Secret Messages

Here's how to make a secret message card. I didn't try to make this one look nice, because I only made it for the tutorial. I will include tips on how to make yours look nicer.

You will need:
paper
pen
scissor
crayon
glue stick (not craft glue-it makes problems as you'll see later on in the post.

Supplies

I took one piece of my construction paper and folded it in half. (You do not need to use construction paper, I've done this project with printer paper too.)

folded my construction paper

I then sketched my message onto the second sheet of construction paper and cut it out. If you want neater letters, you can use a stencil or print them out from Word Art in Microsoft Word, and glue them on to construction paper.

My message

cut out message

Now, go back to the sheet, you folded in half, open it up and glue your letters on.

opened up second sheet of paper

glued on message

Put glue all over the paper on top of your message and the whole paper.

Too much glue (it spilled)

and it's the wrong type of glue

Glue it closed.

The creases are because I used the wrong type of glue and too much,
and that dark pink spot is because I got it a little water on it.

If the picture below happens to you, just glue another piece of paper on top.

Uh, oh, you can see part of the message

Now, have the recipient color in the message using the side of the crayon, kind of color it on an angle. 

The message appeared

 I didn't color in the whole thing, because I knew where the letters were. If you want you can give a card with the outside paper having boxes which would indicate where the recipient should color. You can even make it look like people are holding up letters to form a phrase, by having pictures of people holding up the blank squares. Or, you can just let the recipient color the whole thing until the message is revealed. Let your imagination run wild.

Linking Up At:
http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/

http://funtocraft.blogspot.com/

Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut Butter Balls,
I know those liners  don't match the box, it was all I had on hand

Okay, so these are really easy to make and I almost don't even want to tell you. These work great when you need a little energy booster. Now make a lot, if you have kids in your house, because if they find these they will be gone before you know it. People say they taste similar to Reese's Peanut Butter cups, I wouldn't know because I've never had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

You will need:

Jif Creamy Peanut Butter (please don't substitute this with another brand, the taste just isn't right. Don't even try to use reduced fat peanut butter, I mean c'mon if your gonna cheat and eat unhealthy do it right.)

Confectioners Sugar

A Bowl

Wax Paper

Good Quality Baking Chocolate (do not try to use a junky brand)

Okay, now put in equal amounts of confectioner's sugar and peanut butter. Cover the peanut butter with the confectioners sugar, so it's not so sticky. Then knead the 2 ingredients together with your hands. You should end up with a doughy consistency. Form your peanut butter dough into balls.

Melt chocolate, it's best if you do this in a double boiler with some butter or margarine, but I cheat kind of often and put it in the microwave-I do not recommend you do it in the microwave-this can lead to a mess or ruined chocolate. But, it's your choice. The double boiler or even a plain pot is a safer method of doing this.

Once your chocolate is melted, using a spoon or toothpick, I usually use a spoon, coat you peanut butter balls allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl.  Then put your chocolate peanut butter ball on wax 

paper.

Once you have done all of your peanut butter balls-place them in the freezer for approximately 15 minutes. 

*If you want to make them look a little fancier-snip off a tiny corner of a Ziploc bag and fill with melted white chocolate. Using the Ziploc as a pastry bag, pipe lines or designs on the balls. (yes, this step comes before the balls go into the freezer, you'll notice the chocolate has started hardening. You can pipe right on top of the dark chocolate if it looks hard.

*I do not recommend you melt all your chocolate right away, unless you are really fast, because the chocolate will start to harden.

You can also use this method for peanut butter cups, line mini cupcake wrappers with the melted chocolate or fill the wrapper up partially with the melted chocolate, place a ball of peanut butter dough on top and cover with more melted chocolate. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

What I've Been Up To....

Okay, so my last final is today, but I thought I'd show you what I was working on for one of my classes. The professor who was critiquing said this reminded him of I.M. Pei's work at the Louvre in Paris. The limitations for this assignment was that we had to make something that looks edible, a package that could protect and present the food and we had to use a polyhedra, as well as using wood with 2 types of joints, a lap joint and dowelled joint. The tray is reversible, but will only fold up into the pyramid one way. Now instead of telling you what the food is, leave a comment telling me what you think it is?

Faux Stained Glass

This is project is a lot of fun and is suitable for those as young as 7 and as old as 120.

You'll need more colors than this, see the square behind the sharpies that's the hard plastic.

Zoomed in, so you can see the hard plastic-it's see through and not frosted.

Hard plastic sheet
Sharpie Markers-colorful
Template-You can draw your own or choose one from here
Silver foil, aluminum foil or metallic paper

1. Take your template and a black sharpie and trace your template onto the plastic sheet. Leave a border on the plastic sheet.

My sketching for the template

I've outlined it in pen, to make the picture clearer, but you can use a pencil

I added some more detailing, to make it more like stained glass.

2. Color your picture in with the other sharpies

Notice the outlines in black sharpie and I've also started coloring it in.

3. Place the foil or metallic paper behind the plastic sheet

I've tried, but the pictures just don't do this justice.

I can't take good pictures, but it's really got that stained glass look in real life.

4. Punch a hole in the middle and tie a ribbon through it  and hang up your beautiful piece of art.

You don't need to leave a silver foil border, but you can.

*  I haven't tried it, but you might also be able to use the plastic from those clear takeout containers.
** If you don't put on the foil in the back, it will look more like a sun catcher.

*** You can do this in different shapes and even add it to a keychain.
****You can even use this as a bookmark.
*****You can include a poem or quote in in the middle-just glue the quote or poem onto the silver foil and have your design go around it, or personalize it.

Have Fun!

Here's a similar idea from Instructables: Plastic Bottle Stained Glass


Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions, if you feel I have not been clear.


Linking Up At:

Not Just a Housewife
Hope Studios
Today's Creative Blog
Tea Rose Home

Quilling

Image from here and/or Google Images
Quilled Bookmark, I didn't make this, but it's  pretty and it's an idea.
My flower's leaves were more teardrop shaped.

Quilling is not exactly my cup of tea, but other people enjoy it.

I  used this technique to put a flower on a card  I made for Mother's Day. It does have a beautiful  3 dimensional effect and it's not very hard, in my opinion. My pictures are not uploading for some reason, so to get an idea of what quilling looks like go here. Also you might want to wrap your paper around a chopstick or skewer if it makes it easier for you

I didn't use a quill because I don't have one and it worked fine without one I pinched it and formed the paper into the shapes I wanted.

1. Take colorful paper-I used colorful printer paper and cut into strips the same width.

2. Take the strip and form it into whatever shape you want, you may need to glue it in the beginning to hold it in place. Keep going around the shape that you made until there is no more paper, glue the edge down.

3. When you are done making all your shapes use a glue that dries clear to glue it onto your desired surface.

Have Fun!

If you would like to learn more about quilling, go here.
You can also find a quilling set for beginners in my Amazon Store at the bottom of the page.

Cooking and Baking vs. Schoolwork

Before, I begin, there's something I have to say.

Yesterday is not today and today is not yesterday.

But because Blogger was down

And that made me want to frown

Today's post will be yesterday's

Even though yesterday is not today

     Hip, Hip, Hooray!

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Blogger lost most of my post yesterday, so here it is, as close as possible to the original version with some minor changes. Is that an oxymoron? : )

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It's a face-off between Cooking and Baking vs. doing Schoolwork. Who will win? As of now the score is 1-0 as I've made 2 batches of yummy chummus. Ooh are you going to be making tortilla's. Well it depends if I can find the recipe. Ah, here it is. These Tortillas  are so easy and yummy.

flour

oil (that's a great measuring cup by the way)

salt in warm water-not shown

dough, before kneading

That dough looked a lot nicer after I kneaded it.

For the rest of the recipe follow this link.



Oh you wanted to see a picture of the tortillas, well you're lucky I got this snapshot of someone's dinner. No tortilla's are left, they've all been eaten by hungry people.

My little brother's dinner. Oh right, the tortilla's in the corner. I promise,  I made it from scratch.

Lasagna Roll Ups and salad (shh, it's from a bag, there was only a tiny bit left)

I've also made yummy lasagna roll ups.

I made a delicious and pretty tomato salad for my parents. This recipe makes very little, I would suggest doubling or tripling the recipe.

Simple Dairy Tomato Salad
2 tomatoes-diced
3/4 shallot-diced
feta cheese-the one that come in a basket in the water.

Mix the tomatoes and onions together. Plate. Crumble feta cheese on top.

That's it, I said easy folks and there you have it.

No picture, like I said they were hungry, I wasn't going to make them wait to eat, so I could get a picture.

I made some green bean sautee for moi. I took the bit of leftover  Barilla Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce and the rest of the shallot, plus any tomato that was left on the cutting board, sliced one clove garlic very thin and threw it into a pan and heated it up over med-high heat until the green beans softened a little. In retrospect, I probably should have sauteed the green beans a bit first with the garlic and shallot, maybe then I wouldn't have burned the pan. But, I've got to admit it was quite delicious.

I want more.

Wait, I've got some more schoolwork done, so the score is 5-2, schoolwork is trying desperately to catch up, but there's barely any time left in the day. Wait the day's not over, schoolwork may actually make a comeback.


The day is over and our official score is 5-2, congratulation Cooking/Baking upon winning, we are proud to present you with this apron which is sure to aid you in your future endeavors.

Crazy Busy Over Here..but I'm Not Gone

This is my life: Busy every single day, no time for me. As a college student my life consists of papers and exams, and reading the textbook when I get around to it (there's usually no time for it.) I do have quite a few unfinished posts, cause a post or tutorial really needs pictures, it's just not the same without them. So I do not want to post posts that still need pictures. Okay, I'll stop rambling, my point in short is my blog is NOT gone and I have not stopped posting, as soon as my life gets a little less hectic, there will be more.