Look, Ma! No calories! So, I tried my hand at crocheting, using the patterns from the book Amigurumi World, Seriously Cute Crochet. I made this pink cupcake and this little cup of coffee. The great thing about Amigurumi World is that the projects are all small, and take just a couple hours. But if you're a rookie, like myself, you may have a hard time understanding the instructions. I had to look up a lot of stitches on the internet. It also helps to take an intro class. This will be a birthday gift for my dear friend Amy. Her favorite color is apple green. Happy Birthday Amy!
d.i.y.
amigurumi class
I had the pleasure of taking a amigurumi crochet class from the beautiful and amazing Cheryl, whom I met from Peachhead. It was so much fun! Cheryl patiently showed us how to crochet these adorable "yarn chickens" (pictured above) of her own design. That green blob next to the cute chickens is what I made, after 2.5 hours. It was great to hang out with other crafty ladies...but we were all concentrating so hard, we barely spoke to eachother.
Our fabulous teacher, Cheryl.
I now know, that spending $45 for a amigurumi cupcake on etsy is so totally worth every stinkin' penny!
freakin' easy no-bake cupcakes
One day, while eating a banana chocolate chip cupcake with cream cheese frosting from vanilla bake shop, a lightbulb went on in my head. my delcious banana chocolate chip cupcake tasted strangely, and deliciously, like a muffin. I experienced cupcake algebra:
muffins = cupcakes without the frosting
thus,
muffins + frosting = cupcakes
I love decorating cupcakes, but baking them, can be somewhat of a pain for me. The muffins are store bought. And cream cheese frosting is made in seconds, in a food processor. Cream cheese frosting gloriously compliments the flavor of the muffins, or, uh...naked cupcakes.
What you'll need:
store bought mini muffins
ingredients for frosting, see below
a sandwich sized ziplock bag
scissors
toppings: sprinkles, colored sugar, chocolate chips, chocolate covered espresso beans, or whatever you have in the house!
Here are the store bought mini muffins. These are banana nut, chocolate, and blueberry.
Cream Cheese Frosting (from Cook's Illustrated)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (leave on counter for a while)
5 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 Tablespoon sour cream (i used yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.25 cups confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
Process cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanila in food processor until combined. (5 seconds) Add
powdered sugar, and continue to process for 10 seconds, scraping down bowl and blades as needed.
A few seconds later, your frosting will look like this. 
Scoop some of the frosting into a ziplock bag. 
Squeeze out air, twist, pushing frosting toward one of the bottom corners. Snip off a corner. (about 1/4 inch) 
Squeeze frosting onto cupcakes, think frosty soft serve ice cream cone. Be generous. Add toppings of choice. Photograph for your blog. Eat entire dozen, and hide evidence from child and husband. (Burp.)
This cupcake is topped with sifted cocoa powder, and a choclate covered espresso bean I happened to have. 
This is lovingly topped with confetti sprinkles, before stuffing into my mouth and getting into my nose.
More topping ideas:
Blueberry muffins, top with a bit of grated lemon rind, and a fresh blueberry.
Chocolate muffins, top with rasberry, or chocolate shavings. (or both)
Banana muffins, top with chocolate chips. (inspired by Vanilla Bake Shop)
Lemon muffins, top with lemon rind, and a rasberry or blueberry.
Apple muffins, top with cinnamon
not your grandma's crocheting
These are by Ana Paula Rimoli. You can buy her handmade items or patterns at her etsy shop.
This style of crocheting is called amigurumi, or the japanese art of crocheting ridiculously cute animals or inanimate objects. I just think it's insanely cute. Learning how to make this is on my life's to do list. I thought crocheting was just about making doilies. Ana Paula Rimoli has just released a book called Amigurumi World, available at Amazon.com.
Happy Girl's Day
Hinamatsuri, or Girl's Day, is celebrated today in Japan. It's a day to pray for young girl's growth and happiness. So in honor of girl's day, I'm giving away a free, that's right, free happy girl's day greeting card! Please download happygirlsday.pdf
, print, and cut out, and give to your favorite little girl.
more personalized goodies
Here's a personalized onesie & burp cloth gift set I made for my friend. The baby's name is "Sadie" so I made 3 designs using the "S" theme. "S is for Sadie" is one design, and I included elements like a snail, star, sock...all words that start with S. Isn't that SSSSIlly? Darn. I should've used the word "silly". I'll SStop.
hand stamped sterling silver charms
I'm loving this and I want to learn how to make these!
The top image is from beaducation "say it on your wrist kit" , bottom left is from etsy store kirsten's custom creations and bottom right is from vintage pearl.
The cool thing about beaducation is that they have online jewelry making classes. Check them out.
easy d.i.y. baby gift
i made onesies (not shown) and burp cloths for my dear friend's baby boy. printed on inkjet transfer paper, and ironed onto gerber onesies and cloth dipers. designs are simple and bright, partially because i like simplicity, but also because i had limited time to finish this project. my 4 year old was home with me, and the dragon tales dvd would be ending soon!
