Tutorial: Beaded Earrings

They are cute, simple and easy to make! You don't need special tools and expensive findings to make these. All you need is some beads, beading string, and earring hooks. These make great gifts, so start making some now for christmas!

Turquoise Beaded Earrings

Purple Beaded Earrings

I used:

• metallic seed beads
• 2 (6x8mm) teardrop glass beads (find them here). I used aquamarine in the Video.
• 8 (4mm) round polished glass beads (find them here). I used lavendar coral (FP1972)  and turquoise (FP2380) in the Video
• beading fishing line
• Earring findings

This is my first video tutorial so if you have a hard time understanding my instructions, let me know! 

It's so weird listening to your own voice! I don't like it...ewwww. Haha!

anyway...Happy Crafting!

Cherry Lemon Scones

Cherry Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze

Once you try these, it's hard to go back eating the store bought kinds because homemade scones are the best! They're easy to make, no fancy gadgets necessary, and they're just simply delicious! I apologize for the lack of photos and the poor quality. I had to use my cellphone camera... :-(

Cherry Lemon Scones
For the Scones:

• 1 1/2 C. flour
• 3 T. sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 T. frozen butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 C. milk
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 C. of dried cherries
• 1 tsp. lemon zest, grated

For the Glaze:

• 1/2 C. of powder sugar, sifted
• 1 T + lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 F.


Combine milk and lemon juice and leave it to curdle. Combine and mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse cornmeal.

Add the dried fruits, lemon zest, and the curdled milk. Combine to mix

Place the dough onto a floured surface and shape the dough into a log. Cut into 6 to 8 triangles. Bake for 10- 15 min, let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack. Drizzle the scones with the glaze once they're completely cooled.




For the glaze: Combine the sifted powder sugar and 1 T of lemon juice. You may need to add more to get the right consistency but make sure to do it one drop at a time since the consistency can drastically change from perfect to runny by just a few drops. You want the consistency to be like Elmer's glue; smooth enough to drizzle, but not too runny.


Enjoy and Happy Baking!

Make Your Own: Cheez-its!

This is my first experiment with making a brand name product from scratch. I searched online for a recipe for cheez-its and found it on goodfoodstories. With suggestions from others, instead of using the full 4 T of butter, I used 3 T of butter and 1 T of vegetable shorthening. The shortening is supposed to make the crackers nice and crispy. And let me tell you, they were crispy and wonderful! They're dangerously addicting!

You will need:

• 8 oz. sharp cheddar, grated
• 3 T of unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 T. of vegetable shortening
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 C. flour
• 2 T of ice water
• Coarse salt for sprinkling

It's ok if you don't have a food processor. You can use a mixer too.

Method:

In a food processor, combine cheese, butter, shortening and salt. Pulse couple times. Then add the flour in two batches and process until crumbly. 

Slowly add the ice water. You may have to add few more drops of water for the dough to come together.

Divide the dough in two and form a disk. Wrap them with saran wrap and let them rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F. On a parchment paper, roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 1 inch square using a pizza cutter, pastry wheel, or a knife. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in each square.

Separate the squares and place them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle some coarse salt on them. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they're puffed and golden brown on the edges. Let them cool on the cookie sheet.

You can  pair them with your favorite wine or just snack on them when you've got the munchies! :-) 

Enjoy and happy baking!

Nom nom nom.

Tutorial: How to Make Recycled Paper Beads

I remember making these in my 5th. grade class for mother's day present and I got so hooked, I went home and kept making some more. I totally forgot about them until I saw some at this trendy store in Orange County, California and they were selling it for like $10 for a bracelet!! whaaaaa.....???  lol. I'm sorry, but I would never buy a paper beaded bracelet when I can make my own. It's super easy and cheap! Here is a basic tutorial on how to make these beads.

You will need:

• Magazine papers
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Glue/Gloss ( I used Mod Podge since it acts both as a glue and as a finish gloss)
• Toothpicks
• Small Paint brush/Q-tip
• Pen

Take out a page from a magazine and using a ruler and a pen, you're going to mark this pattern onto the magazine paper.

This 8.5/11 inch paper makes 15 triangles strips.

Basically, bunch of long triangles. Measure the base of the triangles to 1 inch; which will be the size of your beads.

Cut out the triangles. Take your toothpick and start rolling the paper from the base of the triangle. Make sure you're rolling it tightly. 

As you get close to the edge, apply some Mod Podge with a brush or a Q-tip onto the paper and continue rolling to finish. Apply Mod Podge to the bead to seal and gloss.

Stick the toothpick with the bead into a foam to let it dry. You want to apply 2 to 3 coats of the gloss to securely seal the bead.

You wanna make beads like these??

Easy! All you have to do is use a longer magazine paper. Just glue together the ends of two magazine papers to make a long one, and make the base of the triangles to 1/2 inch.

Glue the papers together like this!

Use an elastic beading string, spacer beads and voila! A beautiful recycled paper bead bracelet!

This is a great project to do with your kids! Have fun and happy crafting!

Pumpkin Bread

I can't get enough of pumpkin this season, so I decided to make my favorite pumpkin bread recipe. I made this a lot last year, since it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it, especially my boyfriend. This was actually the first thing I made for him when we started dating, so this post is dedicated to him. I love you Darren.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread
adapted from allrecipes.com

• 3 1/2 C of flour
• 1 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground clove
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 4 eggs
• 1 can of pureed pumpkin
• 2/3 C. H20
• 1/2 C. vegetable oil
• 1/2 C. apple sauce ( if you don't have apple sauce, just increase the oil to 1 C.)
• 3 C. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 loaf pans (7 inch. by 3 inch)

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and flour three 7 by 3 inch loaf pans. I used the disposable kind.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground clove, ground ginger and whisk to mix the ingredients.

In a larger bowl, mix together the eggs, pumpkin puree, water, oil, apple sauce, sugar, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just to incorporate. Do not over mix.

Divide the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes, or until the cake test comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and transfer to the cooling rack.

Pair it with cream cheese frosting and you're in heaven!

Enjoy and Happy Baking!!

My New Find

I won this  beautiful 1/2 scale Bespaq Lorraine French Country Sofa Set at the ebay auction and I love it so much! There are some stains on the fabric, which I'm guessing the glue they used bled through, but I'm not complaining because the price was so right! Maybe in the future, I'll reupholster it...we'll see.

It goes so well with the wallpaper in this room.

So you can see how small it is

I'm glad I found them!

Easy Guacamole

When avocados are on sale, I buy a bunch and use it for many things but one of my favorite ways to use them is in a guacamole. I like to make mine nice and chunky.

Guacamole

Guacamole

• 2 ripe avocados
• Juice of one lime
• 1 small tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 2 T of chopped cilantro
• 2 T. chopped onions
• cayenne pepper to taste or 1 chopped jalapeno
• salt to taste

In a bowl, mash the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Add and mix in the onions, garlic, tomato, cilantro and cayenne pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for about 30 mintues before you serve to allow the flavors to develop. Serve with chips or with your favorite mexican dish.

Enjoy!