Baked Goods

Last Friday, I had a craving for Hot Cross Buns. This is something that I, usually, only make once a year. I think I rarely make these, because it is such a long process and it requires more patience than I have. However, I had the craving, and so I made them.

A few days before that, I baked cookies. I had the house to myself and I was bored and decided the best way to spend my time was by baking. I played Take That in the background as I spent the afternoon baking chocolate - chocolate mint cookies.

I used a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, with a few additions.

 



To the dry ingredients, I added 3/4 cup of baking cocoa powder. This makes a very dark chocolate cookie base.

Then, I unwrapped a package of individually wrapped mint chocolate wafer candies and chopped those into chunks to use in place of chocolate chips. Although it was a tedious task, the end result was super yummy!








Now that the holidays have come and gone, I'm a bit tired of baking, so I think I'll take a break from that. I'm very excited to have my sewing machine fixed so that I may resume some sewing crafts. I have a tote bag project that I'm working on and when I finish that, I'll post about it. Also, the weather is warmer and even though we might get some snow tonight (sadly I'm not joking) I'll soon be cleaning up the yard and beginning my Spring time work on the herb garden. This week is a busy week, but I do hope to get some sort of project successfully completed.... that would be fabulous! Until then~ Toodahloo!

Thrifting For Creativity

Spring is in the air. Even though another snow storm might be arriving this weekend, the birds are chirping, today, and the sun is shining! For the past few weeks, I have been hunting on Pinterest for craft inspiration. After much pinning, I have a list of projects to work on. I like to go to the thrift store to find my supplies for my craft projects. Last week, I went to my local thrift shop and found five t-shirts and two books for a total of $5.00. One of the t-shirts I used in a craft project that I did yesterday. The book on birds I intend to use for this year's nature journaling. The copy of the book Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is a nice hardcover book (as is the bird book) with a fun art work on the dust jacket. I grabbed the book after seeing in on a list of books everyone must read, online. So, I couldn't resist snagging it. It should be a fun read on a warm sunny day, this summer.

Earlier, this week, I went to another thrift shop while I was on a girls day out with my bestie. I went there looking for a the game Guess Who? and the game Operation. Then, I found a copy of the soundtrack to the movie Elf, such fun holiday music! I also found a denim skirt that was on sale for 1/2 price, which was a nice bonus, because I wanted another skirt for the summer.



I was in search for the game, Guess Who?, after seeing an amazing craft project on Pinterest where some very crafty Whovian actually drew each Doctor, some of his companions and some of his nemeses. This clever little Whovian then put those pictures in the slots of the original Guess Who? characters, and thus, they had  Guess Doctor Who?! I know! I want to track down that brilliant Whovian and make them some fish fingers and custard! I wish I could remember the exact link to that awesome craft, but it can be found on Pinterest.

I wanted the get the game Operation after I saw "Sherlock" playing the game on the show Sherlock. I forgot how much I loved that game. So, when I saw it at the thrift store for $.99, I was very happy. I was even happier when I opened the game and discovered that the only piece missing was the Adam's Apple. I can easily make another Adam's Apple with polymer clay. So, the 99 cent investment was well worth the effort.

So, this week will be filled with a lot of crafting. I still have so much more that I wish to do, but it all hangs on what I can find at the thrift shop.  I like the challenge of using what I can find at the thrift shop for crafts; it's almost like Iron Chef, but with fabric, thread, paint and hot glue instead of potatoes, marshmallows and catfish.  I hope to keep this updated on this blog, as well as any other baking, and etc. that I take the time to do. Until then~ Toodahloo!