More Truffles!!

So two of my friends are getting married today, Sonya & Warren. So I agreed to make a big batch of chocolate truffles for their wedding reception. Here they are, all 82 of them!! I bought the brown candy cups for this project, and turns out they were too small. So I had to use the white cups that I had in my crafting stuff, unfortunately, I ran out!! Ah well, who cares what the candy cups looks like right? Its all about the chocolate!!

 

 

I've made chocolate truffles twice before this, but they were hand rolled ganache dipped in liquid chocolate and left to harden. This batch was made using two different chocolate molds:  swirl chocolate molds and the "cherry flip" mold. I ended up doing 7 1/2 trays worth of truffles.  

 

The chair project is finally done!

It turned out to be wayyyyy harder that I expected, but I am happy with the end result. Here are pic of the finished reupholstered chair. This is the original post about the chair in case you want to see the before pics.

The hardest part was definitely the upper back of the chair.

 

 

I ended up making a throw pillow to go with it as well. 

Things that I learned: Don't agree to a project before getting a good idea of what you are getting in to!
Oh, I learned something else too, about how when the going gets tough, I prefer to ignor the issure rather than fight though to the end. I now have a much better appreciation for what professional upholstery and small time furniture manufacturers go through. Also, I may not be agreeing to any other reupholstery projects for a while, just saying...

Talk about getting crafty!!

The Maya Pedal project is folks in Guatamala repurposing bike parts into Bicimáquinas. Or - pedal powered bike/machines!  They are used for blending shampoo, milling corn maize, washing clothes and even pumping water. This is the coolest thing ever,  I'm really inspired!

This is a picture of a woman making natural aloe shampoo on her bike/blender!

Check them out here !!

Dreaming of new business ventures

So I recently signed up for the Indie Business: Compass eCourse by Freckled Nest. Its an eCourse directed at creative business exploration. I am really jazzed about it and ready to get inspired. I've been daydreaming about starting a creative business of my own. And I just need some additional direction as to what I'm going to achieve and how I'm going to do it.

I started the course on Thursday and can't wait to get started on my future creative business!!

Earring frame & new side table

So I have some vacation time this week and have a rather large "to-do" wish list. A couple things on the list are: a place to hang my growing earring collection and a new side table.

I found an interesting project a while back, a way to store earrings using screening attached to a picture frame. So I made a trip to my local goodwill and found a few great frames. The one I chose for this project is a rustic wooden frame. I just removed the glass and the frame backing.  I love goodwill and the Salvation Army store, they hold so many treasures if you only get creative!  I also made a trip to my local hardware store and found some screening material on a roll, sold by the foot. I got all the supplies for less than five bucks I am so happy with the results. Check it out!

This is a close-up of the of the screening. I stapled it to the inside back of the frame. I was going to hang the frame up but then I realized that I would not be able to easily remove many of my earrings. (Lots of them have rubber stoppers to keep them on) So I may just get a picture holder so I can lift up the frame anytime I need.

Quiet Lion Creations:BFF Necklace

Found this really cute wire necklace idea. Its from the Quiet Lion blog and has a great tutorial.  Although, I'm not really into the whole BFF lingo thing. I would totally make for a nickname or regular name. Check it out below and click the link to see the tutorial.

Quiet Lion Creations: Gauge Inc BFF Necklace

Happy Holidays

I am visiting my honey's family in the Houston, TX area this weekend. His mom wanted to make a gingerbread house, and its something I wanted to make, so I said what the heck!!  We bought a couple of gingerbread house kits from the store and a ton of candy to decorate. (I really like working with sixlets which are kinda like no name brand M&M's)

Dia de lost Muertos - getting crafty

Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos or "Day of the Dead" is a mexican celebration honoring those that have passed on. Its celebrated around Oct 31st to November 2nd and is related to the Catholic All Saints Day and All Souls Day. But these days are for celebration and playfulness, not of darkness or sadness. Here's a little blurb from Wikipedia:

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday. The celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl. In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures.

I have been fascinated by the artwork of Dia de los Muertos for many years. And I've finally gotten around to making some of the essential decorations, Sugar Skulls!

These skulls are used to decorate for the holiday and are used on altars that are dedicated to ancestors. In the homes, family members honor their deceased with ofrendas or offerings which may consist of photographs, bread, other foods, flowers, toys and other symbolic offerings.

                                    

Below are some pictures of the 1st stage of my sugar skulls. If you want to make some for yourself, check out this website, Mexican Sugar Skulls. I have prepared the sugar and molded it into skull shapes. Now it must dry for 12 hours. I will then prepare a "glue" to attach the back of the skull to the front.

The next step is to make several different colors of royal icing and decorate each skull. I hope to have a few friends over to complete this task!!  I am really excited to finally be making these skulls for my Dia de los Muertos altar.






For more info about Day of the Dead celebrations, check out these links:

• Day of the Dead sayings
• Musings from Ladi Loera, day of the dead artist (My fav!!)
• Folk art gallery
• Article by Judy King
• Masquefaire - etsy page with some amazing day of the dead masks
• Just do a google search, and you'll come up with some really awesome pages.

Austin's Renegade Craft Fair

Coming up next weekend is Ausin's Renegade Craft Fair.

(I would have posted this on the sidebar, but I can't figure out how to do so... any thoughts??)

Here's what I've been working on

I am in the midst of several crafy projects. Here's a peek at what I've been working on.

This is a chair that I am re-upholstering for a friend. These are the before pics.

This is the back side with most of the layers removed. It's been interesting seeing what's underneith the outside fabric. Hence the pink fabric layer I found, see below!

And here's the bustle/ apron/ cape I've been working on. I got the pattern from "Craftovision" on youtube. I put the link to the video below.  And I have to share that because the video does not mention the length of lace that you need, you should over-guestimate. I unfortunately underestimated and had to go back to get more lace. And much to my chagrin, the store did not have anymore of the pretty lace I first picked out. Lesson learned... Of course, can you really tell which layer has the different lace?? I'm still very happy with how it turned out!

Fabric pieces cut out

Closeup of the lace

Two of the layers ready to sew together.

The finished product.

I will get motivated soon and post a pic of me wearing the bustle.

Here's the youtube, in case you want to make a fancy bustle for yourself!!

Finished my apron!!

Here's the finished product. I really like it a lot. However, I will not be using jean material again for this project. I like the look of the jean (its the ruffle and the neck strap). Unfortunately, its just weighs down the cotton of the apron too much. And the neck tie is too thick, bleh. Ah well, live and learn!

The crafty bug finally bit me again

Ok, so here's a pic of the homemade chicken enchiladas with green sauce that my honey and I made last week.

I don't use a recipe, we just wing it usually. This time we used chicken, pinto beans, cheese and pico de gallo for the filling. We stuffed all of that into flour tortillas (this dish is usually made with corn tortillas, but I prefer it with flour ones.) The topping is more cheese, a dash of the pico and green enchilada sauce. We use the canned version made with tomatillos. Yum!!  It was so good with the pinto beans instead of rice. Definitely a keeper!

And my friend and I finished her apron. Here's the finished product.

She is a novice sewer, so we both worked on the apron. The apron is based on this JoAnn's pattern.  Its the one I mentioned in a previous post. We ended up tweaking the pattern a bit. She wanted to add the brown band at the waist to give it some more appeal. And we added a couple inches to the width of it, because let's face it, we are not tiny women! I think it turned out great!!  I've already cut out fabric to make myself one as well. My theme is going to be blue colors. Can't wait to get it posted when I finish!