101 Things Update - October 15

If you check for changes on my 101 Things in 2014 - Completed Projects board on Pinterest (not that I really expect anyone to do so), you may have noticed that I have moved #54 (Embroidery Hoop Wall Pocket) to the finished projects list, but haven't posted any pictures of my project.  That's because while I technically made the project, I also apparently bought the cheapest embroidery hoop out there and it broke.  So once I fix it, I will share the photos of the finished product with you!  In the meantime:

82. Apple Cinnamon-Chip Bagels

These were amazing.  The recipe made 16 small bagels, and they lasted approximately 24 hours.

I used homemade cinnamon chips, which don't hold up well being mixed into a very thick (and warm) bagel dough, so they kind of melted and broke and smeared throughout the bagels.  This was nice, as there were some little pockets of cinnamon and a lot of smears of cinnamon, but not what the original recipe intended. :)  I'm sure both ways are fantastic!

98. Six-Berry Pie

Wild raspberries, wild black raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries went into this delicious pie.  I decorated it with a ninja fighting a dinosaur because it was for a Happy Birthday/going-away party for my brother-in-law, but then half the family got sick, so the party was postponed, and we had to eat this pie all by ourselves.  It was tasty torture. :)

(In case it wasn't obvious, this is the unbaked pie.  I hope that's obvious.)

Love and Sugar,

Leah Joy

My Birthday Cake

Learning to pipe frosting has been on my 101 Things list for a long time.  I was happy learning to make nice swirls on cupcakes, and I really don't have a desire to do anything super fancy, but I did want to learn to make buttercream roses.  I decided that once I could make a buttercream rose, I would have achieved my goal.

(Sorry, it's hard to get good pictures in my kitchen at 9:00 PM.)

I used these flowers to decorate my birthday cake!

My cake was basically one big experiment in techniques, so it's a bit of a mess, but it still tasted delicious. :)

The cake and frosting were both lemon, although the roses were made from leftover vanilla buttercream from another cake.

So, I can officially check that off my 101 Things list!

Love and #1M,

Leah Joy

Gardening: A Good Laugh

This summer got crazy.  I barely had time to clean my toilet, let alone tend my gardens.  I finally got out there a couple weeks ago to clear out the weeds and dig up any carrots and garlic that may have survived.  After doing one of the beds, I stepped back and couldn't help laughing.  I had to take a couple pictures to share with you.  Please note that before I started, both beds looked about the same.

And this, folks, is just one reason the self-sustaining lifestyle is probably not for me. :)

Love and Basil,

Leah Joy

Apologies, Again

My apologies for my brief unintended hiatus.  I thought I had a post scheduled to go up Friday, but obviously not, and I got sick over the weekend so I didn't post Monday.  And then guess what happened.  That's right, insomnia!  Woohoo!  However, instead of getting all mopey and ranty on you, I thought I'd list some things for which to be grateful.

1. The work crew finally re-seeded our grass on Monday, which means they're probably done.  Hallelujah!

2. I started at the library 3.5 weeks ago (sorry I never told you!) and I LOVE my job!  I get to alphabetize books, movies, and CDs all day!  (Well, 20 hours a week.)  The people are nice, I have good hours, and I get to feed my habit of reading.  It's kind of like when I worked at Salvation Army and saw all the cute clothes, except now I don't have to spend money to indulge my addiction.  I'm also starting to go through the CD collection to expand my musical horizons.  I wasn't sure where to start, so I just started in the As (how alphabetical of me) and this week I brought home 4 Tori Amos CDs.

3. I can find clothes that fit me at Salvation Army.  My new job requires business casual clothing, which to me means dress pants, a nice plain t-shirt (the fitted style) or a polo, and a cardigan.  (Thankfully I'm allowed to wear clean tennis shoes.)  Before I started, I had 0 pairs of dress pants, 4 shirts I could wear, and 2 cardigans.  Now, thanks to our local thrift stores, I have 1 pair of dress pants, 6 shirts I can wear, and 3 cardigans.  All for about $25.  And if I can find a pair of dress pants that aren't black, then I can wear my 2 navy blue shirts. :)  Anyway, I'm really grateful that I can shop at thrift stores so that I can switch out my wardrobe easily when I need to.

4. Books. I love books so much.

5. Also, jelly beans.

That's all for today, but I do have a few pictures of some recent projects that I can hopefully get up soon.

Love and Dr. Pepper,
Leah Joy

Rainbow Scarf

You may or may  not remember when I shared this fantastic picture of the headband I made:

Well, I never told you about that fabric, and it's a great story.  I was a Salvation Army 5/$5 clothing sale and I found this huge rainbow floral skirt.  It said it was size small, but all the elastic had worn out, so the waistband was more like size extra-extra-extra-extra large.  But for $1, I knew I could do something awesome with that fabric.  I was wrong.  I could do LOTS of awesome somethings with that fabric!  In addition to some headbands, I also made 3 scarves like this:

One for me, one for my mom, and one for my sister!

And they're so pretty!

(And yes, that one is posing in my bathroom.  Where do your scarves pose?)

And I still have a little of the fabric left over....

Love and Soft Scrub,

Leah Joy

Rainbow Pillow

When I was in 8th grade, I was in our school's Art Club.  We actually did some really cool things, including learning to batik!  I made this awesome rainbow fabric (really, what else would I make?), then sewed the skirt myself (with lots of help from my mom):

Yep, that's 13-year-old me.  Freakishly-tan 13-year-old me.  Couldn't-live-without-a-Velcro-watch 13-year-old me.  Moving on before I get to the hair....

I had a little piece of the fabric left that I realized was the perfect size for a pillow.  I even purchased a pillow form like 4 years ago.  But I never sewed it into a pillow because I wanted it to be zippered and I didn't know how to use a zipper and also I'd have to buy a zipper.

But recently, I found an old dress that had been designated a "Use for Parts" dress, so I took the zipper and made this pillow:

It's different on the other side:

And look!  I sewed in a zipper all by myself!

And it functions!

Martha loves the pillow, too:

Love and Wax,

Leah Joy

Cupcake Chronicles: Confetti Cupcakes

These don't need a whole lot of explanation.  :)

I tried a flowery petal design for most of them:

It didn't really fit the confetti idea, so I added sprinkles to some of them.

That didn't really look right.  

Then I made smaller petals.  My Friendly Local Botanist tells me they look like chrysanthemums, which is a word I can spell correctly on only the 2nd try!

Here they all are together:

I like the recipe and I like the frosting technique, but I'm not sure they go together thematically.  Oh well, they still tasted delicious.  :)

Love and Sprinkles,

Leah Joy

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday!  Can you guess which kind of cake I'm making?