Friday, July 27, 2012

Olympics - Geekiness

Good morning! Are you glad it's Friday? To make the day even more awesome, it is the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London today. In honor of the Olympics, I decided to make cupcakes for everyone at work today.





I found freebie templates online for American and British flag cupcake toppers. I secured them to toothpicks using double-sided tape and presto, instant cuteness! (I apologize for the awful photos. My sister took my camera with her to RI this week so I'm stuck with the camera I used in England. Which is funny because I thought it was fabulous when I was there, but now it's just horrible. Ah, the changes in technology!)

I made two types of cupcakes, one chocolate cake and the other a yellow cake, both are decorated with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. I really wish I had picked up some 4th of July themed sprinkles this year before the holiday, but I wasn't thinking that I would make anything for the Olympics. Oh, well....they are still cute cupcakes and not bad for box mix ;)

Don't forget to watch the Opening Ceremony tonight! I can't wait to see what London has in store for the world to see!!

Until next time ^___^

P.S. Thanks to everyone that has commented on my finish on the Peace sampler ;)

Sunday, July 22, 2012

♥ ~SQUEAL~ ♥

This morning I went across the bay to do some shopping. As always when I'm out that way I stop by B&N and the World Market.

I found the following goodies at the World Market:



They had a 'discover Britain' section so I picked up a can of Heinz beans, a can of spotted dick sponge pudding, a pack of McVittie's digestive biscuits, some German chocolate, a small packet of Nutella (to try it), and a fold-able bag decorated with a British flag, and a cute tiny takeout box featuring the Queen's Jubilee.



While at B&N I picked up several magazines including the latest issue of Mollie Makes and JCS issue of their Halloween designs. The Cranes Dance was published in paperback (I'd been waiting for it) so I picked that up as well.

On Friday we received a flyer in the mail for a Chinese restaurant near our house. Imagine my surprise when I saw something fabulous on the menu!!



They have a selection of fruit smoothies with boba (tapioca pearls)!!!!

Of course I decided to stop by on my way home this afternoon. I'm sure the lady at the counter thought I was an oddball just ordering a smoothie, but I love boba and we don't have any restaurants that sell it and if they do, they don't advertise it. Usually I have to wait until I go out to CA to get my boba fix!!! This may not be boba tea, but boba is excellent in smoothies! I got the strawberry smoothie with boba.

I always talk about boba tea to my friends here in Mobile. I will definitely be taking them by this Chinese restaurant to try it ;)

Until next time ^_____^

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Happy Dance!




Design: Peace Sampler by Carol Emmer, JCS May/June 2012 issue
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast Wichelt linen
Threads: DMC
Start/Finish: 5/29 - 7/21/2012


Big happy dance for the day! I finally finished the Peace Sampler for my aunt. I was determined to finish it this month because I'll have alot of things that I want to accomplish later this month and in August ;)

Overall, I liked the design except for the lettering which meant quarter stitches and backstitching. Not that quarter stitches are hard to stitch or anything just time consuming when everything else it stitched in regular cross stitches.

Until next time ^_____^

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Bouquet of Flowers

My friend Amanda got me a new pin for my collection before she left. She found it at an antique shop that is nearby! It was only $5....love it!



Thanks for adding to my growing collection ^____^

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Charms ~ Peanut butter, peas, and potions

My friends and I went to see the movie Brave yesterday afternoon and what a treat it was! Did I tell you that Amanda from Crystal Panda was with us yesterday!?! She and her mother are in Mobile this weekend so we got to hang out which was great fun (despite her being insistent on taking pictures!).

In honor of the movie, one of the polymer clay charms I made this morning was based on the potion that Merida gives her mother to change her fate. The potion isn't your typical potion, but a pastry cake!

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. There is a beautiful short film by Pixar at the beginning called La Luna.


Pastry cake with berries!



I also got the chance to use the cupcake base mold that I purchased from Etsy. Instead of using it for a cupcake, I thought it would be perfect for peanut butter cups! They are so tiny ;) I plan on making them into earrings.



And finally some peas in a pod ;)

Until next time ^_____^

Saturday, July 14, 2012

The Big Easy

Good morning! My sister and I made a trip to New Orleans last Friday and I finally got a chance to post about it. My sister agreed to drive one of her coworkers over to New Orleans to the airport so she asked if I'd come along for a day off.

We had quite an adventure as our directions weren't the best, but we made it to the airport with lots of time to spare so her coworker and sister weren't rushed for time getting through checkout, etc. We joked that they shouldn't ask for our 'taxi' service in the future as we were hopeless with directions. It took three mobile phones with maps to get us to our destination once we tossed the directions I had.

After that debacle, we decided to go into New Orleans for some fun. My sister wanted to show me the Marie Leveau House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street. It seemed like we were in for another adventure with the directions (yes, I picked them back up from where I tossed them in the car), but my sister absolutely refused to use them. She said, "We are getting off at the Super Dome. Everything is around that area." And lo and behold, she was correct!

We parked over by the Riverwalk (expensive flat rate parking for the day) and trudged our way through the heat (thank goodness for the breeze!) to Bourbon Street. I will say that New Orleans has its charm, but Bourbon Street is not one of those things despite all the shops.



Unfortunately you cannot take photos inside the House of Voodoo as they have an altar set up in the shop and for religious reasons photos are not allowed so you'll have to be satisfied with my photo of the sign of the shop. It is an interesting little shop with many supplies such as candles, incense, masks, charms, etc. You can even have your palm read if you are brave enough!

Afterwards we trudged our way back to our car at the Riverwalk, but along the way we stopped in several other shops including a lovely shop that sold Mardi Gras masks of all sorts, The Bottom of the Cup Tea Room which is tea shop that specializes in psychic readings as well, and finally we ran across a needlepoint shop! My sister was kind enough to let me go inside and look around ;)



The shop is on Chartres Street. It is a quaint little shop with a wall full of needlepoint canvases, tables full of yarn, and a small section of cross stitch patterns. But don't let the word 'small' misled you! The section of patterns are entirely devoted to New Orleans/Louisiana designs with anything from historical houses, maps, and Mardi Gras designs. It is a perfect way to stitch a memory of your time in Louisiana.

You will love the way they gift wrap your purchases. They wrap your purchases in colored tissue paper insert it in a cellophane bag, sprinkle cut-out paper hearts inside along with their business card and tie it with ribbons! Quite sweet and perfect if you are giving something as a gift!!

I only spent a couple of minutes in the shop...maybe about ten or so since I didn't want to bore my sister as she doesn't craft, but it was well spent.

Next stop Magazine Street for some dessert at Sucré, which I've spoken of before on my blog. It is a delightful shop that sells gelato, pastries, desserts, macaroons, and chocolates.







Here are desserts we had:



My sister usually gets their CS Sundae, which is one of their delicious chocolate caramel cookies topped with vanilla gelato, whipped cream and caramel and chocolate sauces.



After browsing their dessert selection I knew I wanted their Verinne Tropique dessert!

Here is all the yummy ingredients inside:



Let me tell you that the passion fruit cremeaux is exquisite. Oh, and that little square with their logo on the top is actually a thin piece of chocolate....yummy!


Blackberry lemon and peaches & cream macaroons

Before leaving the shop, we bought a box of their summer selection of macaroons and a bag of their CS cookies. After that we headed over to Biloxi to have dinner at the Hard Rock cafe in the casino there before heading home.

Overall, an eventful trip that was a lot of fun! I would definitely do it again, but in nicer weather (i.e. anytime, but the summer).

Until next time ^_____^

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Peace progress



Sweet charms



An egg tart and donuts with icing and sprinkles.

These were the few charms that I made this morning. I made a discovery. TLS does not work with the eye pins as a glue while baking so I had to use E6000 to secure the eye pins into the clay after baking.

Until next time ^_____^

Sunday, July 1, 2012

A week in stitching!



Cute and yummy!

A lot of yummy food goodies and cute charms ;)



I have a set of chocolate bars with a bite taken out of them and a pair of chocolate cake rolls. And for some cuteness, a cute flower girl and a panda.



My attempt at an octopus charm. I saw a neat tutorial online for an squid with dangling legs, but I thought it would be cute as an octopus. I'm trying an experiment with the eye pin in this charm. They don't seem to hold well so I used some bead/glass glue to see if that will help to hold the eye pin in place. If not, I'll have to find somewhere that sells mini screw eyes for jewelry for the charms I've already made. I had forgotten that you can use TLS as a glue when baking!



Some more yummy foods! A burger charm and a chocolate cake with white icing and a cherry. I made the the top part of the icing using a tiny flower shaped cookie cutter and the icing on the second layer by taking a rope of white clay and twisting it together.

Both of these are adhered to ring bases with E6000. I had them outside for two hours to dry and now I have them inside on a hand hole punch to continue to dry before I gloss them.

Until next time ^____^