A confetti storm, plus a real one

We had another one of those crazy, 5-minute micro storms last week.  Another storm, another 100-foot tree down!

Thankfully, Todd is pretty handy with a chain saw.

We carved out a little time to go hiking this weekend.  We love to hike, but hate humidity. Thankfully, we've had a little cool snap here, so we were able to stretch our legs in comfort.  I'm annoying to hike with because I'm always stopping to examine things on the trail.  I can't help it...there are so many wonderful things to see!

The beautiful loose lace of this insect-eaten leaf.

The repeating curves and points of this lovely brown pine cone.

The unusual tips and colors of this young leaf.

The steady unfurl of this fern frond.

Can't you imagine this to be the setting for a tiny village?

The chaos of an old spider web, like some sort of woodland constellation.

A mushroom, pushing up through the leaves.

The splintering of some shaggy-bark tree.

The iridescence of this tiny fly's wings, sitting in a small patch of sunlight:

The unusual twist and hook of an old piece of grape vine:

The steady progress of this tropical buckeye caterpillar:

Check out those spines!

And we can't forget the beauty of woodland flowers:

It's so pleasurable to be catch a little glimpse of this hidden world!

In other news, I've definitely been in a sprinkles mood lately.

I made Smitten Kitchen's Confetti Cookies this week.  The addition of cream cheese to a standard sugar cookie dough gives a real richness and softness to the resulting cookie, and rolling the dough balls in sprinkles before baking adds a very satisfying crunch.  These cookies don't need a bit of frosting!  And they're so cheerful.  I highly recommend them.

Have a great week!

Fabric Scraps and Brawny Chaps

Other areas of the country might be experiencing the first whiff of fall, but here in South Carolina, it was 95 degrees yesterday.  It's been hot, hot, hot, with little rain, so I just haven't felt like going outside much.  Instead, I focused on some indoor crafting.

My quilt strips have been cut...

...and I've started the process of sewing pieces that will become part of larger squares together.

I've heard that the cutting is the most tedious part, and that whipping the pieces together on the machine will take no time at all.  We'll see!

I did a quick dollhouse project, because I feel like the dollhouse has been absolutely languishing, unloved, in our game room.  I found some embroidery floss that matched the tiny recliner I made earlier this year...

I tied a knot at the end of the 3 strands and braided it tightly, with the knotted end held securely under my KitchenAid mixer.  Once braided, I coated a piece of fabric with glue and carefully wound the braided thread in concentric circles.

Once dried, I cut out the braid (the fabric below comes along; it gives it stability) and placed it in front of the chair.  Voila!  A five-minute rag rug.

Although I haven't been knitting much, I did finish a pair of blue striped socks for myself:

I've also been taking a hand embroidery class on Craftsy.  I was finally able to master french knots and move beyond a running stitch.  First I embroidered a little hedgehog for Todd using the back stitch and scatter stitch:

Then, some farm animals using chain stitch and french knots:

I added the rosemary to the pig square because I thought it looked a little plain.  That is the fern stitch, I believe!

Even though my sugar intake has been pretty minimal, I've been doing a lot of baking.  These pumpkin cupcakes might be my favorite ever, thanks to the addition of a handful of cinnamon chips to the batter and marshmallow fluff to the frosting...

I made Star Wars-themed sugar cookies for our Star Wars-loving nephew recently, but plain sugar cookies are so boring.  I ended up making cookie sandwiches by filling them with a simple vanilla buttercream and adding sprinkles around the edges.  They were SO tasty!

I also made my favorite cream cheese/coconut banana bread.  Didn't last long around here.

I don't just make sweets.  I made naan a week or so ago, which is my new favorite for homemade pizza.  The dough is made the same...the mix, the rise, and shaping into balls for a second rise.

But you cook them on the griddle at a very high temperature, just like homemade tortillas.

So good.

Not too much going on outside the house.  Todd (my brawny chap!) is slowly chopping up and stacking the massive amounts of wood that now litter our yard:

A newborn fawn (another one!) died behind our house last week...

 ...but most of the fawns around here are growing and thriving.

I'm mainly keeping an eye out for cooler temperatures.  Hopefully by October we'll at least be in the 70s!

Have a great week! 

Come on baby, let's do the {peppermint} twist...

Before too much time goes by and I forget, I wanted to post a few completed projects that I enjoyed working on. 

First, an anniversary gift for Todd.  We're both fans of post-apocalyptic literature and zombies, so I wrote a 70-page choose-your-own-adventure book set in a post-apocalyptic South Carolina, with zombies, and Todd as the star.

"Pat" stands for Post Apocalyptic Todd, and I assure you that the mechanic coveralls he's wearing with the PAT name tag make sense in the story!  It took forever to finish, but was a labor of love.  His card was more simple - a chest of drawers with brads for drawer pulls to give it a little depth.  Socks on the back.  I also do a store-bought card every year where I write the more serious message.

I haven't had much time for card-making or fun projects lately, but when I heard about a friend's good news, I had to bake cookies.  I got the idea from Bakerella to make small round sugar cookies with royal icing on top, swirled to look like a peppermint, then wrapped in plastic to further mimic the candy.

Take your favorite sugar cookie recipe and roll out the dough.  Use a small round cookie cutter to make your shapes.  Mine was about an inch across.

Bake and cool.

I love having leftovers for later!

After they've properly cooled, mix your royal icing to a piping consistency (Sweet Sugar Belle has an amazing tutorial and recipe if you need it!), and outline your cookies.

Add a bit of water to your icing and flood the cookies.  The piped barrier keeps the icing from spilling over.  Next, tint a portion of icing pink, and dab 5 drops of it around the perimeter of the cookie. 

The swirl is easy!  Just dip a toothpick into the pink dots and drag inward, then swirl.

After they've dried overnight, wrap them.  I used plastic sandwich bags with the tops cut off.  Tie with baker's twine, and hopefully you have a reasonable facsimile!

I found a cute box for them, and I couldn't resist a little pun on the card.

I had so much fun making these, and I never need much of an excuse to make a celebration for good news! 

Now the cleanup is another story...sigh.

On to the next project.  Have a great weekend!