{M} i n d -Speaks.com . . . an art blog

I’m such a paper freak, and one of my favorite things about my wedding had to have been designing the invitations! You have seen my saved the dates and pictures of my wedding – now check out the break down of the invitations!

Again, our colors were Tiffany Blue and silver with a hint of organic paper bag to tie in the theme! I have been into embossing for awhile now and was able to find the perfect blend of silver embossing powder for the invites. I also had fun coming up with a way to showcase the map, reception card and rsvp card. I also always line my envelopes – nothing brings together a design than a pop of texture or color in the envelope! The gatefolds made it easy to keep my pieces organized and I made bands to keep the fold enclosed!

So Valentine’s Day was yesterday, Mija and I decided to make some yummy sweets for our coworkers. And because I like posting about cute things such as this. XD

So I have been wanting to learn how to knit a 3D heart for the longest time…ever since I first learned to knit to be exact. So this year I finally knuckled down and decided to learn. But I am the type of learner that learns better after watching someone else do it. So having two years of searching the net I found many tutorials for crochet versions and a few knitted versions. All of which were impossible for me to handle. Then my favorite knitter just happened to post a knitted heart tutorial on her youtube channel. I proceeded to learn how to make the flat heart and then decided to make two flat hearts and sew them together to make it 3D. It came out alright for a first try but I was not as satisfied with it. Then the next day she posted this wonderful tutorial on how to knit a 3D heart. And I was determined to master the pattern,after many crooked and lopsided hearts I have now memorized the pattern. I am still perfected it but I think I now have a handle on it. I decided to knit a few for my editors, I tied some around baggies of chocolate covered pretzels.

And because I was in such a hurry I didn’t even take a picture of the finished baggies. >.< But this isn’t the last you’ll see of these hearts. I intend to use them for many occasions.So we made chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels and even marshmallows. The chocolate pretzels were sooooo good, we had some leftover but they didn’t last for very long. :9 I’m also craving cheesecake at the moment. I always tend to update about food when I’m most hungry.  So frustrating!!!

Well that was my Valentine’s Day. I hope yours was just as nice and I hope you spent it eating delicious food. Because that’s how it should be spent. XD

So this recipe is a work in processes I’ve been wanting to make Pan Dulce for a long time now ( for those who do not know what pan dulce is its a Mexican sweet bread with a cookie shell on top.)

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 cup luke water
• 3 1/2  cup of water
• 4 eggs, beaten and room temperature

Preparations:

Mix 1 table spoon of sugar and yeast into lukewarm water. let it sit for 10 mins.

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Slowly add in eggs, salt, and yeast mixture. Add flour in 1 cup at a time until incorporated. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 mins.

Divide dough into 16 pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet with plenty of space between each ball. Press each ball slightly to flatten it. let dough rise for a hour. After the dough is on its way to rising make topping.

Topping ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Optional: food coloring

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. With you’re hands, divided the topping into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and roll it out on a floured surface. Until its large enough to cover each dough. About 5 inches in diameter. Lightly press topping onto dough and use a knife to cut a pattern into the topping, but not into the dough.

After you add topping bake at 350 for about 15 mins or until lightly golden.

I still want to work on this recipe so if y’all do decide to make it I would love your opinion on it ^^

Also since it doesn’t have preservatives it will only keep for two to three days.

Enjoy~

~Kat~

I keep meaning to update but my wedding took over all our lives, but it is now done and we have lots of projects for Mind-Speaks for 2013!!

All three of us worked really hard on the concept and aesthetic for my wedding. Please take a look, we made over 100 pinwheels, pompoms, placemats, buttons, koozies etc.

It was an amazing day and I really do thank my sisters and my best friend who all stood by my side as my bridemaids and helped with making everything out of paper!

So I’ve been working on a few different sewing projects. But they haven’t been coming out like I hope. So I have stepped away from my sewing projects…for now. I’m the type of person who can’t sew if I’m frustrated. I end up making more mistakes so its just best to focus on something else.

 Thankfully there are many other things I can do to be creative. My best friend had her baby shower a while back and she had asked me to decorate a letter from her daughter’s name for her nursery. I got the letter L  but I was having trouble deciding on how I wanted to decorate this letter. I knew I wanted to use a minty color, and then while browsing around Hobby Lobby I found a shadow box picture frame. I’ve always wanted to make a shadow box of my own but just never got around to it. So I found a small L and decided to make one for my friend. I had planned on putting some pretty paper behind the letter but then remembered I had some really cute fabric that matched the color of paint that I chose for the frame. I think it came out exactly how I pictured it, added bonus the bedding she registered for at Target totally match the shadow box. So that worked out great. :3 Moving on to the next creative topic. I finally got my hands on a SMASH* book. I’m really excited about it. Mija and I mention it over at our personal blogs, so feel free to check it out. We here at Mind-Speaks love crafting so we each fell in love with the SMASH* books. I purchased the Eco book and I’m loving it. At first I was a bit hesitant, I didn’t want to “ruin” the pages. But once I started “smashing” I was no longer worried. And I’m now obsessed. Right now I’m currently working on my hobby page.  I first started with my more obvious hobbies. Writing and sewing are my big hobbies. But I like to think of myself as a collector of hobbies. I love learning new skills, however, I wouldn’t exactly say I exceed at them. But it doesn’t stop me from learning. I taught myself how to use a sewing machine and to knit. Thank goodness for the internet. Back to the page, so as you can see the majority of this page is focused on sewing. It’s the easiest hobby to smash. I was having trouble figuring out how to show case the rest of my hobbies. I turned to the net for some inspiration and I discovered a bunch of  free printables. I immediately started pinning and printing.  I do plan on making some of my own but I thought since these were done and ready for use I decided on making my own some other time. XD The ones I’m using on this page is a journal card from here and a capture this moment camera card from here. Great freebies if you’re interested. I used instagram pictures for this page, it actually helped clear the smashing block. I’m really happy with how my pages are turning out at this point. I kept thinking that I have to go in order when smashing but then I remember there are no rules to smashing. The point is to have fun with it and be creative. So this page is towards the back, I let the page speak for itself when I was deciding which one I wanted to use. The left page isn’t quite finished yet, there is actually a pocket on that side and I’m just trying to decided what I will smash in that pocket. I’m thinking maybe some poetry I wrote last semester or maybe a letter to myself. I dunno yet.

So what kind of planning do you do before you sit down to smash? Do you have rules you follow, or do you just wing it? :3