Thursday, June 14, 2012

Versatile Blogger Award




Hey everyone,

As you can probably tell by the title of the post, I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by niamh-makes-things. Thanks so much for the nomination. I was really suprised by it.




When nominated you need to do several things:
  • Thank the person who nominated you
  • Include a link to their blog
  • Select 15 bloggers that you have recently followed/read regularly
  • Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award-you might include a link to their site
  • And tell everyone 7 random facts about you

My nominations are:
My 7 random facts:
  • I'm really flexible
  • I love public speaking
  • I'm allergic to lip balm, but only on my lips
  • I'll eat, or try, almost every type of food
  • I love country music
  • I have a dog named Sasha
  • I'm in 4-H
Thanks again to Nimah-makes-things for the nomination. Check out her blog, she's amazing. Have a great day.

Mandy

Friday, June 8, 2012

My Paintings

I have always loved art, but I have never had the opportunity to learn. I can do some basic stuff, but apart from that, I am not very good. These are a few of my paintings, all of which I did for school projects. Hope you guys like this. I am by no means an artist, I just paint because it is something I love to do.

My most recent painting. I did this for an English project we had to do. We had to make a Holocaust Memorial, so I ended up doing this.
Sorry this picture is sideways. I could not do anything to make it stand up straight, and I tried aboout a dozen different things. Anyway, this is a project I did for French. I liked the picture and it is in France, so I painted it because it fit the requirements.

We had to do paintings for French class.  I don't know who painted the origional, but this is my rendition of the fruit bowl.

This is from forever ago. I think I drew this, in charcol, in 7th grade. Anyway, it is now framed in my room. You can see me in the glass, sorry. This picture was just on my computer so I decided to include it.



Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Would You Buy?

I am doing this post to see if anyone would like to purchase things that I am planning on making. I want to see if anyone would want to buy them before I create the page. I would be selling crocheted flowers, crocheted make-up bags, brush rolls (for both make-up and painting brushes), and cloth bags which I use for decoys. Please leave your feedback in the comments. Thanks!

Crocheted flower. I use them for coasters, on the table to put pots on, and doilies.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Russel the Turtle


When my family was eating dinner tonight, I heard a really loud rustling noise in the bushes.  We eat on our porch when the weather is nice, and we have bushes and other plants surrounding it.  I went to investigate, and this is who I found.  I named him, yes he is a he, Russel because he was rustling around in the leaves.  Cheesy, I know, but I like quirky names.  Anyway, this is our resident turtle.  We have been seeing him around in the garden and landscaping for about the past two months. He is an old turtle, with the most beautiful eyes.  You can't really tell in the pictures, but they are bright red.  Hope you liked this little bit of randomness that I had to photograph because I'm just weird that way.


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque


I got this mask at around Easter, and I just started using it again.  I forgot how amazing it is. This masque is light green and smells like mint (no shock there).  It is a really creamy consistancy and applies very easily.  As it dries, you can see it pulling the impurities out of your skin.  It removes black heads, dries up acne, reduces pore size, and generally just makes your skin better. I love what this masque does to my skin, and it's really simple to use.  Just apply a thin layer to your face, let it dry completely, and wipe off with warm water and a washcloth.  I buy mine from ULTA, and for $3.99 a bottle, it's a steal.  It also does not test on animals, which is always good.



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Peach Cake


My mom loves to buy fruit in bulk, and the rest of my family hates it.  She gets so much, there is no way we can eat it all without some of it going bad.  Because of this, I have a long list of recipes that call for fruit that is a little over ripe.  I decided to bake something to give to a friend of the family for all his help with our duck carvings, and we had peaches that needed to be used.  What a perfect combination for a peach cake.  This cake is very easy and will send any hungry male in your house searching for the source of the cinnamon and peaches baking.  My brother is calling me cruel because I won't let him eat any.  I can always tell if something is good when my brother a.) starts searching the house for what is being baked and b.) tries to pluck the peaches off the top when I'm not looking. There are always benefits to having eyes in the back of your head. 

This recipe works best when the peaches are soft, but normal or even frozen peaches work fine. 


Ingredients:
1/4 pound room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
2 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 large or 5 small ripe peaches



Cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, on low speed.

Add the sour cream, yogurt, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.

The mixture should look like this when done mixing.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a seperate bowl.

Add the flour mixture slowly to the butter, sugar, egg mixture until just combined.

Place half the batter and layer half the sliced peaches ontop into a greased 8-inch baking pan.


Layer the other half of batter and other half of peaches ontop.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean, at 350F and let cool on a cooling rack. 


Ingredients:
1/4 pound room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
2 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 large or 5 small ripe peaches

Instructions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 F. and grease an 8-inch baking pan.
2.) Cream butter and sugar together for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
3.) Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat on low speed.
4.) Add the sour cream, yogurt, and vanilla.  Mix on low speed until smooth.
5.) Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a seperate bowl.
6.) Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly on low speed.  Mix until just combined.
7.) Peel, pit, and slice the peaches.
8.) Add half the batter to the pan and smooth the top. Add half the sliced peaches. Repeat with the other half of the batter and peaches.
9.) Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and nutmeg.
10.) Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
11.) Let cool on a cooling rack. 

Enjoy warm or room temperature.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Nail Polish Review


This is my newest and favorite nail polish. It is OPI's Just Spotted the Lizard, and the color is almost the exact color of the Green Goblin. This color is also very similar to Chanel's Peridot. Out of all the colors in the new Spider-Man collection, this is by far my favorite. In the bottle it is a gold, greed, blue, and purple duo-chrome. When applied to the nails, you can only really see the gold and green. It was a little disappointing, but I still love the color. The only time when you can really see the other colors is when you have water on your hands. This applies very easily, and it seems to dry quicker than other OPI polishes I own. I applied two coats and it lasted for five days wihout chipping. Five days is good for me because I always have my hands in water and never wear a top coat. After the fifth day there were a few chips on my cuticle, so I put an extra coat on top. It lasted me a week before it really started to look worn.


Just Spotted the Lizard


You see this gold color about 75% of the time.


This green is visible about 25% of the time.


One coat, gold.


One coat, green.


Two coats, green.


Two coats, gold. As you can see, not all the colors in the bottle are visibl on the nails.
I apologize if any of the pictures are a little fuzzy. I was about a hundred pictures and ten seconds from throwing the camera out the window.