Accessorize. February 21

Well, this day I thought I would choose some special items. The necklace is just a stretchy band with some beads on it. Doesn't sound too special? Well, my son used some of his money and went to a garage sale around the corner from our home. He brought me back this necklace. I couldn't believe how thoughtful that was. He said he knew how I loved jewelry. Awww. The watch is from my other son. He picked it out for me for Christmas one year because he thought I would love to wear it on our boat. 

The earrings were a gift from my husband many years back, and the ring I made for myself. :) Awesome stuff

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 20

Oh, This combination turned out great. I chose my Brighton jewelry necklace, my silver band Anne Klein watch, 3 bangle bracelets with turquoise coloring, these are from my resale store. Other accessories are available via Shoplocket here on the blog.  Also, I found some small silver earrings in my drawer and I thought they matched pretty well.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 18

Today I wore my Anne Klein watch with the silver band, silver with a twist earrings from Lia Sophia, my Brighton bracelet and an awesome necklace that was a gift. 

The necklace is a long sterling silver chain with a heart pendant. The pendant has a picture of my boys etched on it. I love it so much. What a wonderful gift. (look below for a close-up of the charm)

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 19

This is a fun set. Just a plum watch from Gossip at QVC, a handmade bracelet, and some black and silver twist earrings from Lia Sophia. Be sure to check out my line of awesome bracelets at my Etsy shop.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 17

Hello Everyone!

Here I chose my green Anne Klein watch with gold accent, a long cascading necklace from Modcloth, and my diamond earrings.  Please head to my Etsy shop for some great jewelry. Also, check out my accessory tab on this blog too. 

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 16

How about this choice? My white Fossil watch, with my silver hoops, my Tiffany necklace and a handmade shamballa style bracelet. Love mixing and matching. I do have bracelets for sale in my Etsy shop. Happy Shopping!!

~Michelle

Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Bars

I love trying recipes that I find in cookbooks or online. And here is another one.This is a pretty quick and easy recipe. They tasted best the day I made them. You know how you can cover your brownies in the pan with foil? Well I covered some left overs of these cake mix bars and they were pretty hard. But, for a day of event they are worth it. Hope that helps.

They were nice and chippy and had great flavor. Maybe you could try different flavors of cake mix. My co-workers of course loved them.

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz.) box yellow cake mix
2 eggs, beaten
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 bag (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. degrees
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray

In a mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix with melted butter and beaten eggs. It will be easier if you use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer because the batter will be very thick. Stir in a bag of chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into greased baking dish. I used a rubber scraper with some nonstick spray to spread the batter since it is pretty thick.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

The edges started to brown quickly so I added some foil to the edges of the pan to prevent them from burning while the center cooked throughly.

recipe from here

~Michelle

Accessorized. February 15

Here is what I wore on February 15th. Love this Anne Klein watch that my Mom gave me, my usual gold earrings that I probably wear too much, and a brown and green beaded necklace that I made a while ago. 

Check out my Etsy shop for some great jewelry at amazing prices. 

I also have some other accessories in an online shop called shoplocket. Some of those items I didn't make.

I always wanted to have an accessory store well, I don't have a brick and mortar store so I opened an online accessory store. 

I'm starting small but with your help I hope to grow.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 14

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I would go for fancy-casual for Valentine's Day. I chose these swarovski dangle earrings that I got for my birthday in October. My white link Fossil watch. and my pretty silver bracelet. Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day. 

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 13

I realized that I do have some favorite items in the accessory closet. So I chose my Brighton necklace and bracelet. My silver Anne Klein watch and silver earrings with little diamonds.

~Michelle

Lemon Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

It seems that I'm always looking for dessert recipes. While I was looking for a lemon cookie recipe I came across this recipe. It is really very tasty; everyone at work said it was lemony but not too lemony. Oh, the perfect  compliment. I didn't realize that cream cheese frosting didn't set up very quickly. I had to use 3 containers to carry the cookies to work so they wouldn't stick together. I did leave a few cookies at home and they eventually did harden up.

Ingredients:

for the cookies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup Crisco

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 Tablespoon lemon zest

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon milk

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

for the frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 lb. powdered sugar

pinch of salt 

fresh lemon juice 1/2 to 1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, Crisco and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg and lemon zest; mix. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to mixer and combine. Add milk and lemon juice, and stir until completely incorporated. Roll dough into Tablespoon sized balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are just beginning to turn golden on the edges. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and well mixed. Add vanilla. Add powdered sugar and salt. Stir. Mix in fresh lemon juice until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.

recipe from here

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 12

On February 12 I wore my Anne Klein silver watch, a bracelet from my husband that has X's as the connectors. I also wore black flower style earrings; I have no idea where I got them from. And lastly, I wore a necklace that I did make with Swarovski pearls in light blue, purple, silver and glitter shades. I don't have any like it in the shop but I do have so many other really great things. Thanks for the support.

Here is the necklace below.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 11

On this day I wore earrings that I love and probably wear too much. The new watch my mom picked up for me on vacation in Florida. and a pretty bracelet that was a gift from the boys and hubby. I believe it has a matching watch but I think the batter is dead. No necklace today because the neckline of the dress I wore didn't need anything. Nothing handmade today however, please check out my shop for some wonderful accessories. thanks

~Michelle

Checkerboard Cake

Many, many years ago I made this checkerboard cake. I don't think I have even tried to make it again since, and we are talking about, 20 years. It really is a complicated cake but it tastes so good. I love cakes with whipped cream frosting and this one has chocolate and vanilla whipped cream frosting. Oh, and it has ganache, yes ganache so decadent.

I had a really hard time slicing the cakes. The video says slice it into three parts. *I really don't think that this is possible. I just sliced the cakes in half and still the pieces seemed thin. One half of the chocolate cake broke when I was picking it up. So, now I had 3 cakes left.

The layers were very fragile.

I watched this video. The crumb boss. She is like zing, zing, zing... boom, boom, boom and the cake is put together.

ok here goes...

Sneak Peek

These are the flavors that I chose... Golden Vanilla and Devil's food. I didn't realize there were so many flavors of vanilla cake. Take a look here.

Here is the first layer as you can see not bad. I ended up slicing the cake in half instead of 3rds. Maybe my cake was too flat to make 3 layers. I used 8-inch pans. Wondering if I used 7-inch pans if I would be able to make 3 layers.

Time to make the whipped cream frosting. 24 oz white whipped cream and 8 oz of chocolate whipped cream. 

I used the tips that I had available at the house so the chocolate one was a bit smaller. Once all of the layers are assembled you can't tell that it looked like this :)

Then I added the next layer of cake opposite of the first layer. Clearly I had trouble with picking up the pieces and laying them down. Hence the pieced together layers.

Time to add the next filling layer. Vanilla whipped cream on the chocolate layer and chocolate whipped cream on the vanilla layer.

Just another angle.

Add the third layer of cake.

Frost the whole cake with the rest of the white whipped cream frosting.

I put it in the fridge while I worked on the decorations.

Bring 1/2 cup heavy cream to a boil.

Pour the hot cream over the dark chocolate and let it sit for a minute then stir until all the chocolate is melted let cool just for a bit.

Melt the chocolate melts in the microwave and put it in a piping bag and make the lines on the cake for the checkerboard design. This will hold the ganache in place. I tried to let some drip down the sides on purpose but now that I look at the pictures I think that it looks messy.

I used a spoon and put the ganache in every other square for the checkerboard effect.

Here is another angle.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Slice the cake and wow your guests.

Ingredients

1 yellow or white cake mix
1 chocolate cake mix

Whipped Cream:
32 oz heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoon cocoa powder

Ganache:
1/2 cup heavy cream
5oz dark chocolate

Some chocolate melting button chocolates for piping, melted

Directions:

Make 1 white cake mix and 1 chocolate mix. Follow the package directions for 8 inch cakes. Of course you can always make some cakes from scratch.

Whip together 24 oz. heavy cream, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Fill into pastry bag. Whip remaining heavy cream, sugar, vanilla and cocoa powder. Fill into pastry bag.

Put the dark chocolate into a small bowl. In a sauce pan bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth. Let cool. Fill into pastry bag.

Assembly directions:
Cut the yellow cake and the chocolate cake into 3 layers each. *(see above) 
Cut each cake into 3 concentric circles. (this is tricky)
Start with an outer ring of chocolate, then an a ring of yellow cake, then an inner ring of chocolate cake.
Pipe ring of whipped cream on the chocolate cake, and the chocolate whipped cream on the yellow cake.
Make the second layer of cake starting with an outer ring of yellow cake, then a ring of chocolate cake, then a center ring of yellow cake.
Again pipe a ring of whipped cream on the chocolate cake, and chocolate whipped cream on the yellow cake.
Make the third layer of cake the same as the first.
Frost the cake with whipped cream.
Using a pastry bag filled with melted button chocolate, draw a checkerboard pattern on top of the cake.  Fill in every other square with ganache.

If you were able to cut the cake into 3 layers you will have left over cake that you can freeze for a later date.


~Michelle

Accessorize. February 10

We went to a local pub for lunch for my mother-in-laws birthday and then I went to work. Here is what I wore. An Anne Kline watch, a brown bangle bracelet, a shamballa style bracelet that I made when I was practicing the macrame technique. I also chose a gold necklace and gold and peridot earrings.

Accessorize. February 9

It did snow here quite a bit on Friday afternoon to Saturday morning. On Saturday I took the kids to religion class and then off to work so I'm posting what I wore on this cold and snowy day.

This is my backyard.

I own many hats so here is the hat that I probably wear most often. I change the scarves sometimes. :) This scarf is heavy and good for shoveling and staying warm.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 8

Here are the accessories that I wore Friday, February 8th. I silver Anne Klein watch with a pearl face, a necklace from Brighton jewelry, and earrings from.... umm I think The Limited. (they are very old)

Here is a shot of the necklace :)

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 7

Keeping it simple. I was off of work today until I had to go into work to do the 11pm news. I wore my red Gossip watch from QVC, my handmade shamballa bracelet and simple silver hoop earrings that have little diamonds on the front. I didn't wear a necklace because It's been so cold around and I had on a large neck black sweater.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 6

Here are my accessories for February 6th. I picked my black watch from QVC, two bangle bracelets that I had for sale in the section of accessories that I didn't make. I love wearing more than one. I also had the Lia Sophia earrings that I purchased a few months ago. And lastly, I picked a necklace that I made. I hadn't wore it in a while so I was glad to dig it out.

Please check out my jewelry Here and Here. Thanks so much

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 5

Here are the accessories that I wore on February 5. I wore a red watch from QVC. It was a  gift a while ago and the best part about it was that it came with 4 other watches.  A bracelet from Brighton jewelry. I bought it at a little shop called Skillmans in Chautauqua county. They have been there since 1908. I also had earrings from Lia Sophia and a handmade bracelet. You can find this one in my shop. :)

Look at that wrist.

~Michelle

Cub Scout Auction Cake 2013

It's time for the Cub Scout Cake Auction 2013. It is such a fun night checking out all of the cakes and watching the boys bid on their favorite.  This year we decided to make a spider cake.

It was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. It had brownie eyes and chocolate covered pretzels for the legs.

Mixing it up.

Here are some of the great cakes that some of the other cub scouts brought.

We only have one year left for the cake auction.

~Michelle

Accessorize. February 4

Here are the accessories that I wore on Monday, February 4. The watch is new. My Mother bought it for me while on vacation in Florida. I love the little heart charm that hangs off the watch.  I made the necklace. It's sterling silver with a copper swarovski pearl. The earrings were a gift from a friend. The bracelet is braided leather and suede with a magnetic clasp. The bracelet is available in the shop.

Here is a shot of the necklace. :)

~Michelle