Cakes, Cakes, Cakes!

This past Saturday, my friend Jess and I had the opportunity to attend the National Capitol Area Cake Show.  We weren’t really sure what we were getting in to or what to expect, so we checked our expectations at the door and walked into a very crowded convention center.  There were bakers, vendors, classes and demonstrations, displays, and one of those TLC Cake Challenges going on {but we only had general admission tickets, so we didn’t see it}. 

And then there were cakes, cakes, and more cakes!

The details were insane…

{This was of my favorites—the ice bucket is the cake, the ice and the bottles are made of sugar.  Wouldn’t this make an awesome Groom’s cake??}

And there were some that we weren’t sure were cake show worthy… I’m pretty sure I could’ve submitted these!

{Any guesses on what exactly these are?}

{I was all set to make fun of this one until I realized I was on the “Youth” aisle…my bad!}

And then…drum roll please… The cupcakes!

How cute is this calendar of cupcakes??  I would love to spend a Saturday taking an obscene amount of time to make cupcakes like these.  It’s time I put my “What’s New, Cupcake?” to good use!

And lastly {Are you hungry yet?}, I spied a few cakes that reminded me of friends…

Amy, this is for you!

Perhaps this bears resemblance to the Duvall farm, Cora?

And the top of this one made me think of Ashley, who was in town running the National Half Marathon on Saturday.

Was that enough pictures for you??  {Thank God I use Windows Live Writer… Anytime I upload a bunch of pictures, I shudder in remembrance of the pain that is uploading pictures on Blogger.} 

I consider myself sufficiently inspired now!  I’ve never worked with fondant before and I know not everyone is in love with the taste, but Jess and I decided we have enough time to try our hands at it in time to make something fancy for her 30th birthday next year…  We’ll let you know how it goes!

Happy Tuesday!

Crafty CFriday and a Giveaway Winner

Remember that pile of junk Cora and I collected last month?  I shared some of my “afters” a few weeks ago and just recently got around to finishing up another project.  So just to jog your memory…

You see that tray?  That’s my latest victim…

Pretty, right?  I taped over the copper corners to prepare for painting.

There’s nothing wrong with mixing Firestarters, aerosol cans, and flammable paint, right?  We like to pay extra attention to safety around here…

Next, I printed this beautiful image off of Graphics Fairy and cut it out.

Here comes the part where I forgot to take pictures so you’ll have to use your imagination…

After several coats of spray paint, I set out to back track all of my hard work and sanded down the tray, focusing on the edges and corners. 

Once it was sufficiently distressed, I applied the paper image to the tray using Mod Podge {for the first time ever- can you believe I’d never used Mod Podge?!} and quickly learned a few valuable lessons:

1. When trying to make something look old and antiqued, glossy Mod Podge is not the way to go.  Should have used matte.

2. The Mod Podge seals the paper to the woods in exactly the way the paper looks.  This might sound obvious, but I quickly realized I should have messed up the paper (crinkled it, ripped it, etc.) before I applied it to the tray.  This misstep added several steps onto creating the tray I had imagined.

The image was bright, beautiful, and blue with a high gloss sheen.  I wanted dull, damaged, and distressed.  I mixed a bit of white paint and water to white wash the top of the tray to dull the blue.  I sanded again, re-white washed, beat it with a hammer, scraped it up with a flathead screwdriver—anything I could do to beat the crap out of it.

And then I had it!  It was done… I love my shabbed up, vintage French tray!  The same one I found on the side of the curb sittin’ in the rain.

This project took me a little while to finish, but in retrospect it really didn’t need to.  Done right, this is a four step project of painting, sanding, ripping, and Mod Podging.  Now I just have to figure out where to put it…

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Moving on from Crafty CFriday… to FGiveaway FWinner Friday!

I used a random number generator, entered the numbers between 1 and 18 {the number of comments} and it spit out the number…

TWO!

And the 2nd comment belongs to Natalie!!  Congratulations, Natalie!  Not only is she a proud new homeowner, she’s the new owner of these cute plates:

 

 

 

 

 

{Natalie, shoot me an email with your address and I’ll get these to you ASAP!}

Thank you SO much for taking the time to enter the giveaway.  For my first one, I think it was pretty successful and I hope to offer you something great again soon!  I love hearing from all of you and I’m already thinking about my next “Would You Rather?”

Happy Friday!!

‘ello Spring!

{First, thanks to those who entered my first giveaway!  I’ll keep it open until this Friday—it’s not too late to win those cute plates!  Tell your momma, tell your friends.}

Well, I figured since we’re a good two weeks into March…

And today is the official start to spring…

{As announced over the over the sofa…}

I should probably take down these…

Our Christmas cards!

Now, as much as I unabashedly love Christmas, I SWEAR I didn’t keep these up out of some crazy denial that the holidays are over.  They just looked so good on the mirror and I love seeing all of the sweet faces of my friends and family every time I trot down the stairs.  Christmas cards seem to be the last things I take down every year for that reason.

But it was verging on weird, I know.

So when I saw this last Friday, I knew I had to make it to take the place of the cards!  It was adorable, easy, and cheap.  I didn’t bother to make it into a tutorial because Katie did such a good job to begin with.  Why re-invent the wheel, right?

I love it!

I took all of my supplies with me to baby-sit the other night {confession: I still baby-sit from time to time…}—it wasn’t messy and it didn’t take long to finish.  This is a great instant gratification project.

A few things I did differently: I made a 12 in wreath, so this one was a bit bigger and I kept the plastic on (because why not?).  And I went the glue gun route, not the Elmer’s route {it DID take a TON of glue}.

And a few tips if you try this yourself… I wish I had either made this on a green foam wreath or spray painted it green prior.  I had a bit of filling in to do because the straw was showing underneath and if the wreath were green it wouldn’t have been such a big deal.  I also warn you to handle this wreath as little as possible once those peas are on because those suckers come off fairly easily.

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Other than that… We spent Saturday afternoon cleaning out the backyard and preparing the ground for our spring and summer plants.

{Note to self: when one is weeding, it is key that one know the difference between a weed and a plant.}

We braved the insanity that was Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon to stock up on tools and leaf bags.  We ended up filling FIVE huge bags with leaves and weeds.  FIVE.

Do you know how big our back courtyard area is?

This big. {Not big.}  Five 40 gallon bags.

Hopefully it’ll look like that again soon!  I could barely move on Sunday my legs hurt so bad from squatting. 

Sunday was quite a bit cooler so we abandoned our previous motivation to finish the yard for a few post-church errands and lazy movie watching around the house—it was perfect.  We also abandoned Salad Sundays for a healthier meal of brie and wine while we watched the series finale of Big Love and mourned it’s end…

And now it’s a Monday again!  Argh… Here’s to spring’s final arrival!

Feeling Lucky??

I am SO excited to tell you about my first GIVEAWAY!  I was approached by CSN Stores eons ago but due to my inability to respond to an email in a timely fashion  the whole process was really stretched out {Basically, anything that doesn’t result in a fine if I don’t meet a deadline is barely getting' done these days…}.

SO.  Anyway.  Big giveaway.  CSN.

CSN Stores runs about 8 bajillion websites {or 200, to be exact} and I was given the daunting task of picking something out.  I had a super hard time deciding whether to giveaway baking accessories from Cookware.com {hello, cupcakes!} or house décor from AllModern.com and I finally went with house décor.  But the hard decisions weren’t over…

I fell in love with these dishtowels by Fern…

  

And then discovered Thomas Paul pillows…

If you’d seen my closet before and seen the unreasonable number of wide horizontal striped shirts I own, you’d know I’m a sucker for anything nautically inspired.  But these pillows just weren’t within my “free product” range…

So THEN…just as I was becoming overwhelmed…I found these:

And these…

CUTE, right??  So I made my decision and ordered them right away and they were on my doorstep by the end of the week.  I was so excited to see these babies.

I’ll be honest, I was surprised when I first opened them and found that they were… plastic {or melamine if you’re fancy}.  So my idea of hanging them on the wall was quickly abandoned for more practical uses.  These plates are so lightweight, but look ceramic, and are adorable!  The dinner plates {the neutral ones} are 9 inches across—the perfect size, weight, and durability for dinner on the patio {I’m thinking Surf and Turf…}  The coaster plates are 4.5” across—great for portion control and of course, the perfect size for the perfect dessert: a cupcake! 

And have I mentioned they’re dishwasher safe?

It’s supposed to be 75 degrees here tomorrow, we’re pulling out the grill and cleaning up the backyard…I can almost smell summer!  And I can definitely see these plates making a big hit at your first barbeque.

Now, you know I’d love to pull an Oprah and just give these to all of you…But there can only be one winner!  So, if you want me to send these to you, you have to do three things for me.

1. Leave a comment telling me your social security number and mother’s maiden name.

Not Really.

Really though…

1. You have to “like” Barefoot Daydreams on Facebook or become a follower of Barefoot Daydreams here.

2. You have to answer TWO “Would You Rathers….”

A. Would you rather sweat moderately but constantly 24 hours a day all over your body OR have a metal pin in your jaw that constantly picks up talk radio stations?

B. For my next giveaway, would you rather receive another item from CSN Stores OR receive a store credit to CSN Stores?

3. Lastly, leave a comment {you don’t have to have a Gmail account—just click “Comment” below} telling me that you “liked” or “followed” and answering the TWO “Would You Rather” questions…

And that’s it!  I so appreciate reading your blogs and your comments {or hearing from my mom back home that “So-and-so just loves your blog!”} that I’m super excited to give something to YOU.  So enter away!  Good luck!

{You know you think those plates are cute…}

I’m Tired…

I need to learn to say “no.”

Or at least “not now.”

It’s only Monday and I’m already tired.  I’ve been living my weeks just to get to the weekends and even then, checking off one patient after another, one To-Do item after the next, just to get to Saturday, and there’s still not enough time then.  This weekend is already so booked I’m not sure why I’m even looking forward to it.

I haven’t done my Bible study this week.  I was able to see a few friends but I still feel like I have more friendships neglected than I have nourished.  I didn’t finish my book for book club.  I didn’t finish or start any of the projects I’d planned.  My email inbox is ridiculous.  I have 8 trillion family members that I haven’t talked to.  My house is a disaster 80% of the time.  And that darn table still isn’t painted.

I’d like to tell you about the get together I had with some old classmates last week.  I’d like to tell you about a great night out with friends over mexican on Saturday.  Or share the WISE words delivered by my favorite Dick Foth on Sunday {listen to it…you won’t regret it}.  Or the ridiculous restraint I had to show at H & M because I could wear anything that looks like it should be worn on a sailboat.

We could talk about how happy we are that Brad picked Emily…but how I still felt bad for Chantel…and then how Emily seemed WAY less than enthusiastic on the “After the Rose Ceremony.” {For real, what’s the scoop Charlottonians?}  We could mourn over the tragedy in Japan…or the horrific bus accident in New York.  Or laugh about Jimmy Kimmel’s evacuation experience in Bora Bora.

But I’m tired.

Super tired.  And it’s only Monday.  And I have a very long To-Do list…

I’m sorry.  I miss you dudes.

A Season of Preparation

Today marks the beginning of the Lent season—the weeks leading up to and preparing for Easter.  Admittedly, I haven’t been a huge participant in Lent in recent years.  For whatever reason, our church doesn’t place much emphasis on it and I’ve also felt like it became “trendy” to give something up for Lent, even by those not otherwise involved in church {Not to mention, the forsaken item always seemed to be something that would also conveniently result in weight loss}.  I’m not meaning to be judgmental, I just saw it as something popular to do, not something sincere.

I’ve felt convicted in the last few weeks to give something up though.  I was just thinking about it, swirling it around to see how it tasted in my mouth.  Trying to decide what would truly be a sacrifice.  I had to think hard about what I love… Ice cream. TV.  Internet. Tyler {joke}. Diet coke. Coffee. Wine.  Still just swirling it around though…

Come Sunday, our pastor, the one who’d never heard of Lent until seminary, challenged us to take the next three days to examine our hearts in preparation for Lent.

Dang it.

Okay, I’m going to give something up.  I decided my work would suffer without coffee {and my bodily functions might shutdown altogether}.  Wine?  Just not there yet.  Diet coke?  I quiver even typing it.

But the purpose of a sacrifice over Lent is to remind us of the ultimate sacrifice made for us by Jesus.  If He can die on a cross for me, certainly I can abstain from diet coke for six weeks.  It seems miniscule, doesn’t it?

^“4 Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.”

                                   Isaiah 53:4-6

And so it goes… Tomorrow begins… Forty days without the sweet, cold, bubbly effervescence of diet coke on my tongue.  It goes so much deeper than that, though.  It’s a time to prepare myself, examine my heart, to reflect on the fundamental enormity of death on a cross.

{And for Easter, I’m planning a lunch buffet of 64 oz. fountain diet cokes with three straws and unlimited refills.  All are welcome at the table.}

Heather’s Granola

I’m not a big granola person… It tastes great, but it’s always so high calorie that it’s not quite worth it to consume {for me}—I’m getting ready to go to work, not climb a mountain!  But when Heather came to visit a few weeks ago, she brought along a bag of homemade granola and I could not. stop. eating it.  I politely tried a bite after she told me she’d made it and then was sneaking handfuls the rest of the weekend.

So before she left, Heather made sure to give me a lesson in homemade granola-making and I was all ears!  Before we got going, we had to make a quick trip to Whole Foods to invest in a few granola staples: safflower oil {$3.49}, maple syrup {not syrup, maple syrup…$8}, and oats & seeds {We bought enough to make several batches and the whole thing was $7}, but it will all go a long way.  And has anyone seen the wall of nuts & oats at Whole Foods??  Holy nuts Batman!  The combinations of granola you could make are endless… I could make granola the rest of my life and never make the same batch twice!

So here’s whatchyaneed…

• Steel-cut oats {4 c.}
• Flaxseed {Optional}
• Pumpkin seeds {or sunflower seeds or whatever you want}
• Nuts {We opted for walnuts}
• Craisins {Or raisins, or whatever dried fruit}
• Safflower oil {1/2 c.}
• Maple syrup {1/4 c.}
• Honey {1/4 c.}
• Vanilla {1 t.}
• Cinnamon {Lots of shakes…it’s all up to you!}
• Not pictured: parchment paper

Heat the safflower oil, maple syrup, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon on low heat until they’re combined. {This doesn’t take long…just a minute or two.}

In a large bowl, combine all of the oats and seeds and combine. {There’s really no right or wrong amount or combination—a handful here or there of whatever you want.}

Pour the syrup mixture into the oats and combine until well coated. Do not add the berries.

Spread the mixture over a parchment-lined pan, thin enough that all of the oats get cooked.

Next, cook the oats in a 275 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Then stir the oats until everything on top is now on the bottom.  Cook for another 25-30 minutes.

Once out of the oven, sprinkle the berries on top and let cool.  The granola will cool as a solid sheet, so break up the pieces and store in an air tight container.

I couldn’t believe how easy and inexpensive this was!  But I still just can’t. stop. eating. it.

Let me know if you try it!