Ruffle Cake

This week one of my best friends turned the big 3-0. Were having a party for her tonight and of course I offered to make the cake. 30's a pretty big birthday and I wanted to make something special and fun. I kept seeing beautiful wedding cakes with ruffles and decided to incorporate that into her cake. In an attempt to not make it look to much like a wedding cake I used black and white fondant. Fondant can be hard to work with because it dries so fast, so I kept the pieces I was not using under plastic wrap. After realizing that there was a particular tool I needed to make the ruffles, I scoured my house for anything that resembled this tool but came up empty handed. I ran to our local craft store and they had everything you would need to make a cake....except this tool. Thankfully the sculpey (you know...the clay you bake in the oven) was next to the cake stuff and there was a tool that looked almost exactly like what I needed. Crisis abated. 

The making of the ruffles. Put pressure on the tool and roll it down the fondant, making sure not to dig the tip of the tool into the fondant while doing so. The ruffles form on their own! So easy!

The Ruffles before they made their way onto the cake

Ta-Daaaa! Fini. It's not perfect but still cute and very fun to make

The ruffle flowers on top of the cake

Oh..and the inside. It's a pink ombre cake. {Ombre: Shaded or Graduated in tone}

Can't wait to cut into this baby!! 

Master Suite on a Budget

If you have ever bought a home you probably know that nothing is ever perfect. There is always something you want to change, the paint colors are all wrong and in my case, the previous owner put the most hideous sticky linoleum tile in a place I spend a decent amount of time...my bathroom. I could envision easy changes throughout the house but I could not figure out how to disguise this floor...other than multiple large bath mats.  And I still always got the feeling I was in a bad 80's kitchen. Finally, after a year and a half, it was time for a change. I found a contractor to do most of the work, but for a girl on a budget, I thought it would be best to demo the bathroom myself. No one ever told me how difficult this would be. 3 days later I had ruined all the molding I was supposed to salvage (thanks to 6+ coats of paint adhering it to the wall quite nicely) and I had shed blood on multiple occasions attempting to pull up the {very} sticky tiles. Then I consulted YouTube. The previous evening I had done this as well, but YouTube held out the good video, I think just to get a good laugh at my expense. Finally I had an answer, and it was so simple. A wet towel and a hot iron. Who knew that ironing your tiles would make them come up so easily. What took me 5 hours the night before took me about 20 minutes. I certainly learned my lesson. I was so happy that I did it all myself, albeit the fact that you stuck to the floor afterward. And when I say stuck, I mean it tore my socks off. My contractor shows up the next day to get started. Noting the stickiness, he poked around and realized there were two layers of plywood on the floor. He then proceeded to rip off the entire top layer of plywood and laughing, said "I hope you didn't spend too much time taking off the old floor because we could have just ripped it off with the plywood." Thanks...that's two evenings and a little blood  I will never get back. In the end it was all worth it because I had fallen in love, with a floor tile. 

It is called Daltile Fabrique- A floor tile with a linen look to it. 

{LOVE}

{Bathroom-BEFORE}

{Bathroom-AFTER}

No master suite is complete without the bedroom. 

Note to self: painting cathedral ceilings is not so easy for a girl that is only 4'11. 

{Bedroom - BEFORE}

{Bedroom -AFTER}

Flower Power

"Inspiration: The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative."

This definition pretty much encompasses my every day life. I came across a website months ago called Whippycake. It was the middle of Winter and I needed something new to occupy my time, at least for a little while. While perusing this website, I kind of fell in love. With flower accessories made from fabric, ribbon, buttons, etc. I thought to myself...well I have plenty of fabric and ribbons AND buttons, I could do this. And so my short lived obsession began. I spent hours on Google and YouTube watching video's on how to make these swanky little accessories and eventually I took a stab at it. I have to admit, at first I felt slightly defeated, but then I started to get the hang of it and realized that as long as it didn't involve a needle and thread (and instead a decent amount of hot glue), I was good to go. 

Sometimes you just need a little inspiration. 

{My first round of dainty accessories and headbands}

{Used these little guy's to make a wreath as well}

Hope you're inspired to try something new!

EatLoveCake

Practice makes perfect, right? I remember the first cake I made....it was in an Easy Bake Oven. I think I can honestly attribute my love for baking to that tiny incandescent light bulb that baked my very first cake {without mom's help}. I was always my mom's little "helper" in the kitchen. And by helper I mean she gave me the ends of the green beans she snapped off, the rotten tomatoes and anything else virtually inedible and I would cook these up in my own pan with various spices that I am sure were not supposed to be used together....and then I would serve it to my father. I don't remember exactly but I believe he used to pretend to eat it and then hide my masterpiece under the couch. I have loved to cook and bake from an early age, and while I can't say that I am a pro at either, I enjoy it nonetheless. In the past 5+ years I have begun to experiment more with the decorating side. My passion for making things pretty finally worked its way over into the other thing I love most...food. So instead of boring you all with various posts about the cakes of my past, I have decided to chronicle some of my previous baking endeavors in this one post. 

As Marie Antoinette once said "Let Them Eat Cake"

This slightly lopsided tasty treat was made for a great friend of mine's birthday. 

Fierce and Feisty...just like she is <3

I was {sigh} spending Valentine's day with my parents one year. 

Instead of sulking about my single status--I made us a berry layered cake with homemade whipped cream 

Problem Solved. 

For my previously mentioned Fierce and Feisty friend's bridal shower 

I made this cake.  I don't love the taste of fondant so you'll 

never see one of my creations look picture perfect smooth. 

As long as it tastes good, right?

Following a request for a groom's cake with a soccer theme 

and many failed attempts at making a perfectly round cake, I came up with this. 

#Improvising

These are just a few of my many creations. 

Unfortunately some came before I learned how to back up my computer. 

Simple Sideboard

What do you do with all the charming things you don't want to stash away in your cabinets? Most people would get a nice buffet or sideboard to display their prized possessions. So what do you do if you are too cheap to get  a nice buffet? Well, I always start at IKEA. What I love about IKEA is that most of their items are very simple...and also simple to change into something much more magnificent. In fact, I recently came across a blog devoted to modifying and re-purposing plain old IKEA furniture. The possibilities are endless....really. Check it out { IKEAHackers} I can't claim that I found my idea on this website but I just had to share because the things people come up with are quite amazing. I did, however want to take something simple and {cheap} and make it into something a little more interesting. If you know me at all you are probably expecting some big arts and crafts project but it is much more simple than that. I bought a bookshelf...and turned it sideways. Ta-daaaaa! Instant Sideboard. Add some of your favorite kitchen items, a few baskets to keep things tidy and there you go. Then instead of the typical "hutch", I added a shelf above for some vertical visual interest and a place to put my plants out of reach from the late Bentley. {RIP} This soon became the only shelf in my house my kitty could not reach. (Why didn't I think of this sooner} Now I have somewhere to display my collection of pretty glasses and it's officially time for: 

Happy Hour

Sweet Dreams

I have become increasingly bored with normal "store bought" things....thanks to Pinterest. I sometimes sit around and wonder how I ever came up with an idea before I discovered this phenomenal website. I suppose I drew my creativity from {gasp} magazines. Better Homes and Gardens, HGTV's Do It Yourself Magazine (one of my fave's), House Beautiful, Elle Decor...I could go on and on. I could not leave the grocery store without a new one. I honestly believe that this is what started my obsession with decorating. I remember looking at the enormous JCPenny Catalog as a little girl, dreaming about the things I would have when I had a real job and my own money. Funny how things have not changed that much now that I have a real job. I bought my first house in July 2010 and suddenly realized if I wanted my house to look even remotely close to my beloved magazines, I would have to do it myself. Thanks go Google, you can figure out how to do pretty much anything  under the sun. One of my first....and favorite....projects was the headboard for my guest room. It is actually a fairly easy project...once I figured out how to hang it on the wall. That took a few trips to my local hardware store. { French Cleat } The great thing about making your own headboard are the options. Thousands of fabrics to choose from, shapes of the actual headboard, tufted, nail head trim...the list goes on. If I could have a bed in every room of my house, I would...just so I could make more headboards. 

So here is a picture of my very first one: 

 {My first Headboard--LOVE this fabric}

{Time for some Visitors}

Want one? Contact me!