It's Curtains for O.

I finally found a home decor fabric I love to make curtains for O's nursery.  Check it out:

Modern Flora in Leaflet by Jessica Jones

I had a hard time finding more than one yard of this stuff online until I stumbled upon Runner Girl Fabric.  She hooked me up with 5 yards, and I'm looking forward to sewing some simple curtains that'll make O's nursery feel more complete and all his.  I'm planning on just hemming the yardage on all sides and creating a neat little opening for the curtain rod.

I'm keeping the color in the nursery New Grass Green by Glidden.  Et, voila:

New Grass Green by Glidden

Oh!  And continuing with the blue and green, I also found a cute mobile to hang above his crib.  It's the Little Teagan Pom Mobile from the PomLove shop on Etsy.  

Little Teagan Pom Mobile from PomLove

I can't wait to see it all together!  I will post a picture of the finished product - a nursery fit for my first little boy.

Heart Cake Challenge

 I used three cake mixes for the challenge cake.  There were no red velvet cake mixes to be found in the Arctic Area, so I added red gel food coloring to one of the mixes.  

 Here's the finished cake.  I used the buttercream recipe posted on I am Baker for the outside of the cake.  I did use canned icing between the layers. 

I Am Baker? ...Well, sorta.

Well, I actually completed the I Am Baker Heart Cake Challenge!  I was more than a little daunted at first, but I figured the worst that could happen is that I would end up with a lot of tasty cake with a strange red blob in the middle.  Definitely a problem I could handle.  I am happy to report, though, that it worked out better than I expected!  As I mentioned before, I decided early on to use boxed cake mixes.  I don't have a go-to white cake recipe, and I didn't think this would be the appropriate time to experiment with the unknown.  For the icing, I used the buttercream Magnolia Bakery recipe I Am Baker mentions in her tutorial.  I'll be bookmarking that recipe for future use; the icing was delicious and a breeze to work with.  Anyway, enough stalling; here's the finished product:

You can definitely see a heart in there...right?  For a first attempt, I think it turned out really well.  And, of course, no one has complained about eating it.  P even enjoyed it in-process:

So, Leslie, how did yours come out?

Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes

I saw this post on two peas and their pod and knew I had to make them.   They do take longer to make than regular pancakes, so that's why I saved them for the weekend.

Just mix chilled butter with brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon until a coarse meal forms.  You will sprinkle this on top of the pancakes while they cook.

 Then top your cooked pancakes with more streusel, maple syrup, and butter!  Go here to see the recipe.

Challenge Accepted!

I Am Baker Heart Cake Challenge

Well, dear, you're the one who brought my attention to the fabulous Heart Cake creation of I Am Baker blogger Amanda.  [Side note: It appears that everything I Am Baker makes is off-the-charts elegant, whimsical, and tasty.] Take a gander below: 

source: Heart Cake, the beautiful creation of I Am Baker

So, since it is about two minutes before Valentine's Day, I figured we should both take a shot at this Heart Day-appropriate tutorial.  I will be cheating [only slightly] by using boxed cake mixes, but I will be making my own cream cheese icing.

Should be easy peasy...says the lady who couldn't bring the homemade strawberry cake she lovingly made for her friend D to the baby shower because all the icing slid off it as it sat overnight.

I'll have my After pictures posted by Monday - good or bad.  Since you are in a snowed-in region of the US at this moment, I'll give you a little leeway; you know, in case you realize you've run out of butter and need to run to the store but the store is under 10 feet of snow.

Ladies, start your mixers.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip

The weather here has been horrible!

 Because I'm a Southern Girl, I am not comfortable driving in this weather.  Joe offered to take me to the Commissary, which is about 40 miles from here. After shopping there, we stopped at Wal-Mart and Price Chopper.  It was a long day, and Joe was nice enough to drive me around even though he worked all day, so I offered to make him some cookies.  He told me he wanted "peanut butter and chocolate chip".  No problem.  I searched for peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips in them until I was informed that  when he said 'peanut butter and chocolate chip" he meant peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies! 

He searched for the recipes he wanted, and I made them for him.

Best Big Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies 

I made a dozen peanut butter and a dozen chocolate chip cookies, then I placed the rest of the cookie dough pieces close together on a tray and put them in the freezer.  After they were frozen, I placed them in Ziploc bags and put them back in the freezer. The next time I offer to make Joe some cookies, all I'll have to do is take the cookie dough pieces out of the freezer and bake them!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

The chocolate chip cookies were good, but they didn't beat these.  

Caught red-handed!

Lake Charles Weather Report

It's cute outside!