Mother's Day

 

I just want to take a moment to talk about this Mother's Day because it was totally heartwarming for me. When most people see me they just see me as any other ordinary woman. They probably wonder why I don't have children or whatever else that might be going on it their minds. The thing is I am a mother but not to the naked eye. I am the mother to two children in heaven and although this hurts for my to say or to even think about sometimes I am truly proud that I am a mother at all. I know they are in a better place and that I will see them someday.


     Anyway I never thought I would dislike a holiday and I really didn't want to dislike Mother's Day because that really isn't fair. All the women in my immediate family are mother's so I was preparing myself to see all the cards and flowers and I would just be there for them on this day. Well God and my family had different plans that I was unaware of. They all had gotten me cards and gift too. I know that its not all about that but just for the fact that they acknowledged me was such and awesome feeling and I will never forget that.

Be your own Hallmark

May and the next few months from here on are always busy with birthdays, anniversaries and graduations to celebrate. I'm so glad that my crafty side is starting to flourish to help my with the little and sometimes big things. For Mother's day I decided to make all my cards. Can you believe how expensive cards are getting and how easy it is just to make your own? I also had a lot of small things to give so I made origami boxes  and attached pipe cleaners for handles. When it comes to cards you can go so many places. My imaginations took me to Eric Carle  style type painting.

Its really simple, but it just takes patience. You add one color and gently pull up on the tissue paper as you go along so that it doesn't stick and tear. Lay out some newspaper or parchment paper. I used parchment paper because I didn't have any, but it works really well. It lasted throughout all off the cards I had to do and I still have it for an art project later. Once the first color has dry you can add another and repeat the first few steps. When you are done you should have an Eric Carle  creation of your very own. :)

I also did a cut out card, which is the Abbey Road one. All I did was print out the picture and I originally wanted to trace and make a black cut out, but after looking at it I thought this would be way cooler.

For the origami boxes I got my instructions from this website http://mairuru.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-make-origami-box.html. I also made an origami gun for my dad and the link to that site is http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-gun.html.

One thing that I have learned is that the most simple things can be most remembered and cherished. I always love to see someones face light up just because I remembered and put some thought into it. :)

Cupcakes

For my dad's birthday I decided I was going to make him some cupcakes but his style. I picked a beer that he liked ( Bud light lime) and basically dreamed up the recipe from there. Just hearing Bud light lime it made me think of key lime pie. So I decided to make the Bud light lime the cupcake and make a lime frosting. It came out marvelously and was quite a hit! Here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! :)

2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of butter 
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Baking soda
2 tsp. Vanilla extract 
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
12 oz. of Bud light lime
1 tsp. Coconut 

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter or line two cupcake pans.

In a large bowl whisk flour, baking soda and salt. 

With a mixer beat butter and sugar til fluffy. 

Beat one egg at a time until mixed evenly and scrape down the sides of the mixer every now and then. Then add vanilla extract and beat til fluffy.

Add sour cream and with the mixer running slowly add the Bud light. 

Sift dry ingredients and slowly add to wet mixture. Scrape down the sides ever now and then.

Divide batter into pans with a 1/4 cup. Should make 20 to 24 cupcakes. Place in middle rack of oven and bake for 20 to 25 mins. Cool and frost.

Lime frosting 

1 cup of cream cheese 
1/2 cup butter 
2 cups of confectionery sugar 
4 to 6 tsp. of lime juice

Combine the butter, sugar and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Slowly drizzle the lime juice in and beat til fully mixed. 

For garnish I used coconut mixed with lime zest.

While I was preparing these I decided to do another batch just for my husband and me.  They were strawberry cupcakes with bubblegum frosting.   These ones were pretty basic. All it consisted of is a boxed strawberry cake mix and the frosting creation mix. They are so yummy and taste like a blow pop. :D 

Links:

Anniversary Bouquet

My parents celebrated their 29th anniversary the year. To celebrate and as a litte gift my husband and I made a gift basket bouquet of wine and beer. It was really quite simple and it really gives a new meaning to bouquet. These are the items you will need: •18 miniature bottles •wooden sticks about 1/4 inch wide •clear sturdy tape(or you can choose a color to your liking) •cardboard •tissue paper and stickers •wine or beer •vase First start out by cutting as much pieces of tape as you'd like to attach the bottles to the sticks. I doubled on each bottle. Each piece was about an inch thick. Now start taping the bottles on sticks together like a bouquet. Once that is complete Carefully set it down for a moment. Now you need to cut your cardboard so that it will hold the bouquet in place. Bottom,left,right and back should do it. Then punch a big enough hole in the bottom to push the bouquet through. Pick up your bouquet and carefully place it in. Go get your liquor and a funnel. Pour carefully and cap. Finally add the finishing touches and present your gift. :)

Let's do this

As usual I run behind on posting, but that is easy to do when you are too busy enjoying what's around you, right? So because it's getting to be that time of year again where all the ice cream, popsicles and soda pop come out to cool us off. I've posted a couple things I've done so far. There pretty simple and don't take much time at all. First off I'll start with the lemon ice in a lemon cup. When I did this a while back I couln't help but feel like this was something out of Willy Wonka's Factory. Just for the simple fact that everything here is edible, except I doubt you'd want to eat the rind. Of course I wish I come up with this creation myself but I did not. I got it from http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/07/lemon-ice.html. It is a great idea though. My husband and I would go walking and would come back all hot from the Arizona sun and have some of this and it was just enough to cool us down. It's also a great idea for a kids party that is during the summer.

My next project was whipped cream which is rather easy and lets just say I will probably never buy it from the store again. It takes exactly, if not better then the store. All you need is 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, 3 tbsp. of sugar and a splash of vanilla. Put your mixer on high and let get to a soft peak. Be careful not to over beat.

For my sister's wedding the choice of a dress was simple and easy. Except dark colors are going out and brighter more virbrant colors are coming in for spring and summer. Black and green were the choices and so I choses to get a black dress and make my own sash. It wasn't too bad for my first time. The rose was a last second addition and I didn't even end up using it that day. It was the fabric from the messed up tie that I tried to create for my husband. Basically when making a sash measure your waist and then double that if you want extra to tie a bow. The width can be about 3 to 4 inchs. I sewed in like I was heming . To make the rose you can do the same thing. Measure the length and width that you would like. Then sew together and roll inward like a rose.

Because I like to bake I've started to expand my horizons on what I'm using. In the past couple of weeks I've used it on my sister's cake and on my March for Babies cupcakes. When I was doing the cupcakes I had a piece left that I was playing with. I always wanted to try to make a flower or something creative with fondant. The way I made my flower was just like how I make my magazine flowers. I flattend the fondant and then I cut it into a spiral. When that was complete I too the outer edge and started rolling inwarrd. There you have it a flower. Its that simple. I've seen other ways to do it like mold a piece for the center and the make leaf shapes that can be added on one at a time to create the rose shape. It just does not work for me at this point just yet. :)

My husband is a peanut butter eating machine. So when I figured out I could make my own I was all in. It's simple, easy and taste great! The best part about this is that you don't need a fancy machine to do this. A food processor works and I'm not really sure about a blender but I wouldn't be suprised. All you need is 2 cups of peanuts, tbsp. of oil and 2 tbsp. of honey. First put the honey and peanuts together. Stop and scrap from the sides and the slowly drizzly the oil into the mixture and blend together. Stop, place in a cointainer for later or enjoy some now. :)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is coming up and I've been working like crazy to make it special for those I care about in my life. I just wanted to take sometime though to acknowledge all those that are mothers but of another kind as well. Not everyone is so lucky to experience the joy of pregnancy, giving birth to there child and waking up every morning to their bright beautiful faces. Some of us hold a special place in our hearts for children we wish we had or unfortunately lost. We are the mother's of angels and can't wait to meet our childern in heaven someday. I ran across this website http://internationalbabylostmothersday.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html. It is a site for women who have lost children in anyway shape or form. This lovely young lady has created a special Mother's Day for those who have lost their little ones. For me this is comforting around this time because so many people celebrate for those who have living children and forget about the ones that are no longer with us. Just remember that a mother is anyone that takes care of anything or anyone. So even though you might not have those children at the moment, but you have those 2 dogs, 3 cats and a fish. :) I know sounds silly , but is it really? You give them the same amount of love and care. Some of us treat our pets like they are one of the family so why not. Anyway, I'm probably rambling now. I just want all the moms out there to know how wonderful they are and what a great job they are doing no matter what it is they are doing. :)