'Tis the Season for a Party!

It's GRUB time again! (In case you don't know what grub is, it stands for Girls Round Up Boys; a sorority hosted event where the members invite any guy they want).

Tridelt's fall grub isn't themed, but I still got to make party cups! Of course I forgot to take a picture of them before-hand, and I promise you they were MUCH cuter. The gold and silver were different brands from my usual, and they wiped off when you handled the cup too much. Oh well...I know not to use those again!

a But I also got to make costumes and cups for my friend Avery's grub! Their theme was "Holi-Dazed and Confused", so they decided to go as Christmas.


I made them cups, adorned with the theme (which also happens to be my favorite time of the year, so I had a lot of fun with it!)

I also made them over-sized Christmas Tree t-shirts. It was super easy.

This is how I did it:
1. Buy oversized green shirts
2. Make a pine needle stamp (I will post soon about making your own stamp)
3. Stamp the shirt all over with another shade of green, or two.
4. Hot glue battery-powered blinking lights onto the shirt (battery pack inside the bottom of the shirt)
5. Lay out ornaments and other decorations; mark their places lightly
6. Sew on ornaments.
-- I chose to sew on the ornaments because I was afraid hot glue wouldn't hold as well. It's a college party, after all. This shirt had a long night ahead of it. It only takes a few stitches to get it on there.
7. Turn on the lights!

We all had a lot of fun with our cups and costumes. Get creative for your next party!

-Soo Coco

Productivity at Its Best

Today was a very satisfyingly productive day. It started off sleeping in a little more than I'm used to, which was nice. Then I decided to do things around the house all day.

Yesterday I started re-painting the swing, so I finished that this morning. Then I cleaned the entire house. Well, my room, the living room and the kitchen. I started with my room, cleaned out and reorganized everything from under by bed, emptied my desk drawer, put away summer clothes (it was so tough to pack up the seersucker and white linen), and then started the hard core cleaning.

So here's my cleaning tips and what I like to do and use:
-- I started in the bathroom. I used Scrubbing Bubbles on the shower, and actually on the sink too, let it soak for a minute or two, and used a sponge to wipe down the sink and then turned on the shower. Then I used Clorox wipes on the toilet, Clorox toilet cleaner inside (let that sit, used a toilet brush to scrub, then flushed).
-- Then I did my closet. That was really just putting all the clothes away that I tried on and didn't re-hang on Thursday night when we went out.
-- Next came my bedroom. I un-made and re-made my bed (so that the sheets and everything was in the right place), and picked up all the other stray things lying around. I hate things that aren't in their place.
-- Then the really intense cleaning started...I used Windex Multipurpose on the counters, wiped them down with an old rag (I hate using and wasting paper towels). Cleaned out the sink, put all the dishes in the dishwasher, started the dishwasher, Windex-ed the fridge (there were finger smudges everywhere).
-- Next came the dusting. Gotta love Lemon Pledge made for wood! So all of our furniture is nice and shiny again, and our house smells pretty.
-- I vacuumed the entire living room, moved furniture, all that fun stuff. Oh and the kitchen too. Moved all of the chairs, got underneath the bar, under everywhere and everything. Then I moved to my room, did the bedroom (under my bed and all), in my closet and in my bathroom, using the hose attachment in spots where the vacuum didn't fit.
-- Then I used the Swiffer Sweeper with the wet cloths on it (I much prefer the Swiffer Wet Jet, but I haven't had the heart to invest in one when I already have a Sweeper and wet cloths). I swiffered my bathroom too, since it's tile.

Then I was done! It was a great feeling to have everything so nice and clean.

THEN..... I re-hung my swing. I didn't like where I put the original holes, so I decided to move it back to the next stud-thing. Then I put it up and It was all nice, but so bare. So I decided to make some pillows! I used some New Orleans Toile that my mom let me have, and made pillow cases for two 18x18 pillows that I don't really use (one was actually under my bed because I didn't have a place for it). I'm going to make a tutorial sometime in the near future on how to make easy envelope pillows. Now that the swing is all finished, it is dark outside, so I'll have to take a picture tomorrow. And my water is probably boiling now for my Mac and Cheese (I'm too tired to cook anything real tonight), so I'll update and put up pictures later!

Yay for productivity!

-Soo Coco

Procraftinating for My Little

Sorority rush...well, "recruitment"...was pretty brutal. But, it was all very worth it! We got an absolutely adorable pledge class. And best of all, I got the best little anyone could hope for.

For Big/Little Sis week, the big sisters leave presents in the living room for 3 days (Mon, Tues and Weds), and the Little picks them up not knowing who her Big is. Then on the fourth day, we split up into groups of 5, put our littles' names on a post it, attach it to a chair and the end of a spool of yarn in the kitchen and string the yarn all over the house for them to follow. When they get to the end, we're there waiting! It's fun, and they get to see different parts of the house that they might not have seen before.

The anonymous presents are usually artsy-craftsy delta stuff. Well, I got super artsy craftsy. My roommates got annoyed with all the art stuff strewn all over the living room floor. But it was so much fun! So here's what I did...

Day 1:
-- Chalk Board
-- Monogrammed Makeup Bag with Caitlyn and ΔΔΔ
-- "Shacker Pack" inside the makeup bag
    -- (...now if she's anything like me, she won't really need a "shacker pack," but one of my friends got one last year and I thought it was a really cute idea)





Day 2:
-- Basket with....
-- 2 Painted Glass Jars filled with Candy (yum yum)
-- A ΔΔΔ Picture Frame
-- Two Paint-Washed Picture Canvases with Quotes that I Made...
    -- One with a picture of her pledge class on Bid Day and her favorite Gandhi quote
    -- One with a picture of the Tridelt house and the purpose painted on it
-- A Tridelt Key Chain Wallet
-- 3 Hanging Deltas that I made for her wall
-- 2 Tridelt Tshirts 

Day 3: 
-- A Painted Ice Chest filled with....
-- A ΔΔΔ Nalgene bottle
-- Ping Pong balls (in the Nalgene)
-- A Painted Wine Glass
-- 3 Painted PΔRTY PΔRTY PΔRTY Shot Glasses
-- Blue and Yellow Solo Cups
-- ΔΔΔ License Plate Cover
-- Blind Tie 2011 Jersey
  
 

Day 4...Revelation:
-- I ordered her real present late, so in the mean time I gave her a silver picture frame that I put blue and yellow ribbon on with a picture of the two of us inside.
-- But her real present is a ΔΔΔ sweatshirt from Balfour house. I got one last year and it was absolutely my favorite present. 


















So I had so much fun doing all of it! People would joke that I was making them look bad or that they wanted to be my little, which made me feel good. She says she likes all of it, so yayayyy! I'm so glad she's my little, I love her!

But I did spend a lot of time "procraftinating"...TSM. 



-Soo Coco

Vote LSU in Pepsi's Refresh Project

Vote for LSU Greeks in Pepsi's Refresh Everything Project. If we win, we will get $50,000 toward Greek Week's Habitat for Humanity project.

Vote everyday from now until October 5th! Twice a day, online and by text message.

Text "108818" to PEPSI (73774) 

Addicted to Pinterest

The other day I was introduced to Pinterest. My friends couldn't believe I hadn't discovered it yet, being a computer nerd and the fact that it is such a "Corinne" type site. So I got a pinterest, and I'm addicted. Hello pinterest, goodbye studying.

So, if you have a pinterest, follow me! If not, you can just look at all the wonderfully random and entertaining things I pin.
-- http://pinterest.com/sococo/

Happy pinning!

-Soo Coco

Cupcakes!

I. Love. Cupcakes. End of story.

One evening during rush workshop I was bored at home so I decided to make cupcakes. I made devils' food with my home-made butter cream icing that I got from the almighty Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. I have altered it a bit, I've done it a couple times, including on my dad's birthday cake. But it's very fluffy and yummy!

Here's what I do....

Cupcakes:
-- I just simply use the boxed cake mix. Its super easy and you don't have to by excess of ingredients.
-- I do make sure to make it super fluffy. I don't beat it with a whisk, weird I know. I use a fork and beat it with a wide/high stroke for a while, making sure it gets enough air into it.
    -- I really don't know how long I do it, I just beat until it looks very fluffy
-- I fill the cupcake pan with cupcake cups and then fill them between 3/4 and the rim of the cup. Sometimes I don't make 24 cupcakes, but if they're just for the house, it doesn't really matter anyway.
-- Cook as instructed.
-- I take them out and cool them on a wire cooling rack so that the bottoms don't get soggy.


Icing:
- Before I even begin making the cupcakes, I take out all of my ingredients for the icing. It sucks to realize you don't have enough eggs or butter and have to go to the grocery later. The butter also needs to soften, so it's good to put it on the stove/by the oven while the oven is preheating.


This is my modified recipe:
-- 4 large egg whites
-- 1 1/4 cups sugar
-- 2 to 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into chunks
-- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


-- Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a simmer. Set a heatproof mixing bowl on top of the saucepan and combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl. Whisk them constantly until everything has dissolved and the mixture is warm. It won't get clear, but it you will see a consistent murky white color without random dots of undissolved sugar.
-- If you have a standing mixer, attach the bowl to the mixer. If you don't, you can use a hand mixer. Use the whisk attachment (if you have one). Beat the egg white and sugar mixture on high until it is white, fluffy and makes hard peaks. Note that you don't want it to be stiff, but you want the peaks to somewhat stand for a second. (The recipe says this takes about 6 minutes. It depends on what mixer/attachment you have).
-- Switch to the paddle attachment (if you have one; if you're using a handheld, you can keep on the same pieces) and add the butter a couple of tablespoons at a time with the mixer on medium-low. Be sure you beat all of the butter in after each addition.
    -- Sometimes it will appear to separate - that's okay. Just set your mixer on high and beat until it is smooth again.
-- Once all of the butter is in, beat in the vanilla. If you're adding color, add it now.
-- Reduce to the lowest speed to get rid of any air bubbles. Then stir with a rubber spatula until the frosting is smooth.

Once your cupcakes are cool and your frosting is made, you're ready to ice! I usually put the icing in a plastic bag with one of the corners cut off. I "pipe" the icing on in a spiral/circular motion, starting on the outside, working inward and finishing off with a little peak in the middle. 

-Soo Coco

It's been a while...

I know I haven't posted in literally forever. During the summer I ended up working at Camp Bow Wow 6 days a week, and between that and working out and playing mom for the littles, I was too exhausted to blog.

But, I'm back! I'm all settled into my apartment...working on decorating. I just brought up a swing from my old house for our front porch. That has been today's project.

So since I haven't blogged in so long...there are a couple things I want to blog about! Here's my small list:
- My Little (and all the fun crafty stuff I made for her)
- My room! how I decorated my room and the other plans I have for it
- Other little crafts (like our key holders)
- The Swing
- Cooking!
...and of course just life.

I'm gonna start working on those now! Hopefully they'll be up soon, and I'll start making some tutorials on some of the things I've done. I'm also in the midst of making a dress....I started it in June, but it frustrated me, so I stopped work. Maybe I'll pick it up again soon.

I'm still working on the theme for my blog too. I had this really cool zipper idea for the menu bar, but it's not working out. I'm actually rather upset about it, so I'm going to try to force it to work. If it doesn't, I'll have to figure something else out. But in the meantime, it'll just stay white and simple.

Off to write those posts!

-Soo Coco