Green Thumb Sunday

OK, so maybe it's more like Green Fabric Sunday, lol. I volunteered my mom & I to make 25 quilt blocks for a raffle quilt. What was I thinking??? I am a miniature quilter. Mom is a good sport.

The title isn't completely wrong. I do have flower photos to share. This is the bouquet that Jerry sent me on Monday and these photos were taken Saturday. They are holding up remarkably well. The stargazer lillies continue to fill our house with a floral scent.

Daisey Says "Happy Valentine's Day"

I made cupcakes for Jerry & I take to our coworkers today. Here's a pictorial of the process a.k.a "How To Dress A Cupcake":

Assembled ingredients and supplies

Used a boxed cake mix because...................

I'm not dealing with that red dye in red velvet cake! Did it once and ruined a top. I remember there was a time when I wouldn't use a hand mixer, I always used a wooden spoon. Now I wonder WHY????

Sloppy but ready for a 350 degree oven

Nekked cupcakes out of the oven and cooling. They say, "get me some clothes, baby it's cold otuside". They are so embarrassed to be photoed without clothes they are bright red!

Haven't had my cake decorating tips out in years. I had to wash them all because some bottles of coloring had broken and they were covered in dyes. Here they are drying - my little tip forrest :)

For the frosting I brought out the big-boy mixer. There were so many different cream cheese frosting recipes online that I ended up making something 'in between". Two 8oz packages of cream cheese, two stick of butter (= 1 cup), 3 cups of sifted powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Yup, I said sifted powedered sugar. The Kitchenaid did the rest. Took a while to get it completely smooth.

Scooped it into a frosting bag/tube thingy and away we go............. (the first go round is neat but when you have to refill it things get messy(

Whew, no longer nekked, now they are cupcakes in their underware ;)

Time for a little dressing. I choose sprinkles and sixletts.

All dressed up. Now just a few accessories and they will be ready to go!

Decided the best way to transport them was to slip them into plastic cocktail glasses, kinda like a purse. I figured out how to get them in thbe cups but didn't think ahead on how to get them out, lol.

Now wrapping them in their overcoats.....

Tie off with a knit scarff, ok, a twist tie, and...............

They are ready to travel! By the way, no frosting was injured in these transports. The little plastic glasses protected them. I guess that is my one good idea for the year. I can snooze the rest of the year, lol.

Wreath-over

I've been hanging the same rose wreaths for Valentines day for several years now and it was time for a change. I'm not sure if they were getting tired looking or if I was just getting tired of looking at them. I decided that instead of buying new I would do a makeover!

My rose wreaths before the transformation. Nothing wrong with them, just have been looking at them year after year. I repaired a couple places where the silk roses were coming loose from the twig wreath and then it was on to the fun stuff.

I spent $4 at the dollar store for 4 packages of the heart picks - I wasn't sure which I would use so I bought pink flocked and red glitter hearts, each in two sizes. I spent $2.99 at Michael's for the ribbon which also has red glitter hearts on a background of pink. How perfect that the picks and the ribbon found each other! Also assembled my glue gun, glue sticks, floral wire, and craft scissors.

I cut the picks down to a manageable size - 2 inch was a little short and 4 inch was too long but if you try a similar I suggest you start with long and widdle down until you find the right size.

Next, added hot glue to the bottom inch or so of each pick. Careful! That glue stings like a son-of-a-gun if you get it on your skin. I still have little scar spots on my finger tips from 15 years ago.

Position the wet glue picks between leaves in areas where you think they will look best. Remember, if a wreath has an area that is a little bare, this is a good place to use something like this, or a bow, to help fill it in. I actually just glued in a few and then decided it best to figure out the ribbon positioning before committing with hot glue.

Casually placed the hearts and the tried out the ribbon in several places. First, the top center. Looks really good but thought perhaps a bit predictable.

Tried it on the side. Different. Because I have double doors and use two wreaths, this would mean also deciding if the bow should on the same side of each wreath or on opposite sides.

Before I tried them out I thought this wreath was going to be a bottom ribbon candidate but when I tested it there I didn't like it at all.

I made a very simple loop bow out of the wire-edged ribbon and secured it in the middle with a long piece of floral wire. No need to worry about a center "knot" on the ribbon or to cover the wire because it will be secured deep into the silk flowers. Placed the bow in the appropriate spot and and tied off the floral wire behind the wreath. Twisted many time, cut to about two inches, and then folded into the wreath twigs.

Last step before hanging was to position the hearts. I mostly used one pink and one red, each in a different size, together. There was a couple with two large or two small but never two fo the same color.

Finally, hung on the door. I couldn't get the red glitter hearts to show in a photo but in "real life" they are easily seen. Then I went on to updating my St. Patrick's day wreaths that I dont really like - those wreaths grow a little every year and some day I will have them how I like them but you will have to wait a while to see those; afterall, Mardi Gras is first!

Our First Valentine's Day...

...as a married couple. I took a beginning cake decorating class at Frederick & Nelsons while living in Seattle. I moved the few supplies with me to Alaska so on our first Valentine I finally went for it and made my sweetie a cake (scanned non digital photo from the 80's). It was 3 layers of cake with raspberry filling between - all from scratch too. Yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day from Eddie, Daisey, and Annie

Happy Valentine's Day

e

This year is the first year that I didn't feel a little excitement toward Valentine's day. This year it just feels commercial. I did present my sweety with some sweets and he brought home some peach roses. They are beautiful. I left little gift bags with candy and heart socks for the team at work. I did all the right things but it just felt like I was buying into commercialism for some reason.

I'm attaching photos of two dogs who recently came into Ratbone - the rescue group I am a volunteer for. Ive probably mentioned I am their pet publicist and I make sure they are represented on Petfinder.com. If you are ever needing a four-legged family member, be sure to consider adoption!

Vickie