Craigslist finds!

I haven't done one of these in a while and had a little free time. So I thought I would scour craigslist for you guys! Here are some of the goods I found!

This cargo sofa would not match our decor AT ALL. But it would be a CUTE daybed in a little boys room! And its Fa-REE! Here's the goods:

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/zip/2562190120.html

And What about this Rosewood upright piano? Even if you didn't tune the thing, it is very classic and beautiful! And also FREE!

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/zip/2561944778.html

This thing..it kind of looks like a squid. But its really neat to me! Paint it white and reupholster that cushion and you have a super unique piece! $75

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/fuo/2557990946.html

Oh my gosh...I LOVE this one. And they only want $50 for it!!! If only we had a formal dining room :(

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/fuo/2554463677.html

Seriously...someone please buy this. Just so I know it went to a good home. I love it.

I really like the shape of this dresser too. $150 in Altavista.

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/fuo/2551343544.html

And this clock is really awesome. Its antique, but totally still has a modern appeal.

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/fuo/2561379662.html

These two banana leaf chairs would add a lot of texture to a room. I think they would look better as accent chairs, but maybe with the right table!

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/fuo/2560535730.html

These chairs would be PERFECT with that shabby-chic dining room table! $50 a chair is not bad either! Considering they are Broyhill and are fresh out of a box! Even if you bought 6 of these and that table, thats only $350 for a new dining room set!

http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/fuo/2559909535.html

I hope you are all inspired. I know it made me want to do some serious shopping/decorating! Unfortunately, BOTH of our cars had to go into the shop this week. So spending money on furniture will not be happening. :) I just love to look!

PS-I have an AWESOME Paris themed bridal shower to share with you very soon!

Coffee Table Rescue

A few weeks ago, Michael and I grabbed this coffee table off the side of the road for fa-ree! It doesn't look terrible in the pictures, but it is pretty scratched up. And there is a TON of poly on it that I am going to have to sand off. 

 I love its shape. And its very sturdy. The lines are clean which is what we like. The plan is to paint it black to match other pieces of furniture that we have down there. I just need to find the time! :)

Hampton's First Birthday Cake

So, I have made this little guy's baby shower cake, his baby dedication cake, and now his first Birthday cake! I'm starting to feel like his personal baker :) But I have no problem with that! There was not a theme for his party, but rather blues and greens with polka dots. First, there was the essential baby smash cake!

 And for the main cake, his mommy wanted it shaped like a 1.

 I was initially going to leave it just the icing. But I felt like it needed something more. Walmart just happened to have curling ribbon in the exact colors that I needed!

 Overall, I am really happy with the way that they turned out. Happy Birthday Hampton!

Who Doesn't LOVE Cheesecake??

Just to further prove how far behind I am on blogging...My mother-in-law really likes cheesecake who doesn't?!, so I try to make one for her whenever she comes to town. (She came a month ago...) Last year I did an Oreo cheesecake and it was good. But this year I wanted to step it up a bit. I found an amazing new recipe that was not very hard at all. I would share it...but its somewhere in my kitchen and I forget where I found it online! I didn't want just plan cheesecake, so I was going to top it with fruit. Then my husband decided that it would be even better to swirl strawberry into it! This is what came out of the oven!

The trick is to put a large pan with about a quarter of an inch of water underneath your springform pan. As it bakes, the water will evaporate, keeping the cheesecake more moist and preventing that awful crack that is so hard to avoid with homemade cheesecake.

I popped the pan off and voila! An amazingly delish strawberry swirl cheesecake! If I find the recipe...I will share it with you! Promise!

Our New Guest Room

I know a while back I mentioned that we were playing musical rooms and that the old office is now our guest room. I just now realized that I have not shown you guys updates of that room! Everything that we used for it (except the new bed frame and one small can of paint to finish it) we already had. I will have to get better full-room pictures for you sometime, but here it is so far.

This is what you see when you look down the hallway. Its the view from the open door.

 And the naked area here between the closet and doorway now has the cutie little shelf below on it!

Okay. I know....this post was not super exciting. But at least you have now seen our new guest room sort of! I promise a better post is forthcoming...at some point!

Piano Cake

So, I know I say this every time that I make a cake, but this very well could be one of my favorites! It was a custom piano cake that I made for a friend of a friend's Dad for his birthday. They really wanted it to look like his personal piano. I started with Rice Krispie treat and a Buddy Bar. Like so:

Then I whipped up some homemade butter cream icing and covered it to fill the gaps and act like glue for the modeling chocolate.

Like so:

And this would be modeling chocolate. It is very easy to make and extremely delish! Like a soft tootsie roll. My hubby discovered that he likes it very much!

Then I rolled it out and began covering the piano.

I know...I skipped a few steps in my documentation here. But this is the finished product!

There ya have it. Custom Piano cake! It turned out really cute! And it was super easy. The cake is chocolate pound filled with buttercream.

Fail.

Hey guys! Well I am going to go ahead and declare a FAIL on my part for the month of July. We had so much going on that I just totally bumped the blog down the priority list. I have several really awesome things to share I just haven't had the time to devote to it!

Just a quick recap...I am still on my diet/workout plan. Had a few hiccups but its going well. Maybe I will take an update pic soon!

Mother-in-law came for a visit and we went to Busch Gardens for an overnight trip. We also hit up the safari park/zoo. I'll have to post some pics!

I have had a bajillion side jobs (cakes, stationery, etc) in addition to class and other commitments.

And we just went to King's Dominion with some really good friends for the day to wrap it all up on Sunday.

It was a really good month. Lots of spending time with friends and family and enjoying summer. Hopefully once things start to settle a bit I will be a better blogger. Be on the lookout. I will try to update with some fun crafty things soon! :)