Supporting the Arts

Our girls are prolific artists. They create dozens of masterpieces every day. And each one is beautiful and unique. The problem is, they are starting to stack up. On my husband's desk, on my desk, on their desk, on the refrigerator ... And now they've taken to taping them up on the walls. So we have beautiful hangings all around 3 feet up the wall. The other day I decided that something had to be done. And that's when I made the Treece Art Gallery.

It's a little bit of wall that is right next to the girls' room. A perfect place for a gallery. Of course this never would have been possible without my Silhouette machine. Even with it, I spent a few hours peeling out all the little details and sticking them on the walls.

The girls were super excited to put their pictures up on the walls in little frames.




Now the rule is that you can fill all the frames, but once the frames are full you have to take down an old picture in order to put up a new picture. And this is the only place to put up pictures. So it solves the problem and they get to proudly display their art work in neat little frames. Can't beat that.

Sometimes You Need to Cheat

I've had a few conversations with some friends where we were talking about gathering fabric and making ruffles. And they were complaining about how it takes so long to gather and it's just a pain. I felt so sad for them! They hadn't learned how to cheat yet!

About two years ago there were all sorts of tutorials on how to do a gather stitch by increasing your stitch length and increasing your tension to the highest setting. But now I can't seem to find them! I did end up finding one from MADE though.

May you never suffer through hand gathering again! :)

When I Like Something, I REALLY Like It

I was going through the girls' clothes for the fall and winter and I found something interesting:

Three shirts that virtually have the same design. And they all have the tags still on them meaning that I was the one that bought them. And somehow I forgot about the others! Oh well, I still like them all!

New Fall Clothes

I got all the girls' clothes out of the attic last week, and as I went through them I discovered something shocking. Charissa has way too many clothes for the fall and winter .... if she'll wear pants or a skirt. And Verity has hardly any clothes. How does this happen? Verity should be the receiver of tons of hand-me-downs from Charissa, yet for this fall/winter season she is seriously lacking. Of course this could be because the girls only wear dresses and thus their measurements are so close that I might have put them all in Charissa's pile. So there might be some rearranging once I really get them sorted and hung up in their closet. The other issue is that Charissa has a TON of shirts and sweaters - and all of them are ADORABLE! I mean, they are just so cute. The problem is that Charissa wears dresses exclusively. Every day. I am going to try to work with her a bit this year to wear pants, just so that she's a bit more flexible with her wardrobe. But I honestly don't mind that she just wears dresses because it's so much her personality. Anyway - I think I'm going to make her a few skirts in solid colors so that she can wear them with all her tops. I'm pretty sure she'll be fine with that.

I know the girls both need more dresses. This year I'm really going to try to make most of their clothes. Why, you ask? A few reasons:

1. Because I can.
   
2. My fabric stash is getting ridiculous and this is a good way to cut into it.
3. It's free! Well, sort of. I do already have so much fabric and trim that there won't be too much I will have to buy to do their clothes (if anything).
4. It's good practice. I want to keep trying new patterns so that I have a really good understanding of how clothing works so that I can start working without patterns more.
   

So you should see some new fall clothes soon!

Flowers of Verity Etsy Sale!

I'm trying to clean out my closet of things I have made, so I'm having a sale on everything at my etsy site. If you use the coupon code "cleancloset" (no spaces!) you will get 30% off your total order!

Enjoy!!

Rose Covered Raspberry Lemonade Cake

Mmm ... Doesn't it just look yummy? Sometimes you have an idea for a dessert and once executed it's not quite as good as you hoped. This one was perfect. And I have to tell you how it came about. I dreamed it. That's right. It came to me in a dream. I feel the need to give some background on that because I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I have VERY impressionable dreams. I'll dream about the craziest things, but also very day-to-day things. Sometimes I just dream an ordinary day. But most of the time it's crazy stuff. Anyway - last week someone had asked if I would bake a cake for a fundraiser and I guess I had pondered it a bit too much during the day, because my subconscious kept going that night. And then voila! Cake idea in the dream! A rose covered raspberry lemonade cake.

So you want to learn how you can make your own? I don't mind sharing!

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon flavored cake mix
• 1 WHITE "flavored" cake mix
• 2 packages Betty Crocker Raspberry Gel Cake Flavoring (or whatever raspberry flavoring you can find)
• 3 batches icing recipe*
• 2 packages Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade Powdered Drink Mix
• eggs
• oil
• LOTS of baking spray
  

Directions:

• Mix the lemon cake mix as directed on the box and divide into 2-3 round cake pans. I like to use 3 so that the cakes cook more evenly, and plus you have more layers to put frosting on. :) Cook about 25 minutes or until done. Cool for approximately 5 minutes in the pan before inverting them on a wire rack.
• Mix the white cake mix as directed, adding the raspberry flavoring. Cook the same as with the lemon cakes.
• When your cakes are done and cooled to the touch, generously wrap them in a layer or saran wrap, and then foil and place them in the freezer until frozen. I usually leave them overnight. The good thing about putting them in the freezer is that it enables you to make the cakes in advance and then only have to decorate it the day of. And the crumb coat is so much easier!
• When you're ready to start icing the cakes, prepare your raspberry lemonade frosting. Take your 3 batches of frosting and mix in 1 packet of the Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade drink mix. Taste it - see how you like it. If you want it stronger, add more. For my 3 batches I used 1.5 packets. It had a strong flavor but it wasn't overpowering. I wanted to make sure that it was a noticeable and distinguishable flavor.
  
• Take your cakes out of the freezer. On whatever plate or cake stand you are using, but a generous glob of frosting and smear it around and then put your first cake layer down. ALWAYS put frosting down on your plate first so that your cake doesn't slide around or shift. Crumb coat the top of the first layer, and then add the rest of the layers alternating between lemon and raspberry, adding frosting between each layer. Once you have them all stacked up nice and neatly, crumb coat the sides of the cakes. It doesn't have to be perfect since it's all going to be covered, but you do want a nice coat on there.
• To do the roses, you'll need a 1M tip and a pastry bag (you could use a ziploc bag, but pastry bags really do work better). Also, if you enjoy cake and cookie decorating, I would recommend getting some icing bag ties. They are brilliant at keeping the icing in the bags and not all over your hands. I followed the tutorial on I am Baker to do the roses. And it was SO EASY. The roses are a big impact, but they are quick and even if they are a bit messy, they still look great.
  

And that's all! Now you can make your own Rose Covered Raspberry Lemonade Cake! And when you do, invite me over for a slice. :)


*Basic Frosting Recipe:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1/2 butter softened (1 stick)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar (approximately 1 lb)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar one cup at a time scraping bowl often.
  
• When all sugar has been mixed, it will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy - this could take up to 5 minutes.
  
• Keep bowl covered with a DAMP towel until ready to use. Can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
  

Sprucing Up My Plants

So you all remember the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? There was a scene in the movie where crazy Kate Hudson makes this huge deal about their "love fern." Well, Britt and I have one of our own ... sort of. Right before we got married we were given a plant. Some sort of ivy. It's held on for five years, even though I am a plant killer. This past week I was looking at it and it just looked so sad with it's two little tendrils hanging down the side of my end table, so I gave it a face lift.

I started by putting 3 wooden skewers in the plant's pot in a triangular shape (like a teepee).


Then I hot glued the three poles together at the top. I wove the ivy around the poles and then I took a little green string and tied the end of the tendril to the top just to secure it a bit.

Ta-da! It looks so much better.
And I know - for a plant that is 5+ years old, it's kind of scrawny. But it's scrappy! And it has what it takes to make it through the lean times. :)