Presents for co-workers (another tutorial...Woot!)

I am so excited about this method! I found the original idea here. I have to say on a side note that I am totally addicted to Tip Junkie. There are lots of great ideas over there!

Anyhow, I work with horsey people (lucky me) so I found some horse head cookie cutters in which to make the fudge. Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 Cups Semisweet chocolate chips
1 Cup Peanut Butter Chips
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbs butter or margarine
1 tsp Vanilla extract

The original recipe says to mix the chips and milk and butter and microwave for 2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds.

YOu can do that if you want, but I think that the microwave was meant to be a time saver...so if I have to babysit it I don't want to play; I may as well cook over the stove. Which is what I did.

I set up my pyrex bowl on a shallow pot with water in it. Insta-double boiler.



I mixed the chips, milk and softened butter together and turned it on. You do have to stir it to make sure it heats evenly, but it smells so yummy, and the results are worth the time spent in front of the stove.



While the chips were melting I prepared the cookie cutters. I placed each one on a square of foil and wrapped. I had to get creative in the tight corners, but I figured out a system. Then I sprayed each one with cooking spray. I would take regular breaks throughout this process to stir my chips.




With all six cookie cutters prepared and my chips really starting to melt, I concentrated on stirring at this point. When the mixture was almost all the way melted and combined I mixed in the vanilla. Then let it get pretty melty. Once it was at a loose fudge consistency, I scooped it into each cookie cutter. I used a big table spoon (like really, a table spoon used at the table...)and I got about 3 scoops into each cookie cutter. I smoothed the mixture out as much as possible, then I covered the whole cookie sheet and put it out to chill. I have a handy dandy front room/porch thing that works as a cold room during the winter. Great for when I am doing Holiday baking.

While the cutters were cooling, I put a tub of leftover royal icing that I had from assembling my gingerbread house into the still hot but not boiling water in the pan. Then I cleaned up a little. Made some dip for the office party. Played with the dogs. Washed my hands.

After about a half hour, the royal icing was soft enough to use so I packed it into an icing bag with a medium small tip. I am sorry that I can't be more specific but I got a set of decorating tips and there is a tiny one, a medium small one and a bigger one...I used the one that was most medium. I put manes anf forelocks on all of the horses. Peter thought that they should have smiles but I didn't want to get too cheesey so I just added mouths. I think they turned out really cute!



And a close up. What a pretty chocolate palomino...har har.



I covered them and put them back out into the cold room to chill overnight. Then I headed upstairs and set up Crikey (that is the name of my Cricut machine for those of you just tuning in). I loaded my Winter Woodland Cartridge and selected the card feature, then the horse. I set it at 1 1/2 inches and cut. I used contrasting paper and shift+card+horse to get the background.



This morning I peeled the tinfoil off of each cutter, and wiped away the excess cooking spray. Then I put them into individual baggies and tied the gift tags to them.



So cute! I love the way they turned out, and I think that this would work with any cookie cutter. I tested one of them and the fudge would slide out easily, even though the cookie cutters I used were somewhat complicated. I think I am going to do a lot more of these. I got the cutters off of ebay in a big lot (9 total)so I might get more of different varieties to send friends and family. These are small so they would be cheap to ship and still let everyone know that you are thinking of them.

A word of warning, each fudge piece is about 700 calories. Not to put a damper on your excitement, but I thought that I should be up front about the drawbacks. I don't think that I could even eat a whole one though...the fudge is very rich as I found out from licking the spoon after I had finished filling the cutters.

I did it! (my first tutorial...sort of)

I finally cut fabric with my cricut using the freezer paper method. The last time I tried it was an epic fail. Fabric didn't want to stick to paper, then the blade just messed it up (as in frayed the fabric). So I canned the idea. There aren't really any tutorials out there for this method anyway...maybe it can't be done.

Au Contraire mon fraire!

Last night, for some reason, I just decided to do it. I took some zoo fabric that I have had for years because I don't know what to do with it (pretty standard cheap quilting cotton) and I ironed it to freezer paper. Basically you match the shiney side of the paper to the wrong side of the fabric and iron with a very hot, dry iron. I ironed the crap out of it and made sure that the fabric was indeed stuck down. It didn't stick very well around the edges, and the freezer paper peels off easily so I just made sure that a good portion of it was reasonably fused.

For this cut, my storybook cartridge was already loaded. The most simple design on that cartridge is the flower shadow (shift+shadow+I)so I decided to use that one. I loaded the mat and moved the blade to the point where the fabric and paper were really fused. Here is the technical stuff:

Blade pressure: 5

Size: 3 inches (personal choice...but I think too small or too detailed would fail)

Speed: Min (this is really important!

Multi-cut: I didn't actually use multi cut for this project, but I am going to try next time. there was one spot I had to finish cutting by hand.

Once it was cut out, I just peeled the paper off of the fabric and it is a clean, plain piece of fabric.

And here it is:



Sort of a modest little flower. but she has a special place right now as my first fabric piece cut from cricut.

Are you waiting for the irony? I can't remember why it was so important for me to learn to cut fabric this way. I have seen the multitudes of heat and bond success and every project I can think of (quilts, applique, etc) would be appropriate for that method. I do remember having a strong desire to learn to cut fabric with cricut sans anything permanent on the back...

Whatever. I can do it, and it is done. As soon as I remember why this was important, I will know that I can.

This has also bred a desire for adventure. I have so many ideas: felt story board, fleece. but I didin't know where to start. Last night I fused a small piece of fleece in between two pieces of freezer paper. I couldn't find my deep cut blade but as soon as I do I will try it. Hopefully it will work and I can share it with you here!

Gingerbread house

Well, On Monday, I rolled cut and baked my sugar cookies. Then I tackled the gingerbread. I rolled some of it fairly thick and used my gingerbread house cookie cutters to cut out walls and a roof. I didn't let the dough rest long enough though. It was really cold and pretty flaky. But it worked out well and I got those in the oven. Then I rolled it out thinner and cut some cookies for decorations around the house. Gingerbread men, christmas trees, santa, Frosty and some angels. As I worked with the dough more it became easier, more pliable and smoother. Then I used the leftover dough to make a base. I lined my smallest cookie sheet (I think it is 9x12) with parchment paper, then rolled the dough out onto it. Basically making a big rectangular pan cookie.

After everything was out of the oven, I moved them to cooling racks (except for the base which will stay in the pan for the life of the house) and left them overnight. In the morning I put the fully cooled cookies into ziplock bags. Now for the wait...

I waited until 6:00 for Peter to get off of work last night. I called him. I mean I tried to get a hold of him. Since he was unavailable and clearly not coming home at a decent hour, I had an idea.

The gingerbread house needs to be put together and then left alone to set up, right? And that isn't technically decorating without Peter's help...is it?

I decided that it wasn't and made some royal icing. Then I put my little house together and used some handy kitchen items to hold it together.



Here is a better look of what I used. Namely a couple of cans of tomato soup, a tub of honey, a box of cookie cutters and a jar of pop corn kernels.



Peter walked in around 8:00 PM as I was finishing cleanup...so I don't feel so bad. I let our gingerbread house cure over night and I removed the props this morning.

Tada!



The lighting in the kitchen wasn't great this morning, but I took a picture of the other side so that you can see it in all of its glory.



I tried to get pictures from the front but it looked like a haunted gingerbread house so I deleted them.

The plan tonight is to decorate the actual cookies (with or without peter) so that they have time to cure as well. Then I will get candy so that we can both decorate the actual gingerbread house scene. I think that is a good compromise. I am sharing the joy of cookies with him, but I get to decorate the actual cookies in my own OCD way. He may be home early tonight though which means I will have to let him help me...but that is ok. I suppose that it will be good for me to share.

Jingle Balls

Well, I finally went nuts for Christmas. I usually get antsy right around...January. It is so bad that I have to actually live by my own strict rule of "no Christmas until AFTER the Turkey has his day." And typically it is all I can do to wait. Then the day after Thanksgiving, I go "Jingle Balls" as my friends so aptly named it. I set up the tree, the lights, I bake, I make and I wrap my bootie off until, well...January.

The last couple of years have been atypical though. I finally decorated my tree and put frosty the snowman window clings up, but there hasn't been much Christmas in my spirit. Now, I find myself 2 weeks away from the joyous holiday and so behind I don't know what to do.

I am behind on gifts. Looks like cards won't get out. And I have a BUNCH of homework to do...what a wonder that I am not in the mood.

But I am changing all of that. After all, Christmas is a joy from inside you. The joy of sharing.

And Cookies.

I made gingerbread cookie dough and sugar cookie dough to rest last night. Cutting and baking will happen tonight, then decorating whenever I can get Peter to help. This last step will be the hardest for me. I want to get things done. Patience is a virtue that I do not possess. But I want to share the joy of Christmas with my DB and the best way that I know how to do that is to share my joy of cooking.

Which reminds me: Santa? Would you please send me the Joy of Cooking Cookbook for Christmas? I need it! My youngest cookbook (an everything cookbook) is 50 years old.

While I am here, I want to share with you how very cold it is! Here is a picture of our very frosted Lilac bushes.

Well, I get a big fat "F" in Blogging. I haven't updated for quite a while. Since I wrote last, Pippy got severely hurt, then got better, has been weaned, I enrolled in an MBA program and we have gotten into Dairy goats. Yes, I have just crossed the line.

I am officially: "Just Plain Crazy."

But, don't you want to hear about the goats? I am overly obsessed with self sufficiency, and the more research I did, the more I liked the idea of having dairy goats. They could cut milk and cheese (and possibly even butter if I can muster the patience of Job) right out of our grocery bill. Of course, they add some back on top of the grain and feed bill, but I will analyze that later, and then continue to not care.

After finally deciding to go ahead with the goats, I put out feelers and an ad on craigslist stating my purpose. Almost immediately I was contacted by sherry. She had 2 Saanen/Oberhasli doelings and offered them to me cheap. Perfect. Babies we could raise the way we like. So, about a week later, Trixie and Honey joined our Family.

About 2 weeks later, Sherry contacted me again to say that she has one more doeling that she would part with. A little Saanen/Lamancha. I have a huge soft spot for Lamancha goats, so Amy Farah Fowler (or just Amy in most cases) came to live with us also.

Along with Amy, we decided to take one of Sherry's bucklings. A small mini alpine/cashmere ball of adorable. We are going to use him to breed the does this winter and then castrate him. I think he will make a much better pet than a herd sire, and I can't wait to learn to spin his glorious fiber.

As if I didn't have enough on my plate.

I do have to say that these goats have added just the right amount of joy to my life. Amy is a little trickster, and we call her the "Parcor" goat. She will do a wheelie off of a bale, hit the wall and spin around before landing. Honey is a quiet little thing that follows me around and doesn't ask for much. Trixie likes attention. She wants to be loved and pet and scratched all the time.

We named the buck Willie, and he is so cute I can hardly stand it. He follows me around like a dog and seems to take part in every conversation. Cute. Cute. Cute. I got supplies to make drop spindles (I will post a tutorial when I actually get around to doing it) and I bought a few different kinds of fiber to learn to spin. Having one small cashmere goat won't give me enough for a sweater, but it will probably contribute to some pretty sweet mittens! Maybe a hat...I don't really know what to expect.

Which brings me to a bit of a gripe: Even on this marvelous World Wide Web, it is nearly impossible to find information on managing a small number of Cashmere goats. I plan to document what I learn by trial and error here so that maybe someday, someone can learn from me. Cashmere type goats are said to be hardier than Angora goats, they have finer fiber and I hear they give a decent amount of milk. Why don't more people have one or two? Maybe I can help to change all that.

As far as the rest of my life goes, I am behind in school, I haven't spent much time with my lovely Cricut, and my horses get ridden on the weekends (sometimes) because at 4:00 pm, when I get off work, it is pitch dark outside. Lovely.

Anyway, I promise (as an advance resolution for 2012) to update more often, provide pictures and maybe even some tutorials. Finally, a resolution that does not require me to give up chocolate; I am liking this more and more as I think about it.

Pippy

I hadn't realized how terribly neglected my poor little blog was. I mean the one and a half of you that might actually read this have probably already given up on me. But here, appropriately is my first post with actual pictures:

Anyways, you think that I own a Pregnant (yay) mare. That is not true any more, because on April 21, 2011, Pippy was born.



Now, the deal was, I breed sissy to a stunning Stallion named Zorro Dan Quincy, and the baby would be for sale. I spent 11 months praying for a rotten little colt that we could sell no problem. Who would be gorgeous and go to a show family, but who would not instill much of a desire in me to keep.

And then Pippy was born.



She is a tall, stunning red head with her dad's gorgeous short back, and her mom's beautiful face.

And, unfortunately for me, she also inherited both parent's personality.

Pippy is the little filly that will walk up to you, when she is out in the large pasture with her mommy and two aunties. She likes to be scratched...everywhere. She also picks up all four of her feet and lets me clean them. She is almost 2 months old and is almost halter broke. I mean she is the smartest and sweetest little thing.

And I absolutely love her. And everyone who meets her absolutely loves her. She is precious, and perfect. Which means I have another horse.

Bless Peter's heart, someone asked: "when are you going to sell her?" and he chimed right in, "when she is 37!" Do you see why I love him?

Pippy is such an angel, that we don't even have her right now. My parents were going to bring her and her mom down last weekend, but they chickened out and brought their older mare instead. There were all sorts of pretences and "well the grass would be good for Pepsi..." but the truth of the matter is that my parents hate to see her go. As much as I would love to be around her every single day, I can't blame them...



...I mean look at those faces!

New House....FINALLY

So, Peter and I finally moved. We started last Saturday (June 4) and everything was in our new house by Monday, June 6th. this was no easy feat either. It took two trips each with my parents' large and fancy 3 horse trailer with living quarters, and our 4 horse stock trailer. It also involved an entire trailer load to the dump.

How do two people gather so much CRAP? I mean, it is actually embarrassing to have that much stuff laying around, hiding in corners, that needed to go to the dump.

On Wednesday, we cleaned. We scrubbed from top to bottom and let me tell you, I was thankful that we kept it so nice because if we hadn't it would have taken us so much longer. Oh, and you know those white carpets I complained about? Well I had to clean them all the time because they are WHITE and we have ANIMALS, but thank God for that, because all they needed was some freshening up. The water in the carpet cleaner was clean. I am proud of myself...can you tell?

The new house...not so clean.

It is a lovely 2 story remodled farm house, with a 3/4 wrap around deck, a creepy meth basement, a large arena, pastures and...24 ACRES!!! Like, we super lucked out on this one scoob!

But, it is dirty. There are limbs down everyewhere. Thwe 100 year old barn is sturdy, but a walleyed mess. and the inside of the house is just filthy. I made a huge deal about how we take care of our animals, we clean up after them, they live in our home, not the other way around...and I am now thinking that I may have offended the owner. Who is a very nice, and classically busy soul. I really do like her, but GEEZ.

And the carpets.

OMG, the carpets upstairs were dastardly. I can think of no other word. They actually had a persona. And the smell would reach down the stairs and smack you in the face. They are a smart dark green color, and you know there is trouble when you look at dark carpets and can see dirt stains.

I have 2 Bissell Big Green Machines (which I get so much crap for by the way "why do you need two of those" all of the whiney voices ask) and a small little green machine for spot cleaning.

I was thanking the Maker for having 2 big greens because one of my machines actually BROKE while cleaning this carpet. I was pulling out the muddiest most disgusting water you could ever imagine, and I went through six bottles of pure Amonia (for cleanliness) and 4 bottles of "LA's Totally Awesome Floor Cleaner" in Lavender (for deoderizing).

After three tries, the smell was gone, and our carpets were cleaned. There are stains that I can do nothing about, but it smells fresh, we can move furniture in and I feel better about it!

Now for the lower level floors: gorgeous oak flooring that looks pretty hammered...until you get it clean. After 4 buckets of mop water, the dining room is clean, and actually sparkles. The newly painted walls and beautiful accent crown molding are really set off by the floors. Add our antique oak dining set, and china hutch and the result is breathtaking! And, to date, the dining room is the only finished room in the house.

Which brings me to the kitchen. For a moment, let's forget the food and utensils and boxes laying around (canned food of course, I'm not a pig!) and get to the root of the matter: a stunning updated kitchen with a convection combo oven, a glass cooktop and griddle combo range, a two tiered drawer style dishwasher and a recessed fridge. Those last two are most certainly broken.

Yup, brand new, and broken. The appliance store has the part to fix our fridge, and they are having two guys come out and fix it...sometime. The dishwasher is another story.

I opened it up to find Dog hair and crud in both drawers. In taking them apart to clean, we discovered that the drain hose is broken in half, so the dirty water was recycling right back onto the dishes. YUCK! So, that is in pieces until we can figure out how to get the hose.

These are just some of the things that need to be done. And believe me, there will be more. I will more than likely be talking a lot about this in the coming months, so be prepared!