twofish prints

I am SO excited to announce that I am starting a print business on Etsy for baby and children prints!! (http://www.etsy.com/shop/twofishprints)  This has been a goal of mine for a while and I am so thrilled to begin this journey of having a "weekend & after work" job.  

 

Twofishprints is a Christian based company, giving a portion of all proceeds to Global Effect Ministry, an organization that is dear to my heart. My husband and I will be going on a mission trip to Haiti in December to work with this wonderful organization.

I hope to inspire and encourage every person who comes to my shop. I am able to customize any order, so you have the best experience you can with my shop! :)

Enjoy my prints and contact me if you are interested in any of them!! :)

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/twofishprints

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D.I.Y. Pottery Barn headboard

Andrew and I needed a headboard for our front bedroom, so we decided we could make a head board that I loved from pottery barn. I saw a girl on Pinterest had done the same thing, but with a fun fabric. I wanted something neutral, but beautiful.

The materials we needed for the project were:
One drop cloth
2x4s
Sheet of wood
Fabric fun
Batting
2 to 3 inch foam
Nail heads

Andrew built the frame and did an awesome job. I drew the curve on the wood for him to cut down. Once the frame was finished, I applied the foam and batting to the headboard. This can be kind of tricky, so I had to take my time doing this, using a hot glue gun. We then laid the drop cloth out on our living room floor and wrapped the headboard using a staple gun. Once we got it exactly how we wanted it, we nailed in the nail heads every two inches. We spent the most time on this, because we measured each nail to make sure it was perfect.

This project took us a week to do, but it could be easily done in a weekend. It was a fun newly wed project to do together! And we spent less than $200 on the whole thing! The one at pottery barn is over 1000, so we were excited about how much we saved!

the best yellow cake and buttercream frosting

To celebrate Christmas, I made a birthday cake for Jesus's birthday. I found this recipe on Bakerella. I tweaked the recipe to my own taste/liking. This cake turned out great and tasted so good!! I highly recommend this recipe.

yellow cake

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (room temperature)
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
3 cups of sifted self-rising flour (White Lily)
1 cup of whole milk (room temperature)
1 t pure vanilla extract (McCormicks)
1/2 t butter flavoring
1/2 t almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour (3) 8 inch cake pans or cut out parchment paper to place in the bottom of the pans.
Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.
Add sugar and continue to cream for about 6-7 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.
Add milk and flour, beginning and ending with flour.
Add vanilla, almond and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.
Divide batter equally into three cake pans.
Hold each layer about 3 inches above your counter and carefully drop the pans flat onto counter several times to ensure release of any air bubbles. This will help you have a more level cake.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes (depending on your oven) until done.
Cool in pans for 5 – 10 minutes.
Remove and immediately wrap each layer in plastic wrap to seal in moisture. Cool completely on wire racks.
Once cooled, you are ready to assemble your cake.
Cut off the top layers to make sure the cake is leveled.


buttercream frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)
1 t pure vanilla extract
1/4 t almond extract
1 1b. 10X powdered sugar
1-3 t half and half
Pinch of salt (this will cut out the sweetness)

Using a mixer, cream softened butter and vanilla until smooth.
Add sugar gradually, allowing butter and sugar to cream together before adding more.
If you want your frosting a little creamier, add a teaspoon of half and half at a time and beat on high until you get the right texture.
Then, just use icing colors to tint the frosting the color of your choice.
This is usually just enough for a 2-layer cake, so I would recommend doubling this for a three layers.


I also made mini blueberry muffins for Christmas morning!

cookie decorating & family fun

Spending time with my family is my favorite, so this weekend has been the best. We made mom's homemade sugar cookies tonight and had a decorating contest. My cousins are the judges, so we will see who wins! Mom's recipe is below:

white velvet cut outs

Cookie:
1 cup butter
1 pkg. 3 oz. cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour

Icing:
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 T water
1/2 t lemon juice
Food coloring

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas with their loved ones!

Isaiah 9:6

pesto chicken pizza..yum!

My sweet best friend, Sarah Green, used to make this pizza in college for all of our friends. We always loved it and asked her to make it! She is seriously the best cook/baker with the best recipes. Well...I decided it was time for me to learn how to make this yummy pizza. It was so easy and everyone always loves it!

ingredients:

pizza dough (whole foods has the best pizza dough)

olive oil

pesto

tomatoes

onion

spinach

mozzarella (the more the better!)

rotisserie chicken

directions:

preheat oven to 400

roll out the pizza dough onto a floured pan

spread on olive oil and pesto

bake dough in the oven for 10 minutes

pull off chicken and place to the side

take pizza dough out of the oven

layer spinach, tomatoes, onion, chicken and cheese

the pizza stays together better if you spread cheese across each layer

sprinkle garlic salt on top of the pizza

bake until cheese is melted (about 15 minutes)

my delicious strawberry cake sarah made me for my 21st birthday celebration she threw!

sarah and i at bettola!