Pops Shop Houston – Design Fair

Hey guys! We Vera girls have been invited to do a craft corner at Pop Shop Houston‘s Design Fair this weekend!! If you guys are around the Houston area then please stop by and create some some goodies with us. What are we making? Cork Pendents and key rings! Join us May 3rd & 4th at Silver Street Studios and RSVP on Facebook.

We also did a guest on Pop Shop Houston’s blog! View it here.

This post was written by:

MIJA VERA - (view all posts by Mija)
Mija has been a designer for the last 15 years. She is a paper obsessed fiend and loves working on new projects while listening to her kids and Maine Coon cat chatter around the house. You can email her at mija@mind-speaks.com

Madeleines- No pan no problem-

I’m sure everyone have seen these shell like cakes at any Starbucks and wanted to make them but your first thought is “don’t have the right pan for them”.  Don’t worry no pan no problem! These delicate sponge cakes work with any pan!

Ingredients you will need:

4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, melted

You will need any pan you have (cupcake,heart, snowman… etc.)

• Beat the eggs, salt and sugar together until the batter begins to thicken (about 8 minutes with an electric mixer on low). Toward the end of mixing add in the vanilla. Stir in the flour. Then stir in the melted, cooled butter. Quickly spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan. (Make sure you butter/grease your pan so they will come out more easier) Bake at 375°F till golden brown.
• Dust them with powdered sugar and there ready to eat!!

I ended up uses a bite sizes brownie  pan that ended up working great but I do want to invest in a Madeline pan <3

This cute dense cake is perfect for any cup of coffee or tea :9 Hope you guys enjoy this if anyone decides to make them please post pics!!

This post was written by:

KAT VERA - (view all posts by Kat)
Kat is a lead pastry chef. When she isn’t in the kitchen she’s traveling space and time with Doctor Who and solving mysteries with Sherlock. Email her at kat@mind-speaks.com

Tea for Two

Have a tea fanatic in your life? Then this is the craft idea for you.

Great gift for Valentine’s, birthdays, or even anniversaries. This simple yet adorable gift will be sure to melt the heart of your loved one. Warm them up with a spot of tea. <3

Here are the materials you will need:

• teabags or tea leaves
• coffee filters
• Scissors
• needle
• Thread
• Craft Paper
• Chalkboard labels (optional)

I just bought a box of different tea samples, and deconstructed the bags. I then cut hearts out of the coffee filters and then sewed them up, filling each with different tea leaves. I love how the peppermint tea smelled. After sewing them closed, I left a long thread tail and then added a tag so that I could label each tea. In the sample box there were at least three of each type of tea, and there were I believe five different flavors.

Honey Chamomile, Sleepy Time, Lemon, Peppermint, Chamomile 

I also knitted a heart as an added decoration, along with a necklace that I had bought for my boyfriend to wrap around the jar. The artist is named Yamin, and you can find his work here. He is amazing. I also opted for a dollar chalkboard labels, obviously the chalk will rub off when the jar is handled. But it was just too cute to pass up, I’ve boarded the chalkboard train. XD  Hope you enjoyed my version of the heart teabags. Let me know if you tackle this project. Would love to see your take on it.

Until next time, thanks for reading and commenting.

This post was written by:

KIM VERA - (view all posts by Kim)
Kim works as a museum Copywriter and helps out with events from time to time. When she isn’t working or blogging, she is probably off taking a nap. Feel free to email her at kim@mind-speaks.com