That Time A Muffin Went To A Glass Studio

Good Evening Sleepy Muffin Readers!

Tins of colored glass

So I don't know if you knew this, but aside from Muffin's being sleepy (they are even more sleepy after a long weekend full of tasty leftovers) they are also very curious. My curiosity prompted us to attend the Near Southside Art Goggle a little while back and we happened to stumble upon SiNaCa Studios while listening to the Whiskey Folk Ramblers perform (awesome band might I add). SiNaCa studios we soon discovered, is a school of glass with an adjacent gallery that showcases artist's creations.

Fast forward to this past weekend: the in-laws were in town and I was trying to think of someplace we could check out that was not a mall or something "usual" and would interest everyone. Since we happened to be in the area, I suggested that we go check out SiNaCa- I just wasn't expecting anyone to be working with glass while we were there!

Kevin McGhee working with the beginnings of a blown bowl

As soon as we walked into the gallery, I was already checking out the next room where they had the kilns running (See? Muffin curiosity at its finest right there). We immediately were invited to go over and catch some of the action going on inside as they worked with molten glass.Of course, I didn't need a second invitation and made my way over - woohoo!

In a nutshell, we were absolutely amazed that these guys start off with a small blob of virgin (clear) glass, and after adding in pieces of colored glass it eventually turns into this breathtaking piece of art.Of course, what kind of post would this be if I didnt elaborate on the process?

As we watched the guys form their piece, our visit made me realize that to make a single bowl, it could easily be a two-man process and both people needed a good amount of skill and trust in each other. Especially when one person is blowing the glass through a special pipe and the other person is rolling that same pipe to make sure the glass is distributed evenly.

See that bowl forming?

Once the blob had been blown a small bit, it would be reinserted into the kiln, taken out, have colored glass added, formed, and the process would be repeated until it reached the ideal color content they desired and the appropriate size for them to start forming the bowl. Unfortunately, I was so fascinated by the process and what was going on that the details are starting to become a little fuzzy (sorry).

One thing Kevin or his associate Clifton mentioned, was that when they're forming a piece, they water the tools they use to keep the temperature down which in turn, prevents the glass from sticking to their tools, thus allowing them to form their pieces  however way they want. They also said that there are many things that could be used as a tool to help form the hot glass such as a mold, a wood paddle or even a pad made out of wet newspapers provided they were wet and the temperature was kept down low enough that the glass wouldn't stick to it.
.

After a certain point, they opened up the hole that would become the bowl's opening using centrifugal force and gravity to give the bowl its height and shape.Clifton mentioned that this method is ideal for forming the bowl, however if your glass is too thin it can mess up the overall shape of the bowl or it can even cause your project to come off the pipe and end up as a mess on the floor.

As you can see from the pictures, that bowl has already started developing some really beautiful color patterns and it wasnt even completed yet. They showed us that hot colored glass will change in color over the time it cools so that you never know what the end result will look like until the piece has completely cooled. Meaning, that sometimes a piece might not look very nice when they complete it, but after it has cooled it might had developed some amazing unique color patterns that they were not expecting.

Kevin and Clifton (right) working together on the blown bowl

Sadly, our demonstration ended after a while - but we stuck around and chatted with Clifton about SiNaCa itself and discovered that it is a non-profit organization that is available to anyone in the community who wants to hone their skill in glass working from beginners to seasoned experts. As you can guess, the pieces available in their gallery were made by many of the artists who use the facilities at SiNaCa. I also discovered that you can take a number of different classes to try your hand at working with glass to make your own creations.  I truly felt like a small child in a huge toy shop - there was so much to look at and take in.

Overall - visiting SiNaCa Studios was truly an amazing, amazing experience, I really can't say enough good things about this place. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful - if you're ever in the area, stop by say hi and help support this local spot! I cant wait to sign my husband up for one of their classes or even try my hand at glass working myself.

Until next time!


The Little Sleepy Muffin


P.S:  I want to thank Kevin, Clifton, and the staff at SiNaCa for the wonderful time and experience we had at your studio this past weekend. Thank you for answering all our questions and allowing me to take photos. My only regret was that my photos cannot do your work justice.

Going Back in Time...Muffin Style

Good Evening Dear Readers!

Today I'm taking you on a trip down memory lane thanks to a recent Pinterest entry I found for making Marranitos, or Mexican Piggies. These pastries are not quite a cookie and not quite a bread. As with many other pan dulce it is lightly sweetened and goes well with coffee or milk.

Long ago when I was a mini Muffin, my parents would take me to the Pink Elephant Panaderia in San Jose occasionally on Saturday mornings. There I could choose out any pastry I wanted. Usually I chose a cookie covered in crunchy sprinkles because they were so pretty, but as I grew older I developed a taste for Conchas instead. After I chose my pastry my parents would make their pan dulce selections and away we'd go. They always included some piggies for my brother since they were his absolute favorite (and still are I might add). Of course, they always knew that I wasn't completely satisfied by my single cookie so they always threw in a few extra piggies for me as well.

These trips used to be so memorable to me because over the years, we didn't always live close to The Pink Elephant, and the panaderia isn't in the greatest side of town. Either way, we kept coming here year after year since it was known for being one of the best panaderias in the Bay Area and it was always a special treat whenever we went.

Finished piggies...errr I mean Bears

The tradition of going to the Pink Elephant didn't start with my parents though: my grandparents had been going there for years before my parents started dating and eventually got married. I'm not sure how long it has been around but to this day The Pink Elephant is still standing and serving the hispanic community wonderful pastries daily. It is one of my wishes to some day continue that tradition and take my son, the muffin-lette, there and let him choose his own pan dulce.

So, as I mentioned earlier: I found this recipe online for Marranitos via Pinterest and decided to give it a try and share the results with you.

Mmmmm, the molasses smelled so wonderful

Authentic Mexican Marranitos (Molasses Gingerbread Piggies)

I'm sure you noticed by now that the piggy pictures I posted aren't actual piggies. I assure you, I haven't completely lost my muffin sense and do realize that the cookie cutter I am using is bear-shaped and not pig-shaped, I still just call them piggies out of habit. Sadly, when I started this project I didnt have a pig cookie cutter large enough to make a proper Marranito and the only cutter I had available was the bear cutter you see in my photos.

Ginormous Bear cookie cutter!

Since I didnt get permission to re-post this recipe I felt that it was only fair to re-direct my readers to where I originally found the recipe especially since I didnt make any notable adaptions.So, this recipe can be found via my Pinterest board or going directly to this link.


I did however, want to point out a few things about this recipe that will help make your life easier and make a more authentic, tastier pastry:

• Use lard (or Manteca in spanish) if at all possible - This will give you the best possible taste and texture. Just ignore the fact that it wont necessarily be very healthy.
• Use that egg wash! The gloss and texture is very reminiscent of the piggies I used to get when I was a kid - just dont go too crazy with the wash or else you'll end up with scrambled eggs on top of your pan dulce
• Add in the cinnamon but skip the rest of the spices the reviews say to add. The flavor you achieve is the closest to actual panaderia piggies and I always think its nice to try something one way before you decide to try out your own variations of the recipe.
• Section out your dough into large palm sized balls.I found this was easier for me to handle when I rolled out and stamped my dough versus to handling the entire batch of dough at once.
• Dont be afraid of handling the dough too much. It is very forgiving and fairly easy to handle. 
• As always, have fun and add in as much love to your pastries as possible. It definitely affects the flavor :)

After the first batch made it out of the oven I gave the first piggy to Mr. Muffin (ha ha I hope he doesn't mind me calling him that) who declared them a success. That poor piggy didn't stand much of a chance and was devoured well before the next batch could make it out of the oven. Overall, this is a fairly easy and quick recipe to make, even for impatient Muffins such as myself and is simple enough for bakers of any skill to master.

Well Sleepy Muffin Readers - as usual I am starting to get pretty sleepy so I must bid you Adios.

Until next time!

The Little Sleepy Muffin

What are you Thankful for?

Hey there Sleepy Muffin Readers!

Today is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be grateful for:


First and foremost I'm extremely grateful for the most wonderful man in my life. He makes me laugh and sometimes he drives me crazy but overall he has made my life 100x better than I could ever imagine. I could go on and on about how wondering and amazing he is. Believe me, there is never a dull moment in my house with him around.

I'm also grateful for my family. I''m thankful to have my parents nearby and and glad that I am able to have a good relationship with them. My brother is deployed overseas I miss him very much but am grateful for the opportunity to have him in my life as well. In addition to my immediate family, my in-laws are also worth being thankful for. They are some of the sweetest, loudest, loving people I have ever met.

My puppies Max and Peach and also my rabbit Bunn are also on my list of things to be thankful for. Its hard to stay discouraged or grumpy after a rough day at work when you're greeted by a whirlwind of fur at the door when you come home. They definitely make things interesting at home and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In a little over two months we're going to be welcoming our little muffin-let into this world and I'm already so thankful for the miracle he is. Right now he is kicking and moving around like mad (and occasionally driving me crazy) but I already love that little guy dearly and cant wait to have him in my arms.

Finally, I'm thankful for a comfy home, good food to eat, a place to work, and a fairly peaceful and happy life. My life is far from perfect but God has truly blessed me with many wonderful things.

So, dear Reader, what are you thankful for?

West Elm Knock-off Doormat

Hey there Readers!

I really can't believe that the holidays are already here. To be honest, I'm not really ready for it. Usually I already have my house decorated well before Thanksgiving but I think between carrying around a little muffin-lette (who is currently moving around like crazy) and making things to sell at local craft fairs it came way too fast. Did I mention that the weather has been more unusual than normal here in Texas? Driving home from work today, it was 70 degrees! What kind of holiday weather is that?!?

So for those looking for a few home decor projects to do for the holidays look no more!

West Elm knock-off Doormat

I subscribe to the CasaSugar blog and the other day there was a list of ideal gifts to give for the new homeowner. One of the items on this list were these cute but simple holiday doormats from West Elm.

I absolutely love their designs, however with the holidays coming up and a baby on the way there was no way I could justify a $30 price tag. So, then I thought...I can do that! It might not be perfect but I can still get a similar effect for about half the cost.


Items you'll need:

• Outdoor doormat - I found mine at Walmart for $7 - it wasnt exactly like the one in the picture above but it did have the jute material in the center of the mat
• Spray Paint of your desired color - For this project I tried going with fabric spray paint and wasnt completely thrilled with the lack of color vibrancy. Plus it set me back $5 whereas Rustoleum would cost a little less
• Thin cardboard or posterboard
• Scissors
• Some basic drawing skills

Isn't he cute?

So, anyone who has known me for any length of time knows I love bunnies. So I thought it was very fitting to make a bunny image on my doormat.  First, grab your poster board and sketch your bunny design. I did a quick Google image search and found some silhouette images of bunnies and chose one that would be easy to replicate.

Once you are satisfied with your design carefully cut out your image - the outline will be your template. The actual bunny cut out can be used for another project if you want.



Next, setup your workstation in a well-ventilated area that you can get messy. I have a small paint booth I made for myself out of a portable closet so I can paint anytime I want, but if you don't have something like that available, newspaper or a garbage bag will be more than sufficient. Arrange your template on top of your mat and start spraying.

Voila! You're done! I'd recommend leaving your mat there overnight so it dries completely. I love how simple this project was. It also gives you plenty of flexibility to customize it to your liking (I'm thinking monogramming and other embellishments).

The whole project probably took me about 30 minutes to do from start to finish which is great because Sleepy Muffins tend to get a bit impatient if a project takes too long. 

A few things I discovered with this project:

• Make sure you find something to weigh down your template. I noticed when I was spraying my mat that the paint caused the paper to curl up fairly quickly so I didnt get very sharp lines on my finished mat.
• As I mentioned before: try out regular spray paint instead of fabric spray paint. I thought it would be alright for this mat but it didn't give me a vibrant enough color.

Well until next time Readers, Happy Thanksgiving!

The Little Sleepy Muffin

An easy autumn DIY project in time for Thanksgiving

Hey there sleepy muffin readers!

I don't know about you, but I have got the serious after lunch sleepies today. Maybe because its a little humid and overcast. Definitely ideal weather for a nice nap :)

Anyways.....I have been going through a holiday home decor flurry this past week in an attempt to try to decorate for other holidays besides Christmas. I'd really like my son to enjoy every holiday as he grows up so all the decorating Ive been doing lately is my baby steps in that direction.

So as a way to celebrate autumn and help you decorate your home for thanksgiving here's a little project I finished recently:

Felt Autumn leaf garland:

 

This project was super, super easy and doesn't take much effort to make. In my opinion its easy enough that with supervision its fairly kid friendly as well. Its also a fairly inexpensive project as well. I think it probably cost me less than $5 to make. It may cost slightly more if you don't have some equipment such as a hot glue and I already had my own yarn but still the overall cost wasn't bad.

 Items you'll need:

• Colored felt sheets - I was able to find these at my local craft store for 29 cents a sheet and one sheet of each color was way more than enough.
• 3 even lengths of yarn - I had originally wanted to use a thin jute rope, but I had some interesting green yarn and decided to use that instead. Another option to use for this project would be ribbon.
• brown puff paint (fabric paint)
• hot glue gun and glue sticks
• scissors and pen

As you can see from my photo, my fireplace mantle was the ideal place to put my garland, so all I did was measure my lengths of yarn by hand. Once I got the length I wanted, I braided them together to make a thicker rope. 

Next, I googled some images of fall leaves and used these as a visual template to draw my leaves onto the felt with a pen (see images below for my results).


I wasn't intending for it to look absolutely perfect, so I got my pen and hand-drew them and cut them out. If you need an actual template to go by I would recommend doing a autumn leaf image search on Google and printing out a few different varieties as your templates.

Once all my leaves were cut out, I flipped them over in case they still had some pen marks (like the maple leaf to the left *blush*) and got my nifty puff paint pen and started drawing veins on the leafs and some detail on my acorn caps. After your pieces are nice and dry grab your glue gun and glue those guys to your yarn rope and its ready to display!

Since my mantle isn't very big, I ended up making only 2 of each type of leaf but what is so great about this project is that you can make as many or as little as you like.

A little side note: I had originally intended on putting a single acorn on the garland but I ran out of space. So instead of tossing out that cute little guy I decided to glue him onto the bottom of the other acorn and give the effect of falling acorns.

So, there's a simple little DIY project that is flexible enough for you to personalize it to your own tastes. I apologize for not getting this post out sooner. I had to throw all my time into preparing for a craft fair I was participating in last weekend so its been a bit hectic and my poor blog has suffered. I promise to be much more consistent from here on out.

I truly hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you spend some wonderful time with family and loved ones.

Love,

The Little Sleepy Muffin

Bar-B-Cation

Good Evening Sleepy Muffin Readers!

I mentioned in my last post that we went to Austin on a short weekend trip. Well, the reason for the trip was a mini vacation to the 2nd annual Texas Monthly BBQ festival. My husband dubbed the trip a Bar-B-Cation since our main focus of the trip was some of the most amazing, succulent BBQ I've ever tasted in my life in cause you were wondering about my odd title this week.

The excitement in the air that day was almost palatable. Wait...that might have actually been the smell of slow cooked meat in the air. Regardless, everyone from the event coordinators, to the pit bosses, to regular attendees like myself were super excited about this event and ready to declare to the world their love of barbecued meats.




Prior to the event starting, we wandered over to some of the vendors parked along the edge of the event area to scope out all the different types of custom grills and see the pit bosses in action. One of the pit bosses (Boss's BBQ) even allowed us onto his trailer to view his kitchen setup and rotating grill up close.After checking out all the grills and posing for a few pictures we decided to head back to the line to wait for the event to actually begin.

BBQ Sauce in a baby bottle? Yes please!

At exactly 1:00pm, the event coordinators finally let us in (we just happened to be first in line - yay!) and the feast of ribs, brisket, and sausage was on. Our game plan was to start at one end and work our way around only sampling each vendor unless we absolutely loved their meats. I hate to be wasteful in that sense but considering there were 24 vendors at this event and some also provided sides in addition to their meats it made sense to try and pace ourselves.

The absolute best overall BBQ we tried in our opinion was from Franklin's in Austin (they actually won the people's choice award for brisket this year too). In addition to some amazing BBQ they also made this wonderful espresso bbq sauce that paired very nicely with their meats. I was such a fan I had to purchase a BBQ t-shirt from them to add to my growing collection of restaurant t-shirts. A few of the other things we tried there was corn pudding from Wild Blue, sausage from Smitty's, and some tasty brisket and ribs from Baby J's.

With so many vendors to visit and so many people moving around  I ended up running around with BBQ sauce smeared on my face unashamedly for a while. Sadly, I think we barely made it 3/4 of the way through all the vendors before we called it quits but not before I got myself a vanilla fried pie for dessert.  I am a rabid fan of the fried pie, however I've never tried a vanilla pie before because it just seemed a little too plain. I was completely wrong: this baby was just the right amount of sweet to offset all the smokey goodness we had just gleefully consumed.

After a few hours at the event, we went to the Bob Bullock History Museum to walk off the huge meal we just finished which is also where I found that cute tote I used in the DIY tote pillow project. The museum consisted of three stories of nicely put together and very well presented exhibits. The only downside I can say was that there were not enough areas for a pregger Muffin to sit down and rest her poor feet at. Thank God for those little video features they had scattered throughout the museum. Believe me: I watched them all.

Finally, we decided to head back home but not before getting some ice cream at Lick, a new ice creamery that opened just recently. We got to sample flavors such as Bacon, Beet, Sweet Corn, and Butternut Squash before deciding on 2 scoops of Cilantro Lime ice cream,  a scoop of pumpkin pie, and a scoop of grapefruit and ginger ice cream. My absolute favorite turned out to be the Cilantro lime ice cream because it was so light and refreshing. It also doesn't hurt that I'm a huge fan of cilantro and tend to use it very generously in my own cooking.

Overall, it was a fantastic (although, short) foodie vacation. We left Austin smelling like smoke and happy as a clam. We're already planning on making this event into a yearly family tradition when the little tummy monkey decides to arrive. I can't wait to see what's in store next year.

DIY: Tote Pillow

Hey there Sleepy Muffin Readers!

I apologize for not posting a new entry any sooner. I was absolutely determined to make sure my next post was a DIY post, and then when I started getting things together for my project I encountered some technical difficulties (Thanks mom for rescuing me!).

So without any more delays here's my very first DIY  project!

Isn't this tote adorable??

Last weekend my husband and I went to Austin with my parents (more to come on that later). One of our stops there was the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. The museum had some pretty interesting exhibits, but my highlight of course was perusing the gift shop, in which I found the most ADORABLE retro styled cowgirl shopping tote. My only problem is I have tons of these types of totes in my closet already: so how could I justify getting this? Well, since I finally took a sewing class I figured I'd put those new found skills to work and make a small throw pillow out of it! The process was fairly simple and probably took me about an hour to do.

Items you'll need:

• One cloth tote bag
• Sewing tools (scissors, all purpose thread, pins, etc)
• poly-fil - I'm not a fan of the regular stuff you get at craft stores so I tried the bamboo kind this time and really liked the texture and result better

First, turn your tote inside out and clip off the handles of your tote as close to the connecting seam as possible.


I did run into a slight problem with my tote because it was originally sewn with a panel of fabric between the front and back of the tote which makes a nice roomy bag, but throws in a few more complications when you're making a pillow. I ended up deconstructing one of the discarded handles to turn it into the top panel of the pillow. In some ways this method turned out great cause I just matched up the seam with the edge of the tote and used that as a guide to pin my fabric together when I started planning on sealing up my tote.

That seam from the handle made a very nice guide to pin

After I started pinning, I started with one of the corners and carefully worked my way around the edge of the fabric. Since this was my first sewing project it definitely took me some time but it wasn't very difficult at all.

After I was done sewing, it was ready to fill! I turned my former tote right-side out and started filling my little pillow. After a while my husband was nice enough to test out the comfy-ness of the pillow and let me know if I needed to add more stuffing to it before I hand-stitched the opening shut.

And.....voila! All done! As you can see from my picture below it turned out pretty cute and huggable. Since this was my first actual sewing project I don't think it turned out perfect, but I was happy with the result.

After this little project, I'm definitely motivated to try this out with other totes that I love and don't use very often or even allow myself to buy a new cute tote here and there he he.

A quick weekend blurb

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I know we definitely did.

Sunday Mornings in East Texas

It was fairly busy, however definitely worth it. Lets just say after the first evening this little muffin was already wiped out.

On Friday, we packed up everyone (my husband, myself, and our two puppies) and went to East Texas to go see my husband's family for my niece's first birthday party. We got to send some nice quality time with my mother-in-law and his brother and family. I also got the most amazing crocheted baby afghan and an adorable glow in the dark bug t-shirt from her for Reuben!

Oh! Side note: Our first little muffin-lette Reuben is due in February for this coming year.Unlike me, he's not a very sleepy little guy and is fairly active right now. We just can't wait to include him in all the adventures we have.

my husband Randall with the buffalo

Speaking of adventures.......my husband was trying to pick a fight with the poor buffalo head at a Mexican restaurant we went to Saturday night. I think it ended in a stalemate.If it weren't for my husband, my life would be so boring. That's part of why I love him so much.

So, later on our way home, we were planning on swinging by the Texas State Veggie Fair (http://texasstateveggiefair.com/) at White Rock Lake.  As we got closer to home we decided to pass on it after all since we had already been on the road for 3 hours or so and we needed to get the puppies home. Sigh.....there's always next year.

Did I mention that I got some vintage bedding from my mom for Roo this weekend also?!? I was so thrilled when she showed me all the goodies she had saved when my brother and I were infants - I had a hard time choosing which pieces I wanted. I think if I could I'd squirrel away each and every piece. She had this amazing jungle print set from Ward's that was brand new in the package still that I snatched up in an instant. Yay! I'll definitely be posting a few pictures of them when she's able to get them to me.

That's all I have for now,

Have a great week everyone!

The Little Sleepy Muffin

A Muffin-y Introduction

Hey Everyone!

The Sleepy Muffin here, and thanks for taking the time to read my blog! I hope you enjoy my posts as much as I plan to enjoy writing them. Right now I'm planning on writing about Pinterest ideas, food related topics, local events, and basically anything else that catches my eye. 

Since I also I love being able to put a personal, more unique touch on things in my home so I'll most likely write about DIY projects I've completed and my adventures at thrift stores as well.

So what actually motivates a muffin to get up from her nap and write a blog?

Well, after some encouragement from my husband, I decided to share my passions and interests here. He insisted after we got married that I was creative and that tended to create a monster cause the quantity of projects and ideas I came up with exploded. I honestly feel bad for him cause I often hear him muttering "Your crafting stuff is EVERYWHERE" fairly often. Although I drive him crazy with my tendency to leave project supplies all over the house, he is truly my biggest fan and supporter. This blog really isn't possible without him (maybe since I said all that sweetly he'll take me to go get some pie, he he).  

That being said, I'm actually ready to go to sleep again. Until next time!