Silver and green four leaf clover earrings

 These are my four leaf clover earrings. They are made from one silver four-leaf clover charm with a green bead on a separate purple colored copper wire. The ear wire is silver plated copper and the entire piece is 1 7/16" from the top loop of the ear wire to the bottom of the clover stem.

The inspiration for these came from the fact that I liked the way the charms looked,but I really love green (plus, it is the color for St. Patrick's Day) and I thought it would look cool if the beads dangled in front of the charms.

That's Wolfram there. He refused to leave until I took his picture.

These are the first pair of earrings I made for Bats Bizarre. Like my starfish earrings (the second pair), they were originally going to feature Swarovski crystals until I read the warning about lead on the back of the package. Back to the store they went. And switched to using glass beads. They cost $12 plus $2.50 for shipping. As I've mentioned before Bats Bizarre doesn't ship jewelry internationally. Buy your own pair at https://www.etsy.com/listing/114116129/silver-and-green-four-leaf-clover
I think they'll be great for St. Patrick's Day, especially paired with my four leaf clover choker; viewable at https://www.etsy.com/listing/118288635/four-leaf-clover-choker-necklace

Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Sword and spikes necklace

My Sword and spikes necklace is made of one sliver plated 1 1/2" sword pendant and four 3/4'' silver spikes on a 17 1/4" long silver plated chain with a lobster clasp. Originally, I wanted to use a circle and hook clasp in the front, so the length could be adjusted on the fly and for easy on and off. But after a couple of wearings were the hook some how managed to slip to a different loop and mess up the whole look I realized that just wouldn't work and went with a lobster clasp in the back. (I didn't like the way it looked in the front.) It costs $14.00 plus 2.50 for shipping and can be viewed at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/114231379/silver-sword-and-spikes-necklace
I'm sorry, but Bats Bizarre does not ship jewelry outside of the USA.




Troubles with the clasp aside, this is really one of my favorite necklaces. I like to wear it with the sword and spikes earrings https://www.etsy.com/listing/114805186/silver-sword-and-spikes-earrings, which ship for free with this item, or sometimes I soften the look with my four leaf  clover https://www.etsy.com/listing/114116129/silver-and-green-four-leaf-clover or starfish earrings https://www.etsy.com/listing/114110452/starfish-earrings, it really goes with everything.

Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day! Use coupon code WATERSNAKE for 10%. It expires on 2/25/13.

Lemon Cake

We had a great lemon crop this year, which probably means next year will be a flop, but I digress. Anyway, my mother and I have been looking for recipes using lemons. After failing to find a lemon cake recipe I really liked I made one up.

First make a yellow cake. For a very lemon-y cake: I added about a teaspoon of lemon zest to the batter, which worked out great, but next time I think I'll try a tablespoon of juice, just because.

Second, make pudding. Add lemon juice to a vanilla pudding recipe. I recommend using a half recipe and cooking it a little longer. Or the recipe that follows.

3/4 cup sugar                         2 egg yolks
1/3 cup flour                         1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2cup milk                      -Optional- yellow food dye
Juice from 5 to 6 lemons, about 1/2 a cup,

Mix the dry ingredients in a sauce pan until there are no lumps. Add milk, lemon juice, and yolks and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Add vanilla and a few drops of food dye, if used. Remove from heat.

Place pudding between two of the cake layers and frost with cream cheese frosting. I put a little lemon juice in my frosting, but that might be why it didn't fluff up. More experiments needed. As you can see I decorated it with toasted coconut and a couple cut up strawberries on top, but you don't have to. 
 To toast coconut place evenly on a pan and put in oven on broil (you can probably use a toaster oven) for about 5 minutes, watch it carefully because it burns easily.

 Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 



 

Fog earrings

  These are my fog earrings, as you can see they are three dark green glass pearls dangling on three separate silver plated copper chains from a single glass pearl. Each pearl has a silver sequin at the bottom for a touch of glamour. These are great statement earrings for a night on the town.

 The shortest strand is 1 3/16" from the top link to the bottom of the bead, the middle is 1 9/16", and the longest is 2 2/16" long. They are 2 15/16" long measuring from the top of earrwire to the bottom of the longest bead, and dangle just above the shoulder.


Why are they called Fog earrings? Mostly it's because I couldn't think of a better name. And they kind of remind me of droplets of water suspended in the air, so it was either fog or cloud, but people like to say fog is as thick as pea soup. Green beads, green soup, fog it is.

They cost $13 with a $2.50 shipping fee. I am sorry but Bats Bizarre does not ship jewelry internationally.Use coupon code WATERSNAKE before 2/25/13 for 10% off. Like Bats Bizarre on Facebook or follow me on Twitter for a 15 % off coupon that will arrive with your order.
 Here is a link to the listing:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/118777745/fog-earrings
  
Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Happy New Year

Yesterday was the start of the Lunar New Year, so as of today it is officially the year of the water snake. Mom and I enjoyed a homemade feast. We had pot stickers, Vietnamese eggrolls, and japon noodles. Mom and I had it at Kim Son the other day and had to try in at home. Mom says I nailed it. :)
  It's amazing how much more tender and flavorful homemade  dumpling and egg roll wrappers' are then store bought. They're pretty easy to make; all you need is water and flour.

Mix 1cup flour and 1/4 plus 1tsp water and kneed until satiny (you'll know it when you get it). Cover and let sit for 30min. It'll feel a little like play dough. Dust with flour if it starts to stick.
 If you're making dumplings you can either divide the dough in half again and again until you get 20 equal sized balls or do what I do and pull balls about the size of a quarter out of the dough and roll them out flat (into circle or square it doesn't matter). Cover the wrapper with flour and your good to go.
For egg rolls you need about twice to amount of dough roll in a rectangle shape and fill along the short end.








By the way; I'm offering 10% off if you use coupon code WATERSNAKE  form yesterday 2/10/13 until the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations on 2/25/13 and an extra 15% coupon that will arrive with your order if you like Bats Bizarre on Facebook before you order. Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day! And Gong Hey Fat Choy!
www.Etsy.com/shop/BatsBizarre

Valentine's Day "key to my heart choker"

Valentine's day  is coming up. so I thought I'd tell you about my 'Key to my heart choker'. Now I'm not really a fan of pink or hearts, but something came over me and I just had to make this necklace.

  I  had never knitted with beads before and was really exited to try it. It took a couple of tries,(ok, more like several) but eventually I got the placement and size right. Placing the beads right next to each other does not work, it turns out.


 And when working on the right side you should insert you needle above the bead, it looked wired when I did it the other way.

There are two versions of this necklace one with clear beads and one with red. I like the red one better. It shows up better, plus I like red more than pink. As you can see my photography skills where pretty bad to start with.
   Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official Blog. Happy Valentine's Day and happy Chinese New Year. Have a bat-tastic day! Click the link to visit the listing. https://www.etsy.com/listing/116302862/key-to-my-heart-choker

Any cake can be an ice cream cake

My Mom's birthday was a few days ago which gave me the idea for this post about ice cream cake. You'll need an extra pan of the same size as the one you will be baking the cake in for this. And space in the freezer to store the cake in, not that it'll last long.

  Line a pan with strips of wax paper or plastic warp. Being sure to leave part sticking out so you can use them to pull the ice cream out.

 Scoop your ice cream into your pan. (Mom went with Kroger deluxe French silk.)
  Cover the top with plastic wrap and using a pan of the same size push the ice cream into shape. Remember not to fill your pan with too much ice cream. Maybe just a quarter of the way up. Put it back in the freezer.
 
 Make your favorite cake. Or in this case the birthday girl's favorite: German Chocolate.
   Be sure the cake cools completely, I can't stress that enough. Pull the ice cream out of the pan and place between two of the layers. Working quickly, frost as usual.


Now you have an ice cream cake. Enjoy!


Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a Bat-tastic day!