jeremiah.

key lime cupcakes

For the cake:
*1 cup cake flour
*1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
*1 cup sugar
*1/2 tbsp baking powder
*1 stick of butter, softened &cubed
*1 tsp vanilla
*1 cup whole milk
*2 eggs
*zest of 1 lime
*juice of 1 lime
* 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
whisk together all dry ingredients.mix cubed butter into dry mixture until just coated. combine vanilla, milk, and eggs and add to dry mix in three parts. 
bake at 325* for approx. 20 minutes.  recipe makes 16 cupcakes.

key lime filling:
*1 can(14oz) sweetened condensed milk
*zest of 1-2 limes
*juice of 2 limes
 *pipe into the center of baked and cooled cupcakes.

whipped cream frosting:

*1 pint (16oz) of heavy whipping cream

*4 tbsp powdered sugar

Using the whisk attachment on an electric mixer, whisk whipping cream on high and slowly add in powdered sugar. Whisk until thickened.  Pipe onto cupcakes and sprinkle or roll in graham cracker crumbs.

painted cork coasters.

 For this project you will need:
*acrylic paint
*sharpie marker
 *cork coasters around $2 at your local craft store
*masking tape to tape off stripes, etc.
*Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic coating (finishing spray)

This project is super easy and allows for so much variation! Grab your paint, cork, and markers and go for it!

 

visual journals.

 Visual journals are a project that I have been doing with my students for the past few years.  Each student  brings in an old book at the beginning of the year and works on it each week along with their bigger project they are working on.  Each week I show them a new medium, or technique to use in their journals. Its the perfect escape and quickly gives you the excitement of completing a painting or drawing, but you are still working towards a larger work. This year I plan to share more of my journal, so here are my first few pages!

 

h + moose.

I made these little framed pieces a few weeks ago for my friend Katey! She is having a boy and hopefully these will make a  cute addition to her woodland creature themed nursery!  I bought a neat wooden frame and a shadow box, and then filled them with decorative papers, moss, and cut out my own H and moose design!

diy project: drawer pull jewelry hanger

 1. Find your your favorite drawer pulls at your local craft store

 

2.  Find a suitable piece of wood and paint it! Solid or a fun pattern...

3. Drill holes in wood piece for the drawer pulls

4.  Attach twine on the ends of the wood boards by wrapping continuously and tie to both wrapped ends twine strings for the board to hang by.

My sister and I made these together so we had two variations!

j+b engagement

Go here to see a sneak peek of Jeff and Bethany's engagement photos that I took this past weekend!

hostess cupcakes.

These cupcakes are my absolute favorite and  I am sharing the recipe!  Chocolate cake, cream filled center and chocolate ganache. What's not to love?

Ingredients:
*1&1/2 cups of flour
*3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
*1&1/2 cups of sugar
*1&1/2 tsp baking soda
*1&1/2tsp baking powder
*3/4 tsp of salt
*3 eggs
*3 tbsp of vegetable oil
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*1/2 cup unsalted butter
* 3 tbsp sour cream
*3/4 cup warm water

Combine all dry ingredients together in mixer on low speed.  Add eggs, butter, oil, vanilla, sour cream, and water. Beat until smooth. Bake @350 for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely and make frosting!

An extra creamy vanilla butter cream:
*Mix 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, 2 tsp of vanilla, and a pinch of salt together with an electric mixer.  Slowly add in approximately 4 cups of powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, add 2 tbsp of flour,  around 3 tbsp of cold milk. You might need to add in more milk or powdered sugar to have your desired consistency.  The icing should still make peaks, but needs to be loose enough to easily flow through a piping bag.

Fill piping bag with frosting and for best results use a wilton #12 tip for filling the cakes.  Gently insert the tip into each cake, squeezing firmly to release frosting, and slowly release as you remove the tip.  Be careful not to insert too much frosting, or the cupcake will burst.  You can also try this method to fill the cakes!

For the chocolate ganache:

Heat 1 cup of heavy whipping cream to a slight boil, pour immediately over 9 oz of semisweet chocolate chips and stir, ganache will need to thicken slighty and cool before dipping the tops of the cupcakes!
After filling all of the cupakes, switch to a wilton #5 tip for piping the classic hostess look.

Merry Christmas!

   

 

Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was lovely- we spent lots of quality time with family, playing games and enjoying good food!