DIY: heart toppers

Here's a turn everything into a Valentine last minute Valentine's day project!

I especially love this because Valentine's day is not like Christmas where I want to decorate my whole house and ooze hearts and pink for a whole month. So these little slip-on hearts can slip on and be all romantic for a day, then slip off into the recycle bin. Know what I mean?

They can also go on anything.

This is just a little cup of pudding I made the other night. Boom! Heart on a spoon -- it's Valentine's day pudding now!

I want to do one of those ending-credit type infomercials where a list of things you can put these hearts on scrolls by too quickly to read, but I'm not nerdy enough to figure out how to do that. (I wish I was that nerdy, honestly.)

Here's how to make 'em!

Fold a piece of coloured paper in half. Actually, you don't have to use a whole piece of paper. Save some trees and use scraps. Cut out some hearts. You know, by drawing half a heart on the crease and cutting it out. Symmetrical hearts brought to you by folding!

While the heart's folded, cut a couple slits into the middle. It helps if you've got a spoon or pencil around so you can check to see if it'll fit where you've cut.

Then starting from the back of the heart, weave the heart onto the spoon, pencil, fork, straw, whatever you're putting it on and you're done!

While the hearts do transform everything into a Valentine's day treat, it does help to use the right kind of cups, too. 

friday fixations

{kinos} For 99 cents, this might be one app worth getting.

{alt summit blogs} I've already been reading some of these up and coming blogs, but I see there are a lot more to peruse! Maybe you'd like to check them out, too? (I've been adding new blogs to my reader like a crazy person lately!)

{crepe works} Always a lurker, finally an eater. And then, after one bite, I realized that if it were legally possible, I'd marry the #13 crepe from Crepe Works at WEM (that's nutella, banana, and toasted coconut). I realize it's my first Crepe Works crepe, but sometimes you just know and it feels right. It's gonna be my new eat joint at the mall (sorry, bubble tea! You weren't really an "eat" thing anyway, even though we both know I viewed you that way). Next on my list: making a crepe at home! Maybe I'll try this recipe.

{a jersey accent} So I've been watching the Next Great Baker a lot because it's ridiculous and cheesy and dumb and I sometimes wonder where he finds people who actually want to work with him and make ridiculous cakes that always have to look like something other than cake (which is a trend I wish would crawl up into a hole and die already). But! The other night, he was naming his top two and his bottom two in stage one of his crazy dumb challenges. Of the bottom two, he felt it necessary to name the "loser loser" and off we went into hilarious gags involving who or what would be the loozah loozah today or "blech! This cheese is the loozah loozah." So, I have to ask, are youze tha loozah loozah or dah winnah winnah?

{curls without heat} I wonder if this method would work on my hair... but even if it doesn't, I love how it looks with all of her hair tucked into the headband. So pretty!

{kristen bell} I've finally found an accurate description for the levels of my emotions. This video is too cute. (And can Kristen be my new best friend?)

{sun reflections} During the day, me and budgie (or Hermes if you'd like) go downstairs for breakfast brunch and it's usually at that moment, when the light is streaming in through the windows in the living room. So while I'm waiting for my water to boil (for tea) I pick up my iPod to play a little Words with Friends (I like that game very much), and the sun reflects off of it and on to the wall by budgie (because he has a little table where he sits). And this makes him go absolutely crazy. If you've seen those videos of cats chasing laser pointers (and I know you have because you're here, on the internet, too), then just apply that zeal to a budgie and you've just about got it. Maybe I'll take a video one of these days. He about breaks his neck off trying to follow it around the room.

 {february desktop wallpapers} Because I couldn't figure out a good wallpaper (i.e. I didn't have any acceptable-enough photos), I couldn't put together a wallpaper for you this month. To make up for that, here are the wallpapers I've saved and have put on rotation this month: love like whoa, pinkish purple sea, repeating hearts (I really like this one), heart bunting, and pink coral.

diy: window film pattern

Problem: Our neighbours have highly functioning, industrial strength, two-pronged, motion-detecting spotlights at the door to their garage. Or, in other words, they have two high-beam, vehicle-sized headlights attached to their garage that turn on whenever we leave our backdoor or a moth flitters by. This spotlight is in a direct line that goes through our backdoor window, to the kitchen and hits me directly in the eyes. Amazingly, it's been installed at the most perfect in-my-kitchen, through-my-door eyeline. Wonderful.

We don't really need privacy on our backdoor window. No one enters there except us and it's pretty near impossible to see through it from the alley or another yard. The doors aren't metal -- there goes my magnetic curtain rod idea -- but there's really not enough room for swishy curtains anyway (if the closet door is open -- which it almost always is -- the door bumps into it. It's a poorly designed entry. I'll be fixing that). So I thought I should put some window film up. I had some oddly sized leftover pieces from the old house that were just too damn pretty to throw away (i.e. it's my favourite window film pattern to date and I almost always hate throwing bits and pieces away if I think they could be used somehow). The floral pattern is not exactly an easy pattern to piece together, though, so if I tried to make the larger pieces work, it just would have looked like I was... trying to make the larger pieces work. And that wouldn't have worked at all.

What I did:

- printed out a simple hexagon after drawing it in photoshop -- i.e. clicking the shape tool, and dragging out the shape until it was approximately the size I thought looked good.

- cut out said hexagon for a template.

- tediously traced and cut out about ten hexagons (to start) from the scraps of window film I had. (I still have a scab on my thumb from using scissors all day.)

- found the exact middle of the window, and placed my first hexagon dead centre of that. I used a wet piece of paper towel to wet the window for each hexagon, then smoothed out the bubbles as best I could (I should restick some of the top ones to get the bubbles out, but bubbles are more visible from the outside, so it's not a humongous deal).

- eyeballed the distances between each subsequent hexagon thereafter. (Once wet, the film is really easy to move around and reposition.) I would have made another template that could have acted as a marker between the hexagons so I'd get the perfect distance each time, but I didn't want to get OCD about it.

- since I was working with limited window film, I made sure to do the important side of the window first (the right side) and I stopped cutting whole hexagons rather frequently to cut out edge and corner pieces so I was sure I'd have enough.

- to cut edge and corner pieces, I took the discarded backing from previously cut hexagons and put them on the window where I needed them, then folded them and cut them to fit. Essentially making new templates for the half and quarter hexagons.

And then I ran out of window film. But no matter. The left side isn't the offensive side. It's the right. And now that it's covered up, the eye-blasting spotlights create a soft, flowery glow seen from the kitchen which is a whole lot prettier and (come to think of it) safer. Especially when trying to use a sharp knife after being eye assaulted by burning harsh yellow high-beams. Check out the night shot. Now imagine a world without pretty window film.

If I actually look into the original source for this film, I might be able to get more and I'll do the window up properly (and the window in the stairs because I'd much rather look at this than poop brown siding). Until then, the hexagon look is really fun and interesting. I'd definitely make my own pattern using shapes again (I'm imagining triangles now!) particularly if my only option was plain, rice paper style window film -- which is seriously the best looking option at Home Depot. (Hello, grape-vine window film. I'm talking to you.)

friday fixations

{sh*t liz lemon says}

{my tripod} I've been taking pictures without it lately and it shows. I took my camera off it so I could take pictures outside of the house and then it was -40 and I still haven't really gone anywhere photo worthy. Now I'm too lazy to 1) get it when I need it; and 2) screw my camera back onto it. I just deleted about 20 slightly blurry pictures off my computer from last week, so I had better get that tripod back in action or you're never going to see another picture again.

{big knickers} There's just something about this high-waisted underwear that I find really appealing. I want all of them (especially the florals).

{the tiny chopped salad} I read about chopping salads to absolute bits and decided it might be a nice change instead of my usual ribbon-sized slices. My last salad consisted of cabbage, spinach, carrots, purple onion, and mushrooms chopped into little bits (I put the carrots through my mandolin on the julienne setting and then cut them into bits cross-wise) and served it plain so we could add our own dressings. I thought it was the best salad yet. I could actually take a forkful of salad and lock it on with some meat for an even more complete bite (which is how I like to eat salads anyway) and chopping everything just made for a better mouth-feel and taste (if that makes any sense). I'm definitely a chopped salads fan now. (I had pictures of this one.)

{colourful books} Mom got me this one for Christmas (because of my insatiable love for pink) and now I want more from the series (for a whole matching shelf, natch). (And yes, despite having an iPod, I'm still 100% for real books. You know why? When you buy an e-book, you can't loan it out and you can't sell it or give it away [to those in need or otherwise] when you're finished with it. So e-books are sold at practically the same price as a real book with none of the benefits that go along with having a real book. Therefore, I see no benefit to supporting that industry from a customer view-point. [I get it from a seller view-point. Oh yes. That one's obvious].)

{jill bliss} Have I ever mentioned how much I love the art of Jill Bliss? Well I love it. So. Much. I want it in wallpaper. Or these frilly leaf garlands which I have no actual use for or place to put them, but I just want them all the same.

{this crazy cartoon} Boy, if only I ate cookies by the sleeve... I mean, if only I ate store-bought cookies. I definitely have the ability to eat cookies by the sleeve.

{heart pillow embroidery} I should really learn how to do this. It's awesome.

{pink} aka poink if my dumb typing fingers have anything to say about it. I've mentioned this before. Sorry. I just can't stop thinking about it. And I can't stop thinking about it because it feels wrong to think about. Especially for my living room. Especially for a grown-up living room having nothing to do with baby girls or teen princesses. I keep thinking that possibly pink could be grown-up, it's all about the shade of pink and possibly the amount. But I have no idea and, frankly, I'm rather scared to try. I've found some inspirational colour mixes in a variety of places all of which look mighty fine for grown-up versions of pink. There's raspberry, cotton candy, and putty beige (which looks more like a peachy-pink to me). Possibly pink looks more adultish when paired with mustard, sea foam green, or orange. And almost as if confirming my choice, these shades of pink look really good with colours that are pretty darn close to our existing paint and trim. What do you think?

pasta cooked in sauce

I've decided I'm not going to give you a recipe for spaghetti and meat sauce. Aren't you already overwhelmed with a hundredity-billion different pasta sauce recipes already? I kinda think so. And besides, anyone who's ever cooked anything already has a pasta sauce recipe tucked away in their brain. You don't need someone on the internet giving you another one (we both know you'd adjust it for what you have on hand anyway).

This is just a little suggestion for the pasta portion of spaghetti and meat sauce. I just tried it and it kinda worked pretty fantastically and I was so surprised it worked, that I had to share it with you.

Have you ever considered cooking the pasta directly in the sauce?

Probably not and neither had I, but then I read it (on the internet, of course. It's where all my crazy ideas come from) and I thought that maybe it was possible.

After our pork and noodle dinner for Chinese new year, in which we seemed to both be scrambling to get the most noodles, I thought it was due time I made spaghetti. We don't have it very often so it usually really pains me to run all of that water for one tiny pot of pasta. Especially since I carefully measure the spaghetti portion to ensure we don't overeat and with that, it just seems like a whole lot of wasted water (and time waiting for it to boil) for a smaller portion of spaghetti in a huge pot.

I started making my sauce last night and I agonized over whether I should just try cooking the pasta in it. So what if it didn't cook? I could fish it out of the sauce and start again. It wouldn't be a big deal. I could just dump (almost) a full can of chopped tomatoes and their juices in and keep a couple cups of water handy just in case. And these types of things always stay on my mind until I do them and when's the next time we'd be having spaghetti, anyway?

Once the sauce was at the simmering stage (with all its lovely juices bubbling), I stuck a tiny wad of noodles into the middle of the pan and pushed them into the sauces so they were barely covered. Then I got braver and put another tiny wad, this time snapped in half, to each side (because only so much full-length spaghetti can fit in my frying pan) and pushed them down. Then I got about two cups of water and poured a little of that in to start so the noodles were just covered. Then I waited.

Overall, the entire cooking process took around 10 minutes which is almost exactly the same time it would take for noodles to boil conventionally. The only difference was that I had to keep checking on the noodles to see how done they were getting, to try and stir them up (to keep them from sticking), and to make sure they were still covered with liquid. I only added water when the spaghetti looked less covered with liquid and I ended up using about three cups of water (along with the tomato juices) in order to cook the spaghetti completely.

It worked so well and the pasta tasted... richer? More tomato-y? More one with the sauce, I guess. The sauce itself had thickened up a lot, too, by the addition of the pasta's starches. Overall, I'd call it a success which makes me wonder why we've all come to believe that pasta needs so much water to cook. All of it seems really wasteful now.

If you're adventurous (or eat a lot of pasta), this might be something you'd like to try. I don't think it would work with creamy sauces (mac and cheese... mmmm... probably not), but if you're making a tomato-based sauce already, this might be a nice option.