and the pavement warmed her feet

When I was younger, I wanted to be an author.  I loved to read (still do) and I even wrote a few short stories and had ideas for books that I jotted down.  Every so often, I'll be doing something and begin to narrate for myself as if I were living in a book... 

~if this were a movie, now would be the moment when everything would go out of focus 

before coming back into focus on a new scene~

She took a deep breath before pushing open the glass door.  The almost-summer heat poured into the building, pushing back the cool air.  As the door closed, she looked around.  It was late, the parking lot was empty, just one other woman walking across the pavement to her car.  Quickly, she slipped off her shoes and balanced them on her purse.  The cement sending warmth through her feet and up her legs.  Another deep breath.

The sky was blue and white clouds floated along as she walked to her car.  The warmth and bare feet brought back the familiar feel of summer.  The memories came so fast that there wasn't a singular thought or memory. It was more like an instantaneous experience.  As she stepped from concrete to pavement, the warmth relaxed her.  It hadn't been a hard day, but going home always feels good. The wind pulled at her hair and tugged at her skirt.  A smile crossed her lips. She felt blessed.

Pretty as a Cupcake

From the very beginning, Eric and I knew we wanted cupcakes at our wedding. They'd played a part in throughout our relationship so it was an easy choice.  We also liked that there would be lots of flavors so guests could have their choice of what they wanted.  It also worked out after the wedding because it was much easier for my parents to share the cupcakes that were left after the wedding - and there weren't many left at all.

I poured over pictures of cupcake displays.  After some time, I decided to use pillar candlestick holders to display the flavors so our guests could know which cupcake they were choosing.  My mom and I started taking inventory of candlesticks we already had on hand.  Then, we came across these at Gordman's:

They ranged in price from $3-$7 and there were eight of them in three different heights.  We looked past the unattractive colors and saw the potential!

I decided to try stripping them of the paint (because there were many, many layers of thick paint) as opposed to sanding (because my assumption was that would take much longer.  By far, this was the project that took the most time and elbow grease.  It also made the biggest mess.

It got gross when we got to the black paint on the bottom but after several hours of work, we got the paint off!

Originally, I tried spray painting, but the paint just ran off. Instead, I painted them cream with a brush and we added scrapbook paper to the tops.

We still needed a way to display the larger amount of cupcakes though. I had seen some very cool displays online and didn't want to have the cupcakes just sitting on the table. Looking through prices, all the cupcake displays were going to cost more than we wanted to spend.  With just a quick search, cupcake displays in the size we needed started around $40.

One day, I went to a movie with a friend and noticed the Gordman's near the theater was going out of business.  I decided to stop in.  There, on the now defunct jewelry counter were acrylic stands - exactly what I wanted for cupcake displays!  They were $10-$15 each and some were in pretty poor shape, but I ended up with three large displays for only $35!

My mom covered each one with scrapbook paper - the two smaller ones had checkered paper and the larger one had fleur-de-lis. She did an amazing job!  Between the paper and the cupcakes, they ended up looking awesome!

Pinished Projects - Magnificent Manual Binder

I don't know about you, but I tend to be a paper keeper.  I keep instruction manuals, receipts, warning labels...anything that has to do with the products I have.  Previously, I would keep all of these in a hanging folder in a black file holder where I kept all my paperwork. If I did need something, I had to dig through all the papers.

After the wedding, we had a lot of paperwork, manuals and registration info.  It needed to be organized so when I came across a manual binder idea on Pinterest, I knew I needed one!

Manual Binder

Original Pin     Binder creator: Desiring Virtue

 This is how I was storing everything - a green file folder and a bag. Yeah, not the best.  I went to Sam's Club and purchased two three inch binders and a huge box of plastic sleeves. It was so much cheaper and now I have lots of them for future use!

First, I got all the different brands separated out so that similar products could be stored in the same sleeve or at least next to each other.  While going through, I was able to toss a lot of stuff because it was for limited warranties or items I no longer had.  Having everything in this folder will make it much easier to know when warranties have expired or to find paperwork if I need to claim a warranty.

My type-A personality came out a bit as I was doing this.  Once I start organizing, I sometimes get carried away.  I printed out labels for each item with the brand and item on it.  This has already come in handy!  I was looking for instructions the other day and was able to flip through the corners to find what I wanted. (It might also be alphabetical...)  I also divided them, using a piece of paper printed with the category name.  These are the categories I chose.

• Kitchen Supplies
• Electronics
• Products

Once we moved, I had a few more things to add.  This actually motivated me to send off product registrations - something I've never done.

Yea for being organized! :)

Use the grill, the, the, the grill!

As with most, this post is long overdue.  The weather was gorgeous a few weeks back and so we used our grill.  It was delicious!

That's venison wrapped in steak. It's a deer Eric got.

 I wanted to make a summery dessert to go with our summery meal.  Angel-food with strawberries.  I used  a box to make the cake.  To get the strawberries nice and juicy, I cut them up, microwaved them for just a few seconds and then stirred in some sugar.

I got these cute little guys in the clearance aisle at Target years ago.  This was my first time using them and they worked great!  We also ended up with two good sized loaves as well.  I didn't realize how much Angel-food Cake expands.

What's a meal you enjoy during the summer?

Pinished Projects: Chocolate Valentine's Box

I can't believe I didn't blog about this!  A Pinterest project that is not a recipe! :)

I had a lot of fun making this Valentine's Chocolate Box.  It actually was a pretty simple pattern to follow and it was fun making the chocolates unique.  I made it for work and the toddlers had a lot of fun playing with it.  Since I wanted it to be washable, I didn't put in the cardboard.  I also just made the lid a single layer.

Crocheted Valentine's Chocolates

Original Pin     Pattern From: Fave Crafts

I thought there needed to be an oval chocolate, so I made a pattern for one.  I've never written a pattern like this before.  I wrote it while making the first oval then followed it to make the second and it worked out.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the oval and since I left it behind at work, I won't have one unless I become motivated to make another.  We'll see how that goes... ;)

Oval Chocolates
(Make 1 CA with CF flower and CC leaves; 1 CF with CB flower; 1 CA with CB chain st tic tac toe embroidery)

1. With main color, ch 2.
2. Rnd 1: 6 Sc in 2nd ch from hook; do not join but work in continuous rnds.
3. Rnd 2: 2 Sc in each sc around – 12 sc.
4. Rnd 3: 3 Sc in next 3 sc, (hdc, dc, tr) in next sc, (dc, hdc) in next sc, 4 sc in next sc in next sc, (hdc, dc, tr) in next sc, (dc, hdc) in next sc, sc in next sc – 18 sc.
5. Rnd 4: Sc in back lps only of each sc around.
6. Rnds 5-6: Sc in both lps of each sc around.
7. Rnd 7: Sc in next 4 sc, dec over next 3 sc, Sc in next 6 sc, dec over next  sc, sc in next 2 sc – 14 sc. Stuff lightly.
8. Rnd 9: [Dec over next 2 sc] 7 times. Fasten off leaving a 6” end. Weave end through rem sc and draw up firmly; fasten securely.
9. Bottom Edge: Join main color to rem lps of Rnd 4; sl st in each lp around. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

You can find other fun things to crochet on my "I use a hook" board.  Do you have a fun project you made from Pinterest?  Please, share!

Make it Rhyme

Something fun I had a lot of fun doing was coming up with rhymes for just about every sign we had.  My inspiration was from the popular "Pick a seat and not a side" sign going around on Pinterest.  I know it doesn't rhyme, but it got me thinking.

I knew for a long time that I really wanted to switch the seating up for our family.  It has always bothered me that family and friends look at the back of the one they are there for.  I know it's representative because you are sitting on the side of the person you are related to or were friends with first, but I think that's silly.  I wanted to come up with a fun and simple way to let people know where to sit.  It was while coming up with this sign, I started to rhyme other signs...and they just continued to come.  Well, some were easier than others.  :)

This was by a basket of activities set out for little ones during the ceremony

This was set out on our candy buffet - the third Saturday in October is Sweetest Day!
I decided to play it up on our wedding day

Some shots of the signs in action!

"For a special wedding favor, snag some treats to savor later!"

A polite way to ask our guests to wait for us to cut our cake before enjoying the cupcakes
"Tempting aren't they? And what a sight?
But we kindly ask that you wait for the bride and groom to take the first bite."

Probably one of my favorites:
"We're so grateful that you're here to celebrate and bring good cheer!"

The little bell is actually porcelain spray-painted gunmetal.
Someone did ring it at our wedding and I got so excited! 

We had two larger signs that didn't have a rhyme to go with them.  This was our schedule for the wedding. I've often wondered what was going to happen next so we put out a schedule (without times so we could have flexibility) so our guests could know what was going to happen.

Our menu. Kinda hard to make that rhyme.  We had three sliders and each had a matching salad - American, Mexican and Asian.

This is the verse we chose for our heritage table:

All of the frames were purchased from Home Goods or the clearance section at Michael's.  Home Goods is a great place to look for wedding items!  We found all of our glass pieces there as well.  All of the frames were spray painted with a semi-gloss black.  I'm not an expert spray painter, but if I could go back, I would have used a primer paint fir and looking through blogs of those who do know how to spray paint.  It took a lot of coats because it kept running off and chipped easily (thankfully, that was after the wedding).  For the larger pictures, we used a large piece of craft paper from Michael's as the backgrounds. There were lots of colors and we were able to get several backgrounds from one piece.

The best part is, these are now serving double duty by hanging up in our home!

What's something you had fun doing for your wedding to make it uniquely yours?

The Order of Cadbury Eggs

"Attention! Attention!" said Ms. Ermagard to begin the third annual meeting of the order of Cadbury Eggs.  They meet once a year to celebrate the wonderfulness that is a Cadbury Egg.  Everyone found their seats and settled in waiting for the meeting to begin.

"Thank you everyone for joining us today. We are excited to see some new faces in the crowd. Before we officially begin, I need to bring something to your attention.  It appears that this year, our dearly loved Cadbury eggs have begun to meet with rather unfortunate ends.  Instead of enjoying the eggs whole, people are chopping them up, melting them or creating their own! It's rather disturbing." Looking around the room, she made eye contact with several people but noticed others quickly glanced away as her eyes scanned by them.  Taking a deep breath she said, "However, I must admit, some of the results are rather...delicious." Frenzy whispers were heard in the room.  While some looked shocked others looked relieved.  If Ermagard enjoyed these new treats, why can't you?

Cadbury Egg Cookie Cake Bars

Original Pin     Recipe From: Picky Palate

A friend at work loves Cadbury Eggs so I made these for her birthday.  Then I had to make them again for another friends birthday because the were amazing!  You get a soft, cookie like texture but the Eggs turn into something akin to caramel. Yum!

Hints: 

• As you chop up the Cadbury Eggs, spread them out on the cutting board so they don't clump together.
• Divide the chopped up eggs in half and place on half onto the pan before spreading the dough, that way, the eggs are spread more evenly.
• It's not easy to spread the dough - the second time I put it in dollops around the pan and that made it a little easier.