Happy happy

Have a great weekend! You will find us either

A) building snowman
B) curled on the couch watching a movie

Enjoy your weekend whatever you chose to do!!!

Cheesecake cup cakes

Photo by Kat Johnston

I had a huge craving for cupcakes the other day but was out of milk. So instead of scrapping the idea I made my own recipe.

And the frosting YUM!! Have you ever noticed that if you pipe on frosting on a cupcake it looks so much more yummy!

On to the recipe!

Cheesecake Batter:
1 Cup of Sugar
1/2 Cup of room temp butter
2 Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 package of room temp cream cheese
1/2 cup water

Heat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl cream sugar and butter. Once smooth beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in the cream cheese.

In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder. Add to the cream mixture a little at a time and mix well. At this point it will get really thick. Add your water to loosen up the batter. Go slowly you don't want it to become soup!

Bake for 20-25 minutes. makes about 18 cupcakes.

Note: This is a heavy batter, it will not be a light and fluffy type cake.

Frosting:

1/4 cup of room temp butter
5 Tbsp of coffee creamer (I went with a holiday flavor of sugar cookies. You can be creative or use your favorite coffee creamer)
2 cups of confectioners (powder) sugar

cream the butter and coffee creamer together, slowly add in the confectioners sugar. This is a thick creamy frosting. You can add a little water to thin it out.


I love this new to me frosting recipe!!! I am so excited to try it with all types of new coffee creamer flavors, can you say yum!!!!

(I'm a little over the moon with a sugar high if you couldn't tell from all of the exclamation points throughout this post *smile*)

Today I....

A new series to remind me all that happens in a single day and to remind myself (especially on those yucky days) how thankful I am for all that I have!


Today I....

Shook more hands in one hour than I do in a week.

Was reminded to turn from temptation and trust in the journey I am meant to live no matter how difficult.

Made homemade baby wipes!

Vacuumed at least three times

Laundry...there's always laundry

Cuddled lots (with all 3 kiddos at some point today)

Played in the snow

Had my football loving heart broken over my packers :(

Started reorganizing my art area

Uploaded new images on my website (more on that later)

Started working on a custom order

Realized I had even more fabric than I remembered....now I have to sort and only allow myself one tote (out of 8+!)

Did a lot more than I realized on what I thought was a bust of a day!!

Do you feel it?

My wave of creativity is back!!!
New original paintings added to my site.
Stay tuned: hoop gals and inspired art girls are next up!

My gift to me!

I have a few (ok a lot) artist crushes (which we can go over in better detail later). This year I vowed I would buy myself a piece of art from an artist I am crushing on. I have been crushing on Danielle Daniel from Her Painted Word for awhile now. This last year she has grown leaps and bounds professionally and she has been sharing her journey. I look up to her as an artist, woman, and mama.

She is doing this great series for the new year of tiny paintings that have a secret word/phrase in each painting, a fortune if you will. I am all about the calling of the universe and I figured, I have been crushing on her work for a year, the packaging was ubber cute, and tie in a universal positive message.... Im in!
My message says: You must give your own story to the world. Which for me means and in my world it is time to stop focusing so much on how other's artwork looks like and keep embracing who I am and how my soul portrays my art. So thank you Danielle and thank you universe *smile*
Besides the one painting I bought another itty bitty painting. Just for size comparison the painting on the right is one I finished up last night, (which plug: up on my site: www.stefanielinstudio.com) which is an 8x8 painting.

I love these little paintings, Ken just brought home some 4x4 chipboard for me.... I think I may have to try a tiny painting soon. 8x8 has always been my comfort zone... just the right size. Not too big so I am scared I am not filling in the space enough, not too small that I have to be good with details so to speak. But new year... new challenges right? 4x4 originals are on the "to-do list" for this year!

Do you have an artist crush? Show them some love, by a piece of art! And share in the comments who you crush on, I am always looking to lengthen my art crush list!

What makes you happy?

This guy, his brother, sister, and daddy are on the top of my happiness list.

I am working on a new project about happiness.... so I ask you.... what makes you happy?

Me?

living room dance parties
happy tears
hearing the words mom (or mum in Kenson's case)
kitten whiskers
new paint
full belly laughs
green soft grass
knitting needles
coffee (can never forget coffee)

and so on and so forth. So go on tell me, I really truly want to know!

How do you do it?

(it should be noted I have been trying to get this post up for a week now...thanks to a crappy internet connection it has been an undertaking..just had to get that off my chest!!)

The biggest question I get asked when people find out I have three little ones all under the age of 5 is.... How do you find the time to paint?!?!?!

First off I make it a priority and because of that I have a mountain high pile of clean and dirty laundry, dishes stay in the sink longer than my hubby would like, and dinner may burn
everyonce and awhile *smile*

Now for a lot of creative mamas I know that the wee hours of the night are prime making time but for me it is a different story. All of my kiddos have never been great sleepers and really use me as a comfort device. Especially Valen who once I get down for the night if I am not by his side (we are co-sleepers) in about 30 minutes he wakes up screaming and upset that he has been left alone and figures I am gone forever.

Because of that I have gotten much more creative with my art time and the kids are all involved now in the art.

So somedays if the older two are entertaining each other I put the baby in the sling and paint away.


But a lot of the time I paint with the kids. So here are my tips to make creative art time a fun and stress free one for both mama and kiddo. Remember.... art is meant to be fun.... if its not, sorry to say but you are doing it wrong!

Tip #1

Buy a super cheap plastic tablecloth and use it for creative play time. This is one that if paint spills all over you wont get upset about it. Afraid to spill some paint.... paint on the table cloth mess it up and the tension will magically leave! Plus this makes for a quick clean up... once done painting fold it back up put it in your art storage and pull it out for the next creative play time.


Tip #2

Trust in the mess. Dont fear it. Let the kids enjoy playing. I let my kids use my cheap acrylic paints. They wash out of skin, hair and clothes in my experience.

Tip#3

Want to spark their creativity. Get a handful of cars, trucks, etc. I get mine from a thrift store, what you want to focus on is the wheels the cooler the "tread marks" the better.

Let them roll them in the paint and marvel in the cool textures they create!


And this is why I suggest getting a few cars from a thrift store for "painting only". Because this will almost always happen....Painted Cars!!!

And when you are done I clean up the wheels as best as I can dry and set aside for our next creative project.


Do you have any tips for making art with kids? I would love to hear them!!

Word of the Year 2012

shine (shn)

v.intr.

1. To emit light.

2. To reflect light; glint or glisten.

3. To distinguish oneself in an activity or a field; excel.

4. To be immediately apparent: Delight shone in her eyes.


2012 boy did you creep up on me fast! And I promise I wont let you go to waste. This year is all about shining. To trust in myself and my abilities. To be positive and keep putting myself out there. To keep finding new opportunities and throwing my name in the hat.

By the end of this year I will promise myself to:

-Submit my artwork for publication
-apply to new craft shows
-Introduce my art to at least 5 new stores
-keep my online store stocked and fresh
-have an art show

This is the year for me to keep finding my artistic voice. To find my momma hood balance. To be the wife my husband deserves.

This my friends in all it ways is my year to shine. I hope you will enjoy the journey with me!