Create Something | Garden fresh salsa

We started a small raised bed garden this year, planting three grape tomato plants, a handful of herbs, some red peppers and jalapenos and a few crookneck squash on the side. It was way too much for that little 4 x 4 box, I should have known better.

The tomato plants are out of control, they’re taller than me and reaching their arms every which way. I tied a few of the stems to the fence that sits behind the planter box, but still, it’s chaos. And the squash … lets just not talk about them.

We’ve been getting an overload of ripe red grape tomatoes and I just wasn’t sure what to do with them anymore. I’ve used them in wraps, on sandwiches, in salads, for a snack, what else is there?!

Finally I resorted to tediously chopping each of them into quarters or more and making salsa out of them. I also added in a small jalapeno and bell pepper from our garden, then I added these ingredients from my pantry:

1 yellow onion
1 can golden corn
1 can black eyed peas (any bean would work here)
salsa seasonings
a little Italian dressing
about a half-jar of pre-made salsa (to add some thickness)

Its delicious, convenient to have in the fridge at all times, and used up almost all of my grape tomato collection.

The Birchbox Experience

I’ve been a little more curious about makeup and skincare recently, normally I don’t care what brands I buy or where they come from. But I’m slowly realizing that some things really are worth the bigger price tag. I’m still a little naive about which brands work best with my skin, however, I’m ready to embrace a new beauty routine, which is why this fun subscription is completely meant for me.

While browsing online, I saw this post over at The Sleepy Time Gal (one of my many mommy-blog reads), and decided to start a subscription with Birchbox. Never heard of Birchbox? I hadn’t either, but how can you resist trying it for a mere $10? I can eat PB&J for a few days and easily make that cost up, and it’s worth it, look what I got…

               

Have you ever tried birchbox? What was your experience like?

DIY | Chalkboard Platter

I’ll be the first to admit that I became a little obsessed with DIYing projects for Emmy’s first birthday, I was just way too into it and wanted everything to be perfect and lovely. I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the whole thing, so that’s where all the DIY projects came into play. Luckily my level headed husband helped me tone it down a bit, and my to-do list was magically a little more manageable.

I already shared the vintage sheet quilt bunting I made, but aside from that I also created a chalkboard platter to use as a sign near the food table. I picked up a plain antique white platter at the salvation army, complete with crazing and chipping. It was $1.00 I believe. Then all I did was apply 3-4 thin coats of chalkboard paint to the smooth part of the platter, doing my best to freehand it and not get any paint up along the decorative sides. It’s not perfect, but again, I love that imperfect handmade look, so I went with it. After all the chalkboard paint dried, I seasoned the chalkboard by rubbing it down with the side of a stick of white chalk to prevent ghosting. If you don’t do this, there’s a good chance the first drawing you apply to the chalkboard will appear as a ghost image forever. Read more about that here.

Sewing | Vintage sheet bunting

The vintage sheet trend has taken over etsy, pinterest and the blog world lately… I of course had to try my hand at it as well, and scoured my local thrift stores for some unique vintage sheets. I found more than I needed, but bought them all because they were so inexpensive. With them, I ended up cutting squares for a quilt and bunch of pennant shapes for this vintage sheet bunting.

The cutting took the longest, then pairing them up and sewing up the longest sides (right sides facing out). I didn’t worry about getting a nice seam, I wanted them to be a little rustic and homemade looking. You’ll notice a little fray on some of the pennants, in the photo above… I love every little bit of it. After I sewed all of the pairs together, I sandwiched them in between a long piece of cream double fold bias tape and sewed a straight line down the middle. Simple as that. It probably took me around 2 hours to complete the whole thing, and I ended up with about 6 yards total of bunting.

I used it to decorate the goody table at Em’s first birthday, and now I’m going to hang it up in her bedroom. If you’re interested in any leftover sheets, let me know—I’m thinking about putting them up for sale on etsy.

Create Something | Plum Cobbler

Last week we passed up the big box grocery chain for a trip to the farmers market instead, and came back with a load of fresh fruits and veggies. We got about two pounds of these delicate little plums — I’m pretty sure they were fortune and yellow egg varieties, but I could be lying. I also had one straggler of a Santa Rosa plum from the grocery store, so I threw that in there too.

Anyway, we’ve had them for about a week, and with only 2.5 people in our household, they didn’t move incredibly fast. Some of them were starting to get really soft, so I looked for a simple recipe that would use them up. The combination of colorful plums made a beautiful and bright dessert. I ended up halving the recipe and dividing it into two oval ramekins for me and the hubs.

Here’s the recipe I found (courtesy of Simply Recipes, go figure):

Plum Cobbler Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp (170 g plus 30 g) of white sugar
• 10 fresh plums (we use Santa Rosa), sliced and seeded – about 4 cups
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (110 g) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (50 g) butter
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

2 In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup white sugar, plums, cornstarch and cinnamon. Place the fruit mixture in a 2-quart casserole.

3 In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter in with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and egg until just moistened.

4 Drop batter on fruit, or if desired, spread batter in stripes. Bake in a 350°F oven for 35 minutes.

Serves 6. Serve with whipped cream (optional).

Mini Project | Pretty Chip Clips

I hate the plastic chip clips. They’re ugly and always seem to break. Plus, I’m not going to spend money on something like that when I could easily make it. That’s pretty much my outlook on life, my husband hates it. haha.

For this mini project, I’m using plain old clothes pins, paper scraps and modge podge. It’s simple, cut strips to fit the clothes pins, adhere with a dab of modge podge and a paintbrush (on both surfaces), dry and enjoy! Because I love all things map-related, I used some scraps from a piece of map gift wrap. I love that different sections of the clothes pins emphasize the light and dark parts of the map.

This project shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes, depending on how many you’re making, perfect for during nap time. And don’t they just look adorable sitting in a glass jar on the counter… don’t mind me, I’m just a pretty little clothes pin.

If you’re really desperate, check out this short video on how to seal a bag of chips without a clip.

Create Something | Lemon burst cake mix cookies

I’ve adopted a new tradition in this household… it’s a little something Meg calls Treat Tuesday. I’ve been keeping up with my treat-making for about 5 weeks now, and I have to say, it’s a lot easier than I thought.

Plus, having freshly baked goods around the house every week has been a huge pick me up. It’s the simple things in life, right?

I swiped this recipe from a delicious lokoing photo from pinterest. It’s origins come from a little blog called Tidy Mom. Tidy Mom, aka Cheryl, has some beautiful photos of the lemon cookies she made, however mine don’t really follow suit. Even though they’re a little less sunshine yellow in color, they rank up there at a number 10 for taste! By the time I had a chance to photograph them there was only one left. One lonely cookie. I ate it promptly after these photos were taken. 🙂

Find the recipe here.

Mini Project | Framed Butterfly Art

I posted this project on Bridal Buzz back in May of 2010, but wanted to bring it over to the archives on snip & scribble as well. It’s a quick little project that oozes with interesting colors, shapes and typography.

After my last baby shower I had a stack of beautiful cards that I just couldn’t part with. I’m not really one to scrapbook every last piece of memorabilia during these life-changing times (kudos if you are), but I did want to save something. I ended up using the Martha Stewart small butterfly punch and punching out the most colorful and interesting pieces of each card from my showers. Then I lined them all up on a piece of cardstock (cut to the size of my frame), and glued each one down, folding the wings up as I went.

I think it turned out pretty cute, but beyond that, it’s meaningful.

Tip: Use a frame that has a bit of room between the glass and the back panel, you don’t want your butterflies to be squished! This frame is from the Pottery Barn outlet, and has about a quarter-inch of room to breathe. Or, if you’re in a pinch, just take the glass out altogether!

Create something, anything!

Sometimes I get into that crafty mood but have no time to actually tackle a craft. There’s dishes, dinner, laundry and a hungry baby clinging to my leg. When I find myself in this pickle, I always revert back to my trusty oven… and bake! I don’t have many tried and true recipes under my belt, so I usually google around until I find something that has a yummy photo, good ratings and ingredients within my reach.

Tonight I scratched the itch (but I washed my hands before I started baking, heh) by whipping up two loaves of homemade zucchini bread. Both loaves came from the recipe below, but I split up the batter and mixed in tiny chocolate chips in one pan and hearty dried sweet cherries (from here, oh yeah) in the other.

It felt good to create something, and now I have a delicious snack/breakfast/side for the rest of the week. We’ll see if they last that long.

Zucchini Bread

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins, dried cherries, chocolate chips, etc. (your choice, pick something to spice it up)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, a third at a time. Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix. Fold in the nuts and dried cranberries or raisins if using.

2 Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.

Makes 2 loaves.

Back to Reality

Having a baby sure changes things, whew! After a year of bottles, blankies and baby booties, I think I’ve got this parenting thing under control (until the next growth spurt, teething episode or temper tantrum).

Photo courtesy of Kaleidoscope Potography

If you’re following me over here from Bridal Buzz, welcome back, and thanks for the patronage. If you’re new and just exploring, come on in, we’ve got lots to catch up on.

My last blog post was on September 30, 2010, via Bridal Buzz, and since then visitors haven’t ceased to visit the old blog. I’m flattered! Seeing the visits come in every day has made me realize… I miss you all! I miss creating and posting things, and just plain chatting about the latest and greatest out on the web today. I need that outlet back, I’m going crazy!

This time around, I don’t plan on posting much about weddings. There will surely be a snippet here and there about them, but this blog is going to be devoted to keeping creativity a part of my every day life. I love to make things; DIY, baking, sewing, and more. Which is why I think you all would benefit from seeing what I’m up to.

So sit back and enjoy the ride!