The School Of Essential Ingredients

So for my birthday I recived a Nook Color, which I love! One of my purchases was "The School of of Essential Ingredients." It is an amazing book about a group of unique people who decided to take a class at Lillian's Restaurant. For more details here is the link http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%2Fw%2Fschool-of-essential-ingredients-erica-bauermeister%2F1100037275&ei=YKBFT6uMC-2NsAKum-XCDw&usg=AFQjCNHh9QEW96TA7L8F31eL0LfHWPWgkg . Read it, you won't be let down. Anyway there is a part in the book that an old lady who owned a small shop becomes a huge part in Lillian's life. She gave her a wooden spoon and told her it was a magic wand. :) The other day I was at Surlatable and saw a rainbow wooden spoon and I thought " Ahhhhh, my magic wand!" Cannot wait to make so many magical recipes with it. :)

   Yellow: the color of fire, and the radiant energy of the sun. It represents happiness.
    Red: the color of a ripe red apple and the life giving fluid that flows through our veins. It represents love and spirit.
     Blue: the color of the cool, clear sky or the vast ocean. It represents tranquility.
      Together these colors create a harmonious blend that invites quiet reflection.

Valentines

   
  So I know that Valentines is over, but I just wanted to take the time to share what I did.
On Vday I made heart biscuits with gravy for breakfast.  I just used the biscuits from the can and cut them into hearts. Then for dinner I made chicken and waffles with maraschino cherry frosted chocolate cupcakes. Not your typical valentine's dinner, but so delicious! I got the cupcake, frosting and cookie pop recipe from Craftinit and Glorioustreats .  The chicken I got from AllRecipes . Then for the waffles AllRecipes. I put hot mustard, honey and syrup all over both and it tasted amazing.

      For my gift my amazing husband got me an artisan kitchen aid mixer and edible arrangements of chocolate covered strawberries. I made him a Drumset valentine out of our wedding cards. :D There was obviously other gifts, but those were my favorites.

      I also decided to do gifts for his and my family. The pink giraffe and soft cube were for my beautiful nieces. I got the template off of Craft In It  I made chocolate shaped tools for my father-in-law, which came out great and he loved. I just melted semi sweet chocolate chips, took a spoon to spread the chocolate in the mold and then put it in the freezer. For the women I made oven mits. I basically took one I already had and traced it a little bigger. Here is a template and instructions to help show how to make one at Cthuliz.  I also decided to do my own vintage valentines. Nothing too complicated. I just printed cards from Vintageholidaycrafts and pasted them to construction paper. I used my butterfly punch and ribbon to tie them to their gift. One of my favorite valentine's that I made was the gun valentine. My dad and soon to be brother and law love to go hunting and stuff like that and when I found this valentine at SherelleChristensen I just knew that this was the one for them. I made mine out of felt though and added ribbon with a heart that said "Bang".

            And what a perfect way to end a wonderful night by watching Breakfast at Tiffany's and being with the one you love. :D

      

The start of my farmer days :)

Lately I've decided I want to save money by making my own everyday food and household items. Just a few things were bread and butter.    I think some of us remember making butter out of heavy whipping cream and shaking it up in a jar. That's one possibility and the other is to use an electric mixer. Basically mix one quart of heavy whipping cream  until you see it go from whipped to a liquid with your butter floating in it. You can dump the buttermilk or reserve for later. Knead the butter getting all the milk out and tada, homemade butter! If your using it for later put ice water over it and continue to knead. For the bread I went to this site http://m.thesimpledollar.com/2007/11/04/homemade-bread-cheap-delicious-healthy-and-easier-than-you-think/. It was really easy and delicious. Keep in mind though that you will have to have about 3 hours set away to get this done but its well worth it.

Waterless Garden

          Ok, so I think my pictures are in the wrong order but that is ok.  Making these roses out of magazines are so easy and they add a simple touch of color to any room.  Basically you rip the magzine paper out and cut in a coil. Sorry there are no pictures for this. Then grab the outside end and roll tightly in until you get to the middle. Slowly release (which I found best done on a table) and hot glue the bottom piece of the rose to the bottom of the rest of the rose. :) Now you have magnificent paper roses. 

Next project after my wedding

         The next project that came into play a year later was my sister's wedding. I helped with the bridal shower and things of that sort, but my main job was her flowers. I can't remember where we got the tulips, but aren't they beautiful. :)

 

The start of a crazy obssesion.

         It all started with my wedding. I needed to save money, but have the wedding of my dreams as well. My theme was Alice in Wonderland and it all kind of took off from there. Some of these pictures are off my wedding and some from my bridal shower. 

        The first picture is of a bridesmaid bouquet. I  bought 100 roses through Costo for 100.00 and painted the tips red.

         The next picture has the cake table. I just bought the tablecloths through Oriental Trading. I can't quite remember were I got the rose petals, but you could probably get then from Micheals. I got the crown and monogram letters from amazom.com. I recently saw on pinterest a cake like my wedding cake, but it had roses in between and a top hat on the top, which looked really awesome!

        I wanted the bridesmaids to represent the flowers so they were all different colors. My husband and I were the king and queen of hearts. While my maid of honor was alice.

        The eat me cookies and heart shaped sandwiches were done by my sister and her friends. Just your basic sugar cookie and frosting, but so good and very creative. She also did the bride teacup, which also had smaller ones for everyone who came to the bridal shower.