Rainbow Cake

Today was Lucy's third birthday, and I REALLY wanted to make a rainbow cake for her because I've seen so many seriously cute pictures of them online. The problem is, I don't know much about baking and/or cake decorating. Fortunately for me, my neighbor, Christine is great at it! She volunteered to help me make the toddler cake of my dreams (ok... so she basically did the whole thing, but I learned a whole lot watching her!).

First, she mixed one white box cake mix according the directions (you can certainly make it from scratch, but it saves a ton of time using a box mix), then weighed it and divided it by six. Using that number, she weighed out six equal portions of batter for the six layers, then put them into six bowls. Then we used gel dyes (not food coloring) to make the colors really saturated.

She baked each layer for nine minutes, then let them cool and started stacking them up with a layer of frosting in between.

I thought it would be really pretty and fun to put dum dums on the cake since Lucy is a big fan of lollipops. Christine had the idea to make a border all the way around the bottom, and I thought it would look pretty to do a graduated color pattern.

We left the sticks attached to the dum dums and just pushed them into the cake. Isn't it pretty?

Here's the top view:

Look how excited she is!

Ta Da!

It was SUPER sugary, but we made quite a dent in it.

A Place for my Little One

We're all ready for you, my Love! Come stay with us!

My wonderful husband took all of these beautiful photos. He's the best!

Nora's Room

Boy, have I been nesting! I've had so much fun re-imagining the nursery for Nora (due in less than three weeks!). As you know, I updated the canopy over the crib, and then I had a moment of brilliance! I remembered that we had a big canvas in the office covered with a fabric the same color as the new canopy. I moved it into the nursery just to see if it worked, and it was PERFECT. I love it when things work out that way.

BUT, with that new, bold fabric in the mix, I had to change out the crib skirt. I decided to make my own from a cute white and blue polka dot fabric.

And just to make it extra adorable, I added a little blue pom pom trim.

Then I had to figure out what to do with the curtains. They were originally floor-length, but with the new dresser under the window, I needed some shorter ones.

So, I cut and hemmed the existing curtains, but they were just too plain. Because of this, I decided to liven them up a bit! I hardly had any fabric leftover from the big canvas and the crib skirt, so I had to brainstorm to figure out what would work.

Then I had the idea to make a patchwork strip to sew across the bottom of the curtain, using the few scraps I had, plus a few other coordinating fabric pieces.

I'm sorry the lighting is so funky.

When I get everything hung up on the walls, I'll try to talk my photographer husband into taking some really pretty photos of the room. In the meantime, I hope you'll get at least an idea how it's coming along.

Worth The Wait

I bought this cute little table at a yard sale for $5 almost a year ago.

I've been meaning to do something about the top since I bought it, but I FINALLY made it pretty!

I found some wrapping paper at Target that I knew would be perfect. I had Dave pour on the epoxy (sorry I forgot to write down what we used! I got it at hobby lobby next to the craft paints and it came in a box with two little bottles of chemicals to mix together). I figured it wasn't a good idea for this pregnant lady to do it since it had all sorts of warnings on the box about toxins.

And here it is!

Much improved.

Revamp

My thoughtful mother-in-law found this ikea bed canopy at a yard sale almost two years ago for Lucy's room.

While I really like it, I wanted to change it up a bit for Nora's new room. I found this sheet of linen scrapbook paper that I've decided to use as the color inspiration for the nursery.

With that in mind, I chose a rust red corduroy (that looks velvety) to alter the canopy. I cut off the old flags.

Then I made a template for my new flags.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out! It's sort-of a cross between between a flower and a circus.

Here it is up close.

Six weeks to go!

Baby Shower Gifts

A friend of mine is having a baby shower for her baby boy who's due next month. I thought about just buying something for her, but I always like to give handmade gifts when I can.

So, this morning I put on a 30-minute show for Lucy (I know... but it works!) and whipped up these cute little burp cloths. This is one of my favorite baby shower gifts to make. They're quick, easy, super cute and one-of-a-kind.

I really love that color green mixed with the blue polka dots. I hope my friend loves them too!

I suppose it's almost time to make a few for myself!

I sewed!

After a long hiatus, I finally put my little sewing machine to work. I made this cute little skirt!

Skirts are a fun alternative to shorts in the summer, and believe me, it's HOT here! Please disregard the mess of toys strewn about our living room :). It's unbelievably hard to get a toddler to hold still and pose for a photo. This was the best I could do.

And here's my little girl. She's growing up so fast! It must almost be time to have another one.

Trees for Lucy

It was so fun to do something crafty after such a long time! I've been brainstorming and collecting inspiration for Lucy's new big girl room, and it's really great to start implementing. I've been seeing lots of birch trees used in design recently, and I totally love the look.

First, I sketched the trees on the wall using a regular pencil.

Then I used pieces of torn painters tape to make the markings in the trees.

I used leftover white latex wall paint from our dining room (I wore a mask and opened the window for all of you who are concerned). At first I was bummed to see how much paint leaked through the tape (curse you textured walls!), but the I realized that it actually looked pretty great.

Here's the final result! It turned out just as I had hoped.

The only problem is that I can't get the pencil off the wall. I thought I could just erase it, but I might have to use the tan paint to cover over it. If you know any cleaning secrets, please pass them on!

Design Consultant

I had the pleasure of pretending to be a design consultant for my friend Christine who is expecting a little boy any day now. It was so fun helping her brainstorm for a boy's nursery!

I looked through the photos I had on file from all my time looking at decorating blogs, as well as from magazines, and came up with a fun cloud theme.

Christine glued the fabric to the cardboard letters, and she also cut out the cloud shapes.
Before:

We used spray starch to stick the clouds to the wall.
After:

Here's a close-up (because I couldn't resist).

Here's what the dresser wall looked like before:

And after! So much happier :)

I didn't want to overdo it, so we kept the closet wall fairly simple. Before:

I love the balloons in this shot!

It might be time to start focusing on the nursery for a certain little Heller baby girl who will be arriving sooner than I think!

Not-So-Exciting Garden Update

So... our little garden is barely hanging on, while our neighbors garden is practically bursting at the seams with produce. Here's the lesson: plant your garden in YOUR OWN yard!
Here's some spinach that we planted from seed.

Here are our carrots (planted from seed), growing at a snail's pace.

Broccoli..

And herbs.

I've been intending to plant some tomatoes and a few other things, but based on the difficulty level of walking down the street to our neighbor's house, I don't think it's worth it. I wish there was an easy way to transfer the whole thing into our yard. Oh well. Live and learn... or if you're one of my plants... slowly die and learn.

New Arrangement

As you will remember... I bought some flowers, and put them in a vase on our mantel in an attempt to make a spring time arrangement. Although I liked a few things about it, I decided that it's just not me.

So then I had to get creative. Thank you for all of your suggestions, because they were the inspiration for my new idea! I spotted these vases in our cabinet and a light bulb went on in my mind.

I went and grabbed a bunch of little green fuzzy ball things out of a vase in my bedroom. I divided them up into the three vases and ta-da!

I also decided to hang the painting instead of leaning it (just for a change-up), and I added two little grasses.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out, and I didn't even have to buy anything.