Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Terra Cotta Pots

With Spring finally here, that means it'll soon be time for flowers. As I drive to work I see many of them starting to spring up all around. This also means that once again, I'll try my hand a flowers. 
 Flowers in pots that is. 
 I love the idea of having a porch that's covered with blossoming flower pots. It seems to make things much more bright and cheerful. Almost like they're welcoming you as make your way inside. 
In all honesty though. I don't have a green thumb. I have a black one. They look great for a few weeks, but then it happens. They're either watered too much or not enough. However, I have yet to give up. Every spring I try it again, thinking it'll be different than the last year. We'll see how this year goes. 

In the meantime, I've been making a cute flower pot. It's a twine-wrapped terra cotta pot
 Check out House by Hoff for great instructions on making this type of planter. 
 And yes, those are fake succulents. Perhaps this is what I'll have to stick with if the real deal doesn't work out for me. 
Wish me luck!
 Jessica



 

Sunday, March 27, 2016

He Is Risen


Happy Easter everyone. I hope you have a happy and blessed holiday as we remember and celebrate our Savior....


He Is Risen

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Let's Eat Cake....Again

A few weeks ago I did a post about about naked cakes. 
If you missed it you can read it here.
In the post I talked about trying to make a naked cake of my own. I actually did make one. Sadly, this is it. Just go ahead and stick this cake on your Pinterest fail board.

Strawberry Naked Cake with ButterCream Frosting
Naked Cake No.1

In my defense, it did taste good. 
However, I realized there just wasn't enough frosting. I used one box of cake mix and one can of frosting. 
Yep. Not near enough frosting. 
It looked a little sad, so I had the bright idea to then cut the sides off. Somehow I thought that would make it look better. 
It didn't. 
Enter naked cake no. 2. 

Chocolate Naked Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Naked Cake No.2

  I decided to give it another go. 
My brother's birthday was coming up, so I figured it was worth another shot. This time I was prepared. 

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

 I used a triple chocolate cake mix, which had pudding in the mix. One I had it mixed, I then added a cup of applesauce in the batter to make it even more moist. I wanted to be certain I had enough frosting. I did. With plenty to spare at that! 

I found a wonderful peanut butter frosting at this Cleobuttera website. It was light and airy--the perfect pairing with a chocolate cake. Just like a huge Reese cup. Which is why I decided to decorate the top with crushed mini Reese cups.

 
 My advice on making a naked cake? Be sure to have plenty of frosting on hand. The layers look so much better filled to the brim! Another thing I found handy was a side scraper
This really helped to make the look I was going for. 
I wanted to just smooth the excess frosting along the sides without actually frosting the sides. There you have it. My official naked cake. We won't mention the first one again...

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting


Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

 Here are a couple great websites to show how to make your own.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Plunder Jewelry

Anyone heard of it? 
If you have--great! 
If not, then I'm about to introduce you to an affordable, vintage line of jewelry.

I heard about this company when a client, who recently began selling Plunder, came into the salon one day to drop off a few catalogs. I think she knew we'd love it.

I have always hated to say no when someone comes in trying to sell me something. Yes. I'm one of those people. Just point me to the least expensive item you're selling and I'll buy it. What can I say? 
It eases my conscience and supports the person too.

In this case, I ended up falling in love with everything in the catalog.
The best thing about this jewelry is that it's affordable and beautiful. Keep in mind it does have a vintage look, so it isn't for everyone. 

Here are a few of my purchases. 



The first necklace with the bird is wonderful, because you can wear it with a t-shirt to dress it up or with really anything.

The earrings I love, but they're a little heavy, so those are not for wearing all day.

The second necklace has a wonderful verse (Isaiah 43:1) on it. With it's long length, this one looks great with tunics and dresses.

So there you have it! 
If you like what you see, search for any local Plunder Design sellers. If there are none, then you could be the first in your area to begin selling. 

Thanks for stopping by!!
Jessica
 

Link Party

It's that day again. 
Click the picture below to check out what
 DIY projects are going on this week!


 Work It Wednesday Link Party

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Never Say Never..

Does anyone know the phrase--Never say never?
I said the other day that I was not buying any more fabric. 
I still had plenty tucked away that I could use if I was feeling crafty. Then I went to Hobby Lobby where fabric happened to be 30% off. 
Something about fabric and sale---I couldn't help myself. 
I found some of the cutest fabrics. 
I tried to have some self control, so I only bought 3 different designs---two pieces were 1/4 yard and the other was 1/2 yard. 
 What can you possibly make with only 1/4 yard? Let me show you these wonderful things..
They are the perfect size for make-up, jewelry, or any other small items you need to carry.
This is the best tutorial that I have found.
She gives you measurements for the bags, but you can change it to match the size you want. 
Here are a few pictures of what I made today. 
These will be going up on my Etsy shop. 
That is if I don't decide to keep them for myself--I love the fabric! 





Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Have Cake. Eat it too.

Who here likes cake? 
Or should I say who doesn't like cake?!
I have always had a sweet tooth--especially for cake. 
Of any kind. 
I must confess. My all time favorite is the boxed cake mix. That might have made all you made-from-scratch bakers out there cringe, but it's true. 
Growing up, it's what my mom made for my brothers and I almost every year on our birthday. 
You know what the best frosting ever is???
 Rainbow Chip by Betty Crocker
Don't just take my word for it. 
It was discontinued for a year or so but was brought back by popular demand. 
Yep. Its that good!


Speaking of cake---While browsing through Pinterest the other day, I stumbled upon a interesting but beautiful cake. It was called a naked cake. 
I had never heard of this before, so of course--I googled it.

From what I could gather, a naked cake is created when the frosting or topping covers only the cake top and in between the layers but not the sides. Therefore leaving the sides exposed or--naked. 
Many of you have already heard of this trend, since countless blogs and magazines have been talking about it for some time, including Country Living who featured these last August. This style seems to be a popular trend for weddings and parties. 
I love the concept of this cake! 
I hope to be back in a few days with my version of a naked cake. 
In the meantime, here are a few of my favorties I found on Pinterest.





1. http://www.stylesweetca.com/blog/2016/1/6/how-to-make-a-naked-cake
2.
http://www.thenest.com/Recipes/87886/detailview.aspx?STOPREDIRECTING=TRUE&id=87886&type=7&recipe_ingredients=Chocolate&PgReferrer=results.aspx
3. https://www.instagram.com/p/8U43PxNQDx/
4. http://justdestinymag.com/how-to-make-beautiful-naked-cakes/
5. http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2015/05/naked-cake-tips/
6. http://whatsgabycooking.com/naked-birthday-cake/

--UPDATE--
Just wanted to let every know..I did try a naked cake of my own. However, I can't bring myself to post pictures of it. I'll try again next week and see if the second is any better! It's harder than it looks. Just sayin'...