Melissa Bahen is lovely.

April 4, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

//Homemade Crepes with Nutella//Annie’s Grandma’s Fresh Peach Pie// Toasted Coconut Lime Bars//

Hello friends! I’m not sure if you noticed, but I have a lovely lady contributing an extra bit of lovliness to my blog. You’ll see her around once a month. Last month she shared a very sweet how-to make rainbow cupcakes plus a rainbow cupcake topper. Who is she? Melissa Bahen, from Lulu the Baker. So, I was thinking… I know who she is (she’s a fellow Oregonian), but you may not. Well, I asked her 11 random questions. She answered below. Also, be sure to come back on Monday for her next post! It’s awesome.

1. Are you a cat or dog person? Or, bird person?

I’m a dog person all the way. I’m allergic to cats and they really freak me out! That thing about cats eating you if you die…um, no.

2. If you HAD to move to a different state (or country) where would it be?

I love Hawaii. Who doesn’t, right? My family actually lived there for a few years when I was little, and we’ve always sort of considered it our special place.

3. Are you a winter or summer person?

I’m a Summer girl all the way!! I love the sunshine, I love swimming, I love getting a little tan, BBQ’s, homemade ice cream, playing outside all day, road trips…pretty much everything about summer.

4. What makes you happy?

My family!

5. You are at a rural retreat lodge somewhere deep in Wisconsin or Canada. You are approached by a taxidermist who hands you a stuffed badger and asks you to put it in your lap. What do you do next?

I throw it off my lap and go wash my hands! Taxidermy=super creepy!

6. What was your first job?

I worked for my dad for lots of summers in junior high and high school, but my first non-nepotistic job was at a flower shop. I took orders and swept the floor.

7. Are you a morning or night person?

I really wish I could say I was a morning person, but I’m just not. I stay up way too late and love sleeping in.

8. List 5 items on your life’s to-do list:

First: See the Northern Lights Second: Travel to Europe Third: Own a second home on a beach somewhere. (I could only think of 3!)

9. Share one thing that people may not know about you.

I CANNOT dance in public. In the privacy of my own home, I dance all over the place, but I get in front of other people, and I just can’t do it. Like physically can’t do it. It makes me feel like I’m going to die, lol!

10. What is your all time favorite song, movie, and book?

I LOVE old musicals. Oklahoma and Meet Me in St. Louis are my two favorites. And I could watch Hugh Grant movies all day long and not get tired of them. About A Boy, Two Weeks’ Notice, etc. LOVE!

11. Do you have any hidden talents?

I’m a pretty good piano player, and I fake the cello pretty well.

…

Have a great weekend!

–Melissa, Lulu The Baker

Pretty Silhouette Plates DIY

April 2, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

A lovely new DIY for you guys! I originally saw this idea on Pretty Prudent and I really wanted to try this out for myself. I used the silhouette from my kiddo, mom’s dog and kitty. They were fun to make. I made them for the HP Create site and head over here if you’d like the full tutorial for my pretty silhouette plates.

– Chelsey

P.S. I’m a paid contributor for the HP Create website.

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Tags: diy, gift diy, hp create, silhouette

Categories: diy, For The Home, HP

Well, let’s give this a try: hatching baby chicks.

March 31, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

Well, our lovely girl (Ms. Pickles) has decided to go all broody on us. K, what’s broody? Well… it’s when your chicken can feel the start of Spring, loses her mind, and decides to hatch everything she finds. The thing is, we don’t have a rooster and therefor no fertilized eggs. All this egg warming is doin’ nothing, poor thing. She’s so serious about it. She sits in her little box ALL day. I mean, all day. We had to push her out a few times to make her eat and drink water.

So, because of all this we decided to try something new. We wandered over to a little garden shop, Pistils Nursery, to look around. Turns out they had a little basket of fertilized eggs from their garden chickens for $1 each. We bought 3 (and they gave us 2 extra, since they were a bit old). They told us to put those eggs under our broody chicken and we should have some baby chicks in 21 or so days! We wanted more chickens this year, but weren’t too excited about the idea of raising those little girls inside (since chicks are so messy). If our broody chicken hatches these girls she will also raise them! Yay for us! So, cross everything that these eggs hatch and we get 0 roosters (since those aren’t allowed in our city).

Wish us luck!

– Chelsey

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Tags: about me, animals, broody, broody hen, chicken, chicken in the city, chickens, egg, eggs, hen, paper mama farm

Categories: about me, paper mama farm

Cascarones Easter Egg Surprise Countdown

March 26, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

Cascarones, or “shell hits”, are said to bring luck and fortune to the person whose head you break the egg over. Typically Cascarones are filled with confetti, but I decided to add a couple of treats and turn these eggs into a countdown to Easter: the Easter Egg Surprise Countdown. While we won’t be breaking these eggs over our head, I did want to make these creations exciting for my 4-year-old. Here’s how I made them…

Supplies:

– a dozen-ish eggs

– egg dye

– confetti

– mini mini toys that can fit inside an egg + stickers + chocolate

– mod podge

– paper

– optional: tissue & glitter

Directions:

– First, let’s prep the eggs. Tap the “bottom” (opposite of the pointy/skinny end of the egg) with a butter knife. When you make a little break in the egg, use your fingers to chip away the shell to make a 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide hole (the size depends on what you’re putting in the egg). Wash the eggs with soap and water (inside and out) and let dry completely. Psst: why not make some fried rice with the egg yolks?

– Set up your egg dye and dye the egg shells. Let the eggs dry completely (maybe overnight).

– Fill the eggs with the confetti, stickers, chocolate, and mini toys. My kiddo REALLY wanted to help me with this part, so I let her put all the confetti in. When she wasn’t looking, I popped in the toys/stickers/chocolate and it will be a fun surprise for her!

– Let’s seal the eggs. I punched out some 1.5 inch paper circles and mod podged them over the hole.

– Optional: you can just stick with the paper over the holes here, or you can cover up some more! I chose to cover the paper with colored tissue, them brushed a layer of Mod Podge over the tissue paper and dipped into a cup of glitter.

– Let the glue dry completely, and start your Easter countdown!

I only made 8 eggs, so I’m going to have to hear my kiddo asking, “Is it time to start the Easter countdown yet?” For a couple more weeks. Whoops.

Side note: I have seen a few creations that put bird seed in the cascarones, instead of the confetti. That way if you do break them outside, it’s not littering (and hard to clean up) if you leave some seed for the birdies.

– Chelsey

7 Comments

Tags: easter, egg, glitter

Categories: diy, Holiday - Easter

Little Egg Succulent Planter

March 25, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

Well. These are adorable. I was trying to find something fun and different to do with my Easter eggs. The Little Egg Succulent Planter turned out pretty cute. Make one and keep it for yourself, or make a lot and give to your friends or use as place markers for your holiday dinner.

Supplies:

– 1 raw egg

– needle

– 1 small succulent

– cactus dirt

– black permanent pen

– optional: egg holder

Directions:

– Time to prep the egg. Use your needle to poke holes in a line sound the pointy top of the egg.

– Use your fingers to beak the egg along the line of needle holes.

– Write a little love note on your egg with the permanent pen. I wrote “happy spring”, “for you”, and drew a heart. Tip: dye the egg shells first, then write a note on the egg. Fun!

– Plant your succulent in the egg. Tip: use a little chop stick to push down the loose dirt.

Keep this little egg gift for yourself, or give to a friend. I gave these eggs to my neighbors. Or, you could use the Egg Succulent Planters for place markers this Easter at your dinner table.

– Chelsey

4 Comments

Tags: easter, egg, garden

Categories: diy, Holiday - Easter

Decoupage Easter Eggs with Free Pressed Flower Printable

March 24, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

I know. Easter isn’t until April 20th, but I like making things and I like decorating eggs… So that’s what’s up. Hee! We decorated eggs all weekend at my home. First up, a pressed flower Decoupage Easter Egg. I saw this idea FOREVER ago on the Martha Stewart site, so I decided to make my own version. I used these pressed flowers for an old project from a long time ago (my flower frame). Now I’m using them for this project. I’ve included the printout for you to make your own! Here’s how you can do it…

Supplies:

– mod Podge

– old brush

– pressed flower printout

– scissors

– white eggs (boiled or blown out)

– skewers

– optional: needle, small bead, and thread

Directions:

– Prep your eggs. Boil them, or blow out the yolk for a more permanent decoration.

– Print and cut out the pressed flower printout. Optional: spray a light coat of acrylic sealer on the printout. The Mod Podge could make the printout ink bleed and the spray will prevent that. I did not use spray this time.

– Cut out the flowers (leaving a little white border around the flower image, or don’t leave a white border… that’s just a lot of work).

– If you are working with a blown out egg: Put a skewer through the bottom hole in the egg (this makes it easier to mod podge the flowers on).

– Brush a light layer of Mod Podge on the back of a flower cutout and press the flower on an egg. Repeat with as many flowers/leaves you would like on your egg. Tip: don’t cover the bottom or top hole of a blown out egg.

– Brush on a coat of Mod Podge over all the paper flowers on the egg. Let dry overnight. If you’re mod podging flowers on a boiled egg, you’re done here! If you are working with a blown out egg, continue below.

– Grab your needle, bead, and thread. With the threaded needle, push it through the top hole of the egg. Jiggle the egg around until the needle falls through the bottom hole. Keep a little thread sticking out the top egg hole. Knot the bead at the bottom portion of the egg. Pull the thread through and tie a loop to hang the egg from.

– Now, let’s cover up that bottom hole. Grab one more flower to mod podge to the bottom. Let the dry for a few hours.

– Hang your egg and enjoy! This would also be a cute gift.

Happy super early Easter!

– Chelsey

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Tags: decoupage, easter, printable

Categories: diy, Holiday - Easter

Vanilla Extract Recipe + Free Label Printable

March 18, 2014 | Posted by Chelsey

Can you really call something a recipe if it’s only 2 ingredients? Well, Vanilla Extract is surprisingly easy to make. Just two things you need: alcohol and vanilla beans. Yup. You wouldn’t know that if you looked on the ingredients of most vanilla extracts, since a lot of companies like to sweeten their extracts with corn syrup.

We tend to go through a ton of vanilla extract over in my home. I’m always making my no-refined sugars homemade granola, and we just go right through the extract. Making my own has saved a bit of cash! I mean, vanilla beans can be a little expensive… but we have a local store that sold some lovely organic beans for $1.50 each. There’s also a company I found online, Beanilla, that has a lovely variety of beans (for less than you’d probably pay at most grocery stores).

Vanilla Extract Recipe

- 2 oz. dark bottle (I recommend Boston Rounds)
- 1 vanilla bean
- 2 oz. of vodka (or bourbon)
- 8.5 x 11 inch sticker printout sheet
- 1.5 inch circle punch
- Optional: ribbon
- free vanilla extract label printables!

Directions:

– Split your vanilla bean in half (lengthwise).

– Cut the bean sections into pieces that will fit into your bottle. Put the beans into the bottle.

– Pour the alcohol into the bottle and screw on the lid. Shake the bottle a couple times. Store in a dark space for 6 – 8 weeks. Ta dah! You now have Vanilla Extract. Print out your labels and cut them out with a circle cutter. I’ve provided blank labels you can use for spices and the vanilla labels you see in the photos.

You know what’s super cool about this? When you run out of the vanilla extract you made, just add more alcohol and let the beans soak for another 6 – 8 weeks. I think keeping 3 bottles on hand and refilling as needed will help. I’m not sure how many times you can reuse the bean, but test it out!

Enjoy that homemade vanilla extract!

– Chelsey

Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. There are affiliate links in this post. Thank you for your support. I am a paid contributor on the HP Create website.

9 Comments

Tags: baking, gift, gift tag, printable

Categories: food, Tips, Tricks, and Gifts