Random hearts: We suuuper heart DIYing it!

Remember the days when you would sit in your backyard or on the sidewalk making tie dye shirts with a bag of rubber bands and hair color bottles filled with dye?

(PS now they make kits...or I guess they did then but we didn't spend the moolah on them)

Or when all of your friends were going to the Broadway for fun new clothes and your mom was dragging you to the local Joann's Fabric to pick out a pattern for your new dress?

We would totally wear this dress now!!

Uh huh...we do and for some weird reason it makes us smile bigger than we ever have!

At the time it seemed like the worst thing ever but now it's pretty amazing that you and mom created things together (well mom...I will over look a few of those needlepoint picks we had on the walls).

Either because of the recessions, war, unemployment or simply because our world is getting soooo uber complicated...creating in your own home items that others make is suuuuper chic...

Let's DIY!

At the bottom of a lot of our posts you get to see fun ways to DIY things we talk about but there are things we have been obsessing over that are sooo fun they deserve their own post! Woo hoo!

The entire reason for this post is this crazy cute DIY Cheese Making Kit...Miss TWH gave her suuuper yuppy and amazingly rad brother, this kit at a local Sew It Yourself store and she became instantly obsessed with all DIY kits...

Her brother said it was by far the raddest gift he has ever received! And at $25 a pop (well the one above is a bit more...deluxe version)

He made some of his own DIY mozzarella and said it was amazing!!!

With one of the cutest (yet totally contrived) holidays coming up...wait is it a holiday if people still have to work?....Anywhoo...with the big day o' love coming we found these j'adorable DIY candy wrappers!!!
Who needs $$$$ customizable M&Ms when you can be even more personal and recessionista chic with these?!?!? Soooooo cute!

Just take your lovers or friends fave candy...print out the wrappers and voila!

Anyone over paying $5 for a delish Ice Blendie from CB&TL? Or Frapp from Starshmucks?

The big "O" shows us her fave and super cheap recipe for one!
Or buy the DIY kit from "The Bean" and save yourself some hassle, time and moolah by doing it at home!

OK...there are almost noooo words to tell you how insanely jealous we are of the people who came up with these vintage teacup candles...

How beautiful! Just pick up some teacups at your local flea market or Salvation Army and get going!

What You'll Need

• antique, pretty teacups, with or without saucers
• enough soy wax to more than fill each cup
• essential oil for scent (I used Lily of the Valley)
• wicks that equal your number of cups
• double boiler
• Pyrex cup or funnel
• chopsticks or wooden skewers
• stirring tool, such as a rubber scraper
• To find out how to make it, read more.
• Pour the soy wax into the double boiler. Let it simmer until the wax is clear liquid.
• Center the wick in the bottom of each teacup. Put one chopstick or wooden skewer on either side of the wick, balanced on the rim of the teacup, to keep the wick centered.
• Add a small amount of your scented oil to the melted soy wax. Mix with your rubber scraper, and then pour into your Pyrex measuring cup.
• Pour the wax into the bottom of each teacup. If the wick gets a little off-center, you can reposition it before the wax sets. Let wax harden. Repeat this process until the cup is half full. Repeat a third and fourth time until the cup is full. You'll want to continue adding small amounts of the scented oil to make sure that the candle is scented throughout.
• Wipe off any spills with a warm, wet rag.
• Clip the top of the wick so it's about half an inch taller than the rim of the cup.
• Light, and enjoy

Our friends made their own candles out of goblets for their wedding (yes they are over achievers and actually made time for it) and it was suuuuper romantic and $$$ saving...not to mention gorge!!!

PS Anthro sells teacup candles for $18 a piece! DIY it!

Remember how much we suuuuuper heart the genius that is Raquel Allegra????

Yeah the beauty that launched the shredded tee craze seen on our fave celebs?

Well, we just learned how to do it...Um 2 warnings....

1. It takes HOURS to do each one (no wonder she charges a lot!)

2. Out of respect for her amazing art form and the fact that she deserves her praise we will not post the DIY we found...

(ppssstt... Google it!)

We suuuper heart this next DIY. They would make amazing gifts or shower favors.

We heart these DIY perfume solids in vintage tins soooooo crazy much we keep trying to find time to make them for all our shmancy friends!!!

Here's how!

Ooooohhhhh how great would this vintage Vaseline tin be for your new solid perfume business??!?!?!
Thanks Ebay!

OMFG watch this DIY sock monkey video to make a great kids gift!!!!

Plus it's worth it even if you don't need to make one just for the super cute music they used in the background!

So what ever it is you want to DIY...just Do It! It's fun...creative and hey it beats driving to that crappy mall again.

Have fun j'adorable crazfty craftersons!!!

xoxo things we heart

Yummies: My girl likes to coffee all the time..coffee all the time...coffee all the tiiiiimmmmee! (Hello?!?! Eddie Murphy anyone?)

OMFG we looovvveee coffee, as I am sure you know by now... in fact most of our bonding (along with our 3rd Musketeer, N.Y.) has been done in coffee shops around the globe.

But this is not a post about the great coffees, or coffee presses (which we super heart and are tres chic!), or espresso makers or brands of, or even how to make a cup o' joe...this is a post about coffee in general...because the gorge Miss Me covered all of that in her stupendous coffee post.

We heart coffee and all things with coffee....Ahhhhhh...yuummmmmm...coffee essence....

Now before we go on about the deliciousness of coffee and it's many yummy flavored yummies, many of us are worried about the pesticides in coffee and how cultivating coffee used with pesticides affects the environment...well here are some muy interestante factoids for you...

1. Although it is said that the pesticides used to protect the bean from, well pests, is not likely to ever end up in your cup..due to the crazy process the beans go thru (heating to 400 degrees, taken out of it's shell...) But we gals at T.W.H. do not care what they say... we heart Organic and the more Organic we all buy, the cheaper it will get and the better off the world will be.

2. Buy Fair Trade Sustainable Coffee, it will be as Organic as possible and is grown so purely by environmentally conscious farmers using socially progressive practices (ooohhh such big words!) to cultivate the beans.

3. Buy "Traditional Coffee"...coffee grown in Yemen, most of Ethiopia, and most of Sumatra Manhelding is as innocent and as pure as it gets because this is where coffee was birthed and grown before the evil pesticides and chemicals were introduced..and it's still made the same way.

FYI...most of our huuuge coffee conglomerates have Organic and Fair Trade coffee...so you can enjoy a cup or 4 with a peaceful mind...

Coffee Bean is the most socially conscious of all the big guys...yay! Ice Blendies with a heart!

Starbucks is putting a social effort into their business too...but they have a ways to go...keep it up guys...

But our fav (as mentioned before) is Intelligencia...they do the coffee industry right... with Organic and Direct Trade practices...they literally live for coffee and honor the countries they get it from...read more about how wonderful they are here...

Now that we can feel a wee bit better about our massive coffee indulging (addiction)...let's get crackin'...

Once upon a time, a young girl worked in a grocery store selling coffee and her boss came in with a case of bottles filled with chocolate colored liquid..."Is it cola?" she asked...

"Kind of" her boss answered..."It is coffee cola"

And that was it...her obsession began with coffee soda, she drank it every day and even poured it over ice cream for a delish coffee soda float...until it was taken off the market and she was heart broken...

Well little girl...here you go!!!!

Java Pop is the worlds first and maybe only organic, fair trade coffee soda...YES PLEASE!

You have to taste it...it's totally refreshing and super yummy...pour over vanilla ice cream and you are GTG!

MMMMMM...ice cream....

What better way to enjoy ice cream than with a pure coffee ice cream. As huge and loyal fans of anything coffee and anything ice cream, we were suuuuper excited to try Haagen-Daaz's coffee ice cream from their new line called Five.

With just 5 ingredients they created an unbelievable coffee ice cream...(OK...t.w.h...put down the spoon...step away from the Haagen- Daaz...yes we know it's the best coffee ice cream you have ever tried....)

Don't want the hassle of buying a java jolt...or need to stay away from the Haagen Daaz?

Have no fear...Coffee Nips are here!

These little creamy coffee flavored candies are like having the best cup of coffee (with cream and sugar of course) all wrapped up in a cute yellow wrapper.

Soooo yummy! Oh and P.S. they last forever! Woo hoo!

So we were driving by a Sonic Burger OK we were totally pulling in for their amazing fries) and saw this gorgeous sign hanging in the window...Mocha Chip Java Chiller...WHAT??? Yup!

It was TDF...real ice cream blended with espresso and chocolate...Done and (diet) done!

The only problem is making sure our car doesn't try to trick us and steer itself into the driveway when we pass it again...yeah it's a diet killing car.

Now, the only other thing that can make a cup of coffee taste even better on a slow starting, turtle pace moving morning is with a slice of Bittersweet Bakery's amazing Chocolate Chunk Coffee Cake.

It is totally TDF and guess what? We found a recipe pretty close to Bittersweet's...you're welcome!

Here it is....

Cake:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Struesel:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, chilled, and cut into small pieces

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2-1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a tube pan (also called an angel food cake pan). In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter at medium speed until lightened in color and well-combined. Add eggs, vanilla, and sour cream, beat until mixed well. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts by hand. Scrape batter into pan.

For the struesel: In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa. Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips, then sprinkle on top of the batter.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Place on rack for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cake out on to rack upside down, then using another rack placed on the bottom of the cake, re-invert to right side up. Allow to cool completely.

But if you are a coffee purist and just want it straight up and hot in a cup...these fantasmic heart shaped cups will make your coffee taste even better!

OMG how cute are these?!?!?

Hello? Anyone? Xmas is coming up :)....just sayin....

And if you just want good ol' fashioned coffee but need your fix fast...and RIGHT NOW...ooops hee hee...

Starbucks new Via line of instant coffee will save your day

.

We did the taste test and were totally duped!

Please note...this is not your mom's Folgers instant coffee...

Via's little to go packets are filled with fine coffee powder and can be mixed in hot or cold water and taste delish!

So enjoy Mother Earth's eye opening gift...how ever you want...

xoxo t.w.h.