Laura Mae Creates

Happy Halloween Printable Pennant Banner on Etsy!

2014-09-22T16:16:00.000-04:00

This printable Happy Halloween pennant banner is up on Etsy today! It is a banner that you can print from home! Print off as many as you like and hang them all around your home. Check it out here!

Happy Halloween Printable Pennant Banner - Blank pennants included for custom banner $5.00

Detailed view of pennants

SVG Haunted House

2014-09-21T16:17:00.000-04:00

BBQ 4th of July Scrapbook Layout

2014-07-09T10:51:00.002-04:00

You've been upgraded to Grill Class.

I made 4 of the same layouts for this Two Peas Swap that I'm doing. This is what the BBQ themed page looks like. Then I took the one for me and made it my own by adding my photos.

As a running inside joke in this house about the Bear Fans Discount Double Check Commercial I felt the need to title this page Grill Class and add the quote "Your tongs are in your seatback" to the page

A little floral and bling added detail

So Cal Shop Hop 2014 - Map

2014-07-02T09:03:00.001-04:00

View So Cal Shop Hop 2014 in a larger map

Christmas Gift Checklist - Etsy

2013-12-04T15:42:00.001-05:00

Check out my new Editable Gift Checklist Planner for Christmas! I just put it up on Etsy as an instant download.

Christmas Gift Checklist - Editable Christmas Gift Planner Pack - Printable Christmas Planner Kit - 2 Documents, Instant Download

http://etsy.me/1bhcycC

Fluer De Sel Vanilla Caramels Recipe

2013-11-20T11:10:00.000-05:00

Print Recipe

This is what you need to make these homemade caramels. Brown Sugar, butter (cubed), sweeten condensed milk, light corn syrup, vanilla and fleur de sel (not pictured) for the topping. Super easy ingredients right?

Whenever you are using a candy thermometer, make sure you test it before. An inaccurate thermometer will ruin everything! To test, clip a candy thermometer onto a pan full of cold water and bring it to a boil. Don't let the thermometer touch the bottom of the pan.

Boiling water should read 212°F. If your water is boiling and the reading is different, make note of the difference and apply this when making your carmel.

To help, if the thermometer says the boiling water is 210˚F and not 212˚F that means you are at a 2˚ difference. So when the thermometer reaches 242˚F you will take your caramel off the heat then instead at the normal 244˚F. If this is all too confusing, just buy a new thermometer, thats what I would do!

High-altitude note: If you live over 7,000 feet take the candy off at 227˚F. Use the NMSU E215 Guide for reference and use the lowest temperature for a chewy candy.

Hello beauties. You will soon be covered in sweetness!!

Line pan with parchment paper, even up the sides and set aside for later. If you are dipping: Prepare any apples, pretzels, or other things you’ll be dipping. Chop any nuts or prepare any candy you’ll be sprinkling on top. Have a heat safe bowl ready as well to pour hot caramel into.

Cube your butter! It melts easier that way and you won't have to worry about burning it.

Pour in 1 cup butter, unsalted and cubed to your saucepan.

Melt butter over low heat in saucepan.

Always a good idea to have when making candy with sugar. A dish of cold water and a pastry brush. This you will use to brush down any sugar crystals that want to come in and ruin the party.

You will need 2 1/4 cup brown sugar. Light or dark doesn't matter, its all about preference. I've used both and they both come out fine. I had light brown in my cupboard so thats what I used today!

Just a side note, the color will be different if using a dark brown sugar, obviously because you will be using a darker color hehe. The caramels will be darker than if using light brown sugar.

Carefully add sugar by pouring it into the center of the pan. You don't want the sugar climbing up the sides and crystalizing. This is when you use your damp pastry brush if need to brush down the sugar to prevent tears later.

Stir slowly the brown sugar until well combined with melted butter.

Next 1 cup light corn syrup. Ugh I hate sticky things like corn syrup, but its unavoidable in this recipe. Molasses is my least favorite. Such a nightmare!

Pour in your corn syrup to the hot sugar butter mixture.

My favorite invention ever! The Adjust - A- Cup measuring cup. So smart for sticky things!! This is how I survive. 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk, which is a small can.

Pour that in on top of the corn syrup and get ready to mix forever!

Start stirring with your pot on medium for one minute, combining all the ingredients you just added.

Then to med.-high until boiling.

Make sure to change temperatures slowly! We don't want to shock the candy and have it end up a greasy mess. Keep stirring and stirring and stirring. This is very important! You don't want the butter to separate from the sugar mixture. Keep an eye on that as you stir, incorporating the butter as best as you can.

Once boiling, clip on your candy thermometer if it isn't there already (again, don’t let it touch the bottom of the pan). By the time your caramel is boiling, if you have been stirring well, you should have the butter fully blended into the caramel mixture, not separated.

Reduce heat to about medium, adjusting so that you keep a moderate, steady boil. Stir frequently. If you let your caramel go too long without stirring the sugar will separate from the butter and become greasy. Keep stirring!

Temperature does not raise at a steady rate, so watch your thermometer closely. Soft Ball state, this is dipping time. If you are going to be dipping you are looking for a temperature 234–240°F. My thermometer says the stages on it which is hand.

Pour the caramel you want to use to dip into a heat safe bowl.

Place your items to dip in the caramel in the bowl and coat completely.

Be sure to let the excess caramel drip off so you don't have a sticky mess from the bowl to your countertops! Again. Stickyness. Not for me.

Parchment paper. This will be your BEST FRIEND when making caramel! Place your dipped items on some parchment paper and let cool. They will be ready to eat when the caramel is cool to the touch.

Don't get over anxious and eat too soon! You WILL burn your mouth. I may or may not know from experience.

Now if you aren't dipping and are making caramel candies, we are looking for the Firm Ball stage. When thermometer reaches 244°, remove caramel from heat.

Remove caramel from heat and stir in 1 tsp. vanilla. Be very careful from here on out, this stuff WILL burn you.

Pour the hot caramel onto your prepared cookie sheet with parchment paper.

If you have a fancy good pan like we do the caramel will just slip right out with no sticky mess to clean up!

Now you need to be patient. Let the caramel cool. My rimmed cookie sheet comes with a lid so I put a lid on it to prevent any tempting hands from cutting a piece off before its cool.

The caramel needs to be cool to the touch before you can start wrapping it. I usually let it sit overnight because wrapping caramels takes forever!

Allow to cool for several hours to overnight. Sprinkle Fluer De Sel over caramel and use a knife or kitchen shears to cut pieces. I use a pizza cutter but be careful with it so you keep your lines straight. Wrap in parchment paper wax paper. You need patience for this, it takes a while! So turn on your favorite TV show and get to wrapping.

**NOTE**

Whenever you are using a candy thermometer, make sure you test it before. An inaccurate thermometer will ruin everything! To test, clip a candy thermometer onto a pan full of cold water and bring it to a boil. Don’t let the thermometer touch the bottom of the pan.
Boiling water should read 212°F. If your water is boiling and the reading is different, make note of the difference and apply this when making your carmel.
To help, if the thermometer says the boiling water is 210˚F and not 212˚F that means you are at a 2˚ difference. So when the thermometer reaches 242˚F you will take your caramel off the heat then instead at the normal 244˚F. If this is all too confusing, just buy a new thermometer, thats what I would do!
High-altitude note: If you live over 7,000 feet take the candy off at 227˚F. Use the NMSU E215 Guide for reference and use the lowest temperature for a chewy candy.

Print Recipe

Thanksgiving Editable Printable Planner

2013-10-29T14:26:00.003-04:00

Check out my new Editable Printable Planner for Thanksgiving! I just put it up on Etsy as an instant download.

Simple Printable Thanksgiving Planner Editable Pack - Printable Fall Planner Kit - 10 Documents, Instant Download
http://etsy.me/1hqGPYM

Halloween Banner

2013-10-15T16:57:00.003-04:00

This Halloween Banner is for sale on Etsy! http://etsy.me/1gIsSVT
This 3 dimensional Halloween Banner is handmade of different papers and embellishments. The banner available is in orange, purple and green Halloween themed papers. Each pennant measures approximately 9.5"x 6.25" and banner measures about 60+ inches depending on flag spacing. Excess black organza ribbon is included to create the length you need. Light enough to hang with push pins.

Bowles Farms - Pumpkin Patch + Corn Maze

2013-10-07T12:58:00.000-04:00

At Bowles Farms, this was the start to the corn maze.

My parents were in town for the week and we headed over to explore the corn maze at Bowles Farms. This year they shaped the maze to recognize the 70 years the Navy base has been around. Mind you I am no fan of getting lost in a maze and when they handed us this tiny little paper map to help us get through it I freaked out a bit. But my family is courageous and off we went, making wrong turns all along the way in the hot hot sun but we had a lot of fun as we always do and made it through!

After the maze we went over and hand picked our own pumpkins, we came home with 6 pretty and colorful ones!

My love!

My dad, so handsome!

Of course we had to get in this display. So cheesy we loved it!

After finishing the corn maze with my mom.

Dad cutting pumpkins of the vines for us with his pocket knife.

My man Kyle had the wheelbarrow job!

So happy they came out to visit!

Pumpkins!

Boo Sign

2013-10-01T12:57:00.000-04:00

This sign is super easy to make! All you need are 3D cardboard letters and a strand or two of mini lights!

I started with some cardboard 3D letters found at any craft store.
Using an x-acto knife I sliced the face of each letter off to reveal the hallow inside.
Make sure you poke the holes for the lights before you paint!! I measured out where I wanted the holes to go with a pencil first so I could see what it would look like before I started poking holes. I used a strand of 50 orange mini lights, so I only had 50 holes to work with.
After you poke your holes, push the lights through to make sure they fit and turn them on. Its easier to adjust hole spacing with the lights on so you can see where there may be empty spaces.
Take the lights out of the letters and get ready to paint!
You can use any paint method you like, but I found spray paint to be the easiest.
Once the paint was dry I put the lights back in and turned them on!

Since I was using these outside for my Halloween display, I decided to put the letters on a strip of cardboard so I could make them sit how I liked.

This is the start to our Halloween display. More to come!

Fall Wreath

2013-09-01T13:05:00.000-04:00

Since we just moved into our new home, we don't have many decorations. Which is fine for me because that just means I get to make as many as I want!! I started with this wreath for our door, very fall like and its something that I can keep on the door from September-November! Love it!

May the 4th Be With You

2013-05-04T00:04:00.000-04:00

I made this for my loving boyfriend today who loves Star Wars and has recently introduced me to the movies as well. I wanted to surprise him today being Star Wars day and make him something to show him that I care. So May the 4th be with you!

So Cal Shop Hop 2013 - Map

2013-05-01T15:03:00.000-04:00

View So Cal Shop Hop 2013 in a larger map

US Scrapbook Stores Map

2013-04-29T11:55:00.003-04:00

http://papercrafterscorner.com/scrapbook-stores/

I have found a new favorite website. It is called Paper Crafter's Corner and they have a huge up to date list of scrapbook stores, crafty events and even scrapbook kit clubs. Check them out!
http://papercrafterscorner.com

Scrapbook Stores / Paper Crafting Stores

The above map shows 671 US brick & mortar paper crafting retail locations including independent scrapbook stores, independent stamping stores, Archiver’s locations, PaperSource locations, Craft Warehouse (pacific NW), and a few “mom & pop” general craft store locations (like Ben Franklin.) It does NOT include “big box” stores.

Looking for more detail on stores, retreats and events in your state? Click here

Fluer De Sel Vanilla Caramels

2013-02-09T14:42:00.001-05:00

WARNING!! These are extremely addictive. Don't send me your dentist bills! ;)

Yield: about 60-100 caramels (depending on how you cut them) Prep and cook time: 1 hour (not including time to cut and wrap caramels. That takes about another hour or 2)
Ingredients: 1 cup butter, unsalted 1 cup light corn syrup 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk 2 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
Fluer De Sel for sprinkling Equipment: Candy thermometer 3-6 qt. Sauce pan

Pastry Brush
Dish with cold water
Parchment paper 9x13 glass dish or rimmed cookie sheet Caramels: 1. Test your candy thermometer**. See notes below. 2. After you have tested your thermometer, line your pan with parchment paper. Be sure to cover up the sides of the pan. 3. If you will be dipping, prepare your items such as apples or pretzels and any toppings like chocolate or chopped nuts. Set aside. 4. Fill a small dish with cold water and grab your pastry brush, set these aside for later. 5. Cube 1 cup butter into even sized cubes to ensure even melting. Melt over low in sauce pan. 6. Carefully add sugar by pouring it into the center of the pan. You don't want the sugar climbing up the sides and crystalizing. Use your damp pastry brush you set aside to brush down any sugar crystals from the side of the saucepan. 7. Stir the brown sugar slowly until completely combined with melted butter. 8. Add 1 cup corn syrup and 1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk. 9. Start stirring with your pot on medium for one minute, combining all the ingredients you just added. 10. Slowly change your temperature to a medium-high and keep string until boiling. It is very important to change the temperatures slowly so you don't shock your candy. 11. Once boiling, clip on your candy thermometer not letting it touch the bottom of the pan. 12. When caramel is boiling, if you have been stirring well, you should have the butter fully blended into the caramel mixture, not separated. 13. Reduce heat to about medium, adjusting so that you keep a moderate, steady boil. 14. Stir frequently. If you let your caramel go too long without stirring the sugar will separate from the butter and become greasy. Keep stirring! 15. Temperature does not raise at a steady rate, so watch your thermometer closely. 16. Now it depends on what you plan on doing with your caramel so use the temperatures below for what you want. 230–233° Thread (Caramel dip) 234–240° Soft ball (Dipping apples, etc.) 244–248° Firm ball (Soft chewy caramel candy) 17. When thermometer reaches 244°, remove caramel from heat. See high altitude note at bottom if need. 18. Remove caramel from heat and slowly stir in vanilla. 19. Be very careful from here on out, this stuff WILL burn you. If dipping start immediately. If making caramels pour the caramel into the parchment lined pan. 20. Allow to cool for several hours to overnight. Sprinkle Fluer De Sel over caramel and use a knife or kitchen shears to cut pieces. I use a pizza cutter but be careful with it so you keep your lines straight. Wrap in parchment paper wax paper. You need patience for this, it takes a while! So turn on your favorite TV show and get to wrapping. **NOTE** Whenever you are using a candy thermometer, make sure you test it before. An inaccurate thermometer will ruin everything! To test, clip a candy thermometer onto a pan full of cold water and bring it to a boil. Don't let the thermometer touch the bottom of the pan. Boiling water should read 212°F. If your water is boiling and the reading is different, make note of the difference and apply this when making your carmel. To help, if the thermometer says the boiling water is 210˚F and not 212˚F that means you are at a 2˚ difference. So when the thermometer reaches 242˚F you will take your caramel off the heat then instead at the normal 244˚F. If this is all too confusing, just buy a new thermometer, thats what I would do! High-altitude note: If you live over 7,000 feet take the candy off at 227˚F. Use the NMSU E215 Guide for reference and use the lowest temperature for a chewy candy.

Enjoy!

Valentines Day Nails

2013-01-31T12:53:00.001-05:00

Look what I did using washi tape!

Steps:
1. Punch a heart out of a piece of washi tape
2. Place tape on nail make sure all edges are pressed down
3. Paint where nail shows through in washi tape
4. Peel off tape while wet and touch up and edges
5. Let dry!

Our first wreath

2012-12-07T18:44:00.000-05:00

I've always wanted to make a wreath like this. It is very time consuming I must say but living in New York, you have a lot of time on the subways. I wrapped the cardboard wreath with white yarn while sitting on the G train for the past week. It took me about 2 days of train rides to wrap 2 layers of white yarn around the cardboard wreath.

I added glittered letters of our initials and a tiny little anchor in the middle of the center flower.

Framed Layouts

2012-10-03T16:08:00.000-04:00

Its official, scrapbook pages look so much prettier when they are framed! Thank goodness for Hobby Lobby! I grabbed a handful of these simple black 12x12 frames for about $5/piece since they were on sale 50% off! Score!

I made a page for Kyle before I went out to Italy to give to him when I got out there. He loved it so much he told me he wanted to frame it. Why didn't I think of that?! I just thought he would push pin it to the wall or something. Then near the end of my stay out there he asked me if I would make some more for him of photos of us from my stay. Awww. Of course!! So I made these and bought some frames and the photos don't do them justice but I think pages look so much better framed!

So I had those shipped off to Italy for him with an empty 3rd frame for the one that I already gave him. But since I loved how they looked so much and I was getting ready to move to New York, I wanted some for myself too! So I whipped up these two to bring out with me to the big city.

Vivere in Italia

2012-09-18T15:34:00.000-04:00

http://missmaeabroad.blogspot.com/

I had the wonderful privilege to travel to Italy this summer and adventure around over there with my amazing sailor. Never in a million years at the beginning of 2012 did I think I'd end up over here, in love and not wanting to move back home! You can see more about my adventures over on a blog that I created while I was in Italy.

Glitter Nails

2012-08-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

Ok the new trend is glittery nails right now. The problem is they use gel when you get them and I'm allergic to gel. So I can't have glittery nails...or can I?! I have all this Martha Stewart glitter left over from my starbucks cups, who says I can't dip my nails in them? So thats exactly what I did. I painted my nails with just a top coat then dipped them in glitter and added a top coat on top of that. They looked pretty good too! The only problem, they washed off the second I did the dishes. Eh at least I tried. They looked cute for a day.

Glittered Part 2

2012-08-26T16:17:00.000-04:00

Remember when I glittered my Starbucks Cup pink a little while back? Well I also bought purple glitter at the same time I bought the pink to make a second cup. I think I like the purple better because the color is darker than the pink one.

Glitter!

2012-08-22T14:15:00.001-04:00

How many people actually decorate their Starbucks cups? I've yet to see someone do so, or even personalize it. So here mine is to break this pattern and hopefully people will start getting creative and decorating their cups too!

I used Martha Stewarts glitter and a simple spray adhesive to create this cup. Make sure you cover the inside with something like foil so you don't accidentally get spray adhesive in the drinking area of the cup. All I did was spray glue then sprinkled glitter over the glue area until the whole cup was glittered!

Blinged Out!!

2012-08-08T21:24:00.000-04:00

I am in love with Hobby Lobby! Best craft store around by far!! I don't know what I'm going to do without it when I move to New York. Save money I guess?!

The amount of bling they have! So fantastic! But I'm a little OCD and wanted to organize them. This sounds like a job for my Mini Me!!

Amy came over today too so we sat in the kitchen and sorted bling for a few hours while we watched movies. Only Amy would be patient enough to do something like this with me. I love this little girl!

How to sort bling? The best way we found was by using mini cupcake tins!! Which I have plenty of haha. But there are enough spots in a mini cupcake tin to sort many different colors! We had a blast with this. Yes, I'm turning my Mini Me into an OCD lover too <3 <3

Shipping Cupcakes Overseas

2012-08-08T21:19:00.000-04:00

Sounds like an impossible task right?! Well its not. The impossible part is dealing with the freaking Military and their stupid mail system that takes forever. This is the only thing that makes shipping perishables difficult. Other than that its quite simple.

I bought small mason jars that had seal lids on them instead of screw tops. This made it easier to put wax paper on the frosting and seal them shut before shipping.

So when you bake your cupcakes in a mason jar, theres no real temp or time difference. You just need to judge the size of your jars. If you are using bigger jars you will need to bake longer than you would bake a normal cupcake. Simple logic since if you were to bake a mini cake in a tiny spring-form you would do the same thing.

Make sure you remove all accessories to the jars. Thats why mason jars with screw lids are so much easier because you just unscrew the lids then put them in the oven. With these seal tops you have a lot more components to take apart but nothing some pliers can't help you with. Once your jars are stripped and clean you need to make your cake batter.

Any cake batter will do. For my test run I just made a simple chocolate cake (the photo above) Remember when you are filling your jars with batter that your cakes will rise and you don't want them to rise above the rims because then you wont have room to frost and seal the jars. I suggest half a jar of batter or less depending on how many eggs and rising ingredients you have used in your batter. If you want make a fancy flower or design with your piping tips on top of your cupcakes, make sure that you fill your jars with less than half a jar of batter so you have room to do this later.

Once your cupcakes are baked and cooled you can frost and decorate them like normal, still keeping in mind that you have a lid to put on. After they are frosted place wax paper on top of the frosting and seal the lid tightly.

Now this is the scary part. Freeze your cupcakes. When I first heard of this I freaked out because everyone knows, don't put cake in the fridge. But the freezer isn't as harsh on cakes as the fridge is and being in a sealed jar it doesn't dry out the cake like the fridge would. Phew!

I shipped these cupcakes from California to Italy. About 7000 miles! And this is what they looked like when he opened them up! He also said that they still tasted really good and weren't dry at all. Phew and Phew!!

If you are planning on shipping cupcakes like this, remember to bake them the day before you ship them and freeze them overnight. Package them up in bubble wrap individually instantly after you take them out of the freezer and box them up and ship ASAP!

Kyle got these after 2 weeks because of the military mail system...so I was really surprised that they were still good. If you are shipping to a military member, rushing your package won't speed up the process. It will just get your package to the US mailing spot fast but then once its in the military's hands you are out of luck in speed, thats what I've learned so far. Not the end of the world but it does make for shipping things like this more difficult.

Waffle Time!

2012-08-08T14:58:00.000-04:00

"Ohh, it's waffle time! It's waffle time! Won't you have some waffles of mine?"