Feature Friday

It's that time again!  It's Feature Friday! Woot to the woot!

This weeks feature consists of paint dipped beauties.  I have developed a bit of an obsession with this simply accomplished look (as you can see from another feature here), and plan to incorporate it in various ways throughout my house.

{Pretty paint dipped chop sticks by Poppytalk for homemade sushi night}

{Paint dipped spoons by tinywhitedaisies would make for a pretty display in the kitchen}

{I have a major thing going on for these gold dipped champagne flutes by Honestly WTF}

{Paint dipped chair legs by IVillage add a fun dose of color to the kitchen}

{These paint dipped stools as seen on Elle Interior are designed after my own heart}

Paint is such a fun, easy, and cheap way to mix things up around the house.  Need a change that doesn't break the bank?  Grab a can of paint and some pretty blue painters tape and have at it with some of these fun and inspiring projects.

A Box of Happy

I heart birthdays.  I also heart a reason to give someone a gift (and a deadline to do it by - sometimes I just work better with deadlines, it's true) from my heart to theirs.  One of my besties just had a birthday, so I decided to send her a box of happy (birthday to be exact). 

Inspired by Oh Hello Friend and her book of notes, here is a glimpse of what I think brings joy and smiles.

{I grabbed a handful of these super cute pins at Blicks one day, so I attached one to a little note and wrapped with bakers twine}

{Message in a bottle as seen on Oh Hello Friend}

{Brownie and Frosting Mixes from Trader Joes.  The tag on the brownies reads "Have your Cake and Eat it Too}

{Green Tea mints wrapped in lace from Trader Joes}

{Floral paper clips packaged in a jewel toned box make studying for your graduate degree so much happier}

{"Owl Always be There for You" Necklace I've been hoarding from Urban Outfitters waiting for the perfect moment to gift}

{A scroll wrapped in ribbon, opened to reveal a word search decorated in doilies with words to describe a dear friend}

 {Homemade glitter clothes-pins designed to "pin" and share happiness.  You can either make some yourself or buy them here}

{A box of happiness packaged and ready to go}

I encourage you to think about where and with whom you can spread some cheer.  It doesn't have to be someone's birthday to share a smile.  It's something I need to do more often myself and hope that this encourages you as well to show someone you love them by sending them a box of happy, or a book of notes.  You don't have to do something expensive or over the top to make someone smile.

House Update

Since we last talked about the house, the front wasn't quite finished and insulation had just gone up. Now, NOW, the outside of the house (minus the shrubbery - anybody else just jump into the Monty Python skit?), and the drywall installation is almost complete.

Baby steps.  Baby steps to the painting, baby steps to the moving of everything we own.  What about Bob anyone?  I am on a movie referencing frenzy today!

It's a cake! No, it's a Cheeseburger! No, it's a Cakeburger!

True story.  A cake that looks like a cheeseburger.  It's for real.

Today is my Grammy's 84th birthday and her all time favorite food is the good ol' fashioned cheeseburger.  She always said she was a cheap date because a drive through Wendy's was all it took to make her happy.  I may or may not get that from her and if I could justify it, I may or may not eat a Cheeseburger every other day of my life.

Along with my love for cheeseburgers, we all know I have a soft spot for sweets.  Combine the 2 and it makes me weak in the knees.  SO, for Grammy's birthday celebration, we had Cheeseburgers for dinner and Cakeburger for desert.  Check it out. 

Grammy LOVED this cake.  It was a lot of work, but so worth it to see how thrilled she was.  Food is love in our family, and she could see just a glimpse of how much I love her when I walked in with this cake.

In order to make this beast of a cake, I combined about a bajillion recipes.  I used this recipe for the cake and buttercream icing.  For the icing, I omitted the cocoa powder and ovaltine and substituted with powdered sugar to thicken it to the consistency I wanted so it would be white instead of brown, which meant I could color it.  I made the brownie from this recipe to act as the "burger."   As you may have already noticed, all of the recipes I chose were by Joy the Baker because if you want something to be tasty, you use her recipes.  It's a fact.

Once I had my baked goods made and cooled, I frosted the bottom bun on the cake stand and topped it with the brownie.  I then colored some fondant orange and cut out a large square to act as the melted cheese.  I rolled and cut it on parchment paper so it was really easy to apply to the brownie.  I just carefully placed it "cheese" side down on the brownie and slowly peeled the parchment away.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

The next layer was the lettuce.  I pressed coconut, which I had dyed green and then toasted, into the cheese, making sure some of it would peek out the sides.  It got a little messy, but sloppy burgers tend to be the best kind, so I went with it.  I then piped on the icing I had colored yellow and red to act as "mustard and ketchup" using good ol' fasioned plastic baggies with a hole cut in the bottom.  Finally, I placed the top bun on, frosted it with my tan icing and sprinkled rice krispies on the top in place of "sesame seeds."

During my assembly, I had some major icing melting problems because my kitchen was super hot since spring decided to be summer in Ohio and I had the oven on all. day. long.   I reluctantly went with the flow and accepted its imperfections since I ran out of time and could do nothing about the weather.

On a side note, this weather phenomenon also made for an adventurous ride to my parents since we thought it would be a good idea to drive directly into the hail and tornado producing storm that proved to be the scariest experience of my life. 

Good news.  Guy, girl, dog, and cake all survived.

Instagram-ification

Life is in the details.  I miss the details a lot.  I get caught up in routine and forget to take in the small things.  The beautiful things.  Does that happen to you too, or am I the only one?

What are the ramifications of simply not noticing?  A dull life?  A life void of beauty and happiness? 

Maybe that's a bit extreme, but I don't want to miss out on the delicate or the delightful.  Lucky for me.  There's an app for that.

After Ben got me the iPhone for my birthday, I became quickly addicted to Instagram.  Since I have my phone on me at all times (like most Americans), what better way to capture all those fleeting moments and convert them into tangible memories, than by Instagram. 

Thus begins a new series of Instagram-ification.  Snapshots and sneak peaks into the seemingly minute of the day to day.  I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

Do those little spring flowers not make you smile?  Oh, the beginnings of spring bring me so much joy!



Feature Fronday!

Ok, so I've been slacking on the Feature Friday posts.  It's been busy busy busy!  SO, instead of skipping another week of feature friday goodness, I decided to merge it with Monday and call it a day.

Here's a little bit of what is inspiring to me right now.

Polka Dots.  Retro-inspired or hand printed like below, polka dots are on my list of awesome right now.

{Adorable hand-stamped polka dot tea towel by A Beautiful Mess}

Color popping.  It's all in the details.

{Small touches of color that make a big impact like these hand dipped kitchen utensils from House of Earnest}

Geometrics make a clean, yet playful statement.



{Great color and eye-catching mosaic design make this vase by Up In the Air Somewhere, inspiration to feed on}

Spring Pinks.  Wearable and fresh, shades of pink and blush define romantic springtime glamour.

{Introduced to me by a good friend at Under the Tree, Maybelline's new 14 Hour color stay lipstick in Perpetual Peony, truly is the perfect spring pink}

Vintage Plate Collections.  A collection I aspire to create.

{A smorgasbord of Vintage tableware makes for stimulating eye candy.  Image from Style Me Pretty}

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you too have found inspiration within these images.  If you like what you see, follow me on Pinterest by clicking here!

It's a house!

It's time for another update on the house and I am running out of titles to explain the same thing over and over again, so I apologize for the lack of originality.  It's a house!  Sorta like - It's a boy!  Ok, it's not even punny.  I apologize.

Our house is starting to look pretty.  Like a house house.  It almost looks like a house someone lives in on the outside, which makes me happy.  Wait, no, ecstatic!

See?!

{It was starting to get dark outside, so the color is a little darker in the photos than real life, and the shutters are actually a light blue - the door will eventually be the same color}

As you can see, progress is apparent on the outside, and all of the electric, heating and insulation has been installed and finished on the inside (which isn't quite as pretty to look at).  Tis but a waiting game now until we are able to go in and paint, which is hopefully sooner rather than later. 

Hooray!

While we wait, my neighbors seemingly get louder and louder, the mess from packing up 2 lives seems to get bigger and bigger, and I get ancier and ancier.  Patience truly is a virtue!

Chris and Angela's Engagement Shoot

Today's post is special to me.  My cousin Chris is getting married.  My cousin of whom I grew up with, used to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with, and followed around incessantly until boys started getting coodies, because he was just the coolest. 

Well, Chris and his lovely fiance Angela let Ben and I be their paparazzi for a day. This was the first time Ben and I have had the opportunity to do a shoot together, and it was both of our first engagement shoot at that.  We had a blast with them and can hardly wait to do another!

They are so in

{Tee Hee}

Thank you Chris and Angela for letting us steal you for a day and for being so ridiculous good looking! Zoolander reference anyone?