Let Them Eat Cake

The more I work with cake decorating the more I find that I actually enjoy the work.

I haven't been decorating for very long...I started doing it because I got a wild hair up my butt and wanted to prove to myself that, in fact, I could do it.

My first attempt was a Rubix Cube (spelling?) which turned out to be alot more work than I'd thought it would be, but I managed to make a large cube with an askew center layer accompanied by two little cubes. (sorry, I don't have pictures of the cake, but they do exist)

Since then I've only done three other specialty cakes.

-A Peep Cake for my cousin (again no picture, sorry)
-Another Rubix cube cake for the same cousin which had a bittersweet strawberry and coolwhip filling that I made myself:

(This cake was hardly as ambitious as my frist attempt)

-And the cake I'm most proud of, The Daisy Cake my cousin asked my sister and I to make for her little girls Baptism.

The origional design was a plain white cake using some whipped non-dairy frosting from Smart&Final my cousin introduced us to, and a large daisy design in the middle. As the day came closer my cousin asked for yellow frosting instead...but of course being me I couldn't give up on the daisy design, so I incorporated both the colors.
The cake also has white chocolate daisy peices around the edges accompanied by synthetic daisies and a single wooden cross.
The large daisy design was made using dyed yellow sugar that I made in our Magic Bullet on top of a thin layer of white frosting. I made the design freehand with a kind 'sand art' style technique. (really easy to do)
When we showed up to the party after the baptism my cousin was so pleased with what we came up with and it fit in perfectly with the cupcakes and chocolate lolly-pops she'd made.
I love working with cakes, and I can't wait to practice making more specialty cakes. I just hope that any other projects I take on in the future will come out just as perfectly as my cousin's daisy cake.

Domo Cake

My youngest sister's birthday is next week so my other sister (the baker of the family) decided she wanted to make her a cake.
After an hour of trying to figure out what she wanted to make for this momentous 11th birthday girl, she finally came to a decision.

THE DOMO CAKE!!

Isn't it amazing!? Of course it is!
My sister is amazing when it comes to cake ideas. I was telling her that I would have made it 10 times more complicated if I'd done it...which is true.

Just thought I'd share this with you all...plus my sister said it was 'Snippet Jar' worthy, and she was right! :D

Lemon and Chicken Pasta

Lately I've been on this huge pasta kick, which also means I've been on a huge 'forcing myself to eat something else other than pasta' kick. Well today I decided to give into my urge and make something I haven't made in a long time.

Easy to Make Lemon Chicken Pasta!


This is by far one of my favorite things to make in the world, mainly because it's one of the easiest things I know how to make.
The only thing that I can say goes wrong is I sometimes use too much lemon juice, but I seem to be the only one that finds a problem with that, plus if you let it sit for a few minutes the 'lemon taste' calms down a bit. IT all depends on how 'lemony' you want it to taste.
So without further ado, my first recipe on the Snippet Jar!

Easy to Make Lemon & Chicken Pasta


Ingredients:
- 1 lb Spaghetti
- 2 chicken breasts (diced)
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1/4 - 3/4 cups lemon juice
(depending on how lemony you
want the dish, I normally
use 1/2 cup or juice from
2 small lemons)
- 1 tablespoon Garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon Poultry Seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
(you can substitute Dill Weed,
but I've never used it personally.)

Steps:

1. Cook pasta according to instructions on box/bag; set aside
2. Cook Diced chicken until golden brown and cooked thoroughly; set aside.
3. Melt butter in large cooking pot until all of it is melted
4. Add Lemon Juice, Garlic, Poultry Seasoning, and Italian Seasoning.
5. Cook on Medium for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add Pasta and Chicken
(I normally add the pasta, mix the mixture with a pair of tongs until most of it is coated then I throw in the chicken and mix it all together a little more.)
7. Let sit for 10 min. so all the tastes mix together; serve and enjoy!


This is the best thing when you're pressed for time, or you wanna make a quick easy dinner. If you'd like you could serve it with a small side salad, but this dish can hold up on it's own.
It makes a good amount too, so you've been warned! :)

Hope you all enjoy this recipe, it's one of my favorites and I hope it becomes one of yours too.

The Little Things in life

Ever since I was little I've had an interest, or rather, an obsession with doll houses and miniatures. I remember my dad taking me and my sister to a dollhouse/miniature store on weekends when I was little. I used to love going there.

I also had two aunts, one that had a little doll house that I would clean up, and the other who had a 'Dixie's Diner' playset that I also took into my own hands to fix and make look nice whenever I went to visit.

I grew a little older and the obsession kind of burried itself into the back of my head, when my best freind introduced me to something that would change (and put my financial strings as state)...she introduced me to Re-Ment!

Basically fusing my love for all things Japanese and cute, with my (at the time) dormant love of miniatures!

So I started with one individual little set...to three individual little sets....and has now finally ended with two complete sets of 10 each, three secret sets, and over 15 sets from different series! Not to mention the furniture!

Thusly, something that we both thought would be just a passing fancy turned from owning just this...
To this! And that's not even including the bedroom I made and all the little Re-ment Pieces I still have in storage!

Not to mention these two lovely's (BB and CC) that I had to buy so someone could actually 'enjoy' the house!

And so I could take these types of pictures. :)

And now my younger sister (the 10 year old) has followed my love and started collecting these guys! We're two of a kind my sister and I!

The only negative I could say for my love, is I find myself spending money on 'Little Food' rather than tihngs I actually need....and I still need a fridge for my kitchen!

Such is life. :D

Finally finished!

Firstly I wanted to thank and link to the amazing Jessica, author of my favorite craft blog 'Zakka Life' for posting a turtorial on how to make a link button that actually links back to my page! link

I've wanted to learn how to do this for ages, and her tutorial made it easy!

Now to the task at hand!

I finally finished my next little crocheted guy, or in this case 'guys'. Two in one little amigurumi you might say.

It's supposed to be a tub of spilled ice cream, and except for the fact that I have to explain what it is, I feel this project was a big success. Especially considering I basically made things up as I went along.

That's right, my first no patter amigurumi! I'm so proud!

Of course with me there are some things I wish I'd done different, like make the inside cover pink instead of white and fill in the ice cream part of the picture on the side of the tub, but like I said, all in all a big success!

Also wanted to share some pictures I took during a shopping trip with my little sister.

She came running up with this toy Kelly Doll bathroom set and pointed at the dog. She thought it was the funniest thing that this dog looked like it really needed to be let outside for a potty break. She's 10 so she was having a field day with this thought... (Okay, I had a laugh at it too) :)

She's also the one that found this:

A wall of the cutest little owl sleeping bags! These things were adorable and included not only the sleeping bag and cover but a flashlight and a waterbottle, both of which fit nicely into their own little areas of the cover. The best part is they were on sale!

She ended up not getting it because she didn't know if she was too tall for them or not, but I may have an owly surprise for her birthday next month...just don't tell her! :)

The Hot Dog Seed

Sort of an Inside joke for me and my best friend (whome I made the hot dog for).

This is the second completed Crochet, or Amigurumi, cute thing I ever did. It took me a couple days to complete and really fuelled my want to create these cute little guys.

As of right now I've got a couple more little guys in the works, I've just got to get to work on them, some of which I've found instructions for on the web and some that I've managed to come up with myself.
Eventually I may post some of my own patterns, but for now I'm just having a good time making them.

I'm Gonna Blog About It!

Well, after years of saying that phrase as more of a joke I've finally given into my own impulse and joined the ranks of the blogger elite!

So as a sort of introduction to this bloggy world I've just decided to start out by introducing myself.

My name (or at least the name I've giving) is Nanas. I'm 25 and am currently attending CSUCI for my bachelors in Graphic Design/Illustration. In the meantime I spend my time making things.

I'm a pretty good crochet...er, (knitting makes me angry so I gave up on it) and I like making things with my hands, mainly of the crafty aspect. Although building actual things isn't too far from that.

I'm the families resident computer technician (which is funny cause I don't know what I'm doing half the time) and I'm the electronic specialist of the house as well (I can connect anything technical...it is my mutant power).

I'm a horrible speller, a grand weaver of stories, and I draw like mad!

In a small nutshell that's me. Silly and sweet, but with a stinging silver toungue!

What you can expect from My blog?
Basically everything I love. Things that I've made, things that I would waste my money on, things I've made, recipes I've tried and loved....yeah that sounds about right.

So with that...welcome to my blog!