Strawberry Creme Popsicles Recipe

I made some delicious strawberry cream popsicles a while back.  They were totally bomb.com but my photography wasn't.  I had made the popsicles at night so my lighting wasn't great.  I gave into my irrational expectations that my photos need to look "professional" (despite not having professional training) and decided not to share my recipe.  I didn't even bother to take a picture of the end product with my camera.  (Thankfully I took an Instagram!)  Lucky for you, yesterday I saw these homemade popsicles (yum!) by Chasing Sunshine on Hellocotton.com and it inspired me to share my own tasty recipe on the blog!

Ingredients:

4 cups strawberries, with tops removed

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

French Vanilla Cream on Top Yogurt

You will also need: 

Popsicle Sticks

Dixie Cups

Paper

Blender or Food Processor 

Let's get started!  First you will need to purée your strawberries.  Set aside.

Prepare a simple syrup by combining 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for 5 minutes and stir constantly.  Remove from heat after 5 minutes and cover tightly.  Let cool for 15 minutes.  

Mix strawberry puree and simple syrup together.  

Take half of your strawberry syrup and mix it with the yogurt.  Mix a little yogurt at a time into your strawberry syrup so you get your desired sweetness.  

Spoon a layer of yogurt mixture into the bottom of a small Dixie Cup.  

Add a layer of strawberry syrup.   

 Add a final layer of yogurt mixture on top.  

I couldn't find a popsicle mold...  So I made a little something out of nothing.  Cut a circle out of paper just bigger than the Dixie cup.  Slice a tiny opening in the middle of the paper to slip a popsicle stick into.  

And there you have it.  Freeze your popsicles for at least a few hours until they are frozen solid.  Peel the dixie cup away and enjoy!  :)  I'm no nutritionist-- but I'd say they are pretty healthy too.  I think I made at least 16 popsicles so there is at most 25 calories of table sugar in each popsicle + 2 or 3 tablespoons of yogurt and fresh strawberry.  Not too shabs!  

If you're celebrating Easter or Passover-- my warmest wishes to you for a happy holiday.  My family is coming to visit for a week and I'm so excited to see them.  Especially baby Ivy :)  Do you have any special plans for the weekend?  xo, Ashley

Chalkboard Candle Votives

On Monday I made candles and posted a tutorial!  I wanted to jazz them up a little bit.  

1.  Collect your supplies.  You will need a candle, chalk board paint, accent paint (optional), a paintbrush, and masking tape.  Make your own candle with this tutorial.  

2.  Mark off the space you want to paint with tape.  I couldn't find my stencil or masking tape-- so I used Scotch tape.  Mistake.  I highly recommend not using Scotch tape!!  Use your tape of choice and block off the top and bottom.  Paint chalkboard paint in-between the tape.

3.  Wait for your paint to dry and peel off the tape.  My edges are messy :/  Hopefully your lines are pretty!  I wanted to minimize my messy edge, so I painted a white stripe above my blue chalkboard paint.  

4.  Use chalk and draw or write something!  I drew a heart on one side and wrote LOVE on the other.

Something lovely for your home or a perfect affordable, adorable, and personalized gift!!

Have a great weekend!

xoxo,
Ashley

DIY Wedding: Burlap

Burlap and Bling via Elizabeth Anne Designs // photography by Kristyn Hogan

What's not to love about a rustic wedding?  My beautiful bride-to-be friend Jessica (who is my muse for this series) was telling me of her plans to incorporate burlap into her wedding decor.  I am so excited to see what amazingness she whips up-- and even more excited to see her say I do to her love!  

Disclaimer: As tempting as it is, I'm definitely not saying you should use each and every burlap inspiration in your wedding.  There is definitely such a thing as "too much burlap".  Moderation... Oh so difficult!  I know, I know-- burlap is super cute and cheap and you have so much of it!  Don't worry-- next week I will share lots of great DIY ideas about what to do with your bounty of extra burlap!  Follow my blog so you don't miss out!  

Burlap Wrapped Bouquet via Captured Photography

Stamped Burlap Runners via EAB Designs // purchase on Etsy

Burlap Menu or Program Cover via Style Me Pretty // Photography by Vela Images

50 Wedding Birdseed & Lavender Toss Burlap Favor Bags for purchase at funkyshique on Etsy 

Vintage Style Ceremony Sign for purchase at SophiasSignBoutique on Etsy 

Rustic Wedding Cake via Brides.com // Cake by Anna Tyler Cakes

Burlap Table via Hey Gorgeous, The Blog // Photography by Tonya Peterson

Rustic Burlap Wedding Ring Bearer Pillow for purchase at whichgoose on Etsy

Burlap Invitations via Rustic Wedding Chic // Photography by Kristyn Hogan

Just Married Burlap Banner via funkyshique

Happy planning!!!    

Other Wedding Wednesday posts you might like:  

Save the Dates: Free Downloadable Templates

Creative DIY Save the Dates

DIY Flower Themed Favors

DIY Bird Themed Wedding Ideas

xoxo,

Ashley

Candle Making Tutorial

One of my resolutions for 2012 is to be fearless in my crafting!  I want to tackle the crafts I've been longing to try, but don't because they are messy or difficult.  I've always wanted to try making candles-- so here I go!   

I want to take a minute to say that making candles can be dangerous-- so you will need to read all of your directions from your packaging before you start!  The directions I followed might not be appropriate for your project if you are using different materials.  If your supplies didn't come with directions-- use Google to find suitable directions to make your candle and to learn about candle making safety.  If you are under 18, please ask an adult to supervise your project.  

Here are my supplies.  I used soy wax, a candle thermometer, vanilla scent (the white block), pink dye, a candle vase, and a pre-waxed wick.  Cover your work space with newspaper.  It gets a little messy!!

A double boiler would be a great thing to have for candle making.  I made my own by filling a small pot with about 2 inches of water and placing a metal bowl over it.  I boiled the water and then reduced the heat to simmer and melt the wax.


I have a strange phobia about crafting with things that come into contact with food-- so I picked up my little metal bowl at the thrift store for fifty cents.  I was extra careful to not have any wax come into contact with my pot that I use to cook with.  

After you melt your wax according to the directions on your package, chop up your fragrance and dye. I heated my wax to 175 degrees F.

Add the dye first and then the fragrance.

Use oven mits and remove your melted wax from the heat source.  I placed the hot bowl on newspaper-- but if you have fancy countertops, you will probably want to use a pot holder or something to protect your surface from the hot bowl.  Allow the wax to cool to the temperature that your directions recommend.  I let my wax cool to 135 degrees F.

I forgot to pick up the sticky, tacky stuff that secures your wick to the bottom of the candle glass.  Not wanting to run out to the store, I used skewer sticks.  One to wrap the extra wick around and another to keep the wick centered and touching the bottom of the glass.

When your wax cools to the right temperature, pour it in the glass.  Remove the skewer stick that was keeping the wick in place and leave the skewer stick that the wick is actually wrapped around.  Allow the candle to cool for 30-60 minutes.  Stick the skewer stick all the way into the candle right by the wick.  Then heat up your wax to pouring temperature and pour a little bit into the hole.  You just want to pour enough to cover the hole.

Let your candle cool for 4-6 more hours, trim your wick to 1/4", and let your masterpiece shine!

DIY Scratch Off Paint Valentine

I gave John his Valentine today and it was a hit!  

Here's how I made it:

Supplies:

Paper

Acrylic Paint and Paint Brush

Contact Paper

Dish Soap

Scissors 

Heart Punch- optional

 I cut circles-- but in hindsight that was silly.  

You could just write your message on your paper and save a step.

Cover your paper that you wrote your message on and cover it with contact paper.  Trim the sides. 

 Mix 2 parts acrylic paint with 1 part dish soap.

Paint a thin layer on your Valentine.  Wait an hour or more and paint another layer.  

Repeat this until you have enough layers and the message is hidden.

 I used the heart punch to make a stencil.  I painted 4 hearts to show where to scratch.  You can be creative here!  Then use a permanent marker to write another message to your sweet Valentine. 

 Give your sweetheart your Valentine and a coin!  Let them scratch their way to their secret message.  

 John's message reads "Love You For Always".  

We started saying "for always" a long time ago and we had it inscribed on our wedding bands!  :)  

This is a really fun project.  You can be creative and make scratch off lottery cards, love coupons, anything really!  Have fun!!  Happy Valentine's Day!!! 

xoxo, Ashley

P.S. Check out Martha's tutorial to make cute Save the Dates with DIY Scratch Off Paint!

Holiday Wreath

I have seen so many beautiful holiday wreaths floating around online.  All the inspiration was making me (and Mister G) pretty excited to make one!! 

I gave my wreath a lot of thought before getting started.  I wanted my wreath to be festive-- but also not too classic Christmas.  I was envisioning something "ocean-y" since it's our first Christmas living in a warm climate.  I also came up with the genius idea to incorporate Marquette colors into the wreath to get John excited about it!  (Pretty easy because Marquette baby blue is very ocean-y and also gold is very Christmas-y!)

I picked up a lot of holiday jazz at Micael's--by the way, now is a great time to get a deal on wreath fixins!  I chose golds, silvers, blues, and greens.  When I came home Mister G was nipping at the bag and trying to play with the picks.  

Remember when I made the homemade holiday ornanments?  While I was spray-painting my baby pine cones for the ornaments, I also painted a few big shells gold.    

The big shells needed special help to stay on the wreath.  I cut a piece of yarn and hot glued it to the back of the shell.  One big glob in the center and a line to each side to help the shells lay flat.

After the glue dried, I arranged the shells and tied the yarn tightly around the wreath.  Then I added the rest of my items.  It gets pretty windy at times here-- so I used a dab of hot glue on the bottoms of each pick before I stuck them into the wreath.

I love the sea urchin looking flowers next to the poinsettia!  If you take a close look you will see some baby pine cones too.  

I don't have a wreath hanger yet, so until I pick one up the wreath will be hanging under our house numbers.  See her to the left?

Have you made a wreath this year?  Plans to make one?  Share your pictures on Mister G's Facebook page or Twitter @MisterGandMe .