DIY Valentine Cake Garland

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and nothing says "I love you" more than a handmade dessert and a little DIY action!  It's funny, I didn't think of it until now, but the cake below is a perfect representation of Jeff and I as a couple.  He's the classic cake, handsome, reliable and consistent.  I'm the silly garland with lots of color and mood.  Together we make a beautiful couple!

This was such a fun project!  It took a little time, but it turned out so cute.  Here's how to make your own Valentine Cake Garland using Airheads Candy.

1. Supplies: Airheads  (I used white mystery, cherry and pink lemonade), wax paper, x-acto knife, bakers twine, scissors, tape and two stripey straws.
2. Cut the airheads into triangles using the scissors.
3. Using the x-acto knife, cut out the letters for your message and poke holes in either side of each triangle (holes don't have to look perfect, the twine will hide imperfections).
4. Wrap a small piece of tape around the end of the twine and thread through the triangles.
5. Cut twine to desired length and tie either end to a straw.
6. When placing on cake, be sure to angle the straws for a nice drape. 

I entered this project into the Craft Your Valentine Contest, so if you'd take a second to click over and vote for me, that would be great!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Apples + Fig Balsamic Jam

Fiona's been having some trouble eating and it's been pretty stressful.  We think we have narrowed it down to food allergies, but we are still waiting on the test results.  In the meantime, I've been avoiding milk, eggs, gluten, soy, nuts and fish (plus a few others I am now starting to think are causing problems).  Anyway, this doesn't leave me a lot of things to eat, so I've been getting creative.  I have been snacking on this fig balsamic jam with pink lady apples in the afternoons lately.  I bet it would go great with cheese and crackers, sadly I won't be trying that soon, but I may give it a try at a meat glaze.  I bought the jam from Lemon Bird at Renegade Holiday.  All of their jams are handmade using local seasonal fruits!  They had some of the most delicious flavor pairings and a little tasting station, so one could try out their offerings.  I'll definitely be going back for more!

Vintage Backyard Party

The party on Saturday went really well, thank you to everyone who celebrated with us!  We almost had a major problem, when the lights in the back stopped working.  Luckily, my husband Jeff rushed over and saved the day!  He discovered that I had blown a fuse because I hooked five strands of lights together. Apparently, you're only supposed to hook two strands at a time.  Well, I never claimed to be technical, just creative. Here are some snaps I took before the party started. I set up the backyard at the studio with vintage furniture and we had macaroons, mini cheesecakes and more.  I didn't get a lot of photos after that, since the camera was tied up at the photo booth.  I'll share the photo booth pictures tomorrow!

Easy Peasy Juice Spritzer

I thought I would share a simple spring drink that I have been enjoying almost every day lately.  It's a juice spritzer...I have always been one to water down my juice, it's just so sweet and anything carbonated is usually a hit with me.  To make this drink I use one part juice and three parts sparkling water, over ice...easy and refreshing. My favorite juice choices lately have been "Organic Strawberry Orange Banana" and "Organic Mango Nectar," both from Trader Joe's.  If you aren't pregnant like me you could replace the bubble water with champagne!  I added a fun straw and tied a few tiny strawberries from the garden on it as a garnish.

 

highball glass: ikea

striped straw: amazon

saucer: vintage

How does my garden grow?

When I'm not scavenging for vintage or working at the studio, one of the things I love to do is grow food and cook it for my family to eat.  This fits with two of my biggest passions: eating healthy and caring for my family.  Here's what's growing in our garden right now... 

 I just die over the colors of this rainbow chard!  Even if I get sick of eating it, I'll want to have it around for the cheery colors.

We harvested a bunch of beets and carrots today and Ruby insisted on carrying the bounty into the kitchen.  I think her arms got tired while I was running to get my camera, ha!

Our beets turned out a little smaller than I was hoping, I think I may have planted them too close together.  Our carrots were a little twisted, but still taste great!  I am planning to make some borscht, hope it's good!

We've been making some delicious smoothies lately with spinach and carrot greens from the garden.  I add frozen raspberries, blueberries, flaxseed and a dollop of honey...so satisfying!

We ate the last of our limes the other day and these lemons are not quite ripe yet.  It's getting so hard to buy things at the grocery store that I used to just walk out the door and pick. 

I'm really looking forward to our blueberries, a few are starting to change color.  The pots are positioned right by the front door, so I am constantly stopping to check if they are ripe.  I'm trying to figure out what to grow next, any suggestions?

A Nautical Birthday Party!

Over the weekend I threw myself a 30th birthday party.  Everyone said I shouldn't have had to do all the work, but I REALLY like throwing parties and I am a control freak about the details.  I did have a few helpers and I think it came together pretty well.

 

The party was a nautical theme and we hosted in the backyard.  It started at 7, but here is a photo from earlier in the day when we were setting up.  Instead of having tables, I created several seating areas, it felt a lot cozier that way.

 I made some flags from fabric and a happy birthday banner with an old Thomas Guide.

One of the seating areas.  I bought this darling settee at Goodwill last week, score!

 

I used a bunch of old trunks as side tables and decorated with nautical books and sand dollars.

 

It was getting dark, just as the party started and our little globe lights provided the perfect ambiance.

I found nautical themed beer and blue and red labeled cola.

 

I borrowed the globe and ship art from the shop to decorate the food table.

 We had to have Pirate's Booty because it goes with the theme and it's delicious!

 The dessert table was a bunch of old trunks stacked on a bench.

This is where I got a little crazy, I decorated these cookies with anchors and sailboats.  I saw some cute ones on Etsy, but I waited too long to order them.  The internet has so many great things, but they aren't good for last minute people.

 

I made these sea salt caramel cupcakes with chocolate cake mix from Tj's and used their frosting mix, but added caramel sauce and used salted butter instead, sprinkled with a little Maldon salt. Delicious!  I also made dark chocolate covered cookie dough balls, chocolate covered strawberries and white chocolate covered rice crispy treats.

I didn't take a lot of pictures once the festivities started, but here I am with my cousin Matt, sister Amy, brother Steve and sister-in-law Camille.  (not in that order)

Me and my sis.  I found this dress at a thrift shop a long time ago.  I added the sash and found these shoes at another thrift shop on Friday, they were perfect!

 It was a wonderful celebration with all the people I love!

Dressed Up Grilled Cheese

I have been a grilled cheese addict for as long as I can remember.  It was the first food I learned to cook when I was a kid, I can even remember burning my hand on the pan the first time I made it.  I wanted to serve it when some friends came over because it was too hot to use the oven and it just sounded good.  I figured I should dress it up a bit in order to make it look more like a gourmet dinner and less like a child's lunch.  I added some avocado, red onion and micro greens and it was a big hit.  The key to the deliciousness is the sourdough and New Zealand sharp cheddar, I got the bread at the local farmer's market and the cheese at Trader Joe's.  I served this with corn on the cob and fruit salad. 

Homemade Lemonade and Salvaged Salad Cups

I bought a bunch of lemons at the farmer's market because they were ten for a dollar without any real plan for them.  One day last week, Ruby and I set out to make some lemonade.  We also had some smooshy raspberries so we added them to the mix.  Ruby loved it and talked about the "pink juice" for days.  I used this recipe, but I like my lemonade more tart, so I probably added twice the lemons.  Then I had a bunch of empty lemon halves and being the salvager that I am, I knew I could put them to use.  I whipped up a chopped greek salad with the ingredients I had on hand.  Here's the rundown: romaine lettuce-chopped small, cucumbers-diced, kalamata olives-chopped, feta cheese crumbles, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste and a little lemon juice of course.  These would be so cute served at a summer soiree.  Note: slice a sliver off the bottom and they will stand up straight.

Easy Homegrown Side Dish

I just ate this for lunch and it was delish!  My brother-in-law has tons of vegetables growing in his backyard and yesterday he gave me a huge zucchini.  I cooked it up and threw on some feta and fresh lemon juice. Anything with cheese and/or lemon makes for a pretty good snack in my opinion.  I ate this by itself, but you could easily serve it alongside chicken and rice or at a summer barbeque.   There are no measurements because I have no idea how much I used.  If I had to guess, I'd say a pound of zucchini,  1/4 cup leftover white wine (you can omit this if you don't have any), 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic or 2 tsp garlic powder, salt to taste.  The feta is salty, so you can leave the salt out if you'd like, but I have a salt tooth, so I leave it in.  You could also add fresh herbs if you have them on hand.

Memorial Day Weekend

I had a wonderful three day weekend, how about you?  I used to always work when everyone else was off and just accepted that as part of owning my own business.  Not anymore, if I was someone's employee and wasn't given the day off yesterday, I would have been pretty upset.  We all need to rest sometimes.  Rest doesn't always mean doing nothing though, often doing something different than you normally do, can really recharge you.  Over the years I have struggled to find a hobby because all my creative hobbies are connected with my business and therefore never really feel restful.  Since moving the business out of my home I have been able to see home making more as a hobby and less as a difficult chore.  Cooking, organizing, decorating and entertaining have given me a creative outlet without the pressure of deadlines.  I tend to be pretty casual in my cooking, making up and altering recipes as I go.  I love to experiment and sometimes it really pays off.  

Over the weekend, we did a lot around our home.  We are in the midst of a backyard remodel (not sure going from just dirt to real landscape is considered a "remodel", but you know what I mean).  We have lived in our home for almost four years and have been fixing it up from the inside out, we have finally gotten to the backyard and hopefully it will be done in time to enjoy it this summer!  My husband is amazing!  Over the three days, with the help of a few friends and family members, he put in a ton (actually 6 tons) of flagstone.  We now have a pathway to our front door that continues to the backyard, an area for seating with a fire pit and a large patio for an outdoor eating area.   I helped piece some of the flagstone in and get it level.  I also made some homemade lemonade with lemons I bought at the farmers market and organized my cupboards with some vintage canning jars.  Food looks so much better in glass jars than it does in scrunched plastic bags.  Lastly, I made a little feast for Memorial Day.  My brother and sister-in-law took Ruby to the Strawberry Festival while I cooked and when they came back we all ate together.  It was a wonderful weekend!

 future outdoor eating area

 path to front door and on to backyard

 

Fresh homemade lemonade

Newly organized cupboard

Easy & Healthy Oven Fried Chicken (6 chicken legs, 1 egg, 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/2 flax seed meal, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 1 tsp salad, 1/2 tsp cracked pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder : dip legs in egg and then in flour mixture, place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes)

  

 Broccoli Salad - I used this recipe, but substituted halved green grapes for the celery and used balsamic for the vinegar.

 farmer's market fruit salad

 homemade oven fries with chipotle mayo. (1 cup mayo, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tbsp chilli powder)