Be mine, Valentine!

Valentine's Day is upon us once again. I love love! And I always feel it's best to use this holiday to show my love with cards, candy, or even text messages to people I care about. I'm fortunate to have not only my husband to share it with, but my parents, siblings, and plenty of friends I like to call my "Galentines." One of my Galentines hosted a brunch for us gals over the weekend, which was a lot of fun!

Another one of my very best Galentines, Julee, is known to many of you for her blog DIY Louisville. This year the two of us have decided to take our love of holidays, crafting, and party planning to the next level by collaborating on a new project called Party in Lou! I hope you'll check out our website and follow our Instagram page @PartyinLou!

My creation for this Valentine's "Smooch" party decor was an ombré pink pom-pom banner. I love making pom-poms with yarn. It's so relaxing, and which a plastic pom-pom maker it's super easy, too! All I did was buy one skein of the pink ombré yarn and made several pom-poms in varying sizes (from 3-4 inches) in diameter with the pom-pom maker. Then I trimmed the pom-poms down with scissors, which is how you get such a soft, fuzzy look for your pom-poms.

Using a large sewing needle, I threaded the pom-poms onto a length of yarn to turn them into a pom-pom banner. It is a great decoration, and easily customizable for your theme. Julee came up with the idea of a "Smooch" lips theme for a Valentine's Day party. With her crafted cake toppers, my pom-pom banner, and some simple red, pink, black, and white decor, we were all set to have the cutest party decor.

It didn't hurt that there was cake to match the theme as well! Julee and I agree that handmade items go a long way to make a party feel special. That's why we're so excited to be collaborators on Party in Lou. We hope you'll join us on Instagram and follow our website.

Not it's your turn: What is your favorite party decoration to handcraft? Or, what is the party decoration you would like to learn to make?

Mint Julep Brownies

The Kentucky Derby is one week away! This is an exciting time in the city of Louisville, from the Balloon Glow and Race to the Pegasus Parade to Oaks Day on Friday and the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. It's quite the celebration, and what's the best thing about a celebration? Delicious desserts of course!

Thus the creation of Mint Julep Brownies! I was inspired by my friend Jamie, who came up with this idea. The Mint Julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby, so it's only fitting to use the flavor combination of mint and bourbon in a chocolate-y dessert. 

This recipe is so simple, because you only need a few ingredients: 

1/4 cup of Bourbon

1 box of Brownie mix (and the ingredients required to make the brownies)

1 box of Andes Mint Chocolates

The first step is to unwrap each chocolate Andes mint and cut the chocolates into smaller chunks.

Next, mix the brownies according to the package instructions.

After the brownie mix is ready, add 1/4 cup of Bourbon to the batter.

Finally, add only half of the Andes mints to the brownie batter and stir.

Pour the batter into a baking dish (9x9 or 9x13 is fine) and then add the second half of the Andes mints to the top of the brownie batter.

Bake the brownies according to package instructions and allow to cool, if you have the patience!

 A great tip for cutting brownies is to use a plastic knife. It makes it much easier!  

This is probably the first time that a Kentucky Derby glass has held milk instead of a Mint Julep, but you can get your mint and Bourbon flavor fix in these yummy brownies. The Mint Julep brownies taste WAY better than the Mint Julep drink anyway, trust me!

I hope you enjoyed this easy recipe and that you have a great Derby week! Click here to check out more of my Kentucky Derby Festival recipes and crafts.

Snowed In!

By Valentine's Day, I'm ready for Spring. Unfortunately for me, this week just so happened to be the first time in years that we've gotten a major snowfall! Darn it! Snow is certainly pretty, but no fun when you have to travel. I spent about an hour digging my car out, only to find a flat tire underneath! My little car isn't exactly good for snow driving, but since I've missed two days of work already, I'll have to suck it up and go in tomorrow. Freezing temperatures or not!

Even though we've been snowed in, I did take the opportunity to walk around a cemetery near our house with the new camera I got for Christmas. I especially love the zoom lens that enabled me to get a shot of a woodpecker that was at the very top of a tree!

I know that the snow storm has affected a lot of areas around the U.S. so stay warm everyone! This is the perfect weather for a blanket, some hot cocoa, and Netflix!

Mini King Cakes for Mardi Gras!

It's quite possible that I am developing an unhealthy obsession for making miniature desserts. First it was the Mini Pies for Derby, then it was the Mini Pumpkin Pies for Thanksgiving. Now, it's Mini King Cakes (Prince Cakes?) for Mardi Gras!

King Cakes are a traditional food in New Orleans, Louisiana during the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras. The tradition goes that a plastic baby or other charm is hidden inside once the cake is cooked, and then the cake is decorated with icing and purple, green, and gold sugar (colors representing justice, faith, and power). The person who gets the piece with the baby inside must bake the King Cake for the next gathering, and so it goes until Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.

In Louisville, we have a kinship with Louisiana, given that we are both named for French Monarchs (Louisiana for Louis XIV and Louisville, Kentucky for Louis XVI) and the Fleur de lis is a major symbol for both the cities of New Orleans and Louisville. Louisville also has the highest number of shotgun-style homes next to New Orleans.

So to celebrate Mardi Gras, I thought it would be fun to make these easy mini King Cakes, using cinnamon rolls as a shortcut to the traditional sweet bread dough.

You only need 3 simple supplies for these tasty cakes: a can of cinnamon rolls (with icing), colored sugar in gold or yellow, green, and purple, and a plastic baby!

After opening your can of cinnamon rolls (8 rolls will make 4 mini King cakes), preheat your oven as directed. My package called for 400 degrees Fahrenheit.



Take one cinnamon roll and split it at the side to create a crescent shape. Do this with one more cinnamon roll. Next, twist the ends of these two crescent shapes together and then twist into a circle.

Press the other two ends of dough together to complete the circle. This makes one mini King Cake. Bake your King Cakes as directed on the cinnamon roll packaging. In my case, I baked four mini King Cakes for 13 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

The finished mini King Cakes are so pretty!

Pick one of the mini King Cakes to hide the plastic baby or charm inside once they have been cooked. Cooking the plastic charm inside the oven is not recommended! Now you are ready to decorate. The great thing about using cinnamon rolls for these mini King Cakes is that you already have the icing too!

To make the icing go on smoothly, just heat it in a glass bowl in the microwave for about 10 seconds, and drizzle on the cake with a spoon. You must sprinkle the sugar on the icing before it dries, so I recommend icing and sugaring each mini cake one at a time.

Remember to sprinkle each cake with gold, green, and purple sugar: the traditional colors of Mardi Gras! There's really no wrong way to decorate or make these mini King Cakes. The more homemade they look, the better, in my opinion!

Don't they just look yummy?! Trust me, they are! These are the perfect treat for Fat Tuesday, right before the traditional fasting season of Lent. I hope that you enjoy making these mini King Cakes. They are so easy to make using the cinnamon roll dough and icing as shortcuts. This year Mardi Gras is on Tuesday, March 4, so you have plenty of time to make these cakes and get into the holiday spirit.

Bon appetit and as they say during Mardi Gras, "Laissez les bons temps rouler" or Let the good times roll!

Autumn Beauty

I have to admit that the Fall season blows me away with its bounty and beauty. Maybe it's the realization that Summer is over, or it's the chilly weather, but I always seem to have a heightened awareness of the sights, sounds, and smells of Autumn.

I can smell my neighbor's firewood roasting and see the blooming mums in all their glory around the neighborhood. The sunsets appear to be more dazzling and the crisp air and crackle of the fallen leaves underfoot leave me with such a happy feeling. Everyone seems to be outside, soaking up the last days before winter. Even the spiders creating their webs add to the beauty of Autumn.

Nature sure puts on a spectacular seasonal show! I think this weekend will be the perfect time to look for a pumpkin to complete our Autumn decor. It's a fun way to really get into the spirit of the season!

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and can also take some time to enjoy the seasonal offerings whether it's carving a pumpkin or sipping something pumpkin flavored, or taking a walk through the park to admire the changing leaves. 

D.I.Y. Louisville Halloween Party 2013

If you've been to my blog before, you might know that I attend regular craft meetings with a group called D.I.Y. Louisville. I met this great group of artists and crafters in 2011, and have really enjoyed building friendships with many of them, including the founder Julee who runs DIYLouisville.com. Julee is also my partner for the craft segments I do every other week on WDRB in the Morning.

My favorite craft meet-ups are the ones with Holiday themes, and this weekend we had our annual Halloween party. Julee was kind enough to have a project set up for everyone to make these adorable owl plaques. My nephew and I really had fun crafting with everyone. We met at the Louisville Nature Center which was a new space for us. They had a wonderful classroom with everything we needed!

Some of the members of our group brought some yummy treats like cakes and cookies. Emily even brought some delicious pumpkin salsa and corn chips! 

My nephew really took the owl plaque project seriously. We shared our work station, nibbling on some cheddar crackers and candy corn while we crafted!

We took time to snack some more and socialize while we waited for the paint to dry, and then again while we waited for the glue to dry. Snacks were popular!

My nephew wanted to dress up as Dracula so I decided to go as a Black Widow! Using a web decoration that we had around the house pinned to my shirt, and some Halloween make up, I got into the Halloween costume spirit! Can you see the webs and spiders on my face? Sometimes it's fun to be silly. Last year I went as one of my dolls, so that was kind of hard to top!

And here are the finished owl decorations! My nephew and and I had a blast making these little guys. What do you think? 

If you are a Louisville local, consider joining our craft group! We meet once a month and details can be found at DIY Louisville's Facebook page.

Louisville Mini Maker Faire 2013

On Saturday, I had a wonderful time at the very first ever Louisville Mini Maker Faire. A gathering of people who make things, from 3-D printed objects to upcycled toys, the Louisville Mini Maker Faire was a local event sponsored by the national Make Magazine.

Along with Julee of D.I.Y. Louisville, Emily of The Em Dash, and Brittany of Miss Happy Pink, I made a project for free with Maker Faire guests. My project was the crayon transfer Halloween treat bag that I made on WDRB in the Morning last week. I had a lot of fun helping adults and kids make a bag for themselves! All of the projects that we made can be found on the DIY Louisville Pinterest Board. Emily made fabulous paper flowers.

Julee had a blast making metal stamped jewelry with recycled aluminum cans.

Brittany's screen printing technique was a real crowd-pleaser! 

Not only was it cool to watch Brittany make her screen prints, she gave them away! My print reads, "I make Louisville better by: keeping it crafty!"

I think the Louisville Mini Maker Faire was lots of fun. I hope that it becomes an annual event in town!