family art project

I simply adore Alisa Burke’s large canvas text. Alas, I am not nearly cool enough to pull that off. So, we softened it a bit and came up with this.

oh, the places you'll go!

B and I dipped the boys feet in paint and he held them over the canvas while I stamped their footprints across it. Then we did the same with Thor. I’ll give you a minute to run the mental movie. Done laughing? K, moving on. Pan got a pass as his claws were in need of a trim.

The canvas is 36″x48″ and I used a 1″ foam paint “brush” for the printing. It was a really quick project, except…

!@#$%

Yeah.

I totally misspelled “frequently.”

Once I ran out of curse words, I whited out the mistake and repainted the word with all the necessary letters. The patch isn’t terrible when you look head on at the canvas. Certain angles though, argh.

pan is glad he wasn't involved in this mess

The kids still like it.

duct tape hero

Daddy has been rocking the duct tape. How awesome is duct tape these days? The colors that are available make it so much fun to work with.

viking liam

The shield is based on Hiccup’s shield from HTTYD. B whipped it up from cardboard and duct tape and a little bit of white glue.

the supplies

He stacked and glued some graduated cardboard circles to make the bump on the front, then covered the whole thing in duct tape.

the bump

add the red

and the shiny trim

clip to mold to the curve

press into place

B then used half-width strips of shiny silver to make the lightning bolts on the front and added a handle to the back.

don't forget a handle

It is totally awesome!

i love it!

Daddy also made a viking hat, but mommy got distracted and didn’t take construction pics. Oops. Anyway, the crown was shaped on my hat block, starting with the duct tape sticky side up and then covered with a second layer of tape sticky side down. He shaped the horns using a funky cardboard spine that was then wrapped in tape and filled with expanding foam filler. The bumps are little balls of tape covered with shiny tape.

forming the duct tape on mommy's hat block

The boys love it.

the boys

i’m in love…

Check out Bakerella. I stumbled across the link on not martha.

regardless of your politics

This is quite rousing.

victory is sweet…the loser was tasty too

1. Superbowl Monday should be a federal holiday.

2. Whichever presidential candidate promises to make Superbowl Monday a federal holiday will get my vote.

3. I like cupcakes.

4. My husband is a genius (sometimes).

     

Sunday, 7AM:

j: Yawn.

b: Are we taking anything to the superbowl party?

j: I was thinking cupcakes.*

b: [snigger] We could decorate them for everyone’s favorite team.

j: Really? Using fondant and white chocolate? What flavors? How many colors will we need? Can you get the cake decorating kit** down for me?

From such innocent beginings an entire Sunday was lost. Nevermind that he had an abstract due. Nevermind that the living room is literally destroyed – walls half torn down, wires dangling, paint swatches all over the place. Nevermind the enormous pile of clean (well, maybe not anymore), unfolded laundry on the bed. Let’s bake cupcakes! And while we’re at it let’s make corn tortillas and Cuban pulled pork.

Aside: the pork was fantastic and the home made tortillas rocked!

I used the coconut raspberry sour cream and the mocha mud cupcake recipes and the cream cheese frosting recipe from Cupcakes by Pamela Clark and B piped team logos with melted white chocolate and cut out dyed fondant shapes. 8 hours later we were ready for some football.

Were 38 cupcakes too much for 6 adults and 2 kids? Nah. Was it really necessary to drink jello shots every time someone scored and sometimes when no one scored? Sure. Do I really have to go to work today? Ugh.

Hope your day was as super as ours…

*So. I got a cupcake tower one week ago. It holds 38 treats. How cool is that? I’ve already filled it twice. These were on it the first time.

**Yes, I have a cake decorating kit. Doesn’t everyone? Mine is a rubbermaid bin full of pastry bags and tips and fondant tools and food colorings and such. It lives on a very high shelf, which I can access only by standing on the stove. B can just reach it like a normal person.

handmade 2.0

Check out this interesting article in the NY Times. 

Handmade 2.0 

By ROB WALKER

Published: December 16, 2007

What are so many crochet-hook-wielding, papermaking, silversmithing handicrafters doing online? Trying to prove that the future of shopping — and of work — is all about the past.

rice krispies treats

   

Hubby and I made this rice krispies treat concoction for his mom, who is recovering from a wicked fall. Hope it cheered her up.

It was surprisingly easy to build. The trick is cooking spray. Lots of cooking spray. Seriously, a lot of it. On hands, molds, spatula, cookie cutters. Ridiculous amounts.

Just follow the Kellog’s recipe and press the gooey mess into well lubricated molds. We made a batch with Cocoa Krispies and pressed it into a round cake pan and a batch of regular that we pressed into a bowl. We pressed the extras flat on a cookie sheet and cut out hearts with a cookie cutter, rolled the trimmings into balls, then decorated the assembled tower with Skittles. The Skittles are held on with Royal Icing (powdered sugar and water).

Totally kid friendly construction.

happy birthday to me!

You Are An ENTP

The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.You’re very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love. And if things don’t work out, you’re usually not too much worse for the wear! You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor. At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision. How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful When other people don’t get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial

Took a personality quiz to mark the day. Turns out I’m still an ENTP… Guess that means I’m still the same old me, but older. Same older me? Eh, you get the idea.

Hmmm… “detached, wishy-washy, and superficial.” You win some, you lose some, I guess. 

What’s Your Personality Type?

brilliant!

Andrea Tung at wrote this post… Genious!  I think I need some Baggu Bags. 

 Wonder if I can find some ripstop nylon and make my own… Off to the fabric store.

lace and cable cap

Need a fall hat?

Here’s the pattern!

Queue it up on Ravelry.