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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Blissed out on Burlap

I am loving burlap this season!  I love the texture, earthy colors, and its overall look.  Below are a few projects I whipped up with burlap.

Burlap as a photo background:

For this project I used a frame that I spray painted white (black would have worked too, but this goes more with my living room scheme).  The glass in this frame was broken during our move (proud to say that was our only casualty), but I still wanted to use the frame for something.  Because the glass was broken, I thought a fun texture might work.  My original idea was to simply frame the burlap.  This looked a bit plain though.  Then I thought I might stitch something (a heart or initials) in to the burlap, but I was afraid this might look a little cheap (mainly since I don't know how to stitch anything).  Then I got the great idea to pin a picture to it!  I had a black and white print of Jeremiah that I took several years ago in an empty train station in Denver.  I wanted to do something cool with the picture, but I wasn't sure what.  Pinning it to the framed burlap suits it perfectly!!  I love the look!!  I also love the frame's placement on the wall because I can see it when I walk from the kitchen to the living room.  This project was SUPER easy, and honestly took less than 10 minutes--gotta love that  in a DIY project!


Cutting the burlap to suit the frame size.

Basil loves burlap too!

When adding the back to hold it all in place, I simply
cut the burlap to allow the back to attach as it normally would.

taaa daaaa.  Super easy proj.

Love this view.


Burlap as a vase cover:

This idea is also awesome and super simple!  I got the idea from another blog, but can't find the link now.  Boo.  Anyway, to make the burlap vase I simply cut the burlap to the proper size.  I got this vase last winter a the Dollar Store for, like, a dolla!  I then trimmed 3 of the 4 sides using hot glue to give it a finished look.  Then I glued the unfinished side to the vase, wrapped the rest around, and attached the end with more hot glue.


Here's what ya need.
Be careful not to burn yourself!


I found that a rolling method worked nicely.

Only one side needs to be glued to the vase.

Finished product sprucing up the mantel.

**Update:  I found the blog where I got the great burlap vase idea!  Check it here!!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Airing My Dirty Laundry

There is no love like the love a crazy lady has for her cats ; ) 
Peggle relaxing in my warm laundry.
Looks so cozy.
 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

It's Christmas Time at the Lant's

Not really, but I would just like to take a moment to let you all know how much I love Christmas!  And I am even more excited for it this year because we have our cute little house to decorate!  Last year, Christmas took a backseat to our January wedding, but this year Christmas will be winter’s main event!  I have already been pinning away holiday decorating ideas on Pinterest.  Can't wait for carol singing, stocking sewing, tree trimming, and twinkly light gazing! 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Haunted Hillcrest

Last night Miah and I spent Halloween at our friends Jeremy and Emilee's beautiful house on Hillcrest.  Jeremy and Emilee had no idea how BIG Halloween would be on this little street when they bought their house this summer.  There were literally thousands of Trick-or-Treaters!!!  Jeremy and Emilee decked out their house and we all had a blast partaking in the madness.


This pic doesn't do justice to how many people
showed up after dark!

Meow!!


Loved this decor inside the house.  Emilee got some
of these jars from an actual science lab!  Neat, huh?

These larger jars looked great sporting
spooky accessories.

The pups were a hit!!

Farmer Miah straight off the tractor to hand out candy.

Wow.  Loved that the guys were showing their Halloween
spirit with these fun 'fits!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

It Keeps You Runnin'

The Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon is in 17 days (i.e., it's training crunch time for this chick)!  Headed out to Cherokee Park later this evening to get comfy with the hills since part of the race goes through the park.  Check out LSC website here for more info or to register.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Gettin' My Bake On

Friday afternoon my mom stopped by to help me prepare some yummy treats for a party I attended this weekend.  We tackled a homemade pumpkin roll.  Here's how it went down.

I got the recipe for the pumpkin roll here, but we made a few changes.  First, we used fresh pumpkin!  Miah and I went to Hubers a few weeks ago and bought some pumpkins with the intent that I would bake with one of them!  My mom and I baked the pumpkin like you might bake/steam a squash.  We cut it in to four pieces, cleaned out the inside, and placed it face down in an inch of water.  We let it bake for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees.  You can tell when it is ready when the outside skin is can be easily pierced with a fork. 


Sorry for the blurry pic, but here is the pumpkin baking in the oven.

Next, I took a big spoon and scraped the pumpkin out of the shell.




Then we put the pumpkin in the blender and pureed it. 




Now that we had our pumpkin puree, we seasoned it with Kroger brand pumpkin pie seasoning.  We also used the pumpkin pie seasoning instead of the cinnamon that the recipe called for.

At this point it was time to use our homemade pumpkin puree to make the actual pumpkin roll.  Here, we followed the recipe, but omitted the walnuts. 


Whipping the eggs, and mixing in all other ingredients.

We made two batches!  Here they are baking.

When the rolls come out of the oven, you must quickly flip them on to cloth to be rolled.

Ready to put the roll in the pumpkin!

Here they are all rolled up.  This was surprisingly easy to do!!  The key was definitely having cloth as opposed to paper!



After we had our rolls all rolled up, I let them cool over night.  Then in the a.m. I made the icing, unrolled the beauties, iced each, and rolled them back up.  The recipe above also includes the icing recipe.



The icing was super thick, but needed to be very smooth to go on well.  My mixer couldn't handle it--it started smoking!


So I got a new mixer!




Once the icing was done, I unrolled the rolls.
When I iced them I started with what would be the most inside portion of the roll.




Then I rolled them up and dusted each with powdered sugar!

Finished product!!!




Thursday, October 20, 2011

I Swear . . .

Yesterday I was sworn in to the Kentucky Bar.  Below are some pics of me and the 'rents after the ceremony at the Kentucky Capitol Building.  Jeremiah couldn't make it because he was in Davis, California for work.  Boo.  But he's back now!  Yay! 

Random sidenote about the oath to be admitted in Kentucky:  We had to swear that we hadn't participated in a duel!  Here is a portion of the text as printed in Section 228 of the Ky Constitution:  "[S]ince the adoption of the present Constitution, I, being a citizen of this State, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this State nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons . . . ."  Who knew?!

The Capitol Building is beautiful!


With my certificate!


Ron & Alyce