The Calm After The Storm

Things have gone incredibly well. I really had my doubts about everything, only because I had so much planned. The croissants were quite an ordeal. I started on Friday and by Sunday morning we were eating yummy croissants. They weren't as good as Bouchon's but they were so much better than Starbucks. Mission accomplished.

Next on my to do list was my sons Halloween costume. I knew this was going to be a difficult costume, but I had no idea it was going to be this difficult. All it was going to be was a rectangle with 2 holes for arms and a hole for a neck, then came the hard part of the details. I was wrong the entire thing was hard. First I had to find stiff vinyl, found it put it was twenty something a yard. I ended up with a thin costume vinyl and use a stiff black backing on it. The Vinyl its self was a nightmare to work with, when using vinyl any needle hole can be seen permanently. So I had one chance to sew it right, and of coarse I didn't. Then I had poor planing on the arm and neck holes and ended up cutting them after I sewed the costume together. The apps I printed and laminated were the wrong size so that had to be done over again. The industrial strength glue had a mind of its own. The final touch was the lettering, and any mistakes on it and the costume was ruined. So last night, the night before his costume parade at school, I was in panic mode. Everything did turn out good in the end, and he had a pretty cool costume. Most importantly he was beyond happy with it. Oh, and my daughter decided to go trick or treating with her friend last minute and made her own costume which was a big hit. I am always so proud of her.


So, this weekend I will do some beads and tell you about them and the incredible class I took from Corina.

I Am Asking For Trouble

I am just starting to feel better after all of my ailments, and what do I do but put too much on my plate. This weekend I plan on making beads, make my son a Halloween costume, and make homemade croissants.(Get the straight jacket ready.)
My bead class is this next weekend so I need to get in more practice, which is actually ridiculous since I have been making beads for years now. I am really looking forward to this class and getting my creative juices flowing.
The Halloween costume is either going to be a piece of cake or a catastrophe. I have been making my kids Halloween costumes since they were born. When they were too little to really have an opinion I made them characters that went together, Cinderella and Gus the mouse, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, etc. Sandy and Danny(Grease).When they got older they picked whatever it was they wanted to be and I would make it. Well this year being sick I didn't get to start the costumes in September like I usually do, so I was thinking we would just buy my son a costume, and my daughter is too old to dress up this year. That was the idea until my son came to me wanting me to make him a costume. I couldn't say no so I asked him what he wanted to be and he told me an iPhone. Great, that should be easy let me just whip that up right now. I do have a few ideas in my head on how I can do this, but I need to hurry with Halloween just 2 weeks away. Here are a few of the Halloween costumes I made the last couple of years.

Marie Antoinette

Lucario http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/Lucario

Mario

So I am starting the croissants tonight, and if all goes well they will be ready by Sunday or Monday. (I'm not Kidding) The first step takes a few minutes to get the dough together and get the butter ready then the dough rests for 30min. Then it has to be refrigerated overnight. The next day you roll it out and refrigerate again for 3 hours. Then roll again fold and refrigerate for another 3 hours. You do this one more time and then you make them into the croissant shape and let rise at room temperature for another 3 to 4 hours. So not including the time it takes to actually do the work the resting and rising time alone takes 12 hours, and that's also not including the first time of overnight. These things better be good.

And now for the necklace I mentioned yesterday. It just is missing something. I keep looking at it trying to figure out what it needs, because the way it is right now I would never wear it.

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams

No, I am not rich and famous. I made plain round beads again last weekend. This time I used Effetre Dark Gray. It is a little harder to work with because it is a stiffer glass and I am impatient. I did get a lot of round fairly uniformed size beads, and after I clean them and put them in my hand they instantly reminded me of caviar.(Only pretty, and not forced into my mouth by my dad.) I am really excited to make them into something. Which brings up the subject of my last set of turquoise beads I was going to make into a necklace. Well, that didn't go so well. I still think the idea was good, it just didn't work when I put it together. I will post a picture of the necklace, but here are some out of focus photos of my "Caviar". (My daughter took my tripod and left it at a friends house)

Buttercream and Beads

I did get my beads done and took photos to prove it, but first I need to talk about sweets. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting last week and they were the best I have made so far. The cake it's self can still be improved, I'm using a vegan recipe. But the frosting was to die for. Out of all the bakeries I have been to the best chocolate cake I have had surprisingly comes from Costco. This frosting was like the Costco frosting only better. So speaking of bakeries I made a trip with the family to Bouchon again. This time I got my staples; Bouchons, Chocolate Donuts, Peanut Butter Cups, Nutter Butters, and Croissants. I did try something new, the Lemon Tart. It was good, creamier than a lemon meringue, but I didn't fall in love with it. I am so glad I don't live closer, because I can not control myself around their treats.


So here are my beads. They aren't that special. Plain transparent turquoise, but they are perfectly round.(Mostly) It is so boring I don't even have any meltdowns to report. So now I am going to make these beads into a necklace with some pretty chain that I purchased a while ago and hopefully be able to post photos of the necklace on Monday. Meanwhile I am continuing to make plain round beads with a different color just to get more practice before my class this month. Maybe photos of those beads too on Monday????