December is upon us...

It's been awhile since I've posted. I was going to talk about how busy I was with school and how little I got done crafting and cooking, but then I went through my pictures which proved otherwise. Apparently I've been so busy because I've been crafting and cooking ON TOP of finals... oops!

So I left you off after Thanksgiving...

The week later was my friend Tye's birthday. A celebration... for a guy... that I could make manly cake for...

Perfect chance to make the adorable Hamburger Cupcakes!!! (Recipe #25)

Everyone loved them, and they were SO delicious... cupcake, brownie, and frosting? How could they not be? The problem I had with them was that I spent sooo long putting each color frosting on to them through a hole in a sandwich bag, but when I put them in my nifty cupcake container the indents for each cupcake smeared the frosting and made it all jumbled. Oh well, everyone liked them anyways.

My next project was for the Scuba dive club I am a part of. We went to some fancy country club brunch and everyone had to bring a $10 gift for one of those evil gift exchanges where people can steal each other's gifts (I had a bad experience in girl scouts once...). I scoured the internet for Ocean or Diving related gifts I could make. I finally found these Super Cute Sea Creatures from Futuregirl and went to work making them right away [or... the day before the party]!

Here's all my little guys on my sad, sad, skinny Christmas tree: (I was in a rush and forgot to grab the starfish when I wrapped them, so he got left behind. Now I have my third real ornament!)

And here's a snapshot of each one:

I think they turned out cute, but when we got there people were saying "Well it SAID $10 but it was unofficially a $20 gift." Grr.... Anyways, everyone ooohed and aaahhhed when they were opened, I didn't have to admit to being the lame-o who made the gifts, and I left with these cute wooden alligators for my brother's birthday! (AFTER the handtowels I wanted were stolen).

Total cost for this Christmas gift: About $3 for the felt and embroidery thread.

Next we have the Dammit dolls. I had been meaning to make one of these for Logan for Christmas ever since I saw them at the craft fair, Great Day in the Country. They were like $15 or something at the craft fair, and they really weren't that cute! Good ol' Meredith and I... "We could just make them ourselves!" So I did. The only expensive part of this was the Gator cloth... it was like $10 a yard. I bought half a yard I think... for $5, and used it for 2 Dammit dolls (they were so easy to make I made one for my brother's birthday too) and the Gator Wreath, and still have cloth left over.

When your favorite team is losing/ And you're bouncing off the wall/ Here's a little dammit doll/ To help youease the fall./ Just grab it firmly by the legs/ And find a place to slam it/ As you whack the stuffing out/ Yell, "Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!"

Total cost for two of these dolls: $5 for cloth, already had stuffing, used scrap felt for backs instead of expensive fabric.

Alrighty... NEXT I have something I am extremely proud of. You know that list I might one day make with my top 10 things I've made? Yeah, this will definitely be on it.

I wanted to make my friend Tiffany an apron for her birthday. She loves to bake, and doesn't own an apron. At first, I was making this apron that wasn't so cute from my own pattern. Then I saw this apron on pinterest and fell in love. Unfortunately, it's from etsy and was like $30. I decided to attempt to make my own version.

Again, I left it to the last minute but I had drawn patterns on cardstock to trace so I wasn't just winging it, so it turned out really well!!! The only thing I would change is that I would write the name in print with dots at the corners of the letters, like in 3rd grade. I always think my handwriting is pretty until I attempt to write on fabric. Then it just looks uneven and blah.

Total cost for this project: $10 for fabric

Finally, I also had to make Tiffany a baked good for her birthday! She and I get sushi together all the time, so little candy or cake sushi would be perfect. I found this recipe for strawberry shortcake sushi on pinterest and decided it was perfect! (Recipe #26)

It turned out alright... one thing (there always has to be something) is that it said to lay the cake on a clean dish towel to let it cool. Well, I guess my dish towel was TOO clean because I felt like the cake kind of tasted like laundry detergent. Oh well, the strawberry will cover it!!

Finally, I've been working on some recipes. There's no way I'll get to 100 by the end of the year, especially since I am leaving for Colorado in less than 20 days, but I'll shoot for 50, just because.

#26. Chocolate Mug Cake - I had a sweet tooth one night and thought I would try this out, but I wasn't that big of a fan. It wasn't chocolately enough for me, it just tasted kind of, bleh, like flour with cocoa.

#27. Healthy Ice Cream - Reminded me a little of baby food, but still delicious!!

#28. Deviled Eggs - yes, simple, but one of those recipes I had always wanted to try and never got around to. I made these today... Logan and I both love deviled eggs, so he'll be excited when he sees them in the fridge tonight!

#29. Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken - This is in the crock pot right now for dinner tonight. Okay, that might be cheating, but I tried the recipe, it's just still cookin! I'm throwing them on some warmed up Mountain bread when we get home from our meeting tonight, hopefully they'll be delicious! (They smell wonderful) And they are SO easy!

#30. Okay, I scrounged up some recipes I had tried before. I guess the point of this was to just get my 'Recipes tried' board to 100, not to necessarily try 100 NEW recipes. Paula Deen's Not Yo' Mama's Banana Puddin' - This is my favorite dessert of all time. I guess it's a good thing that Logan doesn't like bananas, otherwise I would have an excuse to make it all the time. YUM!!!

#31. Buffalo Chicken Dip - my ex boyfriend's mom used to make this, and I would go crazy every time she did. It's delicious! So I remembered it last year and made it for tail gating at my place. It didn't look great, but once everyone tried it they were hovering around it until every last piece was scraped up. Once we ran out of chips, people started resorting to some biscuits I had made to get every drop of the dip in their mouths. I made it again this year and brought it to a friend's house. Once again, it was a HUGE hit. Tiffany and I put a little bowl out for the guests then hovered in her kitchen around the pan eating the rest of it. Yes, fatties. It's what we tend to do when we're around eachother's cooking.

There's all my projects I've done for now... over the next few days I will be [hopefully] finishing a grill apron for Logan for Christmas, as well as a work guy stocking for my dad. I also bought the ingredients to make pull-apart buns... get pumped!!!