Kindle Cover – Fail

Here is another in my series of posts about projects that I did months ago and never typed up. This one is because it was a complete failure and I didn't want to rehash it all in a post.

I tried to create a kindle cover from an old book.

I got the idea from firefliesandjellybeans.com. Jeannie has a great tutorial on how to DIY KindleCovers. Unfortunately, mine did not come out quite like Jeannie’s.

firefliesandjellybeans.com

I gathered my supplies: hardcover book, razor knife, mod podge, and a paint brush.

I glued a rubber band to the back page and glued the outside pages together.

I drew an outline of the kindle on one of the first pages.

Then I started to cut.

Unfortunately, it was very challenging to cut. The pages wrinkled and tore.

I gave up at this point. The Kindle didn't fit in the case and it looked terrible. In hindsight, I should have made the outline slightly bigger so the Kindle could fit. I also should have been more patient with letting the glue dry. If I let the glue on the outside pages dry completely, then the pages probably wouldn't have wrinkled. Oh well! Maybe I’ll try again one day. In the mean time, if you want to try this yourself and want a more thorough tutorial then check out firefliesandjellybeans.

Mother's Day - (More) Gifts

This should round out my 2013 Mother's Day Posts. As I said last week, I wanted to have something for all the mom's coming for brunch. They are all a big part of my life, and JJ's too. I pinned a bunch of stuff a couple months ago, and decided to throw a couple of the ideas together. First up was this cute hand soap favor from a Mother's Day Lunch submitted to Catch My Party.

Source: Amanda's Parties To Go via Catch My Party

I loved the pretty label attached to each. Amanda actually offers a ton of coordinating printables for free, but I wanted to make my own. I scooped up a bunch of pretty smelling soaps from Bath and Body Works when they were on sale and I had a coupon, but realized I was short and had to order a couple more online two weeks before Mother's Day - typical. I didn't think the soap was quite enough, so I decided to add in this adorable idea as well:

Source: Kinzie's Kreations

Cute, right? Kinzie also offered the printable for free on her site. I knew it wouldn't really match the labels I was designing, but I figured I could just get a cute container for the M&M's and put it inside. If you follow us on Instagram (username PinsterSisters) - you might have seen me post this pic a couple weeks ago:

I found a bunch of these pretty little tins on sale at (where else?) Michaels and thought they would be perfect for holding some M&M's. You might have also seen this pic while I was in the middle of designing the labels:

I decided to use a sort of Moroccan tile pattern and also incorporate some pastel plaid that matched the paper goods I bought (from Party City). After a lot of computer time, printing, and cutting, it was finally time to assemble (the Friday night before Mother's Day).

The supplies (candy, soaps, tins, and bags) and the labels (thank you once again Creative Memories Circle Cutters circa 2001!)

Instead of just giving a little bag of M&M's, I bought a bunch of big bags and separated them out - giving everyone a little bit more than they would have gotten in a single serve bag. To keep them fresh (and because I wasn't sure the tins were food safe), I put them in clear plastic bag - the kind you would put cookies in - and attached the "moms are the sweetest" label to the top.

They were a bit snug in the tin, so the label wasn't as straight as I would have liked, but it was good enough.

I added a "Sweets for your Sweet Tooth" label to the tin and tied on a "For Your Helpful Hands" label to the soap.

It was probably about 11:30 pm by the time I got to this point so please forgive the dark photos.

I put one of each item into a larger clear plastic bag and tied on a "Happy Mother's Day" label. Because you know how much I love a rhyme - I added the following to the back:

A great mom like you

deserves a special treat,

So allow me to share with you

some of my favorite sweets.

The soap is included just in

case things go south.

Like the candy melting in your hand,

instead of in your mouth!

Love, JJ

Corny, I know, but I thought it was fun. And M&M's are a favorite of JJ's when I let him have some. Here they are all assembled (in the daylight) and ready to be handed out:

This one is pretty crappy cell phone pic, but its apparently the only one I have of one finished package.

I randomly put the soaps and tins together, but I think they came out really pretty and all the colors and patterns in the labels, tins, and soap went together nicely. It was a pretty chaotic flurry of gift exchanging when everyone arrived and I was also manning the kitchen so I didn't get any immediate reactions, but I hope everyone enjoyed them. Although time consuming, I really liked making the labels and hopefully I can use the patterns for other future projects. 

This (finally) wraps up my Mother's Day related posts. Overall it was a great day - I got to spend it with not only my own mom and the little guy who made me a mom, but with all the other great moms in our family. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures, but here is one of JJ and me at the end of the day. We were both exhausted, but still smiling!

Mother's Day - Brunch

This one is going to fall under the category Shannon set up last week: a great recipe but I have horrible pictures for it. Like I said on Friday, since this was our 5th time hosting Mother's Day Brunch, we have a good handle on the menu. We served baked ham, mac and cheese, baked beans, baked french toast, mini quiches, and hash browns. I also had some fruit salad out and my mom brought over bagels and danishes. I have made this baked french toast

Source: All Recipes

every year and its always a hit. I have made it for a couple other occasions as well. I have seen other (overnight prepped) baked french toasts that take less prep time the day of, but the delicious topping with this one is totally worth the effort (and calories!). 

These pics actually span a year. I started taking pics last year during the prep so I could post about it then, but didn't get any finished product shots. This year I only remembered to take some when I was reheating a piece for dinner so please forgive me if it doesn't look that appetizing.

Its actually really simple - just slice up some french bread (I used challah last year) and line up the slices in a buttered baking dish. Mix up the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, and cinnamon and cover the bread with the mixture and refrigerate overnight.

To make things easier on myself for Sunday morning, I measured out the ingredients for the topping (minus the corn syrup) and threw it all in a ziplock bag so I wouldn't have to do that while I was managing all the other food. 

The next morning, just bring the topping ingredients to a bubbling boil, pour over the bread that has soaked up most of the egg mixture, and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. 

I really wish I remembered to take a picture of it right out of the oven. The bread puffs up and gets really high. These photos are from later on in the day after the leftovers had been in the fridge and then reheated. Still tasted great, it was just a bit deflated.

The Verdict: Clearly I love this recipe if I have been repeating it every year. Its always a big hit and I actually double the recipe to make sure we have enough. It was a light year this year so I probably could have gotten away with one batch, but I didn't mind the leftovers :) It's light and fluffy and sweet - the topping almost caramelizes in the oven. 

Things to Consider: There is lots of sugar and butter in this recipe. It is in no way healthy or diabetes friendly. That being said - I make it once or twice a year and if a mother can't eat bad on Mother's Day - what's the point? I do have to juggle a bunch of things in the oven so I usually have it in longer than 40 minutes with the oven set at 325. I just leave it in until its all puffed up and I can see the juices bubbling. 

Maybe next year I will remember to take a decent out-of-the-oven shot! I have one more Mother's Day roundup post on the gift JJ gave to all the moms. Hopefully I get a chance to type it up this week. Have a great Monday! 


Baked French Toast
from ANTLALA on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 lb of French Bread, cut into 1" slices
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups half and half
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions:
1. Butter a 9"x13" baking dish. Arrange slices of bread in bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350. In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar, and corn syrup; heat until bubbling. Pour over egg and bread mixture. 
3. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered for 40 minutes.

Mother's Day - Grandma Gifts

Happy Friday everyone! As Shannon said Monday, Joe and I hosted our 5th Annual Mother's Day brunch - my second as a mom. We have the menu pretty much down to a science, but this year an emergency call to the plumber was necessary to clear out a backed up drain. Nothing like a little drama to throw the day into a panic. Thankfully it was cleared very quickly and didn't really disrupt our festivities. 

Anyway, I have a post planned for one of our menu items, and another one for the gifts JJ gave all the moms in attendance, but I wanted to start with the Grandma Gifts. I skimmed Pinterest for a couple of ideas - there are lots of cute ones out there involving handprints and footprints. But like I said back around Valentine's Day, the thought of letting JJ get his whole hand covered in paint makes me twitch. He's a very active little guy and I can imagine handprints all over my house. I did have some success with thumbprints, so when I saw this:

Source: Disney Dreamer Designs

I knew I could come up with something. I did some googling and found this awesome page, Kids 4 Crafts that had a lot of examples of cute little bugs made from fingerprints. 

I didn't get any pictures of the first steps, but basically I just gave the pots and saucers a light coat of spray paint primer. Once dry, I used a sponge paint brush and some acrylic paints to put some green "grass" on the bottom and saucers, and a blue "sky" on the top half. It took about 3 coats and still wasn't perfect, but I knew I was covering it anyway so that didn't really bother me. Once dry, I busted out the stamp pads, distracted JJ in this highchair with a crayon and some paper, and took over the use of his left thumb.

Ignore JJ's can of crunchies in the pic - it took a little bribing at first but then he loved  it.  If you look closely at some of the pics you can even see where he drew with his crayons on the pots too.

JJ's little thumbprint heart.

I let them dry overnight because some of them were pretty thick. The red didn't really show up too dark, but the yellow and brown came out great. I used a black sharpie to draw the bug features - using the pins as a reference and coming up with some of my own ideas.

That little guy in the top right is my favorite. He looks like he's ready to dance.

And I used a paint pen to write "Happy Mother's Day 2013" across the top and "Love JJ" around his thumbprint heart on the saucer. Knowing they would probably be put outside, I gave them three light coats of a matte spray sealer. Once dry, I finally filled them with some (apparently oversized) flowers on Saturday. I love a good poem (stay tuned for more poems with the other Mother's Day gifts) - so I came up with a short one, and printed it on some clip art of snail and popped them in using a bamboo skewer. I think they came out adorable!

I realize the plants are a little stuffed. Despite my years working at a flowershop, I have a black thumb when it comes to plants!

Overall it seems like a lot of steps, but to be honest I started them Tuesday night, and had them done by Saturday morning. The total working time is pretty short, you just have to allow time for drying (primer, paint, thumbprints, and sealer).

Hopefully JJ's Grandmas are better gardeners than I and can keep these flowers alive through the season. They were both happy to get a personalized gift from the little man. And it sort of helps set up future gifts - providing new flowers for the pot every year! Anyone else out there craft something up for Mother's Day?

Brownie Roll-Ups

Here’s another post about a pin I tried forever ago (April 2012 to be exact) but never typed up – this time because it was a total failure.

Let me start this post by admitting that I LOVE yodels –they are my guilty pleasure. I used to buy them every so often at the grocery store and hide them at the bottom of my cart because I was so embarrassed. I was [and still am] completely devastated when they were taken off the market because Hostess & Drake's went under. I’m hoping this article is true!

Now that you have some background on my love of yodels, you can see why I wanted to give these brownie roll-ups from cookiesandcups.com a shot.

Don’t they look sort of like yodels -just missing the chocolate coating?

I'm guessing these didn't work out for me because I tried to take the easy way out. Shelly gives directions on how to make the brownies from scratch. I decided to use a box mix and store bought frosting.

So I whipped up the brownies…

and cut them into squares.

Then I put the brownies between two pieces of wax paper

and flattened them with a rolling pin.

Next came the frosting.

And here’s where this whole thing took a turn for the worst.

They did not roll correctly at all.

I tried it with one or two different squares and then gave up.

Perhaps I will need to try this again, using Shelly’s homemade brownie recipe and see if they come out any better. If I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out! Have any of you tried anything recently that didn't come out quite right?

Cannoli Dip

Grace & I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Grace hosted her annual Mother’s Day brunch for our family. I’m sure she’ll have plenty to post about in the coming days.

For me, this is the first in a series of short little posts about pins I tried months ago but never shared –mostly because I didn't take any pictures or because they were complete failures (and I was too annoyed at the time to rehash them by typing up a post). This post is in the former category.

A few months ago, I hosted “book club” (we stopped the charade of actually picking book a long time ago). One of the items I made was Cannoli Dip from grouprecipe.com (we all know how much I love cannolis). This is one of the easiest, most delicious pins I've ever attempted.

Unfortunately, I was preparing the dip in a rush and only took one or two blurry pictures with my cell phone.

I basically followed the directions exactly -except I omitted the pistachios. Unlike PSY, I am not a fan.

I served the dip with broken pieces of ice cream sugar cones. 

The Verdict: This dip was delicious – very light. This is a great alternative if you want something different and lighter then cake batter dip. I honestly think this is my favorite dip that I've ever made. Mental Note- I need to make this again!

Things to Note/Consider: I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe. To switch it up, you may want to consider other items to serve the dip with – fresh fruit, vanilla wafers, or graham crackers.

Cannoli Dip

adapted from GroupRecipes.com

¼ cup semi-sweet mini chocolate morsels, plus some more for garnish

1-15 ounce container of ricotta cheese

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup powdered sugar

1-8 ounce container Cool Whip

• In a bowl, add sugar, ricotta cheese, vanilla and chocolate.
• Stir until well blended
• Fold in Cool Whip
• Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips
• Chill for 30 minutes before serving