Fashion Spotlight: ShopLately

The way this website works, is every week they have awesome labels for reasonable prices. Totally awesome shit on here people- AND best of all? it's a 2.99 flat rate shipping ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD <3 hello, in love already. My favs:

The Polished Look

 Body Art: Manipulated Metal Jewlery

 Kitsch boho hair tie bracelet

SOURCE

peace.love.shoes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Starting the day of right- with Ice Capps! 

 

 After a nice long walk a stop for lunch at Gilligans- MUST HAVE: BEER!!!

Whats better than an ice cold beer on st. patty's day?

 Cheers!

 My sweet little bird, he was so good all day!

 At the pond dressed in out leprechaun hats!

 Kiss me I'm Irish <3 - Thanks gramma!

What did you do today?

peace.love.shoes.

DIY: Lace Tabletop

I finally did it! I've been wanting to try this tutorial forever, I got the idea from one of my favorite reads. A Beautiful Mess and it turned out wonderfully. I recently purchased a kitchen table set for only 30$-thrifted, it was somewhat beat up so I didn't mind trying out this tutorial even if it didn't turn out- but since it did I want to share!


So the idea is to make you table look like lace, it's a gorgeous accent to any room, you can practically do it on anything!

What you need: 
a table of some sort
Spray paint (I chose white)
masking tape
lace tablecloth/curtain

Make sure you tabletop is clean, tape the lace to the table firmly- make sure there's no wrinkles! Hold the spray paint can about a foot away (make sure you shake well first) then spray evenly on desired area.

  Let dry for about 2 hours then pull lace back- ta da! a newly renovated tabletop <3

So I think it turned out pretty good, although since it is a kitchen table I'm going to have to find some sort of primer to put on top so it doesn't come off. which Noah bird around I'm sure the table will get dirty enough and I can only go so long before wiping it down. I will let you know what I use when I have time to hunt.

On another note Happy Saint Patty's Day! Have a good weekend :)

peace.love.shoes.

LOOKBOOK: I'm a country girl

a twist on vanilla butter cake

So remember a few posts ago I said I was making a birthday cake for mom? Well, I was so undecided on what to make I asked her opinion, she was leaning toward the hummingbird cake, but then I came to the conclusion that with Noah around there is no way I'm going to have the time to make that cake. So I decided on the Vanilla Butter Cake- but with a twist.

What you need (cake):
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups of sifted flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter- room temp
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter milk
1 handful of crushed walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour two - 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper and grease and flour parchment paper.
While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl.  Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3/4 cup (150 grams) of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

 

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.  

In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

Add crushed walnuts in processor until finely chopped, then mix in with batter. Add the mixture into your greased pan and bake for 18-25 mins- until you can stick a toothpick and it comes out clean. Once cake is finished, let cool before turning over pan, then frost. 

What you need (Frosting):

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup icing sugar

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

 

Garnish with: Shaved Toblerone chocolate bar

 

So that is my beautiful cake. Because there is so much oil in walnuts the cake was rather dense, so don't worry if it doesn't rise to much. Instead of tasting like a cake, it actually tasted more like a vanilla walnut brownie, it was good but definitely different. For the original recipe click here. 

peace.love.shoes.

A walk to the pond

You can deinfatley smell spring in the air today. Tempuraure reaching around 70! I gave up on winter along time ago. So beautiful weather inspired a beatiful look- also I went shopping yesterday and bought this steal! It was love at first sight when I spotted the dress <3 A walk to the park is just what me and Noah bird needed...

 woo my first jumping pictures! We are to cool. I need to practice.

 I need to find some tiny sunglasses for Noah he hates the sun in his eyes.

What did you do on this gorgeous day?

peace.love.shoes.

Birthday cakes

So mom's birthday is coming up  and I am in charge of making the cake. I've decided this time I'm going to make it from scratch- it's always easy to bake a cake from a box, but I want to add my own twist on things. So of course when baking I turn to my fav website "joyofbaking.com" here are just some ideas I'm bouncing around.

This to me is the traditional Birthday cake, but the great thing about this is it's a blank canvas, I add an any special tweaks. Recipe
This cake is a lot like the first one, which I love because again I can add some tasty surprises, however the icing recipe is a smooth cream cheese frosting (which has go to be the greatest icing ever!) Recipe

ahhhh the delicious Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, I actually just recently tried red velvet cake- and fell in love <3I thought it was just a plain cake with some red food coloring, but it's really so much more, I was extremely excited to eat it. Recipe

So this cake I find the most interesting, considering my mom LOVES pecans, it's definitely something I've never had before, especially since the recipe calls for pineapple- which might I add I will NOT add, really not a fan of pinapple, but I think minus that the cake sounds awesome. Recipe

So I think all of these cakes are wonderful choices, but I really have some fun ideas to add to them, so on Thursday when I actually make the cake, I will show you what I decided and the extra touches to make it that much better!

Happy Baking :)

peace.love.shoes.