Sock Buns

I was just looking on Pintrest, like I do, and I came across this hair style.  Its a sock bun.  I had to try it. I went directly to my sock drawer and grabbed the nearest tube sock.  I cut off the toe and roll it in on it's self (kind of like you are trying to turn it inside out).  After making a high pony-tail you put the end of you hair through the hole and start rolling.  As you roll the sock, spread your hair around evenly to create the perfect bun.  It took like 2 seconds.

Fallingwater Gingerbread House Plans

Brenton and I have decided to make our plans for Fallingwater available for PURCHASE!!  We have had several requests over the past year so we decided to let other people have a go at it. Good Luck!



Here are some links to previous posts about the Fallingwater Gingerbread House:
Fallingwater Gingerbread House
A Little More on the Gingerbread House
Fallingwater Gingerbread House EXPLOSION

Wedding Cake

 One of my best friends from high school got married this summer and asked me to do his cake.  Of course I couldn't say no.  I love making cakes even though I get stresses while I'm making them.  

It is all worth it when its all done.  

I had a different wedding the same day that I was doing flowers for so I was a little crunched for time.  Luckily, 2 of the layers were foam so I could make most of it several days in advance.  This was my first fondant experience.  I learned a lot with this cake.  Here is a step by step:

I hot glued the foam blocks together and cheese grated down the corners and edges.  I left the layer separate from each other so the fondant would be easier to put on.

I put down a layer of buttercream so the fondant would stick.  I also hammered in shish-kabob sticks to keep the layers together.  I used a rainbow chip cake for the top layer (as requested by the bride and groom).

Strangely, the dry fondant leached a hot pink color out of the frosting.  It looked tie-dyed!!  Obviously that was no good so I used a damp paper towel to moisten the whole thing before I did the tip work.  

Hippie wedding cake... avoided.

I had to drive the cake to the reception and I was afraid it would slid all over...

Cinder blocks...problem solved. That cake did not budge.

In the end the stress is all worth it.

Harry Potter 7.5 and Totally Awesome T-shirts

For Harry Potter 7.5 my friend Martha and I decided to make t-shirts.  Why?

A) We love Harry Potter.

B) We love making t-shirts.

It was Martha's idea so I cant take all the credit.  

For theses shirts cut out 8 1/2 X 11 sheets of freezer paper.  

Using an inkjet printer, print out your preferred saying and cut out the individual letters. Make sure the letters print out on the paper side not the plastic side. 

Place the letters on the shirt and iron them on plastic side down. (Don't worry they peal off really easy).  

Put bleach in a spray bottle and squirt around the letters. 

Press the hot iron on the sprayed area for instant color change.

(I usually spray a few squirts then iron, then spray some more then iron)  

When you are content with the contrast, peel off the wax paper letters. 

Wash.

Wear totally awesome shirt.

Me and Martha at the Harry Potter 7.5!!!

My shirt: "Make Love Not Horcruxes".

Martha's shirt: I solemnly swear I am up to no good".

Owl Apron

Recently I decided I wanted to spice up my boring old apron. I didn't have a lot of time or money so I took some scraps I already had around and downloaded this free pattern.
For the bigger owl I increased the "adult" owl's size by 150% and kept the "adolescent" owl the same.
After I cut out all the pieces I used iron on transfer put it all together. It has to be done in layers so just make sure you do it in the right order. I put the wings down first then the body and the stomach, then the rings around the eyes and finished by hot gluing buttons on for the eyes.

It's all glass...

Two funny stories: 

1. If you know me you know I'm a total pack-rat.  I'm convinced that someday I'll be on the show Hoarders, Buried Alive. My friend Tristan is an extreme minimalist (click HERE to read more about that journey) he tries to convince me all the time to get rid of stuff that I don't need.  I took his advice and went through all of my stuff and got rid of a TON of stuff.  I was talking to him later and told him how I got rid of a lot of stuff I didn't need. He was so proud until he found out I started collecting glass bottles...FAIL at being a minimalist.

2. This one has to do with the title of the post.  Growing up my family loved going to yard sales.  To this day if I see a yard sale sign or pass one something inside me says, "Stop... you never know if you are going to find __________ (insert some random item)."  

The code word in my family for a bad yard sale is, "It's all glass."  This phrase expanded to all bad yard sales, even if there is nothing glass there.  My father coined that phrase because who would ever want to stop at a yard sale with a bunch of glass.  Well father, the "all glass" yard sales are now my favorite. 

Courtney's Bridals

I must admit that is is one of my favorites.  It really took me by surprise.  I think its the lilies.  There are only 3 kinds of flowers: Stargazer Lilies, Hot Lady Roses, and White Stock.

AND it smells AMAZING!