so the semester has begun..

sorry for being mia for the past couple of weeks...school has begun and so has the workload!

for my senior crit class our first project is to redesign our favorite piece we've made thus far....

the piece i am redoing is...dun dun dun...

today i was working on some sketches for the possible finished project and i'm really excited :) i definitely think it is going to be a stronger piece and there are some BIG changes coming :) i can't wait to show you the in progress photos, they shall be up soon!

paula dean

man oh man. i had the BIGGEST urge for chocolate cake today while at work.

sooo.....when i got home i made paula deans DELICIOUS six layer chocolate cake. and man is it good.

here is the recipe :)

1

Six-Layer Chocolate Cake

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time:

45 min

Inactive Prep Time:

hr min

Cook Time:

1 hr 0 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

16 TO 20 servings

Ingredients

Cake: 
1 cup butter, room temperature 
2 cups sugar 
4 eggs 
3 cups self-rising flour, sifted 
1 cup milk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Frosting: 
1 cup sugar 

1/2 cup butter 
2/3 cup half-and-half 
2 tablespoon corn syrup 
1/8 teaspoon salt 
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus 1 cup 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round cake pans. 

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to 
cream for approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each 
addition. Add the flour and milk, alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending 
with the flour. Add the vanilla and continue to mix until incorporated. To bake 6 layers 
of cake 3 at a time, divide the batter in 1/2, then divide each 1/2 among the 3 pan.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

 Invert cakes and repeat process with the rest of the cake batter. 

Prepare frosting while cakes are cooling. Mix sugar, cocoa, butter, half-and-half, corn 
syrup, and salt in a saucepan, stir, and bring to a boil. Continue to boil, stirring 
occasionally for 3 minutes. The syrup will become thick. Remove syrup from heat, and beat 
in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract with an electric mixer. Allow frosting to 
rest for a couple of minutes. At this time, if the frosting is too thick for spreading, 
add a bit of half-and-half, 1 tablespoon at a time, to bring frosting to proper spreading 
consistency. 

the Ya-Ya chant

Many of you know that my niece Cameron calls me Ya-Ya...lately when I am coming into the house or she drives up to our house, she does the "Ya Ya chant"....

Today I was able to catch her in the action...here is a clip!

i'll make you banana pancakes...err...cookies

So as you can see I had a lot of free time on my hands today, so...I decided to become all Betty Crocker!  I made a version of chocolate chip banana cookies....and man were they delicious!! They taste just like banana bread!  

I didn't follow a recipe exactly, but there are many out there! You should try it!

-I made a basic sugar cookie mix

-1 cup of mashed ripe bananas

-1 cup of chocolate chips

and baked them for about 10-15 minutes.

fyi- just like banana bread, the cookies need to be a little darker, like a tan color..

yay! for inexpensive jewelry tools!

yay!

Incase you all didn't know I am working at a Jewelry store downtown, Dransfield Jeweler's, and was lucky to hear about this amazing opportunity to purchase previously owned tools! YIPPEE!  Seeing that I am a student and can't fork out thousands of dollars to start my own studio, I was sooo excited to hear about this!  I purchased a Jewelers bench, chair, flexible shaft, many hammers, pickle pot, soldering tools, drill bits, setting burs, tons of sandpaper, ring mandrels, etc, etc, etc.....the list goes on and on.  I got all of these great tools for only $200! If I had purchased new, I easily would have spent around $1000 dollars.  SCORE FOR ME!  

I can't wait to clean everything up and I'm planning on refinishing the bench and adding some of my own flair to it.  I see some bright, bold colors in it's future! haha.

I uploaded a picture just so you can see what I'm talking about, but currently my dad has taken over the desk part of the bench, glorious. 

I can't wait to get started, I have so many ideas going through my head from my travels to Peru!  I can't wait to share!

DIY projects

So if all of this wasn't enough...I'm also attempting to turn these flour sacks from Peru into pillows..

[before photos]

After these are completed I am going to be selling them (price to be announced) to anyone interested!  10% of the proceeds will be going to an organization in Peru  (again, more info to come when the pillows are finished! :) )

quilting extravaganza

 My best friend of around 18 years, Lydia, from Michigan, was fortunate enough to get an internship with Genworth Financial in Richmond this summer. How excited was I!  Before she came, I was talking to her online about how I was going to make a quilt for Brian's sister, Jenny, and how she should make one too!  So I basically made her do a very impulsive purchase online of some fabric for these quilts we were going to make together.  Before I left for Peru, we started to lay our pieces out and play around with compositions, but then I left for a month, so the project was in a standstill.  When I returned from Peru, I was working so much and our schedules conflicted.  FINALLY, we found the time about two weeks ago to really put the pedal to the metal and start sewing and piecing everything together.  So in between both of us working 9 hours M-F, we started to put these together.  Sadly, Lydia is leaving on Wednesday, so these next few days are going to be FULL of quilting 24/7.  My top piece of the quilt is complete and we are *hopefully* finishing hers tonight.  After which, we are finding our back fabrics, quilting them together, and doing all the finishing.  Cross your fingers that we finish before Wednesday night because that is our deadline!

Here are some in progress photos of all the fun we had! ;)

Lydia's quilt- In Progress Photos

My Quilt--In progress photos

pictures of my woven tapestry from Peru

Finally! I have been so preoccupied with everything else, I haven't been able to share the photos of my tapestry!  

Here they are!

I fell in love with this beautiful tapestry while studying abroad in Peru this summer.  It was created by a woman from the town of Chinchero, it took her a total of one year to complete.  These pictures don't really do it justice, so these will have to hold up until you get to see them in person!  The women in this town create these woven tapestries completely by hand, from collecting the alpaca hair, to collecting the natural dye materials, and to the final construction. 

This visit was one of my favorites while I was in Peru.  

back from wva

This past weekend a group of ten of us went to West Virginia to go rafting on the New River.  Just like last year, Songer White Water Rafting company proved to show us all a good time.  Compared to last year, the river was up 6 ft, so it made the trip a little bit more interesting!  We camped out for two nights, played corn hole, relaxed around the fire pit, and played many drinking games!  I can't wait to share some of them!  The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time along the 6 hour tour!  Next fall, we are thinking of returning to try our luck on the Gauley River, which is considered the Grand Canyon of the east.  The Gauley has 100 rapids in 26 miles, with many class V rapids, one being a 14foot waterfall. AH. So excited, yet scared already! haha

 

busy as a bee...

Sorry I have been MIA for the past couple of weeks, as you all know I love to make my life extra hectic!  A lot has been going on in my life and since I have the day off I figured I would update you all!  So let the posting begin...hahaha...