Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Happy Halloween

Halloween is tomorrow. 
I hope you are ready.








I loved trick or treating as a kid.
I guess the tradition wasn't that old when I was born. 
I love seeing the kids in my neighborhood in costume. 
They are so cute.
Have a fun and spooky evening. 

Sprinkled with treats for the goblins,
Katie







Sunday, October 28, 2012

Pumpkin Layer Cake

Pumpkin Layer Cake 
It was farm week at school.
I usually dress up as a farmer and ride in on a John Deere Gator. We build a scarecrow and cut open a pumpkin. It is so cute watching the little ones smell the seeds  and goop inside.
This year I decided to do a pie pumpkin. I have wanted to make my own pie filling for a while.

I have been intrigued by the pumpkin 
roll recipe I have seen floating around the internet.
But!
I was not excited about a making a
 jelly roll cake.
I think I tried it once many years ago and it didn't roll.
 I knew I could handle a layer cake.
So I brought the pumpkin home and researched how to cook it.
I used my old Joy Of Cooking cookbook.

Cooked pumpkin
Cut a pie pumpkin  in half.
Scoop out seeds and clean out pumpkin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour until tender.
Allow pumpkin to cool and scoop out the pulp.
You can run the pulp through the food processor to puree.

Layer Cake

2/3 cup pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Mix pumpkin, eggs and sugar.
Add flour and other dry ingredients.
Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch cake pans.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
The layers will only be about an inch high.
Allow layers to cool.

Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting
4 oz of cream cheese softened
1/4 cup butter
11/2 cups powdered sugar
A dollop of half and half until frosting is desired consistency. 
Frost in between layers and on the top.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on the sides.
The cake came out beautifully.
I cut a piece for me. 
Bill was skeptical but he took a bite.
He liked it.
Mr. Bill doesn't like pumpkin anything, ever!
He said it didn't taste like a can.

I loved it. 

I love the cream cheese frosting.
The pumpkin cake was moist and delicious.
I wasn't sure it was going to be after I realized that the cake had no butter or oil.
Did you notice that this cake isn't orange?
I have no idea why. 
I froze the rest of the pumpkin. I am either going to make a pie or  two more cakes.
I think I will try a pie. 
Sprinkled with pumpkin and powdered sugar,
Katie 
Linking with,
DebbieDoos  
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
Savvy Southern Style 
Between Naps on the Porch

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Lime Green and White Pumpkins


 I changed my fall decor after we got the cabinets painted. 
I have wanted a white kitchen for so long, I didn't really want to put  too much orange in the finished space. 
I just got rid of orange oak cabinets so I didn't want to add orange back in.
This season I have been drawn time and time again to green and neutrals. 
I found these green leaves at Tom Thumb.
 I love them. 
A lovely chartreuse.

The leaves  don't typically change color in our neck of the woods until November.
This shade of green is a little out of the norm for me and since the leaves are still green outside, I think they are perfect.
I love using natural elements in my decorating.


I have paired the leaves with some white pumpkins. 
I know they are all the rage, but I never noticed them in the store until this year.

I love these peach colored roses and white pumpkins.

I went on a quest and spray painted some of my older ceramic, wood and resin pumpkins white.






Nothing feels overdone.
I put some dried hydrangeas with some white pumpkins. 
I've sprinkled a few burlap pumpkins in the mix, just to change it up a little.



My sister in law and I each made a burlap memory board. 
I filled mine with vintage postcards and a picture of Rebekah at the pumpkin patch. 
She was about 5 at the time.
I am crazy about vintage postcards 
This one of the birch trees and the canoe is just so cute.

 I bought this sweet fellow off of eBay.

Finally I will show off my first painted sign. 
I saw this craft on Pinterest done by 
Sweet Something Design.
I had a fun Sunday afternoon painting. It isn't perfect but I love how it turned out. 
I love how the house feels decorated for fall but not decorated, you know what I mean?  
Sprinkled with neutrals and green,
Katie
Linking with,  
 Savvy Southern Style  
The Brambleberry Cottage 
French Country Cottage  
Debbie Doos Power of Pinterest Party




  



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Brass Chandelier Makeover


I wasn't completely happy with the 
French looking chandelier in the kitchen. 
I liked it but the scale was off.  

I really needed a five arm 
fixture instead of a 3 arm. 
I wanted something I could transform with
spray paint and crystals. 
You can read about  my dining fixture here.
I went to one of my favorite junky chandelier stores. 

They had about 5 blingy, brass, 90s fixtures to choose from at the Re-Store. They had some nine arm chandeliers but that would have been too big.
They had some 3 arm lanterns.
I sort of wanted a lantern but I went more traditional and classic. 
I found one 90s fixture that was sturdy and it had 5 lights. 
None of the arms were bent.


It had good bones and some detail that I thought would look cute ORB.


I stopped by Lowes on my way home and got a package of long crystals and new candle covers. I planned to recycle the crystals off of the old one. The whole thing only cost $35.00.
I hung it out in the yard. 


I did many light coats with Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic from Rust-Oleum. 
I didn't want drips.



I took the big ball thing off of the bottom. 


I was able to put a new plate and finial in place of the ball. 
The other two fixtures in the room were a little on the brown side of bronze. 
They didn't match anymore.
 I didn't want to take them down and possibly mark up my new ceiling, 
so I sprayed the Rust-Oleum on to a piece of paper and dabbed it on the fixtures with a brush. 




It took some time but now they are more black than brown.


The scale is correct.

Brass Chandelier Makeover
It provides more light


and adds some sparkle.


I love it with the newly painted cabinets.

Thanks for stopping by.