Easter Weekend '12

it was another fairly typical spring/summer weekend for the boatmans. a little home repair, a little DIY project, sprucing up he crib a bit and some quality time with our pups and family. we spent the entire easter sunday visiting both sides of our family. we are just blessed beyond measure when it comes to family. our families are so different in many ways, except in the ways that really count. they are so supportive, so loving, so generous and so FUNNY. my sides are still hurting from all the laughs we shared yesterday. it was a good day for the soul. laughter binds us together is a special way. laughing with {and at} each other is all part of being a real family in my book.
i loved this weekend, i hope you enjoyed yours too.

 {la parilla & ice cream date with my family ... look at the cutie pie!!}

 {tandem dog walking & enjoying a sweet summer cocktail with dinner}

 {DIY Ikea hack on a Poang chair and the hubs fixing our window screens}

{trying my hand at 3 mini succulent gardens ... i hope they survive, they're so cute!}

DIY Baby Gifts for my Niece

i am thrilled that i am going to be an aunt again. my little brother and his wife are having their baby girl in october and today family and friends gathered to celebrate her upcoming arrival. as expected, there was much food, much laughter and much love. this sweet baby girl isn't going to know what hit her. there will always be a line a mile long to see her and hold her and rock her and squeeze her. for the record, i am staking my claim at the front of that line. i got dibs people ... are you hearing me?!

anyhow, i digress. my sister-in-law is one of the most amazingly creative people i have ever known. this of course lends itself to her having a fun, quirky, unique style. she has this way about her of turning the most mundane object into the PERFECT thing. something totally and uniquely hers. i am astounded by this talent always. and a little jealous if i'm being frank. it also makes gift giving, shall we say "challenging":)

i decided to embrace some of my own diy talents and try my hand at some special gifts for the shower. i wanted to give her something meaningful and something i hoped she would love. {fingers crossed}. i made a set of adorable, vintage style wooden blocks and a super snuggly baby blanket.

the blocks have been a project i have been looking forward to making. in a creative burst i thought of the idea and have been waiting to gift them to someone! a little nerve-racking in the beginning, but it all panned out. her stamped name on all the patterned paper just makes my heart smile. tons of patterns and colors to keep her interested. i hope.

i can thank my dear granny and mom for teaching me how to crochet a few years ago. i loved the little scalloped corners! they turned out looking like little petals on the ends of the blanket. the heather gray yarn was so soft and beautiful. however, i couldn't resist just a touch of peach with the flowers. peach, not pink. the blanket is under the blocks in the above pics. i think i have a better photo but i couldn't find it. i'll look again.  ** UPDATE ... i found them **

baby grubbs is sure to be loved beyond measure. her parents were literally showered with both love and gifts today. you know there are sometimes when i see my family and i think "geez. am i really related to this pack of loons?" then there are other times, like today, when i look around at a room full of wonderfully different individuals and think "geez. how did i get so lucky to have an incredible family like this?" family is big part of my life and today i felt truly blessed to be a part of one that continues to grow and evolve in ways that none of us could have imagined. i am so very lucky.

DIY: Birthday Cake Pops

The norm in my family is that my wonderful mom makes our birthday cakes.

Reason 1: She loves us and thinks moms should make cakes for their kids.

Reason 2: Her cakes are simply UNBEATABLE. There's no dessert that comes close. It's just not a birthday without one of my mom's cakes. 

This year, I decided since there was a family tragedy happening, that I would attempt my own birthday dessert. Mom was making me one cake for the family celebration, but instead of her making two I choose to make cake pops for my "friend" celebration. I love the look of them, but I always felt a little intimidated by how perfect they always seemed. I am pleased to report that it was a delicious success!! They got rave reviews from the party go-ers and some even took a few for the road. 

I feel I must give two disclaimers for this DIY dessert. First, I needed HELP!! There is no way I could have managed this without a few extra helping hands. There was just too many things that needed to happen. Second, I needed TIME. This is a very easy dessert to make, but boy it takes some serious time. Between the baking and the cooling and the dipping, there is no rushing the process. Make sure you don't wait until the last minute to start this one (like me) because it really does take the joy out of making such a fun treat!

My Inspiration: the QUEEN of Cake Pops ... Bakerella. Check her out - she is amazing!! She also has a super cute how-to book out.

Here are the basic steps:

1: BAKE - I used Vanilla Duncan Hines boxed cake and it worked splendidly. Just pick out the flavor of cake you would like and cook as directed. Two boxes made two 9" x 13" cakes and that translated into about 48 cake pops. I even made them a little larger than normal so it would likely squeeze a few more out if you downsize a bit. 

2: COOL, CUT & CRUMBLE - Make sure the cakes are completely cooled. Cut the sheet cake into quarters. Break each quarter in half and rub the cake pieces together over a mixing bowl and let the cake crumbles fall in. (NOTE: I did one cake at a time and it seemed a bit more manageable.)

3: ICING - I bought a pound of buttercream icing from my local grocery. It was perfect and cut the prep time and cost for this dessert. Take approx. a handful of icing and plop it onto the cake crumbles. Knead the icing into the crumbles until you get an extremely moist constancy on all the crumbles. You should be able to pinch the cake with a fe fingers and it stick together. If its to dry, add more icing sparingly. A little goes a long way here. 

4: ROLL - Roll the icing and cake mixture into small balls. I have seen them done in bite size portions, but mine were more like 2 or 3 bite sized. I was shooting for meatballs size. Place the cake balls on a baking sheet or pan with a layer of wax paper. Place into the freezer for 15-30 minutes to chill. You don't want them to be fully frozen!

5: MELTING ROUND 1 - Now it's time to melt the chocolate - using bakers chips or bark in any color or flavor of your choosing. Hobby Lobby had a great selection of colors if you were trying to match a theme. I just went for your basic vanilla and milk chocolate. Melt chocolate in a double boiler if you have one. I don't so I used a glass pyrex bowl in a sauce pan filled with approx. 3 inches of water. You can also heat in the microwave but BEWARE that it is very easy to scorch the chocolate this way. 

For this step you only need a little chocolate melted. You are just going to be using a small amount on the tip of your lollipop stick. You are not coating the whole ball yet. 

6: DIP STICKS - Take out your lollipop sticks (also purchased at Hobby Lobby in packs of 50). Remove your cake balls from the freezer. Cake balls can remain on the same pan because they are going back into the freezer. Dip the sticks into the chocolate, only about a 1/2 inch of the stick, and then place in the dipped end into the center of the cake ball. Try to push the stick about half-way through the ball, not all the way through. Once all the sticks are in, put the pan back into the freezer for about 10 minutes to let the chocolate dry. This process will help keep your cake pops from sliding off the stick. 

7: MELTING ROUND 2 - Use the same process as Step 5 to melt the remainder of your chocolate. The bowl you choose to melt the chocolate in needs to be deep enough for you to submerge the entire cake ball into the chocolate. This gives you a more uniform coating. 

8: DIP BALLS - Remove the cake ball from the freezer and chocolate from the stove top. I kept my chocolate in the warm water so it wouldn't harden during the process. I just set the sauce pan on a trivet and it worked like a charm.  One at a time dip the cake balls into the chocolate. There will be excess that need to gently be removed. Very gently tap the stick on the edge of the pan while slowly turning the stick to let the excess drip off evenly. Whatever works for you here ... just be gentle. I flicked a cake ball right into my chocolate and had to fish it out. Ooopps. Don't worry, I ate him so he didn't go to waste. 

** sorry that i don't have pictures of this step, my hands were really busy!!**

9: DECORATING - The possibilities here are endless. I just used what I had on hand - milk chocolate chips, heath bar crumbles and sprinkles. I found it helps to have an extra set of hands during this process.  If you want your topping to stick firmly it needs to be sprinkled as quickly as you can after the dipping process. You can also do a drizzle of a contrasting color of chocolate (super cute!) or not decoration at all. I also got kind of crazy and rolled some of the chocolate chips and heath into the cake balls (step 4) prior to dipping. It was like an extra little surprise inside!

10: SERVE - I opted for tray service for my first attempt. It was easy to organize and easy for guest to pick which pop they wanted. I think they were adorable and tasty. Since it was my birthday treat ... I guess that's all that matters!

Here is the BEAUTIFUL 30th Birthday Cake that my mom made. It was a scrumptious, 8-layer chocolate cake with her famous buttercream icing. She choose the sweet cherry blossom decoration. I loved it. Thanks mom. 

DIY Feature

My DIY jewelry organizer was featured on Chic Technique!

Thanks for the shout out.

The Green & Gold GOTTA GO!

At my house there always seems to be a few lingering home improvement projects that never quite make it to the "take-action" phase. One such project has been plaguing me day after day. Our front door and shutters = UGLY. There is nothing functionally wrong with either, but aesthetically speaking ... really not our style. I take full responsibility for the fact that this has gone unaddressed for so long, but NO MORE I SAY, NO MORE!! After pricing out what it would cost to replace and suffering a hefty slap of sticker shock, I opted for a trusty stand by ... a good coat of fresh paint. As with most projects, the first stoke is the hardest. Especially when, in a moment of boldness (or insanity?) I chose black as the new color scheme. WHAT?! That's right I said it. The weather was gorgeous, so I turned on the ole' boom box, wielded my paint brush and spent the day painting.



I opted to tape-off rather than take-off the shutters. It saved a ton of time and I didn't have to worry about banging up the new paint job on the install.






Removing the disgusting kick plate and sanding was the hardest part. I made sure to sand every corner and groove since I was painting over the door, molding and all the trim. I used a paint brush for the tight spots and corners, but the to make a nice smooth coat overall I used a 4" foam roller.

I even took down the curtains from the side windows and installed some vinyl "frosting". It provides even more privacy, lets in more light and looks better from the inside and outside. *Side note: If you have never installed this stuff ... it is absolutely a two person job. Having an extra set of hands makes a huge difference in the quality of the final product. Let's just say it took a few tries to get this portion of the project right!

So there you have it. Out with the green & gold gross and in with the bold black. I am so relieved to have this project off the docket and now I don't mind being greeted by my front door when I come home!

Into the closet

After weeks of watching HGTV and seeing all of the inspiring projects, my home "wish list" is growing. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how many projects there are to do when you own a home. The list is truly never ending. I must say, Scott & I are pretty handy when it comes to do-it-yourself projects which is nice, except we never seem to have enough time to embark on big time consuming projects.
We've been having closet problems for awhile now and finally decided to bite the bullet & set things right. Strip out the old hardware and shelving - patch - prime - sand - paint - change light fixture - hang new storage system - adjust - fill with goodies and VIOLA!! It feels like a fresh, organized start & I love it. So excited about the new closet (the shoe bins are my favorite addition!).

Sister-ly Inspiration

My sister Christy is wonderful in so many ways. I am constantly fascinated by her funky style and innovative solutions to common problems. Jewelry organization is something that is frustrating for me. I love some of the pieces that I've collected over the years, but I never had a great way to store them. Tangled necklaces and separated earring sets are just not fun. Her recent blog idea was the PERFECT solution to my pesky problem. My version isn't as adorable as her artichoke fabric covered version, but it does the job. THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRISTY!!

Basic formula: bulletin board + ribbon + decorative tacks + cup hooks + fabric (optional) = fun & functional jewelry organization!!!