Turquoise

Did you know that turquoise is the "in" color for the year? I've been wanting something in my house that color ever since I received the news from my friend Lisa.

Since Monday was a holiday and the weather was absolutely fabulous, I went outside and while the children did this:


I planned to change this:

BORING!

To this:

FUN! (Actually, this picture makes it look more baby blue, which it is not.)

The color I used was Laura Ashley Home Cyan color. At Lowe's they used the Laura Ashley color but Valspar paint as it is less expensive but still really good (and I only needed a quart). I actually matched my purse to the color as I love my BCBG turquoise purse.

It looks so good in my yellow bathroom with a couple pictures that have turquoise within the paintings. Now to find some fun towels. I saw that Amy Butler towels are at Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are not at our store but online. I might need to splurge.

What needs a little "in" color at your home?

Heartbreak!

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

Remember how my Valentine's meal was supposed to look like this?

Well...

Sometimes, despite our best efforts and intentions, sometimes things just do turn out like we envisioned.

Sometimes disaster strikes.

Last night for our family Valentine's dinner I carefully planned and prepared for a festive heart shaped dinner. I made a huge 4lb meatloaf that I had molded into a huge heart, wrapped in bacon. When it came out of the oven I carefully slid it out of the pan full of ugly bacon drippings onto my favorite big round milk glass serving tray. Then I smothered it in my red meatloaf sauce (half catsup/half brown sugar) until the heart was glossy and red, then carefully spooned the mashed potatoes all around it until it was picture perfect.

Oh how I wish I had taken a picture!

But when it was time to serve it I tried to pick the platter off the counter and to my shock and dismay I discovered that the glass tray had shattered under the meatloaf! Obviously it was not tempered glass. The beautiful heart shaped meatloaf was lying on a layer of broken glass!

Thus - Heartbroken!

Well, my dad carefully helped me surgically remove the upper, non-glass-infested parts of the meatloaf so when we served it up it looked like this:


(Dad is not a heart surgeon, by the way.)

Not the look I was going for. When I wanted heart shaped, I didn't mean the actual organ along with the other innards as well - we save that sort of stuff for Halloween!

And due to technical difficulties, our pretty plump jello eggs came only to this - plus a whole lot of red jello all over the inside of my fridge. It looked like someone had bled out in there. Pretty as a picture!

Then, for dessert, I uncovered the beautifully decorated Valentine red velvet cake, half of the lovely decorative frosting stuck to the cover. More heartbreak.

So that was what became of my perfectly planned Valentines dinner.

But guess what? Everything tasted terrific! Nobody else seemed to mind the ugly nature of our dinner and we all feasted!

Turns out the only one who was heartbroken was me.

I guess sometimes our best laid plans just flop. It happens to all of us, right? I guess we just have to laugh and laugh and make the best of it.

Hope you had a picture perfect Valentines day!

A Little Lovin' from the Oven

Attic Gal Rachelle says...

So this morning as I was running around trying to get my middle schoolers out the door, and help my elementary schoolers get their class valentines together, my 1st grader announces that he had been assigned to bring two dozen cupcakes to his Valentine party - today. Don't we love these last minute announcements?

Well, this week I have done an inventory of my baking supplies and it turns out that I have a heart shaped cake pan, a heart shaped spring-form pan, 3 heart shaped mini spring-form pans, a heart shaped cookie sheet, heart shaped cookie cutters, heart shaped jello molds, heart shaped sandwich cutters, and even a heart shaped pancake mold. But for cupcakes - nothing.

Then I suddenly remembered that when I was a kid my mom once made heart shaped cupcakes by putting a marble between the cupcake paper and the pan, so I grabbed some glass pebbles and made some impromptu heart shaped cupcakes.

They looked kind of funny out of the oven, but once frosted they were simply adorable. Nice save by Mom, if I do say so myself!

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and with a houseful of men to love, I had to make a little effort at lovin' from the oven. For Valentines dinner I make 3D heart shaped jello (I have a mold), and canned biscuits were shaped into hearts using a cookie cutter. I didn't cut the biscuits, they were similar in size to the cookie cutter. I just pressed the entire biscuit dough into the shape of the cutter.

And of course, for the meat and potatoes man, heart shaped read meatloaf on a bed of mashed potatoes. Just mold the meatloaf into a heart shape right there in the cake pan. I thought it turned out pretty fun!

The perfect Valentine for my meat and potatoes man!

This Valentines day we will be having pink heart pancakes with strawberries of course for breakfast. Can't wait!

And I also found some adorable heart shaped lahvosh crackers that I will be serving some love up on as well.

How about you? Will there be any lovin' from your oven this Valentines Day? Do share!

Love at Home!

Attic Gal Rachelle says:

I just LOVE Valentines day, and that love spills out at my home - everywhere you look there is love. (Well, only if you ignore the boys wrestling around and trying to kill each other.)

All the lovin' starts at my front door where I just hung some glittery red hearts onto the all-season wreaths with some swirly red ribbon.

Step inside where it is all red and glitzy!

In the entry, I used the same red velvet rose topiaries that I use for Christmas. Above that, some shimmery red metallic fabric remnants make a great backdrop for my heartfelt vignette dedicated to love!

I made my love sign with a chunk of 2X4 painted black, then added four squares of pretty patterned paper, some Cricut cut black paper letters, and some rub-ons. Very easy and really fun!
I also replace the family photos that are usually in the silver frames with "love" pictures of our wedding, as well as wedding, engagement, and couple pictures of other relatives and ancestors.

One of my very favorite projects EVER is my love banner made on my Big Shot using fabric that is black and white and red all over.

I love, Love, LOVE it!!!

I hung some sparkly heart garland on the chandelier. Easy, easy.

I had some chipboard hearts that I colored red and drenched in more red glitter. I stuck them right on some of our family pictures with glue dots for just another fun little touch of love.

After all, that's what it is all about!

The dining room is dedicated to my other love, after my hubby and kids that is,... CHOCOLATE!

I have collected enough little faux chocolates and desserts to fill a chocolaterie. They do look so tempting, but they look better than they taste - trust me. (and zero calories!)

The red toile tablecloth is perfect with the sweet candy striped runner.

I found these pretty mirrored hearts cheap and just hung them simply on the backs of the dining chairs with more red ribbon. It really brings a lot of bling to the dining room.

Of course more red roses and some tasty gifts under glass in a pretty milk glass basket.

Even the church pew has been adorned in a red and white Hawaiian quilt, and some lovey dovey pillows. Don't you love the heart pin on the granny's sweater pillow?

In the family room is a long banner made from repo glittery vintage greeting cards, and more vintage valentines adorn the shelves.

In the living room are apothecary jars filled with love...

and a little Cupid pixie that I made last year.

Hope he sends you lots of love this year!

Upcoming Olympics Celebration

One of my dearest friends, who also was my college roommate, is coming with her wonderful family (which we love as much as her). Their visit is during the opening day of the Olympics. Wanting to make it special and memorable (and of course a learning experience), I'm wanting to plan something fun for both kids and adults to celebrate this inspiring and amazing event.

Does anyone have any great ideas?

I want to make this simple so I will actual do it and not totally wear myself out so I can't enjoy our guests, (remember what is most important here). Here is the brainstorming that was done while sitting in my car today:

Canadian food?

Pizza with different sections being topped with food that represent a certain country? (Canadian bacon, Italian sausage, etc)

Flag toothpicks (representing each country)and have in appetizers?

Have each child pick a country (out of a hat or one that they want) prior to the day and tell us a bit about it?

The child/adult gets up when their country is announced and walk around the room (hee, hee)?

Make t-shirts?

Instead of t-shirt, make socks, headband, bandanas or something else?

Spray hula hoops Olympic colors?

Do back handsprings in the yard? (just kidding)

Okay, there has got to be other really cool ideas out there in Blogland.
Please share yours. Can you hear the Olympic music playing?