Let them eat cake!!

A while ago I agreed to make a cake for a Women's Activity at our church today.  I obviously wasn't anticipating getting sick.  (Don't worry, I washed my hands about 1,000 times.)  I had big plans for this cake, but just didn't have the energy to make those plans a reality.  It is a butter cake with buttercream frosting and gumpaste flowers.  The cake and frosting are from scratch.  The gumpaste is ready made, but I tinted it and shaped it.  I didn't want to mess with making it myself.  Even though it's not what I wanted, I think it still turned out well.  What do you think?

I love making cakes.  Love it.  I really hope that some day I can do wedding cakes.  I'm not there yet, but I think I'm off to a good start!  Anyone need a cake?

Really cool giveaway.

Jenn over at Livin' the Simple Life is hosting a giveaway right now and I think it might be one you are interested in!!  The giveaway is for a girl named Bonnie from House of Grace.  She is  a shaklee distributor and a very nice girl.  Her blog is amazing and inspirational.  It ends on Saturday night, so go check it out!!

Really???

Today stinks!  I am so sick!  Seriously...so sick.  I have had a cough for a couple of weeks.  It is finally to the point of just being annoying, and not really keeping me down.  I have a UTI (I know, too much info) and a terrible head cold.  I felt fine yesterday and I woke up this morning feeling like death.  My body and I are in a fight and I am loosing!

My nose is so red and raw.  I've already made it through an ENTIRE box of tissues.  I want to go to bed so badly, but what do you do when you are sick and your kids aren't?  Anyone have a good soup recipe they would like to share?

So, this is me for a while.  Hope you don't mind.

Every house needs a SUPERHERO!!!

I have 2 little boys.  J is 5 and C is 2.  Both of them are total boys.  They like cars and bugs and teasing their sisters.  They always want to wrestle and they think bodily functions are hilarious.  J really likes to watch Super Why on PBS.  If you don't know what that is?  You are missin' out!  :)  Anyway, he begged me to make him a Super Why costume for Halloween.  (yes, I realize that was 4 months ago and I am just now blogging about it).  I took pictures throughout the whole process, but didn't realize until about 1/2 way through that there was no memory card in my camera.  I'm cool like that sometimes.  So, I'll do the best I can to explain without all of the pictures.

Target had a sale on long sleeve t-shirts...$3.50 each.  I bought a small and a large.  I also bought a pack of boys underwear with a navy blue pair.  Once I got home, I cut the sleeves off of the Large one and they became the legs for his costume.  I took the blue underwear and sewed the shirt sleeves into them.  Viola!  Superhero pants.

Then I took the shirt and followed this tutorial to make the Super Why logo on the front of his shirt and to make a cape.  Since I was already making the cape, I decided to make it reversible.  One side is plain blue (which he needed for the costume) and the other side is red with a "Super J" emblem on it.  I just made up the "Super J"...I know, I'm so creative.  :)

The last thing I did was take some yellow ribbon and cut it to fit his waist.  Then I burned the ends so they wouldn't ravel and sewed Velcro on them.  This became his belt.  And here is the finished product.  Pretty cute, huh?

Now the only problem is that his little brother won't take the cape off.  I guess I should make him one of his own!

I keep getting spam comments on this post, so I am turning the comments option off.  if you have questions or want to comment, just email me at pumpkinpatchdesigns@hotmail.com.  Thanks!

Half Bathroom Makeover on a budget

Hello Lovelies!  We bought this house almost 3 years ago.  We got it for a really great price...partly because the last time it was decorated was in the early 80's.  There was enough dusty rose and country blue in this house to last a lifetime!!!  I've pretty much ripped down all of the wallpaper and painted everything in sight.  I thought I would give you all a tour of my house with before and after pics.

This is the first house I have ever painted or done any decorating in whatsoever.  My husband and I have done all of the work ourselves.  I think up the ideas and do all of the painting.  He does the harder stuff...like crown molding.  We make a pretty great team!  Feel free to offer suggestions, but please (please, please, please) be kind.  My decorating ego is still very fragile.  ;)

So, here is our 1/2 bath on the first floor.  We did the entire bathroom for about $300.

Before:  20 year old curtains, cheap wood, stick-on tiles that don't stick anymore, and ceiling border...what's not to love?!

After:  We were going for clean, relaxing, and welcoming.  How did we do?

The curtains, towels, candles and toilet paper holder are all from Wal-Mart.  I don't remember what each one cost individually, but I know we spent less than $40 for all of it.

The towel rack and shelf we got at IKEA.  Each one cost less than $5.  They were wood, so I just sanded them, primed them, and then spray painted them.  The picture frames are from IKEA too.  $6 for all 4 of them.

We got the bead board and molding from Home Depot.  It was definitely the biggest chunk of our budget.  The bead board comes in 8 ft by 4 ft sheets for about $25 a sheet.  I don't remember how much the molding was.

I did all of the painting.  My hubby did the bead board and molding.  We also re-used some of the old stuff.  Does this mirror look familiar?  It's the same one.  I sanded it down, primed it, and then painted it.  We hung it horizontally instead of vertically and you would never know it was the old one.

This sink we got off of Craigslist for $60.  It came with a polished brass faucet.  YUCK!  So we just re-used the faucet from the old sink.

The tiles are beautiful aren't they?  We could have spent a fortune on tile alone, but neither of us has a fortune, so we went with stick on tile again.  We bought a box of 45 tiles (12 in by 12 in) for $30.  We didn't use all of them, and Home Depot gave us store credit for what was left.  I would have loved to do real tile, but it just wasn't in the budget.  Besides, these are super kid friendly.

We had a wooden seat that actually fell off because it was so old.  I hated it.  My hubby came home with this one and he was so proud of himself because it matches the bead board.  Isn't he cute?!

And my favorite part?  This little beauty.  It is a light sensor.  My kids have major problems with turning the bathroom light off.  So, my hubby found this at Home Depot.  It turns on when it senses motion (like the door opening).  It turns off after so long of not sensing motion.  You can set it for anywhere from 5 seconds to 15 minutes.  Okay, so it really isn't my favorite, but it is pretty cool, huh?

So, what do you think?  Want to see more of our house?  Stay tuned...

I also linked this post to Wednesday Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design, Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage, and to Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors.  Go check out all of the awesomeness that other people are creating!!!