I love pineapple upside-down cake. And my grandmother-in-law makes a magnificent pineapple upside-down cake! I learned her “secret” family recipe during our trip to Chicago this past summer and my life, my dessert life, hasn’t been the same since. And we stayed up til midnight to make the cake after we went to see Knight and Day in the theater. What a wonderful memory.

Before our trip I used an allrecipe recipe for my try. I, of course, changed the initial recipe anyways to suit my more pineapply needs. But after visiting Gramma and learning the “tricks of the trade” for this cake, I now only use her recipe… well, with a slight variation to make it my own. I usually use crushed pineapple because I want a piece of pineapple in every delectable bite. And with the pineapple being crushed, it is easier for me to add some pineapple bits into the cake part. I think the most valuable part, and my oven is vary thankful for this, is that she taught me the correct way to set up the brown sugar and butter mixture on the bottom so that it doesn’t boil over (this was happening each time I made my own recipe). So, now my oven is happier and so am I that I don’t have to clean burnt brown sugar off my oven! And all the delicious brown sugar and butter stays in the pan.

Now some attention on the card.  I saw an inspiring picture on Design*Sponge, I believe, and just had to try my hand at needle embossed cards and other things of greatness.  I made a pineapple to represent the cake since I had just finished baking one and the sweet smell filled our house.

Matthew subscribed to Cooks Illustrated about a month ago and it has been so wonderful! There are so many great recipes that I cannot screw up even though I add a little bit more sugar sometimes or use a different kind of cheese.

I made this Mac and Cheese with using the appropriate amounts of everything, even the ground cayenne pepper! Which gave this mac and cheese a little kick. It was pure heaven in pasta form. I made it another time for a birthday party with a different selection of cheeses and it still tasted fantastic! And this recipe is a lot less fattening than the Patti Labelle’s recipe.

Everything has tasted great so far that we have made. I have plans to make glazed scones and some breakfasty treats!

Jeff and Sarah got hitched last year on July 25th, 2009.  It was a beautiful wedding in Walnut Creek, CA. Wonderful flower arrangement with yellow and green! A great time.

Since they are such dear friend and I was feeling creative, I made them (this was my first try at banners, coasters and monograms) a paper garland/banner with their wedding colors that said Happy Birthday on one side, and Happy Anniversary on the other. I am really into multipurpose crafts, so I arranged the words so that it could fit both.

I did not take pictures myself of the monogramed coasters I sent them, but they have the monogram in green floss on a yellow coaster that has a patterned green fabric for the other side.

I made the monogram cut out for the front of the card, as well as a template for cutting out/tracing for the coasters.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary!  Chris and Sarah were married August 1st, 2009. I was honored in being Sarah’s matron of honor.

I wanted to send them a little gift to help them celebrate their first year in marriage, especially since they have been moving around the past couple months.  The banner says “Happy Anniversary” on one side, and “Happy Birthday” on the other. Their birthdays are coming up soon so I thought I would make a banner that can multitask. The colors I used for the banner and embroidered coasters are their wedding colors; Tiffany blue and brown.  I should have worn my bridesmaids dress around all day in honor of their wedding!

The coasters are blue and brown with a monogram designed by me. I was in the mood for creating monograms one night before I thought to do this idea for some of the other couples I know in my life. I used the ampersand (&) for the heart in between to symbolize the love (aka the heart) in their marriage, Chris & Sarah.  In some of the other monograms I will post later I use hearts in negative spaces or in the letters.

I also made a little bag for the coasters to be in. I did a cut out of the monogram on the front to show both of the colors, and I put a pun on the back to describe their use, “Have a drink on us.”

Ry and Elizabeth were married on July 14th, 2008.  It was a beautiful wedding on the beach in Florida. Then we all set out on a cruise!  I made these little gifts for their anniversary. A “Snail Mail” card, banner that said Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary, and coasters with a monogram of R(ylan) and E(lizabeth), with a heart in the middle to symbolize their love.  Their wedding colors were tiffany blue and brown, so that is why I used those colors.  The embroidery took a while to do, but I think it pays off.

I was still on my kick of making coasters when I thought of doing iron-on transfers of Bible verses on coasters. I made a set of gray colored coasters for Matt and I to test out the process. The iron-on for dark paper is a bit weird. It says if you tear it, it will not rip the iron paper, but it does. So It was rather tricky figuring out how to get the backing paper off. And since the verses are so small, they iron on not straight.  So that is when I decided to make the tags/labels that say “Not perfect, but made by Rachel.”

I made this set for Jordan and Jacob Tracy as a thank you for having our Bible study pool party at their house a few weeks ago. Fun times! I also drew a “snail mail” for the letter I had in the package.

I made a few “flowerettes” with some extra fabric when I was making some other crafty things. My s.i.l. Anna is always wearing cute things and I was inspired to make some cute things myself If you want one or two or three let me know and I’ll make some!

I made this little dress from the same pattern as the dress for Campbell, but I altered it a bit. I only did 1 layer and made it less of a circle skirt. I think it is classy but comfortable, hopefully a everyday wear. The last time I saw my niece she showed me all her dresses, so I thought I’d make her one!   I made a little purse to go along with it. Because she is as “cute as a button!” But “buttons” are white felt, and I used embroidery floss to stitch around the sides and button holes.

I also made matching  aprons for Ellie and Michele.

This is how I wrapped the gifts!

Matt and I have been reading through the “Bible in a year” plan. 1 and 2 Kings is wonderful. I absolutely love those books. And I feel like this cloud picture represents how I think the sky would had looked after each new king in Judah or Israel was replaced after “doing evil in the eyes of the Lord”. I especially liked reading about Solomon (1 Kings 2-11) asking for wisdom(1 Kings 3), building of the temple (1 Kings 5-7), the prayers and dedications to the temple and for the Lord (1 Kings 8), Jeroboam (especially 1 Kings 13:34), all the different kings of Israel and Judah, Elijah (take a look at 1 Kings 18:16-46, 2 Kings 2), Ahab, Elisha, Israel exiled, Hezekiah, Book of the Covenant, and Jerusalem.  1 and 2 Kings has so much culture and history, and DRAMA! One king after another! Now I am on to 1 and 2 Chronicles  What did you think of 1 and 2 kings?

Matt and I had a lot of great adventures in MN. We went to the MN Landscape Arboretum. We were married there 1 year ago! It was such a beautiful wedding and great place to take pictures. And it was great to come back and walk around together.

We went on a bike ride around Lake Calhoun with Michele and Ellie. We had lunch at Punch Pizza, my most favorite place. Then we biked over to Sebastian Joe’s Ice cream and cafe. Tasty Delicious.

We went on a off-trail bike ride around Wayzata. Beautiful!

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