Gingerbread Dog Houses

For the last several years I've been doing gingerbread houses. I've always seen them as something you snack on and lick your fingers building... Then pick on throughout the holidays. A holiday themed snack!!

However my husband sees them as art work you don't eat. But he doesn't help so he loses opinion ... ha! ha! but still tries to express it when I pull off and each the gummies on the roof!!

A few weeks ago he found the Snoopy Gingerbread Dog houses at Toys R Us and knew it would be something I would love.

This time I decided to only use frosting and sprinkles with very few candies. Partly due to sugar overload on the finger licking but also because sugar now gives me headaches!!

These were easy to fit together and fun to make! Not my most creative but a lot of fun non-the-less!! Can't miss this new Christmas tradition.

Fall Decorations

I love pumpkins! Especially the Cinderella pumpkins! Then came the white ones in all sizes. You can draw on them and do many artist things.

I've decided to "Glitter" my mini white pumpkin. I put a beaded bracelet around a small orange one and drew some trees on another white mini. I'm in love with all the options with arranging these mini punkins!

Put Punkin on newspaper, outside on the porch. Then spray the Punkin with spray adhesive then shake on glitter.

So fun!! Any day I have glitter under my fingernails is a good day!!

Candied Almonds

Got a recipe off the Internet for candied almonds. Added my own twists & they turned out amazing!!

1 egg white
1 T water
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine in large bowl with whisk until fluffy.

Add:
1 lb almonds
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Stir until completely coated. Spread out on a cookie sheet. Cook at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Let cool, break apart and dust with a sprinkle if powdered sugar for depth.

Now a typical Anne-ism is to accidentally grab the wrong thing. I'll look at one item and grab the one next to it. Very frustrating!!!!! I try to check myself before carting but some times things slip by. In this case I ended up with dry roasted almonds instead of just almonds.

They have a very interesting taste that makes me even more curious what a plain almond would be like. Even yummier I would expect.

Store in an air tight container! I'm thinking I can use these as gifts too!

Finding my Muse

Yay!  Finally feeling creative again.  It takes some inspiration and emotion for me to be able to get really creative.  It is my emotional 'zen' outlet.  My connection to my inner self.  I wish I could do it easier and use it as a way to escape.  Sadly though.... I can't paint, color, bake/decorate, sculpt, write, play guitar, scrap or craft (all my mediums for creativity) without being able to let go of my day-to-day busy business driven life for fear of feeling like I'm neglecting something.

So when life is most hectic... I rarely can get my Zen on!!  But this time is different.  It's my annual slow season .... its my favorite reason for getting creative: Emotions!  And just like when I was young and at my most creative - its my own self causing the emotions. Last time I was able to really be inspired was a year ago when I met my cousins again after 20 years of being disconnected.  It was an amazing trip and I've never letting go of them again!!

This time it's weird.  In last month as I've worked to become healthier, I have learned more about my inner strength and my own spirituality than ever before. Is it because of this?  Or is it my aging hormonal female body?  Who knows but the bottom line is: I've been on the edge of busting into tears at the drop of a hat all month! It's crazy but it's true.... a sad song, a family on tv, a sappy Facebook post.... ugh and it gets worse.... just recently.... the movie "Real Steel".  Yes - I cried at the end of a freaking boxer robot movie.  ha! ha!

Nonetheless - all this outpour of emotion has created MUSE!  So I'm ready.  I'm planning my Fall Cake Pop decorations and thinking about my next painting.  Definitely going to do a new front door wreath.

Here is a table from the decorator Kim Myles.  I love how she takes inexpensive things and recycles them into treasures.  Look what she did with her stencils to this simple table... incredible.
I can't wait to see what comes up.

Oh and I almost forgot..... My husband and I have decided to redo the master bathroom!!  I have been begging for a home improvment project for years and I finally got it.  I wanted a kitchen backsplash first but I am exstatic to get this instead!  One tile project at a time.

Wish us luck!

Old Paintings

Here are the rest from around my house.

I guess the Kassandra Record Player Ad is my favorite. With the Tuscan Village & Comic close second.... Oh i can't pick...I'm in love with all of them!

My Newest Paintings

The first painting I did for my cousin. It was a hard design with it being on black background but fun to do. Learned a lot about layering. It is supposed to reflect the great time she had when she lives in Seattle. I had to included her dog!!

The second one I did today to go in my newly decorated office. I am pleased with how peaceful and whimsical it looks. My office is purple and grey with bright bold color accents. So this painting should really pop!

Bot are inspirations from the "Painting with a Twist" paintings I saw on their website.

Valentine Cake Balls & Pops

So this time I decided to try some Cake Balls in addition to doing some new pops.  For the balls I decided I would use an arrangment of decorations with the Red Velvet cake.  For the pops I wanted to go back to old faithful - Strawberry cake.  Yummm!

One thing I didn't know was how RED red velvet cake is.  I've never made a red velvet cake before honestly.  Goodness I got everything covered in that red stuff.  My hands and everything was stained red for at least a few days.

Here is how my Cake Balls turned out: 

Not too bad.  As you notice the one's in the front of the picture look larger.  That is because after trying the first ball - it was sooooo big it took 4 bites.  So I cut the ball size down in half.  Those are the lighter colored balls in the back.  Much easier to eat.

For a few of them I used my candy molds and created this super cute look!  First you put a bit of candy coating in the mold.  Drop in the cake ball.  Once the mold is hardened - pop it out and dip the top hald into the 2nd color candy coating.  Love how these look!

Now for the Cake pops!  For Valentine's Day I decided to go with Candy Hearts. 

Like I said in my other post about Cake Pops - the colored candy coating is not as good as coloring the white candy.  It stays smoother and thinner and easy to coat.  I also find that freezing the shaped balls makes them much easier to dip. 








My husband the comedian that he is... loves to play jokes with his co-workers.  So for the fun of it we made some of these fun Candy Heart sayings:

For everyone else - I did yellow, pink and green.  Cute saying like: I like you, Thank You, Be Mine and I love you.  They were a big hit again.  Lots of good feedback.   I'm thinking about trying to make some tulips or maybe honey bees for the Spring!  Loving making these!  So fun!!