Look What My Friends Can Do!

Remember my spray painted branch Christmas tree that sits on my table?  Well check out my mom's interpretation!

It's perfect for post-Christmas when you're sad that your house has gone from Holiday Spirit to Three More Months of Winter!  The white and the red look really fantastic.  And it was so easy.  She gathered some branches, painted them white, and then fixed little cardinals on them.

 The base is really a hurricane glass sitting in a bowl, and she dressed it up with Christmas ornaments, but you could do the same with pine cones, pieces of pine garland, or artificial snow!

 It goes along great with her white and red mantel this year.  Great job, mom!!

Look What My Friends Can Do!

My friend and fellow Airman, Reina, and her kids can make Christmas ornaments from dough!!

Via Pinterest and the Woodside Kitchen, she and her kids used the following recipe:

• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup baking soda
• 3/4 cup water

She heated it on the stovetop on medium heat, stirring constantly, until it formed a ball (about 5 minutes).  Then she placed the dough in a bowl and covered with a damp cloth until it was cool enough to handle.  Once it cooled down, they kneaded it to about 1/4 inch thick, grabbed some cookie cutters and went to town.  Note that they poked a hold in each in order to have a place to thread a ribbon/string to hang. To harden, either air dry or bake at 175 in the oven for an hour.

Waiting for glaze

After some drying, everyone painted them up with some acrylic paint, let them dry, and then Reina sprayed them with a matte acrylic glaze.

 After drying, all that was left was to string and hang them!

Pipe cleaners (or "fuzzy sticks" as we call then in my house)

Gorgeous, and what a fun thing to do with kids!  Great job!

Look What My Friends Can Do!

My law school pal Vinnie has a great story about some art he put in his place:

"Background on the pictures, I like to search Craigslist for "curb alerts", garage sales, or just general cool things during the day at work, and I spotted these 2 prints framed in very ornate frames for $80 dollars, I wanted them, but they were sold before I got to even email the person.  

Three blocks from my office is a super cute 2nd hand store that sells awesome antique, unique, or vintage furniture or housewares, it's awesome!  I walked in and found the exact same prints, in simpler frames but for $15 each! And on the same day I had wanted to buy them from someone else! 

As purchased - $15 each!!

 I bought them knowing eventually I would change the frames and last night I taped off the glass with paper and masking tape and sprayed them flat black

Finished product

 How great, right?  And what fantastic luck!  I love the vintage look, but the black frames modernize the prints a little.  And they are GORGEOUS prints.  So jealous :-)  Great job, Vinnie!!

Want to see more of my talented friends?  Check out Bev's cupcakes!

Look What My Friends Can Do!

Here's the first edition of "Look What My Friends Can Do!" which is a new section of the blog where I feature something awesome that my friends are doing.  First up is Bev, who live in Hawaii (hate you) with her husband, who was one of my Soldiers in the Army!  She took a cue from Crafty Mama Bakes and made these sweet Camo Cupcakes!  Delicious, and I want some for my promotion!

First, make two cakes, one white and one dark chocolate (not regular chocolate)

 

 

Cake mixes will be divided into 4 containers. 1 white, 1 chocolate, 1 white with a dab of chocolate and some green food coloring paste and one white and chocolate in equal amounts.

 

 

It'll look like this when you mix it up:  Light brown, camo green, white, and dark brown

 

 



Use an easy method for making pastry bags:

And fill 'em up!

Put random blobs of different batters in to cupcake liners (note, this is NOT the final product.  Jon thought it was and was freaked out):

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes and they come out like this:

Tint up some icing like so:  Buttercream frosting tinted. One white, one tinted with a little green food coloring paste and a little dark chocolate cocoa powder and one with a lot of dark chocolate cocoa powder. Note to self, next time add a few extra drops of milk to the chocolate buttercream, it got a little too stiff with the added cocoa powder and was difficult to pipe. (I made 11/2 batches of buttercream and it was the perfect amount).

Put the icing in three bags to be put into one large bag:

And ice away!

Super cute and military themed - great idea for a military function or a little boy's birthday party.

Thanks for letting me share, Bev!!!