Make It: Fondant Cake

Fondant Cake
Originally uploaded by udandi

My sister-in-law made this fondant cake for Gramma's pizza party on Saturday. I love the way fondant makes cakes look so silky smooth and elegant, but there is no way I will ever be able to master it.

Watching this Fun with Fondant video I can see that I will never move that quickly when making a cake, only when eating it!

Free Stuff: Printer Cartridge Refill @ Walgreens

For one day only, April 2, at participating Walgreens, get a refill on the following printer brands: Dell, HP, Lexmark, Okidata, Primera, Sharp and Xerox. Not available for Canon or Epson printers.

Due to this exceptional offer, refill service time may vary. Ask a photo associate for details. Offer valid for Hawaii residents Monday, April 7 only.

Click the post title, above, to find a participating store, specific printer models and to print the coupon.

Make It: Sangria

Wine Tasting Party
Originally uploaded by udandi

A friend recommended I listen to Rodrigo Y Gabriela, which I loved and made me long for a sunny day, sitting on a patio, drinking Sangria. Then, my coworker asked if I had a recipe for Sangria. It was all perfect timing because I was invited to a wine tasting party and as a non-wine drinker, I was unsure of what to take and then I realized I could bring Sangria!

Ingredients
* 1 bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Shiraz)
* 2 tbsp sugar
* 1 lemon cut into wedges
* 1 orange cut into wedges
* 24 ounces Sprite/7-up (or ginger ale, club soda)

Recipe
Pour wine in the pitcher.
Add sugar, stir lightly.
Squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon and orange into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible).
Chill overnight.
Add Sprite just before serving.
Serve chilled or over ice.

To serve right away, use chilled red wine and serve over lots of ice.

Because I was taking this on the road to a party and I did not want to worry about someone pouring their drink and wayward piece of fruit falling out of the pitcher into the glass and making a mess, I put the Sangria in a Simply Lemonade container. So I removed the the fruit wedges and squeezed wine they absorbed, then poured the wine into the container and only put three wedges back in (see photo). After that, I added the Sprite and took some extra Sprite in case anyone needed a fresher!

Happy 86th Birthday, Gramma!

Happy 86th Gramma!
Originally uploaded by udandi

Today is my and PharmaSis' Gramma Ginger's 86th birthday! As you can see from the photo on Easter Sunday she looks pretty good for her age and she still has her wits about her. My siblings and I have many funny stories from spending time with her and Gramps.

Like me, she loves ice cream, candy and cakes! Some of her interests include seeing her family, playing nickels, bingo, ceramics (she made my Christmas tree), eating out, taking dinners to her friends and keeping in touch with her high school friends via email. Yes, she can compute!

Since she checks email, I plan to send this post to her so if you are reading this, please comment and send Gramma Ginger some birthday wishes. I bet she'll be tickled and tell all her friends at cards on Friday!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!
Originally uploaded by udandi

Hope your holiday was filled with family, love and just a little bit of candy!

Make It: Wrapping Paper Wall Art

Martha Stewart Wrapping Paper Art
Originally uploaded by udandi

I was cruising the clearance aisle at Michaels when I saw the Martha Stewart wrapping paper and thought it would be good for scrapbooking-type projects. Then, I saw the two-pack of canvases discounted and figured I could make some quick and cheap wall art for my kitchen if I wrapped the canvas with the wrapping paper.

Luckily, my super-cool, IKEA-loving coworker had her heavy-duty stapler handy for me to borrow to complete this project. It took about 10-15 minutes to assemble this project.

I'm sure it has been featured in a variety of books, magazines and blogs, but I was first inspired to do solid-color, painted canvases as an inexpensive way to decorate in Decorating Your First Apartment

"Where is my beige iridescent lipstick?"

Arby's - Beechmont Ave
Originally uploaded by udandi

It has been raining the last two days. Every time it rains for quite a while I say, "Remind me not to take my honeymoon at Niagara Falls." Hoping that someone is like my sister and know the correct reply is "So, you go to Acapulco. It'll be fine." Most times, they come up short. But I still reply with "Where is my beige iridescent lipstick?" and chuckle to myself.

This all comes full circle since Sunday I was flipping channels at my parents house and Dirty Dancing was on and mom said, for as many times as you and your sister have watched this movie, I have never watched the whole thing through. Wha?!

As for the Arby's Big Hat photo? I was driving down my street and decided I needed to get a shot, in the rain. I love these old signs! And Flickr. If you are on Flickr, add me as your contact so I can see your photos or leave your address in the comments!

Click the photo to see mine!

Cincinnati: Ikea

ikea
Originally uploaded by udandi

Ikea opened in West Chester, Ohio on March 12. My coworker and I headed up there today after fueling up on Big Boy sandwiches and Coca-Cola!

Even though I've been to Ikea in Chicago and Pittsburgh, I was still very busy checking everything out to remember to snap photo so there are only a few in my Ikea photo set on Flickr.

As for my purchases, I bought an apple corer, spatula and tool set all for my mom because I already have them and love them!

Cincinnati: Airports We Love

Fodor's web site has an article, Airports We Love (and Hate), and I thought for sure if CVG or Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport was to be listed it would be under hate for having such high airfares or for originally being the Cincinnati and being in Kentucky. But it was sandwiched between Amsterdam and Hong Kong on the LOVE list for the murals, which are pretty cool!

It's worth traveling to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport just to see the art collection. The huge mosaics of laborers were originally created by Winold Reiss for the Cincinnati Union Railway Station during the Great Depression and were moved to the airport in 1974. The murals are widely heralded as outstanding examples of art deco portraiture.

Also making the love list are Honolulu, Munich, San Francisco, Singapore, South Korea and Vancouver.

Hate list: Charles de Gaulle, Paris; Heathrow, London; LaGuardia and JFK, New York; Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia; Mumbai International, Mumbai, India

Nancy Pearl's 10 Favorite Public Libraries

Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust, shares her favorite 10 public libraries with USA Today. The South Euclid Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library in South Euclid, Ohio and the Crescent Hill Branch of Louisville Free Public Library in Louisville, Kentucky made the list.

Click here to see the rest of the eight on the list and what she has to say about each.

Song Chart: What She Got

What She Got
Originally uploaded by Michael Hills

a friend sent this along because I love this song (another purchase from Amazon MP3 downloads) and then I learned there is a whole pool of song charts on Flickr. amazing.

Also for musical viewing pleasure u can't touch this!

Make It: fortune cookie

fortune cookie
Originally uploaded by udandi

I saw Brassy Apple's fortune cookie via Craftzine and wanted to try it to see if it could serve as a card for a gift. I think it can assuming the person knows to look inside for his fortune (the card's message).
.
I may have had one of two problems 1) I made mine a little too big. She provides a pattern, but I just used a CD. Next time I'm going to try something smaller than that, but bigger than a soup can. Or maybe print off her pattern, but I hate to be wasteful if I can just trace a found object. 2) I did not master step 10, the fluffing and shaping technique that she has. Or maybe I need to make more since it looks a little odd by itself.

Try, try again!

CNN: Consumers pinching their pennies

I realize it has been a long while since I posted a financial article, partly because for a while if there was a story it was posted on a good chunk of the personal finance blogs and I did not want to add to the duplication.

Since most of my readers are crafters, they are not seeing that duplication and might care that 64% of Americans plan to cut indulgent spending. That we are shopping the next level down, generally speaking (if you were shopping at Nordstrom, you're now at J C Penney; Kohls > Walmart; Walmart > dollar stores). Also, 50% of consumers plan to cut down on non-essential spending like eating out, going to the movies and remodeling. Still, we are planning to spend money on travel.

Travel spending is forecast to increase a little over 5 percent compared to last year.

Of course it is. I think this year I will stick to my afternoon at the pool vacation!

Free Stuff: Fonts

I was reading through a free fonts thread on a craft message board looking for new fonts for my next digital scrapbooking project. I found a few that I think will work, so I thought I would share sites that have a free section (free for non commercial use).

Font Bros

Font Diner (free silverware)

Chank

dafont

keith bates - I like mailart rubberstamp, which can be found on other free font sites, too

Happy Birthday, PharmaSis

Birthday necklace
Originally uploaded by udandi

Today is PharmaSis', my sister, birthday! She filled in on my blog while I was on vacation last October.

I made this necklace for her back in November when I was in jewelry phase and at Thanksgiving she mentioned she would like something simple. I'm so impressed with myself for not spoiling her gift, because normally I get so excited to give a gift that I do it as soon as I make or buy it! For instance, I've already given my mom her Mother's Day gift!

Snowy Weekend

Friday, March 7, 2008
Originally uploaded by udandi

This was the scene sitting at a red light Friday afternoon leaving work. I should have taken a photo of my car getting stuck in my driveway when I finally made it home, late this afternoon. Finally, because yesterday I went straight to my friends' house because I figured if I was going to be snowed in it was better to do it with friends, snacks, beer, games and karaoke!

By the way, I got my car un-stuck and moved it to another apartment's parking lot and am praying it will not get towed. We could get more snow Sunday night so I'm wondering if my landlord is just waiting around to clear our drive or just does not have plans to clear it?! Either way, I'll have to work on Monday and will need to drive my car...

Make It: Bruchetta Chicken Bake

Sunday, my mom and I had make-ahead meal day and made this recipe among others. I dined on this tonight and will have it again for lunch Thursday!

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
6 oz. stove top mix for chicken
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

preheat oven to 400°F.

place tomatoes in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix, water and garlic; stir just until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside.

place chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with the basil and cheese. Top with stuffing mixture.

bake 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers

Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers
Originally uploaded by udandi.

my parents got a new nostalgic CD, cassette, record player so after we listened to Glenn Miller's Hooked on Swing, I pulled my 1989 cassette single of Swing the Mood, which mashes up a variety of songs from Glenn Miller to Buddy Holly to Chubby Checker.

Then my mom and I reminisced about how I would come home from preschool and pop in my favorite 8 track, Stars on Long Play by Stars on 45. I searched Amazon for Stars on 45 and found only one song in their downloadable MP3 store. If you download the Amazon MP3 downloader, you get one song free, so I used it for that song. After that, each song is 88 cents.

None of the Jive Bunny songs are available through the MP3 downloads and I never listened to the whole album, but I would think it would be good. Of course, I like mashups and Jive Bunny is probably the reason I like albums like girl talk's night ripper).

Mobile Desktops @ Improv everywhere

If I lived in NYC I would totally be an Improv Everywhere agent and then I realized they have global groups, I might join the Cincinnati one!

Anyway, Flexo at Consumer Commentary posted about their latest mission, setting up desktop computers in Starbucks.

For our latest mission, three agents entered a Starbucks one by one with their own giant desktop computer and CRT monitor. They bought coffee and worked at their computers as if they were laptops. One computer even had a Wi-Fi card installed, enabling our agent to surf the web.

mobile desktop video

If you care to know Best Buy and Slo-Mo Home Depot are my favorite missions, although they have done some really cool one like Even Better than the Real Thing and Megastore (look through the missions page to see the videos).