Homemade Eclairs

First things first: James, eat your heart out!

I've been looking all over Beaverton for eclairs to rival Bill Leslie's from Leslie's Bakery in Salt Lake, but all to no avail. Beaverton Bakery has pretty good ones, but they're way expensive ($2 each!) and not as good as the ones I remember.

Imagine my happiness, then, when the Oregonian ran a whole two page spread with recipes for making your own eclairs! I made a batch for a Christmas party at the Harts' house last night, and they were great, if I do say so myself! They weren't difficult to make, though they were time consuming and made a terrific mess as I tried to pipe the filling into the pastry shells. Lots of finger-licking -- oh, darn!

Advent Calendar

I've meant to put this post up for the longest time but hadn't managed to get the pictures I needed taken till just recently. I guess that's appropriate, though, since the project itself took me two years to finish. :) Presenting, the Mauery family advent calendar!

It was a Bucilla felt applique kit and had lots of hand embroidery, sequining, and beading to do, which is why it took so long to put together. There is the calendar itself, pockets for each day, and one small figure for each pocket.

They didn't have anything great to do with the items when you took them out each day (just a pocket at the bottom of the calendar to stash them in), so I came up with something else. I embroidered a number on the back of each piece so they'd stay in the right order and added strings to make them into ornaments.

Now, each day the kids take turns getting an ornament from a pocket and hanging it on our Christmas tree. And yes, there have already been arguments about whose day it is to hang the ornament, which pieces are the cool ones, and how many we get to put up each day. (Maybe if we put up more than one, Christmas will come sooner?? Maybe? Please???) It's a tradition in the making.

The Mystery of the Fallen Cupcakes

The week of Halloween was Nicole's turn to choose treats for FHE, and she chose her favorite: cupcakes! I pulled a yellow cake mix out the cupboard and we had a great time putting the batter together. Put them in the oven as usual.... Waited..... The timer beeped and we pulled them out to cool till they were ready to frost.

So imagine my surprise when I turned around 10 minutes later and saw this:



I have never seen cupcakes do this before! Luckily, we have my mom's awesome recipe for chocolate frosting, so I just filled the craters with frosting and smoothed the tops to look like regular cupcakes. If anybody can solve the mystery of why this particular batch fell, though, I'd love to hear your explanation!

Aliens!

I've been waiting to post this till our card-making night was in the bag so as not to cause confusion. Vernon worked hard on these pajamas for Nathan the week we were visiting Vernon's parents -- and I helped a bit, so I figure they belong on the project page. Well, mostly they get to be on the page cuz they're so cute. And we're sticking with the story that we planned to have the aliens upside-down so that Nathan could see the aliens' faces better. :)

Cooper Mtn. Enrichment Night

Hello, sisters! If you're here, hopefully you want information about our upcoming card-making activity. I've come up with a set of 5 card designs for us to make that night, and you'll find pictures of them below. Wrapped in a pretty ribbon or tucked in a gift bag, these make great Christmas gifts. Or keep them for yourself to send to those you love!

I'm asking for $6 per pack to cover the cost of materials and some prep work before the activity night to make assembling them easier.
Included in the set will be the papers and accessories you will need to make all five cards. That night at Enrichment, I will have the stamps and stamp pads available for use, as well as glue, a hole punch, and other supplies.

Please make sure you see the sign-up sheet next week, because the following week is Stake Conference, and I'll need to purchase supplies as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to a fun night!

Happy Crafting

Welcome to my page for posting projects -- pictures of them, plans for them, and finished products! Mostly this is for me to keep track of what I've accomplished lately, seeing as most of my work just gets undone minutes after it's completed (i.e., laundry, dishes, my kitchen floor). So I hope you get inspired and share your accomplishments, as well.