Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

This past Sunday was my 23rd birthday. 

I can't believe it's already almost the middle of February because I'm still wondering where 2011 went if we're being honest here. 

When J and I were talking about plans for the birthday weekend festivities he asked me if I'd like a regular cake, cupcakes or an ice cream cake. And while I would really love all of the above because I'm a huge dessert fan I actually opted out for none. You're in complete shock now, right?  

Instead of buying a delicious treat I wanted to try a new recipe, something from my Sweet Treats board on Pinterest and these are what I picked.

Source: sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com via Jayme on Pinterest

They were incredibly simple to make and I whipped them up during the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon. I actually worked on them when the actual game was on because honestly, I didn't care much about who won the game. I was more interested in the commercials and half-time show. Here's how mine turned out....

I made one batch of mini cupcake size and the rest as regular size. If I were to do it again I would make them all mini because they were the perfect bite-size snack to curb that sweet tooth. They are so rich, so delicious and pretty filling. To keep J and myself from eating every single one of them I brought a big tupperware full of them to work on Monday and they were a huge hit. The empty tupperware came home with me the next day! 

I chalk this recipe up as a success! I will definitely be making them again and I suggest you consider doing the same if you're in need, whether socially or personally, ;-) of a little something sweet. 

Getting in the Spirit

Now that Thanksgiving is over...
And by no means am I forgetting about how nice it was to have family in town and celebrate all that we have with them but....

I will always be more excited for Christmas.

J thinks I'm crazy for my excitement but now at least I'm justified for...

Knowing that it's only 26 days away. 

Hitting up Michael's and Jo Ann's a ton recently.

Turning my craft room into my hoarding place for all things red & green. 

Leaving flecks of glitter through the house as the decorations begin to go up.

I'm especially excited this year because this will be our first holiday season in our new house. That means lots of decorating, lots of Christmas cheer and hopefully a non-Scrooge boyfriend sooner or later. ;-) I've been compiling some of my favorite inspirations, crafts to try and ways to make our house beautiful so take a look!

Source: etsy.com via Jayme on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Jayme on Pinterest

Source: funkybear.wordpress.com via Jayme on Pinterest

Source: curbly.com via Jayme on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jayme on Pinterest

Source: budgetwisehome.com via Jayme on Pinterest

DIY Braided Scarf for Fall

I have been absolutely loving Pinterest lately. Haven't you?

Well I'm here again to show you something else that I've made using a pin as the inspiration. I've made no-bake cookies, taco soup and taquitos, custom art for our guest bedroom, lace shorts, and the most recent hummingbird clutch.

Exhibit A: The Ultimate Goal: sold for over $44

Exhibit B: The Tutorial and Sample: from Put Up Your Dukes

And finally....

Exhibit C: My Take

Used:

Two tees from Goodwill: around $8

Thread, scissors, and sewing machine

Time in my craft room one evening listening to my James Taylor station on Pandora

I love the way that this turned out. I specifically bought tees in colors that were fall-ish and could coordinate with my wardrobe the most. Isn't it the worst when you buy or make something that you have nothing to wear it with? Maybe that's just me. In hindsight I would actually buy some jersey fabric to make another one because the shirts I used didn't give quite the 60" length that fabric would have. I love the way that this scarf sits but it would be nice to have another that I can wear doubled. 

It's a little hard to tell because the next picture was taken on my phone in the evening (with only big over-head lights) but the scarf coordinates perfectly with an army-green colored jacket that I've started wearing a lot lately. I wore it when J, Ollie and I walked to the park and watched some softball one evening this week. 

Thank you Pinterest for giving me something else fabulous!

Hummingbird Clutch

Last weekend J and I picked up a folding table for me to use in my craft room/our other spare room upstairs in the house and I've been itching to make something up there. It's so nice to have my own space like that, where I don't have to worry about putting everything away or finishing a project the day I start it. So the other day I decided to wander around Jo Anns with my Pinterest boards pulled up on my phone and see what struck my fancy. 

This is what I decided on. 

(Pleated Clutch from Punkin Handmades)

And this is what I made!

I followed her tutorial almost exactly and it was really easy to follow overall. (Perfect for someone like me who is far from an expert seamstress.) Specifically I bought a 1/3 of a yard of both my outer and lining fabrics and still have plenty left over for something else down the road. I used a 14 inch zipper and decided not to use the D-ring and strap options. I did not use any interfacing or fuseable fleece partly because the stuff scares me and also because I don't understand the point. I substituted the fusible fleece with two pieces of $0.25 white felt and it seems to have worked just great. 

I was immediately drawn to this fabric because of the hummingbirds. I have a special place in my heart for them and I knew this was an awesome way to discretely show part of a wing here, part of a beak there. I loved the coral color in some of the flowers and decided to exploit that for the inside polka-dot fabric and the zipper. (Although I was close to using the kelly green instead.) I know I'll be making another one of these soon with a more fall/winter appropriate fabric because this is a little spring-y for October but I couldn't resist. 

One of the best things is how much this thing can hold! There are two small pockets on the inside for carrying those little things we call carry around and the darting step for the corners makes this clutch pretty expandable if I do say so myself. 

This is everything that I've been carrying around inside on a regular basis:

Sunglasses - phone - coffee-cuff 

keys - lipgloss & chapstick - pen pain meds

and my wallet (which is a pretty good size) 

There has also been some randoms: 

4 inch sprinkler head (it was yard-improvement day today)

a calculator (for tutoring)

and a small banana (for breakfast, duh)

The overall consensus is that I love my new clutch and I can't wait to make some more of them. I might even start making a few of them for Christmas gifts (it's not to early to start planning, just fyi)

What have you made lately? 

Custom Art & Lessons Learned

In my Guest Room Make-Over post I showed you the newest artwork that I made for above the bed and I thought I would share with you how I made it. And more specifically how it's always good to look into things a little bit before attempting them to avoid a project being more involved than you wanted it to be. <--- This is called foreshadowing ;-)

Like I mentioned before, I used this as my inspiration for the project. Well that piece of art combined with the pattern on the sheet set for the bed. I loved the flowers on them and knew I wanted to use them in the room somewhere else.

I used the pillowcase as my visual and drew out one of the flowers as best as I could. I knew I wanted to use two canvases for the space so I re-drew it once more with a division down the center. I love how it isn't symmetrical, something that even J was surprised I would do.

I gathered my 16 x 20in canvases (that have been sitting blank for at least 6 months with no inspiration) and carefully drew a blown up version of the original on each half.

Lesson #1: do not, and I repeat, DO NOT assume that the person who originally wrote the caption for your pin on Pinterest was accurate. When I checked out my pin before starting the project it read "Elmer's glue on canvas. Then paint the whole thing one color". Easy-peasy I thought. So I took out my glue, carefully placed as smooth of lines as I could get and went to bed.

This is what I woke up to. Lesson #2, Elmer's glue is not like puff paint. It dries flat. This is not what I wanted. Thankfully I only did one canvas up to this step so I saved a little bit of wasted time.

Lesson #3, always check on the source of your pin yourself so that you get the results that you want. Turns out that the original was made with white puff paint on canvas, not Elmer's. I was frustrated by this point, only had red puff paint and knew I had a can of white spray paint so I continued on. Retraced all of my lines with the red, waited for them to dry and gave them a good coat of spray paint.

I ended up having to go back to the second canvas (aka the one I didn't originally mess up on) with some glue around the puff paint to make them look the same. See in the above photo how the glue (the shiny parts) sort of seeped out along the red puff paint? Turns out when I spray painted them you could sort of see those parts, granted I liked the look, but I had to then "mess up" the other canvas to get them same.

Eventually my project was finished, with many more steps that I was originally planning on, but lessons learned and custom art made so I say it was a success in the end. Don't you agree?

*Please go back to my original Guest Room Make-Over post and check out what I updated* 

Updated Shorts

When I found this picture on Pinterest a few weeks ago I knew exactly what pair of jeans I was going to use to make myself a pair of these fabulously updated, recycled, repurposed summer shorts.

Via

So when I was out running errands and found the perfect eyelet trim I came straight home to chop up those old jeans; ones than were worn in the heals, had faded and actually had a big rip along the inseam (the reason I was forced to stop wearing them in the first place).

I absolutely love the result!

I left the edge of the jeans unfinished over the lace in hopes that it might fray just slightly and add even more to the cuteness of them. I attached the lace with a simple zig zag stitch and literally put them on as soon as they were finished. It took a total of 1.5 yards of lace for the project just so you know incase you want to make some for yourself.

I've always been a big fan of lace in general and I think these are put together while simple with a bit of a country-style to them. Perfect for this girl!

Thanks Pinterest for another great find!

Pinterest + Food = Love

If you haven't jumped on the Pinterest wagon I highly suggest you do. And follow me while you're at it... jaymeeryn. It's a great place to find inspiration for your house, fashion, travel, photography, DIY/crafts, and much much more.

But one of my fullest "Boards" has to do with one thing we are obsessed with around here and I seem to constantly be mentioning...

Fooooood

Pinterest allows you to see pictures of amazing food and then what's even better, it provides you with a link to where that gorgeous picture came from. And a lot of the time that link will also take you to a recipe. Well J and I have tried three new recipes all found on Pinterest and I thought I'd share the links so you can get inspired in the kitchen as well.

(The following pictures include the one I pinned on top and one I took of our attempt on the bottom.)

#1 No Bake Cookies

With it being summer the thought of turning on the oven to bake seems like crazy-talk around here so these bad boys have hit the spot for dessert lately. They were easy to make, required only a few ingredients and when placed in the freezer have been absolutely delicious and cool on these warm summer nights.

#2 Taco Soup

Rebecca, the author of the blog where this recipe is from, calls Taco Soup trashy and Frito worthy.... a perfect combination around this house. It's spicy and hearty and full of simple ingredients you might already have in the pantry. It was absolutely a breeze to make and we're gong to have left-overs for days with this meal.

#3 Chicken Taquitos

These goodness-in-a-tube treats are probably going to be made many times in the coming weeks because they have turned into our top mexican meal because they were so delicious. They're crunchy, flavorful, and easy to make. We used some shredded chicken we had frozen in the fridge and all other ingredients we already had. They were great for a full dinner meal served with some tortilla chips but they'd also be good as appetizers for a party.

I have many more pins related to food that I hope to show you once we make them but for now I'm very happy with this start.

Happy pinning!