Spring Wreath

I wasn't even going to blog about this wreath because I'm so embarrassed about it. But I guess I need to blog about it to see what I did wrong and set goals for how to become better! This wreath from Flamingo Toes was my inspiration. I usually don't love wreaths made out of the basic grapevine base because they look too a) old, b) withered, c) fake. I guess I'm a pretty particular wreath person (and growing even more so now that I browse wreaths on a regular basis!) because I don't love fir green wreaths for Christmas, I don't love the grapevine wreaths with leaves on them for Autumn....and I'm starting to dislike all the yarn wreaths, wreaths made out of other strange materials.....okay wow. But there are wreaths I do really like! I think they usually look fresh. And that's why I like this wreath so much!

Unfortunately, my wreath is a far cry from the one at Flamingo Toes....Apart from the fact that the grapevine itself is not round at all (there were only like 3 left at the store- I tried my best!), the whole thing looks a little...rushed and amateur, eh? Probably because I rushed it and I'm an amateur! Well, at least it's an honest wreath.

So I started by making the felt flowers, which actually always turn out good. I love those felt flowers! But I used Flamingo Toes' tutorial to make the larger flowers, and I used muslin I had laying around. Turns out, muslin is way too floppy for this! So I have large floppy flowers. But I do like the colors!

Then after that, my moss was strange and kept falling out everywhere. It still looks very angular where I cut it to glue on the wreath, so I'll need to fix that eventually. Moss is just weird....and I was hoping for a brighter spring green! I guess I just can't have my perfect wreath ever...

And finally, I made a banner out of burlap and felt letters. I personally don't love the banner on the inspiration wreath, and I though burlap would be perfect! Well, the burlap banner is actually my favorite part....but the hand-cut letters aren't. :) I wanted to do this project in one night, so rather than painting on the letters, or even taking more time to draw the letter design on the felt, I just started cutting letters! They definitely look amateur there, and although they're not my favorite, I do think they look fine on this wreath.

Well, it seems I went back to trying to shortcut or cheat my way into having a beautiful craft. I know it takes patience, and careful planning, (at least for me :D) to have a craft turn out well. So I just need to put off finishing something for one more day- and then I think I can be successful at crafting!

I just can't get into holidays....

I always feel like I'm most crafty when there's nothing at all going on. I didn't do a single thing for Christmas last year, and I couldn't even make the tiniest decoration for Valentine's day. I always miss the big holidays, but I seem to get a crafting craze during July or August when there isn't really any big holidays to decorate or make treats for. :)

So unfortunately, that means the last few months have been pretty bare in the crafting/baking/doing anything area. I haven't really participated in New Year's, Valentine's Day, our birthdays, St. Patrick's Day, Easter...anything! I actually did make a spring wreath...I'll have to go get pictures of that sometime! But here are the few things I have done lately:

Halal Chicken and Rice
I've been threatening to make this dish for months, and I finally did it! It just sounds kind of weird, so I think that's why my husband was wary of trying it. :) But it turned out really well! It's very similar to chicken shawarma, which I love. The white sauce isn't tzatziki though, it's just a lemony creamy sauce. It didn't have quite enough flavor right off the bat though- it could have been that I used chicken breasts instead of thighs....but after sitting a day in the fridge, the leftovers were much more flavorful!

 Cinco de Mayo
We had an AMAZING Cinco de Mayo dinner up at my sister's house, and she let me bring dessert! I have a hard time thinking up desserts to feed 10+ people, but this trifle was just the thing. I need to think of trifles more often! Although mine had to be in a big bowl instead of the pretty clear glass trifle dishes, I still think it turned out pretty well (plus the bowl was overflowing!) I also made Mexican wedding cookies (also calledmany other things), just for something that actually qualifies as Mexican food. Both desserts were so good! I just love making dessert. Like....seriously.

Actually, I really love dessert so much that I've officially decided to open a bakery someday. That sounds really weird saying it like that, and of course it won't be until I'm a grandma probably, but I would truly love to have a little shop and just make all my favorite treats. And learn to make actual good treats! So that's the life goal---40 years from now! :D

6 Pins in 6 Weeks

Well..that 6 pins in 6 weeks thing was worth a shot...Okay, actually I really enjoyed it, even if I didn't do very well at it. So here were my 6 pins that I planned to do:

1. Learn to accessorize: I don't have any pictures to prove that I accomplished this, but it's really more of a work in progress anyway. I did wear a lot more jewelry- I even got back into wearing earrings sometimes! Most importantly to me, I cleaned out a lot of my old jewelry and kind of took stock of what I have. Now I'm ready to start shopping for more updated jewelry so I can wear it on a regular basis!

2. The waterfall braid: done! I've done my hair like this so often now, and I love it each time.

3. Homemade granola bars: I planned to make a granola bar similar to the chewy bars, that are...well...chewy! But I also had a goal not to spend any money doing this pinterest challenge, and so I could only use what I had at home. I didn't have rice krispie cereal or quick oats, so I found a different recipe I'd pinned long ago to try! It was more like those crunchy granola bars, and while it was still pretty good....I won't be making them again. I don't care as much for the crunchy granola bars, but it was sure fun to try! So I'll get rice krispie cereal someday and make some delicious bars. :)

4. Make a yarn wrapped vase out of a Martinelli jar: done! It's still on my table and makes me happy every day.

5. Make a cleaning schedule: Done! I almost didn't finish this project, because it turned into a giant project where I wanted to make an entire house planning binder and all sorts of organizational things...but I calmed down and finished at least the cleaning schedule! Again, I just used what I had on hand, so some old scrapbook paper (not my favorite...but I need to use it all up before I can justify buying any more!)

6. Make overnight oatmeal: Total. Fail. Actually, I knew it would be a fail considering I didn't buy any of the ingredients! With March being my birthday, my husband's birthday, Easter, and all sorts of other things, I felt so overloaded with food that even the thought of this oatmeal made me a little sick. I try to have a small breakfast of cereal and banana slices, so a jar of oatmeal with yogurt and fruit/mix-ins just seemed too much during this gigantic month of food. But I looked at the recipes for the oatmeal again last weekend, and they looked really really good, so I think I'm over my perpetual fullness and I can try to make these soon! I'll let you know how they go, because I really can't wait to try all the flavor combinations.

March: The Month of Birthdays

March is a pretty fun month, if I do say so myself. The weather is officially getting warmer, and the world is once again a happy, not dead wintry place. We have my birthday, my husband's birthday, Easter, St. Patrick's day, and probably a few more excuses to eat as many treats as possible. I just really love March! Last year, our birthday cakes were both disasters. Since last year, I've found my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe, and these cakes were much better because of it!

My cake was an almond joy cake, inspired by these beautiful cupcakes by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. If I had it to do again, I might just make her exact cupcakes, complete with the gigantic dollop of almond frosting. I didn't want to make a huge cake, since it was just the two of us (and we'd have more cake in just two weeks for my husband's birthday!), so I just made one layer, which the almond frosting and chocolate ganache. I thought it was very very good- but again, I'd have at least twice as much almond frosting next time!

I've been showing everyone I know the recipe I used for my husband's birthday cake- the recipe is for peanut butter cup brownie cake from Sprinkle Bakes. Even just looking at her pictures of that amazing cake make me want to make it again! And we still have half of ours left. :) I didn't make the brownie layers (because I'm a wimp and didn't want to use 5 eggs!) and so I made two layers of my very favorite cake recipe and one layer of the peanut butter filling. I had to adjust the chocolate frosting quite a bit- when I followed the original recipe, it was not very sweet, and very very dark. So I made it a light, whippy frosting instead, and I loved it all! It was actually very easy to make the peanut butter layer, and the whole cake stayed together, so I'd call it a birthday success!