Buttermilk Pancakes and Syrup

I devoured my first buttermilk pancakes and syrup about 4 years ago at Girl’s Camp.  I’d never had them before, and when I saw the syrup I really didn’t even want to try it.  But I did.  And I LOVED it! 

My family also shares the love of buttermilk pancakes and syrup, so the other night I made some for dinner.  (We like breakfast dinner, don’t you?) 

Yum, yum, yum, yum!  All the way down to the last drop! 

Here are the recipes:

Buttermilk Pancakes

4 c flour (I use 2 c wheat flour and 2 c white flour)
2 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
2 t salt
4 eggs
1/2 c melted butter
4-5 c buttermilk
Mix together all the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients stirring until just moistened.  You can thin the batter with more buttermilk if desired.  Makes 24 large pancakes or 36 medium ones.

Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 c buttermilk
3/4 c sugar
1 c butter
Boil for 1 minute and then add 1 t vanilla and 1/2 t baking soda.

It looks like this.

See that foam way up to the top of the pan?  It will rise all the way up there as soon as you add the baking soda, so make sure it’s a large pan!

I used to go buy buttermilk each time I wanted to make this, then found this one day in the flour/sugar isle.

It is much cheaper, though you have to whisk a little bit harder to make sure there are no lumps.   As far as taste, I can’t tell much of a difference.  Follow the measuring directions on the back of the can.

Now, go try some of these delicious culinary creations! 

Happy Creating!

Cards From the {Ally’s Wonderland} Collection

For my most recent round of card-making, I decided to use a collection of papers for the whole lot.  I had quite a bit of scraps from the Ally’s Wonderland collection by SEI—it’s cute, flowery, colorful and very versatile.

To make the paper circle flowers, just punch out four circles the same size, fold two times and adhere to a background.  I used a slightly larger circle on some of them.  Then punch a hole in the middle and secure with a brad.  You can see a side view on the top right.

The bottom row is a bunch of gift tags.  I just cut some scraps 2 inches by 4 inches—these will go nicely with gifts and to just write to and from.  The one on the bottom right, my son made—he was very proud of it!  (There are mostly girls his age around here, so he can use it for the next party he goes to.) 

I used twine on two from the Twinery, card bases and ink from Studio G, and brads and chipboard flower from SEI.  Everything else, unknown.

It was fun to just get out a collection of papers and go to town with it!  As you can see, even though the papers were all the same, you can still make quite the variety of cards with it!  Next round I’m going to be making more boyish cards or birthday cards.  I haven’t quite decided yet….

Happy Creating!

Using Wedding Announcements to Make Custom Cards

I already posted last year that I love to use wedding announcements to make custom cards to give to the newlyweds.  But I LOVED how this one turned out, so I figured that I’d post it here to share.  This is how the card turned out:

This is how it started: 

WAAAAY cute announcement, huh? 

I also used some of it on the inside:

I hope they love it!

Happy Creating!

My entry into Strut your Stuff sponsored by Appliances Online and the Bosch Washing Machines

Book Wreath

A few months ago I came across the cutest tutorial for a wreath made from book pages.  It was love at first sight and it’s been on my to-do list since then.  I made a goal a month or two ago to start doing more of those things that I’ve been pinning onto my Pinterest boards, and this project was long overdue! 

The original tutorial can found here on Living With Lindsay’s blog.  (Such a cute blog full of cute ideas!)

Mine turned out a little differently from hers, but if I’m sure it’s because I rolled my book pages a bit differently.  Because I don’t have tons of uninterrupted time to devote to projects, I stapled the bottoms of my pages as I rolled each one. (After I painted the edges brown.)  I did this in spurts from 2-10 minutes, and I bet it took a little over an hour total to roll my pages. 

Once I had what I thought was a sufficient number, I did the hot gluing all at once.  (And I didn’t paint my green foam wreath either.  I just made sure that it was all covered.)  I started at the back and worked forward as the tutorial suggests.  I did end up rolling about 10 more pages to fill in the gaps—no biggie.

Here’s a couple of close-ups.

  

I love it!

When my hubby saw it, he said, “You ripped up a book?”  He loves books, so I’m sure that was like hitting him in the gut.  This book has been sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust for YEARS…like close to 15.  (Wondering what book it was?  The Chamber, by John Grisham.  When I told him what book it was, he was okay with it.    He’s not a as big of a JG fan as I am.) 

One pinned project down…3,473 and counting to go…! 

Happy Creating!

St. Patty’s Day Pudding Parfaits

A few years ago, my son and I came up with this little treat a few days before St. Patrick’s, and have tried to make it one of our annual traditions. 

These little parfaits are yummy and quite easy to make!  I didn’t take any pictures along the way (my hands were a little busy trying to keep 4 young boys from eating too much in the process ). 

What you’ll need:

Cool Mint Oreos”
One box of pistachio instant pudding  (if you don’t like pistachio flavor, try vanilla with green food coloring)
One box of chocolate instant pudding
Rainbow sprinkles
Whipped cream (which I forgot to buy, so it’s not in the picture)

What to do:

Find glasses or cups to put your parfaits in
Crush 10-15 Oreos
Make puddings
Make your parfaits: A layer of crushed Oreos, pistachio pudding, chocolate pudding.  Do this twice.  On the top layer, add your whipped cream, one Oreo and some rainbow sprinkles.  Let them set up in the fridge for about an hour before eating. 
Enjoy!

Here’s a look at the layers.

Mmmm….so yummy!

And just for fun, this is what we make every year for dinner—ham and cheese quiche, dyed green.  (Like green eggs and ham!)  Then we add whatever green stuff we happen to have.  I did add stuff to my salad after I took the picture. 

 

Happy Creating!

March Pillow Slipcovers

Just a quick look at the pillow slipcovers I made for March/St. Patrick’s Day.  The fabric is from JoAnn’s.  Another simple and easy set.

After I made them, I read somewhere that when you make slipcovers for your pillows, you should use the same measurement of fabric and not adjust for sizing so that they are “filled”.  I will try that next time as the two bigger pillows seem to be drowning a little bit in their covers! 

Happy Creating!

Simple T-Shirts--Without a Machine!

The other day my oldest dropped a plain red t-shirt on my office table.  "Mom, I want you to do something with this shirt."  I chuckled inside.  I love it that my kids think that I am oh so crafty to do something with a plain t-shirt.

After some inquiring, he came up with an idea of what to do--I showed him the t-shirt vinyl that I have in my stash: yellow flocked, light blue smooth and black flocked.  When he saw the yellow, his eyes lit up, "I want a lightening bolt!"  Perfect!  (Of course, I had to make two of them...)

I told him I couldn't do anything with it right then because I'd have to either find a lightening bolt in my Cricut cartridge stack or buy one on the Silhouette store.  (I have the original Cricut and and a Silhouette SD.)  Well, I had an idea--heck, I can draw a freakin' lightening bolt!  Why spend the time searching, then getting out the proper machine when I can just draw it and be done with it?  So that's what I did!

Here's a quick picture recap of how anyone can make a t-shirt with iron-on vinyl--even if you don't own a fancy machine.  If you're good at drawing, you can make any kind of shirt!

• First, cut out the vinyl in the approximate size you want.  (This vinyl came with my Silhouette machine, but my favorite place to buy any kind of vinyl is Expressions Vinyl because they are cheap, fast, and have great customer service!)

• Second, draw your design.  I did it on the back (the white side, using a similar colored permanent marker, because if it's darker it will show through.  Not that I've had any experience with that.  Ahem.), but you can do it on the front (the clear side) too in any color marker. 

• Third, cut out the design.  (Yes, simple designs are the easiest!)

• Fourth, lay out your shirt and quickly iron it for about 30 seconds--to make it warm.

• Fifth, lay your cut out design on your shirt, cover with a rag or scrap fabric.

 

• Sixth, hold your iron on it for 50-60 seconds around the whole design.

• Seventh, watch your kids race around the house as they show off their cool new shirts!

Happy Creating!