Art Journaling: New Pages!

Whenever I feel like being creative one of my favorite places to run to is my overly full, just about falling apart now art journal. I’ve been working in this particular one for a year now… and needless to say, I think it may be time for a new one. I posted about my adventures as an art journaling newbie here last summer, but seeing as how I’ve created quite a few new pages since then, I thought it was time for another little peak.

I feel like the more I art journal the more I fall in love with it. Getting all my supplies out, putting on some music or a movie and making a big mess for a couple of hours is sort of therapeutic. Even though my pages are no where near the amazing art that I’ve seen some girls fill their lovely journals with… but that doesn’t really matter to me. This is my “art”, if you will. The art that I’m capable of making… just for the sake of making it. This is my place to be creative. My place to play.

I don’t believe there are any rules to art journaling except to let your imagination run wild and just create. And to do it for yourself. It may be scattered or messy but it’s all the pieces of you that make it beautiful.

It still continues to be one of my favorite hobbies so I hope you enjoy this little look into what I’ve been filling my art journal up with lately! And I hope you give art journaling a try if you haven’t yet… you just may find yourself a little addicted.  :)

I made a page for one of my favorite pictures of my sister, Cecily and I at her wedding last October. This picture was taken after the festivities and is very special to me. I framed the picture in little leaf jewels and added a piece of burlap on the adjoining page for writing down memories from the day, which I have yet to fill in.

A page displaying a couple photos I took while visiting one of my favorite bakeries, The Sweet Boutique in Sugar Land, Tx. They have some of the best cupcakes & macarons I’ve ever tasted. I used a flower shaped cupcake liner to write down a little bit about the bakery.

This was just a totally random page I made. A page to just put together a bunch of different scraps lying around. I love using really random things to create pages that, while they may not make much sense, are just fun to make & are pleasing to my eye. I also added a little list of songs I’ve been listening to lately.

This is a page I did while following Elsie Larson’s art journaling course. The theme was “Night Dreams”. So I used a greeting card I had lying around that has stars and moons on it, stick on letters, and a torn book cover from an old children’s book and wrote down a couple weird recurring dreams I’ve had.

A page where I wrote down what is sort of my theme for the new year; to learn to better love & accept myself.

Another random page; as are the next two.

Randomness used: Lots of washi tape, stickers, a stamp, stencils, paint chips, ticket stubs, notebook paper, a receipt, a perfume sample, and a fortune from a fortune cookie.

For some great art journaling inspiration click here, here, or here.

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes & a Playlist!

Hey friends! Stopping in today with a sweet treat for your tummy and some sweet tunes for your ears!

Hope y’all had a lovely Valentines day! Mine was spent cooking up a meal for my family, Stuffed Chicken Marsala (which is pretty much the best thing in the world, let me tell ya! Will share recipe soon!) and baking chocolate raspberry cupcakes! Whatever your opinion of Valentines Day is it’s definitely a great excuse to bake something yummy and evil, no? Well that’s my philosophy anyway! :D

I got the idea for these cupcakes the night before and thought they’d make the perfect Valentines treat. Plus, I wanted an excuse to use my cute V-day cupcake liners. I made chocolate cupcakes, using Hershey’s recipe because in my opinion, you just can’t beat it, made some raspberry whipped cream to fill them, and fluffy pink buttercream frosting to top them off. They were so delish, if I do say so myself! I mean you just can’t go wrong with the chocolate & raspberry combo, a match made in heaven.

I also got a little fancy schmancy thanks to Pinterest and tried my hand at making little chocolate hearts and “xo’s” for decorations. They were seriously so easy and fun to make. Will definitely be doing more of this in the future. Hope you give these babies a try!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes -

This raspberry whipped cream is so light and fluffy! You could use store bought whipped cream and fold in the raspberry juice if you want but really there’s just nothing like homemade whipped cream. Plus it takes hardly anytime at all, it’s definitely worth it! Could seriously eat this by the spoonful! 

Cupcakes -

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into lined cupcake pan.

Bake 16-18 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cool completely.

Raspberry Whipped Cream Filling -

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 small pkg. frozen raspberries (thawed)

Directions:

Place the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the cream and vanilla. Using a metal whisk or an electric hand mixer, whisk the cream just until stiff peaks begin to form. Fold in juice from raspberries. I wasn’t exact on the measurements here, I just added in enough juice to where it had the raspberry taste and color I wanted. You could add the raspberries as well but I just opted to use the juice. Makes two cups.

Buttercream Frosting -

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp.)

2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

a few drops red food coloring (optional)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, beat unsalted butter till fluffy. Add in powdered sugar, beating one cup at a time till well incorporated. Add heavy cream and vanilla. Beat for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add in food coloring if desired.

 Assembly: After cupcakes have cooled, scoop out the center and fill with raspberry whipped cream filling. I use one of those cupcake corers and I really love it,  works great. Spread or pipe on buttercream frosting. Decorate with sprinkles and chocolate decorations, if desired.

The chocolate hearts and “xo” were really simple to make. It was my first time trying it so they’re not perfect but I think they turned pretty well considering. You just pipe melted chocolate chips onto wax paper in whatever shape you want. Let it harden, peel off wax paper, and they’re ready to use! If you want more info about how to do this click here.

And since I simply can’t bake without having some great tunes to dance around the kitchen to, thought I’d share a little playlist with y’all! These are songs that I’ve been loving and listening to constantly lately. Some new (or new to me) favorites such as Leagues, Family of the Year, & Haim to old favorites such as Jenny Lewis, Goldfrapp, & The Verve. And a song that I just discovered and have become addicted to, “The Zookeeper’s Boy” by Mew. How in the world am I just barely hearing this song?!  Why did no one ever share this with me? So wrong. It’s all kinds of awesome!

Anyway, hope you enjoy these songs! Would love to know what’s been on your playlist lately! :)

Valentines Gift Exchange!

It’s that time of year again, the return of cupid, paper hearts, and semi disgusting assorted chocolates. I’ve actually always been a fan of Valentines day, it just feels like a happy day whether you’re in love or not. It’s a day to bake strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and pink sprinkles! Though I’m sure that is an unusually positive outlook on it… maybe it’s the cupcakes that make me enjoy it, ha! But what I love even more than V-day is getting fun things in the mail! So I had to sign up for this blogging party I saw on Casey Leigh’s blog last month. It’s the second year of this Valentines gift exchange also hosted by Nicole, Lauren, Alycia, and Ashlee. Basically you get paired up with another blogger and send each other fun little gifts in the mail.

I got paired up with Audrey over at Jane of Trades, who sent me the sweetest package!

* Three candles – The brown sugar one smells so good!

* Adorable heart cupcakes liners and picks – Being the incessant baker that I am I love collecting cute cupcake liners so I was really happy to see these in the package! Can’t wait to use them for some Valentines cupcakes!

* Pretty nail polish – Love this color! Am wearing it as I type!

* Initial hoop that Audrey made herself – Love this! It’s already hanging on my wall.

* A handmade journal – This may be my favorite gift! How cute is that?! I have an obsession with journals so this was perfect for me! I love that she made it herself and would love to know how she did it! It will definitely be put to good use!

Thank you Audrey for all these thoughtful gifts! They definitely brightened my day! It was great to get to know you and your lovely blog! :)