Southern Girl Creations

Monday, January 31, 2011

Rose Accessory

I combined several ideas of the fabric flower making craze to come up with my own.  I think it is stunning... I had one other opinion of my 5 year old who thought it was big... OK, maybe it is but I still like it.




~Sherry

Linking up To:


Sunday, January 30, 2011

Great Minds Think Alike - Valentines

I made a trip to the Dollar tree the other day thinking that I would make a Valentines Day craft.  I picked up a few things.. I put making it off a few days and before I could get it finished one of my best friends texted me a picture of what she had made. 

Here is what Susan Made! How cute is it?  I think it turned out much better than mine.


Here is what I came up with... I think I will probably go back and make one like hers...


Thank you for sharing Susan!! Happy Valentines Day!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Clown Box

I took the Chinese Take-Out box snowman idea and adapted it into a birthday clown.  We are going to use it to give a gift card.  What do you think?  I will post a tutorial if anyone is interested.

Linking up to:
Sherry

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A Few of My Favorite Things

Each Christmas in my family we try to make each other gifts.  It has become a very special tradition.  It takes a little more thought and effort to make a gift but it ends up being so much more meaningful.  I want to share with you several handmade items from this past Christmas.

This is Savannah's reindeer that we made for Dad to hang at the shop.


This is a necklace I made for my Mom.  She loves buttons.


My Mom made me a fairy pouch that held my gift.  It's hard to see all the details.  It is pieced together with several different fabrics.  One has a picture of Savannah.  There are several different trims and even some hand embroidery.  Beads and ribbon handles finish it off.


Here Savannah and I received matching necklace pendants from Debbie. They have a picture of us on them. Savannah thinks it is so cool to wear a necklace like Mom...Go check out Debbie's blog here debbie-idodesigns.blogspot.com.  She helped me through some really hard times in 2010. ( Debbie, Friends are family that we choose for ourselves...  you are family.. Thanks for everything ...)



Last but not least is a dishtowel that my 84 year old grandmother made for me with hand embroidery on it.  


Until the next post..
Sherry











Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Coconut Cake A True Southern Creation

First, let me admit that I have NEVER made coconut cake...  I don't even like coconut cake.. but... I got roped into making one...

This Christmas season I had to go out and buy a candy thermometer.  I've never made candy or cooked anything that was so complicated as to need a thermometer.  I purchased it so I could make the homemade marshmallows that were posted on all sorts of blogs. By the way homemade marshmallows are to die for.. if anyone is interested I will post about those.. I actually combined several recipes that I found online to come up with the marshmallows that I made.

Anyway back to the cake....  Little did I know I would also need a thermometer to make the icing for this cake.  I had never heard of boiled icing but WOW! I love that stuff now.. I have got to find something besides coconut cake that put this icing on..or maybe I will just eat it out of the bowl..

So here it is... I know my last post said I wouldn't post about snowmen.. Ha Ha! I didn't say it wouldn't look like snow. its not really crooked I think it just has a glob of coconut onthe side that makes it look that way.



The recipe that I used is below.  It came from Southern Living Christmas book but it can also be found here Food.com Coconut Cake... Let me note that I changed just a few things.  1) Walmart had no fresh coconuts.. so I bought  a bag of shredded coconut to use.. 2) without a fresh coconut it is hard to get the coconut milk from a fresh coconut and I couldn't seem to find any of that in a can either... So, I cheated... When it calls for you to take a 1/4 cup of fresh coconut milk add 2 tablespoons of sugarand microwave... I Made up a simple syrup 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water boiled I let that cool and added 1 -2 teaspoons of coconut flavoring and brushed it on the layers. Yeah, I know its probably not the same but it gave it the coconut flavor..

I was told that it was the best coconut cake ever!!!!

Here is the original recipe

For the Cake


1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup fresh coconut milk

2 -3 cups fresh coconut, shredded





For the Frosting

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 large marshmallows, cut into pieces



1 Remove liquid from coconut and reserve.

2 Remove the"meat" of the coconut and shred.

3 Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 2 cups of sugar, beating well.

4 Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

5 Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending

with flour mixture.

6 Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.

7 Stir in flavorings and pour into 3 greased and floured 9" round cake pans.

8 Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

9 Cool in pans on wire racks.

10 Make frosting: Combine sugar and water in a heavy saucepan.

11 cook over medium heat stirring, constantly until mixture is clear.

12 Cook without stirring until syrup reaches the soft-ball stage or a candy thermometer reaches 240°F.

13 while syrup cooks beat egg whites at low speed with an electric mixer until foamy.

14 Add cream of tartar and salt; beat at medium speed until soft peaks form.

15 Increase to high speed and add hot syrup in a heavy stream.

16 Add marshmallows, a few pieces at a time.

17 Beat until stiff peaks form and frosting is thick enough to spread.

18 Combine 2 tbsp sugar and coconut milk.

19 Microwave on high for 30 seconds; stir until sugar dissolves.

20 Brush one cake layer with half of the coconut milk"syrup" leaving 1/2" margin around the edges.

21 Spread with 1/2 cup boiled frosting and sprinkle with1/2 cup of shredded coconut-- repeat with each layer.

22 Top with remaining cake layer.

23 Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake; sprinkle with remaining coconut.

24 Cover and chill.

Linking Up to
CraftOManiac

Snowmen Hand Sanitizer

Ok... I know it looks like I have been on a snowmen kick.. I have.. It's cold here and snowmen seem to warm my heart.  I posted this on my Facebook as my little army of hand sanitizing snowmen....  I found the instructions here Crafts and Crap...  I just love them.. I think I will send a few to school for the teachers to start of the new year germ free.

and I promise my next post isn't snowmen..

Snowmen gift boxes

I know I have been way behind in my posting. I am so sorry.  The holidays go so busy I didn't know if I was coming or going most of the time.  I will try to fill in some of the blanks for you in the next few posts.

Here I created the snowman gift boxes that I found here.. Blue Cricket Design...  How cute are they?