Spring Projects

I have been terribly busy with spring softball (dear husband plays Monday thru Thursday) and bad attempts at potty training.  But I am back, and I have been doing a little bit of crafting and such.

Here are some projects/ideas I have been working on or done since I've been on hiatus.

Hot Dog!

I made Addilyn octopus hot dogs..which turned out to be an epic failure. There must be some trick that I am missing, because the octopi did not have cute little legs that stuck out, they either broke off or stuck straight down. I won't even put a picture of what mine looked like, in order to hide some of my shame at failing at a seemingly simple task.

Glitter Key
I made a sparkle key! Which turned out infinitely better than the octopus challenge, so I will show you a picture of that! It was a key that had  Pepé Le Pew, one of my favorite cartoon characters as a child and he probably sparked my Francophilia, but he was scratched and chipped so I just painted over him with purple nail polish, sprinkled some multi-glitter while the polish was wet and sprayed it with some acrylic sealant I had from another project. I love this key and I am thinking about doing all my keys like this so that my key chain looks like a giant glitter bomb.

 

Glitter Key!

Painting Spring!
I have been inspired by all the adorable spring Lilly prints I see popping up on facebook and pinterest and I decided to pull out paint brush and do some spring canvases just for fun. I did 5 mini canvases inspired by flowers and largely inspired by Lilly and then on a 16 x 20 I did a sweet chevron pattern in colors that match the nautical theme that is my master bedroom. The chevron has a big blank box in the center because I have not decided the best way to add beach sand to the monogram letters that will be painted in the center. I am going to do some test runs on some small canvases before I try and sand texture my chevron print canvas.

It's shiny because the paint is a little wet and the center white box is uneven, but it dried with a nice matte finish and I evened out the center box lines.

Log Side Table!

I have completed the log side table! Dustin wanted to keep it natural so I just softened up some the rough spots and coated it a clear, waterproof protective varnish. It looks awesome, (actually it just looks like a clean, shiny part of a tree trunk) and Dustin loves it, but I think it needs some legs, so I am gonna figure something out, and maybe add some thin, random paint stripes in the style of antler art to make it mesh a little better with our nautically natural room.

Homemade Yogurt Drops

So the Hubs and I are trying to be a little healthier and our biggest hurdle in that adventure is snacks. 

We are the snackin'-est people you will ever meet. 

We always have popcorn, dips, chips, salsa, candy, cookies, crackers, and Little Debbies on hand.  We are trying to adjust our eating habits so baby A learns healthy eating habits and doesn't become one of America's junk food babies. We have noticed how much she emulates our choices and actions, and we decided we had to make a swift change.

In our search for healthier snack alternatives, I remembered that I saw something about make at home yogurt drops by putting yogurt in the freezer. (Of course I cannot find it now, I guess I didn't actually pin it, I just thought I did)

They turned out pretty awesome and tasty. They are great healthier snack option over grabbing a handful of candy or some ice cream. And with all the flavors of yogurt out there, you really have so many choices for flavoring, thank you Yoplait! These are a really delicious snack that will be perfect on these warm Spring days here in South Georgia. I tried plain vanilla this time, but I am really excited about trying some Key Lime Pie and Strawberry ones too!

  

The only downside is that you have to eat them when you take them out of freezer like you would ice cream, a popsicle or any other frozen snack. They will start to melt back into regular, unfrozen yogurt that you have to eat with a spoon and you lose the ease of eating them like a pop-able snack. So, they don't travel well.

THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED: 

•  Yogurt- Any size, any flavor, it all depends on how many you want to make and your personal taste preferences
• Ziploc bag
• Wax paper

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT:

 (You probably  just sang that in Montell Jordan's voice! If you did, you totally just aged yourself, that song came out in 1995, haha!)

Lay wax paper over a plate or cookie sheet. But please make sure that your cookie sheet will fit in your freezer before you finish all this hard work. 

Scoop out your yogurt into the Ziploc bag, between 1/3 and 1/2 full

Snip the tip of the bag and make little drops on the wax paper covered plate/cookie sheet. 

Freeze overnight, and ENJOY! 

Self-Frosting NUTELLA Cupcakes

I love Nutella. And the word love is a serious understatement. I usually just eat it straight from the jar, but I saw this recipe on Pinterest and figured I had to try it. I have never made cupcakes from scratch and if it has Nutella in it, it can't be bad, so I tried it and it was a huge hit!

The recipe is super easy and it turned out so great.

(Find the site the pin and recipe came from  HERE)


1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; add to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. The batter will be very thick,but that makes it easy to swirl the Nutella.

Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Drop a spoonful of Nutella on top of each, and swirl through the batter with the tip of a bamboo skewer, knife or other pointy object. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Tilt them in the pan to help them cool. Makes a dozen cupcakes.



 I feel so accomplished baking something from scratch and the feeling was amplified when my taste testers couldn't get enough of them!