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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Vinyl wall decor

We just did a big re-arrange or bedrooms in our house. Dallin and Bradley were in the basement on bunkbeds. They have destroyed the basement and we need to repaint it. Paul and I decided to "take back" the basement and move the toys upstairs to their rooms. I moved my scraproom downstairs to their old room after re-painting it. We split up Dallin and Bradley in hopes of them getting along better with Tyson. Dallin and Tyson are in the Disney cars room in the bunk beds. Bradley is in my old scrap room with Tate in the queen bed. With all of the changes, we wanted to make their rooms more personal. Dallin is in Tyson's cars room so I wanted him to have his own little area. We put a shelf up for his things and made his bed on top a place where Tyson isn't allowed... to give Dallin his space. Bradley wanted his room to be sports stuff. We found a cheap comforter for the bed at Ross that has sports equipment on it. This is how his walls turned out... I will post pictures of my cute cute scrap room another day after I get the vinyl up. BYE!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Afton's Easter dress

I got a wild hair and asked Nicole if I could make Afton an easter dress. She let me and here is the result! I think it turned out pretty cute if you don't get too close to the arms! Let this be your warning to you... if you get this pattern, New Look pattern #6577 http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=6577 the directions are screwy! I had to call the stupid 800 phone line to figure it out. The instructions were nothing like the lady said! But it turned out pretty cute. I used Tate to try it on and measure it because he and Afton are the same height. SO here is this picture for posterity!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Apparently I am really into food since I have started eating a little healthier. These definatly are not in the healthy recipe books, but I really want to try them! Homemade Samoas (a.k.a. Caramel de-Lites) Cookies 1 cup butter, soft 1/2 cup sugar 2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla extract up to 2 tbsp milk Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky. Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat with remaining dough. Alternatively, use scant tablespoons of dough and press into an even layer in a mini donut pan to form the rounds. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. If using a mini donut pan, bake for only about 10 minutes, until edges are light gold. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Topping 3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) 12-oz good-quality chewy caramels 1/4 tsp salt 3 tbsp milk 8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok) Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside. Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with. While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container. Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies. Note: These cookies are fairly time consuming to make, but if you take your time and have fun with them, the results will be worth it. That said, if you want something a little bit quicker, try baking a batch of Samoas Bars instead, which require no rolling and cutting of the dough! Found on this website http://bakingbites.com/2008/01/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas/