elliemoon

A NEW OBSESSION

there is an amazing bead shop on main street in hyannis (the bead emporium). i made a trip there a couple of weeks ago and an hour slipped by before i realized what had happened. so much to choose from! vintage beads, glass beads, every jewelry making supply you could ever need. the staff is super helpful as well, which, for me, was a bonus::

i'm really not sure what the hell i'm doing here. for the moment i'm just enjoying playing around with my little bag of goodies. i've also got about 10 more questions for the girls at the shop. better schedule in another trip. and i swear, thats not an excuse to go through the charms again. for real. i will complete one necklace before buying more supplies, i will complete one necklace before buying more supplies, i will complete one necklace before buying more supplies.......

THE CRAYON RAINBOW

these have been all over pinterest, and etsy and youtube. and i couldn't resist. all you need is a glue gun, a couple of boxes of crayons, a canvas and a blow dryer. got it? now you're ready to go::

start by picking out and arranging your crayons in the order in which you would like them to appear. now hot glue them onto the canvas like so::

i let mine set up over night. mostly because i ran out of artsing and craftsing time. just be sure they are cooled and set before you fire up the blow dryer. also, be sure to cover a large area with newspaper::

now flip the switch::

don't let those photos fool you. this is more of a time commitment than i had imagined. and you will break a sweat. as you can see, i kept on going until almost all of the crayons were completely melted. it was hard for me to stop. it gets pretty exciting when they really start flowing. laugh now, believe me when you try it. if i were making another one, i think i'd let a little more of the canvas come through. but look, art station complete!::

these would be fun to make on a smaller scale with just one color scheme. there are more than enough shades to get the job done. there's even a mac n cheese orange. no joke. pretty accurate too, i must say!

 

OKAY, THAT'S BETTER

for a minute there it was beginning to look like one of those weeks. luckily it was nothing a little excessive baking couldn't take care of. the magic bars came together before i even had breakfast::

i replaced the nuts with butterscotch chips. not quite as chewy as i had hoped but that didn't stop me from eating far more than my share. i used this recipe. no mixing, no chopping, you don't even have to break an egg. i then made a second edition of the banana cake with the alternate frosting::

turns out i was spot on with the cream cheese idea. scores were tallied and this cake received a very precise 46 out of 50. not too bad. these two treats combined most likely cancelled out any nutritional value i've been receiving from my super salad lunches, but what are you going to do? when you're faced with one of those weeks, you've got to bake it away, then hide in the bathroom, eating those baked goods until you feel better. done and done!

DOOZY DUDS

i've seen a lot of recipes for powdered laundry detergent out in the blogiverse, but i've always been a liquid kind of girl. after a little research and a bit of playing around, i finally came up with a mix i like. here we go::

sudz, the recipe::

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

1 bar all natural soap

water

essential oils (optional)

2 empty gallon jugs from the recycling bin

thats it for ingredients! first grate the soap. then, in a large pot heat 6 cups of water. add the grated soap and stir until completely dissolved. now add the borax and washing soda and stir until completely dissolved. remove from heat, cool for about 10 minutes and add about 20 drops of essential oil (if using). i went with lavender, surprise surprise! fill each gallon jug with 2 cups of hot water and then evenly distribute the soap mixture. fill each jug to just shy of the top with cold water::

this will gel, so you want to leave a little room for shaking::

now give it some personality::

it does get kind of lumpy and glumpy, but just give it a good shake and you'll be fine. and thats that! good for the earth, good for you and yours, and definitely good for your wallet! yeah!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSHI LOVER!

i found a picture of a sushi cake when i was searching for cake inspiration for kai back in early june. i quickly printed the image and squirreled it away for late september. this cake had 'big b' written all over it. thursday i prepped::

friday i got busy::

i had to strategically photograph this, as my heavy handedness with the frosting lead to some fondant malfunctions. but all in all it had the desired effect. he was genuinely surprised! not an easy task to accomplish, trust me. 

happy birthday big b! here's hoping we get out for some real sushi before the end of the year!!