Fire Cracker Décor!

Fourth of July is right around the corner and I thought these wooden homemade fire crackers are perfect to decorate our home in red, white and blue. They were fairly simple to make but I had to enlist the help of my husband to use the power tools.

We bought cedar wooden fence posts from the local farm supply store. They came in 6’ lengths so we cut them down to sizes 22”, 18” and 14”. You can get 2 sets out of one fence post.

Next, I primed the raw cedar wood to give it its nice white base color.

Next tape off your stripes. And paint the red lines. Let dry.

Remove the tape and paint the blue top for the stars. Let dry.

Paint as many stars on the front side of the fire cracker. I chose to do a single simple star. Less is more.

Add a second coat of paint to all colors as needed. The red paint bled through my tape so I had to retouch that. 

Drill a ½” hole on the top of the fire cracker and place a ½” rope for the wick inside. I used a little hot glue to ensure that the wick would stay in place.

Finally, use a little twine to tie the 3 fire crackers together and proudly display your patriotic décor.

Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!

South Dakota Wedding

My little brother just got married to the best girl! I was so blessed to be apart of their special day and had a great time.  I made almost 300 cupcakes and a gorgeous simple two tier cake for the couple to indulge in, plus I got to be a bridesmaid who wears boots!

They tied the knot out on my aunt' s land in the country, right next to Plum Creek. It was such a beautiful setting and the wedding decorations were outstanding and the details were so fitting.  We had a lot of fun celebrating with them and God made his presence known through the whole day!

Kelly's Bachelorette Party

My girl Kelly is getting married this August. Kelly and I were best friends in high school and it was great to catch up with her as we went to seperate colleges and didn't get together often. To celebrate her last few months as a "Miss" her Co-Maid-of-Honors hosted a "Britney Spears" themed bachelorette party in Sioux Falls. It was so much fun and everyone looked great. We were the hit of every bar we went to. It was great to have a different theme than the typical Bride wears white and everyone else wears black.

There were so many classic Britney's to chose from but I ended up designing my outfit around her hit song "Circus". I really wanted to make something with shoulder pads so this seemed fitting. I hand stiched the fringe on the shoulder pads and added them to a crop top to give it the Britney flare. Add a pair of high waisted shorts, fish nets, top hat, whip and tall black boots and I was transformed.

Kelly put together some great side by sides of our outfits and those turned out great! I think it is safe to say we all had so much fun and that we had a great party!

Bride Kelly and myself

Barbell Club members from high school! We still got it

Britney side by sides. I think we nailed it. 

My Britney inspiration. 

Cake Pops!

I love making cake pops. They are so cute and fun to eat. Many people haven't been exposed to them so they are always a hit at any occasion. I recently made some Carrot Cake cupcakes and used the leftover cupcakes to make cake pops as an extra bonus for my friend's wedding day. 

Cake Pops by Bakerella is the Cake Popper's bible. It has the tips, tricks and ideas that you will need to make the perfect pop. My skill level is pretty basic and no where near Bakerella's but I wanted to share what I do to encourage others to try something new. 

To start off, you need to bake a cake. Any mix or homemade cake will do. I typically take leftover cupcakes (not frosted) and put them in a food processor to break them down. Take the cake crumbs out of the processor and place in a mixing bowl and add small amounts of frosting until when mixed you get a moldable "play doe" consistency. Form small round balls. I make my cake balls 1.0 oz each. Place the cake balls on a pan covered in wax paper. Place this pan in the freezer for 15 minutes for the cakes balls to set up.

In the meantime, prep your melting chocolate. You can purchase melting chocolate in any color or you can color your chocolate after it is melted using an oil based food color (I use Wilton coloring). Melt the chocolate in a deep dish so that you can dip your pops easily.

Dip the sucker stick in the chocolate and then insert in the cold cake ball. Dip the cake ball in the chocolate and make sure it is entirely covered and spin to remove excess. Set the cake pop up right in a foam block to ensure that it dries properly. Keep the cake balls chilled until ready to eat-- which is harder than you think!

Below is a step by step picture from Bakerella's book, "Cake Pops" which is really helpful in explaining the process.

Family Photo

Last weekend, we went to a friend's wedding. It was our first opportunity to get all dressed up and take a family photo with the puppy, Mozzy.