Baby Bohl Party

Quick fix for a party I co-hosted in the beginning of March.

I had made chocolate covered cheesecake pops for a wedding shower recently and they were a hit. They were a nightmare, however, to transport. Top of my Food that does NOT travel well list. Well, the mama-to-be requested cheesecake so I got to brainstorming(I wasn't willing to travel with the pops again).

I had originally planned on making mini neopolitan cheesecakes. I mean what kid didn't love neapolitan ice cream? you didnt have to choose just one flavor, you could have strawberry, vanilla AND chocolate-heck yeah!!!! But then I couldn't find the mini springform pan I needed in time so I got a little creative and went to an old stand by. Mason jars. Little ones. For those of you who don't know.... Many stores sell Mason jars. I get mine from Kroger and they are usually around a buck each($12/dozen). I have them in all sizes and they make great decorations, gifts and in this case dessert vessels(that pack up and are easy to move!).

I wasn't about to attempt to bake 3 layers of cheesecake, I didn't have the time. But I didn't have much experience with Jello no-bake mix besides my friend N's rave reviews....No one knew the difference. 1 box of crust mix was enough for 24 jars, and I used 5 bags of cheesecake mix. For flavor and color(in the strawberry layer) I added vanilla extract and strawberry jello mix. And that's it. You make each layer, immediately pour it into a plastic bag, and 'pipe' it into each jar while its still liquid. Then gently tap each jar on a flat surface covered with a towel( so you don't break the jar) until the layer is level. Refrigerate each layer for at least an hour to set.
**Some of the jars had the crust come up while tapping the layers out, so be sure to pack down the crust well. If you 'pipe' the cheesecake in immediately it shouldn't require much tapping.

I also made salted dark chocolate caramel cookies. Recipe found on www.sallysbakingaddiction.com (March 1, 2013 post)

Pics below. For me, presentation is just as important as the food or gift. I had a massive pickle jar and some tongs for the cookies and we stacked the jars but opened the top layer.
I also included the chevron afghan I crocheted for baby Bohl. It coordinates with her nursery decor. Love that shade of purple. My inspiration was The basket liner on the registry.
- pattern used: Chevy baby blanket by Vickie Howell off ravelry.com (modified)
- Caron simply soft yarn in Orchid and White

Can't wait to meet the little princess!!!!

Rock Socks, there's an app for that!

Good gracious, blogger has an Iphin app. I've been looking for it, but stumbled across it today!
I'm hoping this means more consistent blogging. I have found that I rarely use my laptop for anything, and I have no idea how to use Mac's Mac:).

So to get back in the swing of things....Today's post is all about kitchen.

We decided that it was now or never on the kitchen renovation. I have always thought the kitchen needed a facelift. I didn't get to re-arrange things quite the way I wanted, but we were able to compromise and find a GREAT happy medium!

My vision was to completely gut the kitchen, get new appliances, floors, counters and cabinets. Then I landed back on planet earth. Since our tile floor goes throughout much of the downstairs, new floors wasn't an option at this time. Fortunately, it can be something to be considered in the future. The layout of the kitchen however, had to be meticulously thought out as this will be the way it will remain until/if we move.

We knew the wall between the living area and kitchen was coming down. We did have to say goodbye to the gorgeous craftsman built ins as they could not be salvaged, nor would they fit anywhere else in the house. We planned to take that wall all the way out but ran into some plumbing pipes(literally). With some creative plumbing, we were able to take out most of the wall as planned and only had to sacrifice about a foot to accommodate the new plumping routing.

We took all the doors off the top cabinets, sanded, and painted to blend in with the walls. Now we get to play around with displaying many of our beautiful wedding gifts in our open cabinets! And(much to Mac's delight), I am forced to keep the dishes organized.

Side note that the craftsmanship the workers did on our living room wall was awesome. They matched our 'molded' walls perfectly!

Mac was also pleased that I didn't choose the most expensive counters there were. I wanted a pop of color on the counters so instead of doing Venetian gold all throughout(I should mention the the island already had Venetian gold), we chose to do the main counters with black granite. Then we did the transaction counter in Venetian gold to complement the island. The finished look is a neat contrast.

We've staged a lot of the top cabinets with neat items. The pull down spice rack has to be my favorite. Decided to use a stainless, glass and white dish theme throughout. I realized that almost everything I already owned fit right in with the kitchen, creating a seamless look.

Some of the finishing touches are; the industrial pull down kitchen faucet and stainless undercount sink, the lazy susan bread plate, the stainless flip lid trashcan, the black iron doggie(maybe kids one day) gate.

We aren't done yet. We have finished one side of the base cabinets with new paint and hardware, but haven't gotten the energy to start the other side. A note about painting cabinets. DON'T DO IT if you can avoid it. Plans for painting the island black...thoughts on this? (We are conflicted) and a back splash are in the works.

The look we ended up with is industrial farmhouse and we love it! Hoping the whole project will be done by summer!

High: Yes, oil based paint gets you high...
Low: sanding is required if you want the paint to look right. However, you will be cleaning up after it for weeks.

Here are some progress pictures.....

Happy Birthday My Beloved!!!

Today is Mac's 33rd birthday! I have been lucky enough to celebrate 5 birthdays with this AWESOME guy. And I don't tell him enough that he helps to keep my world spinning and that I love him with all my heart and then some! I wish him the BESTEST birthday and hope that the upcoming year is filled with love and excitement.

These are a few of my favorite things; pt 3

Christmas Stockings post!!!

This year we got 4 new stockings. Crocheted courtesy of me(and my very exhausted arms).

The puppies got these:

Here is the tutorial I used:

http://www.redheart.com/files/patterns/pdf/LW2697_corr.pdf

Our stockings, (this would be the reference to DIY costing more than planned and taking up TIME) are made with blood sweat and tears. Learning how to cable and then having to out these huge things together was an undertaking, but well worth it. 

   

I love the look of cable knit patterns and did NOT want to knit this. While I can knit, it is not my forte. 

Here’s the tutorial I used:

http://www.redheart.com/files/patterns/pdf/LW3209.pdf

Merry and Happy Everyone!

And Happy (early) 3 month anniversary to N and C!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is a picture from their GORGEOUS FL wedding. Their photog was amazing!

These are a few of my favorite things; pt 2

Part 2 of a few of my favorite things:

A small break from house decorations as I show off a very brave undertaking(if I do say so myself).

I love to get dressed up. PERIOD. I always have, since I was a little girl. So when Mac told me we were invited to a black tie event with his boss, I was pretty excited. My excitement was short-lived however, when I started researching what classic “black tie” means. Now yes, I went completely overboard with the thought I put into the event but a) that’s what I do and b) I’m a firm believer that you ALWAYS error on the side of caution when it comes to your significant other’s boss. I might have chanced a cocktail dress, but I realized that all of my dresses have been altered to be short cocktail length. So I started shopping. And quickly realized that my budget was not going to afford a floor length dress. So I got crazy, and made one. Sort of.

Here was my inspiration:

I took an existing cocktail dress I found at TJ Maxx for $8 dollars(!!!)




















and took it apart.

  

I used a circle skirt tutorial I found online and customized it(this was the splurge part of the project cost wise). I used basic black lining and black chiffon and made 2 separate skirts to create a more free flowing and fuller skirt. 

You can see where the hem was NOT even when I attached it to the bodice. For those of you who have sewing experience, let me just say that the crowning glory of this project was hemming the chiffon. Not only is chiffon the most difficult material to work with, a circle hem is nearly impossible to create without a rolled hem stitch(which I don’t like). After a bit of research, I used lace hem tape and managed to get the perfect hem.

Here is the finished product!

Paul Bunyan and his Blue Babe...

pt 3 is next.....

These are a few of my favorite things; pt 1

These are a few of my favorite things (I’ve made over the last few weeks).

Part 1: Fall decorations

I’ve tried to remain in the DIY area, which by the way, does NOT always cost less, and is almost ALWAYS time consuming. However, with some of these, I was able to re-purpose things I had laying around the house or stored up in my craft room.

This brings me to mason jars. I LOVE them! I have them in several sizes and they make great rustic glasses for a shower or the perfect vessel for a homemade layered recipe gift. Using different size jars(which you can get at Kroger), some twine and hot glue I was able to create some lanterns for our fireplace. I used electric candles from the wedding for illumination.

 

Here is the tutorial link:

http://burlapandblue.com/2012/04/19/hanging-mason-jars-a-tutorial/

To go along with my fall lanterns, I needed something to go on the front door. So in theme with “rustic,” I used pinecones and the same twine along with a metallic fall bow(which I got in the dollar bin at Michael’s). Something to be said about ribbon, always buy generously b/c bows(and most other projects) use up A LOT!

Here was the inspiration photo:

Here’s the finished product with my spin:

I should note that the twine didn't hold it's curl and I'll probably cut those extra pieces off for next year.

Part 2 coming up.....

Happy belated 30th Lynn! Hope you had a great surprise bday celebration....

I had every intention of doing a wedding blog but I can't seem to figure out how to download the photos onto my lap top. So, the wedding highlight blog will have to wait until Mac 'fixes' my computer or down(up?)loads the photo's onto the desktop and sends them to me via email. That may seem like a round about way to do it, but for those of you who know me, you aren't surprised by the fact that I have no idea how to use Mac's Apple computer(I literally couldn't figure out how to turn it on). I mean I keep finding myself swiping my Sony laptop screen trying to move around. This back and forth between the IPhone and a PC are about all I can take. 

So onto another topic for now...

It's been a pretty chill weekend. I've been sans husband, who has been out in the hills of VA celebrating the marriage of his college buddy B and his wonderfully sweet bride J. I took it upon myself this weekend to try out some new recipes while he was gone. Mostly things he wouldn't like(artichokes) or wouldn't normally eat(eggs benedict).
So this morning, I decided to make myself a nice breakfast, using some of the left over ingredients I have in the fridge. 

I made pancakes! While this is not an earth shattering accomplishment for most, it is for me. While I consider  myself decent in the kitchen, breakfast is NOT a strong suit of mine. I have detailed below the recipe(courtesy of Esquire.com)......

Link to Pancake recipe: http://www.esquire.com/_mobile/features/make-pancakes-0509 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 ½ cups milk(I used buttermilk because I needed to use what I had left)
2 tbsp butter, melted

Sift together first three ingredients (to prevent lumps).In a separate bowl, mix egg and milk, then add it to flour mix, stirring until just smooth. Then stir in butter. If you want to mix it up, throw in blueberries, a tiny dice of apple, or bits of banana. 

Grease a griddle or nonstick pan with cooking spray or a little vegetable oil. Heat pan on medium for about ten minutes. Pour batter to form pancakes of whatever size you like. Cook first side until bubbles form on top, about three minutes; then flip and cook other side until it, too, is brown, about two minutes. 

Serve immediately with butter and syrup or hold briefly in warm oven. Serves four.

A Few tips I learned:

- Let your pan heat up completely, don't rush the process. I burnt my first 2 pancakes because I had the heat up too high. 

- I also learned that smaller is much easier to maintain. 

- my dogs love burnt pancakes

I would definitely make this recipe again. It was waaaaaay too much food for just me, but I'm glad I tried it. I've read horror stories about expired mixes so this is a great recipe for someone like me who might want pancakes just a few times a year and doesn't want to risk using expired mix.

Nothing better than a filling breakfast on a beautiful fall day! Can't believe it's November.....

Happy Fall Ya'll!!