I'm Obsessed with Owls, and I'm Obsessed with this Bag!

Take a look at that zipper pull... 

It's the new GC1 Maria bag from Greta Cavazoni! Her entire line is inspired by the feminine qualities she admires most, wisdom, Independence and sexiness... and OWLS! The whole line is gorgeous, and Fab.com is having an exclusive sale on the whole line! Go check out the other bags. You know you want one too! 

Fab.com is one of these "members only" sites, so you will have to sign up to see the line, but they don't sell your info or spam you, so it's safe to sign up!

Oops I Did it Again... Lemon Poppy Cake in a Mug...

I really really really wasn't going to make another cake in a mug so soon. I certainly didn't think I would be posting two blogs in a row about cake in a mug (for blog aesthetic purposes). As a matter of fact, I wish I had never even heard of it. This cake has been haunting me every waking hour and creeping into my dreams. Every time I have a spare 5 minutes or so, I find myself thinking "I could be making/eating a cake right now".

But since my Three Minute Miracle Rocky Road blog has been cruising around Tumblr at the speed of lightening, I thought it best to make sure microwaving a cake is as easy as I purported it to be... And created this Lemon Poppy recipe to test my claims.

Three Minute Lemon-Poppy Cake-in-a-Mug

• 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
• pinch kosher salt
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla
• zest of 1 lemon

Stir well and microwave for 3 minutes, let cool for 1 minute, then tell everyone within earshot how totally awesome you are! I also added 1 tablespoon chia seeds to mine for optimum om nom nomness. I used skim milk for this one, and prefer to use canola oil, but use what you have handy! This is about "doing it on the fly". If you are going to obsess about proper ingredients (and proper measuring), you might as well bake a "real" cake.

Oh... The icing... It's a simple cream cheese icing...

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese
• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• pinch kosher salt (optional)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)

Microwave the pat of butter in a small microwaveable bowl (I used a soy sauce bowl) for 10 seconds until it softens but doesn't melt. Add the cream cheese and microwave for 5 seconds (it might pop and explode and gets really hot so be careful). Stir until these 2 ingredients together until completely incorporated. Add the powdered sugar, salt and lemon zest and stir until you have a lovely creamy glaze.  You can leave out the lemon zest and add some vanilla seeds or a pinch of  cinnamon... This glaze is highly customizable, as long as you have the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar. I like to add my glaze to the cake while it's still warm so it oozes down between the cake and the mug and soaks into the whole cake. Mmmmm.... Cake.

 Must. Have.

Cake.

The Three Minute Miracle! Now in Rocky Road Flavor!

I Made it to the Front Page of Etsy!

 One of my plush Dachshunds made it to the front page of Etsy on February 13th! The featured treasury had a gorgeous collection of Valentine's Day goodies, and was created by Lavandulasart. It's the first time anything from my store, crashandcarry, has been featured on Etsy!

The puppy that appeared on the cover of Etsy is  Pinkie, and she's made of a vintage linen cotton blend upholstery fabric with a gorgeous hand screened Victorian fan pattern in beiges and pinks :) You can see Pinky's Etsy listing by clicking this link. Go take a peek!  It really was an incredible thrill to find out my item was on the cover of Etsy, and I'm hoping it will happen again someday! Thanks so much to Lavandulasart for creating such an eye catching treasury!

My Orange Tartan Pillow is in a "London Hotel" Etsy Treasury!

My orange tartan plaid Punk Rock Pillow is in an Etsy treasury by Jen8675309 called London Hotel! It's a really great treasury, so go check it out!

Buttons, Buttons Everywhere, but Not a Drop to...

Oh Dear Deer! 

A new pillow! This one was a long time in the making, as many of my pillows are.  I started these about 12 years ago, when I had intentions of making them into zippered pouches entirely covered in buttons, glass beads, sequins, paillettes, crystals and pearls. WITH a boarder of faux pearls... And with all that hand sewn on, boy are they heavy! So why not make pillows out of them instead?

I'm really into the woodland creatures movement that's so popular in home decor lately. I added a lovely antlered buck head to the center of the vintage natural slubby silk for added pop. Not that the fabric needed any extra pop, since it has lots of silver lurex strands running through it!  

I plan on making a few more pillows like this one in the future- and maybe using colored thread for more interest. If you would like to see a few more pictures of this deer pillow, please take a peek at my Etsy listing! It goes perfectly with the deer pillows in the Woodland Creatures section of my Etsy store, so take a look there to complete the look!

Snow day!

We had a snow day last Thursday. And... I had some spare time... So...

I made cupcakes.

And they were gooood.

Weenie!

I'm finally getting around to posting new plush Dachshunds to my Etsy  store :) This is Lily, and she is very pleased to make your acquaintance! Se's extremely proud and fiercely loyal, but can be quite stubborn at times! You can take a closer look at here, or in my Flickr account!

She is hand made from a lovely hand screened vintage English floral chintz in pastels on pink Egyptian cotton. Her entire body is sewn with vintage Kismet mercerized cotton thread. Lily's nose is soft leather and her lovely bow is made of vintage stock French wired ribbon in a blue to mint ombre :) Wanna take her home?

Who Wants Cupcakes?

 

My little one had a birthday this month, and as a serial overachiever, I NEEDED to make the best cupcakes her class had ever (or will ever see).  This year's theme was nautical, so I headed over to Bake it Pretty to check out my options.

I learned about Bake it Pretty when i was doing research on making cupcake bath bombs. I read tons of blogs and tutorials, and Little Birdie Secrets recommended extra large icing tips from Bake it Pretty, and I've been buying almost all of my decorating supplies from them ever since!

Now I have a confession to make. I really am a fantastic baker, but I'm usually seriously pressed for time. I have no issues with using store bought cake mix in a pinch, and this is exactly what I did for these cupcakes. White cake mix is the best because it usually has really small air bubbles, and makes a firmer cake.  After following the directions on combining ingredients and mixing, I separated the batter into 3 parts, and added green coloring to one batch, and blue to the other (I prefer Wilton's icing colors). I added a spoon of each to the cups and swirled them with a toothpick. Easy peasy!

Icing was just as easy. I almost always make icing from scratch, but I've recently discovered that store bought icing can be tweaked to make something fantastic! For these cupcakes, I took two tubs of store bought vanilla icing and added a few drops of blue and green icing color. I also added a few drops of yummy bubblegum flavoring from Bake it Pretty for a nice custom flavor. I highly recommend LorAnn oils. I even add a drop of these oils to my coffee grinds before brewing a pot of coffee. A little trully goes a long way, and the price can't be beat!

After mixing the coloring and oil into the icing thoroughly, I slowly added powder sugar until the icing was able to hold a peak. I added a little more than one cup of powdered sugar, but be sure to add just a little at a time. Once it gets too hard, there's no way I know of to fix it!

I used my large star tip to ice this sea green deliciousness onto my cupcakes, then started to decorate. I used Necco wafer flavored Sugar Buttercups on some of the cupcakes for the girls, and the boys got pirate rings and sharks. Sticking to the nautical theme, edible Sugar Pearls were the only way to go! And of course, for a little bling, a pinch of Disco Dust (edible Aurora Borealis type glitter) really made these little guys sparkle! I really wish I was a better photographer, because this glitter is like nothing I've ever seen!

  

I purchased the wonderful Meri Meri Mermaid Cupcake Kit from Bake it pretty for the girls, and Wilton's Pirate cupcake kits for the boys.  Bake it Pretty also supplied the adorably scary shark toppers for the boys (I don't see them on the website now, but go ahead and ask if they have any. They're super helpful, and more than likely the sharks are in stock). 

 

And there you have it! These cupcakes really were incredibly easy to make. You just need some imagination and an awesome supplier. Bake it Pretty is absolutely my go-to shop, and I really hope they become yours too! I really couldn't have made these cupcakes without them! Please be sure to send me a message if you make anything using their product. I would love to see what you create!

Tiger Pillow Made with all Vintage Materials

 

I just finished this glamorous pillow and wanted to share it right away! I used some really rich materials on it, and so far, it's getting rave reviews!

 

The face of the pillow is made from vintage Italian silk and cotton blend jacquard depicting tigers and leopards standing on scrolls.  It's so Gianni Versace! The detail of this tiger is just incredible, right down to his stripes and eyes! The blue silk background has a very lovely royal sheen to it that really catches the sun.

  

The pillow is backed with with a vintage linen velvet from the famous Lelievre fabric house in France! I had a few different options in blue, but I was lucky to find one that matched the blue of the tiger fabric perfectly.

And the button collection from my Grandma came in handy! I added two of my favorite vintage rhinestone buttons to the large scroll above the tiger to give this pillow even more glamor. There's nothing like digging through the button tin :)

As always, I sewed the fabrics with vintage Kismet American Thread Company threads. Sewing with threads that are sixty to seventy-five years old is a true labor of love, but in my opinion, the threads are stronger and look more attractive than the threads sold today. 

This pillow is for sale now in my Etsy shop. Click on this link to be directed to the listing :)

I'm a Loner, Dottie. A Rebel.

My unhealthy obsession of all things Pee-Wee Herman isn't getting any better.  I wait with baited breath for the new movie. My phone's ring tone is the theme to the original HBO Pee-Wee Herman Show. I still sleep with my Pee-Wee Herman doll. So when I went to see The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway and saw his new Schwinn bike parked in the lobby of the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, I snapped a few pics for closer inspection.

I saw that he has a playing card clothespinned to his saddle bag.  I decided that if I didn't do this to my bike, I might die. But what card do I pin to my bike? As a shit picking Virgo, I follow the motto "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right", so I started my research on what card that is. I already have the perfect vintage deck of cards set aside for this project- a nude Gil Elvgren pin-up putting flowers in her hair. This was a promotional item given to my father who was a plumber by a bolt and screw company in the 60's.

I started my research at Funny or Die's "Pee-Wee Goes to Sturgis" video. Watching this video is bitter-sweet for me, because as a tattooed broad, I was selected to go to Sturgis and be in this video clip, but couldn't make it due to family obligations. I sucked it up and watched the video with my hawk eye.

And learned nothing.

My next thought was to contact Pee-Wee's people, but decided not to. I had better keep off their radar, being the obsessed stalker that I was. So it was off to Google to see what information I could find on the bike.

I learned that there was a contest at Sturgis this year in which top motorcycle and bicycle designers made over his iconic 1947 Schwinn bicycle. The winning bike would be auctioned off to benefit The Kids and Chrome Foundation. This wonderful bike I had been obsessing over was designed by Steve "Brewdude" Garn of BREW Bikes in North Carolina. And I found the perfect photo which held the clue to my quest.

There it is! Spoke card! I slapped that picture into Infranview, and closed in on that tire to see if I could identify the suit.

Eureka!

It's a Joker! Of COURSE it's a Joker (duh). Now I have the big decision of picking just which joker I should use. The two cards in my deck are equally lovely. I'm leaning towards the female juggling joker, although the one landing in it's bottom is pretty neat too.

I have the most fabulous Electra Pajama Party  bike in green polka dot (named Dottie, of course), and since I have a leather pouch on my bike, I have the perfect spot to put my card. My daughter gave me a cute little clothespin (because "you like to keep every little thing") and I triumphantly clipped on my card!

Once again, victory is mine :D

Macaron is the New Cupcake

I've created a new Etsy Treasury! Cupcakes are so 2010. Vote Macaron! Click here to be redirected to the treasury for a closer look!

Staind Glass Jiggle!

My sweet tooth has been in overdrive lately, so when I heard about stained glass Jello, I RAN to the store to pick up supplies! This isn't an "eat with a spoon" kind of desert. They're very sturdy, like the "Jigglers" recipe on the Jello box, so you can pick it up, which makes it so much more fun to eat!

 I'm not the biggest fan of the "regular" Jello flavors, so I bought one box each of raspberry, peach, pineapple, melon fusion, and blue mixed berry. You can chose as many or as few flavors as you want though, but 3 boxes (of any flavor) is ideal for a nice, colorful treat.

Ingredients:

3 to 5 small 3 ounce boxes of Jello (or whatever brand you prefer)

2 packets of unflavored gelatin (I used Knox-they come 4 packets to a box)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk -14 ounces (do NOT use evaporated milk)

unflavored cooking spray (optional)

Prepare small plastic containers (one for each flavor) by very lightly spraying the inside of each with cooking spray. You can skip this step if you want to, but it will be easier to remove the Jello after it sets this way. 

In a separate container add one cup of boiled water to one flavored Jello packet and stir until dissolved. Gently pour into prepared plastic container and refrigerate overnight. Repeat with with each flavor.  Do not follow the "regular" directions on the box. That would make the Jello to weak and the treats will fall apart under their own weight.

After the Jello has set up overnight, take a hot, sharp non-serrated knife and cut a grid into your Jello while it's still in the container, making 1 inch squares. Also run the knife around the outside edge where the Jello meets the container for easy removal. Gently turn the container over onto a large bowl to allow the squares to fall out. Repeat with all flavors. 

Prepare a large baking dish (around 12" x 12") by very lightly spraying the inside with cooking spray. Gently sprinkle your mixed colored Jello squares into this pan, but be careful that the squares don't get coated with cooking spray too much. Make sure the Jello squares are spread out evenly. Set the baking dish into the fridge to keep it cold until it's needed again.

In another bowl, add 1/2 cup of cold water. Sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin evenly over the cold water. Do not mix! Allow the gelatin to sit for about 5 minutes (refer to the unflavored gelatin box in case the time varies).  Afterwards, gently pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and stir until dissolved.  Add one can of unsweetened condensed milk, and stir until completely combined. Allow to cool to room temperature.

When the milk/gelatin mixture has cooled, slowly pour into the baking dish, being careful not to disturb the Jello squares too much.  Gently give the baking pan a shake to loosen up any air pockets and be sure to pop any bubbles that might be sitting on top. Gently push Jello squares that are poking up back down so the surface of the Jello is as smooth as possible. Place the baking dish back into the fridge and let the gelatin set up for at least 8 hours. 

When the gelatin has set up completely, cut large squares (3 to 4 inches wide) with a sharp, hot, non-serrated knife. Do the cuts slowly and be patient! Be sure to cut around the edge of the pan to separate the gelatin from the pan. place a large platter on top of the pan, and GENTLY turn the pan over onto the platter. The squares should come out easily. And there you have it! Sweet, creamy, jiggly goodness! Enjoy, and be sure to share!