Mother’s Day is pretty close to my mom’s birthday, so that means I can cheap out and do a combined present!  This year me, and a few of my siblings (the more useful, or procreating ones) gathered our favorite photos of our kids (I almost wrote ‘our photos of our favorite kids! HAHA) and I created this:

A nifty picture frame! I’ve seen these all over the interwebs and I knew it would be the perfect present for my mom! It’s so easy that I just figured it out on my own- so there is a chance that there is a better tutorial online, but it probably isn’t as funny as this one, so don’t bother searching. Heh.

Let’s get to business! You only have a few days to make one! Although, I’m sure you could use this as a gift for anyone. Who knows? Maybe your mom isn’t the best, and you don’t want to make her a sweet display to show off her 13 grandchildren. Well, if that is the case you should go to family counseling  make one for yourself.

All you need to create this cool display is a big, empty frame (which you can find at any thrift store for cheap!), some string (I used some pretty white and green cotton, but you could use hemp or twine), some mini clothes pegs (which you can get at any craft store), some hot glue, and some cute pics of your ugly kids. I don’t know why I needed to say that. I’m sorry. That was out of line.

The first thing I did was I marked the spots that I wanted to hang my photos- I used a pretty big frame for this one, and I wanted 4 rows of 4×6 photos to fit. I think this would be really cute with wallet- sized photos on a smaller frame too!

Next I dabbed some hot glue onto the back of the frame in the marked position,  laid the end of the string on top, and pressed my finger into the scalding hot pile.

And then I came up with a safer, better way to do it! I enlisted the help of…

my pal, Buttons.  Buttons sacrificed his life to prevent me from burning myself again and to help keep the string tight and stable.  Just make sure the button doesn’t jut out farther than the frame does, or else you wont have a nice flat surface for hanging.

Keep using this method to attach both sides of your string to the back of the frame, making sure to keep the string tight, and pretty soon you’ll have something like this:

I call this piece ‘Read Between The Lines’ and am selling it for 4500.00. Paypal only, please. Just kidding, let’s move on to the fun part:

Use your mini clothes pegs to hang all your awesome photos, postcards, hamster clothes, etc. I made all these photos black and white and I think it looks pretty cool!

Those are some cute kiddos, hey? It would be so fun to have 13 grandkids. Reason # 34 to have a big family I’d say

There you have it! This is one of the quickest and easiest presents I’ve ever made! I’m sure you can think of a perfect person to make one for. How awesome would it look with photos and other neat things from a vacation or honeymoon?? So many ideas!

Before I sign off, check out my favorite child:

Hehehehehe. >:) Just kidding, I love them all the same.

Happy Mother’s Day-crafting and white-water rafting!

Tired, but happy brain,

~Dot

Some random fish-chick… who was composed entirely out of BUTTONS!

CRAZY HUH?!?!!?!  I was so excited when Christie from buttonlovers.com contacted me and asked if I’d be able to create something like this. Naturally, I said ‘heck yes’ even though I didn’t know if I could. Turns out I could.  And if you follow these simple 63 steps, you can to!! Hahaa there aren’t quite 63 steps, but this is definitely a time-consuming project, and if you haven’t made a button picture yet, I’d recommend that you check out one of my more simple projects first, such as this cupcake tutorial.

Aren’t those delicious looking? They aren’t delicious. They taste like glue.

Back to the mermaid:

If you want to make an image of a famous cartoon (which is not my own design, I am purely a cartoon smuggler, all rights reserved for not me blah blah I don’t know what you are supposed to say yet, but I’m sure I will figure it out on the other side of a lofty law suit, just kidding- hopefully), you are going to need to transfer the image to your canvas, van, or whatever surface you want to button. In order to do the transfer, I printed out an image and a graph.

I drew the graph over top of the image like so, and then I drew a larger graph (with the same amount of squares) onto a large piece of paper, which was the same size as the canvas I would be using. For a more detailed tutorial on how to use this graph method click here. This might look complicated but with a bit of patience anyone can do it!

Next, I slowly began to draw the details of Miss Mermaid onto my large graph, making sure to keep things looking similar. I started with the face details, because those are the most important thing to get right when you are wanting your end product to resemble a certain character, rather than a cheap Dollar Store knock-off. You know what I mean- dolls like those ‘Disneee Princess Girlies’ you can buy for a dollar that are even LESS anatomically correct than their $20 role models.

There! When you have finished that step, you have to transfer the image onto your canvas. I learned a trick that helps with this step when I was a young one, and I will share it with you. This may not be the fanciest method, but it works (and it’s free!):

Hold your image up to a window, flip it backwards, and scribble pencil over the entire outline like this.

CREEPY! Let’s just call this homemade carbon paper!

Next, place the template carbon-side down on your canvas, and begin to trace over the outlines with a pencil.

If you press hard enough, the image transfers nicely onto the canvas!

You might have to go over it again lightly with a pencil, but you get the idea.

Now, let’s add some color to this tutorial- it is starting to get gloomy!

I used acrylic paint to quickly cover this gal in the proper colors. This step keeps any white from shining through your button holes, and it helps guide you along the straight and narrow button way. Whatever that means- you know what I mean. Post-partum brain hiccup.

NOW… the best. part. everrrrr.

BUTTONS

But not just any buttons. Like I said before, I teamed up with Buttonlovers.com to create this masterpiece, and they provided the buttons! (Ummm THIS sounds like the best partnership EVER!! Be very, very excited.) These buttons are from the ’Favorite Findings’ collection by Blumenthal Lansing. You can buy them at Joann.com. (At the time I am writing this- I see they are on sale for 50% off! Snatch em up, buttoners!)

These buttons are amazing. All buttons are amazing, but these ones are perfect for this kind of craft for a few reasons:

1. They have the most beautiful and specific color choices ever! I have had an impossible time finding skin-toned buttons. Because, let’s be honest, why would anyone try to find skin-toned buttons? Unless “Flesh-toned buttons for my creepy sweater-vest” has become a popular Google search item. Which it hasn’t. Although with hipsters these days, it probably has. Actually, let me just confirm that… Nope. I guess I beat them to it.

2. They are a lot flatter than most of my buttons from other random sources. This is a really important feature when it comes to making button mosaics! It is way easier to get fine details and straight lines without a bunch of bulk if your buttons are nice and flat.

3. They are really reasonably priced! You get so many buttons in one pack! They really went a long way and I had plenty left over for future endeavors!

Okay, now that I am done raving about my fave buttons, let’s get to work!

I used hot glue to glue the buttons in place, and I started with the eyes and mouth- I did use a couple of square buttons I had kicking around from my collection to make it easier to get the right shape, but you could definitely stick to the round buttons and get great results!

Since I was using a 16″x20″ canvas, some of the details of the mouth were pretty small, and even with my awesome button selection, I still needed to bust some buttons (hehe) to get it just right. I’ve been learning new tricks with each button picture I create!

*Important notice* Your button art will always go through an ugly phase- where you aren’t sure if it will turn out looking like crud or not- but keep going, don’t get discouraged! You really can’t judge what it is going to look like until it is done

I have to say again… this was so much fun. I was in heaven with all these buttons!

Here are some tips on how to get nice, clean lines with your buttons.

Firstly, button along your outline. (You can see how I did that over her shoulder.)

Then fill in the spaces as best you can, using one layer of buttons. This doesn’t have to be perfect because you will be adding another layer over the spaces soon.) I loved using these big jars of different-sized buttons to do a lot of the filling in.

Let me interject with who I shared my workspace with while I was creating this project:

Once again, I am so thankful to the makers of Play Doh. They have made it a lot more possible for me to be creative at the same time as being a mom!

After you have filled in one large area, start overlapping your buttons to cover up any spaces. Once again, start around the outline:

Such a clean line! Who knew you could get such a straight line out of circles?!?!

I wanted to give her hair a bit of interest and texture, and I REALLY wanted to use these gorgeous flower buttons, so I built up a few sections, and inserted the nub of the flower button into that nice little cavern I created to house it.

Aren’t those beautiful?!?!? They are more like jewelry than buttons!

Is it weird that I am actually jealous of her hair??

Now- onto the eyebrow and facial details…

For these skinny, and very important details, I actually turned buttons on their sides like this. Next time I do something like this I think I would cut the buttons in half, and glue the cut side onto the canvas. That way they would protrude less, but even so, it worked out just fine! See, I’m learning as I go too- I haven’t really found any super-detailed button tutorials around, so come along with me, dear buttoners, as we tread on new territory together! Let’s hug. Not that long. Ew, stop.

Aaand back to the ginger.

Looks a bit freaky, right? Well, don’t you worry your glue-burned fingertips! Wait for it…

Build up the skin-toned buttons around the side-lying black buttons. This creates some extra support!

Carry on with the face detail, working in layers, like you did with the hair, until…

Voila! But it was still missing something…

There! A signature button with a lil heart <3

Done! Wow that sure was an undertaking- but it was really fun and I LOVED exploring the world of these awesome new buttons!!! I don’t think I will ever be the same again!

SO you know you want to try something like this, don’t ya? Like I said before, feel free to check out my more-simple button tutorials, like this elephant one:

Or you can check out an entire album of these crazy critters here. 

Happy Buttoning, fellow button-lovers!

If you’d like to see more of me and my buttons/other nifty ideas (including interjections of craziness), check out my Facebook Page, follow me on Pinterest, take a look at my Etsy Shop, or come visit me in person- 1629 Ceda… nevermind. Thanks for reading!

~Dot

I’m back with a vengeance. Not really, but I am back with something good.

Button cupcakes!!! And, because I have been neglecting my precious blog, I will share all of my secrets!

Firstly, here is what I’ve been doing the past few weeks:

Posing naturally with my precious newborn!

(Thanks Jody Wiger Photography for the awesome photo. She took so many beautiful pictures which I will be sharing soon!)

Though I have been neglecting my blog, I am as active as ever on my Facebook Page, so check that out and give me a ‘like’ if you want to keep up with my crazy brain, and take part in my billion giveaways (I’m addicted to giving stuff away).

NOW! Back to the button cupcake tutorial! This will be kind of a quick one, because I am juggling kids and glue, so if you want a bit more detail, you can check out my button elephant tutorial here. OR for even MORE detail, check out my button monkey tutorial here. 

Let’s get this party started-

Step 1: Design the cupcakes!

Step 2: Create templates -or use mine! if you want! I really don’t mind if you want to snag my ideas and designs. I grew up with 9 siblings, so sharing has never been an issue for me. Although if you do feel like giving me some credit, that would be sweet! I might get annoyed if I find my actual photos on Etsy being used to sell someone else’s stuff though (IT HAPPENED! Hahaa silly people, just use your own photos- mine aren’t even that great!) But anyways, I am honored when people are inspired by my artwork- and I get inspired by other people too, so go ahead and copy away!

Step 3: Lightly transfer the cupcakes onto 8×10 canvas boards. (You can get these at any store that sells craft supplies.)

Step 4: Paint in the cupcakes. (I used acrylics.) This step ensures that the button holes don’t reveal white underneath.

Step 5: Add the first color/layer of buttons- start around the edges.

Step 6: Add the second layer of buttons, making sure to cover any spaces. Start around the edges, adding buttons over the first layer- this helps you get a straight line.

Step 7: Pretty please with a cherry on top. And polkadots on the bottom. Embellish those babies with some finishing touches!

Oh good- the writing is back to normal now! Darn technology.

Step 8: Frame (without the glass- these are 3-D so the glass doesn’t fit!)- My fave frames to use are nice thick, white ones. The gal who ordered these wants to hang them above her stove (CUTE!) So she is going to frame them in shadow boxes to keep them clean!

Step 9: FEED THEM TO A HUNGRY FOX!!!!!!!!

Let me introduce you to Monsieur Fox:

Here he is being hugged between a very small portion of my ever-growing button collection. 

Well I hope you enjoyed that tutorial- and give it a try! While yer here, I have a painting up for sale on etsy (this is a rare occasion because I mainly do custom paintings) So check that out here and save 50 bucks while yer at it!

Happy Buttoning!!!!

~Dot

I HAD MY BABY!!!! Exactly 2 weeks ago I was running up and down the hospital stairs in an attempt to progress my labor and avoid a C-Section! It worked- VBAC success- and check out my reward for 9 months of puking and fatness,  followed by the pain and gore of natural childbirth:

Flora Nightingale- She weighed in at 6lbs 10 oz. and she is like 50 lbs of cuteness!! Worth every minute of discomfort I tell ya!

Now- back to more important matters…

Like pie:

This mini apple ‘tartlet’ was baked in a canning jar lid!!! I saw the idea on Pinterest one day and thought it would be a good opportunity to test out my pal Melissa’s suspicious- sounding pie crust recipe.

Good thing Melissa has some credibility, since she is the master-mind/body behind Buttercream Couture. This pie crust sounds CRAZY- but I trust her with my children, so I suppose that means I can trust her with my tastebuds.

This is a hot water pie crust (WHAT?!?!) and it is all wrong… but it turns out so right! It was SOOOO EASY! Usually pie crust is like alchemy- a tsp of this at this temp or else it will turn into a death potion. But this, my friends, is easy peasy and I will definitely not be buying any more pre-made crusts  putting in all that hard work I usually do to get a perfect pie crust anymore.

Check out the recipe and instructions for this magical crust that will change your pastry-making world forever here. 

Crazy pie crust!!! But trust me, it turns out grand. I actually quartered the recipe because the original makes quite a bit, which is awesome if you want to freeze some pies, but the recipe is super-easy to half or quarter so that is handy dandy.

SIDE NOTE- I am most-definitely going to be trying to make some samosas with this recipe! It’s gonna be good! OH! anddd if you use vegan margarine (or vegan shortening)  instead of lard or butter, this recipe is dairy-free and vegan!

After I rolled out the pie crust to a crusty kind of thickness, I used a cup that was around an inch larger in diameter than the lids I planned on using as a mini springform pan to cut out the circles for my mini pies! I just made a few pies to start- 2 large and 2 small ones to test them out, and I still had enough dough left over to make a glorious (life-sized) lemon meringue pie, which I will share with you later.

Then I pressed the dough into the lids. these look pretty cute when they are ‘rustic’- which means you can do an imperfect job and they turn out great.

Some people might be concerned that a small amount of BPA that can be found in the canning jar lid will leach into the pie crust. I am not one of those people, because I like to live life on the edge, but I did think of an idea for all the cautious fellas out there- I think if you flip the BPA-ish part of the lid upside-down or cover it in aluminum foil, you should be fine. Also, you can use the foil to make a hat.

Moving on…

Prick the bottoms of the crusts with a fork, and place em on a tray in the oven at 350 degrees for around 10 minutes. Meanwhile, you can get started on your fillings!

I just whipped together a super quick apple pie filling. It consisted of one diced apple, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tablespoon honey, and 1/2 tsp lemon juice. Woah- I just accidentally made these apple pies SUGAR-FREE. I was honestly just too lazy to drag the huge sugar bag over to the counter, (I was 8 months pregnant at the time) so I went with the accessible honey. And it worked awesomely- yay for accidental sugar-free recipes!

I cooked the apple filling on medium heat for the 10 minutes that the crusts were getting crusty in the oven, until the apples became tender.

Then I filled the shells up like so. Actually I only filled up 3 of the 4 crusts, because I ate too much of the apple filling while I was waiting. So I needed to come up with a quick mini-filling stat. This was basically an emergency.

I stuck to my new found sugar-free idea and mixed one egg yolk with a tablespoon of coconut milk and half a banana, which resulted in a delish banana cream pie-esque filling.

Now, off to the oven with these under-cooked pies!

Just another 10 minutes and they were done! I cooled them for a bit then ate most of them myself. But first I did a photo shoot:

Like I said before I also made a large lemon meringue pie, and I had enough dough left to make another mini pie!!! So here is the cutest lil lemon meringue pie you ever did see!

AWWWWWW! Why, that is almost as cute as THIS:

Here is big sister Mercie with her new lil sis! After having 3 boys in a row, she was pretty darn excited to finally have a little sister! Actually, she was so excited that she wanted to attend the birth. Here is a photo that might turn you off of the next set of pie photos, but at the risk of that, I am going to share it with you, because I think it is pretty darn cool:

SHE WANTED TO CUT THE CORD! How special is that?!?! She has been swearing that she will be a midwife since she was 3 years old. And so far she is going in the right direction. P.S. they should really pay someone to do people’s makeup in those last stages of labor… Ewy haha.

OKAY, now, if you are still in the mood to see some delicious photos- check out the ‘unlidding’ and cutting of these precious pies!!!

Mmmm. Those were good. I did save the two smaller pies for a couple of my kids who were pretty excited when they woke up to a fairy tea party for breakfast the next day!

Hey, whiiile I’ve got you here- In honor of having my baby I am having a sale at my Etsy shop! Just use the code ‘FLORA’ at the checkout and you will get 15% off your entire order Pretty handy if you are in a baking mood and want to sport some of these stand mixer earrings while you are making mini-pies:

Appliances belong dangling from your ears! These are sure to inspire creativity in the kitchen  (Click the photo to see the listing.)

Well, I have to go cuddle a brand-spanking-new baby!

Happy Pie-Making and Jewelry-Purchasing. Hehe. That didn’t rhyme at all.

Please excuse any typos or nonsense that comes out of me in the next little while. My brain fell out 2 weeks ago.

~Dot

P.S. Ohmigash! Someone just reminded me that tomorrow is Pi Day!!! (March 14th A.K.A.  3/14 A.K.A. 3.14!!) What a strange coincidence! HAPPY PI DAY!! Make some pie.

AREN’T those festive?! After I made them, I logged onto my Facebook, and what did I see? My mom posted this:

SHE HAD THE SAME IDEA AT THE EXACT SAME TIIIIME! (And the same freaking plate!) So creepy. I don’t believe either of us have ever made heart-shaped french toast before!

If you don’t have a french toast recipe, I’ll share mine- I just made it up, and it happens to be dairy-free, but every one was pretty happy with it!

I got a whole loaf of bread and cut it length-wise, so my large cookie cutter would fit!

I stamped out some large hearts (I got most of my cookie cutters from Michaels- there was a Wilton-brand set of 100 on sale. It is such a sweet set- it came with all the letters and numbers, and different sized cutters for almost every holiday!

This made for a lot of left-over bread scraps, DON’T THROW THEM AWAY! I am leaving half of them out on the counter to dry out to use for bread crumbs, and just wait to see what I did with the other half… I will share that after this french toast business is done.

Now to make the custardly goodness, you just need a few simple ingredients. I doubled this recipe, but had left-overs, so I really didn’t need to.

Dairy-Free French Toast (for 12 pieces of bread)

~1 cup of coconut milk (or regular milk)

~2 eggs

~1/2 tsp vanilla extract

~1 Tablespoon honey or sugar

~1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg

BEAT IT UP

Dip the glutenous hearts into the milk mixture, then plop them onto a hot griddle or a frying pan.

I didn’t need to grease the pan because it was non stick, but use a bit of butter (or vegan margarine) if you need to!

Cook em on med-low heat for a few minutes on each side, or until they are cooked through. Slimy, undercooked french toast is gross.

Now that’s a pile of love if I ever did see one!

I’m pretty lucky and have 4 Valentines this year  Let’s see how they appreciated their morning surprise!

“OHHHHHHH!”

“Where are my damn Cheerio’s?”

AND SUCCESS! I microwaved some frozen blueberries for an added class-factor.

Hubby liked em too, but he wasn’t interested in being paparazzied this morning haha!

SOOOO like I said, I made too much custard and had allll those bread scraps left. I decided I would make some bread pudding, which is kind of a boring dessert, but I was in the mood.

Although I thought I’d switch it up and add some extra goodness:

Dark chocolate and orange zest. 1/2 cup of dairy free choc. chips and the zest of one large orange, to be exact.

I added these delicious additions to about 2 cups of bread scraps and about 1 recipe’s-worth of the french toast mixture.

That’s a pretty sight!

After I mixed everything together, I let it get all squishy for an hour before I baked it for 30 minutes (until a knife inserted to the center came out clean) at 350 degrees.

Mmmmmm.

Confession: I hate french toast. I ate this for breakfast. So. Darn. Good.

Well, the babies need lunch, so I’m off!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, I have some thoughts that might be worth sharing. I guess the kids can wait to eat lunch hahah!

I love any excuse to celebrate a holiday. I used to get kinda cranky if my hubby didn’t do something special for me on VDay- even the years that I pretended I was an anti-VDay-er.

Hehehe so true. My friend Katie just shared this on Facebook and I love it.

Anyways, I changed my attitude and expectations, and now my February 14th is always grand!  I switched my focus off of myself and onto my kids and hubster- so I do some special little activities with my kiddos throughout the day, and make some extra special treats for breakfast and dinner.

Yesterday me and the kids made these amazing, fruity, gummy candies from Buttercream Couture  (I’ll post more about these candies in the future!)

I made some little gummy pops by sandwiching a lolly pop stick in between two hearts, and I even made a button candy :’)

And for my husband…

Gummy gun.

This morning I got up early to make the fam these french toast hearts, and tonight I plan on replicating a restaurant dish my hubby brought up in a convo the other day!

Anyways, not yapping to brag, but switching my attitude and expectations has really helped to make this holiday not glum, so I figured I’d share.

You still have time to make these bacon roses for your hubby or friends today!!! DO IT!!!

Happy Cinnamon-Toasting, and Bacon-Roasting!

~Dot

“Pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs.”

Wow. My mind is so bursting with knowledge and my stomach is ready to be bursting with pancakes, so lets get started. And I’ll make these dairy-free in honor of Lent. Just kidding, it’s in honor of me or anyone who can’t digest bovine juice.

Now, feast your eyes on this stack of pancakes (you’ll need to if you want to get the term ‘bovine juice’ out of your mind!)

These are no ordinary pancakes! In fact, I think pancakes are boring and I don’t really chose to eat them. I was spoiled as a kiddo- my mom would usually make us muffins, french toast or pancakes for breakfast, even on school days, and for some reason I’ve just never been a breakfast fan. Oh man I need to tame the A.D.D. in this post- I am in such a rush for you all to see it that I will probably not even edit this. So, pardon the spelling mistakes etc.

Okay one distraction- I got the BEST blog comment ever! It went like this:

“Although I really like this publish, I believe there was an punctuational error near towards the end of your third paragraph.”

I am SO tempted to respond with his grammar errors! But, I wont. I am aware of my lack of English skills, and until I’m getting paid an insane amount of money to write, I just can’t bring myself to do anything but craft, cook, ramble and show off! That being said, feel free to correct my mistakes- I don’t want to look like an idiot!

BACK TO THE PANCAKES (hopefully we will stay on this topic!!!)

The thing that makes these pancakes extra special is the cinnamon swirlyness.

OH MY GOSH my 1 year old just got into his poopy diaper. So much for not being distracted and posting this recipe ASAP! You probably don’t want to hear about poop while reading this delicious tutorial- but oh well, it is the story of my life. All  I have to say is that 1 year old poop-messes are SO much better than 7 year old autistic poop messes.

Speaking of autism, check out the sweet fundraiser that my sons AMAZING school organized to raise money for autism services!!! It is a great auction, with lots of awesome handmade things to be won! I’ve even got a couple of items up there- so check it out HERE! 

I can’t believe that I just went from pancakes, to poop, to an autism fundraiser. This, my friends is the story of my life, all between stirring pasta sauce and gluing buttons onto a very special painting. I love it, and I hope it at least entertains you a bit

I got the recipe for this cinnamon mixture from this sweet blog. She made some pretty spectacular cinnamon roll pancakes and has a great recipe for cream cheese icing to put on top- but we are doing something a little bit different here.

For the cinnamon swirlyness, I mixed up:

1/2 Cup vegan margarine, just melted (which is dairy free- but you can use butter if you can handle milk products)

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon of cinnamon

Then I stuck it all in a baggy, tied it off and cut a small bit of the tip off:

And I took a cruddy picture, and didn’t even photoshop the marinara off of my stovetop because I am in such a rush to get these pancakes in your belly STAT!

I stick this baggy of goodness in the fridge for around 5 minutes to harden up a bit while I am making my pancake batter.

Now, the batter you chose to use doesn’t really matter! Heck- you could even use a mix! Really- the added swirl and icing will make these awesome no matter what you do! My personal fave pancake recipe comes from America’s Test Kitchen, and you can check that out here. 

To make them dairy-free I just sub almond or coconut milk for the cows milk, and I use my handy vegan margarine in place of butter.

Next, I use my 1/3 cup measuring cup to plop some batter on my griddle like so:

…and once you can see some little bubbles popping through the top of your pancakes, you are ready to swirrrrrl! Your first few might be ugly. Give those to the kids and make them feel special for getting the first ones.

Create a pretty swirl like this, making sure to keep the cinnamon mixture away from the edge of the pancake to avoid a mess (although these will still be delicious tasting no matter how sloppy you make them!)

Flip them as carefully as you can, and let them do their cooky thang for a few minutes, or until they are cooked through.

What a gorgeous stack of pancakes! Shrove would be proud! Haha.

CROSS SECTION:

Drool. Though it needs some icing for sure, and I have to say that my mom used to work at a cinnamon bun store, and I have natural skills for this kind of thing, so here is my favorite cinnamon roll icing recipe:

(And another cruddy photo!)

Cinnamon Roll Icing

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of icing sugar

2 tablespoons of melted butter (I used vegan margarine to keep it dairy-free)

1 tablespoon of milk (I use almond or coconut milk)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

Mix until it aint lumpy and spoon over warm pancakes (or double the recipe and use it for normal cinnamon buns!)

OH GOLLY GOSH ISN’T THAT PERFECTION?!?!?!?!!

Just let it melt for a second:

Oh baby. Yes.

Well, I am shutting off my mind and ending here so I can quickly share this with the deserving world!

Happy Pancake-Shroving and Fat Cell-Loathing

Hehehehe.

~Dot

I made this lil guy as a present for my Nephew, who should be arriving anytime now! My brother in law, Gabe, painted this sweet mural for the baby’s nursery, and as soon as I saw it I knew a button monkey needed to be added to the walls!

Eek so cute! Look at the lil guy peeking over the crib!

Is it bad that this idea makes me want to paint something strange creeping over my baby’s crib?!?! Something like… this guy:

“Hello, sleeping chiiiild.”

Hehehe. Oh. Hi, Salad Fingers!

ANYWAYS, back to the cute wittle monkey…

I sketched up a drawing of the monkey  onto a piece of card stock.

Feel free to steal this ‘template’ if ya want! Maybe one day I will learn how to make a real digitized template, but for now, I hope this works!!!

I sliced up the template and turned it into a stencil, which I can use for years to come!

Then I transferred the stencil, along with some details onto an 8×10″ canvas board. Sometimes I use mat board too- heck, I’ve even used a cereal box!

Next I added a quick coat of paint to Mr. Monkey, which did not have to be perfect- it is just to make sure that no white background shines through the buttons in the end.

Now it was on to the buttoning!!!! I sat my fat, pregnant self on the couch, and got ready… I can’t believe I’m already 35 weeks pregnant! Baby #5 sure went a lot faster than the first four!!!

For this lil guy I used some dark brown buttons, and some very cute light wooden buttons that I got from a friend! I’ve seen them at certain dollar stores too.

Step 1 with the buttoning is to work on the first layer. Start around the edges, getting as close as you can to the outline of the particular area you are covering. Then move to the inside. I use a glue gun to do this step, even though I’ve burned myself so bad with it recently- I’m telling you, glue-gunning should be classified as an extreme sport. Check out this blister:

It doesn’t look that bad, but it went all second-degree on me! Check out that sweet lil horse while yer at it

Back to the monkey… again….

After your first layer of buttons, which is meant to cover as much space as possible without overlapping anything, start using more buttons to cover up any of the background and to straighten out the edge lines. Check it out:

Aw, his little tummy. I try to keep it to 2 layers- I’ll use three layers if I need to, but if you try to find buttons that are a good fit, 2 layers should be doable!

Since this monkey was made up of different color sections, he was a bit more challenging to do than one of my more simple button creatures, such as my elephant. So if you are just starting out, I’d recommend that you try your hand at a more simple critter- Here is my tutorial on the button elephant. 

These button animals can definitely take some button-hunting skills to find the right sized/shaped buttons! I found some neat oval-shaped ones which worked perfectly for his tail!

You should also notice that I marked off lines where the frame was going to hit the monkey- You can’t frame over buttons, so if you are making a button creature that is going to hit the edges of the frame, be mindful of where to stop buttoning!

I even used pliers to snap a few buttons (busted buttons- what!?!?!) to make a nice, clean edge for the frame to hit.

AND I WAS ALMOST DONE!!!

For the eyes, I used some more BUSTED BUTTONS like that, then covered up the bottoms like this:

There are lots of neat little tips and tricks I’m learning as I go about how to make these buttonly creations. Oh, spell check, put your red squiggles away. Don’t tell me ‘Buttonly’ isn’t a word!

After his nose and mouth were done, he was ready to frame!!!

He was pretty excited. He has no idea that I plan on suffocating him in bubble wrap, then shoving him into a tight-fitting box, only to be man-handled by the friendly, not-friendly workers of Canada Post.
I think that turned out pretty well!

I hope you try your hand at using buttons as your weapon of choice in your next DIY project!!!

While we’re here, check out some of the other button creatures I’ve been breeding over on the Facebook Album I’ve devoted to this awesome zoo. And ‘like’ my page while you’re at it- I could always a confidence boost

OOH! Reminder! I have a Valentine’s Day sale going on at over at my Etsy Shop- Use the code ‘VDAY20′ at the checkout to get 20% off your entire order!

Buy yer lover something like this:

Or, better yet, these:

Cuz why wouldn’t you want weapons dangling from your ears?

“What do these have to do with Valentine’s Day?”,  you ask?  Arrows are so… 1700′s… Cupid needs to catch up with the times. Or at least the he needs to catch up to the Wild West.

Although, I do have some pretty cool Arrow Jewelry too.

And on that note,

Happy monkey-making, and booty-shaking. You do that on Thursday afternoons, right?

~Dot

This is the best angel food cake with strawberry cream… it’s perfection.

I ain’t no food blogger, but I like food, and the consensus was that I should share a food post on my neglected-for-over-a-week blog, so I chose something glorious! Maybe get used to the blog being neglected for a bit because I am only SIX WEEKS away from squirting out baby #5!!!! That went by way too fast! Can’t wait to meet Miss Flora Nightingale

Although, I have mastered the womanly art of breastfeeding while using the computer- a must-have skill for todays’ distracted busy mother haha- so maybe I will have MORE time to share my creative endeavors with you all. In any case, let’s make the best cake you will ever sink your chompers into.

I suppose you could use a boxed mix to make the main part of this cake- the strawberry cream will make up for it a bit, but I am the queen of lazy, and even I think it is a good idea to make the real thing!! This means a whole dozen egg whites, but it is so worth the extra effort- and it’s always good to learn some new skills!

I use a sliiiightly modified version of America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for angel food cake- Click that link for the recipe, along with some more-detailed instructions on how to make this fluffy mountain of love. The original recipe in my cookbook called for almond extract, but I like it better without, also, I can’t be bothered to buy cake flour, so I just make my own- it’s easy peasy and works just fine! And I don’t grind my sugar superfine- and I’ve had perfect results… So I’m lazy… and  sometimes it works out

Beat your egg whites and cream of tartar for around a minute, until they are bubbly, then add half of your sugar, and beat for a few more minutes until soft peaks form- they should flop down off of your beater like they do up there ^^^

I really don’t know how else to explain what your egg whites will look like when they reach the right stage, so I took a photo that I think will be of help:

Dinosaur battle.

Dino lost.

It was sad

After you clean dinosaur blood and ammo from your counter, gently fold in your flour mixture until it is just nicely incorporated.

Spoon your batter into an UN-GREASED angel food cake pan, smooth off the top, and hit the pan on the counter for a second, to kill any bubbles that may be hiding inside.

Bake the cake. And put on your pretty shoes:

Add a filter to the photo to disguise the fact that you don’t shave your legs…

To prevent the cake from falling, balance it on a wine bottle or something of the sort while it is cooling. Let it cool for around an hour. Waiting sucks, so do something fun like this while you are waiting.

While the cake is cooling, you could also get started on the strawberry cream… that makes more sense than starting a new project, but I like to multi-task for mental health purposes

This recipe is from my brother in law Richard. I don’t know why, but me and my fam call him ‘Uncle Richard.’ So thanks, Uncle Richard for this recipe. And readers, please don’t be put-off by the fact that this is Uncle Richard’s recipe- I know ‘Martha Stewart’ sounds more trustworthy, but you will soon be praising the name of Uncle Richard.

Get yourself an 8 oz tub of defrosted, frozen strawberries in syrup (hubby got raspberries accidentally but they worked fine too), and strain the liquid into a small pot, and set aside the berries for later.

Add one package of unflavored gelatin, or Gélatine as they say in french apparently, and heat and stir until the gelatin has dissolved in the berry syrup. Add the syrup back to the berries, and refrigerate to cool, until your cake is ready to decorate!

Whip up 2 cups of whipping cream with 1/4 of a cup of sugar, (you might want to do the dino battle test again) and fold in the cooled berry mixture carefully, but thoroughly.

Man I wish I could eat that again! I bet the dairy-free option of coconut milk ‘whipped cream’ would be amazing with this cake- I will have to try that some time!!

After you’ve loosened the cooled cake from the pan (just use a knife to slowly release the sides), slice it in half like a big, sweet bagel of amazingness, and pile it high with the strawberry cream.

Put the lid on, and give this cake a generous full-body spa treatment with it’s strawberry cream mask. It’s really good for closing the pours, and the antioxidants in the berries will add a good 10+ years to it’s life. Too bad this cake is destined to be demolished within a day.

Don’t you forget to ice the hole. That picture is creeping me out a bit, so let’s try a different angle:

MMmmmmmmmmm

Yeah, it tastes as good as it looks- maybe even better. This is the kind of cake that you could eat half of. It is pretty light and not too terribly sweet. I am making a peach berry pie today- and while I’m eating it I will be thinking about this cake the whole time. Shhh.

Well, I hope this has inspired you to try something new!!! Save those extra 12 egg yolks to make some lemon curd or hollandaise sauce or something like that.

This would be such a perfect cake for Valentines Day, dontcha think????

Cheesy segue (which is apparently how you spell ‘segway’) warning: SPEAKING of Valentines Day, check out my new Valentines Day collection of neat jewelry I listed on Etsy! You will find something for everyone- even the anti-valentines.

Here is one of my favorites:

This is a suuuper tiny and dainty bracelet- the heart charm is smaller than the eraser on a pencil and the chain is baaasicallly microscopic.

My absolute personal favorite piece would have to be this creeper though:

Why is this huge cockroach accessory in my Valentine’s Day Collection? Because not everyone loves this gushy holiday! This 2.5 inch roach falls from a 24″ sturdy chain, right at cleavage level, where it seems like he would perch and lap up sweat. Sorry for that.

ANYWAYS,

Happy Strawberry Creaming, or at least Angel food Dreaming

~Dot

Look at this kid! He is legitimately the cutest child who has ever graced this green earth.

Look at those eyes!

Because of Asher’s autism (oh I am pulling the autism card today!) he is non-verbal, and has a hard time communicating in general. I wish I could know what he wanted for his Birthday, but there is no way for me to tell. So I went with chocolate. And robots. What 7 year old boy wouldn’t love these?!?!?!

More on Asher later, let’s focus on these cuppycakes!

I love me some melting wafers, and if you saw my 12 Days of Christmas Snacktivities series, I’m sure you picked up on that! It is so easy to make nifty candies and cupcake toppers with them! All you need to do is get yourself a cool silicone mold, (I got this one off of Etsy- the American shop I got it from is sold out, but you can just search ‘robot mold’ and a bunch of options will come up!) melt some chocolate, then set it and forget it! Well, don’t forget it…

It’s pretty easy to melt chocolate… but you can mess it up badly. You need to microwave the wafers or chocolate chips in a microwave-safe container in 20 second intervals, stirring each time, until they are JUST melted. Make sure you even have a few small unmelted bits left- those will melt when you stir it up again!

Spoon your melted chocolate into your mold. It doesn’t have to be purdy, you can trim off any random scraggler chocolate after it has set. Next let the chocolate harden. If you are in a rush or impatient, you can place it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes, but if you have time, just let them set at room temperature. Sometimes the chocolate gets an imperfect look to it after it’s been cold.

Now release your robots from the mold! Gosh those are cute. I happen to be working on a (very strange but lovely) painting that features a robot, and I got some of the inspiration for him from these little guys!

Now all you need to do is make some chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream (I learned all of my cupcaking skills from my good friend Melissa, of Buttercream Couture.)

In fact, I am going interject with my favorite photo of her and I:

Hehehehe. That’s when we did a little collaboration on the button tree cake! She made the most perfect cake- look at it! My job was to stick a button tree on it using the fondant twigs and buttons that she had molded and colored ever-so-perfectly. You can check out some photos for that project on my post about it here. And you can read about our gushy friendship on her post about the cake here.

BACK TO THE CUPCAKES!!!

Top your chocolate cupcakes with your robot family, and wait in anticipation for your Birthday boy to wake up and see them!

I deployed this robot army to my son’s awesome school.

I decided to give him a cupcake for breakfast… Let’s see what he thought of that idea…

…curious…

…hmm…

…interesting…

And he proceeded to just poke at the buttercream a bit ahahah. At least he enjoyed the robot!

Some turkish fruit bread made him happy eventually!

Note the half-haircut. Sure it’s stylish-looking, but it is actually just impossible to give him a whole haircut! Hahaha. Oh well, he pulls it off nicely!

PS. I tried to convince him to eat the cupcake by doing this old trick, which if you haven’t seen yet, you will be glad I showed you!!!

Now THIS is how to eat a cupcake! just rip the cupcake in half, and sandwich it together like that! It is so much easier to eat- and pack up for that matter! You get a more proportioned icing-to-cake ratio in every bite, and it is wayyy less messy!

Gosh this post has been incredibly A.D.D. Sorry!

Finally, let’s get back to Mr. Thrasher:

He loved his Birthday present so much, and I bet he is going to have such a great day at school. He goes to an amazing school for kiddos on the autism spectrum- Mosaic Learning Center in Victoria.

This great school is taking part in the biggest Autism event on Vancouver Island in April (The YAM Autism Walk) and is planning an online auction to raise funds to support the walk and a broad range of services and resources for children on the autism spectrum.

If you have a crafty business, a product or a service that is auction-worthy, and would like to donate it to this cause, please send me an email at dotfalcon@gmail.com. And thank you soooo much in advance and to all the awesome people who have already donated! All businesses will be recognized for their support on the auction item list on the auction’s website, which I will be sharing like a madwoman over the next couple of months

Anyways I hope everyone is having a lovely Asher’s Birthday.

Happy Robot-Army Deploying/Digesting!

~Dot

I’m a big Pinterest fan. It is the perfect place to organize and store ideas, and get new ones! Last Summer, I came across a Pin that captivated me instantly.

This was the intriguing photo:

Here is a ‘soap cloud’ and you can find the original tutorial (which is awesome) here. It looked like such a fun and easy idea, and it would occupy the kids for a while, so I knew I needed to try it out!

I got my bar of ivory soap ready…

put it in the microwave, and waited for the magic to happen.

It started off pretty neat!

It doubled in size, I just needed to wait for it to get BIGGER and FLUFFIER!

But it didn’t… so naturally, I kept microwaving it…

And then it lit on fire. Like, real fire.

And I’m sure you can imagine the horrible smell/smoke that filled my house! I should have taken pictures of the amount of smoke there was. Actually I shouldn’t have. That would have been an even bigger fail haha. “Mom there’s a fire in the kitchen!” “Obviously! That’s why I have my camera out!”

I took the plate to the sink to cool it down. My expectations were dashed… but after the soap cooled down and the flame was tamed, I thought I’d see if my son would still be somewhat impressed…

He was not.

He was all, ‘Mom, what the heck?”. Um, you’re the one wearing pink spandex, kiddo!

Yes he went through a pink spandex phase. And I let him, not to make any type of statement, but because I couldn’t bring myself to care. And I don’t have television, so I need all the entertainment I can get, right?

I do plan on attempting this neat idea again- I guess microwaving chemicals for kids can be kind of hit-or-miss. But instead of blaming the original idea-sharer for the fact that it didn’t work out, I think I will blame the fact that my soap was really, really old. And I suck at following instructions. My sister tried this and it worked great for her!

Well, I have plenty more crafting fails in my vault, so perhaps this isn’t the last you’ll see of my screw-ups! Of course you remember this beauty:

When I fail, I fail good. Bad. Whatever.

Happy Crafty Yearning and Chemical Burning!

~Dot