The Cheerful Novice

Happy Halloween! (Wait, it’s almost February!)

Arwen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:00:39 +0000

I have been without a camera since August when our DLSR was stolen. Finally we just purchased a new digital camera (Canon Powershot S95, it’s pretty nifty!). I feel bad that my life has been so devoid of cookie decorating because of my school schedule. Here are some cookies I made for Halloween and just downloaded off my cell phone.

I took the design idea from a napkin, although you can see I couldn’t resist throwing down a little Batman.

The hexagon cookies cutters were bought so I can eventually make my own Settlers of Catan cookie game board. Hmm I have a few days off this week….

Cross stitch pendants

Arwen — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:40:22 +0000

Knitting and crochet have been a big fat FAIL for me. I can’t seem to get past the one scarf per year, but I can always come back and spend hours doing cross stitch. I learned in home ec club back in middle school. Oh yes, Home Ec club, photography club, debate club, and band in middle school. I was the classic epitome of nerd and it felt good.

Right, back to cross stitch. The Workroom sells these gorgeous birch laser cut pendants in several shapes. When I ordered they only had the oval, but now the other shapes are back in stock and on my to buy list. I decided to make some for Christmas presents.

Although they might be too large for my friends to wear as a necklace they can also hang it on the wall, make a belt buckle, a barrette pin, or…well I’m sure there are other things. I love the small size, it gave me a certain freedom and I felt that I could easily accomplish this task without a lot of stress.

I haven’t had a the energy to experiment with baking lately, but at least small fun crafts like this keep me from just becoming a total couch potato when I need a down night.

Back from the busy!

Arwen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:39:51 +0000

Happy everything! This blog fell prey to my class schedule when my teaching credentialing program started. Between the wedding, buying our first house, and starting school again it was a crazy year. I’m sure somehow 2012 will prove to be just as hectic cause life is great in that way!

Last cookies for 2011. This gingerbread recipe was from Fancy Flours and is honestly one of the best gingerbread cookie recipes I’ve ever tried (and I’ve tried quite a few over the years).

I would love to start updating again. Let’s see how long this lasts.

When shiny dinosaurs roamed the Earth

Arwen — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:31:38 +0000

I should start a section called copycat crafts! I’m not so highly creative as to come up with original tutorials of my own, but I love trying to recreate others! Okay I might be rationalizing here, but I think it’s also fun to see other people’s version of the same craft. I did this when I made a mosaic tray out of Starbucks cards (brilliant and wish it was my idea!)

With that whole disclaimer in mind here is my ~~first~~ second COPYCAT CRAFT POST!

Metallic Dino Necklace

Original tutorial: Papernstitch

She did hers in lovely gold and silver, but I’m not so classy. Bring on the shiny purple and metallic blue!

Supplies:

Framing hooks (found in Micheals framing section)
Craft Paints (about $1.99 each, I see a metallic paint addiction coming)
Plastic dinos (bought at a party store last Cinco de Mayo for the pinata)
Glossy Painter’s sealant aerosol can
Black and silver colored chains (also from Micheals)
I used a very sharp kitchen stick thingy to make the holes in the dinosaurs. I have no idea where I got it…

Overall this project cost very little and even recycled some leftover dinos! I wonder if I have other cute plastic animals lying around the house….

I ended up painting a few more that just sit around the house looking elegant and menacing in their new coat of paint.

Countdown clock is ticking!

Arwen — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:09:40 +0000

I haven’t really posted any wedding stuff, but with only 38 days until the wedding I figured it would be nice to post a few pics for my own memories as well. I’ve really loved the whole process of planning thus far, but as we get closer the stress is creeping into my bones.

Where the ceremony will take place, my shoes, and the hair clips and boutonnieres for the wedding party.

I decided to go with flats, but I’m the girl who has sprained her ankle just walking…not once, not twice, but thrice y’all! On my 1st date with R I actually rolled my ankle badly and on our second date I had crutches. Maybe it’s actually a good omen. Please not on the wedding day though! Hello wedding spirits? No rolled ankles this one time okay?

Bakesale for Japan: Part 3

Arwen — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:43:15 +0000

A little late, but here is the final part of the bakesale, the actual day of bakening! I mean reckoning. It was an overcast day, but as R and I pulled up a bit before 10 the place was already a crush of people clamoring for sugar.

There were so many baked goods that the organizer Paige had the overflow in her van to bring out later.

The thing that struck me the most is the community vibe. Most of the people walking past knew each other and everyone had a bright smile for their neighbors. Maybe I’m too California Silicon Valley jaded, but I’m not used to such a close community feeling. Go San Jose Japan town!

Everything was homemade, but people took a lot of time to do nice presentation and packaging.

The lady in blue is the organizer Paige helping to put my cookies out! She did a fantastic job!

…and now the amount of money made for Japan recovery and relief

…drum roll

…flute line

…a little trumpet

…$15,369.60!!!

Wow! It’s an amazing result and I feel grateful that I could contribute by doing something that I love and for a cause that is so close to my heart.

Bakesale for Japan: Part 2

Arwen — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:30:13 +0000

The day before the bakesale some of my friends came over to bake up some more goodies! Of course we tested to make sure everything was baksale worthy! Such a hard job!

We started with delicious Banana Nutella pound cake. You marble the nutella into the banana base for a great subtle mix.

We wanted to make several matcha (green tea) items and made a basic matcha pound cake. To make it a little more special we mixed in chopped loose green tea and rich chocolate pieces. In a few of the pound cakes we added goma (black sesame seeds).

Finally this deceptive treat was the most amazing thing of all! It’s a matcha mochi cake. Only 5 ingredients to lead to the happiest chewy cake of all! We were able to buy mochi flour at the local Safeway and because it doesn’t allow for any rise in the cake these will never look that gorgeous. Doesn’t matter since everyone will eat them in under 5 minutes.

Next: Bakesale day!

Bakesale for Japan: Part 1

Arwen — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:05:11 +0000

On April 2nd in several locations around the US people volunteered to bake their hearts out to raise money for relief for Japan! I was thrilled to participate in the San Jose version of the event. I’m going to break this up into a few posts starting with the sugar and brownie roll out cookies I made for the event.

Look! I’m actually getting organized before I start icing! Miracle of miracles.

I decided to go with fairly simple designs since I was making double batches. I don’t know how pro cookie decorators whip out such large batches of identical cookies!

The brownie cookies were representing the rising sun of Japan and I added little white hearts. I did both wet on wet and raised icing of the hearts. I like them both. The sakura were fairly fun, but next time I want an even paler pink.

R bought me the William Sonoma message cookie cutters for my birthday. I love how you can write anything, but the plastic letters need to be shaved a bit to allow easy in and out of the cookie cutter.

My friend Saori helped draw some adorable messages and figures with an edible pen!

Next: Teamwork day! The girls come over to bake until they drop (or we get hungry)

Hello 29!

Arwen — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:46:42 +0000

Today is my 29th birthday and it’s the first sunny day in a week of rain! A fortuitous sign I think. I’m working on a list of 30 things I want to do before I’m 30, but it’s harder than I thought to come up with detailed goals from the tiny to the immense. On one hand I want to make a decent baguette and on the other end I am hoping R and I can find a house to buy in the next year.

Indulge me as I post a picture of the shoes I splurged on recently. I am addicted to the London brand Poetic License. Now that the sun is finally shining I may get to step out in these decadent babies. I’m also playing around with single focus points on the camera, so we’ll call the blur…artistic…yes…

A black and white situation

Arwen — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:41:52 +0000

Still processing Japan and everything else. Not much to say, but cookies are always good.

My friend requested cookies of my stuffed Monokuro boo king piggy.

I tried too many techniques at once this time around and ended up making things complicated. I did try luster dust for the first time, but didn’t thin out the powder with enough vodka. Black and white is a great color scheme for cookies though.