Mother's Day Fiesta!

I decided to "go easy" for Mother's Day and just do a taco bar for the family. Crock-pot shredded chicken, beans, tortillas, all the fixings...simple. Until I saw on Pinterest the cutest cactus cut-out cookies and decided I just needed to make them! And for those of you who know me, know I am not a baker. Nor a pastry decorator.

But on this day, I decided I would be. However, in my collection of 100 cookie cutters (I'm not exaggerating) I couldn't locate a cactus so I jumped in the car and headed to our local cookie cutter store (also known as Wine and Cake) to purchase said cactus and also scored a tipi!

Several hours, lots of curse words and phallic jokes later, the cookies were complete! Let's just say I reached my cut-out cookie quota for the year.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who have passed on their love of baking and pampering those they love?

Wedding Flowers

Back in March I showed off the beginnings of these beauties, but now they're finished. The total amount of flowers? Too many to count! 

The final order included one bride bouquet, five bridesmaids bouquets, 11 boutonnières and five corsage/brooches. 

You can see the details of the listing, or even create a custom order for yourself here.

Workout Planner

Occasionally I do things other than cooking and felt flowers. And by occasionally, I mean every day I design things. Signage, brochures, invitations, flyers, marketing plans, billboards....and so on.

And while we're being honest here, I'm also a keep-it-on-the-down-low-Tone It Up-er. As cheesy as some of it may be, the workouts, change of pace and corniness of it all have kept me motivated the past seven months! The new spring challenge starts on Monday and instead of paying the $12 (plus S+H) for the branded workout journal, I made my own! Cue the graphic skills.

It can be yours too, for free! Here's the deal.

1. Download the PDF. 
2. Print one copy of page 1.
3. Print eight copies of pages 2-5 .
4. Cut all of the pages in half (hamburger style :).
5. Lay your cover page (i.e. workout planner) face down.
6. Then arrange as follows:
• get busy
• monday
• tuesday
• wednesday
• thursday
• friday
• saturday
• sunday
7. Repeat until you have all the pages in order.
8. Head to your local UPS Store (or similar business center) and ask the nice ladies (or men) to 'bind' it for you. My UPS store only charged me $2.20 (+tax). 

Click here for the dropbox folder with the PDF

Cabbage Slaw

What's great about this recipe is you use whatever you have available, and the outcome can be very different every time.

What you need:
1 head of cabbage, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
roasted red peppers (mine came from a jar), plus juice
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
pickled jalapeños, plus juice
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

What you do:
1. Prepare quinoa as instructed.
2. Mix together greek yogurt, taco seasoning and a couple teaspoons of the jalapeño and red pepper juice. Set aside.
3. Combine all other chopped vegetables in a bowl. Mix in greek yogurt dressing.
4. Serve slaw over a 1/4 cup quinoa and season with salt and pepper.

Traditionally, not traditional

I find myself gravitating toward the same felt colors over and over. It's not necessarily a bad thing because the cuties always end up in cherished hands. But! I've been trying to get out of my comfort zone a bit in #the100dayproject. I get to use that unwanted felt at the bottom of the pile, and make a reason to NEED blue {insert other random color I've never used EVER before} flowers in your life.

I've also enjoyed posting photos of the flower-making process. Some people may feel I'm giving away my secrets, but the truth is cutting perfectly rounded 1/8" pieces of felt isn't the easiest thing in the world! So I'm happy to share my techniques as it takes practice to hone in on your exact style.

At the end of (three days), I'm pretty happy with my very Springy Bouquets. I think what also seals the deal for me is the glass. The antique milk bottles came from a neighborhood garage sale a couple years back and I just adore them. I suppose now they can't be parted. 

Dill Chickpea Spread

This spread could be my new spring go-to lunch or snack! It combines a couple of my favorite things - chickpeas and pickles - into a refreshing and healthy meal. And yes, when you serve the spread up on wasa crackers, it does kind of look like rice krispy treats...if only!

What you need:
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup greek yogurt (more or less depending on your preference)
1 tsp dill
4-5 pickle chips (can also use relish)
salt and pepper

What you do:
1. In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas and pickles.
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
3. Serve on toast, wasa crackers, cucumbers or eat it straight.

April Goals

Because I don't already have enough to do and enough stresses to keep me awake at night, I'm going to participate in #the100dayproject. I've been contemplating this project for months and have been kinda scared to make a commitment, so I'm just taking one month at a time (not to mention I'll be traveling for two weeks toward the end of this challenge). The focusing will try to be more on the the making, rather than the end product ... but I'm not making any promises. 

1/100

Wish me luck, follow along and look up #100daysoffelt.