WILW 12.18.13 Christmas Wishlist Edition

It was nearly impossible to compile a Christmas wishlist because (aside from a huge pile of money and a car) I have everything I could possibly want. Here's a few things I've been swooning over lately, however.

1. Nacy Blue lacey ballet flats from Mod Cloth. I have some sort of obsession with the color blue lately. I don't know what it is. I think it stemmed from really being into sapphires (my birth stone). These shoes are so perfect.

2. I want a chained set of hairclips. End of story. I've been doing much more with my hair since I cut my bangs. I'm just trying to have more fun with it.

3. I keep trying to bid on this eyeball bracelet on Ebay but keep being outbid. I won the ring about a week ago and would love to win the necklace as well. Kind of an oddball piece. Like I need another one of those.

4. This beautiful black fitted dress from Mod Cloth. How pretty is this? And paired with a colored cardigan and some matching shoes? Blah. I love this dress.

5. This set of celestial tea set photographs. I would hate to change the colors in my kitchen (black, white and red) but I may make an exception for these!

So to appologise for my lack of posting, how about a playlist?

1. Terraplane Sun - Get Me Golden
2. Strange Talk - Climbing Walls
3. Stroke 9 - Little Black Backpack
4. Capital Cities - Kangaroo Court
5. Jake Bugg - Lightning Bolt

Decorating a Decoden Cabochon Compact Mirror

As you all may or may not know, Stylish Smithereens Creative Corner does have a YouTube channel. I do, from time to time post hauls, tutorials, diys and more there. Here's my most recent video which I uploaded yesterday. How to make a decoden cabochon compact mirror! Enjoy!

What I Wore ...On Thanksgiving

I'll be honest here. I totally forgot that I had taken pictures of my outfit on Thanksgiving. Here's what I wore that day:

Here is the overall look.

basic black tank top: unknown (Target probably)

white lace button up: unknown, the tag reads Faded Glory though

jeans: Ross

lace ballet flats: Alloy.com

owl necklace: forever 21

owl bracelet: ebay

I also wore a taupe bomber jacket from Target and a black infinity scarf from Sears. I really enjoyed putting this look together and got a lot of nice comments about it. I felt comfortable yet somewhat elegant.

Making An Apple Pie (Recipe)

This Thanksgiving was one for firsts all right. It was the first time I didn't go to my parent's house for dinner, the first time I met my boyfriend's grandparents, and the first time I was asked to bake a pie. Now, I have never baked a pie before, despite the fact that I do enjoy baking quite a bit. Here's the recipe I followed (and modified). I hope you all will give it a try!

The Crust

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 chilled bowl of water

1 egg

2 sticks salted butter (or lard/fat)

• combine your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
• break egg into your water bowl and mix it in.
• cut the butter into the dry ingredients bowl and mix it in. I dove right in with my hands when it came to mixing so that I could more thoroughly do it as I didn't have proper mixing tools.
• begin to mix in your egg/water mixture. Do so only 1 tablespoon at a time. When it starts to stick together, it's good!
• divide your 'dough' into two equal portions and put into two ziplock bags. Flatten all of the air out and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• after the hour wait, flour a rolling pin and a cutting board and roll out one portion of the dough. place the pie plate over the dough to check the fit then fold the dough in quarters then forths to pick up and place into plate. Unfold with center of dough in center of pie plate. (*if your dough rips here, just get a little bit of water on your finger and smooth it back into place.
• with a small knife or kitchen shears, trim the edges of dough to fit the plate.
• repeat the rolling process for the second portion of dough and once it is flat, cut 1 inch wide, long strips for your lattice.
• put your cut apples (see filling recipe below!) into your pie plate on top of crust and start placing your lattice strips onto apples. Once it is how you like it, seal and crimp your edges with a fork then put into fridge for 30 minutes.

The Filling

Ingredients

8-10 Granny Smith Apples peeled, cut and cored

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tbs flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

• preheat your oven to 425 degrees and turn on a burner to high heat.
• in a sauce pan pour your butter and 3 tbs of flour, stir, and let cook for 1 minute
• then add in your sugar, packed brown sugar and water. let this mixture come to a boil and reduce. cook like this for 5 minutes.
• pull your pie out of the fridge (if/when ready) then pour your filling mixture over the crust. smooth out over the top with a spatula. most of the filling should flow into the lattice work on your pie and what is left on top will make your crust even more flaky.
• pop your pie into the oven for 15 minutes
• then turn your oven down to 350 degrees and cook for 35-45 minutes.

and that's all! I improvised a lot of this recipe to make it work for us and I was glad that Josh had offered to help me with the apples and filling. It was a lot of fun and came out deliciously! There should also be another picture to your right on my Instagram widget so you can take a peek at the process.