Peacock cake

This last weekend I celebrated my 32nd birthday (on 9/11... ) and decided to make my own cake. I just finished the third session of cake decorating classes at Michaels, which focused on fondant and gumpaste, so I was itching to practice! I knew there would be some birthday festivities, so I could serve the cake to friends and family. I have a horrible sweet tooth, but ironically don't enjoy cake all that much. Oh, I'll eat it- I'd rarely turn down sweets! But give me ice cream any day. I had to bake a cake to decorate for our final night of class, which was super fun. I enjoy the baking, but especially love the decorating. I brought it home afterward, hubby admired it, I posted pics on facebook, then had a little slice. The cake sat in the fridge for a week before I threw it out. Still just once slice gone. Hubby doesn't have a sweet tooth at all, so cake doesn't go quickly in our house. As long as the kids don't know it's there... and I made sure they didn't. ;) Otherwise they'd be hounding me day and night for more cake!
So anyway. I was thrilled to have an occasion to make a pretty cake where it may actually get eaten! Even though it's a bit... sad? pathetic?... to make my own cake. I didn't really care. It was mine and I got to do whatever I wanted- so I went for a peacock theme.

Feathers and all. 

My original design called for a third layer, but then I thought, "that's a ton of cake...and a ton of work". Two was plenty.

I covered the whole thing in fondant, then made the decorations out of a combination of fondant and gumpaste, plus the little edible pearls. 

You can really see the gold shimmer dust I added to the chocolate layer in this photo!

Oh, and those are supposed to be mums. Apparently they resemble either pinecones or artichokes. I may just make them green and do a vegetable theme cake someday. 

On the inside I attempted doing a zebra cake! You basically just alternate layering small amounts of chocolate and white cake batter into your pans, no swirling or mixing- then bake. It really did look like zebra stripes when we sliced into it! Too bad I forgot to take photos.

This was (obviously) my first attempt at quilting the fondant. I love the look, but need some practice! I used my clear fabric quilting ruler and a butter knife! There must be a better way. :)

I sort of wish I could just decorate cardboard boxes in the shape of cakes. The baking is alright, but wasteful if there is no occasion! And I really just want to practice! I'm thinking perhaps a halloween cake?!

My newest crafty attempt

Hello. I'm back. For now, at least. 

Summer was great, Ty has started Kindergarten (!), and I've been crafting up a storm. So much craftiness around here that I haven't wanted to take the time to share any of it! I am completely hooked on sites like Pinterest and CraftGawker, both of which have handy iPhone apps, so I can get ideas constantly. There are seriously not enough hours in the day to try all the stuff I'm dying to try. 

My latest attempt. which I am now obsessed with, is embroidery. It is so fun! I've been googling all kinds of different stitches to learn. 

Recently I bought a box of Kleenex tissues, not because we needed them, but because the box was so adorable. It had the cutest monsters all over it. It occurred to me in the grocery store that they would make an awesome embroidery pattern... and so they did!

These were my four favorites. 

Love these silly little guys. I intend to sew up something for one of the boys out of the embroidered gray fabric, but have yet to decide what. Suggestions?

This owl I saw on craftgawker, and had to give it a try. It's a bit crooked because this was before I learned to trace the drawing onto the fabric, so I drew him freehand. He's perfect for Beckham's room. This wall with the wooden owl art was always missing something. 

I love his eyes. 

Becks loves him too. He loves "counting" all his owls before bed. "one, two, two, one."

Garden updates

I planted a spring garden this year for the first time, and what a great year for it! Instead of the usual summer stuff, which would have sat in the ground rotting and barely growing due to the never ending rain and lack of sunshine, my cool weather crops thrived! I believe I started planting in March. Lettuce and snow peas were the first plants, and they did great! Got lots of early salads, and we've been picking the snow peas for a couple months. Then I planted broccoli and cauliflower- two of my favorite veggies. Both did so great!

Here is my third cauli, almost ready to pick. 

These garden fresh cauliflower are so delicious. Can't believe I've never grown them before.

I never got photos of the broccoli but they did great too. Both are new favorites that I will plant every year. I think normally they would be ready much earlier... but the weather and all.

Walla walla sweet onions! Delish! These are almost ready too- I planted them in late April I think. I really ought to keep a garden journal or something so I can keep track of what I'm doing. But I can't wait to pick these and put them in something fabulous. 

This is probably my tenth lettuce plant. I get a little too excited about beautiful vegetables, but isn't it gorgeous?! I've really tried hard to plant them successively all season, starting really early, and it's been so awesome having fresh salad whenever we need it! I've hardly bought any at the store and we eat a lot of salad.

I've also planted endive and pepperoncini! Very excited about those. We shall see how well they do. And as always, an array of herbs and one lonely little tomato. I adore tomatoes- one of my favorite things. Especially fresh from the garden. But all my cool weather crops took so long to be ready that I didn't have a lot of space for my warm weather stuff! Need to plan better next year. Again, a journal would be handy. Or a much bigger garden. 

Do you plant a spring garden? Anyone grow Kale? I've really wanted to grow that one. Also spinach! Maybe next spring. How are the tomatoes doing? Mine seems to only have a few little flowers so far- no fruit yet at all. Sure hope I get some ripe ones!

Repurposed chalkboard

This next project was all hubby's! He did it to surprise me; isn't he creative?! 

He and Beckham went to the Rebuilding Center (that place is SO fun!) and picked out an old, framed window. I think he said it was $2. Then he painted the glass with chalkboard paint! He even wrote the cute message himself. He says he isn't happy with his writing, but I think it looks great. 

Isn't it cool and shabby?! I absolutely love it. I think it'll be really fun to change the message for seasons and holidays. 

When I was pregnant with Beckham I ordered a gorgeous wipes case on etsy. It was one of my favorite things. But sadly, there was an unfortunate incident recently that may have involved a particularly messy diaper... I won't go into detail. And you can't really wash these fabric covered wipes cases. So I had to toss it. But I really missed it! So I decided to attempt my own. 

I'm only a little bit happy with it. I hate that the case I happened to have lying around was a green one. Wish it was white. And I really like the fabric, but don't love the way the ribbon around the edge looks. But for just using supplies I had around the house, and for my first attempt, it'll work. 

Here's the back. It's padded with a little batting under the fabric. I just used a lot of hot glue. We shall see how it holds up to everyday use! I may be making more of these... if I can perfect them I think they'd make a great little gift for mommas-to-be. And it seems everyone around me is expecting right now! Better not drink the water.... ;)

Destination deck

 Our house backs up to a big greenspace, and our yard slopes steeply down towards it. It tends to be wet and marshy down there, due to a small creek. Soon after we bought the house, we brought in several dump trucks full of dirt to fill in the yard and make it a bit more usable. But it's still pretty small. It'll work for five years or so, but we are always looking for ways to get more use out of the space we have, because we love spending time outside.

Hubby came up with the idea for a tiny, second deck near our new sign. It hangs over the steep edge of our yard and makes the useless space functional. The adirondack chairs we got on clearance at Joann fabric store for $27 each! And they even came whitewashed already. 

We decided to paint the deck one of the colors in our sign to unify the look a little. The color we chose is called 'head to the beach'. Love it. 

We are hoping to build a short railing of some sort across the back since the drop-off is pretty steep- but we aren't sure yet what would look good on this funny little deck. Hubby also plans to add some stairs to the left side to make it seem bigger. 

There is a small, ornamental tree to the left of the deck that provides a bit of welcome shade during the hot afternoons- the only shade we have out back. 

This spot provides a 180 degree view of the entire yard, so it's much easier to see the kids while they play than on our upper deck. 

On a side note, here's our pretty new banana tree from my parents! It's a hardy banana, so it grows here in the NW but doesn't produce fruit. Just gives a great tropical look. They get super tall, too- and if you plant them in the ground they multiply like crazy. Even in the pot ours already has three baby shoots starting. 

Front porch makeover

Busy, busy summertime + camera memory card on the fritz = long blogging hiatus. But I fixed the card today! So here is our front porch makeover. This post isn't as fun as it would be had I remembered to take before pics... But I'll just paint ya a little picture:

Imagine shapeless, faded cushions and throw pillows... no cute curtain... and horribly stained Trex decking since I'd never pressure washed it before!

Can I just say how much I love pressure washing? Best thing ever. I did the porch and the driveway, then halfway down the sidewalk before I realized I had to stop somewhere. What a difference! 

In the background you can see the curtain I sewed to make our little porch feel cozy and private, since our neighbors' house is rightthere. We spend a lot of time out here, since it's east facing and gets lots of morning sun. It's our breakfast and coffee spot on sunny days. 

We bought these outdoor fabrics so I could sew the curtain, then the two throw pillows on each chair. They are actually the existing pillows that I just recovered. Saves some money not having to buy new pillow inserts. The seat cushions we just happened to find on sale at World Market and I love the way they look with these fabrics.

I even sewed piping for the first time! It was so much easier than I thought! And really gives the big pillow a finished look.

Hubby got a set of four of these chairs on uber-clearance at Target a while back. One fits perfectly by our front door and gives us a little more seating. We've started another project out back that may make room for these chairs at some point... but for now the other three are still in boxes in the garage. 

And... off the subject but here is my test photo from when I was attempting to fix the memory card:

Quinn got all cozy on some recycling I was sorting. Isn't she pretty? Love these kitties of ours. :)

Check back tomorrow for another project! Lots of catching up to do, now that I can actually import photos. 

Our travel sign

Finally I get to share our sign with you! We seriously started this project over a year ago! It is a labor of love for sure. Buy wood... cut wood... paint boards... google mileage from Sandy... paint letters, making sure the arrow points the right direction... then figure how on earth to put the thing together. Not to mention making it stand up straight and stay put. Phew. 

But then we stood back and surveyed all our hard work and it was so worth it!

These are some of our favorite places. We obviously couldn't list every city we've visited together, so we picked the most memorable. We stuck our new masterpiece on the edge of our yard and I snapped some photos. 

My parents gave us this idea. They made one a few years ago and we loved it so much. Had to make our own. Ours is more neutral colored than theirs, which blends better in our smallish yard. 

Traveling has taken a backseat to raising children; one of the sacrifices made so I can stay home and raise them myself. Worth it. But I love sitting on our deck and looking at all these great memories. Some made with the kids, many before we had them. We look forward to adding to our sign, as life permits... not a lot of space for more boards, however. Guess a longer 4x4 post would have been wise. ;)

Tissue pom pom tutorial

Ok, here's a fun and easy tutorial. My sis-in-law and I made these for a baby shower we hosted, and they were so cute hanging as decor!

Here's what you need:

tissue paper

scissors

floral wire (or any wire, really)

Lay out a stack of tissue paper, 8-10 sheets. The paper I used came in packs of 20 sheets, about 20"x25". I was able to make four pom poms per pack. 

Cut your stack in half so you have two stacks of around 20"x12.5". This doesn't have to be exact- different brands are different sizes. You just want rectangles, basically. 

Set aside one stack for your second pom pom. Then start accordion folding a stack, starting at the short end. 

Your folds don't have to be perfect, but I think the narrower the folds, the prettier the pom turns out. Maybe an inch or so. 

While holding your accordion, cut the ends into a curve. You can also cut them into a V shape for pointy petals. 

Now find the center and cut a small notch on each side. This makes it easier to fluff once it's held by the wire. 

Now bend a piece of wire into a hook...

...and wrap it around the tissue into the notches you cut. Twist the end around the rest of the wire to secure. 

Open it up into a nice little fan...

....and start gently peeling each layer away from the rest of the fan. Peel all the way down to the wire so your pom gets really fluffy. Peel a few layers one direction, then switch and pull from the other side so you get an even sphere. 

Shoo the kittens away over and over and over...

Keep peeling and fluffing until you have a gorgeous pom! Bend your wire into a loop so you can hang it, then fluff the tissue around it to help hide the wire. 

You can really experiment with variations... Use the entire stack of 8-10 tissues without cutting it in half for a giant pom. You may need more than 10 to keep it nice and full when it's that large. You could also cut a six inch strip off your big stack to make one big pom, then cut the 6" strip into two for mini poms! I've discovered the smaller the pom, the fewer tissues you need to make it full. So the minis could be made with less, but the giant ones will need more. 

You can also peel your layers just one direction to make more of a flower rather than a full sphere. In that case keep the wire straight and use it as a stem. 

I'm thinking these could be really fun July 4th decor! Also Christmas!

Fun fun!