Glass pendants

I have to admit, blogging is so much more fun than writing final papers.

That being said, I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite easy jewelry crafts. Glass pendants.

Once you get the hang of them, they're addictingly easy to make.


All you need is a few glass tiles, some aanraku bails, scrapbook or origami paper, and some clear glaze. I recommend Judikins Diamond Glaze, but you can really use any kind.


Grab some stickers, and the possibilities are endless!

Crepes crepes crepes!

Tonight I made crepes for dinner. No pictures, as I didn't finish cooking until almost 9 and was famished by then (not the crepes' fault, the boyfriend was in a meeting until late). Crepes are such a great dish though. They're pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and extremely customizable. They can be a meal or dessert! Or both. I have been known to eat brownies for breakfast...

This is the recipe I use:

• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Butter, for coating the pan
  
  
• In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. (note: I didn't do this last time I made the crepes and they turned out fine. I'd give it a couple slow stirs to work out the bubbles though) This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
• Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.
• *Savory Variation Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, spinach or sun-dried tomatoes to the egg mixture.
• *Sweet Variation Add 21/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of your favorite liqueur to the egg mixture.

When we made these, the boyfriend threw some salt and basil into the batter, and they were delicious. Then I sauteed up some peppers, onions, mushrooms, and spinach and put them into separate bowls, along with a plate of grated mozzarella and feta cheese. It was a crepe buffet! You can really put just about anything into crepes. Last year we made some with frozen fruit and homemade whipped cream...awesome.

Epic dragon birthday cake

This past weekend, I made this cake for the boyfriend's birthday:

That's right, a fire breathing dragon cake. No mold was used, just a pattern I got from Instructables. The cake was a chocolate Guinness cake with Irish cream cream cheese frosting. A carbomb cake! The cake recipe was from here, and the frosting was essentially made by mixing cream cheese, powdered sugar, and Irish cream until it tasted good. The cake recipe I used turned out to be great for this kind of thing, as it was dense enough to hold its own when being sliced and stacked and whatnot. I think if/when I make this cake again, though, I'm going to try it with a lighter frosting, because the cream cheese combined with the denseness of the cake was just a little too heavy. I think a buttercream would work well.

I also discovered an awesome low-fat (supposedly) super easy tiramisu recipe. I definitely highly recommend it. The whole thing only took me a few minutes to put together, and it tastes delicious! It ended up getting eaten before I got a chance to take pictures, but it's not that exciting looking anyway. :P