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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoy this week with your family! After spending Christmas with my family, Shane and I are headed to spend time with his family at the beach and then are headed to Washington, D.C. on an adventure!  Lots of exciting posts coming in January so stay tuned!




Cotton Candy!


Monday, December 23, 2013

colorful gift tags.



 Ran out of gift tags and are hesitating to just mark that gift with a sharpie? Last year, paint swatch art creations were all the rage and you can still find uses for them! With a hole punch, some pretty pens, and string you can have a unique gift tag in no time!
* Do give the writing time to dry. The surface of the paint swatch will take a little longer.

You can also check out the simple diy gift tags I made last year here !

Saturday, December 14, 2013

tiny trees that you are going to dye over.


These adorable little trees have been all over pinterest this season and I decided I had to give them a try! All of the tutorials that I found showed using the green trees and bleaching them before applying dye.  When I went to purchase my supplies, I came across these lovely white trees and thought maybe I could skip the bleaching process?  The great news was- these little trees were already marked down for the season and the dye was on sale, so this whole project only cost me $4.  These white trees are a little "snowier" than the green ones, so before the dye process I tried brushing some of it off.  I created 3 different shades of pinks using just 2 different dye packs and also varied the colors by how long I let them soak in the dye.  Each tree only took a few moments of soaking and then I laid them on an old towel to dry.  Apply some faux snow, place on your favorite tray or stand and voila! A pink tiny tree forest!
 





Monday, December 9, 2013

an ornament update.

Each year, I try to make a few new ornaments for our tree. You can check out the past two year's below!

 
 This year I opted for giving some of our old ornaments an update! I used Martha Stewart opaque glass paints to paint shapes and designs onto a variety of ornaments! I recommend having something like a small tape roll or plastic bottle cap to sit the painted ornaments on while drying to prevent rolling!  Have fun and get creative with your designs!




Tuesday, November 26, 2013

succulent.

Did I mention that I LOVE succulents?  It seems to be one plant that I doesn't die right after I get it, and their petite, unique shapes make these plants one of my favorites.  I caught these guys on sale the other day at my local lowe's for $1 a piece and could not resist! I chose a large glass terrarium for the large ones and then split these others into some smaller ceramic pots I made in college.

 I also picked up this cool coral cactus!

Saturday, November 16, 2013

We're off to see the wizard...

I'm feeling like Dorthy these days with our recently painted yellow floors! When we moved into the house we stained the floors a dark navy.  We were ready for a change at least in part of the house, so we painted the living room and kitchen floor only.  The other rooms are still navy, for now anyway!  We used Valspar Latex Porch and Floor and Lowe's can mix ANY Valspar color with that base.  We were excited about our wide range of color options and decided to go with Spring Moss.  I was not loving it at first and actually thought we made a huge mistake.  Once everything was moved back in I realized how much brighter things were! We did this project in just one afternoon as a spur of the moment decision.  Entire update cost just $50!
BEFORE


AFTER











photography.

Check out Sara Catherine's recent session over on my photo blog!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Dark Chocolate Cupcake Recipe.

 This cupcake recipe is actually from my sister! We have made them several times and they are delicious! Insanely moist, not too sweet... the perfect cupcake for any chocolate lover.
Ingredients:
 2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 325*. Stir cocoa, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt in large mixing bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and mix with a whisk until blended.  Stir in boiling water( batter will be very thin) bake for 15-18 minutes. Cool completely.

Chocolate frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup dark chocolate cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in saucepan, or microwave, and using a spatula stir in cocoa.  Alternately add sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.  If frosting is too thin add more sugar, too thick add more milk. Frost cooled cupcakes!

Whipped cream:
Using an electric mixer, whisk heavy whipping cream with 1 1/2 tbsp sugar until thickened.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

painted pumpkin.


 I bought these pumpkins on the way home from our mountain trip last weekend from a local fruit stand.  I decided to just do some painting this year and omit the carving part! I used regular acrylic paint and then sealed them with an acrylic spray sealer!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

hello fall.


 A few weekends ago we packed up for a little mountain getaway! Shane & I rented a cabin for the weekend in North Carolina with a few friends of ours. We explored,white water rafted, and did some hiking! We did whatever we possibly could that was NOT part of the government shutdown:)