I needed a costume for various Hobbit related event and decided to go as a map(s). The front is Thror's Map, back is Middle-Earth. I bought the t-shirt for $2 at Goodwill and used Sharpie for the maps. All map credit goes to Tolkien and his illustrators.











I thought it was a cheap and doable costume for the up-coming premiere and easily usable for future Hobbity goodness. If you make one please share! (It's so easy, I did the front on my Metro ride)

Since this is the only week off I have until commencement (yay!) I saw the need to make some yummy treats for myself.



These, my friends, are Irish Drink cupcakes. Guinness cake batter, Baileys buttercream and spiked chocolate ganache filling.

See this link for the recipe:Cupcake recipe



I have to say, these put me into the most wonderful food coma ever.

Baking can sound daunting, especially with the stress of the holidays, but I've found that bread it a great way to calm those nerves. Waiting for the bread to rise, and taking the time to READ the directions. Haha, well, regardless of some tiny mistakes two of my recent adventures in baking paid off.

First off, rosemary garlic rolls.


A closeup.


The recipe for that is from this lovely site: http://www.foodbuzz.com/photos/us/california/san_diego/beaches-coastal/389700-knots-of-heaven-garlic-butter-rosemary-rolls
Seriously, I know it looks scary and complicated, but look at the fabulous results! Who could resist?

Next up, some chocolate croissants.


Sure, it takes a good three days to make them, but you know they're worth it!


The croissants are from "French Women Don't Get Fat," which has some simple recipes for healthy living (and don't let the diet vibe fool you, the amount of butter I put into these babies was Paula Dean status).

Happy Holidays all!

So I decided to make a recipe from "French Women Don't Get Fat" and of course I had to pick one that took three days. These croissants came out great! At first I thought there was way too much butter, but after baking it's clear the melt-in-your-mouth quality of the dough is worth getting your hands buttery for.

As a first time pastry maker/college students I didn't use a mixer because I don't have the funds for it, but I still think these came out fine, I just had to use a little more arm muscle to mix everything.

I really want to make these again, only with chocolate. I've seen baking chocolate in the cake aisles, but I'm not sure if that would be the correct kind to buy. Could I even use Nutella, or would that burn up in the stove?

And one last photo to salivate over ...


Thanks for looking!

I whipped up this pillow for my good friend who is an Archaeology major. We both like trading silly historical relics with each other and after seeing an overpriced Rosetta Stone paperweight at a museum I knew I needed to make a pillow of it.

We nicknamed it Rosie, and it's at least a foot long.

I decided to go as a young Bellatrix to the Harry Potter midnight showing so of course I have to make a shirt!


The front. It's the title of one of my favorite songs from Draco and the Malfoys. Plus I just know Bellatrix partied like she was evil when she was young.



The back. The Dark Mark. I like the version from the book a lot more than the movie version. Added green glitter to the snake portions.


Action shot. This was right before I left to go wait in line for 14 hours.


And just for fun my shoes! They were originally white, but had a run in with some mud, so I painted them black and then added glitter.

I had tons of fun yesterday, and I saw a lot of homemade shirts, so I was super happy. Yay Harry Potter crafts!

I decided (a year ago) to make dolls for my friends for their birthday. I thought it would be a nice way to show I cared. Yeah, no experience making dolls made these.



My best friend loves Dante's Divine Comedy, so I made her a Dante doll. I modeled him after illustrations I found of him. I embroidered laurels onto his cap and included a rope for his belt because he uses it to descend a level of the Inferno.




An Edward Cullen doll. Yeah, he's creepy. I tried to make a peacoat for him. Made this for a friend as well.



Finally my attempt at Inigo Montoya. Another one of my friends really likes Princess Bride so I decided to make her Inigo and the Dread Pirate Roberts, but I only go to Inigo. I can't get his hair right. I added a goatee and I need to add facial features (like a nose and mouth).

Comments and criticism are more than welcome!

I haven't seen a lot (if any) True Blood crafts out there, and I thought it was high time someone made something, so I did. For those not familiar with the True Blood, it is a show on HBO about vampires and this woman who can read people's minds. It's really good. It's based on a book series and I suggest people check that out too. The first book is called "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris.

On the show and in the books series the people who want to be with vampires are called "fangbangers." I think it's cute, so I put it on a shirt and added some vampire teeth. I used the freezer paper process to make it. It might be hard to tell, but I added a glitter coat on top of the word.





I don't think a lot of people around here will get what it's from, but I hope people are at least amused by it.

I made some shirts to show my support for Barack Obama. I wore the "Barack and Roll" shirt tuesday and the "Barack the casbah" shirt today. The colors didn't show up as well in the pics. The purples and blues are more vibrant in real life.





My friend thought of "Barack the Casbah" after the song "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash. I liked it so much I had to make a shirt for it. I think it has a kind of 80s feel.





Yay elections! I always get so excited when elections come around, there's something so awesome about being able to vote.

I decided a month or so ago that I had to have a Twilight themed twentieth b-day party. I had it a little early because of school and all, but I think it turned out ok. I actually think I had more fun making all the decorations and stuff.

I painted this background to give my living room a very Forks/Twilight feel.


Here's a closeup of the road and sign....


And the Cullen's house of course....


I made a Jacob pinata, which looks more like a beaver/squirrel/thing, but it doesn't matter. Didn't actually get a chance to beat him to a pulp so he lives to see another day.


I used black and red plates, utensils, cups, streamers, etc.


We had mushroom ravioli and coke because that's what Bella ate with Edward on their first semi-date thing. Then I made cupcakes with Twilight pairings and titles, but I got lazy so I just threw some sprinkles on the rest.


I had a lot of fun just being with my closest friends and talking about Twilight. I know Twilight is pretty popular right now so maybe this can serve as an inspiration to anyone else planning a Twilight themed party.
Thanks for looking!