I've been away awhile...

But I've been a little busy because this happened in May:

And couldn't be happier!  Details to come :)

Xoxo,
Katie

State Pride

Hi all!  I've been a bad blogger!  I've been gone over a month! EEKS!  And I have so much to share!  Easter stuff(is it even worth sharing?)  Some trips(I've been out of town the 3 weekends out of the past 4!) So a lot of catching up to do Man-friend and my mom have let me know-the ball that I was carrying, I completely dropped! UGH!  But I can do it! :)  I have a pretty cool project to share today that I am doing in honor of the Spring Pinterest Challenge dreamed up by Sherry and Katie!  Nothing like this challenge getting me moving!

A long time ago I originally pinned this beaut:

 

here

Isn't she nice?  I thought i could totally manage it.  So I headed over to the local Home Depot got a chunk of wood, had them cut it down to approx the size I wanted.  I printed out my home state and cut along the borders.  I was careful to do it perfectly, but next I'll know it doesn't really how carefully it is cut out.

In my inspiration, I think they used a foam board covered in cloth with pushpins.  Looking back, this probably would have taken significantly less time.  But I wanted the gritty details of the wood.  Because I wanted a little bit of the grain to show, I spray painted my wood(after a light sand on the edges to get them smoothed a bit).  I centered and taped the state down and then I got to work:

 

Manfriend made me work in the kitchen while I was hammering along the borders.  It was a bit of a work out.  And some of my nails got a little wonky:

 I think it adds a little character: 

 And it was actually really hard to  get them perfectly straight.  I started on the top thinking the straight part would be the easiest, but I think that was a misstep.  Oh well, live and learn.

Then I got to work with my stringing.  I used embroidery thread.  I've seen this done with yarn and I've seen this done with thread.  I thought this was a nice middle of the road material.  And it came in a nice warm color that will work well with colors I have in my bedroom.

It only took me about 30 minutes to finish this part of the pojects.  And I did it while talking with my mom on the phone and talking with manfriend about an upcoming vacation.  The majority of the time went into hammering in the nails.  I'd say if you want a similar project to go faster, I'd go for a fabric on foam or cork board with push pins.

St Paddy's Day Treats!

Man friend and I got an invitation to a festive St Paddy's Day party the weekend before St Paddy's day, which yes was sooo long ago, and like a great little blogger that I am, I am blogging about what we brought to the party the day before the next holiday! Holla!
So what did we make?  Leprechaun Balls(keeping it super classy people) and Mint Chocolate Fudge.  First up, the fudge:

I decided to follow the recipe from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.  I melted the chocolate chips with the condensed milk in the microwave and pressed it in a casserole dish lined with wax paper.

 I melted the white chocolate chips in the microwave with the condensed milk:

 and when it was evenly melted, I tossed in two Duncan Hines frosting creations mint chocolate and mixed thoroughly.

 

Smooshed those bad boys on top:

 

We stuck it in the freezer to get it to harden.  I would NOT recommend this.  They were a bear to cut and I ended up getting a blister on my finger, but we soldiered through bagged em' up and off they went.  Badda' bing' badda' BOOM.

 

 

Next up, Leprechaun Balls.  I used the full recipe from Mom Foodie.  I let Man Friend take the lead here.  He wanted to participate, so what the hell. But ladies, DO NOT LET YOUR MAN HELP WITH THIS RECIPE.  Also, this recipe is for adults only.  If you follow the recipe 4 to 5 would equal a shot.  He went into it with the good intention that more alcohol is best, and I'd say 2 of ours made a shot :) But here's what we did.  

We crushed a box of Nilla wafers and split into two bowls, one bowl got 1/3 of the crushed cookies, the other 2/3s.. did you know you'd be practicing fractions? ;)

In the smaller section, throw in about 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and mix in  the whiskey:

He poured more then the recipe called for(to be honest, neither of us are much of liquor drinkers and were trying to burn through the alcohol as best as we could).

The other larger bowl, we mixed in the Baileys.  We melted more white chocolate chips and mixed in some food coloring and that left us to this set up:

The goal is to begin with the whiskey mix make a small ball then with the Baileys mix, make a flatter circle and wrap the whiskey mix THEN dip/roll in the white chocolate.  Ultimately, this was a fail.  Our mixes were too damp and it was just a big mess.  I got frustrated and basically gave up.  But man friend finished out:

He ultimately just grabbed a little of each and make it into sort of ball and then poured a bit of chocolate on it.  He also renamed these balls as "Shot cookies"
He's just a better person then I am and saw the project through.  I think at the party, the people brave enough to try them liked them, but I'm not sure they were the hit I was going for.  Maybe you all can try them and let me know if you make them any better?

Here he is working his magic :)