JCasa BLOG

breakin'

the girls are on Spring Break this week, yippee!  work necessitates blocking out a few hours each morning for them to hang out in their pjs and play while i work on my manuscript (due very soon, oh my).  but come late morning, work will be set aside in favor of swim lessons, libraries + museums, roller skating + bowling, hiking + biking (on new bikes as per Santa's instructions), cooking + baking, treasure hunting, and hopefully a bit more cross-country skiing.

and most definitely there will be crafting, because as the girls would be the first to tell you, "it's our thing."  they've been looking through our book for ideas that might get them started on new creatons of their own - lately it's been paper dolls and painted bead necklaces.  neon is all the rage, yo.  (apparently i am on trend, who knew?)  and of course there is the ongoing list of really cool ideas i've pinned on my summer camp board on Pinterest that the girls might enjoy trying.  i'm just putting it out there... i pity the fool who says, "i'm bored."  xoxo

any new fun crafts you and your kids are into these days?  if you have something special to share, i'd love to hear 'em + pop me an email (jenniferATjcasahandmadeDOTcom).  thanks + happy spring breaking to you!

for a good time...

with life being full of so many wonderful things that tug us to and fro, it is so very nice (and important!) to make time and come together for extra special planned family nights.  i like to think of it as date night for the whole family.

having seen this flyer on Pinterest, the idea of a suprise movie night took on a life of its own once PLC and i began whispering plans for a movie night complete with a themed dinner of Shepherd's Pie (his idea...perfect, right?!).  the invitation was casually lying around when the girls went to set the table and squeals could be heard throughout the land.  oh my yes, anticipation is part of the fun. 

it was so fun to plan with him for them, and it came together like a charm.  while the meat and vegetables simmered away all afternoon, the house filled with the aromas of comfort food.  i was jazzed to find these toothpicks in the pantry and dessert was a no-brainer considering what i found after we saw the movie in the theater last summer.  dark chocolate covered marshmallow arrows, of course.

i love family date night.  xoxo

blame it on Pinterest

seriously, i could not resist the cuteness.  could you?

football whoopie pies made this weekend to bring to a Superbowl party following Make Merry Event's revisions to this Bon Appétit recipe.

a few minor adjustments:

• once the dough chilled, i used a plastic zip bag to pipe the football shapes onto parchment-lined baking sheets and they baked for 10 minutes
• we used the maple filling (as per the BA recipe) and oh my, that maple filling was very rich, but a perfect complement to the slightly spicy cake
• for the stitching i just piped melted white chocolate
• they didn't look perfect, which makes them perfect

the recipe yielded something like 30 goodly sized whoopie pies.  i can't remember exactly because, well, you know.  let's just say that after considerable sampling for quality control, ahem, we declared them a huge hit.  the cake had just enough of a gingerbread-spice to it without being too much so.

also, i am now hooked on fresh ground nutmeg.  xoxo

:

some friends and i were talking about how Pinterest affects our cooking (and crafting, home decor, etc.).  i can say from personal experience that it was tremendously helpful for me in visualizing and communicating design elements during our kitchen renovation this year.  and i'm really interested to know how Pinterest affects other people's lives.  do you make a lot of things you find?  do you go back and comment afterwards on your pins with your experience of having made something?  i'd love to continue the conversation with you in the comments + please share your experiences and feeling on how Pinterest affects you.  xoxo