Tell the truth Thursday on Photo Friday.....

I was MIA yesterday... well not really I knew where I was. I was running errands, visiting with Robyn's family and with my mom and out for coffee with my girlfriends! I was BUSY!

My confession this week is a common one at least in this area, after having 7 feet of snow since January I am tired of winter! I want summer or at least spring NOW!

Now this for most people isn't really a confession, however I am the girl who tells people to stop complaining about winter, especially because "we live in Newfoundland... It snows here... and if you don't like snow, MOVE" yup direct quote from me, I'm that girl. I'm the girl who loves winter, I love snow and the chilly weather, but its been a very snowy month and a half. It's hard to stay positive when it has snowed everyday and it's too cold to go outside with a 2 year old. 

So today I confess I miss the warmth of the sun, I miss being able to go outside, I miss seeing the grass or even the driveway... so my photo for today's Photo Friday is one of my favorites from last summer... 

This was taken in South Port, NL. It was July, It was hot and it was sunny and we had so much fun playing on the beach and going for walks!

Happy Friday!

On my to-do list

Today I'm not feeling very good... again. I had pregnancy congestion on Delaney but never this bad. I haven't been sleeping well I have a lot of referred pain in my ear from the congestion and it makes me feel very crummy on top of that I had a nose bleed today and started feeling dizzy too...  so needless to to say I'm not doing much today, so far Delaney and I have watched Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and now the Little Mermaid. Which reminded me of a blog post I saw a while ago over at If life was like a cupcake.

Amanda is the creative mind behind Patricia Rae Designs she made this beautiful Mermaid Dolly, and posted a tutorial on how to make it and it is defiantly on the top of my to-do list as soon as I feel well enough to get it done...

Have a look at the Mermaid Dolly Tutorial Here. It's super simple and looks fantastic, I am excited to make one for Delaney and maybe one or two extra to have on hand for Christmas.

Have a look at her other post and great creations! She has some great tutorials and some fantastic ideas!

Tis the season!

Well not really...

However I have gotten started on a number of projects that I will be giving as Christmas gifts for this year. I have been trying to simplify my gifts over the last few years and doing the same thing for certain groups of people or couples, last year I did tree ornaments that went over amazingly, so this year I wanted to step it up and do something different but useful. 

I maybe a little ambitious with this but I want to do a "set" for some couples and for some special people. For example I am making a set for my Step Father which will include 4 etched Pint glasses and 4 cork coasters, they will be decorated with a motorcycle theme as he loves motorcycles! So to get started I wanted to try out the coasters. 

Here is how I did them! 

I found a silhouette of a motorcycle that I liked on Google images. 

I printed it out to the size that I need to fit the coaster.

Then I cut it down so that the picture was manageable then I used a pencil to cover the back of the picture completely so when I traced the front of it, it would transfer on to the painters tape I was using as my stencil so that I could cut it out with a utility knife.

I placed it on the cork coaster which I picked up at the dollar store, and I used a stencil brush and a stamp pad that wont run or stain to get the image on the coaster...  

I did 6 of them (which will make two gifts, 4 for my Step Father and 2 for his good friend) and only used one stencil but I would recommend using more than one as the ink started to bleed under the stencil and when I do the etching I will likely make one for each glass...

I will be putting a clear coat over them just to be sure that they wont run or stain a glass if laid on it while wet. I'm not sure which clear coat to use so if you have any advise on which one is best to use leave it in the comments I could defiantly use the advice!

Make it Monday!

Once again this is the first post as part of my new schedule for the blog. Make it Monday will feature a recipe that I have tested or that I have inherited from family. So the first is a super simple Butter Cream Icing. With only 3 ingredients its by far the easiest and quickest icing recipe I have made, and it's super tasty too!

Yesterday we hosted a VERY belated Birthday celebration for Robyn's brother. (His Birthday was in December... I know were a bit slow on the uptake) But in our house we don't celebrate a Birthday without a cake!

This recipe comes from my best friend, I'm pretty sure that she found it somewhere online but since I don't know where I can't give the original poster any credit.

Butter Cream Icing

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine

2 cups Icing sugar

2 tbsp Milk

optional ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

gel food coloring (the colors made by Wilton work great as they are a gel so they wont water down your icing and you get great color from them too!)

Cream your butter with a mixer until smooth and fluffy beat in sugar gradually until fully incorporated, add vanilla if using, add milk as needed. You may need more milk or more icing sugar to get the right consistency. 

Could it be easier? I don't think so... and it tastes much better than any canned icing I've ever had! 

I'd love to have some new recipes... if you've stopped buy leave me a comment with your favorite thing to bake or make!