September!

Wahoo! Its time to launch my new blog plan!


Here is what this month will entail.


Baking with apples- muffins, strudel, and pie. YUM!


Sewing- for my first attempt I will make a pencil bag. (we'll see how it comes out o_O)


Cookie of the month- macaroons.


Dinner- Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon.


Some of you maybe wondering where I find my recipes and patterns. I scour the internet, cookbooks, pattern books and blogs. I will post links to all of the websites I get my info from!


Of course any other crafts I do I will document and post as well!


I really hope this works out because I am really excited about it!


I feel like this post is naked with out a picture......


How about one of my crazy dogs? 

Zoey is the little one and Bear is the big one. :D

-Courtney

Do you like guessing games?

If so, check out the latest post on Megs Hand Made life. She will be giving away a prize from her Etsy shop to the commenter who most accurately guesses the manufacturing date of her new sewing machine!


While you're there check out the rest of her blog she has some great recipes, tutorials and overall great information posted! Check out her Esty shop too, that way incase you win you'll know what you want!
-Courtney

Sometimes life gets in the way of life!

Sorry for the lack of activity this past month. I have had a ton of stuff going on! However, I have been working on some ideas for this blog, including how I can continue to grow as a creative individual and how I can make it easier for me to update on a regular basis. This is what I will be doing (hopefully) from now on. Each month I will attempt to have a baking focus of the month where I will bake 3 things from a category or using the same main ingredient.  There will be a cookie of the month, a craft project of the month, hopefully a sewing project of the month, and a meal of the month. Its a lot but I think with the right amount of planning I can do it! 


So while I get this all worked out please don't give up on me! 


In the meantime I would like to share with you a few of my favorite blogs! Check 'em out! 


How About Orange here you will find craft projects, printable downloads & decorating ideas!
Make It and Love It  Lots of sewing tutorials! 
A Lemon Squeezy Home More sewing, genreral crafts, and just fun stuff! 
Meg's Handmade Life DIY, Sewing, Knitting, Food, and Life! 
Bakerella I think the title says it all. 
Bake or Break  The baking adventures of an amateur baker! 
Not Martha baking, photography, and life
BeaOriginal Everything paper crafts!!! 


As some of you know, when this blog hits 1,000 views I plan on doing a giveaway. So please share me with your friends and family! Leave comments with any idea, suggestions,  or just because! 




-Courtney


"In every state, there's a station
Playin' Cash, Hank, Willie, and Waylon
In foreign cars and four-wheel drives
There's cowboys and hillbillies
From farm towns to big cities
There ain't no doubt in my mind
Country must be country wide"


-Brantley Gilbert

Ice Cream Filled Cupcakes

Yeah, you read that correctly! Here's how I did it. 

You need regular cupcakes.

Some Ice cream.

A cupcake corer/plunger.

Then you.....

Core the cupcake and the ice cream. 

Then you insert the ice cream into the cupcake. 

Then you frost it, and enjoy. 

Here is a picture of the inside. These were so good I highly recommend them. Imagine the possibilities. 

-Courtney

Make your own wall art.

Hey guys!

Do you remember this picture?

Shortly after this picture was taken. My boyfriend and I made another one. This time I took pictures of the process so I could share with you all!

Here is a step by step for those who are interested in making their own!

First things first. You will need acrylic paint, painters tape, a paint brush and of course a canvas.

Next you will need to tape off your canvas using the painters tape in what ever pattern you'd like. 

Next fillin the sections one section at a time. you should probably decide which colors go in which section before you start painting. 

Let the paint dry. Id wait for at least an hour if not longer before trying to remove the tape. When it is dry carefully peel off the tape.

 

Voila! Your done! Hang it on the wall and enjoy! 

 Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you want to see more of!

 -Courtney

Up coming blog posts.

Hey guys!

I want your opinion on what you want to see here on Her Kitchen and Crafts

Here is my list of things I want to do some are from my original list and some are new.

I eventually would like to accomplish all of them.

-->

1.    Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon

2.    I want to learn to decorate sugar cookies.

3.    Attempt to decorate a cake.

4.    Sew something.

5.    Chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting 

6.    Cupcakes with ice cream inside

7.    Homemade marshmallows 

8.    Decorative thumb tacks

9.    More cooking recipes

10.         Checkered cake tutorial 

Leave a comment and let me know!

Rainbow Cake

I finally did it!

after several hours and a very messy kitchen. 

I managed to produce a semi-decent rainbow layer cake. 

Here is how I did it! 

Ingredients:

1 box of white cake mix prepared according to the directions.

A variety of food coloring colors....I chose to use the wilton gels because I read somewhere that they work better because they dont add moisture to the cake. 

Divide the cake in to equal parts depending on how many colors you plan on using. To make this easier I used a measuring bowl. Since I they knew how much batter I had it was much easier to divide it up. 

Once the batter is divided add the colors. I had to play with the amount of coloring I put in to get the right colors. 

Bake each color individually. I cut the bake time in half for each pan because there was such a small amount of batter in each pan. Once the cake has completely cooled remove the cake from the pan. I mean completely cooled. I ran into some issues with my cakes being too moist and warm. Even after you remove it from the pan let it sit before you level the layer. Once you have done this too all of the layers build your cake! I suggest doing a crumb coat first and then icing the cake. Unfortunately I do not have any advice for that portion because I did not do a very nice job of icing the cake. 

Hereis a simple frosting recipe.

Hopefully I can make another one soon and improve on the look of it!


-Courtney