package-pals

I love getting packages in the mail! Who doesn't?? It's the one plus to having friends and family who live across the country. Something I like even more than getting packages? Sending them! I love putting them together, picking out different things I hope they like, adding something i made (food and/or craft stuff) adding a note, ect.

My friend, Heather, and I started sending books back and forth to each other around Christmas and it seems like they get bigger every time! She's an amazing package pal (and has quite the selection of amazing books!) This is what I got in the mail a couple weeks ago.

I had been craving sour jelly bellies (my absolute FAVORITE!) for a long time and I wanted to inhale both bags immediately.

Prettiest nail polish!

Thank you Heather! I owe you a good one!

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I also got this package in the mail from my sister, Jasmine, a few weeks ago too. New running shoes, pretty yarn and a new knitting needle. We recently started Skype knitting dates, she's teaching me how to do a pretty hat. And we're doing a pair of socks together next. I'm very excited! She's a yarn junky so she always hooks me up with the best yarn! I owe you a package big time, too.
Isn't this sea foam color amazing?? I almost don't want to use it.

craving green

After a long weekend of eating sugar laden foods almost exclusively, i was absolutely craving vegetables, fruit and green tea.

So i made a "green monster" with bananas, pineapple and a couple cups of baby spinach. And it was just what the doctor ordered!


I also had some kale begging to be used, so I made some kale chips.
You cut/tear up the kale, discarding the stem. Toss in olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
Bake for 30-35 minutes on 250 degrees. And enjoy the super crispy, healthy treats.

Hope your Monday was amazing!

best blueberry muffins EVER

I made these last weekend and my husband ate seven in one day. Yes, seven. They are crazy good. The cinnamon-sugar streusal topping sets them over the edge.

Blueberry muffins
MAKES 12
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar (i used evaporated cane juice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg (i used one egg replacer)
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

For the streusal topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup earth balance (or butter), cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg (or replacer mixture) and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup earth balance, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking. (You may not use all the topping)
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Earth day cake pops

I had some left over white candy coating and a brilliant idea to make earth cake pops. My brilliant idea didn't translate so well. I didn't want to have to buy both blue and green candy wafers from the craft store, so I looked up if the white candy coating can be dyed with food coloring and all the websites said yes, use gel color.

I guess what I used wasn't "gel" enough, and it turned the once liquid candy coating into this dough.
I decided to go ahead and try to make it work and cover the cake pops in the "dough" like you might fondant. It worked out okay, but the final result wasn't as pretty as I was imagining from the beginning. (It never does right??)

They were pretty hard to work with, and they don't look exactly like planet earth but the resemblance is close enough. You'll have to forgive me, once again, Bakerella.

Lesson learned: Next earth day, just buy the blue and green candy coating. They would be both easier and prettier.

Happy earth day!

(Edited: For some reason i kept getting spam comments on this post so i disabled commenting. Sorry!)

The Madeleine Mini Bloomers

Hello! I keep forgetting to post this so here it is.

I've been wanting to sew a romper (or few) for this summer but I figured I should start with the shorts and once I had those down, graduate to the romper. So I started with these guys, and then I did non-pajama shorts, so I guess the romper is next!

These were incredibly easy and gave me the courage to keep going. For some reason I thought even PJ shorts might get somewhat complicated, but I was wrong. These are definitely beginner friendly. You can download the pattern for free here.

p.s. I have been obsessed with Martha Stewart's new fabric craft book. It is AMAZING! And is keeping me busy. Hopefully I'll be back with more from that.

Weekend birthdays

Over the weekend we celebrated my nephews first birthday.

I spent the better part of Friday (read: ALL DAY!) making these. Then managed to take this picture in the car on the way to the party. To say they were time consuming would be an understatement, and they didn't look exactly like bakerella's but for using what I had on hand, I thought they turned out alright. I used round mints for the eyes, jelly bean for the nose and chocolate wafer for the mouth.


And Sunday was our cat Tofu's first birthday. I made him a catnip mouse.






Completely unrelated: I cannot believe this little blog has almost 600 subscribers through google and blogger (and an uncounted amount through regular RSS feeds on firefox)!!

Thanks for caring about what I make and eat and do. I would still be doing it if my only reader was my husband, but I'm glad to know there are others out there too!

Memory lane part 1

I've been sorting through my pictures folders all day. Quite literally.

I'm constantly saving photos of inspiration for fashion, hair, food, paintings, crafts, you name it. But I also take a bazillion pictures a day so to organize it all was a daunting task but I knew it had to be done soon, or I would lose my mind. It is now done! And in the process I have relived some wonderful memories. And I wanted to share.

These are just from a few weeks ago when Georgia hit us with an amazing day. We rode our bikes down to the botanical garden here and enjoyed the pre-spring afternoon taking silly pictures.

Then this happened. That face I'm making says "Yikes! I have to land in 5-inch platforms"

(I don't usually do dramatic post-processing on pictures but I was playing with some new PS actions for the first time on this set)

Happy Easter!

In the hustle and bustle of hunting for eggs and devouring candy, let us not forget the reason we celebrate. He is risen!