Wall Art: Personalized Names using Photographs

I know I have not been putting too much work up here on the site, and I promise I've been creating, AND I'm will post them soon!  But tonight I'm going to post another site that I enjoy, and there is a great project that I would like you to see. 

The site is full of great ideas... I mean, it is FULL of Great Ideas!  

The author is Stephanie, a mom of two, and she has lots of great ideas, but I would like to show you a GREAT gift idea that she created.  I'm sure you've seen them for lots of $$$$  in stores. 

Isn't that professional looking?  

Stephanie gives great instructions (she has lots of great tutorials on her site) on how to do this project.  And the cost??   

Only $2.50 for the 12X12 size!! 

What a great project!!  I have ALWAYS loved these collages in stores but never wanted to spend the very costly amount of money needed.  

You need to check out her post HERE.  

(Did I mention you can make this for just $2.50 for the 12X12 size!!)  

 WOW!!!!!!!

Stephanie doesn't take the photos herself, but uses photos from Flikr taken by Leo Reynolds. She gives the links on her site.  Leo Reynolds photos on Flikr.com are open for shared use with very generous parameters (something you need to check into every time you use someone else's photos).  He allows use with attribution. 

Also, check out this site if you need help finding the letters you like - you type in the name you want and it gives you suggestions from Flikr.  But again, I would check on the license for using those images. 

I am certainly going to create some of these myself and when I do, I will post them here.   

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!!!  

xoxo Lori@Kitchenfunk...

A Flowy Skirt

Amidst the graduation party planning, the college graduation ceremonies, and the general hulabalu within our family of 6, I snuck in some time to sew a skirt for myself.  

It was my first time sewing with a very fine, flowing fabric.  This was a challenge! 

The fabric was so thin that I decided to NOT use a pattern but to cut from my own measurements.  I first measured my waist then I added 3 inches.  I knew I wanted this to be full - mostly because it makes it an easier sewing project!  I didn't want to have to had buttons, ties, zippers, or anything but an elastic.   

I then cut across the length I wanted, and I cut down from the waist out about 3 inches to the length, making an "A" line.  After I cut out the pieces, I sewed them together, making a french seam.  

Here is a good tutorial for a french seam.  

After that, I sewed a casing for the elasic at the waist, zig-zag stitched the bottom and folded it up to make the hem.  

I have a blue shirt and a brown shirt I will wear this with.  What do you think?

 I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori @Kitchenfunk 

One of the blogs I LOVE 

and that I HAVE to keep up with is:

Jen is a SAHM who is not only devoted to her family, but is an amazingly SERIOUS and CREATIVE CRAFTER!

I just wanted to post a picture of her recent project, and a link to it. I love it so much! It's on my project list now (and I've moved it up to the top ten). 

Beautiful!

I hope you have the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk

What I Ate Wednesday... and Kids-in the-Kitchenfunk Kitchen

Kids-in the-Kitchenfunk Kitchen

 

It has been a long time since I linked up to Jen's blog!  If you haven't seen it, check it out here:

She has great food ideas, and she does great crafts and decor as well.  

Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me throughout the day, and when I had the time to decide I could participate, all the pretty food I had eaten was finished - that is, my breakfast and lunch would have made some pretty pictures, but dinner didn't.  But I'm playing anyway!  Because one of my pictures is of something AMAZING!!  

First, this is my favorite comfort food...  

 

I couldn't do anything with picnik to make eggs look tantalizing, so I apologize in advance.  

Okay, really my favorite comfort food is liver and onions and mashed potatoes.  But since I don't keep that around the house, and I'm the one that has to cook my own comfort food, it has morphed into eggs and cottage cheese and toast (tonight it was an english muffin).  I don't know what it is about this practically all white meal...

And then --- Dessert!

I had 2 cake balls, one chocolate and one coconut.  The recipe follows - it is so easy and SUPER delicious!

Again, sorry for the picture, but the light was so bad from both sources that I couldn't tweak them to highlight how delicious they are!

I have been making these for our son's college graduation party, but I swear a little elf has been sneaking into my freezer and eating them (and its not always me!!).  

If you would like to make coconut cake balls, I suggest using white cake mix.  And when you are done mixing the ingredients, throw in a bag of coconut!  Its that simple.  However, after using one small bag of coconut, I found I wanted MORE coconut - because I love Mounds bars and they really do taste similar!  

Here is the recipe:

Cake Balls:

Cake Mix (prepared as directed)

4T butter

8oz Cream Cheese

2 C of confectioners sugar

3 t of milk

* * * * * * * * * * *

Bake a box of cake mix in a 9X13 pan as directed. Let it cool.

While it is cooling, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large bowl.  Add one 8 oz block of cream cheese and blend well.  Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, adding it in increments to blend it into the cheese mixture.  Add a few tablespoons of milk if needed to help the process.  You want this nice and smooth.  Put this aside.  

Once cool, crumble the cake into..., well..., CRUMBS, in a large bowl.  This is why this is a great Kids-in the-Kitchenfunk Kitchen recipe!  

Now mix the cake crumbs in the cheese mixture.  

At this point some people might put the mixture into the fridge or freeze for a short time to firm it up, but that isn't completely necessary.  You can judge for yourself.  

When firm, shape the mixture into balls about the size of a tablespoon.  Place them on parchment paper that has been placed over a cookie sheet.  When the sheet is full, place it in the freezer for a short time.  

While you are waiting for the cake balls to firm up, you can begin to heat the chocolate chips in the microwave or double boiler.  One BIG tip I can give you is that you can add a little bit of shortening to the melting chocolate - this will ensure that the chocolate won't get hard too early.  

I find that a double-boiler is easier than the microwave only because I can keep covering the cake balls without having to stop and re-melt the chocolate.  

In order to cover the cake balls I finally discovered that you can use a wooden skewer to stab the balls one at a time, dip them into the chocolate, and put it on the parchment covered sheet again to firm up.  After you have dipped them, try spinning the skewer between your fingers in order to drop the cake ball off the end of the skewer.  If you have a little chocolate missing from the top of the dipped cake ball you can brush a little melted chocolate on that spot, drop some sprinkles onto it, or you can wait until the chocolate balls are firm and you decorate them with icing!

Happy Creating!

I hope you get the chance to get creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk

Again, with the weight loss problems!

Buttercream Frosting, Homemade Bread, and Peppermint Patties! Oh My!

This week my lovely children cooked up a storm. 

The other night Sarah, our oldest girl, 
and our "adopted" daughter (our good friend) Elyse, made this cake, trying a new recipe for  
Buttercream Frosting.  

It was probably the best cake I've had in a long time...

I don't know the buttercream recipe they used, or I'd include it. 

And on that same night, 

they made Peppermint Patties.  

YES!  Oh my, they were amazing!   (recipe below)

Sarah & Elyse got the recipe from Allrecipes.com.  

Don't they look wonderful?  They were...

  And here is the recipe from Allrecipes:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons shortening

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine condensed milk and peppermint extract. Beat in enough confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, to form a stiff dough that is no longer sticky. Form into 1 inch balls, then place on waxed paper and flatten with fingers to form patties. Let patties dry at room temperature two hours, turning once.
2. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate with shortening, stirring often. Remove from heat. Dip patties, one at a time, into chocolate by laying them on the tines of a fork and lowering the fork into the liquid. Let cool on waxed paper until set.

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 183 | Total Fat: 6.5g | Cholesterol: 3mg

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 Dee wanted so much to bake her own Homemade Bread - sans bread machine - that we had to make a special trip to the store to get some fresh yeast. Here is a photo of a slice of the bread she worked so hard to make.  It was delicious!

 

And I can't even go into the brownies Ali just made - because we ate them so fast they disappeared before I could take a picture!

I would now like to thank my children for all the wonderful baking they have been doing, and all the unwelcome pounds I have been packing on...   LOL! 

I hope you get the chance to get something creative!

...from Lori @kitchenfunk

Graduation Pennant Banner

One of the projects I have been working on in preparation for G's party is a pennant.  I LOVE pennants!  You can see that I made this teeny tiny one for my office...  And I admired some here... and here...

 * * * * * * * * * * * *

Finally, it was time to create my own full-sized version.  However, I needed certain colors and I needed to be thrifty with my cashola, so...

$46 later I walked out of Joanne's Fabrics with six quarter yard pieces.  ...ahem, yes, I spent that much!!  (I did buy fabric markers for D and some other things)

Sadly, I can NEVER go into Joanne's & spend $10...

Now, because I had only a certain amount of these fabrics, I decided I was going to have to make the flags a little more narrow.  I think they are fine - ignoring that some of them are wider than others... 

Also, Doogie, my creative 14yo suggested I space them out a bit, to stretch the fabric.  This was a great idea, and it looked terrific.  But her idea was so successful at stretching my flags, that I have flags that don't fit!! 

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori@Kitchenfunk

Weekend ready...

 

I wanted to post because I haven't been doing a lot of posting or crafting lately, as I prepare for our son's party and handle the kids end-of-year activities.  But really it is only to say that I will soon be back in action!  

After all, there can't be too many more nights when your kids tell you, "Mom, I have a banquet tonight" and the other one says, "Oh hey, I have an audition tonight"  and they are both on the same night!  

We've been going like gangbusters here, and to highlight all the activities going on here at our house, I'm posting some recent pictures of one of the activities - Prom 2011...

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk