Tiffany Harvey

Asian Lettuce Wraps

2012-01-27T16:16:00.001-05:00

Here is a recipe I've been working on for a *long time* girls, so I hope you give it a try! After many trials & tweaks I think it's ready to share.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Have you ever eaten or made lettuce wraps before? I've had them a few times & they are tasty but always end up dripping sauce down my arm. And if you make them at home it is no fun trying to pry apart the leaves of Iceburg lettuce into usable pieces - it tears so easily! (our grocery store doesn't carry any fancy alternatives)

I decided to take a few aspects from different recipes we'd tried to try to create the perfect wrap - taking the healthy fillers from one, the tasty sauce from another, and the idea for using Romaine from a third. After adding a few extra tweaks to get rid of the drippy-ness, we have a winner!

Winter 8x10s

2012-01-23T17:48:00.000-05:00

I switched out the decorations in our 8x10 frames pretty close to Christmas, so I wanted to do something that could easily work for 'winter' decorations afterward. Here they are before Christmas ~

The center column uses my "Christmas" ambigram & a drawing I did a few years ago. After Christmas I switched the center column with more snowflakes ~

I actually used 3 colors of blue paper for the backgrounds (the four corners are a different shade) but you can not tell at all in person. I blame our dim lighting!

I always enjoy making paper snowflakes for Christmas & they look even prettier framed! Here you can find my tutorial for cutting snowflakes from a few years ago. It's been very popular!

Late, late...

2012-01-12T21:36:00.001-05:00

No time like the middle of January to post Christmas foods, right? Ah well, I think I've given up on punctuality for now. Usually I have a lull in orders right after the holiday but not this year! Not a bad thing, just busy.

We cooked one meal while we were staying over at Justin's parents' this Christmas & decided to try out a new recipe ~ a spaghetti casserole with cream cheese & topped with french onions! It was really delicious, we even made it again this week. (We did ditch the green bell peppers, but that was just my preference & they would work well if you like them.) You must try it!

We also brought a dessert we'd whipped up at home ~ some Jell-o with a fun stained glass, mosaic kind of look. I got the idea from my favorite food blog here & used some pretty Christmas colors.

They really did turn out just like the pictures & were pretty easy to make, but I don't know... they just didn't have that 'ooh' factor I was hoping for? I can't really explain why. A block by itself was rather pretty, but I couldn't figure out how to arrange a jiggly tower nicely on a platter. And I was expecting more of a cream-sicle taste from the addition of the sweetened condensed milk, but it really just tasted like straight Jell-o. I'm not sure that I would make it again, but it was fun to try.

2011 in Pictures

2012-01-02T19:11:00.002-05:00

And just for fun....

Disc Dog 2011

2011-12-31T13:19:00.003-05:00

Every year the Disc Dog international championship is held in our town (no idea why!) and we love to go watch the dogs flipping through the air after Frisbees. These pictures are actually from about mid October, but holiday pics kept taking priority!

It runs for two days but we are never able to stay long ~ the first year it was freezing rain, the 2nd year it was a newborn out in the unbearably hot sun, and this year the weather was mild but the toddler was restless.

Orson did find the jumping dogs hilarious, but could not take the (short) down time between competitors. Justin went on a few walks with him to let him run around & happened to miss all of the really good leaping dogs. We had to leave sooner that we wanted to, but at least I got to see the below duo from the Japanese team.

Sweets

2011-12-21T16:49:00.001-05:00

Making marshmallows has been on my To-do list for a *long* time. I've seen so many girls rave about them, saying how they are so far superior to the store bought type. I couldn't wait to try them!

I finally gave myself a deadline & said they had to be made before Christmas as a trial run in case I wanted to make them again for a holiday snack. And so a couple of weeks ago I whipped up a batch from this recipe ~ half regular & half chocolate peppermint!

The verdict? The recipe was a little more difficult than I had expected (mainly I think I had the heat too low so it took twice as long to reach the right temperature), and the regular ones really didn't taste much different than a store bought marshmallow. The chocolate peppermint ones were very fun & tasty though, so I could see it being worth the effort for flavored marshmallows but not so much for the plain ones.

I did see some other versions that used egg white and I would be curious to try those as well, just in case I am still missing the super-awesome marshmallows I heard tale of.

While I was in an experimental mood I also had to try these Chocolate Covered Cheetos!

The actually tasted a lot like chocolate covered pretzels, barely any cheese flavor & not weird at all. We have more chocolate & are going to making these again for Justin's family for Christmas Eve snacks.

Seeing Spots

2011-12-14T20:07:00.000-05:00

After sassi214 posted about her new nail dotters I wanted a set myself! While they are meant for decorating fingernails they are really just tools with a metal ball on each end that you can use for lots of different crafts. I already had one for clay and was excited to get a set with different sizes.

The first thing I wanted to use them for was polka dot nails. They were easy & so adorable! (This is after about a week and many minor touchups along the way)

You an find dotters on eBay for super cheap. The set I got look just like this, although I wish I had a set that gets even larger like these. After the dots I tried to do fish scales but the largest ball was much too small.

Or, instead of buying dotters, you can use anything with a round end for similar results. I saw lots of girls online using a sewing pin stuck into a pencil eraser! Bobby pins or the end of a paintbrush were also suggested. I'll have to hunt around here for something a little larger.

Chicken Pot Pie

2011-12-07T11:51:00.001-05:00

Putting all of the photos on My Recipe Book quickly showed me which recipes badly needed an updated picture. Here is the new shot for the Chicken Pot Pie ~

The old pic looked like a mugshot!

Currently I am shopping around for some large ramekins so I can make single servings of our favorite casseroles. Who wouldn't want to be served their own tiny casserole dish? I'm eying a gorgeous set on Amazon but waiting for more to be in stock.

Owl Cookies

2011-11-29T13:11:00.002-05:00

I made up the dough logs for these cut-and-bake owl shaped cookies for our Halloween party, but decided to stick them in the freezer for later when we ended up having more deserts than we needed. A week or two later we sliced them up to create these ~

Pretty cute, huh? Well, let's just say these three were the only ones to survive out of a huge batch ~ the candy corn noses melted on the rest & turned into a puddly mess! The first recipe I saw did actually use candy corn noses but linked back to the original recipe which used cashews instead, which is the recipe I followed. I did not bookmark the first one ~ perhaps she used a different baking temperature or time?

But the noses were not the only flub. While the lighter part of the cookie was not bad, the darker brown centers were dry and crumbly & just tasted terrible. The coloring was added by stirring in melted chocolate, which you would think would be tasty, but it did not turn out well.

While I did like the way the owl cookies were quickly shaped, I would definitely recommend ditching the actual recipe. Use a firm cookie dough you know & love and find another way to change the color!

JapaneseTemari (Inspired) Balls

2011-11-15T11:03:00.003-05:00

How About Orange is always a great source for crafting tutorials and free printables (I love her blog!). She recently found an online Japanese magazine teaching how to make little embroidered felt balls, inspired by the traditional Temari balls, but all of the directions were in Japanese. I offered to translate & she updated the post with my translation. How fun!

I know the translation is not the best as I had to do a lot of guessing and paraphrasing, but I think overall it turned out really well and explains a lot of parts that would have been difficult to understand with pictures alone. It was a nice change of pace from all of the vocabulary cramming I've been working on lately & I hope to be able to work on something like this with her again. Meanwhile maybe I should search for some Japanese craft sources myself & share the translations here!

Halloween Party

2011-11-07T21:29:00.000-05:00

Most years we like to throw a Halloween get-together for our old college friends ~ an excuse to make themed foods & throw together a costume! There was no way we were going to attempt that last year with a newborn, but this time we were up to the task.

First I made a few new decorations. A while back we bought a set of 9 8x10 frames to fill up an empty wall that has been plaguing us since we moved here. I finally got around to hanging them & filled them with some Halloween themed papers & print-outs.

The top left & bottom right are from my old Skeleton Key fabric print with my "Happy Halloween" pumpkin stencil in the center. There are some paper snowflake style cut-out spiderwebs on the other two corners, a cut out of "Trick" & "Treat" laid over candy corn paper down the center, and on the sides is pumpkin paper where I painted on some jack-o-lantern details.

Then we have the pretty paper lanterns, inspired by some of Martha's. For the frame I cut a piece of black posterboard in half (long-ways), made a template & traced that side-by-side four times (with an extra tab to attach the ends together). For the orange parts I glued in panels of tissue paper and drew the designs with black Sharpie. The lanterns are the same on the opposite sides (two designs per lanterns), so I drew out my designs on scrap paper first & then traced that so they would be the same.

For the food we decided to make Hand-burgers, but were not able to find a good cookie cutter locally (only one tiny hand). If we had planned it far enough in advance I could have ordered one online, but with the short notice I had to make my own. I found a tip online that you could do this by buying a large cookie cutter, cutting it open & re-shaping it for your custom shape. I ended up having to use two & just duct taped the pieces together, since this is not something we'll use again, but you can also use food-safe adhesive or solder.

I forgot to get good pics of them, but they looked great & were pretty easy once you have a cookie cutter! They even stayed together well on the grill, which we worried about.

I also made this candy corn themed Cheesecake Mousse, which ended up being a mild disaster. I realized later that the cream cheese really needed to be warmed in order to mix smoothly with the other ingredients, but the recipe mentioned nothing about this. While they were still tasty, they were *full* of embarrassing chunks of cream cheese. Lesson learned!

Our friend Candice brought over these adorable Boneyard Brownies (complete with label!), full of clever tombstone names & gummy worms.

And here she is posing as the Tardis with her husband dressed up as Dr. Who! The part on top of her headband even glowed with a blinking blue light. Awesome costumes!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:12:00.002-04:00

Bought a bear costume & turned Orson into the world cutest ewok!

Our little ewok was joined by Han & Leia ~

Pinterest & Page Updates

2011-10-13T14:35:00.001-04:00

Do you ever set out to do a small task, and it ends up leading to one project after another?

A while back I joined Pinterest and am really loving it*. I had seen lots of friends using it but thought it was the same thing as Tumblr & was non interested until Sara opened my eyes with a post about it. Basically it is a visual way to store your bookmarks/favorites, using photos for each link (and text), and I desperately needed something like that to sort through all of the recipes & projects that I've marked. And you can see what your friends add for even more ideas. I already have over 500 'pins'!

Having all of those lovely photos has made it a lot easier to find inspiration, and I've been cooking & creating so many of the new things from those links. But I've found that whenever we start to make our weekly grocery list I automatically go to Pinterest now and completely ignore our old favorites. It made me realize just how important those pretty pictures can be.

I considered adding our favorite recipes there, but since the majority of them would be from my own site I thought that would be a little tacky (like I'm pinning my own stuff for exposure). Finally I decided what I really needed to do was add photos to my recipe index, instead of the boring text links. The old page looked like this ~

>

I did like the 'recipe binder' feel of the old page, especially since I used a photo of the actual binder I use, but there was just too much text to read through. The new page is pretty plain, but the photos are such an improvement!

While working on the recipe page I came across some horrible photos that really needed to be updated! I realized I had already taken new pictures for two of them but never gotten around to switching them out ~ the Greek Chicken and the Polynesian Chicken. (Normally I would post about the new pics on here, but you can check the links if you are interested)

The recipe page's new look had me itching to makeover my website's front page. It had been on my to-do list for a long time but was never really a priority, regardless of how ugly it was! Here is the old front page ~

That layout was very outdated, I haven't used my Etsy shop in years! (It was vertically centered on my old computer but screens are generally bigger now. Unfortunately there is no good way to center it for different sizes) The new page is pretty clean & simple & uses another one of my fabric designs for the background ~

I'm not desperately in love with either of the new pages but definitely think they are in an improvement! Not too shabby, considering I threw them together in a day.

*While I do love Pinterest, the site is a little too glitchy for my liking. I have one recipe that I can not remove or edit, sometimes photos will not show up (which is the whole reason I'm using the site!) or changes you make to your text will not update. I contacted the customer service and they said that it was a problem with the cookies not updating quick enough or something & they would work on it. The problems seemed to be fixed after that, so I was happy, but now they are back. It's not enough to make me regret using the site, but they kind of need to get their act together!

Photos from the Fair

2011-10-11T10:33:00.001-04:00

JapanFest - Costumes

2011-10-08T16:29:00.000-04:00

We were surprised at how many people dressed up or wore costumes for JapanFest! With the big crowd it was sometimes hard to get a photo, but I kept snapping them whenever one popped into view. We were greeted right away by Piccolo ~

One of the most common 'costumes' were the Lolita girls, although for all I know they might dress this way every day! I think this one spotted me ~

This mother & daughter set were adorable ~

There was plenty of traditional clothing as well ~

JapanFest 2011

2011-10-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

The last few weekends have been packed with events, and the weekdayss packed with work (working until bedtime every night!), which means lots of photos but no time to edit or write about them. Things are back to normal now though & I'm making some progress. ;)

Three weeks ago we visited JapanFest, a huge convention in Duluth, Georgia featuring all things Japanese. I'd read about it two years ago, a little too late, and last year we only remembered it once we already had plans, so you can guess we were pretty excited to go this time around! Reading through the list of the food that would be on sale only increased my excitement... so many foods I had read about online but never tasted!

Unfortunately things were a bit miserable when we first arrived. An hour in the car with a toddler is enough to put anyone on edge, and then we discovered our exit was closed and we missed the detour. We actually maneuvered that pretty easily, found parking, and started the long hike to the entrance (poor Orson, moved straight from the car-seat to the stroller!). While it had been freezing when we left, as soon as we got out of the car I realized that Orson & I were dressed way too warmly in our long sleeves & pants but had no choice but to deal with the heat.

Stepping into the building, the crowd was a little overwhelming. We headed straight for the food court which was also a sea of people and *hot*. The entrance was decorated with some stunning balloon sculptures, but unfortunately Orson is a bit obsessed with balloons right now & we were not enjoying the unending cry of "ba ba ba ba ba ba ba!"

Justin & Orson found some seats at the end of one of the long tables & I headed off to get our food. The plan was to grab a ramen at two different vendors and some takoyaki, but I ended up waiting in one line for at least 15 minutes just to place my order and another 15+ to pick up one ramen. In front of me a girl complained to her mother, "I hate it here! It's too crowded, & everyone pushes, I don't like the food, this is the worst day ever!!!".

My first sip of the Tonkotsu ramen perked me up a bit though. As grumpy as we were at this point, I have to say it was worth the wait! Meaty, creamy, peppery... tastier than I had even hoped for. I was also pleased to see so many people in costume at the event, but I will save those pictures for a second post. We decided to check out the rest of the building and come back for more food later.

The merchant booths were nearly as crowded. The few with anime products were so packed you could barely see what they had for sale (not that we would have bought anything, but wouldn't have minded browsing). We picked up a black manekineko ornament and some ceramic origami crane chopstick holders.

There was plenty to see throughout the building, even if it was from afar much of the time. We did not attempt to go to any of the shows this time, but they had performances & talks going on throughout the day.

Afterwards we headed back to the food court & each took a line this time. Justin grabbed the okonomiyaki...

while I picked up some takoyaki.

Neither of them were as good as I had hoped, but I'd like to try them again elsewhere. I had expected the takoyaki to be crisp on the outside & soft on the inside but the center just tasted like uncooked dough to me (hoping that was a fluke). It was also a mistake to order the two together because we were a bit sick of the similar seafood flavor by the end. We wimped out & washed everything down with some cold Cokes and a soft pretzel. A quick photo by the balloons and we were ready to head home, but not before we ran into two of Justin's former students (who were not there together).

I feel like I've mostly complained through this post, but all in all we did have a pretty good time & plan to go again next year. Next time we may get a babysitter though! We do feel like they have outgrown the venue though, and definitely need to find a bigger spot for the 16,000+ crowd. Perhaps the claustrophobia was part of the 'Japan' experience, but dealing with ridiculous lines & blocked booths really did bring the enjoyment down a level.

Loaded Potato Pizza

2011-09-26T09:35:00.001-04:00

This one is so simple I'm not going to bother to put a recipe together! Get a ready-to-bake pizza crust and top it with ranch dressing. Load it up with frozen potato crowns, frozen chopped broccoli, sliced green onions, bacon crumbles, and finish off with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake according to the directions for the crust and enjoy!

Playground

2011-09-19T19:36:00.001-04:00

Found a few fun angles at the playground...

Video Games for Artists & Crafters!

2011-09-09T20:20:00.001-04:00

I was really impressed with two video games that I played recently that are geared towards the arts & crafts crowd....

"Drawn to Life" is a game for the DS which lets the player draw using the stylus & touch screen. But this is not one of those virtual art 'games' that lets you mimic the textures of different paints & pens & papers, it is a normal platform game with a twist ~ you create a lot of the content! You draw your character, your weapons, the platforms that you jump on, the item that gives you power-ups, and a lot of other details that are used throughout the game.

Now, I should mention first that I actually played through the sequel to this game (Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter) and not the original, which I thought I was purchasing at the time. The sequel came out last year while the original is a few years older and I don't know how much the two might differ.

I had a blast coming up with crazy things throughout the game, like using a taco that shot beans for my gun, running around with a giant purple pool noodle for a sword, or jumping across pink bars of soap to cross a waterfall. At first I loved creating the items but found the gameplay a little boring, but as the game progresses your character gains the ability to morph into two other creatures ~ a blob that can squeeze through tight spaces & a spider-like creature that can climb walls & shoot webbing. By the end it was exciting to have to switch between the three to find hidden treasures or even just trying to race through a level to stay alive. If you like to draw even a little I think you would have a great time with this game & I can't wait to go back & play through the original.

Now for the sewers & yarn enthusiasts, I bring you "Kirby's Epic Yarn"! While you won't get to using your crafting skills in this game you will definitely enjoy the fact that all of the characters and backgrounds are drawn to look as if they were created out of yarn & fabrics. The fabric aspect is played with throughout the game as Kirby unravels, unstitches, and unzips various objects... and everything is just so darn cute! And it is a great game for different levels of gamers ~ easy if you just want to get through the levels, or more challenging if you try to get silver or gold on every level (I still haven't finished the game!). Or if you are not into gaming at all, you can always buy a copy for your husband or child & just sit back & enjoy the graphics. ;)

Asian Drop-in Soup

2011-09-03T09:01:00.001-04:00

I put together a recipe for the Asian Drop-in Soup that I posted about a lonnng time ago. It's mostly a recipe for the Ginger Asian Broth, and then a list of ideas for fillers to use in the soup. Set out a few bowls of the fillers and you & your guests can each put together your own soup ~ easy, a lot of fun, & you won't have to worry about picky eaters!

Asian Drop-in Soup ~

This is a pretty simple version (since most of the fillers are raw or precooked), but it would be fun to do something similar with other broths & a selection of cooked veggies, pastas, potato slices & meats. Make a few broths & you could have a soup party!

Recipe Update

2011-08-25T07:48:00.001-04:00

I took a new picture for this recipe long ago, but it took a while to get it updated and I never posted it here.

Crabmeat Casserole

(Original picture here)

Alice & Hitchhiker's Tattoo

2011-08-18T08:52:00.002-04:00

I've added a ton of ambigrams & other designs to my Flickr, getting caught up with all of the work that was waiting to be posted here. I came across one that I definitely wanted to share with you.

The customer who had this ambigram of mine tattooed previously...

... contacted me about making a large piece that would wrap underneath it and cover most of her back. She had been working with another artist who disappeared mid-project and we kept the roses, crowns, and 'card' outlines from those sketches. The rest really needed to be scrapped & re-done though!

The piece gives nods to "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" while keeping the style of the "Aloha" embellishments throughout. I love the way it turned out!

Close up

2011-08-10T08:05:00.001-04:00

A few random details from my mother-in-laws yard ~

Black Shatter

2011-08-09T10:21:00.000-04:00

I got this awesome crackle nail polish recently called Black Shatter (from OPI) and can't stop wearing it! Everyone keeps going in for a closer look and asking, "did you do this yourself?!".

I remember trying out crackle polishes when I was very young & they didn't seem to work well, but I might have been trying to put on too thick of a coat & not giving it room to separate. You just put a thin coat on over another polish (in this case a teal Sally Hansen) and watch it shatter as it dries.

The black is pretty matte, so I coated the whole thing with a clear gloss and went for a week without even getting much of a chip (even going to the pool several times!). My polishes never hold up that well normally!

The nails kept reminding me of something, and after a few days I realized what it was. They look exactly like my teal composition book socks!

So cute. I wish I could find more of them!

Blogging...

2011-08-03T16:54:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about my blog lately & have decided to drop the "Ambigram Drops". They need to be done too often & clutter up the place, and all of the new ambigrams will be posted on Flickr if anyone wants to stay up-to-date. I'll still post a special ambigram or two occasionally, but in general I don't feel like the "Drops" are all that interesting, and I'd rather do fewer, more interesting posts than throwing stuff up here just for the sake of posting frequently.

Rainbow Cake

2011-07-18T15:52:00.001-04:00

Our little guy Orson turned 1 on the 8th ~ can you believe it's been a year already? We weren't sure if we were going to just get together with my parents or have a huge birthday bash for him, but I knew either way that I wanted to make him an awesome cake!

He does love Yo Gabba Gabba, and I considered making a Brobee cake (just his face, but with light & dark green stripes inside), but thought a Gabba themed party would be a little over the top unless he actually requested such a thing! So I went with the cake I couldn't get off my mind ~ a bright & colorful rainbow cake!

I made the layers the day before & kept them sealed up for frosting the day of the party. So pretty!

Here my rubbery blue cake pan is doing its best Earth impression after removing the green cake layer ~

I mostly followed the directions from the wonderful Idea Room, including her Cool Whip icing recipe, but I only used 1 cup of batter for each layer. I was planning on making mine about 3/4 the height of hers, and I really should have used 1 1/4 cup per layer instead, but it turned out lovely either way!

I decorated the cake with Fruit Loops instead of candy to keep it colorful & baby friendly. And it's a good thing that I did! Orson had his share of hot dog & picnic sides at dinner....

... and didn't realize he was supposed to save room for cake too! He was not interested in the least and only nibbled on a few of the frosting coated Fruit Loops.

Oh well! At least he'll know that I *tried*, and the other guests thoroughly enjoyed the colorful surprise. I should have taken some better pictures of the cut slices, but we did end up having a big bash after all and I was a little preoccupied.

Not too bad for my first cake, ey?

Sparkle Motion

2011-07-17T19:38:00.002-04:00

I almost forgot to post these shots! After shooting off the fireworks we pulled out the sparklers, and I think I enjoyed taking photos of those even more. It's amazing how you can capture so many movements, frozen in one image.

Our best attempt at "Chelsea" ~

And a fitting tribute on the 4th ~

Even though I looked up what settings to change on my camera beforehand, I must have marked it down wrong because they were not working. I switched it over to Av mode and bumped up the number, which gave me the slow shutter speed I was looking for, but with no real control over the timing. Some pictures would snap quickly, while I sat rigidly still during others, waiting forever for the 'click'. One day I'll figure out the settings for real, and in the meantime I'm considering buying a pack of sparklers to experiment with rather than waiting another whole year for the chance!

Ambigram Drop

2011-07-12T16:25:00.002-04:00

"Sheene" & "Sydnee" Ambigram	"Gabby" & "Donny" Ambigram
"Trust" & "Believe" Ambigram	"John" & "Mike" Ambigram
"Daphne" & "Wilson" Ambigram	"Blessed" & "God's Gift" Ambigram
"Javian" & "Jerran" Ambigram	"Bente" & "Trine" Ambigram
"Teleō" Ambigram	"Martinez" & "Williams" Ambigram

Fireworks

2011-07-11T20:53:00.002-04:00

It's been a busy few weeks of fireworks, visiting, and birthday celebrations. I've got lots of pictures to share, and I'll start with some fun shots of the fireworks! We didn't get to see a real fireworks show this year, but we did set off some fountains in the backyard (not many fireworks are legal in Georgia).

Orson goes to bed before it gets dark enough outside, so we woke him back up when it was time to shoot them off. He was entranced, and probably thought it was all some crazy dream.

Heart Designs

2011-06-28T07:50:00.001-04:00

Hidden "S" Heart Design with text	"Be Wise in Love" Heart Design
"LSJP" Heart Design	"Marc" Heart Design
"CST" Heart Design	"EJS" Heart Design
"Celeste" & "Larissa" Heart Design	"Anthony" & "Tommy" Heart Design
"ECE" Heart Design	"S&D" Heart Design

Salad Dressings

2011-06-22T21:39:00.004-04:00

A while back I had this goal. I wanted to create my own 'signature' salad dressing, to be served in a cute cruet. Once I started planning out what kind of dressing it should be, I realized I actually needed two...

Salad Dressings

I present to you Savory Miso Dressing and Peppered Parmesan Dressing! I love them both so much.

Ambigram Drop

2011-06-21T19:36:00.002-04:00

"Ethan" Circle Ambigram	"Logan" & "Quinn" Ambigram
"Alteri Si Tibi" Ambigram	"Alis Volat Propriis" Ambigram
"Odessa" Ambigram	"Michelle" Ambigram Armband
"Michelle" Ambigram	"James" Ambigram
"Sinner" & "Saint" Ambigram	"Óliver" & "Esther" Ambigram

Back Home

2011-06-13T20:08:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we returned from a week & a half vacation to Michigan, visiting Justin's extended family. That's a long trip from Georgia! The three of us flew there & back and it was pretty crazy traveling with a soon-to-be one year old. Trying to think of all of the things he would need (travel high chair, travel crib, etc.) and then fitting it all in with our clothes for the trip? We don't want to do that again any time soon!!

Everything went pretty smoothly considering, and Orson was really good for the flight back (a bit hyper on the way up, but we were able to keep him busy). We stayed in a lakehouse on Lake Michigan for the first half of the trip & had an awesome time playing Settlers of Catan with some of Justin's siblings. We stayed at a relative's house for the 2nd part of the trip & were very happy to visit with more family over there but having to pack up everything again to travel to their house kind of made us long to be home. Those last days were very busy, though, and soon we were on the plane again & wishing we could have seen more of them.

Now I am trying to catch up on work, catch up with blogs, and I have barely even touched the pile of photos (I got about 500 from him mom's camera to sort through too!). As I get them edited I'll probably post some over on Orson's blog, feel free to check in there! Just wanted to drop in quickly & let you all know why I've been MIA for so long! (I don't really like announcing trips online ahead of time... 'Hey guys! Our place will be totally empty for the next two weeks!', haha.)

Caroline's Robot

2011-05-31T20:36:00.002-04:00

The week after my friend Mache's baby shower there was a shower for my cousin Caroline. Her little girl is due the day after Orson's birthday! Before she was pregnant, Caroline had fun making 'robot' sculptures out of vintage bits & sold them on Etsy or in galleries. I thought it would be just perfect to make a plush toy version of one of her robots for the baby!

I scrounged around on her Facebook & Etsy sold items for pictures before deciding on this fellow ~

And here we have my plush version, I want to say about 9 inches tall?

I made the red parts fleece for softness and the rest is mostly felt (I wish I could have found a pretty teal, but light blue was as close as I could get). I had to re-make those tiny claws about 5 times because I could not get them to turn inside out! I finally made them out of a calico and then hand-stitched them onto the arms. The rest went together smoothly though!

I embroidered the black details on the eyes, arm stripes, and radio lines. I avoided using buttons because I wanted to make sure everything was baby friendly.

And the white "Coffee" logo was done in acrylic paint and ironed to seal it on the fabric. I thought about embroidering this as well, but figured white thread might get dirty fast! The paint gives it such nice, crisp lines too.

So cute! The robot was a big hit at the shower & I brought a picture of her original robot for the girls to see along with it. I'm not sure if this was more of a gift for the baby or the mother, but I think they'll both appreciate it.

Ambigram Drop

2011-05-28T06:11:00.001-04:00

"Flame" & "Agápe" Ambigram	"Ruby" Ambigram (Based on the customers previous "Jade" ambigram from another artist.)
"Malhotra" Ambigram	"Mali" Ambigram
"Chayse Linkoln" Ambigram	"Chayse Ryder" & "Linkoln Rock" Ambigram
"Marcus" & "Crystal" Ambigram	"Carina" & "Olson" Ambigram
"Khloe" Ambigram	"Laus Deo" Ambigram

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

2011-05-24T20:16:00.002-04:00

For Mache's shower I knew I wanted to bake something sweet, and I had these cookies on the brain (Recipe here). I had actually bought unsalted butter for the recipe maybe a year ago and procrastinated so long that we finally had to toss the butter out. This was the perfect excuse to try again!

The shower colors were pink & brown, so I ditched the colorful sprinkles in favor of chocolate brown sprinkles. The slight chocolate flavor went well with the peppermint & reminded me of Thin Mints at times. And they didn't take as long to make as I would have expected!

I think these would be fun to make with green and white spirals and Christmas colored sprinkles for the holidays. Or change up the flavoring and you could use any color combination.

The only change I made to the recipe was adding a couple of Tbsp. of water to the dough to help it form together. I was able to get about 3 dozen cookies out of each batch (I made two), but you've got to slice them pretty thin. (They probably were a darker pink that the photos, but they were long gone by the time I was editing the pics for color matching.)

And here you can see part of the table set up with the cookies & rose wreath together ~

Crepe Paper Rose Wreath

2011-05-19T17:41:00.002-04:00

Last weekend two ladies and I co-hosted a shower for a church friend who is having twin girls (hey Mache!). One of the things I was in charge of was bringing some flowers for a centerpiece, but there was something that I wanted to make to go along with them.

I kept thinking about these lovely crepe paper rose covered balls, but it seemed like the only way those would work as a centerpiece would be as a topiary. Finally I decided to make a wreath to set the vase of flowers inside, and the mom-to-be could hang it in the nursery afterward if it turned out well.

I really didn't want to buy a wreath form, and started thinking that maybe I could make one out of newspaper. Unfortunately, we had just taken our meager stash to be recycled! I almost gave up on the whole project when I found a Lowe's 'creative ideas catalog' in the mail (I think Lowe's would be proud), basically like a magazine. I removed the center staples, twisted the pages & taped them together.

The wreath is the size of three pages taped end-to-end with five layers all taped together. I'm heavily considering making a tutorial for the wreath form because it could come in handy in for many holiday projects & was basically free!

Hobby Lobby only had one roll of light pink crepe streamers left, so I got a roll of a brighter pink as well. I debated for a while & decided to create the roses with both colors twisted together, rather than separate flowers of each. I wrapped the two pinks around the wreath form to keep any magazine from peeking through the flowers.

Then I basically followed the directions for the rose balls I mentioned earlier, and they were such a help! At first the roses felt really awkward to roll up, and the early ones were not spectacular, but I knew the overall wreath would still look good. I used 12" of each pink rolled together rather than one 24" strip. Here are some of my first roses ~

I started hot gluing those along the inside of the wreath, and I got better at wrapping the roses row by row, so they were looking rather pretty by the time I worked my way to the front of the wreath. The one change I made from the directions I linked to was that after starting to roll up the end, I folded the bottom of the roll up 1/3-1/2, which kept me from having to cut the knubs off of the back of the rose afterward. (And then I wrinkled the paper)

I worked to the outer edge and ended up with some large gaps along the sides. I made a few half-size roses for the larger spaces and filled in the rest with some small twists of the different pinks, so that the roses looked flush against the table or wall. There were also some small gaps throughout the wreath that I filled in with a small twist and I glued all of the sides of the roses together to prevent gaps & keep it sturdy (I should have been doing that all along, rather than just gluing them to the wreath). You can see mine is a lot tighter & more packed together than the linked balls or wreath, but I love the look.

And here is the finished wreath at the shower with the vase of flowers. You can really see the outer edge I was talking about in this shot.

The wreath got a lot of compliments & queries at the shower, and my friend was excited about using it in the nursery. Not too bad for a mostly free project! The wreath did take a lot longer to make than I was expecting, but it was fun enough to work on that I'm tempted to make another.

Two more shower crafts coming soon!!

Ambigram Drop

2011-05-10T17:03:00.002-04:00

"Noah" Ambigram Heart	"Macedo", "Perry", & "Baker" Diamond Ambigram
"Jayden" & "Justin" Ambigram	"Reuben" & "Jacob" Ambigram
"Gigi" Ambigram	"Taylor" Ambigram
"Marlon" & "Lennon" Ambigram, his	"Marlon" & "Lennon" Ambigram, hers
"Mustelier" & "Gallagher" Ambigram	"Father" Ambigram

Ambigram Ink, and Paint!

2011-05-04T11:31:00.001-04:00

I have some more customer pics to share!!

"Mathieu" & "Gods Gift", "Makayla" & "Like God"
Ambigram Cross Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

"Pain" & "Love" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

"Matthew" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

"Kornelia" & "Alicja" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo, with quite a few changes!)

And then I have one that hasn't been posted in my gallery yet, so I'll share that first ~

"Noble" Ambigram

"Noble" Ambigram Tattoo

This one's not an ambigram, but I'm throwing it in there...

"FN" Heart Design Tattoo
(This heart design as a finished tattoo.)

Fairy Basket

2011-04-29T12:39:00.001-04:00

My mother-in-law and nieces worked on fairy houses this Easter. If you've never seen one before, take a look through some of these pics. This is definitely something I want to put together sometime, whether I have a daughter or not! (Sorry Orson)

I was excited about the project myself, so I went outside & found some dried vines, soaked them a bit, and then set to work weaving a little fairy basket.

I curved the shape around the tip of my finger, it's a tiny little thing. And for my first basket, I don't think it's too bad! We'll use the word 'rustic'. I didn't even think about how appropriate the craft was for Easter, being a basket and all. On the way out I filled it with some teeny tiny flowers.

Heart Designs

2011-04-27T10:59:00.001-04:00

These things are almost as popular as the ambigrams now!

"KAB" Heart Design	"NML" Heart Design
"Natalie" & "Andrew" Ambigram	"Layla" & "Jayda" Ambigram
"SLR" Heart Design	"JPUJ" Heart Design
"Karter" & "Ella" Heart Design	"Ashlee" & "Alexee" Heart Design
"GKMAE" Heart Design	"CJM" Heart Design

Helen, Ga

2011-04-14T12:26:00.002-04:00

Last week we celebrated our 7 year anniversary with a quick trip to Helen, Ga. We usually spend the day in Chattanooga, Tn each year (the city where we were married), but after a weekend visit with Justin's parents we were not up for another long drive or a big adventure. We left Orson with his grandmother and explored the nearby tourist town.

Helen is decked out German style. There really are a lot of beautiful details on the buildings, including some lovely murals & embellishments.

As we walked around we realized we were a little too early, as nearly everything was still closed! I couldn't tell what might be closed for the season or just from the 'early' hour (I think it was 11am already, geez), but we mostly wanted to window shop anyway before stopping here for some German food ~

Luckily they opened at 11:30! We ate on the 2nd floor balcony which is actually at the bottom of that picture (the top was closed off). With a new found love of Spaetzle, we sat back & enjoyed the view.

After lunch we somehow found room for a pretzel & funnel cake....

Which turned out to be a really good idea, since we were too stuffed while stopping by a candy store on the way out to consider buying anything! We were cracking up at the sign though ~

"Charlie! We're going to Candy Mountain!"

Oh, and here's a closeup of the "Coming Events" sign from the first pic. So cute ~

Ambigram Drop

2011-04-01T15:09:00.002-04:00

"Bite Me" Ambigram	"Pierce" & "Easton" Ambigram
"Mathieu" & "Gods Gift", "Makayla" & "Like God" Ambigram Cross	"Danny" & "Kerry" Ambigram
"Jayden" Ambigram, v.2	"Zane" & "Zade" Ambigram
"Jayden" Ambigram, v.3	"Elijah" Ambigram

Chicken Pot Pancakes

2011-03-31T20:02:00.002-04:00

We tried out Rachael Ray's Chicken Pot Pancakes recipe with mixed results. You toss cooked chicken, peas, carrots, celery, and onions in pancake mix, cook the pancakes like normal and then top with a creamy sauce. It's such a fun idea, but there are definitely some things I'll do differently next time around.

We forgot to pick up actual pancake mix and used some waffle mix that we already had on hand, but they turned out a little too sweet. I'd like to try it again with 'real' pancake mix next time, but am happy to my own batter from then on if that is still too sweet.

We also noticed that you can not even taste the chicken in the pancakes. It's like it wasn't even in there. I'll definitely be mixing up the ratios when we make these again.

I did make one large change this time, and that was the sauce. I am not a fan of dill, and a tarragon and mustard sauce was just not screaming 'chicken pot pie' to me. I used a base of Cream of Chicken soup, thinned it out and added spices, and it turned out perfectly.

Mirrored Ambigrams

2011-03-24T13:22:00.004-04:00

I was surprised to get a couple of requests for mirrored ambigrams recently. I don't usually have a lot of hope for mirrored flips, but I did some sketching and these seemed to actually go together pretty easily.

"Learn to Suffer" Mirrored Ambigram

"Blessed" & "Cursed" Mirrored Ambigram

Shrimp Shumai

2011-03-22T09:44:00.002-04:00

I finally finished putting together the recipe for the declicious Shrimp Shumai. It is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, but I ended up changing enough that I needed to type up my own version.

Shrimp Shumai

I really liked the layout I used for the old picture of this one and copied it again.

Logos

2011-03-21T13:21:00.003-04:00

I've had a lot of requests lately for logos & other graphics for businesses. I usually just stick them in with a normal 'ambigram drop' but thought it would be fun to put a bunch of them together in a separate post.

"Skinny Dip" Ambigram Logo

This one was actually from a long time ago, created for a swimwear store. The owner painted the logo on the wall in the shop & said he got a great response. (I'm not sure why I didn't post this earlier. I think there was mention of sending a different pic of the painting & so I was waiting on that). The painting looks great!

"Kings Army" Ambigram Logo
Not sure what kind of company this one was for ~

"Twisted Tricks" Ambigram Logo
For a magician that I've worked with before...

A few designs for the sexy snowmoblie gear at Sled Divas ~
"Divas Snow Gear" Heart Logo

(The girl and snowmobile are from her own logo, not my design)

"Snow Divas" Ambigram

"Divas Snowgear" Ambigram

And this "GTF 289" logo was designed by the customer of this "Grace" & "Faith" ambigram. The letters spell "Eph" upside down, for Ephesians 2 8:9.

"GTF 289" Ambigram Logo

Most of the Old English style religious ambigrams were ordered by this same customer, including this recent design ~

"Blood" & "Power" Ambigram Logo

Ambigram Drop

2011-03-17T15:13:00.001-04:00

The first five of these are actually sketches that never turned into a final design. I thought they were worth sharing, and some have pretty fun fonts!

"Jaxon" Ambigram Sketch, v.2	"Jaxon" Ambigram Sketch, v.3
"Garrett" & "Michael" Ambigram Sketch, v.1	"Garrett" & "Michael" Ambigram Sketch, v.2
"Love Life" & "Live True" Ambigram Sketch, v.2	"Love Life" & "Live True" Ambigram, v.3
"Persevere" Ambigram	"Maisie Ann" & "Eliza Jayne" Ambigram
"Caden" Circle Ambigram	"Paige" & "Colton" Ambigram

Homemade Pasta

2011-03-11T10:16:00.002-05:00

One of the gifts I got for Christmas this year was a pasta extruder. I had always seen pasta makers more like this one and did not even realize the extruders existed, so this was a fun little surprise!

The extruder comes with 5 dies to make different shapes. This time I opted for the largest one, the rigatoni (top right in the pic).

I believe I followed this recipe for the dough, but it may have been this one. I do know that I added in a little olive oil and some herbs for some nice coloring. The mixer did not handle the dough too well and so I had to finish it off by hand and then started extruding!

Next time I will do this as two man job, but Justin was busy with the baby. It would have been nice to have one person cranking and one person cutting, and then switch jobs after a while. By myself it was slow going, but soon I had a pile of pasta!

And here it is, all buried in a pile of broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and Alfredo sauce ~

A very tasty meal indeed! The pasta turned out very dense, unlike any pasta I've had before. I'm not sure if that is just the texture of homemade (which I've heard is very different), or if I was way off base with my first attempt. I've got a few other recipes I'd like to try and I'm sure there is always room for improvement. But not bad for my first try.

Random Designs

2011-03-10T21:24:00.001-05:00

Here are a few non-ambigram, non-heart designs that I've made. I am always surprised to get these requests, but they can be fun to work on.

"MAE" Initials Design Sketch	"ASLK" Initials Design
"SC" Initials Design	"DS" Initials Design
"NILE" Initials Design	"Faith" Design
"DAR" Star Design

Lots of Heart

2011-03-09T18:55:00.001-05:00

In spite of all of the ambigrams and other designs I've been posting lately, I still have a ton more that I need to share. I've been busy!

"FN" Heart Design	"AGR" Heart Design
"Melissa" & "Lou" Heart Design	"Oscar" & "Noah" Heart Design
"MVVS" Heart Design	"K&C" Heart Design
"Jokers 2011" Heart Design	"Dalanie" & "Gabrielle" Heart Design

Ambigram Drop

2011-03-07T18:20:00.002-05:00

"Steal Kill Destroy" & "Life Abundantly" Ambigram	"No Regrets" & "Strength" Ambigram
"Taylerre" & "Treasured" Ambigram	"Leonhardt" Ambigram Cross
"DeMartini" Ambigram	"Honor Cherish" Ambigram
"Doug" & "Darek" Ambigram	"Jaime" & "Ezra" Ambigram

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

2011-03-06T20:34:00.001-05:00

Brussel sprouts always seem to be listed along with broccoli as a nasty, nasty vegetable that kids have nightmares about. I'm sure I had some as a child and found them quite disgusting, and growing up they are not something I ever found on my plate at meal times. Well, considering that Justin and I love broccoli, I thought it was only fair to give brussel sprouts another chance when we were looking for a little more vegetable variety.

We tried some frozen sprouts, and they were ok but not spectacular. While looking around online for good ways to cook them, I heard a lot of talk about how delicious & crunchy they were roasted and was eager to give it a try myself. And they were right! If you've never felt love for the little sprouts, you've got to give roasting a try.

It's pretty simple ~ Leave the tiniest sprouts as-is and cut the rest in half (or even thirds, if they are huge). Arrange them on a baking sheet, along with all of the little leaves that fell off during cutting, and drizzle lightly with olive oil, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 for 20 minutes...

At this point the scattered leaves will probably be quite brown, so you'll want to remove those to keep them from burning and flip all of the sprouts over while you are at it. Roast for about 20 minutes more (feel free to snack on those tasty leaves while you wait), until the sprouts are nicely browned on both sides. They should be soft on the inside and a little crunchy on the outside. (Last time we let them get very browned all over and they were still great)

It's a super easy side to whip up & bake alongside a casserole ~ delicious!

Ink

2011-03-03T09:28:00.001-05:00

"Caitlin" & "Charlie" Ambigram Tattoo
This ambigram as a finished tattoo.

"Ayden" & "My Love" Ambigram Tattoo
This ambigram as a finished tattoo.

"Clemente" & "Marijo" Ambigram
This ambigram as a finished tattoo.

"Naytzi" & "Victor" Heart Tattoo
This design as a finished tattoo.

"Jarron" & "Mia" Heart Tattoo
This design as a finished tattoo.

Baby Food

2011-03-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

I make the majority of our baby food. It's a little extra work, but I make a ton at once and freeze it, so a half hour or so at the blender might make a week or two worth of meals. It's fun to pick out new fruits or veggies for him to try, and now we are at the point where he can have a combination of things. Last night we just took a scoopful of our dinner and blended it up, which is a great way to get them used to the flavors you like to cook with. I think you can tell I have fun making up the little labels too!

Changes

2011-02-25T20:12:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks I have had an *insane* amount of orders. Like twice as many as normal. I have spent many nights working until bed time just to get everything finished. While the extra money is nice, it's not so fun when you don't have any time to actually do anything with it, and there have been some pretty stressful days.

Currently I am caught up enough to enjoy some free evenings again and am looking forward to the weekend. Let's hope it continues. I feel bad that my only posts over the last month have been dropping off finished ambigram & heart designs. So, what would you like to see? More recipes? Some new Orson pics? I don't think I've managed any crafting recently...

For now I will share the most amusing thing I have on hand ~

In the midst of it all, a lot of changes have been happening around here...
-My husband finally convinced me to raise my custom order prices and I'm so happy that I did. I also changed around the way I charge for extra font sketches, which will make me a lot less grumpy about the additional work.
-Orson is 7 months old, crawling all over the place, and pulling up to standing on everything. I don't think it will be long before he starts walking. He's such a happy, giggly baby now and pretty fun to be around.
-Large tax refund on the way. Yay! It's so nice to not *owe* hundreds of dollars every year anymore.
-I got my first ever cell phone and am not really sure what to do with it yet. It's a lovely shade of green with a touch screen and pull out keyboard and all sorts of features that they will charge me extra for if I try to use them. I love most technology but have avoided the whole cellphone thing for as long as possible but we are switching over from the LAN line to save money.
-I finally got around to changing my username on LiveJournal, which I've been meaning to do for years. "PMThreads" always sounded like I was selling lingerie, and made even less sense once Phunky Monkey closed down. All old links should still forward there.

Hearts

2011-02-14T13:01:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've been working on so many heart designs lately, I really need to make a separate page for them on my website. Who knew they would be so popular? I thought today would be a perfect time to share some more ~

"Courtney" & "Caitlyn" Heart Design	"Naytzi" & "Victor" Heart Design
"A&C" Heart Design	"TAS" Heart Design
"Jarron" & "Mia" Heart Design	"Carolyn" & "Jackson" Heart Design
"E&S" Heart Design	"BMC" Heart Design
"Arianna" & "Andres" Heart Design	"Kimberly" & "Cory" Heart Design

Ambigram Drop

2011-02-12T21:38:00.001-05:00

"Jacek" Ambigram	"Matthew" Ambigram
"Marcus" & "Sienna" Ambigram	"One Love" & "One Life" Ambigram
"Brett" & "Derek" Ambigram	"Melody" & "Miracle" Ambigram
"Grace" & "Faith" Ambigram v.2	"Agape" & "Others" Ambigram

Ambigram Drop

2011-02-03T18:33:00.002-05:00

"Revenimus" Ambigram	"Synfonia" Ambigram
"Ayden" & "My Love" Ambigram	"Rhonda" Ambigram Heart
"Jamie" & "Mitch" Ambigram v.3	"Caitlin" & "Charlie" Ambigram
"Isaiah" Ambigram	"Cest La Vie" Ambigram v.2

Sausage, Lentil, & Kale Stew

2011-01-28T19:20:00.002-05:00

This recipe was our first experience with kale. It has such a nice, firm texture. Sausage, lentils, potato, mushrooms, and a little tomato sauce in the broth.... I just want to curl up next to a fireplace with a big bowl of this stew.

Sausage, Lentil, & Kale Stew

(Old picture here.)

Bacon & Cheese Pinwheels

2011-01-26T16:00:00.002-05:00

We've made these for several get-togethers now and they are so delicious!
It's hard to wait for others & not eat the whole plate ourselves.

Bacon & Cheese Pinwheels

And here's kind of a step-by-step shot ~

Chicken Satay Noodle Soup

2011-01-21T21:08:00.001-05:00

This tasty soup was adapted from a Rachael Ray recipe. I like her ideas but always find myself heavily altering her recipes. The first change was cutting out spaghetti in favor of some actual Asian noodles! Geez....

I shared a photo of it before, as well as a few notes about what we had changed, but it underwent a few more modifications since then. Here is the recipe ~

Chicken Satay Noodle Soup

I think I need to re-arrange my recipe pages to fit these nice big, pretty pictures....

More Recipe Updates

2011-01-20T11:18:00.003-05:00

All of my orders this week were due early, so I had a little free-time to work on recipes. Here are two more updated recipes, with brand new pics and some other tweaks ~

Broccoli and Bacon with Penne

Italian Nachos

Here's the old pic of that one, for reference. Apparently a picture of the first one never made it into Flickr, so you'll just have to imagine a worse version.

Next, I have a few new recipes ready to post!

Ambigram Drop

2011-01-18T08:37:00.002-05:00

"Alek", "Andoni", & "Amelie" Ambigram Circle	"Caleb" & "Aiden" Ambigram
"Ora Lee" & "When" Ambigram	"Hans" & "Who" Ambigram
"Reagan" Ambigram	"No Excuses" & "No Regrets" Ambigram
"Jamie" & "Mitch" Ambigram v.1	"Jamie" & "Mitch" Ambigram v.2

Snowed in

2011-01-16T13:53:00.001-05:00

Last week Georgia was suddenly bombarded with snow. We peeked out the windows before bed Sunday night, but there was no sign of the flakes they kept promising on the news. A few hours later, when I woke to feed Orson, the backyard was blanketed with about 6 inches, yet still not a sign of a flurry.

Snow in Georgia pretty much guarantees that school will be closed for the day. We don't generally have a lot of use for snow plows & road salt around here, and so a small amount might really shut everything down. This time the temperature did not rise over freezing for several days & so the snow stayed, along with the larger danger of ice.

The three of us bundled up and headed outside for a walk that morning. While there were some footprints & car tracks near the road, most of the grassy areas were just vast expanses of smooth & untouched snow. Where were all of the kids that should be out playing? I almost felt bad trekking through the perfect blanket & mangling it with our tracks.

That evening we took another walk over to the Citgo next to the apartments, but they were closed. The next day we ventured a little further, across the street to a Chinese restaurant. We were pretty sure they would be open, since the owners live even closer than we do (we see the delivery car parked in their driveway), but we called just to make sure! By Wednesday Justin was getting a little stir-crazy & was feeling adventurous enough to drive over to Walmart. He said the roads were not bad, but apparently they weren't good enough for the schools to open on Thursday. Friday they finally called the teachers in at 10 for a short work day, but the students got the entire week off. A fine prequel to the three day MLK weekend!

"Dylan" & "Aidan" Oscillation Ambigram

2011-01-11T17:07:00.002-05:00

I had a request for my 2nd oscillating ambigram ~ where the words can both be read from the same view (without flipping the design). The blue versions show the names letter by letter ~

"Dylan" & "Aidan" Oscillation Ambigram

I'm not a huge fan of these, since they are generally harder to read, but it's an interesting project. I'm just glad I don't get too many requests for them! (You can see my 1st oscillation here.)

Christmas Cookies

2011-01-07T21:30:00.002-05:00

This year we decided to make up plates of cookies for some family members we missed visiting with during the Christmas shuffle. It was a lot of baking, but a lot of fun to put them together.

First up, Molasses Cookies from Justin's grandmother's recipe ~

(Those things are addictive! Recipe to come later....)
No-Bake Oatmeal, Chocolate, & Peanut Butter Cookies ~

A new recipe: Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies ~
(Adapted from this recipe)

And the lovely Snowflake Sugar Cookies ~

Those are actually created with cut & bake cookies & then decorated with a stencil & cinnamon after cooling, which also gives them a lovely Snickerdoodle flavor. I posted directions on how to create those a few years ago but hope to post a new set of directions with a template for next year.

This year we realized that the cinnamon flakes actually darken on the cookie as they sit overnight & the design was even more striking. We only found that out since we were saving them for others ~ normally they don't last that long!

We also added a few Rice Krispie Treats to the plates (Justin's pic), wrapped each plate in plastic wrap & then fancied them up with a little ribbon & pretty gift tags.

Continuing Custom Bokeh

2011-01-04T10:15:00.001-05:00

I never did play around extensively with the bokeh filters as I had planned. I did take one more set of Orson shots (Indy was not a willing model that day), a couple of shots here & there & that was it. Mostly I just wanted to sit & do nothing this holiday season. I barely took any photos *on* Christmas. Oops!

(The occasional blue spot is the light hitting an ornament)

Here are the rest of the filters that I cut originally that I didn't share before. Your basic 5 point star ~ I've seen some really great pics with this shape & colored lights on Flickr.

Then some butterflies attacked our tree. I thought this one would be a fun one for pictures of our nieces, but we didn't get a chance to see them this year ~

This leaf shape is the logo of our church, Oak Leaf ~

And, just to see how a word would turn out, I tried "Orson". With the ends of the shapes getting cut off at different angles, I don't think a word it very successful, but it still might be fun to try something like "Joy" another time.

Sock Monkey Hat

2011-01-03T15:52:00.001-05:00

One of Justin's sisters took up knitting around the time Orson was born. I can't believe how far she has come in such a short time. She's even made a sweater already! She made Orson this adorable sock monkey hat, which he is know wearing on our daily walks ~

2010 in Pictures

2011-01-02T19:53:00.001-05:00

Ambigram Drop

2011-01-02T17:53:00.003-05:00

"Bryden" & "Kayle" Ambigram	"Raife" & "Aspen" Ambigram
"Noah" & "Ayla" Ambigram - hers	"Karson" & "Patrick" Ambigram
"Noah" & "Ayla" Ambigram - his	"Todd" & "Collin" Ambigram
"Kristin" & "Matthew" Ambigram	"Self" Ambigram

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T13:52:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas from the Harveys!

I think everyone has gotten their Christmas cards in the mail now,
so it is safe to share the family photo we sent out ~

Hahaha. Here is the real one we sent out
(sadly, that one was not staged to look 'awkward') ~

Along with this ~

It's like... painfully cute. And here are some bonus shots in the reindeer outfit ~

Heart Designs

2010-12-21T12:09:00.001-05:00

"L&D" Heart Design	"R&S" Heart Design
"Ethin" & "Emily" Heart Design	"Vanessa" & "Jamison" Heart Design
This one is hidden away among some tribal work ~ "Kyle", "Luke", & "Benjamin" Heart Design And a couple of other shapes!
"HPT" & "HET" Star Design	"Brock" & "Jenna" Bow Design

Custom Bokeh

2010-12-17T10:17:00.002-05:00

I saw one of the funnest projects linked on a blog recently & had to share it with you while you still have time to play around with Christmas lights.

It's so awesome ~ if you have a lens that can get a nice bokeh effect you can easily change the shape of the lights in the background! Create a paper cover for you lens with this great tutorial and go crazy cutting or punching out shapes. I know I did! By the end of the night already had 7.

Now, there are a few things that I learned playing around with the filters & photos that weren't mentioned in the tutorial...

1) Ideally the shapes need to be around 3/4" wide (or larger), which unfortunately means most paper punches are too small. After playing around with several shapes successfully, I was having trouble getting the camera to focus with one. No matter where I pointed the camera, it just would not focus, and the manual focus is covered by the paper cover! Finally I decided the shape must be a tad bit too small, since the others were not having trouble. I re-cut it at about 3/4" (like the rest) and there were no problems!

In the tutorial she mentioned needing to use a tripod for the shots with a subject in the front, but I had no trouble getting a clean image without one (other than the fact I was taking these at night). I attribute this to the slightly larger shapes letting in more light for a clearer picture. So ~ go ahead and use that snowflake paper punch, but you might need to set up a tripod & have more troubles focusing. I was able to cut one out by hand, but it was tricky!

(To take pics of the tree by itself ~ focus on your hand in front of the camera, then remove it and take the picture, or use a close object nearby.)

2) You don't have to be very far from the tree, but you need to be pretty close to the subject. If you are too far away from your subject, the tree lights will look normal. Move a little closer, and they will be small shapes ~

Move even closer for nice large shapes ~

I think the further you are from the tree, the further you can be from the subject as well, but I'd have to try a few more shots to see for sure. I am definitely going to be playing around more with the filters over the next week or two (I'll share the other shapes with you then), so expect more pics, but I wanted to get these up quick to give you time to try it out yourself!

Ambigram Drop

2010-12-15T08:32:00.002-05:00

"Aspen" Ambigram	"Bélanger" Ambigram
"Sagacity" & "Integrity" Ambigram	"Canadian" & "Musician" Ambigram
"Element" Ambigram	"Vive" Ambigram
"Roman" & "Oliver" Ambigram	"Rising Design" Ambigram

Bread Cornucopia

2010-12-14T10:15:00.002-05:00

Quick! Before we hit Christmas I have to share my Thanksgiving craft.

When I saw these directions for shaping a cornucopia out of bread, I knew I had to make one for our Thanksgiving Day centerpiece! It's one of those things that looks sooo complex but was pretty simple to put together.

I used a soft pretzel recipe for the dough, but I really need to find a new one because the one we use just does not stretch & roll very well. I basically had to squeeze the dough into a coil & hope that it didn't fall apart on me! I skipped the baking soda bath you normally use for pretzels & brushed on some egg at the end to get some nice browning on top.

Ambigram Customer Pics

2010-12-13T19:30:00.002-05:00

Some more pictures of ambigram ink!

"Create" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

"Chantal" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

"Michaela" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

"EMZ" & "RAZ" Ambigram Tattoo
(This ambigram as a finished tattoo.)

And I'm always excited to see ambigrams used for something other than tattoos!
This customer had their design engraved to create an awesome pair of cuff links ~

"Marcus" & "Amanda" Ambigram Cuff Links
(From this ambigram.)

Ambigram Drop

2010-12-08T19:54:00.003-05:00

"Treasure" & "Here & Now" Ambigram	"Nielsen" & "Hayward" Ambigram
"Diplock" Ambigram	"Believe" Ambigram
"Eric", "Jacob" & "Joshua" Circle Ambigram	"Amanda" & "Marcus" Ambigram
"Araceli" Ambigram	"Charlotte" Ambigram

Disk Dogs

2010-12-06T21:25:00.002-05:00

My to-do list has been a little overwhelming lately. Taking a few days off for Thanksgiving during the Christmas rush really kicked my butt! Then there is all of the Christmas shopping, errand running, and this year we are determined to send out Christmas cards for the first time (with a family photo, which lead to photo shoots). I am so behind on photos & posts ~ hopefully I will be able to catch up when Justin is home for Christmas break. Wishful thinking!

Speaking of being behind on posts, back in October we visited the international Disk Dog championship again. We weren't able to stay for long at all ~ the sun was *insane* that day and there is not much time between Orson's naps, but we saw a few dogs. I had a great time taking pics while I could (Here are the pics from last year.).

And there are a few more over at my Flickr!

Ambigram Drop

2010-11-30T10:49:00.002-05:00

"Maputol" Ambigram	"Jackson" & "Strength" Ambigram
"Create" Ambigram	"Rik" Ambigram Cross
"Noah" & "Kayla" Ambigram	"Leslie" & "Lola" Ambigram
"JLF" & "KLF" Ambigram	"Questa Anche Passerà" Ambigram

New recipe & new pic

2010-11-17T21:04:00.001-05:00

I've added a new recipe to My Recipe Book. This one was named after our friend Justin Merriam, who taught it to us after cooking it for us one night. It's not the healthiest, but it's very easy & an impressive tasting meal.

Chicken Merraim

And I've been diligently trying to get new pics of all of the old recipes. Here is my new shot of Shrimp with Coconut Rice (compared to a bad attempt in 2007 and again in 2008.)

Puppy Hat

2010-11-15T04:06:00.004-05:00

Pretty early on I knew that Orson needed a hat with ears. I decided to make a puppy hat!

The hat ended up being a great fit, but it does spin around his head when he looks all about in the stroller (the main time he needs a hat). I added the ear flaps with ties later on, but the hat still moves around a little too much & I have to keep adjusting it. Oh well ~ it looks adorable!

Ambigram Drop

2010-11-04T12:16:00.001-04:00

"Love", "Peace" & "Joy" Diamond Ambigram	"Daniel", "Dani", "Julia" & "Janita" Circle Ambigram
"Imagine" & "Dreamer" Ambigram	"Eleven" Ambigram
"Chantal" Ambigram v.2	"Chelsea" & "Lauren" Ambigram
"Sudipt" & "Athiest" Ambigram	"Andrew" & "Stacey" Ambigram

Mobile

2010-11-03T14:47:00.002-04:00

Here is the mobile I made for Orson's crib!

I used those Teeny Beanie Babies that came in McDonald's Happy Meals years ago (I've had a bag of them sitting around forever), some painted dowel rods and yarn. The thing is huge! I love the way all of the bars weave in & around one another as it swings about.

It seems like most baby mobiles are more for decoration than for the baby to enjoy ~ the objects face the parent & not the baby! (Tons of them are even made with 2-D objects, which is just pointless.) I tried to lean the animals downward to make it a little more interesting than blank animal bellies.

Orson loves staring at it. He will kick his feet and giggle as it swings around.

One thing I learned about making mobiles ~ they are very finicky! Everything got off balance pretty quickly, so I taped all of the center strings in place to keep it straight. But the slight shifting of the outer strings was enough to throw it off balance again, so everything got re-adjusted and glued into place. And a little tip for you: Balance the bottom rods first, secure the strings and then work towards the top.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T12:33:00.002-04:00

Dropping by quickly to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

It's Curatins For Ya...

2010-10-28T07:06:00.002-04:00

You got a peak at these in the background of the changing table picture ~ the curtains I made for Orson's room! You may remember seeing a picture of the fabric that I picked ~

These were actually the first curtains I've ever sewn, but it's one of the most basic sewing projects, so it went smoothly. Indy's help was indispensable, though.

I made these way back in April, but I'm not sure when we got around to hanging them. I made three panels ~ two for the large window you see pictured below and one panel for the smaller window beside the changing table. We bought some simple black hooks to hold them open at the sides, but for now they are always shut for the frequent naps.

The pennant is a lovely felt banner that was used as a decoration at my family baby shower. I'm guessing mom found it at Babies R Us, but not really sure.

Well, Orson's a bit obsessed with the curtains right now, which felt rewarding at first, but sometimes makes me wish they were a plain color. During diaper changes he rolls hard to the side to look at them, reaches out, and then gets frustrated that they are too far away. I actually have to pull the bottom of it over to him so he can touch and taste it just to get him to stop rolling. We also can't sit near them during a feeding or else he wants to turn sideways and stare at them then. It's a good thing they aren't hanging beside his crib!

Crib & changing table paint pics! (finally)

2010-10-25T13:24:00.002-04:00

A looonnnngg time ago I showed you the pictures of the changing table & crib that we bought, all disassembled and in need of a little bit of fixing up. I promised that pictures of them painted & put together were coming soon again & again, but the crib kept thwarting me.

But the changing table turned out lovely!!
Here it is, all in pieces ~

And painted a bright, sunshine-y yellow-orange color ~

We found this lovely contact paper at Target to cover the shelves and the changing pad cover from my aunt ended up being a perfect match! I got the white dotted totes from the Container Store (online). Indy is a fan of the totes, though we're not sure how he manages to fit in them. He likes to sleep on the pile of cloth diapers & block our access at diaper changing time.

Here is the crib, unpainted ~

And this is the Spring Green color that we used to brighten it up! It took about 5 coats of paint to cover the thing, I worked on it so long! It was the one thing that I really spent a ton of time on 'for the baby', and then we found out that the crib was missing a very important part & was unusable.

While I am pretty familiar with painting, my knowledge is mostly limited to acrylics, but have no clue when it comes to furniture. And so I think we ended up getting the wrong kind for the crib. Along with the unending coats of paint needed, large chunks started peeling off of it when we leaned the pieces against one another weeks later. I guess it is a good thing we couldn't use it after all! Such a waste.

I turned out that mom had saved the crib I used as a baby and so we didn't have to try to hunt down a second one. I really, really wanted to have that one painted too, but we got it right after the baby arrived & there was no time to even consider painting. The dark brown wood doesn't really match the bright colors surrounding it, but Orson doesn't seem to mind! (You'll see that one soon)

Ambigram Drop

2010-10-20T18:25:00.002-04:00

"Alicia" & "Mother" Ambigram	"Javi" & "Luna" Ambigram
"Chantal" Ambigram	"Me Beside You" & "You Beside Me" Ambigram
"Avery" Ambigram	"Atticus" Ambigram
"One Love" & "Family" Ambigram	"Victor" & "Cristian" Ambigram

Perfect Paella

2010-10-15T10:51:00.002-04:00

We tweaked our paella recipe a smidge ~ the previous version was a bit too liquidy (as you can see from the old pic). We also added some more peas, so we can pretend we made it healthier.

Perfect Paella

(Previous pic)

Heart Designs

2010-10-13T21:06:00.001-04:00

"Beats, Rhymes & Life" Heart Design	"Essence" & "Jerobe" Heart Design
"BAM" Heart Design	"Michael" & "Kelsey" Heart Design
"Thomas" & "Peter" Heart Design	"Brody" & "Anthony" Heart Design
"T&S" Heart Design	"Jennifer" & "Naoji" Heart Design

Mountain Day 2010

2010-10-11T12:13:00.002-04:00

Last weekend we went on our annual trip to Berry College's "Mountain Day" ~ kind of the homecoming of our alma mater. Things did not go well this year!!

One of the main reasons we wanted to go this year is because our friends John & Jessica were coming down from Tennessee. Jessica is 7 months pregnant, and normally very tiny, so I definitely wanted a chance to see her with a giant pregnant belly & we even had some baby gifts for them. Well, they ended up having to leave early & we missed them completely! (They were able to stop by our house the next day on the way home, but Mt. Day was a loss) We did meet up with our friends Justin Merriam & Katie, but they both live & Rome ~ we didn't need Mt. Day to see them!

We were also on the look-out for a few of Justin's co-workers, some former students of his, some friends from church, and of course old friends from college, but we saw no one!! There were so many people there, one of the biggest crowds ever, it would be hard to find anyone there this year unless you called them up on their cell & named a meeting place.

On the way out we decided to drop by the Old Mill, one of the world's largest waterwheels. On special occasions they open up the mill & grind cornmeal, and we had never seen it in operation before. We started to walk up there with all of our chairs & stroller & bags in tow, but luckily the shuttle bus came by to pick us up. We had no idea the walk would be such a long one!

Look how tiny Katie & the stroller are!

The mill was interesting, but I think we might skip Mt. Day next year. We've gone every year since graduation, but seen fewer & fewer people each time. We might as well just visit our friends who live in Rome & skip the crowds!

Ambigram Drop

2010-10-07T19:15:00.002-04:00

"Squirt" Ambigram	"Evolving" Ambigram
"God is Good" Ambigram	"Michaela" Ambigram
"Spike" Ambigram	"Sarah" Ambigram
"Alicja" & "Kornelia" Ambigram - his	"Alicja" & "Kornelia" Ambigram - hers

New recipe pics

2010-10-04T19:20:00.002-04:00

I've been going through My Recipe Book & removed quite a few recipes because either 1) We never cook them (so they shouldn't really be listed with our favorites!) or 2) I realized they still need some work. I also got some new shots of two recipes that I think are a big improvement. The new camera makes even casseroles look good!

Shepherd's Pie

(Previous pic)

Stuffing & Spinach Bake

(Previous pic)

That recipe also got a little bit of an update ~ it is so much quicker & easier to warm the frozen spinach in the microwave!

Sadly, we made two of the recipes in the 'book' recently & I didn't even think to take new photos! I'm going to have to start planning our dinners based on what has not been re-shot, but some of the more time intensive recipes will probably have to wait until Orson is not such a handful.

Ambigram Drop

2010-09-29T10:32:00.002-04:00

"George" & "Felicitas" Ambigram	"Beatka" & "Sanchez" Ambigram
"Saline" Ambigram	"Logan" Ambigram
"Joker" Ambigram	"Cameron" & "Mortazavi" Ambigram
"Halle" & "Harper" Ambigram Cross	"Kim" & "Jon" Ambigram

A break from the busy-ness...

2010-09-28T17:43:00.002-04:00

Wow! One busy weekend followed by an insane work week followed by another busy weekend! Last week I had to force myself to keep away from blogs or anything else & just work, work, work to get everything done on time.

This week orders are back to a reasonable amount, and I even figured out how to get Orson to take really good naps, which has given me *so* much more work & personal time. I'm staring to feel a little bit more like 'me' now.

I need to get the blog caught up with some more ambigrams & heart designs this week, but hope to start sharing some of the other things I've been working on soon too. I've been putting in a lot of work on my recipes ~ organizing, editing, taking new photos, trying new techniques. (Photos are so much better with the new camera, I want to replace all the old shots!) I also want to delve into my Japanese cookbooks, now that I don't have to worry about the sake & mirin. I have even made a few crafts recently that I need to photo & share. There is just so much to do!!

Ambigram Drop

2010-09-19T11:38:00.001-04:00

"MAC" & "Born in my Heart" Ambigram Circle	"Clemente" & "Marijo" Ambigram
"Jaxon" Ambigram	"Halle" & "Harper" Ambigram
"AVFC" Ambigram	"Relentless" Ambigram link
"Ariana", "Damian", "Brandon", & "Martinez" Ambigram	"EMZ" & "RAZ" Ambigram

Ambigram Tattoos

2010-09-15T18:54:00.002-04:00

A few more pics of finished tattoos!

"Nathan" & "Michael" Ambigram Tattoo
This ambigram as a finished tattoo ~

"Emily" & "Aiden" Ambigram Tattoo
This ambigram as a finished tattoo ~

"Vida" & "Life" Ambigram Tattoo
This ambigram as a finished tattoo ~

"Muerte" & "Death" Ambigram Tattoo
This ambigram as a finished tattoo ~

"Mikayla" & "Asher" Heart Tattoo
This design as a finished tattoo ~

Orson update

2010-09-12T08:53:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't been around here much lately because I have been working hard on something new ~ a blog for Orson! We wanted to have a separate spot to post tons of his pictures & stories & such so that they wouldn't take over my blog or Justin's Facebook page and drive everyone crazy. I started from the beginning, doing at least one post for each week until I was caught up with the present day. Can you believe he is now 2 months old?!

You can find Orson's blog here ~ harvling.wordpress.com
Or, if you are just in it for the pictures, you can always check out his set on Flickr.

He looks so different front those early pictures! At first the change was gradual, but now I can barely recognize him in the early shots. The newborn look is passing, and he has started doing all sorts of cute stuff ~ lots of smiling, giggling, & cooing. Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of crying, but the cute times mostly make up for that.

And now some highlights!

Ambigram Drop

2010-09-09T13:00:00.003-04:00

"David" & "Louis" Ambigram	"Amy" Ambigram Diamond
"Faith" & "Reality" Ambigram	"ASP" Ambigram
"Kasey" Ambigram	"Lindsey" Ambigram
"Krista" & "Roger" Ambigram	"LMC" & "AND" Ambigram

Ambigram Drop

2010-08-28T11:16:00.002-04:00

"Tyler" & "Jessi" Ambigram	"John" & "Cissy" Ambigram
"Maitland" & "Anderson" Ambigram
"Kayla" & "Leah" Ambigram	"Christina and Lance" Ambigram
"Madelyn" Ambigram	"I am I" Ambigram