The Sea Within's Friends

Small Christmas project,
I needed two more gift bags for Christmas gifts, but then remembered that I have some white bags from 'Stamping Up'. So I got busy with my Cricut cutter and came up with these. Have a look.
( bags here )

Current Mood: peaceful

I'm looking for some advice, ideas, inspiration. I just purchased a medium-sized black sketchbook that looks like this:

( picture )

And I wanted to decorate it. Any ideas? I'm going to use this book to write all my goals for the upcoming year and then use it to document what I actually accomplish. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

ETA: Show me your journals/sketchbooks if you'd like!

USC Gamecocks cake

It's my boyfriends 21st birthday tomorrow and I really wanted to do something special for him. He's OBSESSED with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. He has USC shirts, hats, belts, shoes (crocs, actually), even a golf bag. If it has the USC logo on it, he owns it. So I really wanted to involve USC in with his cake. I searched online a bit and found the cute little cartoon Cocky and knew that I had to make a buttercream transfer. I was most proud of this. Especially that I changed his hands around so he was holding up a 2 & a 1 :D
It was a fairly easy process, aside from covering the 2 in fondant. I had a really hard time getting the fondant in that area up near the top--but I think was able to make it look semi-decent.
The 2 is vanilla cake (Magnolia)
The 1 and the sign are chocolate cake (pioneer woman)
both were filled with vanilla bean swiss meringue buttercream (HTEAC)

Current Mood: happy

Finally, all paintings complete...
I wanted to post them as I finished them, but I was so stressed towards the end that I was BARELY finishing in time to present them for out annual Christmas Eve dinner. So now that all the Madness is over, here are all the paintings I did as gifts this year...

( Open Sesame! )

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto - Tibetan Dance

Fruit Tart Cupcakes
Possibly the lightest, most delicious cupcake I have ever made, or eaten. It's moist, and soft, and ohsodelicious.

Did I mention that it's also perfect and summer-y? It is perfect, and I assume it could also be done for wintery months, for those of us in America. And so, without further ado, I give you the fruit tart cupcake!

( Read more... )

Cherry Sugar Blossoms
This was another new cookie for my Christmas cookie gift boxes this year, and again, I was so pleased with the way this turned out. The great thing is that one recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies! I'll post the recipe later, but wanted to get this picture up:

Cherry sugar blossoms--part of this year's Christmas baking gifts

And a closeup. . .

Daring Bakers Dec Challenge- Gingerbread House
To say I had... issues... with the recipe I chose to use (Y's Scandinavian one) would be a huge understatement.

( Continue.... )

Current Mood: tired

New but long time follower
Hey im new but been following this community for a while now. any one know were i can find a fitted hoodie pattern? size small (girls), maybe one i can download? or free online somewhere?

feel free to add me always love new friends :)

recipes using twix candy bars
i have 13 mini twix candy bars, and i have no desire to eat them.
does anyone know of any recipes involving twix bars? (preferably anything not fried)

thanks in advance! :)

I found some really awesome silver foil damask wallpaper on sale today and wanted to use it as a wallpaper for a wall I didn't paint. Any ideas on how to attach it to a wall?

I can't use wallpaper paste as it is an apartment. I was thinking maybe staple gun? Because the pieces would have to be hung in panels, I was thinking of putting some silver ribon over the seams ...and the staples (which would only be stapled at the seams).

Do you think that would work/look nice? Or do you think it would look cheap? I would hang framed pictures up over it to break it up. Any other ideas on ways to attach it to my walls.

MAYBE spray adhesive, but I live in a city with high humidity 90% of the year, so it might not work very well.

Any ideas are welcome! Thanks!

Bored After Christmas
So I saw a little tutorial and what did I do....
( I Made Buttons Into.... )

Cookie Storage

I need to make 2 dozen sugar cookies tonight 12/26/09 but they won't be served until Tuesday 12/29/09 in the evening. How can I keep them fresh?

I just recieved a sewing machine after following this community and getting many great ideas of what to do with it. However in playing around with it, I popped the bobbin case out with the bobbin, and now can't get it back in. I've already tried the instruction manual and google, neither of which helped (bad descriptions, or ones that didn't work).

Does anyone know how to insert the bobbin case on a singer 4228?

Helen Joseph Armstrong book
Does anyone here have the Helen Joseph Armstrong book: Patternmaking for Fashion Design ??

If you do have it could you look at page 32 and tell me if there are instructions for how to measure someone to make their bodice? I have this book back in Canada and scanned it (too heavy to move with me) but I missed page 32 and I just want to check if it is important.

Thanks!

edit: RESOLVED, thanks!

Peppermint Meltaways

These cookies (someone else posted the recipe, so I won't duplicate it) were a new recipe for me this year, and they got raves from everybody that tried them! They're buttery, soft and just minty enough without knocking you over. I opted not to crush the peppermint on top, just to see how it went, and they were fine without it.

Fabric gone awry
I've already had a time with this coat that has to be finished by next Friday already (as can be seen a few posts down!). We're going to a steampunk masquerade ball for New Year's Eve.

I water-only washed this broadcloth cotton fabric the other day only to discover chalky white lines criss-crossing the material. I washed it again but the lines are still there. I call my BF who is out of state for the holidays (and who is the holder of the receipt!) and he says it's fine, go ahead. Then today I try to iron out the wrinkles and while the big folding line wrinkles will go away, these tiny crinkly wrinkles won't budge.

Do you have any what's going on here? I think I'll probably just have to suck it up and go buy some more fabric and wait for him to come back with the receipt to return this piece of crap. >=(

My second question is which side is considered to be the right side of fusible interfacing?

Thanks!

Current Mood: aggravated

Festivus Miracle?

Having never worked with fleece or embroidery, having few sewing skills and no sewing machine, I have to admit, I'm pretty pleased with myself. Not that making a customized sherpa hat for friend is something I'll do again any time soon...

( Final results under here. )

Christmas crafts and llamas
This year I'm serving in an AmeriCorps program where I work as a tutor and after school teacher in an urban school. I taught a class called Amazing Animals for 2nd and 3rd graders, and after discovering that classes went much more smoothly if they got to make things, I incorporated more arts and crafts into the class. We spent quite a while on llamas in the class, partly because of the complexity of this project, and partly because I decided to show The Emperor's New Groove as a preview to the llama class. But the kids loved doing the llamas, and they had something to show off at Family Night!

It was a fun project, and since I rely heavily on the internet for ideas for game and craft ideas for my class, I thought I'd pay it forward by making a tutorial of how I made the llamas. Click here to see the tutorial on my blog"

( Click cut for more llama love and some last minute Christmas cookies and gift boxes )

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I used the recipe from this URL: http://gimmesomeoven.com/pumpkin-cheesecake-with-gingerbread-crust/

This was my first attempt at a cheesecake. I thought it turned out pretty well. It was a complete hit with the family, all the other deserts were hardly touched. I was pretty proud of myself!

pear cake tatin

I'm a huge fan of apple cake tatin, but since it was Christmas I wanted to make it more seasonal and use pears, so here she is! The cake is pretty simple but very yummy and light, so you don't feel too weighed down after a huge Christmas feast!

Tons more pictures and info at my blog jonesing for...

( More pictures and recipe under the cut... )

easy spiced crust
Hello! I've posted comments, but haven't posted anything to introduce myself until now. I did make some improvised pumpkin bread pudding for thanksgiving, but it didn't look good (tasted fine though, as most bread puddings do). But today being Christmas with the bigger holiday meal at dinner, I had the oven and lunch.

This is an easy fix for when you want a holiday goody without pulling out the mixer:
( cut for two images )
I am a lazy cook. Hello *wavie* But a good oven should be used.

Thanks for all the Sugar Cookie recipes!
Thought I'd show you guys my little cookies! (or trees)

hope you all have a merry christmas!

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