Crafts

Features from the Friday Flair

0 · Mar 28, 2011 · 18 Comments

It’s my favorite time of the week! Where we take the opportunity to applaud a few guests from our party, and cede much deserved praise.

Here we go…

Butterfly Dress and Headband by Sewing in No Mans Land

Spring Decoration by Midwestern Sewing Girl

Homemade Samoas from Too Much Time on My Hands

Urban Wall Art from Made by Nicole

Tomato Basil Pizza by Scissors and Spatulas

Scalloped Skirt by Ameroonie Designs

Paper Flower Wreath by Did Someone Say Party

Minty Milkshake by The Seven Year Cottage

Little Pink Pig by Funky Polka Dot Girraffe

Desk Makeover by The Frosted Gardner

Spring Decorating by Pieced Pastimes

Vintage Café Sign by Diary of a Crafty Lady

Berrymisu Trifle by The Farm Girl

Big Girl Paper Dolls by Ms. Smartie Pants

Seed Strip Garland by Homework

Paper Banners by Something From Cassie

Pinecone Pomander by A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

Inspired Apron from 4 Boys and a Girl

Wasn’t it all so fabulous? I just want to stare at the pictures for hours. Grab a featured button if we showcased you today, and I can’t wait to see you again on Friday. Ciao!

Friday Flair Linky Party and {Blog Love} Lisa Leonard Designs

0 · Mar 25, 2011 · 17 Comments

Heather is the one that introduced me to this fabulous lady, and I’m so glad she did! I haven’t been able to stop looking at her beautiful creations all day. If you haven’t met Lisa Leonard yet, by all means let me introduce you!

Lisa creates beautiful handmade jewelry, and she just launched her new décor line!

See what I mean? Gorgeous! Head on over to Lisa Leonard Designs to see more pictures, and tell her the WhipperChicks sent you!

So now on to the party. Welcome to the Friday Flair at WhipperBerry. A place where you can link up all things tasty, fancy, and fun.

Show us what you have a flair for:

Recipes
Sewing projects
Craft tutorials
Dessert tables/events
Photography
Printables
Gift ideas
Décor/DIY Projects

We like to do it all—so we want to see it all!

Just remember these guidelines:

Please link up only your own projects, and link to the specific post, not your blog home page. No Etsy shops or giveaways, please.
You must grab a WhipperBerry button and include it somewhere in the post you’re linking, or on your home page (a text link is great too).
Stay and mingle (remember, it’s a party!), and leave a couple comments for other guests!

More than likely, we will not be able to comment on each and every link due to time. Please know that we look at each and every one, we sincerely appreciate you linking up, and are so happy when you do!

We reserve the right to remove any link that we feel is inappropriate, or does not follow the guidelines. Thank you for understanding.

Let’s get started…

{Biggest Loser Recipe}The Sarah Bear Smoothie

11 · Mar 24, 2011 · 22 Comments

A little back history on the name…

The “Sarah Bear Smoothie” is my one claim to fame on the Ranch! Getting a food named after me was a victory that I hoped for but hardly believed could happen because I struggled so much in the cooking department while on the show. We were required to cook for ourselves on the Ranch and the kitchen was always kept stocked with the best foods available. Meal time was fun and exciting for most Biggest Loser contestants, but I would end up staring blankly into the refrigerator for the entire hour having no idea what to make—and in the end copying someone else's meal.

When someone would invent a certain dish that became popular amongst the crowd, we would name it after that player. Because I couldn't come up with anything new on my own, my day would basically consist of eating the Irene for breakfast, the Courtney for lunch, and either the Justin or the Jay-bird for dinner (recipes that I will for sure be sharing!). You get the idea. So, you can imagine my overwhelming joy when I invented this smoothie and everyone loved it so much they started calling it "the Sarah Bear"! I was ecstatic! Not only did it receive my name—which made me feel cooler than Lady Gaga—but it was also given the best breakfast award AND the best dessert award. And since it received both awards I feel justified now in eating it for both breakfast AND dessert in the same day. It's just that good. Enjoy!

The Sarah Bear Smoothie

2 cups of frozen strawberries
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of Greek yogurt
Sweeten to taste with Truvia

Once again, I busted out the Magic Bullet (you can use a regular blender if you’re cool like that). Add all of the ingredients to the blender and blend. That’s it!

It’s Bob and Jillian approved so you must try it… and let me know what you think!

Linking to:

{Recipe} Red Velvet Cookie with White Chocolate Chunks

13 · Mar 23, 2011 · 52 Comments

Okay, okay… our love affair with Red Velvet continues! This time a Red Velvet cake mix is transformed into an amazing cookie. The nice thing about these cookies are how simple they are to make!!

Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

1 box of Red Velvet Cake Mix
1 cup of All-Purpose Flour
2 sticks of softened butter
1 egg
2 cups of White Chocolate Chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, add butter and mix until soft and fluffy. Slowly add cake mix and flour. Once combined, add egg and mix completely. Add white chocolate chunks, and mix for a minute or so until well combined. Form dough into one inch balls, and place into the oven for 8-10 minutes. {Yields about 24 small cookies.}

Enjoy! I’m telling ya, these babies are to die for!!! The combination of the red velvet and the white chocolate is aaaamazing!

Linking to:

{Tutorial} DIY Weathered Wood Sign

2 · Mar 22, 2011 · 50 Comments

Sarah and I have been madly working on a fun project that I am hoping to finish and show you within the next couple weeks. We have been dressing up a workout room in her house!! (For more about Sarah, our new WhipperChick and current contestant on The Biggest Loser, click here.)

One of the design elements is a weathered wood sign made out of an old pallet. Pallets are perfect for creating weathered wood elements!!

This is a quote that Sarah came up with while on the “Ranch”, working with Kara—one of the new trainers. Kara challenged each of her team members to come up with an inspiring quote that they could hang on the wall of their workout space to motivate them. This was Sarah’s quote! Isn’t it GREAT?!!

To make the board I took apart an old pallet…

…and rebuilt it with the slats closer together. The wood was very weathered and cracked in places, but I kind-of liked it that way. It added to the overall “look” I was going for. My sweet husband helped put it together. I have to admit, I have a bit of a phobia of working with power tools. I’m in a twelve step program and hope to overcome that soon {wink, wink}.

When Sarah first arrived on the Biggest Loser Ranch, her (and her sweet mom) made up the pink team, so Sarah wanted something in her new work-out room to be pink, showing her team pride.

With the sign already being weathered so beautifully I didn’t want to completely paint over the wood, so I took some pink acrylic paint and watered it down quite a bit before painting it on. After the wood dried completely, I sanded it a bit to roughen up the finish.

Next, I busted out my Silhouette to create a vinyl negative to stencil the words on the sign. Can I just say how much I love my Silhouette?! In true Ellie G style I’ve named her Sophie! We have become rather close since she moved in a few months ago.

To create a vinyl negative, you cut the word or image, then take the letters out and leave the “negative” image. I placed that on my board…