braided necklace diy.

Bracelets and necklaces made with Parachute Cord are popping up all over! It's such a versatile material and is made in almost any color imaginable.   I found lots of inspiration all over pinterest, and added striped cording on the ends for my own twist!
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Parachute Cord ( I used approx. 17 feet for this necklace)
gold split rings
duct tape
cording/string of your choice
gold chain, findings,and clasp

 

ruffle cake.

 

I have been in love with the ruffle cakes I see all over Pinterest and decided to give one a go for my mom's birthday! I watched a few YouTube videos for help holding the piping bag and a Wilton #104 tip.  Try holding the piping bag as vertically as possible the entire time and keep the small end of the tip facing you and the thicker end almost touching the cake.  I also did a quick crumb layer of buttercream before starting the ruffles for the best coverage!

Vegan Orange Layer Cake recipe from the Joy of Cooking

a pop of neon.

 My mom and I embarked on this chair project a few weeks ago and I have been so excited to blog about it!  I must admit that the results were pretty fantastic.  My mom's kitchen is gray, white and black and was the perfect canvas for us to experiment with some bold colors.  We both bought this neon spray paint in hopes of bringing more brightness into our homes, but not quite sure how we would use it.  The chairs were white with black cushions. We decided to spray paint them gray, and give the appearance that they had been dipped in these bright colors!  We tried multiple things to achieve this "dipped" look.  We tried painters tape and cardboard masking, but it was all too difficult to manage or it peeled off the gray paint.  SO... this idea was born.  Originally we thought saran-wrap and it probably could be done but when we saw the Press'n Seal in the drawer it was over.  We knew that the cling quality of the material would be perfect!  We then measured the same distance up on the chair and started wrapping!  We sprayed the first 2 chairs using neon spray paint and the last 2 we painted on with can colors that we already had. 

before

 And here's a peek of them in her kitchen! The spoon art is from IKEA and my dad built a frame around it that we painted pink!

paper cut design.

Here's a project I did recently with my art intro students.  I found the idea for the project here in the SchoolArts magazine and just made a few adjustments.  My classes loved it! It's rather time consuming and takes patience, but they all were so excited to see the end result. All the cuts are made using an x-acto knife.  You could do as many layers as you like- My students did a black or white top layer of cuts, a middle layer of color cuts, and then a black or white backing.  I advised them to make the top layer very intricate  and to create designs that really lead your eye around the piece.  The 2nd layer is meant to contrast the top layer and help those top designs pop, so they made more repetitive cuts.  At the end they carefully glued each layer down with Elmer's art paste! I'll post some student examples soon but here's the one I made with them!

after finishing my 1st layer...

and the 2nd...

1st and 2nd layer of cuts

end result

polymer clay earrings.

I've been experimenting with jewelry lately and here are a few of my recent makings! Each earring is made out of oven bake polymer clay. So easy to work with and lots of easy design variations! 

who doesn't love a neon stegosaurus?

 I picked up these guys at the dollar store the other day and painted them with Krylon Fluorescent spray paint!  I have yet to find this pair's permanent spot in our home, but my neon craving is now satisfied.  I used 2 coats of spray paint, but you could also use 1 coat of primer before the color for better coverage. 

 

paper feathers.

 This weekend I had some fun experimenting with making paper feathers.  I saw a few on pinterest here and  here and tried some of my own! I think these would be fun for a party or add some excitement to a traditional table setting!
Materials:
*watercolor Paper
*watercolors
*waterproof Pen
*string, twine, or yarn
*scissors
*wooden dowels or sticks

tres leches cake.

Here is a yummy recipe for tres leches (3 milks) cake with strawberries.  You can use your favorite vanilla cake recipe like this one here or the boxed mix below from Trader Joes is excellent.

Here's the other things you will need:
*  sweetened condensed milk
*  coconut milk
* heavy whipping cream
*strawberries

After baking your cake, use a fork to poke holes throughout the top of the cake and pour on about 1/2 of each of condensed milk and coconut milk. As it absorbs, continue to add more.  After cake cools mix your heavy whipping cream in a mixer on high speed with 1 tbsp of sugar until whipped. Cover cake and top with strawberries!