Pieces of Anna

Amanda of Poppies and Ice-cream had a lot of ricotta left over after a Christmas cooking adventure, and she reached out to the blogosphere for advice on what to do with all that ricotta. I immediately thought of a recipe for "syrnichki", delicious pancake-like things that I've enjoyed eating all my life. So I shared my grandmother's recipe with Amanda, and she tried it out! I was very impressed that she made the perfect syrnichki on the first time - it certainly took me many failed attempts to get the recipe just right. Syrnichki made by Amanda. From her blog . For illustrated step-by-step instructions, the origin of syrnichki, and for the original recipe, check out Amanda's blog .

Since I wrote this post some time ago, I had to follow up. Because this photo almost made me spill tea all over my keyboard. Yes, that is a cake. Found here .

I have been doing a lot of thinking about centerpieces and my plan to DIY them. The thought of having to make about ten centerpieces AND four bouquets the day before the wedding was kind of giving me a mild panic attack. The idea of having non-floral centerpieces that could be made ahead of time was beginning to appeal to me more and more. As usual, I did lot of research on the blogosphere and added more ideas to my Pinterest wedding board than I know what to do with. Although all the different options were overwhelming, it was a good brainstorming exercise. And as a result, I now have a plan for our non-floral centerpieces! Behold, the inspiration. I wanted to take those mason jars that I bought a while ago (on the cheap!) and wrap them in jute part of the way, with the same method I used to make the wine and beer bottle vases . Basically, they would look something like this: Mason jars wrapped in jute. Found here . Then, instead of flowers, I would make pom-poms (also known...

When it came time to design our wedding invitation ( DIY , people!), I knew it would help to feast my eyes on lots of pretty pictures before I got started. So I scoured the internet and collected my favorite invitation designs. Take a look (and note that I was only interested in the design of the invitation, not its wording): Black and white text color scheme, color added in the border and background, one simple image. From here . Black and white text, color added in the background, flowers but not "flowery". From here . Again, tight color scheme, a bit too "lovey-dovey" for me (literally!). From here . Love the font (same one I used on the STDs), colorful text, white background, cool flower graphics. From here . By YoungHouseLove (awesome people!). Simple, DIY, graphics represent their wedding colors. From here . This one was my favorite design. Cool font, borderless, repeatable graphics (printer friendly!). From here . Judging by t...

As I mentioned earlier , I decided to get a little crafty with Christmas presents this year. While browsing Pinterest, I stumbled upon this image that inspired me to try my hand at making vases out of wine and beer bottles. Found here . Originally from here . A little bit of googling turned up handy tutorials on how to wrap bottles with jute. Some tutorials called for using a hot glue gun, which I don't own (and quite frankly, I can't imagine that getting hot glue on your fingers is all that pleasant). Luckily, I found some tutorials, like this one , which claimed that you could achieve the same results using plain old Elmer's glue. The first step was to obtain some empty wine and beer bottles. I asked D to help me out with this step. I literally told him, "I need you to drink beer for my project." He was happy to oblige! Once I had a few bottles collected, I needed to remove the labels. Soaking the bottles in hot water makes this step much easier than tr...

Shiny Pretty Bits summed up the six stages of wedding planning pretty well (you can read all about the stages here ). Yesterday, D and I realized that we are in stage Four of wedding planning, and I am edging dangerously close to stage Five. Here is how I've been feeling lately: 4. Outrage/Depression – “What the EFF”, “EFF me” Marked by feelings of bitterness and frustration. It is not uncommon for people in this stage to feel as though they are failing in some way. This causes the individual to swing between feeling angry over all the expectations being placed on them and despondent over their inability to live up. Persons may find themselves resenting others with friends and family who: own a barn, DJ, have the enviable ability to craft masterpieces out of bits of random fabric and paper. By the end of November, we checked all the "major" items off our To-Do list. We chose a venue , found a Justice of Peace that we were happy with, booked an awesome photograp...