Saturday, February 28, 2015

Sweet Birthday Wishes

Hello everyone! This week I received my order from Lawn Fawn and couldn't wait to play with all my goodies! This weeks card used the Lawn Fawn Baked with Love stamp set and its coordinating die set.



I also made a cute envelope to send the card in using some spare cardstock I had on hand.



Attention:

Suchi, you are the winner of my Neat and Tangled giveaway . Please contact me to receive your stamp set!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Macaron Bar

Hello everyone! This past weekend I had a great opportunity to take a class on making macarons at Macaron Bar in Over the Rhine.  

I had always heard that macarons were the most difficult dessert to correctly bake, so I'm glad I waited to attempt them until this class.  I highly recommend signing up for a class when new classes open up (they are sold out through April right now- and I totally understand why). 

A few things about macarons you may or may not know:

- Macarons are different from macaroons
- Macaroons are a coconut cookie
-Macarons are a french cookie that has an almond cookie with filling
-The flavor of macarons comes almost entirely from the filling
-They are best if eaten the day after made: then the filling has time to infuse into the shells 




We had a class of 8 people (4 pairs) and one instructor.  The class was set up so the instructor would demonstrate the steps then we practiced on our own while he and an assistant observed our baking. 


First we made the meringue and folded it with almond powder and powdered sugar to create the cookies.  Each pair of students made a different color macaron and we all traded colors and shared our different colors.


While the cookies were baking, we created our ganaches to fill them with. Each pair did a different flavor (and traded and shared again) and we ended up with White Chocolate Rose, Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, and Salted Caramel ganaches. YUM! 


Here is the finished product! Each group got to take home about 4 dozen macarons.  My personal favorite were the Salted Caramel ones! So yummy! 

These have just topped the charts as my favorite dessert!

What is your favorite dessert?



Thursday, February 12, 2015

Valentine's Day Cards + Giveaway Winner

Welcome back! With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to share a few cards I came up with recently.  Keep reading for the giveaway winner below.








GIVEAWAY: 

The winner of last weeks Neat and Tangled Tiny Triangles Stamp Set is...



Suchi, please contact me to receive your stamp set! 


Thanks for stopping by!


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Little Tangles: Watercolor + GIVEAWAY

I am really excited for this months Little Tangles card challenge!



Watercolor is one thing that I always watched other people do and thought "Man that looks easier than most techniques". Boy was I wrong, but I'm glad this challenge gave me the push I needed to keep trying watercolor until I achieved the look I wanted. 

All of these cards were made using Distress Inks as watercolors.  For this technique I just rubbed my ink pad on my craft mat, spritzed some water on the color, and painted with it. I had better luck with this technique than I did with actual watercolors.





I hope that this inspires you to create a card using watercolors! 

Please submit your card HERE.  The winner will receive a Neat and Tangled stamp set of their choice- for more details please visit the Little Tangles blog! 



GIVEAWAY

This week I am giving away the Neat and Tangled stamp set Tiny Triangles (seen below).  Enter to win by posting a comment on my blog below and let me know what your favorite go to technique is to use on a card. I will announce the winner on my blog next Thursday, February 12, 2015.  


Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: 
Origami Map stamp: HERE
Tiny Triangles stamp: HERE 
Thinking of You stamp: HERE
Sparkle and Shine stamp set: HERE