How to wrap an ironing board

After purchasing an ironing board off of Jill and Mitch's wedding registry, I loaded it into my car and thought, "How do you wrap an ironing board?" As we drove home from Target, Mom and I brainstormed cute ways to give a large gift at a wedding shower... Gigantic gift bag? Beautiful bow? Nothing at all?

Of course Google has an answer for everything.

"Ok Google,  how do I wrap an ironing board?"

Here's my version of the answer:

So easy to do, and super fun! I used a plastic tablecloth and some tulle ribbon.  Now why didn't I think of this myself??

Chocolate Covered Christmas Spoons

For Christmas this year, I made my coworkers personalized etched glass mugs, and filled them with teas, hot chocolate, and cappuccino.  To make it better, I thought I'd include some chocolate covered spoons, for stirring tasty drinks!

To start, I melted Baker's semi-sweet chocolate squares in the microwave.  Next, I dipped spoons into the chocolate and set it on wax paper to dry.  It took forever to dry and left an ugly pool of chocolate under the spoon. 

It occurred to me that it was below freezing outside, so I dipped a few more and walked outside.  In a few seconds the chocolate began hardening onto the spoon!

 

(You can see the ones on the end are still wet, they took about 45 minutes to dry!)

 

Next, I put a few squares of white chocolate into Ziploc bags and melted that in the microwave.  I snipped off a tiny bit of a corner and decorated the spoons! (Try to get all of the air out of the bag before squeezing.)

 

 

Now that these are finished, I can add them to the personalized mugs I made for my coworkers!

Etched Glass

Sorry to my coworkers who love surprises at Christmastime and just found this... I discovered how easy it is to etch glass, and now I can't stop!

I bought a small bottle of Glass Etching Cream at A.C. Moore, and used my mom's Silhouette machine to make cut out names on sticky-backed cardstock. 

 

The cream only needs to stay on for 60 seconds, and then everything is washed off.

 



I filled the mug with tea, hot chocolate, and cappuccino, and will later be adding chocolate covered spoons to stir with! :)

Easter Egg Decorating

On Saturday I organized a free event for the kids in Columbia.  Thanks to Ned and his family who were a huge help, and to Tom who got ahold of 15 dozen eggs!  So many kids came and we had a ton of fun!

Supplies: hard boiled eggs, dye, rubber bands, rubber cement, stickers and white crayons.

 

 

 

 

 

July 4th Cookies!

If decorating gingerbread houses are for Christmastime, then these cookies are for Independence Day!

I saw these fireworks cookies in a Martha Stewart magazine from a few years ago and I knew I had to try this!  So today Chantelle, Asher, Heidi and I tried it out and had a lot of fun.

Bake sugar cookies and use royal icing. Put about a half cup of white icing into two ziploc bags, then add food coloring.  Snip a very small piece off the corner of the bag and use to make dots and designs! The toothpicks help swirl and make hearts.  After awhile the icing hardens.

Fennel Rosemary Potato Salad

I don't know about you, but I get stuck making the same good recipes over and over.  Luckily, it's just me I'm cooking for! This is one that gets repeated.

I decided to plant fennel and leeks in my garden just to make this recipe, which I tasted for the first time when I was visiting Jenny at the CSA where she was working.  She found the recipe here.  Here's my version:

Fennel Rosemary Potato Salad
1 fennel bulb
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
pinch of salt
5 potatoes
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons greek yogurt
2 tablespoons almond oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 small leek
1.  Slice the fennel and place in a smaller sized baking dish.  Sprinkle with chopped rosemary and salt.  Put in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

2.  Peel the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces, then boil until they are soft (about 15 minutes).

3.  Mix the remaining ingredients (except leek) to make the dressing, then put the roasted fennel, potatoes, dressing and leek together in bowl.  Enjoy!

Don't be afraid to substitute and change the recipe yourself!  I've used cream or regular yogurt, regular onions, different kinds of vinegars, mustards and oils.  Use what you have or what is convenient.

to Paraguay and back again

In April, my parents and I went to visit my sister Chantelle where she was living in Asuncion, Paraguay! 

 Dad outside of Chantelle's home... a lot of roads were stone like this one, but not main roads

saw this a few times - a tree in the middle of the road!

the children's home where Chantelle works every day

playing basketball some of the kids

walking around Asuncion

the view of the city

public transportation

a too-friendly lemur - Iguazu Falls, Brazil

another sign somewhere read: "don't overtake the boundaries"

still beautiful, even for a dry day

Chantelle and her friend Andrea, who lived in Lancaster for a semester last year

Andrea's mom took us to a beautiful park where we spent some time drinking terere, a traditional drink that everyone in Paraguay drinks.  The cup (guampa) is filled with the dry tea and a straw with a filter (bombilla) is placed inside.  Then cold water is poured into the cup and passed to the first person, who drinks then passes it back.

she also took us to the town where pottery is painted and sold.  The pottery is made in a town close by.

Chantelle just came home late Thursday night, and it's so good to have her back after nearly a year!