How To Make Eggnog (without using heavy cream)

Delicious, creamy eggnog is a christmas season favorite, and surprisingly easy to make. You can add a bit of rum to make this classic eggnog if you like, or you can keep it kid safe by just following the recipe I've given below. It's a wonderful treat, especially when served with freshly baked eggnog latte cupcakes. I'll be making a recipe post for those next, so save a bit of eggnog and vanilla frosting if you'd like to try them out.

Since it's holiday season I decided to give a try at making eggnog from scratch, but I quickly came across an issue. Most eggnog recipes call for heavy cream, which is a bit hard to find around my area. Any recipes without the use of heavy cream used milk, half & half, or whipped cream replacements, but it seemed that people were having a problem with getting that rich and creamy texture heavy cream recipes offer. In light of this I put together my own recipe on eggnog without use of heavy cream, which still allows for a very creamy texture. It only takes about 20 minutes to make.

What You Will Need:

• 6 eggs
• 3 cups of milk or 2 cups milk and 1 cup half & half
• 1/2 cup sugar
• vanilla frosting
• optional spices; cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, etc ( i used 1/3rd of a candy cane stick which adds a peppermint flavor and a pink hue if you stir it for a moment)

Step 1:   Put 6 eggs in a large sauce pan and sugar. Whisk until smooth.

Step 2:   Add 2 cups of milk, whisk until blended. Place over medium heat and whisk for about 5-10 minutes or until the texture is thick/frothy and sticking to your spoon. Do not cook too long or it will become lumpy.

Step 3:   Take off heat, add 2 heaping table spoons of vanilla frosting and a cup of milk or half & half.

Step 4:  Add spices and stir in. If you want it to have a peppermint flavor, break up a candy cane and toss that in. Mix until the eggnog is pink, then scoop out the remaining bits of candy cane (or leave them in if you prefer). 

Step 5:   Taste. If you want it thicker, add more vanilla frosting. Let the eggnog cool for an hour or two in the refrigerator, then serve.

If you wish to have peppermint flavored eggnog, add candy cane sticks. Not only does it look nice, but giving a few stirs while the eggnog is still hot will give it a swirly pink look. Candy canes have the perfect flavor of sweet peppermint, and there are a number of different kinds available. A pack of candy canes only costs about a dollar or two and they can be found all over the place during holiday season. Other delicious spices you can add are nutmeg, chai, cinnamon, and clove. Many of these work well together or alone. I made my eggnog with half a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of clove. It tastes delicious, especially with the peppermint.

Website!

It's finally complete, so have a look. If you're a crafter and wish to swap links, send me a message and I would be happy to do the exchange.

All that aside, I'm fairly busy with commissions and cleaning up shop as of late, but I've tried to put in the time for various crafty ideas for all those lolita loving artists out there. If you have any ideas or have seen some lovely crafts you'd like to share, I'd be more than happy to list them here, too. I am still working on my star tutorials and will have a new one posted up soon. Probably today or tomorrow.

In the fashion world I've been oogling over Infanta's new winter coats like crazy. Can you imagine how nice the cashmere must feel? All those beautiful designs and perfect stitching and intricate embroidery just steals my breath away. I dare say I will be disappointed when winter comes to an end, because there is such an elegance in nice winter coats, lovely gloves and warm boots. I personally own a very nice long black suede coat with faux fur trim, but having one of those babies at Infanta would blow it out of the water. Alas, I've been saving up for Sakuracon and I don't think I could afford putting money away toward any fashion items just yet. Upon summer I should hope that will change, and I can post up some gorgeous new outfits I just might get.

How To Make A Snow Globe

Pretty much anything around the house that is clear and can be sealed is able to be a snow globe. Mason jars are a common option, but I personally like to reuse salt and pepper (or other spice) shakers. Depending on the size of your globe, these can be used for just about anything, including christmas presents. Small ones can even be used as ornaments; just attach a ribbon or sturdy string to the top in a hoop.

My own globes will be listed for sale on my website.

Salt Shaker Snow Globe
What you will need:

• a salt shaker with the lid
• cotton stuffing
• something to put inside (I used a doll charm I made out of poly clay)
• glitter
• a hot glue gun and glue sticks
• decorations (ribbon, cloth to cover the lid, etc)

Step 1.  Carefully squeeze a generous amount of glue into the shaker. Make sure it only touches the bottom. Drop a chunk of cotton in and use a stick or pencil to stuff it down. If the stick gets stuck, carefully use another one to pry the material off before pulling it out. Let dry.

Step 2.  Add more glue on top of the cotton, then add your charm. Using tweezers can help you to position it. Let dry.

Step 3.  Fill with water, then add a decent amount of glitter.

Step 4.  Squeeze a good amount of glue into the inside of your shaker cap, making sure it fills the little holes. Then coat the insides of the shaker with glue and quickly screw or press it firmly onto the top of the shaker. Let dry.

Step 5.  Turn the shaker upside-down to check if water leaks. If it does, fill the leaking spots with glue to seal it.

Step 6.  Decorate your globe as you wish!

How To Make A Paper Star - Crafts

Last night I was looking over some ideas in various online magazines and came across a basic paper star craft idea. It inspired me to make my own, so I've decided to post a couple of my paper star craft ideas. The first one was mostly for an experiment. I really wanted a reason to cover newsprint cutouts of stars in glitter and since I love sleeping 'under the stars', I thought an elegant, simple mobile would add a nice touch. You can add a lot of stars or extra detail if you like, but I opted for something modest with mine. I do not suggest using these for baby beds because the glitter could fall off in bits and land in a baby's eyes.

These mobiles could also easily be used to make chimes if you have weatherproof material. Even random seashells or pieces of driftwood rather than stars would sound and look beautiful. I have seashells all over my own house, and they're very useful for various crafts.

First, if you wish to learn how to make a paper star, you can do so here. There are a lot of options for different sorts of stars you can make. Once you have your stars cut out (I just used a bunch of newspaper and ads I receive in the mail) you can follow the tutorial below, or one of the other tutorials I will be listing next.

Stars Mobile
What you will need:

• paper stars
• glitter
• craft glue
• hot glue or strong tape
• string/ribbon
• decorations
• wire or something that can hold the stars (a bent coat hanger, etc)
• a thumbtack

1. Take your stars and coat one side in glue. Then cover this with a thick layer of glitter. I mixed some glitter to make different shades. Let dry.

2.   Get your wire and bend it to a circle. You can also use a paper plate or some sort of similar circle. Decorate this as you wish, then hot glue or firmly tape strings of different length to it. One string for each star. 

3.   Hot glue or firmly tape the tip of each star to each string. Make sure the stars are far enough apart that they don't bump into each other when hanging. 

4.   Add as much decoration as you want. I used a ribbon to hang my wire, and put a cluster of feathers hot glued to a ribbon in the center of the piece. 

5.   Hang it wherever you please. Mine is going above my bed.

Monochrome EGA mini hat

Yet another one of my mini hats. This is a black and white EGA mini top hat, made of cotton with a plastic canvas base. The ribbon used it a fine grossgrain, though it looks a bit like satin. The tiny all black bows are just typical thin grossgrain ribbon. On the bottom of the hat there is smooth black velvet with an attached comb to secure it to your hair. I would personally wear this hat, since I love that classy, victorian gothic look. I think it is pretty gender-neutral as well, which spices up the collection. It's a fairly simple hat, but I believe it speaks of elegance.

I will be listing it with all of my other hats on my website. I've been revamping my website as well as my blogs over the last couple of days, so things should get more active. However, it will probably be a bit chaotic until it's all settled and cleaned up. I've got quite a lot of hats I plan to list, as well as a stuffed animal (I am debating making more of these) and some bows. I've also been thinking of making bloomers/breaches, but that will have to wait until I have enough material. Unfortunately I am broke.

Ah, which reminds me, if anyone wishes to donate to my artist endeavors (donations will be used to purchase supplies) you may do so using paypal. :)
Any and all donations are greatly appreciated.

I have been considering making a DIY/tutorial on how to make a mini hat using my own techniques. I know there are some out there, but most seem to be a bit on the less-than-professional side. I have been making these for quite a few years, so maybe I can contribute something useful. Once I have some down-time I'll see to pumping one out. Pretty soon here there will be a list of tutorials I've made available for easy access on the blog, so please bare with me while I put things together. It's quite untidy. 

Cupcake Hat

Here's my finished cupcake hat. I'm pretty happy with it. This is a remake of an older design and I think it came out quite well, though it certainly took a while. The entire piece is hand-made. The base is made of plastic canvas and overlaid with soft pink cotton decorated in little white hearts. a ring of lace and organza accentuates this, and little pearly pink candy beads circle the cupcake. The cupcake itself is made of polymore which was hand formed, hand painted, and then lightly glazed. I also made the heart candy at the top of this, which is likewise topped with a pearl.

It's a very intricate and delicate looking hat, but surprisingly sturdy. I manhandled it quite a bit as I made it. The bottom of the hat is fixed with a smooth surface of the pink/white heart cotton, and a strong black comb is secured to it so you can seamlessly slip it into your hair and go.

I don't normally make hats like this as they tend to be the hardest for me, but they're also satisfying. My design is completely made by me, so it is guaranteed one of a kind, which is a nice feeling. I will be putting this up on my website for sale. It is made of the same material as my teacup hat.

I've also been working on some of my other hat designs and getting things in order to list quite a few other items-- specifically, I'm working on a bonnet design. It's a busy time of the year, so posts may be a bit sporadic.

A Unique Plant Holder

This is probably my best invention yet, and there really isn't much to it. I've had vintage teacups laying about and so Ii wanted to do something with them. I use clippings from plants around the house. I have also used large seashells to hold plants, and they make wonderful gifts.