A Hartland Sign

So, loooooooooooooong ago I worked on this project, hung it up and forgot to tell you all about it!

I wanted something to go over my sink in the kitchen so I went out to our pile of wood and picked a piece out that would fit. I decided to go with the name of our blog and make it look like the title on the homepage. Being free handed, I don't think it turned out too bad! Check it out :)

I used the dark walnut stain from Minwax.

Yes, we still need to tile our back splash (a summer project for sure) 

An official sign for the Hartland :)

Cheeseburger in paradise

Well people... I didn't know that I could make a cheeseburger cake... but I did. First let me explain why I did this crazy cake. This year marked 3 years that my grandpa went to his heavenly home. Every year, we eat a cheeseburger in memory of him (with extra pickle) since it was one of his favorites and one of his last meals. My nanny (aka Graham Cracka-- yeah shes cool like that) celebrates her birthday in May and we decided to get her a grill and have a burger themed party! I was in charge of the cake so, I decided on making it epic this year... I mean, why not?!

While I am no expert on the art of cake making, I thought it would be fun to document my first artsy cake and explain how to do it in case anyone out there needs to make one. It was a big cake y'all so you could totally cut the "burger" in half and tweak this how you like (add onions or bacon?)

Anyway, here is my the process for all to see!

My ingredients:

-1 yellow cake mix (makes two small rounds)

-1 Devils Food cake mix (filled up the pan more and made cupcakes with the rest)

-eggs/oil/water for the cakes

-Food coloring

-Sugar cookies

-2 Cans whipped icing (one for coloring and one for mixing the caramel icing for the buns)

 (I don't suggest the whipped icing-- go homemade if you can! It was too runny)

-Caramel flavor packet

-Green cookie gel (suggest doing it with piping and different icing, this was also too runny)

So, cake basics-- let it cool completely before icing (do a crumb coat and add that icing layer on the top so the cake doesn't slip off the next layer)

Next add your green goop aka lettuce in this example, and plop the burger on top of that. My favorite part was the cheese (see how I mixed colors below) I thought it looked like the melted ball park nacho cheese, which is one of my favorites to get at a ball game. Anyway,. I made a star pattern so the cheese was hanging at 5 different spots. That also counted as my icing layer.

Pop the sugar cookies in the oven while you are doing the cheese. Also, taste test the cookies just to make sure no one will get sick. A crucial step. Gotta be safe.

After the cookies cooled, I did red icing layer for "ketchup" and used the same icing for the cookie tomato. The green cookie is supposed to be pickles. I wish they would have looked better but I was working with what I had :) You could try fondant for the toppings if you'd like. Shaping fondant I think would help make it more realistic.

Plop the bun on top, icing it with the caramel icing and add your white sesame seeds. DONE!

My Graham Cracker loved her cake :) 

And that is how a cheeseburger cake is made (sorta...)

And I'm linking up over on the Happy Housie & Homecoming Blog  this week! Go check out all the awesome projects :)

Favorite Things Friday

Happy Friday! :)

It's Favorite Things Friday (I know, I've slacked... gosh story of my life)

Here are a few of my favorites I've seen lately...

Favorite Beach House (flowers/cabinet/doorknob=LOVE)

Favorite Small Kitchen Reno

Favorite Quilt Pattern

Favorite Card Catalog/dresser

Favorite Quote/Verse

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Rug,table & wreath-DONE!

Hi, how yall doin'?!
It's been a while since I posted.. #sorrynotsorry #kindasorry #apparentlyihavereaders #thankssororitysistersforreading! Ok, enough hash tags cause that's a little annoying.. but do secretly love them.

Anyway, we have actually gotten some stuff done around here! Surprised? Yeah, me too. Here we go!

OH MY STARS, WE FINALLY GOT A RUG!

If any of you talk to me on the regular, you know I have been  whining  wanting a rug to complete our living room for about 6 months (we have been in the house a year almost! WHAT?!) We've always had more important things to pay for like those things called bills, propane and loans. fun. However, one weekend after a pay day we went to World Market and scored the one I had been eyeing for $139.99 (World Market member {woot!} scored me $10 off!). It's an 7x9 jute rug that actually feels pretty good on bare feet. (please disregard the mess!)

I think it makes the room more cozy. I love my floors but goodness it sounded like a warehouse without any sound buffer. Its still not perfect in there, but we are making progress. I have a list going for every room in the house...here are the main things I still want to add to the living room:

1. Sofa table with some basket storage-- maybe a DIY
2. Coffee table that my dad and I will DIY (kind of like this)
3. A new couch (I really would love a sectional. I don't LOVE my couch, I just like it)
4. I gotta do something on that "entry wall" below, but I'm fresh out of ideas...

5. Turn current coffee table into a bench for under the window, extra seating
6. Screen for the fire place
7. Hang art, like everywhere.
8. Paint the back of the front door (yes its still ugly...)

Our next project... the $5 Goodwill coffee table Tyler has had since he moved here 3+ years ago...

The before:

And June posing with the old table on her 1 year birthday :)

This is just temporary but the top was so beat up (see above) I couldn't look at it anymore. It's a nice little upgrade for the space. 

On to the next completed project--- a wreath!

I love having a wreath up year round. I worked on a cupcake liner wreath with my mom a few weekends back and its was so cute...

However, moms are always right when they say "it shouldn't stay outside cause it will warp when the first rain comes through..." womp womp. Next year, I'll do it again and leave it inside. So, I created another spring wreath after that failed. I took it outside on the front porch and enjoyed the day and my little project.. love days where I can do that! #mykindoffun

another hash tag.. sorry.

My finished DIY wreath that is lasting the rain storms:

Hope you all enjoyed the updates! Let me know what you think!

I'll be back with a few more posts this week :)