It's All In The Details - 5 Easy 5-10 Minute Projects For Your Home

I love crafty projects.  The only thing I love more, are quick and easy crafty projects.  While enhancing our "beachy" living room (check out my sand bowl tutorial for more), I created a few accents, that I wanted to share with you.

1.

The first is the twine wrapped jar.  It's exactly what the name implies.  I like to keep the jars of from Yankee candle-type candles.  They're really sturdy glass, and when you're paying $10 for a candle, you better believe I'm going to reuse whatever part I can.

So, here's what you'll need:

1 jar/bottle/container

twine

hot glue gun

Glue the tip of the twine to the side, at the very top (or wherever you want it to start), then just start twisting it up the jar.  

I put glue dabs in one line up the jar, creating a seam, just in case it looked really bad, that way I could just turn it out of sight.  I'm going to make a couple more, in different sizes to create a set.

Ta-da!

2.

My second creation is a cork coaster.  If you drink wine, this is a great way to reuse your corks, using ones that were from special wines or vintages.  If you don't drink wine, you can use ones from cooking wine, or if you don't use it for cooking, ask someone who does to save them for you.  

What you'll need:

8 corks/coaster

hot glue gun

Simply glue the corks in this pattern.  The hot glue doesn't adhere the corks SUPER strong, so make sure that wherever they're touching each other, that there's glue.  It's plenty sturdy to hold glass, but if you're gonna bend it, or if Bella gets a hold of it, it won't hold up to that.  We also made a cork cork board about a year ago, to which the link is here: serendipitous-discovery.blogspot.com/wine-cork-cork-board

 3. 

This one may be the simplest yet!

Just a cylindric vase, filled with some natural elements, plop a candle on top, and you have a mantle decoration.

You'll need:

3-4 natural elements (I used sand, brown rice and coffee beans)

Cylindric vase (or 2)

Candle (or 2)

Good eye-balling skills 

Always put things that are smaller pieces on the bottom, because otherwise the smaller pieces will seep through the cracks underneath them (like that story about the teacher that puts the rocks in the jar, then the pebbles, then the sand, and then the water).  So I started with the sand.  I used the same sand that I used to make the sand bowl (tutorial) from Atlantic Beach, here in Jacksonville.  It's more of a gray colored sand than a brown one, and although I like how it turned out, I think for this one I would've preferred a more brown one, but that's all up to you.  Then, I poured in the brown rice, and I tried to pour about the same amount as the sand.  Next came the coffee beans (it's very rare that there is a coffee shortage in our house, so there was no problem there).  This is where I stopped for a few days.

Then, my crafty-but-don't-tell-anyone husband took me to Michael's to pick up feet for our coffee table we were making, and we ended up buying a couple extra things, which weren't on the list.  Like two perfectly sized turquoise candles.

4.

I keep misplacing my keys, so I wanted somewhere I could put them, but I wanted it to look cute too.  In fact, I think that's how I would describe the things I make: functional shabby chic.  Dan had an antique frame (which was also neat, because we found an old family picture in it) that I found while unpacking.  That started me thinking... So for this:

You'll need this:

Wood frame

2 small hooks with screws at the end

Wall hook

Just measure out where you want your keys to hang, screw in small hooks, hang keys on, and hang on wall!

5.

The last project might take a little longer than 5-10 minutes, but it's cute, and I wanted to share it with you.  We had this old dumpster-dive shelf/coat hanger that I've wanted to put up, but didn't like the color.  So, we bought some turquoise spray paint,

 took off the hooks, painted it, 

waited for it to dry, screwed it all back together, hung it up - and another functional yet cute piece has been added to our room!

                                         

If you have any quick and easy updates you've done in your home, please share them!

ps:  I'm having difficulty with the comment settings, for some reason people aren't able to comment.  If you have a blog, and can think of anything I might do to fix it, please let me know at abigailgracza@gmail.com!

Bring the Beach Home - With a Sand Bowl

One of the many perks of living in Jacksonville, especially where we live, is its proximity to the beach.  I've never lived near the beach, the closest body of water I had growing up was the Danube, which is beautiful, but you only swim in it if you want to get radiation poisoning.  (Explains a lot about my brother, Jonathan)

So, it's a real treat to live only a 15-20 minute drive from 5 different beaches.  And we love it.  In fact, we love it so much, we decided to go with a beach theme in our living room. Not a nautical, lighthouse, blue and white kind of theme.  (Please don't take offense if this is you, just not our scene.)  We're using neutrals, with a couple featured colors.  About a month ago we found these great couch covers at Target, and these awesome kind of tribal-looking pillows that gave us the color-scheme.

Now, on to today's project.  Sand bowl.

What you'll need is:

Sand

White Elmer's School Glue

A bowl

Plastic wrap

Disposable bowl and spoon

And that's it!

Dan and I went to the beach a couple weeks ago, to go shelling, and we took a ziplock with us to get some local sand.

When we got home, I put the bag of sand in the freezer, to make sure all the critters that live in the sand died before I glued them to death.  (Apparently freezing to death is more humane, go figure.)

After three days in the freezer, I figured it was good to go.  

I used a disposable bowl and spoon to mix about a 1/2 up of sand with the white glue, until it has a runny texture.

Next, I wrapped a bowl I liked the size of in plastic wrap.

I poured a little bit of the sand mixture onto the bowl.  

Pour some, wait for it dry a little (hour or so), then pour a little again, wait, pour it again, wait... until it looks how you want it to.

Then you just have to wait.  I would say 72 hours.  Then, lift the plastic wrap off the bowl, then gently pull the wrap off the sand, and voila!

Now, I poured too much, and my first layer went a little crazy, so it pooled at the bottom.  I had to take some scissors to it, and cut it to where I liked it.

I tried to follow the natural lines, and give it the look of the "waves".  

After that, I simply sprayed a clear sealant, to harden it up a little bit, make it so it wouldn't crumble, and keep Bella from being tempted to chew on it.

And here's my awesome sand bowl!

I put sea glass in it, and set it on our new crate coffee table,
for which there will be a blog entry up very soon!

To help you out, here are a couple tips:

1. Start off only pouring a little bit at a time.  I poured too much, and it made everything else harder than it needed to be.  

2. Set the bowl on some plastic wrap, just in case it overflows. 

3. Try to get the plastic wrap under the sand mixture as wrinkle-free as possible, because the sand will mold to whatever it looks like.

4.  The more layers it has, the longer it'll take to dry, however the harder and sturdier it'll be too.

Hope that helped some people out there, who have seen this on pinterest, but felt it was too overwhelming.  It was super easy, inexpensive and fun!  In fact, I think I might have my kids make them for mother's day.

Enjoy!  Let me know if this works for you, if you've tried something else that worked better!

ps: I've changed every setting in the comments section, but people still aren't able to comment on my posts.  Any bloggers out there have any ideas on how to fix this?  I'd love any help I can get!  Email me at abigailgracza@gmail.com

Dance Like David Danced

Verse: 2 Samuel 6:13-16, 6:20-23

Media: Court scene from Footloose

I love movies.  I can quote them, I know who the actors are in them, I love soundtracks, I love the stories they tell... I love movies.  One of my favorite ones is Footloose.  Now mind you, not the new one.  The REAL one.  The ORIGINAL one!  In getting ready to speak tonight, I analyzed why it is that I love(d) this movie so much.  When I saw this movie for the first time I was probably about 13-14.  I loved to dance!  Ballet, jazz, school parties- any kind of dancing, you name it, I was there.  

Now my dad on the other hand- not such a huge fan.  He was okay with the ballet, but not the rest of it.  So, whenever I wanted to go to a party, it was a huge battle with him, that usually ended in him saying something like “Well, I’ll trust you’ll do the right thing... and I’d go to the party.”  So, when I saw this movie I was like “Oh my gosh!  Someone went into my brain, and made a movie about me!  Okay, they added a Kevin Bacon, it’s in a small town, it happened before I was even born, and the girl is kind of easy, but other than that... totally me.”

I’m going to show you one of my favorite scenes - cue video.

Whenever I saw this scene, I would look at my dad and go “mhhhh-mmmm!”  And my dad would tell me that the verses were being taken out of context, and that that’s not what they were about, but by that point they were back to dancing, and I wasn’t listening anymore.

Fast forward to this month.  We’ve been talking about worship in our Sunday school class this month, and that same story about David came up up, and I immediately thought “Woooo!  Footloose!!!”  And then I actually read what they had to say, and I went back to the Bible.  

“And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.” 2 Samuel 6:13-16

 “And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”  And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince[a] over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord.  I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your[b] eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.”  And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.” 2 Samuel 6:20-23

Here are the things I found out.

1. Worship not performance

Check it out.  David didn’t dance for anybody but God.  The King of Israel was literally in the street, dancing and shouting for the Lord.  It wasn’t for a crowd, for a woman, and he didn’t care what the people around him thought.  He was worshipping in mind, body and soul.  He was so thankful to God for the return of the Ark, that he let go of any self-awareness and danced with reckless abandon.  It was not a performance, where the dancer was main center of attention.  There was no audience, no applause, and no congratulation.  These are all elements that we should remember when we are worshipping God or ministering through the arts.  Even though, naturally there is an audience, because we are dancing as a ministry, we are not performing for an audience, we are worshipping God.  Although, of course applause feels good, and it may even feel deserved, remember that the applause shouldn’t be for you, it should be for the message you portrayed to someone.  People will inevitably congratulate you, I try to congratulate you because I know how hard you all work.  But even in that situation, you should always point the attention back to God.  Remember that the focal point shouldn’t be the worshipper, but that the focal point should be God.

There are plenty of wrong reasons to worship.  Like, the cute worship leader in your youth band, whose type is probably the “worshipful” type.  Or, because the people around you are doing it.  Or, my personal confession.  When I first got engaged, for months I only “worshipped” with my left hand.  My bling sparkled so beautifully!  But like I said.  All of our surrounding need to me removed, to where we can focus all our attention on He who deserves worship.

2. Judge and be Judged

When reading this passage, I kind of felt for Michal, because I was thinking “If Dan were dancing like a mad man, in an undershirt, or what have you in youth service, you’d better believe we’d have a very similar chat.”  But, I’d never had really noticed that last verse until now.  “And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.”  Obviously there was something that God found fault with in what she said.  Also, I’ve learned enough about God to know that it’s not usually about WHAT people say that He has issues with, but rather the MOTIVE and the SPIRIT behind what they say.  

So, I decided to read what Michal said to David again.  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”  She mocked him, spoke down to him, and called him vulgar.  Her issue with him wasn’t necessarily that he was half-naked, because actually, I found out that the “ephod” was just a simple commoner’s robe.  So her problem was that he wasn’t behaving in the way that she thought a king should act.  He had acted in uninhibited worship, and now he was being judged for it.  Isn’t that the main reason that we fear worshipping like that?  Because we’re afraid someone will pull a “Michal” on us?  That someone might think or say something like “when she knelt down I could totally see her spare tire popping out” or “Did you see how crazy they looked jumping up and down, with snot coming out of their face?”

And do we not think things like that about other people?  Things like, “How can they be worshipping, when I know they have sin in their lives” or “Seriously, that kid has no rhythm.”

Are these the things that worship is about?  Are only the well dressed, thin, coordinated, graceful, musically inclined, pulled-together, sinless people allowed to worship?  Because if that’s the case, we would have very silent church services.

I’ve always loved music and loved God, so naturally I’ve always loved worship.  When I was about 9, I was in a worship service in Hungary, with my hands in the air, when an elderly lady behind me said “oh, how cute!”.  Now, she didn’t mean to hurt me by what she said, but to be quite honest, she kind of broke my spirit for a little while.  Because I wasn’t trying to be “cute”, or even imitate what I saw around me.  I was worshiping God, and that was all I was doing.  She judged, not even maliciously, but she did judge my motive.  And it effected my attitude towards worship for a couple years.

Michal judged her husband on “not looking the part”, and as we know, judgement is reserved for God alone.  So God punished her.  

Don’t judge the worshippers around you.  We all have plenty of things we could be judged on, but aren’t you thankful that Jesus already took care of that?  And that we are free in Christ?  We are free to dance, free to sing, free to worship God with everything within us.

3. Strip Down

Like I said before, King David was wearing an Ephod.  This wasn’t a G-string, a loin cloth or a speedo.  It was the outer coat of a commoner.  This is not what he would’ve normally been wearing.  This means that he would’ve had to have taken off his royal, kingly robe.  That means that he humbled himself before the Lord.  There was no hiding behind what or who he was to man, there was no acting.  When it comes to God, we are all equal.  It doesn’t matter how we look, what our background is, or who is sitting next to us.  What matters is whether or not we come to God in honesty, not hiding anything from him and spiritually “barring all”.  

It’s easy to pretend we’re a certain way with others.  We can say the right things, act the right way, wear the right clothes... but with God?  We can’t do those things.  He sees right through what you’re saying, to what you’re thinking.  He sees right through how you’re acting to the way you’re feeling.  He sees right through your clothes, and sees your heart.  There’s no reason to put on a show for God, and yet we do it all the time.  In our worship we tend to be “me”, “self”-centered instead of God-centered.

That’s why we should take the example of David.  If anyone had any reason to act a certain way it was David.  And yet he was so moved in his worship to God, that all that mattered was that.  

Paprika Chicken- Secret Family Recipe

Let me tell you a story about one of the most spectacular ladies in history, Mary.  She was the second oldest child in a family, that lost their mother and oldest sister in war.  She raised her siblings, and when they were out of the house, she got a professional job.  In her 40-s, she met a divorced man, they exchanged letters, and eventually got married. There was one thing that she felt was missing in her life.  A family of her own.

Skip forward about a decade.  A young couple with a 10-month-old baby leave their lives and families in the States, follow God's call on their lives, and move to Hungary.

They were taking language classes, and needed to find a lady to watch their baby during the day.

Enter Mary.  Varosi Marika, really, but she told them to call her "Mary".  She not only took care of their baby, she loved on her, and on them, she sang to her, read her her favorite stories over and over again, swung her, until she could swing no more, took her into her heart, and didn't let go.  And then, her two brothers came along, and their family was complete.

Dan and I with Mary over Christmas.

God gave a woman who was created to be a mother 2 children and 3 grandchildren.  He gave a young family in a new place the love and guidance they needed.  That, and good food...

So, here is my Mary's Paprika Chicken recipe.  My family's secret recipe.  She taught my mom how to cook Hungarian food, and I was happiest when sitting on her counter "taste-testing" her home-cooked goodness.

This Sunday, our church is having their "Food Fest", where everyone brings dishes from their countries, or family recipes, so I decided to share this dish with my FCCC church family.

It consists of two parts, the chicken in the paprika sauce, and the dumplings (nokedli). 

Paprika Chicken:

Skinless/bones chicken breasts (approx. 1/2 breast/serving) (I used 6 breasts)

1 1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp. paprika

1 large Vidalia onion

2 Hungarian wax peppers (I've been able to find them at Publix)

2 tomatoes

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cup sour cream with 2 tsp flour mixed in

Dumplings (nokedli):

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup water

Salt

Vegetable oil

Directions:

Cut up the chicken breasts into bite sized cubes (traditionally Hungarians will use the legs, and whole breasts, but Mary and my mom adapted it a little to be kid-friendly, and I like it better this way).  Chop the onion as finely as possible.  The first time my mom made chicken paprika with Mary, she cut up the onion "finely", and showed it to Mary.  Mary said "are we feeding the army?".  My mom said "No", and Mary said, "Well, then it needs to be chopped finer".  Mind you, Mary is not a critical lady, but if she says the onions need to be chopped finely, they do.  You may feel like you want to use a food processor, however my mom said she tried that one time, and it didn't work, because the oils and the liquid from the onions separate from the actual onions, and it doesn't have the same taste.

Pour 1/4 cup of oil into a pot, put on med/high heat.  Once hot, add the onions.  

Stir them around in the oil until fully cooked through, but make sure not to brown them, it'll give your paprikas a burnt taste.  

Once they're cooked through, TAKE OFF HEAT.  This is important, because you're going to be adding the paprika, and it can burn easily if added while on the heat.  Also, at this point, you can add the 1 1/2 cup of wine.  Put it back on the heat, and bring to a boil.  

When it reaches a boiling point, add the chicken.  Mix it around, until the chicken doesn't look raw anymore.  

Raw

Not raw.

When you've achieved that, cut your two tomatoes and two pepper in half, take the seeds out of your peppers, and simply place them on the top.  Use medium sized tomatoes.  I used some large ones, and they let out too much juice.

Put the lid on the pot, change your heat to a medium heat, and set your timer for 30-40 minutes.  
When the chicken is cooked all the way through, take out the peppers and tomatoes.  Then add the sour cream to the chicken.  That's it!

Start working on your dumplings.

In a mixing bowl combine flour, eggs and water.  Beat well, and adjust measurements until the mixture doesn't "drip" but rather "tears" or "plops" off.  

I have a nifty dumpling cutter that my mom gave me, but I'm not really sure where you can get one. 

This is what it looks like.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt and vegetable oil.  Then, set the dumpling cutter on the top of the pot, pour some of the mixture into the cup part, then start moving the cup back and forth, until all the dumplings are cut, and in the boiling water.  

When the dumplings raise to the surface, wait just a few seconds longer, and then fish them out with a hand-held strainer or one of those serving spoons with the holes in them.  

Place them in a dish, and drizzle a little more oil on them, to keep from sticking.

And you're done!

Decorate as you wish, and serve to loved ones.

And here I am, representing Hungary at our church's annual Food Fest.

So, that is the story of a woman created to love with a mother's love, and the family that was blessed enough to be on the receiving end of it.  And were happy to eat her scrumptious food.

Valentine's Day is for... preschoolers!

I've always loved Valentine's Day.  Not the gooey, commercial part of it.  The part where you take time out of your busy schedule to tell the special people in your life how much you mean to them. That part.

So, you know I got my kids involved!  I found these adorable metal pink and blue mail boxes at the Target dollar section (where I would be very happy to live out the rest of my days).  

One of my awesome parents bought me some heart stickers, and they went to town decorating them (with 15 stickers, which was our number of the week).  They turned out absolutely adorable!

Check'em out!

Once they all had their mailboxes, I set up a mail center, printed out a page with their pictures and names next to them, so they would see how to write each others names, and had them all write each other valentines.  They loved it!  It was great practice for them, writing someone else's name, besides their own.

After this, we made melted crayon hearts.

I found this on marthastewart.com, however like most things I've ever tried from her website, mine didn't look quite like hers.  Not bad, just not the same.

For these cute crayon hearts, you'll need:

Crayons with the paper taken off (any color, but I went with Valentine's Day colors, reds, pinks, purples)

Wax paper

Pencil sharpener

Rags

Iron

Scissors

The first challenge was actually getting the paper off the crayons.  Apparently that only happens when you DON'T want it to. 

Once that was over, I ripped off A4 size sheets of wax paper.  I put one in front of my kids, then had them shave crayons onto.  When they had enough, I put another sheet of wax paper on top of it.  

Here's the tricky part.  The wax leaks.

So, make sure you have at least two rags.  Put one underneath the wax papers, the other one on top, and iron away.  Keep it on medium, going up a little at a time if you need to.  Press the iron on the rag.  If you start to slide it, it'll mix the wax together, and look different.  If you just set it on the rag, then all the colors will stay intact.  Make sure to check the rag, because the crayon will leak.  You don't want to ruin your iron, or the next thing you're going to iron.  Once all the crayon is melted, I drew a heart on it, and had them cut on the line.  

Snip-snip, and...

Everything was so girly this week, that I wanted to do something for the boys that was fun.  So, since we were doing the letter "Vv", I decided to do the classic volcano experiment.

Incase you're not familiar with it, here's what you'll need:

5 tbsp vinegar

1/3 cup water

4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp dishwasher liquid

Red food coloring (I actually used sugar sprinkles, because I didn't have any dye on hand)

Brown construction paper

Add baking soda and dishwasher fluid to water. 

(I put it in the vase I used for the inside of the volcano, then I wrapped it in brown construction paper to make it look more like a real volcano)

In a separate container, combine vinegar and red food coloring.

  When you're ready for the eruption pour the vinegar mixture into the water.

And.... volcano!

That day, for our craft we made our own volcanos to take home.  

You'll need:

Brown paper bag

Half pages of red, orange and yellow construction paper

Rubber band

Have the kids cut the pieces of paper in strips (but not all the way through), then open up the bag, blow into it, so it puffs up, stick the cut up paper in the neck, and tie it off with a rubber band.  (I also had them write the letter "V" on it, so their parents would have a better chance of recognizing them. :)

Finally, on Valentine's Day, I put a bunch of my letter stamps out, bought some conversation hearts, and had them copy what they saw on the heart onto paper.

It was great for letter recognition, print awareness and fine motor skills.  They turned out pretty cute:

Then, we had our fabulous preschool Valentine's Day dance, which was so much fun!

They actually danced, and had a good time, and the teachers did a wonderful job decorating.  Here's a picture of my crazy class!

Birthday Pupcakes for Bella!

I love my dog.  Too much.  She has more toys than some children, and gets more love than a lot of people.

I just can't help it, she is so cute, and cuddly, and I don't know what to say, except "don't judge".  She's adorable.  "Nuff said.

:)

So, my Bella turned 1 on February 28th.  (We think. - The people we rescued her from were sketchy on her age (among other things), so we tried counting back.  With our math skills, we're probably way off, but she's a dog.  She won't know.)

I wanted to make her some pupcakes (cupcakes for dogs), but I wanted to make them out of normal, "human" ingredients, so that I wasn't making a dozen cupcakes for a 55 pound dog.

I looked around online for a recipe, and found this one:

melssweetlife.com

I liked the look of it, and I already had most of the ingredients.

Here's what this recipe called for:

Banana Cupcakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup greek yogurt or sour cream

1 1/2 cups mashed (very ripe) bananas

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

(makes a dozen)

Honey Peanut Butter Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

2-3 teaspoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In small bowl, combine oil and yogurt.  Add the oil mixture, bananas, eggs, and vanilla to the dry ingredients.  Gently fold to combine.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners.  Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  Top with peanut butter & honey buttercream.

Here are some of my tips for this recipe:

I followed the recipe, the only problem was my bananas weren't ripe enough, so it was hard to measure out the right amount.  I simply put in one banana.  If I were making this again, I would use two bananas.  I would maybe add some applesauce too.  As for the frosting, since this is for a dog, I wouldn't use as much confectioner sugar, and probably add more peanut butter.  Those are my only suggestions though, they came out nicely, a little more "muffiny" than "cupcakey", but I think more banana and applesauce would've helped with that.

Well, Bella loved her pupcakes, and of course like every kid, she licked the frosting off first, and then ate the cupcake part. :)  I've ruined her now though, because whenever she sees me open my cupcake container, now she thinks she's getting a treat.  Also, she learned a new word: "cupcake".

Here's her birthday photo shoot (shut up):

The pupcakes turned out really cute, if I do say so myself!

There were people working outside, so it was hard to get her attention...

Then, she was very patient in waiting for her Daddy to say "okay".  She is pawsitively adorable.

Checking it out... 

I love the eyes; "What!!??  For me!!??"

First licks.

Ooh, yeah!

So, happy-happy 1st birthday to my Bella-baby!

If you're looking for this recipe for your doggie, I would recommend it, but I would make a couple changes to the initial recipe.  Good luck, and happy baking!