Well, aren’t these just adorable? I made some earrings this weekend for the latest and greatest Petit Elefant post. Yes, they are a variation of my thumbtacks I made a few weeks ago, but I’m totally loving the bright colors of this version.  These colors photograph so much better! Head on over for the full tutorial to see how to make them yourself! 

I had a solid weekend of fun hanging out with my mom for Mother’s Day (my dad and grandparents made it into the mix, too) and not only did she make some earrings with me, but she even modeled them for me!

Dang! Those ears are going places, no? Thanks for your help, Mom!

I hope you guys aren’t sick of all the geometric goodness because these geode beauties will be showing up on here (at least) one more time.  It will be the best variation yet, so get excited!

So let’s talk about Greek yogurt for a moment.

It’s so “in” right now, you know? I feel like Chobani has created this craze around the thick, high protein dairy treat and has turned so many people into these Greek yogurt believers that will never go back to the other stuff.

I know I won’t.

I was hesitant to try it for a while mainly because it is just more expensive. Especially the name brand stuff. But I finally made the switch after comparing the ingredients and basically saw that we were eating yogurt-flavored chemicals and sweeteners rather than natural ingredients, and decided it was worth the few extra cents.

I swear this post isn’t sponsored by anyone, I’m just really enamored by this stuff right now, and not just Chobani, there’s other great ones out there, too.

So anyway, there’s a picture of a delicious cupcake up there, and I’m just rambling on about yogurt. Time to get to the point, I suppose.

I needed to bring a dessert to a dinner party last weekend and for some reason cupcakes just struck my fancy. And boy I’m sure glad they did, these were some fantastic cupcakes. The secret ingredient? You’ll never guess…

Greek Yogurt.
Yeah, I know, baking with Greek yogurt isn’t really some big secret that I just let you in on. But it’s one ingredient that I have started using more frequently and I can really tell a difference with it. Cakes are more rich and creamy, and you’re adding some extra protein and good stuff to baked goods that you probably wouldn’t otherwise get. I mean, these are still cupcakes, there’s a freaking cup of sugar in these guys, but still, you get some protein and calcium in there, too.

And guess what? The frosting has the magic ingredient in there, too. Tastes great, but don’t try to do anything fancy with it. I imagined this mound of beautifully swirled frosting on top of these cupcakes, and when I tried to do that, I got this soupy mess:

Even after straining the yogurt overnight to thicken it up! So I ended up putting barely any frosting on these and as a result had a ton of leftover frosting. Not really the worst problem in the world.

Top the lightly frosted cakes with some sliced strawberries, and you’ll be good to go.

I used this recipe from Little Bitty Bakes. I followed the cupcake recipe to a tee, only I used softened butter in lieu of Coconut oil since I didn’t have that on hand, opted out of the sprinkles, and doubled the recipe because it’s just that good.

I also doubled the frosting recipe and was heavy handed on the powdered sugar to try and thicken it a bit more. I added a teaspoon of vanilla to mask the powdered sugar taste, and it was a hit with everyone who tried it!

Have you tried baking with Greek yogurt yet? If not, what are you waiting for!?

Photo from sarahkate79

Last week I shared pictures from our Detroit trip where we explored the city for overlooked wasted spaces. This past weekend B and I along with the rest of the Columbus Design Week[s] crew explored our own city for some overlooked spaces that have potential to be transformed into something else. Are you curious about why we keep seeking out these wasted urban spaces? Keep reading for more information about a project I’ve been up to for the past few months:

So, what’s up with all this “overlooked” stuff?

All this overlooked searching and photographing is for our Columbus Design Week[s] 2013 project, cbus:FOTO, a photography based project where we ask you–residents, citizens, denizens, fans of Columbus to find whatever is “overlooked” in the city, take a picture of it and tag it with #cbusFOTO so we can find it.

What does FOTO mean?

Friends of the Overlooked. Be an advocate for these spaces. Make people aware of places in this city that have the potential to be something great.

What happens to the photos after I submit them?

We’re collecting all of your photos and will post them to our website to get your feedback and ideas. What else could this space be? A market? A swing park? New development? What do you want to see these overlooked spaces become? Similar to our Ideabook Opening Exhibition, we’re planning an exhibition during this year’s Design Week[s] (October 2013) to show off  your photos and ideas.

How do I follow what’s going on with the project?

Check out our website for the most up-to-date information. Also be sure to follow The Center for Architecture and Design on your social media platform of choice (or all of them!)

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Sound like fun? I think so! Start looking for the overlooked!

Mother’s Day is next weekend! Have you picked up a card yet for your momma? (or made some screen printed napkins?) I don’t usually think of Etsy as a place to get cards, but they have a great supply of original and creative cards for every occasion at very reasonable prices. Why not support the artisans and get your card there instead of in a store aisle. Here’s five of my favorites:

one: Letterpress Polka Dot card via In haus press | two: Hand lettered chalk art card via Lily and Val | three: Calligraphy Card by 55 Hi’s | four: Hand Lettered Mom card by K is for Calligraphy | five: I’m awesome. Thanks, mom by Paper Society Co.

Or check out these free printable mother’s day cards I made last year. So many options!

Enjoy your weekends! I’m hoping to spend as much time outside as possible.

And happy, happy Friday.

Wow. It has been FOREVER since I posted a recipe here. I swear I’ve been eating. And trying some new things. It’s just hard to photograph food when we don’t eat dinner until after 8 and the lighting in my house is just dismal. Fortunately, daylight is sticking around a bit longer these days, and I made this on the weekend, so I had plenty of time for photos and you get to enjoy a new food post! And trust me, you’re gonna enjoy this one.

I stumbled across the fantastic website CleanEating last week and I have a feeling I’ll be frequenting that site for more recipes ideas; especially the Quick & Easy section, because when you’re eating dinner at 8:30, you want to be able to make something simple and fast.

This recipe has so much going for it: Easy, no cooking, super healthy, and adaptable for whatever you have on hand.

Ok, I’ll get on with it already:

Moroccan Chickpea Salad
adapted from CleanEating

The Dressing

• 3 tbs Olive Oil
• 3 tbs Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Cumin
• Heavy Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

The Salad

• 3 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 C shredded carrots
• 1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 4-5 green onions, chopped
• 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4+ chopped cilantro

Mix up the dressing in a small bowl.

Mix all the veggies together in a large bowl, toss in with the dressing.

Super easy, but so good. Try it out for dinner some night, or bring it to a party in lieu of pasta salad or chips!

Enjoy!

May has finally arrived, and that means warmer weather (let’s hope so), flowers, and Mother’s Day! If you live near your mom, treat her to a lovely brunch complete with these screen printed cloth napkins. Yes, I did say screen printed. Sounds complicated, I know, but with the help of Martha Stewart crafts, these napkins were so easy and really fun to make.

Materials needed for Screen printed cloth napkins:

• Cloth Napkins – You can buy them or follow my tutorial to make your own!
• Martha Stewart Multi-Surface acryllic paint. I used the Metallic paint in Gold and Yellow Gold.
• Martha Stewart adhesive silkscreens
• Martha Stewart foam pouncers

Fix your stencil on the napkin and make sure its lying flat. Load your foam pouncer (by the way, I love these things and I love that they are called “pouncers”) and start painting (or, um,  pouncing?).

Cover the stencil with the paint. I liked how the two golds blended into each other so I wasn’t very careful about keeping them separate. I also never had an issue with putting on too much paint. Make sure you completely cover every surface because once that stencil lifts up, there’s no going back.

Simply lift up the adhesive and look how great! Wash and completely dry the adhesive between each application. (You could probably get away with two applications, but after that it starts to look messy.) After the paint is completely dry, set the design by placing another piece of fabric on top and ironing over it for 30 seconds on the “wool” heat setting.

Now you’re ready to use your new napkins! Not up for serving a whole meal? Use these napkins to wrap up a vase or other small gift to show your love for your mom!

Disclaimer: This post is part of a sponsored campaign with Plaid and The Blueprint Social.  All opinions are my own.

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B and I spent the weekend in Detroit with our fellow Design Week team members last week to explore the urban ruins and overlooked spaces of the city that once was.  I knew that entire neighborhoods had been torn down and there were dilapidated buildings all over, but what I didn’t expect was the complete and utter emptyness. During the entire weekend we barely saw any people, and people we did see were there for the same reason as us: tourists checking out the spectacle of Detroit’s abandonment.

Here’s some more photos from the trip:

The Heidleberg Project

Packard Auto Plant – 3.5 million square feet of emptyness

Detroit’s Public Transit: The People Mover

Abandoned Frederick Douglass Projects

April showers bring knit flowers. And bloodshot aphids.

Tatyana Yanishevsky knits and creates these fantastic sculptures out of yarn, steel, resin, and glass.

So good! Keep reading for more beautiful flowers–and that bloodshot insect.

and last but not least:

There’s so much more! Head over to her website and check out some more knit creations.

All photos from knitplants.com

Here’s to a new week and a fresh start. The last seven days was a week full of challenges at the small scale for me personally, and the national scale where I can’t even fathom the terror and grief the people in Massachusetts and Texas have gone through over the last few days.

I was traveling on Friday for work. Even though I’ve made same the trip before, this time felt different. There was this new sense of community between everyone waiting for their flights: people huddled close together around the TV watching the latest updates on CNN, strangers talking to each other about the latest facts or about someone they know that lives there or sharing a personal connection they have to the area. It seemed that the week of events created a common bond between everyone no matter where you were from or where you were headed.

I’m looking forward to this week, getting back on track, and moving on to new adventures and projects.

Happy Monday to you and enjoy the new week!

Hello there! Talk about a week not going how I planned it! I woke up on Monday keeled-over-can’t-move-can’t-eat sick and now I’ve just been playing catch up for the rest of the week.  But alas, blogging and crafting must go on.

I finally hopped on the geometric bandwagon last weekend and have these fun and easy geo thumbtacks to share with you today.

Materials for Geometric Thumbtacks:

• Polymer Clay
• Thumbtacks
• Xacto or clay knife
• polymer clay glaze
• paint brush
• acrylic paint (optional)

The Sculpey clay I bought was conveniently scored in perfect widths for this project, and broke off in smaller pieces like a Kit Kat bar. Cut off a piece from that to make a small cube.

Embed the thumb tack in the cube. (I know my pictures are so self explanatory, you really don’t even need my comments, right? I think I’ll keep typing them anyway)

Now for the fun part! Start slicing off the corners of the clay until you get the shape you want. Word to the wise, fewer, larger cuts look better than lots of smaller cuts. Well, at least in my opinion.

The directions say to bake for 15 minutes per 1/4″ of thickness. A half hour worked for me. I baked them on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Let them cool completely before handling them since they will get harder as they cool.

Glaze ‘em up to give them a nice shine and then they’re ready to use as is or paint them with acrylic paints.

To make the marbled tacks roll two small logs of different colored clay together and then make the cube, conceal, slice…you get the idea.

Spruce up your bulletin board with these fun push pins!

Enjoy your Thursday!