My Charm Bracelet

As you may have noticed on my 32 by Thirty-Two post, I've got a charm bracelet I've been meaning to finish since last February when my first attempt ended in frustration.  And my birthday was last Sunday, so that was my deadline.  I'm happy to report that I finished my charm bracelet in time, and a few other items on that list as well.  :)

And I want to post a pic and brag a little about my bracelet.  So if cute little cupcake charms don't do anything for you, you might as well stop here.

Starting on the left.

That little "Lincoln" charm is one that Santa put in my stocking this year.  (I'm pretty sure Tyler did all the research for him, though.)  And notice that there's a matching "Mason" charm as well.  SO CUTE!  Can my husband pick them or what?

The pearl is just a filler for now.  It's significance is that it reminds me of the pearl necklace and earrings Tyler got me for our wedding.

The cupcake charm is another charm that Santa put in my stocking this year.  Santa was pretty supportive of my charm bracelet desire.  ;)

The shoe is a charm I took from an old charm bracelet that my sister gave me YEARS ago.  I decided it was time to upcycle.

The snowflake is another upcycle.  I got a jingle bell charm bracelet from Santa one year, and I hardly ever wear it because I hate to jingle at work (it's a pretty quiet place).  But I love snowflakes (they were a continuing theme for our December wedding), so I borrowed one of the snowflake charms.

The temple charm is one that Tyler gave me for Valentine's Day last year.  I had just decided I NEEDED a charm bracelet, and he surprised me with this one.


The running shoe was the last charm that Santa put in my stocking this year.  I've been a runner off-and-on for a little over 10 years now, so it's a perfect addition.  Especially now, since Tyler and I are training for a half-marathon in April.

And that's my charm bracelet!  Fun and dangly, but also incredibly sentimental. Thanks for reading!  Happy Valentine's Day!

HIMYM Exercise Game

More 32 by Thirty-Two catchup.  Last week I made a How I Met Your Mother exercise game.  Tyler and I own all the seasons of HIMYM, and we have them on in the evening while we get ready for bed.  So on Tuesday I played this exercise game, and it was pretty hilarious.  I actually had to go back and adjust the count of the exercises, because a 1-minute plank turned out to be pretty difficult directly after a 1-minute wall sit and 15 burpees.  So here's my revised game.  Adjust the exercises to keep it fun; it should be a workout, but it shouldn't make you hate me.  :)

32 by Thirty-Two Update

In August, I posted a list of 32 things I'd like to get done before my thirty-second birthday.  With my birthday now fast approaching, I'm realizing just how woefully I've documented my progress.  But there HAS been progress, so here's a quick update.  And yes, I'm kind of scrambling to finish a few more in the next 2 weeks.

6. We took the boys to the zoo last August.  I had plans to blog about it, but the pictures tell the best part of the story, and we posted those on facebook.

7. We took the boys to the aquarium in Boston.  Here's what I journaled about the event: "New England Aquarium.  We saw little blue penguins, seals, and a giant turtle.  We saw seahorses, jellyfish, and sharks.  We pet sting rays and starfish.  And what was Lincoln's favorite part?  The penny smasher."  It was a lot of fun, though. 

 

11. I took a bathtime picture of Mason.  I actually took a few, and you can see them in my Project Life album here and here.  I haven't hung any up yet, but I think it counts...

13. I got a new camera for Christmas!  It's a Rebel t3i, and I still have no idea what I'm doing.  But I have the tool!

16. I found the perfect purse!  When I went to Boston in September, my mom surprised me with a new purse, and it is amazing.  Gorgeous and tons of pockets!  I'm sporting it in the picture below:

20. We got Tyler's new frame for his BYU diploma. It's hanging in his office at work.

25. I actually did do a duct-tape project.  I tried this idea to cover an old diaper box with it to repurpose for storage, and it's working quite nicely in the boys' room.

28. The line-a-day journal.  Hmm.  That almost got its own post.  I decided that I actually prefer to keep it digital, so I formatted a word document for me to keep track of my journaling and print out at the end of 5 years.  I also started to format a blank one to give away, but I kind of got derailed.  So if anyone is interested, let me know.

31. I made a shrinky dink project, and it was awesome.  I tried making diy "flare" to incorporate in my Project Life album.  But then I went a simpler direction with my PL album, so now it's just hanging out.

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading!  Stay tuned for a few more updates before my deadline.

Font Friday - WhimsiKel Script

I am so excited about today's font!  Because it's MINE!  You may recall that getting my cursive handwriting into a font has been a goal of mine for some time (it's even on my 32 by Thirty-Two list).  I was just about to bite the bullet and pay $25 to get it, but then I came across the coolest iPad app ever.  It's called iFontMaker, and you can literally make your own handwriting into a font in about 5 minutes.  It takes longer for a script font, but it's still not outrageous.  There are several great reviews of the app, so I won't share much about the process (you can read all about it here and here), but I do want to show off my font:

And here's a quick comparison between the font and my actual handwriting:

 

Obviously the transitions aren't as smooth in the font, but I think it's pretty impressive nonetheless.  I think I might do some more tweaking, but I couldn't wait to share!

If you'd like to download it, feel free.  I'd love to hear what project you're using it for!

In other news, cross another item off my 32 by Thirty-Two list; I went to spin class last night!  It was brutal.  In a good way.  I've completed a few other items on that list, but I haven't made the time to blog about them yet, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

Mason's Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake

I love to decorate cakes, but I rarely have occasions or time, so I only really get to indulge when my kids' birthdays come around.  And as evidenced by Lincoln's car cake and monster truck cake, I take full advantage.  So it's no surprise that I've been brainstorming for my baby's 1st birthday cake for about 3 months prior to the actual event at the end of August.  But it finally got here, and here's my story about Mason's first birthday cake.

For the first birthday my kids haven't really had a preference for a theme (obviously), so I had free reign across the board.  I'm a huge fan of cupcakes for the first birthday, so that narrowed the scope considerably.  I considered a fish, a simple number, or balloon cupcakes (which I did for Lincoln's first birthday), but in the end I went with the one that kind of made me gasp: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

And I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Due to several lessons learned, it didn't turn out the way I had been picturing, so it took me a little while to shift gears and admit that it wasn't actually a hot mess.  Does anyone else do that?

The cake consists of green cupcakes (I used mini cupcakes), and a slightly bigger head that is red.  I think you could do this really simply, but I wanted to experiment with some techniques.

Frosting
Because of my 32 by Thirty-Two goal (#27 - try a new frosting recipe), I tried a new cream cheese frosting recipe rather than going with my tried-and-true buttercream recipe.  It tasted delicious, but it definitely didn't hold the shape like buttercream would have (to be fair to the recipe, I may or may not have completely ignored her two big tips).  This was my number one complaint with the cake and the source of the "hot mess" evaluation.  But once I let go of the goal image of nice stiff frosting, I could admit that the softer result doesn't actually look all that bad.
I also tried to use several shades of green but with the cream cheese frosting they all blended together a lot more than I had intended.

Modeling Chocolate
The red head is covered with modeling chocolate.  I used the directions provided here, and it worked like a charm.  Though while I was kneading in all that red food coloring, I was wondering if I could have just added it when I melted the chocolate?  I still don't know the answer to that question.

Alternative Baking Pans
The cake base for the head is just a white cake I baked in a (clean) canned chicken can.  It was the perfect size (and free!).  I lined it with parchment paper and used cooking spray for good measure, and it popped right out.  This is a technique I learned at my mother's knee.  She used to make teddy bear cakes for baby showers, and she would use different sizes of cans for the hands, feet, and ears.

Melting and Piping Chocolate
The green eyes, antennae, nose, and feet are all piped chocolate.  The technique is actually pretty simple, and I'd been wanting to try it for a while now.  I used white chocolate with green food coloring for the eyes.  To get the yellow around the green in the eyes, I piped a circle of yellow frosting and then just pressed the green chocolate circles in until I had the desired amount of yellow showing.  I used Dove dark chocolate for everything else. (side note: This is dangerous because after you've finished piping, you can literally just drink the rest of the chocolate.  It took serious willpower not to do just that.)

It was a fun birthday cake to decorate, and I'll definitely be using some of those techniques again.  Thanks for reading! 

32 by Thirty-Two --or-- Buckling Down on the "One of These Days" List

Some of you may remember my 30 Before Thirty list.  It was a list of 30 things I wanted to accomplish in the 6 months before I turned 30.  And it was, frankly, impractical.  What were the chances, really, that I was finally going to learn to juggle?  Please.  But I was thinking about it this week with my half-birthday approaching (it's today!), and it occurred to me that if the list is realistic, then it's actually quite a fun project.  In addition, I have a huge list of one-of-these-days tasks.  They're the tasks that might take anywhere from 15 minutes to a day, but that aren't really outrageous.  I just don't do them because something else is always more pressing.  But no more!  Today, I present to you my 32 by Thirty-Two (or "One of These Days") List.  I plan to work on these for the next 6 months and (as you see in #32) report back as I finish them.  So, in no particular order:

Kelli's 32 by Thirty-Two 

(or "One of These Days") 

List

1. finish my charm bracelet (done)
2. make a lotion bar
3. make a blanket to donate to Project Linus
4. bind Mason's quilt
5. try geocaching
6. take Lincoln and Mason to the zoo (done)
7. take Lincoln and Mason to the aquarium (done)
8. finish The Chronicles of Narnia
9. have another ruthless clothes clear-out
10. have a ruthless toy clear-out
    
11. take bathtime pictures of Mason to hang on the bathroom wall (done)
12. hang some bunting somewhere in the house
13. get a DSLR camera (done)
14. get my (cursive) handwriting made into a font (done)
15. learn the basics of calligraphy
16. find the perfect purse (done)
17. find the perfect polka-dot dress
18. make an ombre layer cake (done)
19. try avocado pie
20. get a frame for Tyler's BYU diploma that matches mine (done)
21. make silhouette prints of the boys
22. bake zucchini bread
23. attend a spin class (done)
24. attend a zumba class
25. complete a duct tape project (done)
26. play a tv show workout game (done)
27. try a new frosting recipe (done)
28. get a line-a-day journal (done)
29. make some fingerprint drawings with Lincoln (a la Ed Emberley)
30. carve an eraser stamp
31. make a shrinky-dink project (done)
32. share these here as I complete them

 I'll cross off items on this post and add links as I complete and post about them.