The Engineered Baker: January 2017

Find the Beauty Card Trio

Why make one card when you can make three! That's just something I do when I get my supplies out to start crafting. I haven't had an unlimited amount of time to craft and that time is about to get shorter with my goal to get a job, but we make the best with what we have, right?

I ordered this set a when it came out in the fall, but I never really got around to using it as the end of the year just flew past me. But better than never, right?

It was a rather gloomy day here in the PNW and I thought I'd brighten the day using some color on my stamps. I used the Bits & Pieces: Winter from Right at Home to create the background. For the sentiments, I die cut squares from a MFTs die set, and white heat embossed all three of the sentiments the Find the Beauty set, also from Right at Home. I stamped multiples of each of the flower from the set using Fresh Inks from Impress Cards and Crafts and fussy cut them (Nicole has matching die cuts at Right at Home) as I was in front of the TV, layering them on to the card using foam tape. To finish of the card I added a sprinkle of Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

Supplies used:

Happy Crafting!

Farhana

Don't forget, caring is sharing!

Winter Birthday Cards (with Right at Home)

Hey there! Hope you all had a great (crafty) weekend! I can't complain about my weekend, Seahawks win and dinner with friends, AND I watched like 2.5 movies!

Excuse the black background, still learning to take pictures, but really wanted to share the cards!

So what do you do with holiday stamps after the season is gone? Make themed birthday cards of course! This winter themed layering stamp set from Right at Home, and its perfect for making hoidays cards! But I don't make many holidays cards, so instead used them to create birthday cards. I use a lot of those!

I used fresh inks from Impress Cards and Crafts to stamp the images. As these are pigment inks, make sure to let it dry or use a heat gun to speed up the process. Once it was dry I die cut the paper with a border die and the sentiment using a sentiment die. I added a scrap piece of paper at the back the matched the inks used to stamp the images. Finally I attached them to my card base.

Supplies used:

Happy Crafting!

Farhana

Don't forget, caring is sharing!

Pokemon Cookies

I need say I was going to blog more frequently, so this is me trying. Also seeing as this started as a baking blog, I thought why not start the year with a few cookies. Making cookies makes me happy, sharing cookies make me happy. After making these cookies, I got upset, but as this is the year of "Happy" I'm not going to share that story. So, what ended up happening to these cookies? They went to my brother in law who is a HUGE Pokemon fan and actually plays the game. TBH I have no clue as to what goes on in the game, I just used google/Pinterest to get an idea about Pokemon parties.

I believe that every experience is a learning lesson, and I finally learnt how to make red and black royal icing! I won't be making it all the time, as the amount of food color makes icing a tad bit bitter, but sometimes its all for the looks!

These are very easy cookies to make once you get the icing in the right colors. Start with baking your favorite cookie recipe using a circle cutter (don't have one? use a glass or mug.).

Once the cookies are cooled and you have you frosting ready cover half the cookie with white frosting and the other half with red. Set the cookies aside to let the frosting dry for a bit, then with a fine tip nozzle cover the middle of the cookie with a few lines of the black frosting and a small circle in the center. I added a drop of white immediately in the center of the black, but you could wait it out if you want to add some dimension.

Lastly, let the cookies dry uncovered for at least 6 hours. Then store in an air tight container for about a week! Hopefully they won't last that long!

Recipes and tips for baking the cookies and making the frosting can be found here and here. For the black frosting I used wilton black gel color. The trick I learnt from a fellow cookie maker is to add the food color and let it stand for some time. And for the red food color I used a combination of Americolor Super Red and Americolor Red Red.

Happy Baking!

Farhana

Hello 2017

Wait! What? It'd already the 4th? Only 4 days in and this year is already running away from me.

Let's start playing catch up then! Happy New Year! I hope that your 2016 was a awesome as mine!! I know that no year is perfect, 2016 had lots of hatred, lots of sadness and for me personally, it was a year of learning. I learnt more in the last 12 months, then I have probably learnt in my entire life. I am not going to bore you with the details, but I will share some of my goals (I'm really not a resolution person) for 2017. Maybe this way I will hold my self accountable and be more motivated to actually get things DONE!

Let's start with the main goal this year, something that I put off till 2017:

1. Find a Job : as you might know I was working till last January and it didn't work out with maternity leave and commuting. So I have official started the search, let's see how it goes.

2. Blog more often : This is always a goal, and some months are better than others, but I think if I actually plan it out, I get it done! So hopefully you'll here from me more often!

3. Create more : this probably should go before blogging as the more I create, the more I can blog.

4. Travel more : Hoping that I get the job and can travel even more, but for now vacations from January to March are in the works :D

5. Scrapbook more : I have so many pictures and memories, printed and digital that need to be put into albums. Slowly working on them, unfortunately not fast enough! Esp with little Aleena's pictures.

6. Get Fit : not necessarily lose weight, that's not my goal, the goal is to actually get fit so that I can go snowboarding and hiking and I don't always feel tired.

7. Read a book a month : I've been successfully doing this for about 2 years now and loving it, so here's to another year of reading!

8. Give more : About a few weeks ago I decided that I should DO more, just in general. And hence started trying to volunteer more and give more (not just in donations, but in time.) After a successful card and toy drive, I am motivated to do more.

9. Collect Memories not Things : (yes I tend to buy way to many crafting supplies, I should probably use more that I buy this year.) But I want to start living in the moment and enjoying the little things, especially with Aleena growing up so fast.

Okay, time to skip over the little ones and fast forward to the main "goal" of the year.

10. Be Happy : Yes, as easy as it might seem to do, we tend to dwell on the little things and let their negativity pull us down. If someone or something is not adding value to your life, let them/it go. Your better off without them, and your time and energy is better spent else where.Out with the bad, in with the good!

I really hope that the long post didn't bore you. Took me a while to write the post as it's almost never that I really open up on the blog.

Here's to a Happy, Cheerful and Productive New Year!

Happy New Year!

Farhana

PS. The cake and cookie decorating ideas were found on Pinterest and made for a New Years Eve party that I went too.

Cookie recipe can be found here, Cookie icing recipe here, Cake recipe here and lastly Cake frosting recipe here.

Pages

Find the Beauty Card Trio

Supplies used:

Winter Birthday Cards (with Right at Home)

Supplies used:

Pokemon Cookies

Hello 2017