Not my first cake but my first insperation

I Made this cake for the cousin of my boy friend at the time. Debbie loves Irish things and clovers. So my plan was to make her a chocolate cake with the Irish flag. The cake is yellow cake and brownie mix, mixed together, its a 2 layer 9 inch cake filled with a layer of butter cream frosting and dark chocolate peppermint patties laid out all nice and even. I then placed even more butter cream frosting over the patties. The outside of the cake is a nice thick layer of white butter cream that i sprayed with edible coloring to look like a Irish flag. I then used black frosting that I mixed by mixing several colors together cause I did not have black at the time. It look just like black without the harsh flavor. For the clovers I used a glittery green edible gel. Debbie loved her cake and so did her guest there were no left overs by morning.

Eco-friendly and cheap home decor ideas

Some Ideas of Eco-friendly and cheap home decor came about when I visited my neighbors home. My neighbor is 79 years old and shovels her drive way and even mows her own lawn. She is also handy with power tools.
Would you ever believe that this was once a bathroom sink. Originally Found at Penny's Outlet center, it was a damaged floor piece. There is a marble sink inlay, broken of course. My Neighbor got them to sell her the sink for 30$ cause to fix the marble or to replace it would have been very costly. I'm sure the company was happy to make any money on a broken floor piece. This is now a cabinet in her living room. She had taken a solid piece of wood cut it to fit beveled the edges to keep the details, and had a stain colored to match the original. Original cost was over 400.00. The Eco-friendly part is that this is a new piece of furniture that will not end up in a landfill and will most likely become a family heirloom.


Another few works of art she has made has given me many ideas. Not that Iv had time to make my own someday I will.
This was infants changing table. Found in a garage sale, its solid wood. She stained and buffed out the ware and tare. Its now its her buffet in her dining room.

Here is a rocking stool part of a glider set. she bought it also at a garage sale and reupholstered it. Now it matches the rooms in her home.


Most ideas are trash to treasure, and just pure bargain hunting. If you have the time to repair and re-due something you can create anything. You can also expand on this by using renewable products, such as bamboo fabric when reupholstering items.

Kid Friendly Valentines Day Crafts

I wanted to do a craft with my kids to help with the winter blues. And Valentines Day Is just around the corner. I have a bunch of craft supplies from my scrap booking days (back when I had time). I was just trying to come up with a kid friendly idea where there was not much parent involvement other then guidance. What I came up with was a centerpiece for the table. You and you honey can have a wonderful dinner with a lovely center piece made by your kids....

Supplies:

Craft Glue

Paper of different colors (I used scrap booking paper)

Wooden meat sticks (look like long tooth picks)

Misc stickers (heart shapes but any kind of Valentines day type would look cute)

Pre-cut hearts in random colors (scrap booking supplies I had on hand)

Styrofoam balls and a basket or cute base that the ball will sit in.

Step 1- have kids(help) trace there hands on the color paper that they choose. I made 4 cut outs for each child.

Step 2- have a parent cut out hands

Step 3- let kids glue hearts and place sticker on hands let them be creative.

Step 4- parents glue wooden sticks to wrists on hands. Let dry completely. (I occupied kids during this time by serving dinner)

Step 5- put a sticker over the end of the wood stick to cover it and make it look nice.

Step 6- kids can stick the wood sticks into the Styrofoam ball and help them place them so its balanced. and when your finished you will have a little hand garden full of love.

You can substitute for any supplies you have on hand. A cute ceramic pot would make a really nice base if you have one on hand.

I came up with this Idea after standing in front of all my supplies trying to come up with an Idea to occupy there time and allow me to finish cooking dinner. My kids due to cold weather and just being sick lately can not go outside, So I needed to be creative. My kids were able to put the the sticker on them selves and my sister in law helped with the glue. Bed time came fast after and the hands were not dried so we continued it the next day. It turned out very cute. The kids really loved making it and cant wait to do another project again.