Kitchen Backsplash

I have been going crazy trying to find the perfect tile for our kitchen.  So far, this is the closest that I have gotten.  I love how the colors blend with the granite.  The cracked glass tiles are really pretty too.  I would love to have a little more shine though.  I tend to lean toward iridescent tiles but I can't find anything that I love.  I may just be ordering these tiles soon and be done with this.  I am sick of getting grease and food spatters on my wall, lol.  

You can see how it ties the stainless appliances with the granite and the black cabinets in this photo.

Advanced Gumpaste Class with Wilton

Briar Rose

Over the past 3 weeks, I have been learning how to make numerous flowers out of gumpaste (sort of like fondant but dries quickly). I am glad that I have had this experience but I don't really see me doing these kinds of flowers all too often.  They are a little tedious and it would take a million to decorate an entire cake.  I prefer piping icing to molding fondant/gumpaste but I can at least do it for a client now if it is requested.  Next up is to finish a big Stargazer Lily in class.  It's going to be so pretty.  I will post it here when I finish it. :)

Gerbera Daisy

Sweet Pea

Gumpaste Flowers-Part 2

Stephanotis 

Ivy Leaves/Lily Leaf

Aunt Judy's Apple Pie

Apple pie doesn't get any better than this.  My Aunt Judy has been using this same recipe for as long as I can remember.  It is super easy and doesn't require a lot of spices.  If you make this, do yourself a favor and make your own pie crust.  Store-bought is not of the same caliber as homemade.  I have a really good recipe for pie crust that I posted on my blog a while back.  If you want simple step-by-step instruction on how to achieve this buttery, flaky, out-of-this-world pie crust, go check out Joy the Baker's blog post about it at: Pie Crust Tutorial

Recipe for the apple pie can be found here: Aunt Judy's Apple Pie

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

These cupcakes are ridiculously good.  Seriously, I kid you not.  The chocolate cake is perfect and the peanut butter frosting is oh-my-gosh.  It's the best stuff on the face of the planet.  I could eat a bowl of the frosting all by itself and be happy.  Trust me on this one.  Make these today.  You're welcome. ;)

Recipe can be found: http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/62417099/chocolate-peanut-butter-cupcakes/detail.aspx

Baked Doughnuts

These turned out pretty but they weren't the best recipe.  I am now going to scour the web to find a better way to make them.  The stupid thing is that I bought one of those special Wilton pans that shapes the doughnuts and yet I ended up cutting them out instead.  Oh well, live and learn.  

Valentine's Day-2/14/12

 

I was too lazy to do a fondue dinner this year so we opted for heart-shaped pizzas from Papa John's.

Hayden being silly (age 9)

Emerson being silly too (age 7)

Valentine's Day-Part 2

Fondue Dessert-We do this every year.  It is a Valentine's Day tradition.

 

The boys brought home lots of valentines and candy from their classmates.  They were getting sugared up in this pic, lol.

Emerson's valentine box that I helped make for school

Hayden's Birthday from 1/29/12

Silly boys

Making a wish

Hayden wanted to go to Red Robin for his birthday dinner.  He didn't want cake so he got a birthday sundae instead.  Considering that I am a cake decorator, that is just pathetic on my part, huh?

For lunch, we went to Hayden's choice of Afton Tavern with my parents.  He opened his gifts while we were there.

BTW-He already has Skylanders for Wii so getting it for his 3DS is a bit redundant, right?  He asked for it though!

Easy Crescent Rolls

I made these rolls recently and received rave reviews so I thought that I would post the recipe here for you guys.  They are super easy to make with a bread machine or mixer but they could easily be kneaded by hand also.  When they come out of the oven, they have a soft center that stretches in large strands of doughy goodness.  When they are completely cool, the texture isn't as impressive but they still taste really good.  Heck, I ate one that was 3 days old and it was still yummy.  I discovered that you can get the original texture back by putting them in a hot oven for a few minutes.  

Crescent Rolls

• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 
  

Directions

1. Place water, milk, egg, 1/3 cup butter, sugar, salt, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough/Knead and First Rise Cycle; press Start.
2. When cycle finishes, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 12 inch circle. Spread 1/4 cup softened butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden.  Brush additional melted butter all over rolls while still warm.

Our Dining Room

I faux painted the inset of the tray ceiling.  I used the wall color for the base and then rag rolled the light ceiling color (the one around the tray) over top.  This picture does it no justice.  It looks really cool in person.

Looking into the dining room from the bottom of the stairs (love the wainscoting!)

Sorry, I know that all of these photos suck.  I couldn't get get enough lighting and then it was impossible to get the whole room into a shot because of the way that the room is closed off.  I couldn't get far enough away to get a decent shot with my big camera so I had to use my little point-and-shoot.  The colors aren't right but at least you can get any idea of what I have been working on.

I swear that those curtains aren't that bright.  They match the rug better than that, I promise.  I think that they captured my flash too much because they are a shiny fabric.  

I still need to get some artwork up on the walls but I just haven't gotten around to that yet.  

A Funny for You

Emerson-2/6/12

How cute is Emerson with a mustache?!  He made me chuckle as he walked out the door.  He made sure to put his hand over his face before he walked out the door to catch the bus.  I guess he was a little 'stache shy, lol.  I wondered how in the world he would make it all day with only one hand available to actually do anything with but thankfully he got over it.  No, my kid didn't sprout man hair on his upper lip.  That's eyeliner.  He was supposed to be 100 years old for the 100th day at school last month.  I wanted to spray his hair gray too but I think that he would have put his foot down.  Oh well.

***I know I was supposed to post dining room pics today but I had a good reason not to.  The photos suck.  That room is really hard to take photos of thanks to the light from the windows, the glare of the mirrors in the china cabinets, the glare from the chandelier, and the way my door openings are.  Please forgive me.  I will try to take pics again tomorrow but I can't promise anything.