Monthly Archives for May 2011

DIY fabric rosettes in a shadow box

Do what you love. Love what you do.

White frame: IKEA 9.75×9.75 shadow box frame
Fabrics used: yellow jersey, burlap, and tulle
Fabric Rosette tutorial: Cherry Street Cottage

I made this as an end-of-the-school-year gift for a counselor friend. Unintentionally, I’ve made something like this for co-workers at the past 2 schools I’ve been at, and I really like it. It’s easy to personalize, looks like a lot of effort for very little money, and is not a very common teacher gift. I think it’s going to be my thing from now on!

I tried different ways of making the fabric rosettes, but I liked the Cherry Street Cottage method best, although I used the bottom side of the rosette she made in the tutorial instead of the top. Both sides turn out to be a nice looking flower, so you really can’t go wrong. I especially like it when the raw fabric edges peep out here and there. The imperfect look of it really goes with the burlap too. I tucked in some tulle here and there just for some texture and softness.

Like with the other shadow boxes I made, I chose a quote/phrase that I felt best matched the recipient. Hopefully she agrees! I could totally see a friendship quote with this shadow box too, since yellow roses symbolize friendship. Definitely going to make more this summer and I’m considering selling them in my Etsy shop too!

puff-pastry fruit tart

Fruit tarts are definitely at the top of my desserts list. The crust with the fruit with the sweet vanilla pastry cream. Can’t go wrong with that. The recipe I used to make this fruit tart was from the new Martha Stewart Pies & Tarts cookbook. She does it again with another cookbook full of beautiful pictures and practically foolproof directions. The puff pastry was store bought but the vanilla pastry cream was homemade (click here for a similar recipe). Simple to make and very delicious!

{new house} we have cabinets!

Very exciting, even though it just looks like that right now. Pretty soon we’ll have to buy the appliances, then the countertops will go in, and lastly the final touches. The marble countertops are going to be a warm color (not my choice but I hope they turn out well), so I’ll have to figure out a contrasting color scheme for the living room. The kitchen opens up to the living room so I want to create a separation between the two. So many ideas and possibilities, but I can’t do anything until construction is over. Hopefully soon. Decorating this house is going to be my big project for the summer!

Cats at The Orpheum

My 3rd grade teacher was a big Andrew Lloyd Webber/musical buff, so I knew about Cats and saw taped versions of it in class. Fast forward 10+ years and there I was at the Orpheum Theater on their second to last day in town. The stage, costumes, and special effects were nice, but I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of lost throughout the whole thing. Reading the synopsis on Wikipedia during the intermission helped a little I guess. How sad are we?! Ha. Maybe next time we’ll be more prepared.

Note to self: mezzanine level rocks.

Happy Mother’s Day!

My mom and I on my birthday, 1988

My mom declared today the best Mother’s Day she’s ever had since she came to the US almost 28 years ago. And all we did was have dim sum and made a quick trip to Costco! What a simple woman. I think this may be our new Mother’s Day tradition, ha!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I can’t believe it’s almost mid-May. Where has the time gone?!

moistest cake ever.

via Baking = Love

I came across a recipe for a Lemon Raspberry & Yoghurt Roses Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting via Baking = Love and knew I had to make it for Mother’s Day. Not only is it simply gorgeous, Nessie made it sound so yummy! Wanting to marry a cake? That says a lot. I knew it would not disappoint and I was so right. This is by far the moistest cake I’ve ever had/made, even after sitting in the fridge overnight! I dug into it right out of the oven because it smelled so good. Thankfully there was enough cake batter for a few more layers or I’d be in trouble! The recipe was enough for two 8 inch rounds and one 6×6 inch square.

Nessie’s cream cheese frosting recipe also did not disappoint. At first I thought there was a typo — 7 or 8 cups of powdered sugar?! But it was just right to balance the 800g of cream cheese (or 3.5 packages of 8 oz cream cheese). I think I may have overmixed the frosting though because my roses were a little saggy on the sides of the cake. Nothing a visit to the fridge couldn’t fix though!