Craft Tutorial: Felt TARDIS ornament

I recently discovered Doctor Who and have become a huge fan of the show.  One of the coolest things about becoming a fan of Doctor Who is discovering how many of your friends are already fans of the show!  I had no idea I was missing out on all this magic.  When my friend Claire (who also occasionally writes for this blog!) sent me some super cool Doctor Who goodies from the UK for Christmas, I decided to return the favour with a handcrafted Valentine's Day present.  

Here's how you can make your own TARDIS ornament:

Supplies:
- 1 sheet of royal blue felt
- 1 sheet (or just scraps) of white felt
- 1 sheet (or just scraps) of black felt
- royal blue embroidery floss
- white embroidery floss
- sharp scissors
- glitter glue in black or navy (optional)
- pretty ribbon for hanging (I used sparkly black ricrac)

1. Freehand (or google) an outline of a TARDIS (here's one) and draw it on some white paper.  Cut out two identical shapes from your blue felt (for the front and back of the ornament)

 2. Take one piece and cut out the boxes.  (You'll want one piece with holes cut out, and one piece solid - they will eventually be sewn together).

Cut out scraps of white felt to fit behind the top three windows.

Behind the top three boxes, sew in your white felt using blue embroidery floss.

At this stage, I actually decided to stitch around all the bottom windows as a decorative element.  This step is optional, but I think it looks kind of nice.  :)

Cut out a small piece of white felt as the light at the top of the TARDIS.  Stitch it down with blue embroidery floss.

3.  This is probably the most challenging part.  Cut out a small rectangle of black felt.  Using 1-2 pieces of white embroidery floss, stitch the words "Police Box" - If you're not really an embroiderer (like me) this can be kind of frustrating.  Don't give up.  The crooked letters are totally part of the charm! haha.

Once you've got the letters stitched onto the black felt, use your blue embroidery floss to stitch the entire black rectangle onto the top of the TARDIS.

4.   At this point, you should have something that resembles the photo on the right.  Two TARDIS boxes.  One has the windows cut out and embroidered with the Police Box and light up top.
The other is just a plain blue outline.

Take your blue embroidery floss, and stitch around the sides of both boxes to sew them together.  When you get to the top of the box, stitch in a ribbon to act as a holder.  To make it extra secure, make sure your embroidery floss goes through the back, the ribbon, and the front of the TARDIS.

5.  At the very end, I used glitter glue to add crossbars to the window, and some squiggly lines as script in the third window.
(If you prefer, you could always do this with some black embroidery floss... but I was pretty tired of sewing!)

This is a closeup of some of the details.

Finally, I packed it up with one of my Valentine's Day Doctor Who printable cards and a TARDIS bracelet that I found at Hot Topic.

What do you think?  Easy right?  ;)
Questions? Comments?

If you try this project, link up your pictures or blog posts in the comments below so I can feature them!

World Nutella Day 2014: Pinterest pin tested!

For World Nutella Day (that's today - February 5th!) - I decided to celebrate by testing out one of my easiest recipes on my Recipes To Remember Pinterest board - the 3-Ingredient Nutella Brownie.  Unfortunately, this does not in any way fall into the "paleo" or in any way healthy category... but if you're looking for an easy and delicious treat, this pin is definitely approved!

With only three ingredients involved (nutella, flour and eggs), this recipe had the potential to be either REALLY good, or REALLY bad.

Thankfully, it turned out to be really good!  The ingredients are all things I had on hand, so it was easy to just pull everything out and not have to worry about shopping for anything special.  If I'd had nuts or chocolate chips, I might have mixed them into the batter, or put a few on top.  But they tasted great without any additions at all!

The batter was a little bit sticky, but easy to work with.  And once they were in the oven, the entire house smelled divine within 15-20 minutes!

My brownies only needed about 25 minutes to bake (and even then, I could have probably taken them out a minute or two earlier to get that gooey centre!), but they were perfect with an afternoon cup of tea!

They puffed up nicely after being baked and they looked and tasted awesome!

Future serving options:
- with vanilla ice cream and maybe some raspberry coulis
- with fresh strawberries and whipped cream
- with nuts or chocolate chips mixed into the batter.

So many other ways to serve this!  How would you do it?

Happy World Nutella Day!

Halloween Oreo Peanut Butter Brownies

Yes, you read that title right. :)

This is a chocolate lover's dream and the recipe is super simple! I made these to thank one of my Howl-O-Scream co-workers for being incredibly helpful to me during our dress rehearsals.  I hope you'll pardon my somewhat unscientific way of making these.

Ingredients:

- Halloween Oreos (or regular Oreos, your choice)

- Peanut Butter

- Brownie Mix (I used a 13 x 9 mix, that yields about 8-9 good, big brownies - an 8 x 8 mix would likely get you a good half dozen)

- Eggs  *for brownie mix

- Vegetable Oil  *for brownie mix

- Muffin Tin

- Non-Stick Spray

Directions:

- Open Oreos and the peanut butter - and be sure to check the Oreos for quality! ;)

- Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on one side of two Oreos; stack this and place to the side

- Repeat this until you have at least 6 stacks - you can make more stack later if you have enough mix

- Preheat oven to temperate recommended by brownie mix - this was 350 for me

- Prepare brownie mix according to mix instructions

- Spray muffin tin generously with non-stick spray

- Place Oreo stacks in the center of each muffin cavity

- Carefully pour mix over the stacks, covering completely (I use a large spoon to do this)

- If you have leftover mix, make more stacks!

- Bake for at least 25 minutes - the mix instructions don't really have recommendations for making brownies in a muffin pan

- Using a toothpick, check for doneness of the brownies on the sides (otherwise, you'll just hit the Oreo cookie!) - if the toothpick isn't clean, leave the brownies in there for a few more minutes (but don't forget!)

- Slide the brownies out of the muffin tin and let cool

- Enjoy!

Other Questions:

Can I use Peanut Butter Oreos/Winter Oreos/Double Stuf Oreos?

Yes! You can use whichever Oreo cookie you like best, if you think they'll go well with the peanut butter and brownie mix! Just make sure to cover the cookies with batter if you go with the Double Stuf ones!

What peanut butter should I use?

Creamy peanut butter is the easiest to spread, but if you like crunch peanut butter, go for it!  Totally personal preference!

Can I make these in a cupcake pan?

My first attempt at these was in a cupcake pan, and I found that two cookies stacked came to the top of the pan and didn't really allow me to cover them in brownie mix. But you are welcome to try it! I just personally think a muffin pan that is deeper works better. 

These have been an absolute hit with my friends, so I hope you'll enjoy them as much as we do! Happy baking!

Craft Journals

Do you keep a craft journal?  Now that Pinterest is around, I guess a lot of people save their craft ideas right there... but here's a project I came up with before Pinterest, that for some reason, I've never blogged about!

I started with this old folder that I had, and made it a bit more visually appealing.  I added paper, sticker, book quotes and more... just stuff that inspires me and would make me want to open the book.

Inside, the folder (which had a little metal tab to keep everything in place), was divided into sections.  The first section was for tutorials and templates, and I included different ideas that I found scattered around the web, but I also included several sheets of lined paper, so that I could add my own tutorial ideas.
This was particularly useful for blogging, because I could write down what I was doing, and scribble out or add notes as I went along.

I made sure to include dividers with pockets, so that I could slip anything in that didn't fit between the metal tabs.  I have a habit of picking up those little craft sheets from Michael's, even though I rarely make anything from them... so this was a good place to store those.

This picture just amuses me, because even way back then, it was absolutely necessary to have a full tab of party ideas.  I've always loved throwing parties, and I'm super stoked that I've now organized that into my new venture, Superflash Creative.  I would love to help you plan your next party! Just leave me a comment and get in touch.





I'm actually kind of sad that this book didn't end up making the move with me, from Toronto to Florida.  Even though I didn't use it much in the last year or so... it makes me nostalgic.  Perhaps I will just have to create myself a new folder!

So, how do you organize your craft ideas?  Has it changed in the Pinterest days, or do you still keep things on paper?

I'll leave you with this lovely quote from the inside cover :)

Primal Eggplant Parmigiana Stacker

I bought an extra large eggplant with the intent of making eggplant fries.  So I chopped the eggplant in half and began fastidiously breading and frying.  The eggplant fries were delicious, but very time consuming.

So then I was left with half an eggplant, and I wasn't sure what to do to it.  Being Italian, eggplant parmigiana was a staple in our household, and I always loved it, but I had never made it before.  I searched out a couple of recipes online for a basic idea, and added some things that I had learned from my mom & grandmother, and voila!

This is the most delicious way I have ever had eggplant prepared before!

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

• 1 bottle of Strained Crushed Tomatoes (I use a 660 mL bottle by Aurora, the only ingredients are tomatoes & salt)
• A few leaves of fresh basil
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano 

For the eggplant:

• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1-2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
• salt, pepper garlic powder
• 1 egg
• Olive Oil for frying

Method:

1. First start your sauce by dumping the entire bottle of crushed tomatoes into a sauce pan.  Add a few leaves of fresh basil and your spices (the spices are always done to taste, rarely measured, in an Italian household - just taste the sauce as it's cooking and see if you need to add more).  Start the sauce at a medium heat, and then lower it as it simmers.  You can give it a stir once in a while, but mostly, it should be okay just sitting there.

2. In a shallow dish, combine your almond flour, parmesan cheese, basil and spices (again, spices are to taste... just give them a couple of shakes and you should be okay).  In a separate dish, crack your egg and whisk it.

3. Slice your eggplant into rounds about 1/4 inch thick (mine was already sliced in half from the previous recipe, but rounds would be even better).  Dip the eggplant into the egg, and then into the almond/parmesan to coat both sides.  (If you need to make more breading, just keep the ratio of parmesan and almond meal at 1:1)

4. Place your eggplant into a hot skillet with a small amount of olive oil for frying.  Cook on each side until the almond coating is browned and the eggplant is tender.  Then place on a plate with a paper towel on the bottom.

5. When you are ready to plate the dish, serve in stacks with sauce in between each layer of eggplant (I found that stacking them 3-high was perfect).  On the top layer, you can add some shredded mozzarella, more parmesan cheese, or a basil leaf for presentation.  

This was honestly the best parmigiana I have ever had!  I made enough intending for my husband to take it to work for dinner, but we both went back for not only seconds, but THIRDS! We ate the entire batch in one shot.

If you decide to try it out, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Primal seafood medley with garlic-butter sauce

I don't know about you guys, but sometimes, I have stockpiles of stuff in my freezer, and no real ideas for it.  We had a couple of bags of seafood that were buy-1-get-1-free at our grocery store... I think they were originally bought for Christmas Eve, but we didn't end up making them that day and they just remained.  This recipe is a really simple way of bringing out the natural flavours of the seafood without being either too bland, or being drenched in sauces.  It does feature a garlic-butter sauce, which was perfect for dipping - we also drizzled it over the green beans served on the side for some extra flavour.  It was perfect for a gorgeous Florida afternoon, and we ate it outside on the back porch in the sun!

For seafood:

Ingredients: 

3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
bag of mixed seafood
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 a lemon
oregano and parsley to taste
(salt if desired)

Method:

1. Melt butter in pan.  Add minced garlic and sautee over medium heat.

2. Once you can start to smell the garlic & butter melting together nicely, it's time to add your seafood.  If it's frozen, it's best to defrost it first (at least partially), so that you don't get a lot of water in the pan as it cooks down.

3. Continue to sautee over medium heat, and slowly add in your white wine, juice of half a lemon, and spices.

4.  Remove from heat when cooked - should be about 15-20 min.

(Serve with garlic-butter sauce, and a veggie on the side - we liked green beans!)





For sauce:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter
2 tsp minced garlic
salt to taste

Method:

1. In a small saucepot, melt 1/3 cup butter.
2. Once melted, add 2 tsp minced garlic, and salt to taste.  Allow the butter to cook down and clarify.
3. Remove from heat right before serving.

(This should be more than enough butter for the seafood, plus some left over)


Serves 2-3.

Do you have a favourite way to prepare seafood?  Did you try this recipe?  Leave a note in the comments and let me know!

Almond Butter Cookies: Recipe Fail, and then Fix!

My husband and I have removed all "temptation foods" out of the house, and we only have real food left - which is great!  Except when it comes to snacks.  Sometimes you just need something to munch on in between meals.  So, I searched the pinterest archive and decided to make some almond butter cookies.  I started with this recipe, but made a few modifications, and cut it in half.  The result was a delicious, but incredibly spread out, thin cookie.  (Fail!)

So then I decided to add some almond flour, because the taste was definitely good, and voila, rescued cookies!  I will come back and edit this recipe in time, but for now, just keep an eye on the consistency of the cookies after you add the almond flour.  I imagine it will probably take about a quarter cup after all is said and done.  I added about 3.5 tbsp to half the recipe.

Batter with almond flour added

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 4-5 tbsp almond flour

Method:

Unbaked cookies on sheet

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Combine the almond butter, honey, syrup and vanilla until well mixed.

2. Add in the egg, baking soda,  and cinnamon.

3. Add in the almond flour, paying attention to the consistency of the batter - it should be still somewhat liquidy, but firm.

4. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, and drop batter by the spoonful onto the sheet.  The cookies will still spread, so try not to put them too close together.

The result will be a light & fluffy, sweet & delicious almond-y cookie!

Cookies fully baked

One note about these cookies: I'm not sure if it's because I live in Florida and it's more humid here than what I'm used to, but these turned really mushy the next morning.  It helped to store them in the fridge, and then pop them in the toaster oven for 2-5 minutes at 250 degrees before serving.  Back to normal!

Let me know if you try this recipe, and leave your hints and tips in the comments!