My treemanJAKE artist shop on Threadless is now open! A handful of designs are currently up for grabs and more will be added in the future. So excited 🙂
You can still pick up my Boris Badenov shirt too… but it is exclusive to the main Threadless site and isn’t sold through my artist shop.
Check it out!
Wishing everyone the most amazing, frickin’ awesome Christmas EVER!
I’m really excited! I have been working tirelessly to rebrand and refocus the work I have been doing under treemanJAKE. From business plans to business cards – I have been doing it all!
Here is a sneak peek at my new logo that will be launched in the coming weeks. I will also have a new website and a bunch of new designs.
Stay tuned!
Hooray! It’s Pi Day! Today’s the day to celebrate the glorious wonder of math and that crazy little symbol, Pi. It’s also the day to eat lots of pie – that’s my favorite part.
Pi represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and is equal to approximately 3.14159 (the number actually continues infinitely…. but I will never remember any more digits than that.) Pi day is celebrated each year on 3/14. This year is an extra special celebration because the date is 3/14/15 and represents the first 5 digits of the number instead of just 3 like most years. Yippee!
I could celebrate by calculating the circumference of circles but I would much rather make pie 🙂
Since I didn’t have an opportunity to actually bake anything this year, I thought that I would share a recipe for one of our family’s favorite pies – Juliet’s famous and super delicious “Green Pie.”
As everyone knows, my kids LOVE to draw. Last year, Juliet created a picture of a pie and decided that we simply HAD to make it.
She said that it was a chocolate pie with green frosting and chocolate sprinkles…. and she was going to call it “Green Pie.”
We started with our favorite recipe for S’more pie and “green-ified” it to match Juliet’s vision of “Green Pie.” The cool whip topping was dyed green and an all-important layer of chocolate sprinkles was lovingly scattered on top.
I think that we did a pretty good job 🙂
If you want to make your own super delicious “Green Pie,” here is the recipe!
JULIET’S GREEN PIE
Recipe by Juliet and Mommy (adapted from Keebler’s S’more pie recipe.)
INGREDIENTS:
1 pre-made Graham pie crust (I use Keebler’s crust with 2 extra servings… if you use a smaller version, you may have a little leftover filling)
16 regular marshmallows
½ cup milk
¾ cup heavy cream
1 cup milk chocolate chips (you could probably use semi-sweet if you wanted)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tub (8 oz.) frozen non-dairy whipped topping, thawed, divided
DIRECTIONS:
1. Make Ganache Layer: Pour semi-sweet chocolate chips in medium bowl. Heat heavy cream in saucepan until just about to boil (or microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute… watch carefully so it doesn’t start to boil over.) Pour warm cream over chocolate chips and let sit for 1 minute. Gently stir for a couple minutes until smooth.
Let ganache mixture cool for 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened and pour into pie crust. Smooth evenly along bottom and up the sides. If mixture is too thin to stick to sides, refrigerate the pie for a few minutes and try again. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to set.
2. Make Pie Filling: In medium saucepan, heat marshmallow and milk until melted and completely smooth – stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in the milk chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Cool to room temperature.
Fold 1 ½ cups whipped topping into cooled pie filling mixture. Pour evenly into pie crust. Smooth top with a spatula. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until set.
3. Finishing Touches: Add a small amount of green food coloring to the remaining whipped topping and gently fold with a spatula until color is evenly distributed. Spread green topping over pie. Use a small spoon to add decorative swirls if desired. Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles. Store in refrigerator.
NOTES: Can be made a day ahead. Leftovers are usually good for 2-3 days. I usually like to make my own graham cracker crust but the pre-made version is fantastic for baking with kids (and it tastes good too.) Sometimes I also get a bigger tub of whipped topping so that I can pile on a nice rounded layer on top.
Enjoy! Happy Pi Day!!
My girls, Ellie and Juliet, turn 5 today!! Happy Birthday my amazing little goobers!
To celebrate, I thought that I would share some of my favorite drawings and paintings that they have created. My kids go through insane amounts of paper. Our house is drowning in kid art… all in the name of artistic exploration and the need to color in every possible surface imaginable – including our log walls 😦 It was hard to narrow the piles down to a few favorites but here they are!
MY BIRTHDAY PARTY by Juliet
The first masterpiece is a Juliet creation. After her amazing birthday party at Nana’s house last weekend, she recreated the celebration on paper.
A PORTRAIT OF MOMMY by Ellie
An exact replica of my shining face. Kind of fun and trippy.
THE SCARY MONSTER TREE by Juliet
Juliet is running from a scary monster tree with flags flying from it’s branches. I am there to protect her, of course!
MY UKULELE by Ellie
Ellie wanted a Ukulele for her birthday – so she made one of her own. She ran around the house pretending to play it. She is going to be really happy this afternoon when she opens her birthday presents because we got her a real ukulele for her birthday! (shhh… don’t tell!)
MY HALLOWEEN PLANS by Ellie
Ellie is obsessed with party planning and Halloween. All year, she makes lists and draws pictures of what she wants to do for Halloween. Here is one of her planning sheets… complete with a jack-o-lantern and a spooky cake (and a bunch of other things that I can decipher.)
MY FAMILY by Juliet
Here is a picture of my and my hubby holding Ellie and Juliet when they were babies. Their big sister, Isabel, completes the picture of our family. I love how Juliet labels her people with initials so we always know who they are.
CUTE ALIEN MONSTER by Juliet
Juliet loves to draw cute monsters and robots. This is one of my favorites!
RAINBOW DREAMS by Juliet
This is one of my favorite drawings of all time. It is a picture of me and Juliet dreaming of a rainbow world. I want to go there 🙂
That’s it! Happy Birthday, Ellie and Juliet!! I love you like crazy!!
Zazzle has partnered with the LIFE Line organization to create a new line of products, Zazzle HEART, that benefits Kenyan mothers of children with special needs who are often shunned by their communities. The products are actually made in Kenya and the materials are locally sourced.
I created an exclusive design for this program and there are tons of other Zazzle HEART designs available on Zazzle’s website (of course, none as cool as mine 😉
As a mother of a child with special needs, this program really means a lot to me and I’m honored to be able to participate.
treemanJAKE 