make make make make

So I've been pretty busy as of late. You know, making things: books, lemon sugar scrubs, BACK BLOGGING (feel free to check out the January archives at your leisure), boxes, getting engaged... things of that nature.

Meanwhile, here are some photos to commemorate the recent making of the things:

I made this last semester for my Bookbinding I class, but only recently traded it to my friend Jarrod (along with a promised knit hat from Braeden) for his old tv. Not too shabby...

On the cover is the end paper from an old book I got from the Hartleys entitled, Who Invented It and How Does it Work?  It's a kid's book all about inventors and inventions. I've used various other pages for other projects as well, but I just love this cover paper. A lot.

I used a found poster about cells for the inside end paper.

I'm a little jealous that Jarrod is now the owner of this amazing book, but what are books for if not to trade for tvs? I mean, really.

This was a lemon sugar scrub that I made via a recipe from my mom (1c. sugar, 1/2 c. olive oil, 1T. lemon zest) for Crystal, one of the girls Sarah and I visit teach. It was her birthday yesterday and it was a great excuse to make it. (Also to buy this cute container I found at Stuff: only .99!)

I'm pretty proud of my lemon-shaped tag...

I also made this card for her. It's supposed to be shaped like a heart when it's closed but that pattern I had was off so I had to make up my own: it could still use a few modifications.

Here it is, opened.

Sarah and I stopped by Crystal's to drop off a slice of cake and the lemon sugar scrub and we had a great visit! Previously Crystal had been really busy so we'd only been able to sit down and talk with her once before now so it was really fun to just sit and chat with her this time. I like her a lot and hope that we'll be able to see more of her this year.

When Braeden and I were in Utah we went to Guru's for lunch with my friend Nigel and had their amazing sweet potato fries. After trying them Braeden swore that he would do his best to find a recipe to make our own when we got back to Iowa. Tonight, he did. Behold:

We decided the fries, which we sprinkled with seasoning salt before baking, were a little wide so next time we'd cut them in half lengthwise, but other than that they were great! I wish we had made twice as many (which, if we'd cut them in half, we would have). The dipping sauce was also incredible and, according to Braeden, is the same sauce they use at Red Robin (but tastes just like the one they use at Guru's too). Fun fact. Make your own. I dare you.

Braeden was on a making food kick so he started to make these red velvet cake balls, too.

Roll it, pat it, mark it with a B! (And put it in the freezer for Braeden and me!)

You have to be careful with red velvet cake because it turns your hands a little red... Who would have thought?

They look like meatballs, but they're not. I promise.

How can you not love this face?!

We put them in the freezer (then fridge) to harden up, then dipped a few in melted chocolate chips (we forgot to buy the chocolate bark) and they were amazingly moist and delicious!

(though not very pretty since we coated them with melted chocolate chips instead of the chocolate bark...)

Phew! And that is just a little of what I've been up to these days. I apologize for my negligence, Blog-o-sphere and will try to be better in the future...where we live.