Well hello readers of Kit's Crafts, I'm Kaelie Nielsen, Kit's sister from kaenie.com. While Kit is getting ready for the Beehive Bazaar, one of the best craft fairs around, I thought I would talk to you about my love of paper. 

Sounds boring, but hear me out. I love paper almost as much as Kit loves yarn, so you can imagine I've made some fun things with it. 

About a month ago, I purchased a Silhouette Cameo, nope, I'm not cool enough to be sent one to blog about, I am writing about it because I genuinely think it's awesome. It's like a cricut except instead of having to buy a bunch of cartridges, it will cut whatever you create. Being a graphic designer with a love of paper who just got a pretty good tax return, I almost heard the machine calling my name. 

So, what have I created?

The things I'm most excited about are shadow boxes. Here's my basement wall:

I also created some that stand on their own:

I'm thinking to try to make a circular one with the following design, but I still need to work out some kinks:

More than one person has told me I should sell these. I haven't asked how much they would pay because that's an awkward question to ask of a close friend or family member and I honestly wouldn't believe their answer anyway. 

So, since you are all mostly anonymous to me, I have no reserves. Would you buy these? If so, for how much? I would probably charge $3 shipping and have the buyer assemble them so I ship them flat.

Also, no pressure if you decide to comment. If I do sell them, it won't be until a while after I've had my second daughter in May and I won't be contacting you unless by request. Your honest opinion is much appreciated.

Thanks! 

Kaelie Nielsen
kaenie.com
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Tres Leches Cake is definitely a dessert that you should not judge just by looking. Twice I have taken this to pot lucks only to find it hardly touched, because on the surface, it looks like your basic white cake and who would choose that over the delicious brownies next door? However, beyond this mask is a decadently, moist and sumptuous cake that needs no ice cream to be delightful. In all honesty, this cake is more like pudding. Give it a try and tell me what you think!

In essence, Tres Leches Cake is a sponge cake that is soaked in three milks; sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. I took it a step further and added caramel sauce to the soak just to liven up the flavor a bit. I also bumped up the cinnamon in the sponge cake to hint of horchata. 

Cake Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup Whole Milk
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
4 Large Eggs
2 cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Milk Mixture Ingredients:
1 (14 ounce) Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tablespoons Caramel Sauce*
1 (12 ounce) Can Evaporated Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup Heavy Cream
3 tablespoons Corn Syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3/4 to 1 cup Caramel Sauce**
2 pints Fresh Strawberries, hulled and sliced

Directions:
Center a rack in the oven, then preheat to 325F. Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and milk together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs on medium speed for 30 seconds, then slowly incorporate sugar and beat until thick and glossy, 5 - 7 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually stir in the melted butter mixture and vanilla. Continuing on low or switching to a rubber spatula, incorporate the flour combination in 3 batches. Once fully incorporated, scrap the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until slightly browned and a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes.

While the cake is baking, combine the sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce in a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring until combined. In a medium bowl, stir together the caramel sauce mixture with evaporated milk, heavy cream and vanilla. Set aside until cake is ready.

After 10 minutes of cooling time, poke holes in the top of the cake with a skewer at 1/2" intervals, trying not to puncture the bottom of the cake. Slowly pour the milk mixture over the cake, then let stand for 15 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Remove the cake from the fridge 30 minutes before frosting the cake. To make the frosting, in a medium bowl, beat the heavy cream, corn syrup and vanilla on medium speed with a hand mixer until soft peaks form, 1 - 2 minutes. Spread over cake. Drizzle about 2/3 of the caramel sauce over the cake, then arrange the sliced strawberries and drizzle the rest of the caramel sauce over the strawberries. Cut cake into 3" slices. Cake can be kept for up to 3 days refrigerated in an air tight container.

*I used the ice cream topping caramel sauce, however, you could melt 4-5 caramels instead.
** If using caramels or a thicker sauce, you may want to melt it a bit and mix in some milk to thin the sauce out. Let the sauce come to room temperature before drizzling over the cake.

This recipe was adapted from Cook's Country.

In prepping for the Beehive Bazaar, I began looking for inexpensive ways to display my products. I had remembered seeing a lot of tutorials on Pinterest for cake stands and thought that would be a good idea to try out. I went a little nuts and made about 7 or 8 stands because they are so easy and each plate/vase only cost about $1 at my local thrift store. Can't go wrong there! Anyway, here is a quick tutorial of how I made mine.

Materials:
Plates
Candle Holders or Vases
E6000 Glue
Ruler (optional)
Scrap Cardboard (to protect your work surface)

Directions:
Wash your plates and vases and dry completely. Place two plates upside down. Squirt some glue around the rim of each of vase, then place the vase as close to the center as you can. Use your ruler to double check, however you don't need to be exact. Let these dry upside down for 24 hours.

Next, place your remaining plate right side up, then squirt some glue on the bottom of one of your vases that is already attached to a plate. Place the vase in the center of the plate that is right side up using the same method as above to center the vase. Wait 24 hours, then attach the remaining plate on top of the other two. Wait at least 24 hours before using.

A couple days ago, I found out that one of my friends knits. In talking to her about it, she said she had just learned, but didn't think you could knit much beyond hats, scarves and blankets. I honestly didn't answer right away because my mind was buzzing with so many ideas of things you could make with your needles. Finally, I said, "When you knit you are making a fabric, so basically anything you could make with fabric you could knit". Of course, this is true for crochet, too. A wonderful thing these days is that you can find many knit and crochet doilies and tablecloths at thrift stores, so even if you don't have the skill, you can still partake in the fun by upcycling a secondhand find.

Anyway, as I was deciding what to post about today, I thought I would share some ideas, many of which contain patterns/tutorials for you to re create the inspiration. Click on the picture to go to the link. Enjoy!

Whenever I meal plan, I usually incorporate far more recipes that I haven't tried then ones that I have tried. When I do include one that I have tried before, it is because I haven't made the dish in a long time or it is REALLY good. This recipe falls into the REALLY good category and, as a bonus, it is one of the easiest and quickest meals to make.

This recipe was adapted from Gimme Some Oven's Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry. I used asparagus, but this recipe would be great with basically any typical stir fry veggies, such as broccoli, carrots, green beans, peas, or bok choy.

Makes 2 servings.

Marinade:
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Honey
Stir Fry:
5 - 6 Chicken Tenders or 2 Chicken Breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Bunch Asparagus, broken in half 
Sauce:
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Honey
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Scallions, roughly chopped
Garnish:
1 Teaspoon Toasted Sesame Seeds
1 Teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil

Directions:
In a ziplock bag, combine the marinade and the chicken pieces, place in refrigerator until needed. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the asparagus, salt and pepper to taste. Cook asparagus for about 5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add chicken and marinade to the hot skillet and cook until golden on the outside and no pink remains on the inside, 7 - 10 minutes

While the chicken is cooking, in a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey, garlic and scallions. Add sauce to pan once chicken is cooked and continue cooking for 1 - 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant.

Remove skillet from stove and stir in sesame seeds and sesame seed oil. Serve hot with cooked rice.

For Christmas, I gave my child some fake food to go with a little shopping cart she had adored at the store. Along with the plastic fruit and veggies came some small cardboard food boxes. I knew the second I saw these that it would be a matter of days for these little cartons to hit the trash because they would quickly get squished and torn up. To prevent this inevitable fate, I reinforced the boxes with cardboard and laminated them with packing tape. Truth be told, this is an activity to do while watching a show or something because it is a little time consuming.

Materials:
Fake Food Boxes
Cardboard
Craft Knife or Scissors
Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Packing Tape (optional)

Directions:
1.Use your fake food box to determine the width of your cardboard fillers, then cut strips of cardboard at that width, then, cut rectangles from the strip at the same length as the box. 
2. Once you have enough rectangles to fill the box, use the glue gun to stick the pieces together. 
3. Put the stack of glued cardboard inside the box then put some glue on the end of the cardboard stack and close the box, gluing the end shut. Repeat for the other end.
To further the lasting ability of these boxes, you can laminate the exteriors by wrapping them with a layer of packing tape.

I have a REALLY exciting announcement. I am going to have a booth at the Beehive Bazaar this May! I am so thrilled, I can hardly sleep these days! The bazaar is essentially a high-end craft fair that features "a hand-selected inventory of unique, quality and most importantly, to-die-for handmade goods including jewelry, paintings, bags, glass, vinyl, paper, clothing and accessories as well as couture cupcakes, jams, cookies, caramels and treats" (beehivebazaar.com/about-us). The event runs for two weekends, May 1-3 and May 8-10 at the Riverwoods in Provo, UT. My booth will be up for the second weekend. I plan to post some of the items I am making just for the event as well as my display. Hope to see you there!

For some time now, I have been trying to organize my craft materials and tools. Only problem, is that I want the tools I use most often to be readily available, so that means they need to look nice too. I searched the internet to come up with some way of organizing my double pointed needles and crochet hooks. Primarily, what I saw was antique pipe holders upcycled as knitting needle holders. So, I went looking at some local antique shops. Unfortunately, I didn't quite find what I was looking for until I stopped by Lost and Found Thrift in Bountiful, Utah. First off, I must do a shout out to this glorious place. Not only do they have great items, but they have pictures all over the store to give you ideas of what some of their products could be turned into with a little DIY. The greatest part are the friendly, helpful owners. After browsing for a bit, I wasn't coming across any pipe holders, so I described what I was needing to Cheryl, one of the owners. She thought for a moment then I saw the light bulb go off and she asked if I had thought of using a floral frog. She went in the back and brought out exactly what I was needing. All that was left was to put it in a container. I remembered a milk glass trifle bowl I bought a while back and, lucky for me, they were a perfect fit! I didn't have to do any adjusting or jimmy rigging at all!

Now you tell me, isn't that perfect?! It is like my own little bouquet of knitting needles and crochet hooks. I love it! I know that this is a pretty serendipitous find, so if you are looking to organize your needles/hooks, you could also try an old test tube holder or a test tube vase.