and everyone loves them.

http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2010/01/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-truffles.html

I actually only dipped half of each ball in the chocolate and now reading all the directions it looks as if it says to dip the whole ball - oh well.  Also my husband loved them but made a comment about a different taste and then talking to my friend she thought it was odd you used baking soda.  We think the baking soda is to add to the authenticity of it tasting like real cookie dough but I think next time I will leave it out!

This past weekend I painted the bathroom - stay tuned to before and after pictures.  Also I still have that project to share I told you about almost two weeks ago...shame on me but the St. Paddy's day shirts got in the way.  Next on the list is a fruit tart...if I don't mention it again that means it was a flop!

Until next time...Stay Creative!

Irish...by marriage!

A few weeks ago I received a text from my sister in law asking about if I had changed my name and how hard it was.  Well the truth is I haven't changed it yet and there is no good reason except that I am lazy and I don't want a new license picture.  I love my license picture, well as much as one can love their license picture but that isn't the point the point is the new comment my sister in law made.  She informed me she wanted to change her name before March 17th...yes my brother (and I still myself) have an Irish last name.  Whether we are truly Irish or not we can't be sure but I think the love for St. Patrick's day we had as kids is any indication we should 100% Irish.  I love dressing in green and wearing fun shirts on March 17th so I decided to make my sister in law her own special shirt.  A few ideas crossed my mind but I settled on this...

I started with a green v-neck from Old Navy and decided to jazz it up but I wasn't sure how exactly I would get a clover on the shirt.  All the appliques I saw were not quite right so I went with a bleach pen.  A bleach pen?  I am not sure how I knew to bleach the shirt but I must have seen it somewhere and with a Google search I found exactly what I needed.  The directions said to make a drawing in chalk and then use a Colorox bleach pen to follow the chalk drawing.  I started with chalk but it was hard to draw with the chalk and to make a shamrock so I decided to go another route.  I decided find a shamrock online and use it as an outline to trace with bleach.

The directions I found online stated it would take 10 mins to 2 hours for the bleach to set in.  It only took about fifteen minutes for the bleach to set in on this shirt.  I decided to remove the paper outline as I wasn't sure if the bleach seeping into the paper would start bleaching the shirt in the wrong areas.

After 15 minutes this is what I had....

As you can see the bleach worked really well.  The next step was to wash and dry it however I was nervous that the bleach would spread when I washed it but it didn't. 

Next I added another shamrock on one sleeve and some wording on the front.  The directions for the iron on letters stated not to use bleach on the fabric so I decided to add the letters last.  After he letters were ironed on I was done!

                                               Front:                                               

Back:

I am very excited to show this to the recipient - I really hope she likes it!  Next on the agenda the project that was in stage 1 is now in stage 2!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

February Showers bring March Flowers...

I know I have been MIA two weeks, yes two weeks but I have a good reason - work.  I would much rather be blogging at night or on the weekends but when duty calls I have to abandoned the blog.  I apologize but I am now back and ready to go.  I also know April showers usually bring May flowers however due to this winter I think February is appropriate.  I am definitely not going to complain about the lack of snow in the Northeast, I will enjoy it and prepare myself for winter next year.   Now on to the real reason I am blogging...my latest project.  For this project I was inspired by a wreath I was given last year so today I decided to try and recreate the wreath.  After buying the essential materials I was ready to go:

18" grapevine wreath from AC Moore for $4.99 plus 40% off

Dark pink hydrangeas at $9.99 per stem on sale for $5.99 at AC Moore - total of 4 stems

Fake Granny Smith apples from HomeGoods at $1.65 each

You are all probably thinking these are odd materials but I promise it will all come together in the end.  First I hot glued the apples on the grapevine wreath:

Next I cut each hydrangea bunch from the stems - there were 5 hydrangea clusters per steam.  I then placed the clusters around the wreath to ensure I covered all of the wreath.

Halfway there!

It looks Hawaiian in these pictures but I promised the flowers are deep pink/mauve and not purple.  Once the wreath was completely covered in the flowers it was time to add a few bows and cover a naked door.

But before I show you the finished wreath I want to first show you the inspiration for the wreath or rather the wreath I planned on replicating:

  I saw this wreath last year at a neighborhood florist and was lucky enough to receive it as a gift a few weeks later!  The wreath was expensive so I couldn't rationalize buying it but I used it all spring and summer and will use it this year as well.  Now on to the final product:

I used only three apples on this one as I didn't think five would fit as I spaced these out a little more than the original wreath.  Again I promise this looks more pink/mauve in person.  By making this on my own it cost less than $35.  The wreaths I saw at AC Moore and Micheals were much more expensive and not really as nice/tasteful as this one, well at least in my opinion.

I hope you all enjoyed this spring wreath...the next project is already in stage 1!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

From the heart...

I woke up this morning, instantly picked up my iPad, and started looking at things I had pinned.  I came across red velvet pancakes and decided I would try them.  After looking at the ingredients I knew I had everything except buttermilk but have no fear there was a recipe to make your own buttermilk - in fact there were 5 recipes!  I used the one with lemon juice and started making the pancakes.  First I mixed all the dry ingredients and then wet ingredients separately.  There were a lot of ingredients but they were all stuff most people would have around their kitchen.

 +

Now it was time to mix the ingredients and add some butter!

I wanted to make them heart shape and was in luck because I had bought heart pancake molds a few years back and had only used them a few times.  They are not the easiest to use but they work pretty well and have a handle so it is easy to remove once the pancake starts to cook.

As you can see the molds are not perfect but they get the job done!  Once the pancakes cook you can remove the molds and cook the other side of the pancake.

Hearts!! Once the pancakes were done I topped them with a cream cheese, powder sugar, and vanilla topping (in place of maple syrup).  The recipe called for a more complex topping but based on the time and ingredients I had I stuck to an easier topping.  I forgot to take a picture of the final product but I would give them 2 thumbs up.

You can find the complete recipe at: http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/02/06/red-velvet-pancakes-with-sweet-cream-cheese-topping/

This is my busy time at work so I won't be posting very often as I am barely home but I will be back!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

Lasagna...Soup?

First I need to share a picture of the cupcakes I made for the Super Bowl (tear for the Pats) on Sunday.  I made both Patriots and Giants cupcakes for the get together just to be fair to any Giants' fans.  I made marble cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decorated them with fondant jersey's and footballs.

Now onto the soup I made last week.  I came across a recipe for lasagna soup on Pinterest (surprise, surprise) and decided to give it a shot.  I started with a pound and a half of sausage browned in the soup pot using olive oil.  I combined sweet Italian sausage, hot sausage, olive oil, garlic, and some spices.

Once the sausage was cooked I added diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, two bay leaves and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Next I added uncooked pasta and let it cook in the broth. 

I would caution that cooking the pasta in the broth will cause the pasta to to absorb some of the liquid.  The recipe suggests cooking the pasta beforehand to avoid this but I was being lazy and didn't want to dirty another pan :)  

The soup was very hearty and had a nice flavor to it.  We had enough leftover for the next night but I added more chicken broth because it did not seem too 'soupy' the next day.  Next time I cook this I will be sure to use 8 cups of broth and cook the pasta before adding it to the soup. 

You can find the recipe here: http://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/2011/03/24/lasagna-soup/

Until next time...Stay Creative!!