I need a Doctor... but ice cream will work too!

Shopping is hard.

When you first start out its like this-

Hmm... I need to go get a few things for cookie boxes for workmates. It won't that long. I'll be in there for 30 minutes top!

And then...

Six. Hours. Later.

And most of that was Jo-Ann Fabrics. And then Publix. Crafts and food. Mostly food. I love food. Want to know what else I love?

Doctor Who.

Christmas day is going to be me making everyone shut up so I can watch the Doctor. This new episode is going to be my gift. I have been counting down the days until the new episode. Every morning all I can think is only a few more days!

In case you couldn't tell I love River Song. You call me your River and you own me. The episode when we first met her, I knew she would be back. Too many spoilers. I can't wait until the next episode with her in it. And just typing this makes me want to go re-watch Doctor Who. I am so in love with this show that I even wrote a paper on the Doctor for my English class. Easiest A I have ever made in any thing.

Things I learned during the last month of college:

1. Always write about something you love or hate. It makes the writing so much easier.
2. Don't wait until the last minute to write a paper. It causes so much stress that you can live without. Instead write a few lines a day and then a few days before its due read it over and fix things.
3. Finals week sucks. It is a few days that you will not get much sleep. You will be crash coursing those books and flopping around in your bed like a landed fish.
4. Extra credit is your friend. Always ask if your professor has any extra credit. I can promise you it will save your grade.
5. Don't be okay with a C. If you get one then you at least passed. But A's look much better. All it requires is a few more hours of studying and you could be getting a higher grade.
6. When your last final is over walk calmly out of the room and then do a happy dance. It will make all the stressing you did melt a little. And then go home and have some cake because you earned it. I stopped at Biscottis on my way home. Freshly made cakes yum.
7. When you walk out of that exam, you should believe that you did the best you could. If you get an A on that final you know you were doing something right.
8. At the end of the day you still have your family and friends.
9. A good long Doctor Who marathon fixes everything. And Häagen Dazs mint chocolate chip ice cream. Or chocolate peanut butter.

Time to go put on my nerd wear and watch the Doctor save the Earth again! Om nom nom Häagen Dazs!

Paint Smear Ornaments

So I have found that these things just don't dry in a day.

Blah.

But they are still very pretty and I can't see them changing much by the time they do dry. These were so simple to do. I can't believe that I have gone this long in my life without doing these ornaments before. Here is what the inspiration came from:

I love how the colors streak and blend. I'm not the first to try and replicate these ornaments either! You can see others attempts here and here.

Here is how my ornaments turned out!

The things you will need for these are really cheap. Some acrylic paint and a box of clear glass ornaments. Thats it. I used some plastic cups to drip extra paint into while these puppies dried which was a very good idea. I was a little shocked about how much dripped out. Of course I put a little more than one or two drops of paint in there so that could be why.

Add a drop or two of paint (or squeeze about a 1/8 teaspoon of paint if you are only using two different colors or really really impatient like me!) and then tap to spread the paint. I used these paint colors and brands.

The tapping does take a while though so get ready to tap!

The plus side is that the ornament doesn't look the same on any other side. The down side is that if you really like the ornament and want to make a set... Yeah not going to happen.

On a side note though my cats love Christmas trees.

Kaillie looking at the flashing lights

And then she has to be oh so cute

Dawn looking for a way to climb into the tree

Also another craft! 3D paper stars!

How cute right? Don't ask me how to make them though! I just hot glued where my mother told me to. And then hung them up when she was happy with them. Maybe I can get her to write a post on them? They didn't take much time either which is great. Quick and easy! And for my last picture for the post!

I like it. Plus this is my blog so I could post cat pictures all day every day and no one could tell me no.

Well you could. But I don't have to listen.

I have cookies to bake this week so I might be posting those.

Until next time! Happy holidays!

College, Ornaments, and Frosty.

So college is a big deal.

I have never been so busy in my life. But I enjoy learning. Which is really good for me because I'm pre-med.

Lately though I keep thinking more and more about how I should start blogging again. And not for all of you people who might read this but for me to remember all of the things I have done and how I could change it next time. And since it's the holiday season I have more time to craft and bake.

As of right now I have two projects going on at the same time. I guess college has taught me that I like being busy as well. Also I have become a Pinterest addict. Its quick and easy from my laptop or iPhone in between classes or even sometimes the boring class period when my professor just keeping talking and talking and talking. And it has nothing to do with the class. What. Why?

Project One: Paint Smear Ornaments. I saw these on Pinterest and I think they are super cute. But as with most things we see on the internet nothing will turn out like the picture. I mean really you can get really close but changes are it won't happen. But we shall see!
Here is where to see the original poster of these beauties!

I love the colors and its the perfect thing to make for the holidays. Plus you could even do these with the kiddos and write a name and date on them.

Project Two: Frosty the Lighted Snowman. This is one of those random things that just pops into your head and you think 'that would be a really cool project'. And I'm thinking I might be right. Its amazing that it happens. So Frosty started from these light ball ornament things you can hang in your trees outside. I saw them while driving my mother around to look at lights just the other day. They just had the store bought ones and guess what? I had an idea! And I made some of those as well. But Frosty is the big deal because I said so. To find out how to make the outdoor tree ornaments you can wait until I show you how I made them without knowing how besides I needed chicken wire and lights OR you can go here and see how this lady made hers. I basically did the same thing. I only just found this which would have made today a little easier but I had fun. Here is how her tree ornaments turned out:

Its like little globe of light floating in air! Frosty is going to be sitting on the swing in the front yard and is going to be wrapped in lights.

Here are a few things I have learned today:

1. I really need to wear gloves when messing with chicken wire. I have all these little cuts on my hands and arms that were really annoying when I was squeezing lemons for my chicken dinner. Winner winner chicken dinner.
2. I need to have a wet rag near me when messing around with paint. I was spray painting and doing those smear ornaments and I have paint on my hands. Which I don't mind because one of the paints had sparkles in it. Who doesn't like sparkles? Don't answer that.
3. People buy vacuums for their ears. I'm not kidding. As I type this I'm watching a commercial for a WaxVac. I wish I could un-see this. Its just a little weird.
4. Late night TV is something I should leave to other people.
5. Christmas trees and four cats is really funny to watch but not so funny to clean up after.

And thats all for today. Tomorrow will be the finished ornaments and maybe even Frosty.
Happy Holidays!

The Starting of the End... I Think...

So after telling friends of all woes of baking and life in general to which most I got was laughter that I should share with everyone! So I will! And for my first post I'll share my cupcakes that I finished a few hours ago. Since I wasn't informed of the family coming to visit for the weekend I had to think fast for something sweet everyone would like! And since I knew that my mother was craving a mojito I was thinking something with rum. And thanks to the darling posters at cakeswebake.com I found a cake made with cream cheese AND rum! Best of both worlds right? Well since I'm a little crazy and take the road less traveled by (see I did pay attention in class!) I decided to try it out and see what I got.

The Creamy Rum Cake batter! I think that's a good name for it. This batter is really fluffy and I might have swiped a bit to taste and it was yum! I did make the chocolate version which just means I replaced 1/3 cup of flour with cocoa powder. But I also added 1 tablespoon of instant coffee which was really good. Before I baked the cupcakes the batter was really strong in both coffee and rum. The smell was to die for though!

As fluffy as the batter is I was worried about the cupcakes rising too much or not at all.

A little over baked. Even with the second set of pans I put in that wasn't over cooked when they came out the cupcakes had very flat tops which was a bit of a downer. Note to readers: make sure the puppy is outside before starting to cook or else you might have to clean up the chewed up pillows and burn things!

Kahlua Buttercream! I found this from a fellow blogger and you can find this recipe and many more here. But for the ease of everyone I will put the recipes up for your viewing pleasure. The frosting was a little dry when I made it so I just mixed in some more milk. Maybe a tablespoon or more. Not too much but I did notice when I was using the buttercream that I should have added a bit more as it was getting harder to spread as time when on a bit.

I'm really glad I decided to make two different frostings since one visiting family member isn't a fan of chocolate and the other loves it. But also when I was icing my cupcakes I was going to be a bit short on frosting to be able to finish. But the second frosting I used is for sure a chocolate lovers dream.

Chocolate Buttercream! This frosting is really rich and when I was looking at the cupcakes this morning this chocolate buttercream was still really shiny and soft which I love in a frosting. Nothing makes me not want to eat cupcakes with hard frosting on it. When you think frosting it's creamy and soft not a little crunch! The chocolate buttercream could be thinned a little more then what the recipe calls for to make a chocolate drizzle.

This chocolate frosting requires the use of a stove top and a little more cleaning then what some may want to do although it is only an extra pot and a spoon! The chocolate paste is added into a mixer and and mixed with powdered sugar and milk a little at a time.

Would I use the Chocolate Buttercream for anything but icing? Probably not. The issue with the not hardening in buttercream it that you cant make fancy designs like roses as easily as you could with say the Kahlua Buttercream.

Overall I really enjoyed the recipes I used. The Chocolate Buttercream is something I plan on using more often! The Creamy Rum Cake is something to use for cake decorating in my opinion as it comes out a little flat in my case at least. The Kahlua Buttercream it good for little garnish but has a strong taste so I won't being using a lot.

Creamy Rum Cake

1 1/2 cups softened butter

1 bar cream cheese

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease pans. Cream butter and sugar until smooth before adding sugar till fluffy. This should take about 5 minutes give or take. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add vanilla. Sift flour and salt and add slowly to wet mixture mixing till just combined. Pour into prepared pans and bake until golden or toothpick comes out clean. Medium cupcakes take about 20 minutes and round 8" cake pans take about 45 minutes.

If you want to make this recipe with cocoa powder replace 1/3 cup of flour with 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. To make this with a more 'exotic' taste add 1 tbsp of instant coffee.

Kahlua Buttercream

1 stick softened butter

2-3 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp Kahlua liqueur

Cream butter in mixer. Add sugar until you get the consistency for spreading and piping. Add liqueur and mix till incorporated.

For a different flavor add an extract in place of the liqueur.

Chocolate Buttercream

4 ounces butter

1 1/2 cup cocoa sifted

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Melt butter in sauce pan. Remove from heat. Mix in cocoa powder until a chocolate paste. Add a third of the sugar and a third of the milk and mix. Keep adding a little at a time while mixing. Mix for 3-5 minutes.

For both buttercreams as always add more powdered sugar if too liquid for use or add more milk if its too thick.

But all in all I will be using these recipes again. The cake was beyond yummy and so far I have gotten high praise for the cupcakes. Until the next time!