Game Day Onesies!

As I've mentioned, we are an SEC house divided. Go Dawgs!!! (And Roll Tide too) Ever since finding out the dragon was a boy, I've been thinking about how to make house divided game day attire. At first, I thought I would take identical team onesies and try to take them apart and sew them back together (like the front of one to the back of the other). However, upon further thought this didn't seem like it would show each team's "spirit" the best. Then I happened upon DIY tie onesies on pinterest and I was hooked! I love the little ties on baby boys. I have stickers to celebrate each month for the dragon. I searched around to find the tutorial that made the most sense to me. This is it: http://www.crapivemade.com/2009/03/appliqued-tie-onesie.html

To start I bought a pack of short sleeve onesies and a pack of long sleeve onesies. Then I went off to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, and bought UGA and Alabama fabric. I also got some fusible webbing.

1) I cut out a piece of fabric slightly bigger than the piece of webbing.

 

 

2) With this webbing, I took off the loose piece of paper and stuck it to the "wrong" side of the fabric.

 



 

3) Then I ironed the webbing to the fabric.

 

4) Next, I used the pattern from the afore mentioned site and cut out the knot and tie.

 

 

 

5) Then I cut the two different fabrics at the same time so that I could get matching halves.

 

 

 

6) Next, I ironed the pieces onto the onesies.



 

7) The next step is optional. Sew the tie onto the onesie. The fusible webbing is supposed to be washable, but sewing secures it. I sewed the two short-sleeved onesies. But my sewing skills are still new, so I held off sewing the long-sleeved onesies for now. 

 

 

And a picture of the long-sleeved, unsewn onesies.

I also made a shirt for my adorable nephew. His is all Georgia :) I used a different site's tutorial and I don't like the finished product as much. I might have to make him another ;)

Wine Cork Strip Board

This project is SUPER easy. All you need is a yard stick (or flat dowel rod, which I found at Hobby Lobby), a glue gun, a picture hanging hook, and all those wine corks you've been saving.

flat dowel rod

 

 

 Screw the picture hook into the back of the dowel rod.

 

Use a hot glue gun to glue each cork to the rod. I laid out the corks next to the rod first to see which order I wanted. I tried to alternate plastic and real corks and separate the same corks from each other. I also made sure that I glued each one down so that the words or design showed clearly.

 And viola! Hang on a wall and you're done. I've since tacked a couple of birth announcements up there :)

 

Mini Black Forest Cheesecakes

Bama has been craving cheesecake for a while. (He even cheated on me by buying a Sara Lee one from the store! A brand, btw, that has the most obnoxious catch-phrase ever: "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." It hurts my ears every time.) Anywho...this prompted me to finally make some cheesecake. I made mini ones since we had a get-together to go to. Plus, everything's better in mini-form :)

Here is the website where I got the recipe: http://www.bakersroyale.com/cheesecake/mini-black-forest-cheesecakes/

I used cupcake tins instead of mini cheesecake tins, which I did look for at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Michaels but was unsuccessful.

Ingredients:
Cheesecake:

• 1/2 cup(s) of boiling water
• 1 tablespoon of gelatin
• 1/3 cup(s) of sugar
• 2 cups of Oreo cookies, crushed
• 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream
• 8 ounces of cream cheese (I used fat-free)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup(s) of semi-sweet chocolate, melted (I use an awesome Pampered Chef bowl to melt chocolate in the microwave)

• 1/4 cup(s) cherry reduction sauce*

* Homemade cherry sauce:

• 1 cup cherries (pitted)
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:
* Homemade cherry sauce:

1. Add cherries, water, sugar, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice in a pot over low medium heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stir frequently until mixture is reduced by half. Push mixture through a strainer to remove any skin. Pour mixture into a shallow bowl to cool.

Cheesecake:

1. Mix gelatin and sugar in a bowl; add boiling water and stir until gelatin completely dissolves, about 5 minutes.

 

2. Press crushed Oreos to bottom of cupcake tins. I used paper liners to help with clean up and to make traveling easier. (I crushed them in a bag with a rolling pin, but I did not crush them fine enough which made some of the cheesecakes a little too crumbly out of the wrapper)

 

3. Beat heavy cream to medium peaks. Add cream cheese, lemon, salt, beat on medium-high speed unitl mixture is smooth, about 3 minutes.

4. Add a large dollop of cream cheese to to the gelatin and fold to blend. Add remaining cream cheese mixture to gelatin and slowly fold until well incorporated.
5. For this next step you can either divide the batter into thirds in three bowls, or "eyeball" it and pour out a third into another bowl. Then add the cooled, melted chocolate to the 2/3 portion and the 1/4 cup cherry sauce to the 1/3 portion.

cherry sauce added

chocolate added

 

6. Layer cupcake tins with chocolate filling, cherry filling and then chocolate filling once more. (Unfortunately, since I used cupcake tins instead of the original recipe's cheesecake things, I started out with too many, so I didn't have enough chocolate left to make a second layer of chocolate on top of the cherry. Next time, I think I would just start with 12 and that should leave enough batter.)

7. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Garnish with whip cream and cherry.

 attempting to show the layers...

 



 

*Homemade Whipped Cream

 

Ingredients:

1 cup Heavy Cream

1 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Beat heavy cream until almost stiff peaks. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue beating to stiff peaks. (Do not overbeat)

 

I put the whipped cream in a pastry bag and piped it on top of the cheesecakes. I added a cherry (unpitted), which Bama wasn't a fan of. If you want pitted cherries on top, you'll have to sacrifice the elegance of the stemmed cherry.

Gum Paste Gerber Daisies

I mentioned that I don't do "Ace of Cakes" type creations, but a friend asked if I could make some cupcakes for a bridal shower she was throwing with Gerber daisies on them. Since I love this friend SO much (and I know the bride, who is also cool), I decided I'd give them a try. I did some research online and used a coupon at Michaels (or was it Hobby Lobby...I forget) to purchase a gum paste flower kit. I used Wilton Gum Paste and colored it with gel colors. The colors didn't come out as vibrantly as I would have liked, but over all I was pretty happy with the outcome.

 



 

I found a tip online to make the centers of the flowers. You roll a little gum paste and then press it into a wire mesh sieve. It worked brilliantly! Another tip I found was to use paper towel/toilet paper tubes as flower formers. I cut the tubes in half and then sat the flowers inside to dry. This curves them a bit. It worked well, but some of them were a little too curved. I think that can be fixed by cutting down the sides of the tubes a bit. Fancy, "professional" forms of these items can be purchased of course, but if they can be done with household items...bonus!

 

 

I made my chocolate cake cupcakes and white cake cupcakes. I frosted them with whipped chocolate ganache and whipped cream cheese frostings.

 

 



Dawg-Tide Pride Flower Pots

This particular project was in the works for at least a couple months. It's a Pinterest idea (of course). This is the site it comes from:
http://www.popularpix.com/pic-65.html
It doesn't really give directions, just this photo:

I thought this was totally awesome and promptly bought the pots and even a can of blue spray paint. But then later I saw this picture and inspiration struck! (I'd include a link, but Pinterest says it could be spam).

 

 



 



The idea for this blog came after I started this project, so I don't have great step-by-step pictures, but you'll be able to get the idea.

 

First, I bought 6 pots. 1 larger pot and 5 smaller ones. In the end, I only needed 4 small pots (which worked out because I could only get a shorter piece of rebar, so 5 small pots wouldn't have worked anyways).

 

Next, I spray painted the pots. I already had "crimson" and white spray paint, so I only needed to buy some black. (I painted all 6 pots...I'll use the last one somewhere else)

 

Then, using my Cricut, I cut out letters to say Go Dawgs and Roll Tide. I printed them on vinyl sheets. I put each word on a separate pot. Go Dawgs went on the black pots. Roll Tide went on the crimson pots.

 

Next, I pounded the rebar into the ground (sorry, didn't measure), threaded the big white pot, and filled it with soil.



 

 

Then, I threaded the "Tide" pot at an angle (well, as photo evidence proves, I put the "Roll" pot on first and had to change it out. Told you I'd include mistakes ;) )

 

 

And repeat:

 

 

Finally, I planted each pot with some flowers. 

 

 

Close-up.

 

 

The dragon wanted to help me plant the flowers :)

 

 

Materials needed for this project:

 

Clay pots: 1 large pot, 4 or 5 smaller pots. (I got them on sale at Michaels...score!)

 

Rebar: I found this at Home Depot near the lumber section. I bought a 4 ft piece (the next size up was 10 ft...too long). The original pic I got this idea from said to buy a 62" piece, thus needing 6 total pots.

 

Spray paint: I used Cherry Red (for Crimson), White, and Black. They were all different finishes, which I think adds a little dimention (but this wasn't intentional since I was using what I'd already had).

 

Rubber Mallet: to pound rebar into ground

 

Newspaper: to spray paint on

 

Flowers: hopefully I can keep them alive :)

 

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I think Uga is too :)

 

Gotta Start Somewhere

What else is a new stay-at-home mom to do but start a blog? I will not profess to have some fantastic writing abilities like some people I know, but hopefully, being a teacher, I can string together grammatically correct, somewhat interesting sentences. (Too many commas?)

I have no real blogging experience, so hopefully this blog will also become part of my "I Can Do That!" idea. The main focus of this blog will be to chronicle baking and craft projects that I attempt (I promise to even include the failures). Those who know me know that I have been baking for years. I even (kind of sort of) have a 'lil side business, Sweet Treats by Jenn. However, currently that website is down and I'm not quite sure when I'll get it back up. I want to change the focus to be mostly cupcakes and cookies because when you say you make cakes people expect Ace of Cakes type creations and that just isn't what I can do. I always like to say that I focus on flavor over decor (because, really...I'm not much of an artist).

So...back to this blog. Lately, I've become quite obsessed with Pinterest. I spend most of my time on the DIY & Crafts board. I've made a few things and I feel the need to take up my own space on the interwebz to talk about these projects. I promise to always credit the original site that I get the ideas from. This cartoon sums up what Pinterest does to a person:

 

I think my obsession with crafting/DIYing stems from the need to put the energies I normally put into teaching somewhere productive at home. Don't get me wrong...taking care of my (currently) 5 month old takes a lot of time. Fortunately though, he does take a few naps and goes to bed fairly early so I do have a little time. (I know this will change once he is more mobile, but I'll adjust).

 

Speaking of my 5 month old, I'm sure there will be a few posts centering around "the adventures in parenting." I'll refer to DS (dear son) as the dragon. I'll refer to DH (dear husband) as Bama. You know, to keep some anonymity on the internet :) We plan to BLW (baby led weaning) with the dragon, so there will definitely be some posts (and hopefully way cute pics) when that starts in a month or so.