Random Creativity

Coconut Cream Pie

January 24, 2012 at 9:52 am | Posted in Food | Leave a comment

My husband asked me to make him a pie this week, and I forgot to pick up fruit when I went to the grocery store yesterday. Fortunately I had some coconut milk and shredded coconut in my pantry, so I decided to try my hand at a coconut cream pie. It was delicious, even without the creamy topping (I didn’t have the required whipping cream or cool whip) although I imagine it would be even better with it. Continue Reading Coconut Cream Pie…

DIY Pantry Lights

January 18, 2012 at 8:21 am | Posted in for the House, thrifty projects | Leave a comment
Tags: Christmas clearance, pantry, pantry lights, rope lights

Our house was built in 1971, and apparently the people who built it didn’t like light. I had a very hard time getting my camera to take a photo of the pantry that wasn’t blacked out – even with all the kitchen lights on that corner stays dark. The after photo really doesn’t show what a huge difference the lights make – when I stuck everything back in I had almost an extra shelf worth of space, since I could see everything and where it was going. Being the ~~cheap~~ thrifty person that I am, I didn’t spend $40 on rope lights for my pantry, or even more for a fancy lighting system. Continue Reading DIY Pantry Lights…

Orange Danish Rolls from scratch

January 10, 2012 at 9:40 am | Posted in crafts, Food | 2 Comments
Tags: christmas recipe, holiday traditions, homemade orange danish rolls

I’m back! Between the holidays, moving, and internet issues related to moving it has been a month since my last post. Sorry! I thought I’d start the new year off with a delicious (although not very healthy) recipe. When I was growing up it was family tradition to have canned orange danish for breakfast Christmas morning – and its something that my family still does each year. In the last several years I have been trying to make some from scratch due to food sensitivities, and through a fluke I think I finally got the recipe down this year. The dough doesn’t need kneading as it sits in the fridge overnight, so all you have to do is roll it out and pop it in the oven in the morning (which sounds complicated but in actuality only takes 10 minutes.) And nothing smells quite as amazing as fresh yeast dough baking in the morning. Continue Reading Orange Danish Rolls from scratch…

Cute Little Puppy

December 15, 2011 at 6:10 pm | Posted in crafts, Handmade Christmas | Leave a comment

I love to make cute little girly things for my nieces for Christmas each year, and today realized that I need to get to work since I have yet to make anything and Christmas is only a little over a week away. This {free} adorable little scotty dog pattern from 2allsorts is very simple, and turned out absolutely adorable! I honestly spent more time choosing fabric and trims than I did sewing. I decided to do a little lacey scarf instead of just a collar to make the puppy seem more girly, since she has blue eyes. I also stitched my niece’s name on a heart – big sister doesn’t like to share, so now there will be no question as to whose toy this is. The pattern didn’t have a nose or mouth, but I thought she looked friendlier with them. Have you ever searched for free softie patterns? I lost an hour this morning trying to choose between all the cuteness.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

December 6, 2011 at 9:27 pm | Posted in Handmade Christmas | Leave a comment
Tags: handmade Christmas gift tutorials

I am very excited to have fully moved out of our little apartment and into a house this weekend! As you can see I am still in the midst of unpacking. Because of that, and because I have new readers this year, I decided to share a roundup of some of my handmade gift tutorials. They only take an hour or two to make, so you have plenty of time to whip up a few handmade gifts since we still have over two weeks until Christmas: Continue Reading Handmade Christmas Gifts…

Papa’s Jambalaya

November 27, 2011 at 7:31 pm | Posted in Food | 1 Comment
Tags: leftover turkey, Papa's jambalaya

We are moving this week, so there will be no crafting and very little cooking going on around here. I thought I would share my husband’s Papa’s jambalaya recipe with you this week – I took this photo of him cooking a large pot full for the family for Thanksgiving this year. If you’ve never tried jambalaya before its a hearty meat and rice dish that is very popular in Louisiana. I have a bag of leftover turkey and a few slices of leftover roast set aside in the freezer to make a batch once we are settled into the new house. Enjoy!

Snickers Brownie Cheesecake Bites

November 21, 2011 at 7:57 am | Posted in Food | Leave a comment
Tags: cheesecake, leftover halloween candy, pumpkin swirl, snickers brownie cheesecake bites

My Aunt Peggy has an amazing cheesecake recipe. It is delicious on its own, and easy to adapt into several tasty variations. I was planning on making a pumpkin swirl cheesecake for our church’s Thanksgiving get together yesterday, but in the craziness of moving I forgot to thaw my pumpkin puree. Since it was late and I didn’t particularly want to run to the store I decided to put that bargain priced halloween candy to good use instead. Continue Reading Snickers Brownie Cheesecake Bites…

Mistletoe Market 2011

November 11, 2011 at 7:25 am | Posted in crafts | 2 Comments
Tags: mistletoe market, selling handmade goods

I have been working at night and on the weekend for hundreds of hours over the past several months in preparation for the Mistletoe Market this Saturday and Sunday. If you are local, and would like to stop by my table, it is in the hotel atrium at the Belle of Baton Rouge. If you aren’t local and would like to buy something use the contact me button here or in my etsy shop to place an order – I am waiting to list items online until after the market is over. We are closing on a house at the end of this month (yay!!) so my goal is to help with closing costs and the purchase of a refrigerator (the house doesn’t come with one, and our landlord owns the one we have been using.)

I made a really cool pop-up card for my brother-in-laws birthday, with ninjas peeking out between bamboo shoots, and took several pictures to share. And I made nifty a slice-form squirrel card for my Grandpa’s 80th birthday the next day that I also took photos of. And then I lost my SD card with 4 months of photographs and several files on it. I have a bad habit of saving stuff to the SD card without copying it to my computer. I brought 2 SD cards to show my parents (who live 500 miles away) pictures of the new house, and my main one must have fallen out of my bag at the campground we met at. It makes me sick to think of all the stuff that was on it, but I am hoping it turns up in my car which I haven’t had a chance to search properly. SD cards are so small, even in a case, and I wasn’t as careful as I should have been.

I’m afraid I don’t have anything else to share with you. I do have a back-up SD card and will start taking pictures for future posts. Its very weird to have a post with only 1 image, but that’s all I’ve got a the moment.

Polymer clay ornaments

November 1, 2011 at 11:25 am | Posted in crafts | 1 Comment
Tags: Christmas ornaments, facebook, handmade Christmas, polymer clay, sculpey

I have been spending hours and hours getting ready for the mistletoe market next weekend – and was kind of burned out on sewing. I love sewing, but after a point I just need a break. So, I pulled out my sculpey clay and set to work making some ornaments. I have had the clay for probably 13+ years – I bought it with babysitting money before I was old enough to get a real job. I usually make the polar bears since they are so cute, but found that the white clay was the hardest to work with. The colored clay is still very supple, so I had fun playing around with it. Continue Reading Polymer clay ornaments…

Happy Birthday Bird Card

October 21, 2011 at 8:12 am | Posted in crafts | Leave a comment

My Dad’s birthday was yesterday, so I used my watercolor pencils to paint him a birthday card. I come from a very crafty family, so we all usually make our own greeting cards, and my Dad hangs them in his office all year. If you’ve never tried watercolor pencils, they’re great fun. Since you can sharpen them, you get super crisp lines (like the letters and birds feet,) that would be hard to paint. You can mix them with regular watercolors, or use them on their own.