What About The Groom???

So, I am to be the Mother of The Groom in August.  The what?  Yeah, I know.  Nobody gives a flying leap about the Mother of The Groom.  We are the "shut up and wear beige" as my sister advised me.  As in blend in to the scenery.  Well, not this momma!  Thank God for my son and my daughter-in-law to be!!!  They have included me to the best of their ability, tradition has dealt the MOG a lousy hand, and have given me a green light on everything I have asked. 

Now, I want to make things special for my son.  But there again we find a dearth of things to purchase.  I am putting a basket together for the honeymoon suite.  I wanted flip flops for the bride and groom.  Bride, no problem.  Groom, not so much. 

What is an MOG to do???  Well, of course, get crafting!  I decided to make them look like a tuxedo.  So, I used bias tape for the shirt collars and hot glued them on.  Then I used black satin ribbon to create bow ties.  So, here they are!  He may hate them and never wear them, or they may be a kitschy thing he wears only on his honeymoon.  Either way, momma made him something that rate right up there with the bride! 

Fireworks Cupcakes

Fireworks Cupcakes

Here is my interpretation of "Fireworks Cupcakes".  They are Egg Free since my grandson is allergic to eggs, but that doesn't mean they aren't delicious!  This is a dense chocolate cake, it doesn't rise much because there aren't any eggs in it.  I haven't perfected a good substitution that lets the cake rise while still tasting good without eggs.  It has a fantastic butter cream icing on top.  and I snipped some Strawberry and Blueberry Twizzlers a bit to make them fringe out so that they look kind of like fireworks.  I was able to find blue cupcake papers with stars on them and they had flags on toothpicks in the same package.  These are from Dollar Tree.  

Here is the recipe:

Egg-free Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes
Allergy note: contains wheat and dairy ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups whole milk
1 cup butter, melted
4 tsp. honey
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Line two muffin pans with baking cups. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, combine milk, butter, honey and vanilla extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the milk/butter mixture. Mix until combined.  Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pour in the batter into the lined muffin pan to 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely before decorating.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
makes about 2 1/2 cups frosting
Allergy note: contains dairy ingredients

5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1/3-1/2 cup heavy cream*
1 tsp. vanilla extract

 *start out with 1/3 cup of cream and add more cream to your desired consistency

In a large mixing bowl, sift powdered sugar.  Add the butter, cream and vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer, slowly mix together at a low speed. Once all the ingredients are combined, increase the speed and beat until fluffy.

Helping Little Hands

My grandson is 2 1/2 and getting the hang of potty training.  That includes hand washing skills.  Unfortunately, reaching the faucet can be problematic. 

I saw a few ideas on Pinterest as to how to extend the faucet using cut up lotion bottles and other items.  I saw one that used a scoop.  Then I remembered I had a small wood scoop from some bath salts.  Bingo!  That and a rubber band solved the problem. 

My grandson is so excited about this!!! 

All American Wreath

Here is a quick and easy wreath to bring the spirit of America to your front door.

You will need:

3 rolls of 12 inch wide mesh (I got mine at Joann's fabric store)
1 wire wreath form about 18 to 24 inches in diameter
1 roll of floral wire
scissors
wire cutters

Simply cut and bunch the mesh so that it forms nice big loops.  Wire it to the wreath form.  I made sure that I wired mine to cross bars so that they wouldn't slide on the wreath. 

I think it's a stunner!  It certainly catches your eye!!

Fireman's Stool

My grandson Joseph is obsessed with all things fireman!  Anything and everything that even somewhat resembles something a fireman might have, he loves it! 

He also likes to sit on the small stools that I have made for our dogs.  They are just the right height for him to sit at the coffee table and eat or play. 

So I wanted to make him his own stool, but I wanted to make it somewhat "firemanish" so to speak.  Here is what I came up with.

I started with an unfinished stool from Joann's fabric store. 

This is a great product that has stain and finish together.  It's great for refinishing furniture and for staining unfinished furniture. 

I stained the entire stool so you could see that it really could be left just with the stain on it.  But it doesn't say "fireman" now does it?

 I cut a piece of 2 inch thick foam rubber and some red vinyl to fit the top of the stool and I stapled the vinyl over the foam rubber.  Now THAT says "fireman"!!  I know he's going to love it!

A New Frontier!

To say I am seasoned crafter would be an understatement.  I have done baking, cooking, sewing, knitting (badly), painting furniture, staining furniture, cake decorating (Wilton classes), floral arranging (trained and certified in both regular and bridal), making baby head bands (which I sold to a boutique), making barrettes, embellishing socks, tee shirts and matching pants or shorts with paint and jewels and of course photography.  So there isn't a lot in the craft store that I haven't tried or bought at one time or another.

There was, however, one area I had never even bothered to look at in depth.  That was the jewelry making area.  It seems tedious and just plain difficult to string beads and bend wire.  Well, today I ventured in to that unknown area.  I wanted some earrings for my son's wedding.  I knew what I wanted and I figured it would be easier to make them than to find them.  Swarovski now makes beads, thank you Jesus!  So I was able to really get what I wanted.  I also thought I would make a pair for the Mother of The Bride as a gift.

Here are my first two attempts at jewelry making:

These are my earrings.  The hearts looks gold or champagne in color in the photos, but they are really more clear.  My dress is silver.

The Mother of The Bride doesn't wear big earrings, so I made hers smaller.  Her dress is royal blue so I put the royal blue beads in the earrings.  Again, the butterflies appear gold or champagne in the photos, but they are really more clear.

All of the beads are Swarovski.  I really like how they came out!  I didn't find it tedious at all.  It actually went more quickly than I had anticipated.  I think I have a new hobby!!! 

Photography Touch Ups

This weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing a housewarming of some dear friends.  I did this for he sheer pleasure and to get some extra shutter time.  What I got was some amazing shots!!!  Check them out! 

All of these were edited using http://www.picmonkey.com/.

A new grandmom with her grandson.

A pure natural!!!  Those rosie cheeks are not added.

Sisters!

Have known this woman for almost 40 years.  Had to get a shot of her!

This was fun!  The family is so appreciative of the gems I was able to get.