Chonky Boys: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches that Scream Summer!

-
Image
Featuring my thick and nuggy Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies, these ice cream sandwiches are the stuff that summer dreams are made of.  If you've ever had the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Disneyland , you are going to LOVE these!  These big and bold chocolate chip cookies are based on a recipe from my culinary school studies at Auguste Escoffier, but with a few modifications to give them that Jennuine touch.  They make the perfectas book for a fat slice of real vanilla bean ice cream.  And those mini chips?  You just gotta have that extra cronch! Thank goodness this recipe only makes 8 sandwiches, otherwise I would be eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  This way, my big family can help save me from my inner child diet-saboteur.   Print With Image Without Image Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Yield: 8 Author: Jenn Erickson Loaded with chocolate chips and buttery, brown-sugary vanilla flavor, these mall-sized cookie...

Vintage Velvet Shamrock Pin Tutorial

-
velvet tubing shamrock pin
A few weeks ago at work, someone put a box of craft supplies on the "Up For Grabs" table. I was so excited when I found this 15 yard spool of vintage green velvet tubing.  With St. Patrick's day just around the corner I knew I could craft it in to something perfect for the occasion!


I was always the kid at school who forgot to wear green and hid out in the bathroom at recess so I wouldn't get pinched.  As the years went by I got pretty good at pinch-deflecting responses like, "my toenails are painted green," and the tried and true, "I'm wearing green underwear."  Thank goodness I was never asked to prove the latter.  

velvet tubing shamrock pin

Now that I have kids of my own, I'm always so busy getting them all spruced up for St. Patty's that I still forget to don a bit o' green.  But not this year!  Using the velvet tubing, some floral wire, and a handful of vintage buttons, I put together some lovely little vintage styled shamrock pins to wear on St. Patrick's Day.
velvet tubing shamrock pin tutorial
Velvet Shamrock Pins

  • 18" Velvet Tubing per pin
  • (I used vintage stock, but you can purchase new velvet tubing from Offray at most craft and fabric stores)
  • 18 " 22 gage floral wire
  • vintage buttons
  • hot glue gun
  • pin backs
  • Optional:  Fabric rosettes

Step 1:  Remove the cord from inside the length of tubing.

Step 2:  Insert wire into tubing, and seal tubing at both ends with a small dot of hot glue. 

Step 3:  Use three fingers, as shown in photo below, to bend three loops in the wired tubing.


Step 4:  Use a small dab of hot glue to connect the three loops at the base.


Step 5:  Using your forefinger and thumb, stretch each loop to widen at the top.


Step 6:  Twist "stem" several turns to tighten the grain.

Step 7:  Glue a vintage button in the center of shamrock.  I layered two buttons.


Step 8:  Bend each petal in the center.

Step 9:  At this point you can embellish further by mounting the velvet shamrocks on a fabric or vintage lace rosette, or leave them as a simple outline as pictured above.  Use a dab of hot glue to affix a pinback to the back of the shamrock and it's ready to wear.
For this rosette, I used a 10" strip of frayed muslin, gather stitched.


Popular posts from this blog

Recipe: New World German Brown Bread -- "Squaw Bread"

-
Image
I recall, as a child, going to The Chart House restaurant and looking forward to the basket of freshly baked breads.  My favorite was always the dark brown, slightly sweet bread that the servers called "Squaw Bread".  I've heard that a similar bread is served at The Cheesecake Factory.  The name has gone out of fashion, since "squaw" is a derogatory term for a Native American woman.   The history of this bread can in fact trace its roots to Native American origins when German pioneers combined their traditional German Brown Bread recipe with ingredients available to them through trades with the native people during their westward travels. No matter how you slice it, this New World German Brown Bread is easy to bake and so wonderfully delicious to eat.   Print With Image Without Image New World German Brown Bread Yield: 1 large loaf Author: Jenn Erickson Prep time: 1 H & 50 M Cook time: 45 M Total time: 1 ...
Read more

Nostalgia Food: Old Fashioned Apple Hand Pies

-
Image
Who doesn't love a pie that you can eat with one hand while vacuuming, updating a resume, getting a child down for a nap, helping another child with a history report, and folding laundry with the other?  Clearly, only people who don't like pie, and this isn't for them.  This is for us: Pie People. For me, the pocket pie obsession started in childhood with the iconic, mouth scalding  MacDonalds apple pies.  If you were around in the 1970s, you'll remember: crisp & flaky, buttery & slightly salty, with blistered crusts that concealed a molten center of perfect apple pie filling.  If you possessed the willpower to wait for the lava interior to cool, you were rewarded with the greatest American invention since the fast food burger AND the apple pie together, which in a weird sort of way, they were; after all, they were fried in beef fat.  Those things were pure magic (or at least that's what my 6-year old self thought). These da...
Read more

How to Host a Game of CLUE Party for Kids
+ Printable/Customizeable Invitations

-
Image
When I was a kid, my favorite board game was CLUE .  I loved the mystery, the intrigue and taking on the role of amateur sleuth.  I've passed my love of the game down to my two girls, and I was excited when my youngest expressed an interest in having a CLUE party for her birthday this year.  Here's what we did: The Invitations To set a dramatic tone for the party, I created invitations inspired by the playing cards from the original board game.  The invitations came in two parts -- a Character Card that introduced the character assigned to the guest and a Party Card that included all the details for the party.  To further link the party to the game, we glued a weapon piece from the board game to each party card (which we were able to purchase as a lot from Ebay). You can download the invitations for free below: Party Card, side A Party Card, side B * I created a mystery party experience that was child-friendly, and the kids ...
Read more