fresh centerpiece inspiration

I want to share some super cute centerpiece ideas I saw on Rachael Ray's website. I love it when I find new ideas for inspiration.


I will def do this one day!


Who would have thought…love it!


Yep, that is ice! And you can make these yourself! Fill a cardboard milk or juice carton with water, then dip a wood spoon handle in the center and secure it in place with tape. Let it freeze overnight, then your ready to peel the carton away and put flowers in the hole you created with the spoon! Place it on a rimmed plate and you have a very unique centerpiece! I love this idea!



These are so ador! All you have to do is take colorful patterned socks and slip them over small pots, cups, or jars. Cut off the bottom of the socks so the pots are flat on the table. They also suggest using infant socks with juice tumblers for a smaller look!



Another cute idea is to have a floral arrangement on a cake plate under a glass dome.



This one is very unique! Jell-O! Six boxes of Jell-O with half the water it calls for. Chill it until it is semi-firm and push flowers in!



This one is simple and colorful! Just slip embroidery thread spools over test tubes!


These were just some of my favorites, click here to view more!


(photos via rachaelraymag.com)

fabric and ribbon flowers!

I have been having a lot of fun lately with an adorable craft! Fabric flowers! They can be used for headbands, necklaces, belts, clothing, basically anything. But I’m going to warn you right now that this is very addicting!

I used tutorials found on some of my favorite craft blogs. There are several different techniques to make fabric flowers, and I used 7! Click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here to learn how to make these cute little flowers.






All of theses flowers have clips attached underneath so I can clip them on different necklace chains, headbands, belts, and dresses.




These are all the headbands I made! I love them! I modeled a few of my favorites.
































I also made a couple of necklaces!







As you could probably tell by all these pictures I got a little carried away and eventually had to just put up the fabric and walk away.

So fun!

i made up a recipe

Yes you read that right! I made up my own recipe! People who know me know that I’m not much of a cook, so this is a big deal for me. For example the soda and baking soda mix up of 2003ish (when a recipe calls for “soda” they mean baking soda not diet coke) Anyways, back to my awesome recipe. It all started when I first tasted the best cake in the world! The strawberry cake from Joe’s Italian in Alabaster, after that first taste and every time after that I new I had to replicate this wonderful cake. So I memorized this cake and came up with my own recipe to replicate it. I wanted to make my mom a cake for Mother’s Day and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to experiment with my recipe. And it was a success! Everyone loved it and it tasted just like the one at Joe’s! Yay!



Melissa’s Strawberry Bliss Cake

Cake
1 box strawberry cake mix (Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Strawberry Cake Mix)
1 1/3 Cups Water
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs

-Follow the directions on the box. I used two 9 inch round cake pans.


Strawberry Sauce
16 ounces fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water

-Mash strawberries (to save time you can just put them in a food processor or blender and pulse a few times)
-In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and water until smooth.
-Bring it to a boil and stir until thickened.
-Stir in the mashed strawberries and remove from the heat.
-Stir in lemon juice the transfer to a small bowl.
-Refrigerate until chilled.

Let the cake and strawberry sauce cool before you assemble the cake.


Cool Whip Frosting
Large Cool Whip (thawed)
1 package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold milk
Strawberry Sauce to taste

-Mix pudding, milk and powdered sugar with mixer for about a minute until creamy.
-Fold in cool whip and some Strawberry Sauce (not much, just until it’s a slight pinkish color.

Now it’s time to assemble!

-Spread enough Strawberry Sauce to cover the first layer of cake, and then spread some Cool Whip Icing on top of that
-After you carefully add the next layer of cake, spread more Strawberry Sauce on top.
-Now spread the Cool Whip Icing over the entire cake.
-Top the cake with thinly sliced fresh strawberries (Don’t add the fresh strawberries until soon before you serve the cake)




Enjoy!