Making Messes: One project {or more} at a time

Monday, March 21, 2011

A bowl full of lemons.: Silhouette GIVEAWAY!!!!

A bowl full of lemons.: Silhouette GIVEAWAY!!!!

If you have ever wanted a Silhouette, here's your chance to win one!! :)

Follow Along Party!

Tiffany at Making the World Cuter is hosting a "Follow Along Party"! What a great idea, this is a great chance to connect with other talented bloggers!! If you have a blog and want to participate, go and see her post for all of the details!

Thanks,

Valerie

Saturday, March 19, 2011

I've been featured!

I am so happy this morning! I found out that two of my projects had been featured on two separate blogs! The first one was my Quiet Book, and it was featured While He Was Napping.

I love her blog! If you haven't checked it out, you should!! She has a great post on 72 hour kits, and a great idea to organize your handbags! :)

The second was the Personalized Subway Art I made was featured at The Whetmans!

Check out the great scrap pillow she made! I am so impressed! Go and check her out!

Thanks ladies for choosing my projects! :) I am so excited to have been featured on your blogs! :)

Thanks,

Valerie

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Kitchen Utensil Crock Mini-Make Over

I had been wanting a kitchen utensil crock for... oh, I don't know... forever! I kept looking for them, and was never happy with what I found, or refused to pay the price that was being asked. Luckily for me, my good friend bought me one for Christmas, and I love it!! Today I thought it deserved a mini-make over! :)

I have never used my Cricut to cut vinyl before, though I knew it could, and even had purchased some vinyl a couple of months ago, along with the transfer tape, but I could never bring myself to use it....( for fear of becoming addicted, I think! I was right to be afraid, because I am now totally addicted!!).

So, armed with an idea, vinyl, a Cricut and the Sure Cuts Alot 2 software... I came up with an idea, and went for it! :)

So, here are some before and after pictures:

Before:

My very useful and most loved utensil crock

And After (without utensils)

Still useful and loved, but now it's got STYLE :)

After (with utensils):

Just doin' it's job! ;)

The coolest thing is, that I downloaded the picture off the web, and used the Trace feature on my SCAL2 software to create a file to cut with my Cricut and wah-lah!! If you are a Cricut owner, I would highly recommend SCAL2. I bought it about 2 weeks ago and have used it a lot since then!!

This NOT so big of a mess was brought to you by,

Valerie

This post has been featured here:

Linked up at the following parties:
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Motivated Monday by Be Colorful
Made by You Monday @ Skip to My Lou
a href="http://sewcando.blogspot.com">http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac133/cerise422/sewcandoPARTYbuttonworking.jpg"/>

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Celebrating Pi Day with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Pie

Did you celebrate National Pi Day? We sure did, being married to an engineer sort of "demands" that we do! Besides, I sure enjoy a good "geek-out" now and then! So, I made up my mind to make a pie for dessert! :) But it sure was a messy adventure!

So, a few of you know that I keep up another blog (or two) and the details for how to make this pie, including the recipe can be found: http://lovinlowcarbrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/03/chocolate-peanut-butter-layer-pie.html at my Lovin' Low Carb: Recipes & More Blog. (I know this way of eating is not for everyone, but it works for my husband and I, we lose weight, keep it off, and feel great!) So, this is a low carb version of this pie, I am SURE that if you wanted to use regular high carb ingredients, that it would turn out just as well! :)

Here's the final product-- please don't laugh yourself silly over my lack of cake decorating skills... I definitely tried-- but I am sure a 2nd grader could have done as well!

All pictures are borrowed from my Lovin' Low Carb blog

The biggest mess of them all though was the crust. I found what looked to be a great recipe for an almond flour crust, and I tried it out. I SHOULD have read the reviews/comments... but noooooo, I just plunged head-long into making this ~~mess~~ crust.

The original recipe called for 1 1/4 cup of almond meal/flour and 2/3 cups coconut oil. I thought... hmmm, that seems like a lot, but I went for it. And it looked fine, I even patted it up the sides of the pie pan to make a "true" pie crust. Then about 5 minutes into the baking I took the following picture, and realized there might just be a problem:

Startin' to melt... um, this can't be good...

Apparently the amount of oil was too high, but I gave it another 5 minutes (just in case) and here was the result:

a bubbly, soupy mess...

A better perspective... it nearly bubbled over...

So, I mixed in more almond flour (about a cups worth) and was happier with the drier consistanacy and put it back in for another 15 minutes (thus the super dark edges-- but not burned, I do not burn things - I BROWN them!! LOL). Next time I am definitely going to cut back the oil to 1/4 cup (thinking that's about right since my crust was still a bit "soft" once it had come back to room temperature).

The end result was definitely yummy, and definitely worth it, but I sure learned a few lessons!! :)

A profile picture... besides the too thick crust, it was great! :)

This mess was brought to you by,

Valerie

Linked up at these parties:
Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Easter Species Art by 1st Lady of the House

I saw this awesome Easter Species Art by 1st Lady of the House, it is great! I am going to have to try it out! I am loving all of the great spring decorating ideas that are out there!

Go check out her blog, she has some great tutorials!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Subway Art {Personalized} on Canvas

I finally finished it! I have had the canvas painted for about 2 months.... but then my Cricut died, but thankfully it was under warranty and replaced! Yippee! Anyhow, here's what I made, it's not in a frame yet, but it will be, once it dries completely.