Bookmark for Mom

My mom's birthday is next month, so I thought I would make her something little for it. She loves traditional and religious things, making it very easy to find patterns to make for her. I picked out a bookmark with a Bible verse on it. She will absolutely love it and she can use it in her Bible. The best thing is, it only took me a few hours to make it. I like the satisfaction of finishing a piece, something I haven't felt lately. I need to pick some more simple things for a while. I feel like I will never finish Lonnie's wine trivet. when I do, it'll be awesome, though.



I also tried some new recipes using my wok I got for Christmas. The sesame chicken turned out so tasty and the lo mein was pretty good. I need to perfect that a bit. The Chinese market across the street has some fresh vegetables that go great in the veggie lo mein. I can't wait to try it again.





I also bought an Irish blessing to make for Corey's mom. Here's to hoping she likes crafty things. It's got a beautiful green and purple border that is a little daunting. I'll start that one at craft night probably. Tonight Lonnie came over to eat some pasta that I made and we're going to watch Tropic Thunder. Back to work tomorrow!

Icing is my foe

Apparently I can't ice cupcakes to save my life. Also, I suck at making butter cream frosting. I kind of hate butter cream frosting in the first place, so I likely won't try again. Cream cheese frosting is where it's at. The cupcakes tasted good, though. I really enjoy the flavor of almond extract in cakes. I made this little cupcake for Lonnie, who is an Alabama fan.



Carson, my boyfriend's son who is 9, helped me with the process. He plays Cooking Mama on the Nintendo DS, so he loves to make things in real life that he's learned to do on the game. First we started with meatballs, but throwing them back in forth in the game is easier than doing it in real life. We ended up with a few dropped meat balls.

Carson separated the egg yolks for me. I was really nervous about letting him do it because I didn't get good at it until college. But I pulled out a practice bowl for him and he did each egg perfectly. No kidding, this 9 year old separated egg yolk for the very first time and didn't get any shell or yolk into the cake batter! I am super impressed with him.

At first I thought he was helping so he could lick the bowls and beaters (this is a trick I always pulled when I was his age), but he just wanted to bake. He measured the ingredients for me and used the hand mixer, too. I was really just supervising. He also wanted to read the recipe to me. It was a great learning experience for him because he learned about measurements and conversions. How many nine year old boys know the difference between the abbreviations of tablespoon and teaspoon?

Now that I'm done bragging on the boy... We had craft night last night and I found my groove on the wine trivet I'm cross stitching. Lonnie and I had headaches all night, but I still had a really fun time with the ladies. Lonnie's snowman looks great so far. The colors in the pattern are very nice and will look great on her mom's wall. Dayna is making a robot bag and it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. If I wasn't on handbag restriction (Corey's orders), I would buy it when she's finished. She cuts out felt into shapes and stitches them onto the bag to form a robot. She attaches gears and buttons for eyes, etc. Really cute idea. She made an owl bag previously and it turned out really cute, too.

I brought my cross stitch to work today so I can work on it at lunch. It's a nice little break from typing all day.

Snowman Christmas Ornament

In order to learn how to cross stitch, I bought an entire kit at Hobby Lobby. Well, two actually. This is the only one I've finished so far. Lonnie's mom loves snow men, so I made her this cute little ornament. I really love how it turned out! Believe it or not, the most difficult thing for me was affixing the piece to the frame. Hot glue works wonders! I am especially proud of the little black french knots for eyes. I'm getting better and better at them. I find them easier to accomplish on cross stitch pieces compared to embroidery. I am now working on the blanket stitch, which is totally evading me. I just need to sit down and get it done.

This weekend is the Alabama vs. Florida game and we're having a gathering at the house. I'm going to bake cupcakes with crimson frosting for Lonnie. I hope this turns out better than the blue frosting I was trying to make for the Notre Dame cupcakes! I've read up a little bit on how to color white frosting, so hopefully that will prove to be useful. I'm going to bake the funfetti cupcakes again because they were like crack to Lonnie. She loved them more than chocolate. Which is a big deal! I'm hoping some other friends come over to eat them so I won't be tempted to eat six in a row.

I'll also be making a butter cream frosting from scratch for the first time. I usually make cream cheese frosting, but I want to work with my new piping bags some more. I hear butter cream is easier to make fluffy and pretty. I'll be posting pictures of my confectionery delights. It will also be practice for my Christmas cupcakes I'm making for our party in December. I have some Christmas tree sprinkles (jimmies) that I can't wait to use. They'll look lovely on some red and white icing.

Cupcakes were a hit and Pilobolus

First of all, my cupcakes did not arrive in Chicago in great condition. The video below of this week's Subway Alumni Show illustrates the messiness and apparent deliciousness of my cupcakes. Thanks for the huge shout out Sprout and Eric!



Last night Corey and I went to the theater at the University of North Alabama to see Pilobolus perform. It was extraordinary to say the least. Look them up on Youtube if you have time. Their movements are so controlled and the choreography was just so different. My mind was totally blown by the final piece. The dancers wore only dancers belts in a few of the performances, and many people got up to leave. I don't understand because even the tickets and posters featured half-naked people in various formations. It's not a big surprise to see a few ass cheeks. But apparently some people found that offensive and left. I wouldn't care, except every time the doors in the back of the theater opened, it distracted everyone in the dark theater. I just found it rude. We even stayed for the Q&A session afterward. I feel so fortunate to have been able to listen to such talented performers discuss their art. The most amazing part is that the majority of the group began dancing in their early to mid twenties and haven't trained all their life for this.

I've started on my first cross stitch project and it's coming along quite nicely. I'll talk about it more later. Tonight the ladies are coming over so hopefully I'll be motivated to get a little more completed. It's chilly here, so I think I'll cook up some soup and snuggle up in my pj's tonight while I craft. I really do enjoy winter.

Inspiration strikes again

I am completely finished embroidering Telisha's apron now! It looks great. I will be posting pictures later when they're uploaded. Lonnie and I got a wild hair this morning and we're finally learning to cross stitch. It started because I thought I would make my friend Jeff a Simpsons themed piece for Christmas. I actually found a pattern that kicks so much ass that I had to get it. It looks pretty involved, so I thought I should get some practice in before the pattern gets here. That's when Lonnie and I headed to Hobby Lobby on our lunch break. I'm going to make a wine trivet for Lonnie. Luckily I don't have to hide it from her. And hopefully it will turn out nicely, even though it'll be my first cross stitch.

In other crafting news, I figured out how to make my own cross stitch patterns in Photoshop. I've made two so far today. One of a mudkip (joke for my roommate) and a Jack Skellington for Lonnie. Lonnie is actually cross stitching a bear right now and it seems to be going well.

And if you were wondering what ever came of my cupcakes, wonder no more. The Subway Alumni received them and ate some. Proof is in the video below!