Stay at Home Wendy Isn't Staying at Home Anymore.

Just wanted to send a quick update out into the blogging world that for the past few weeks I've been working a full time job at Darden (the company that Philip works for that we moved to Orlando for) doing some temp work for them.  I wanted to find something to support my shopping habit!  Of course, good things always happen when you quit worrying about them, and right after I started work at Darden, I got an offer for a full time job doing merchandise presentation at Disney.  Visual merchandising is a part of my retail career that I always have wanted to focus on and this new position will be a great opportunity to do what I love to do; make things pretty!  My job will be at Epcot, merchandising all of the fun products imported from other countries.  

The famous Epcot Ball. Maybe I'll find out what this actually is.

So, I plan on continuing to post fun projects that I do, but I couldn't feel right being called Stay at Home Wendy when I'm not a Stay at Home Wendy anymore.

I did make some tasty cupcakes this weekend!  There is something about cream cheese icing and strawberries/blueberries that I LOVE.  Plus I'm missing my weekly cupcake fix from my friend Susanne in Atlanta and her amazing bakery - Tsp. Bakery.

 

 

 

YUMMMMMY!

 

 

 

 

Lately...

Stay at Home Wendy has been looking for a paying job, so I haven't have as much time to do fun and exciting things, but here are a couple of things I've been doing!  

I've been loving the idea of putting baskets on the wall ever since I saw it in the West Elm catalog.  I bought these baskets at the thrift store for $.50 each and since they were pretty ugly colors naturally, I decided to paint them.  Also, I am doing everything I can to add color to our white walls that I refuse to paint, so the color was a nice option.  

Close up of the baskets - I already started painting the blue one when I remembered to take a before shot!

All 3 baskets.

 

 

 

Done! The light wasn't too great to take the picture, sorry. 

Also, I made this pillow out of an old seat cushion cover from the remnant department in Ikea.  

Close Up

It looked nice in our spare bedroom.

 

 

And.... I made a banana cake with chocolate frosting.  I made it from 100% from scratch and had a blast doing it.  It was soooo yummy!  I found the recipe in the back of a mail order magazine for spices and it looked pretty easy, so I tried.  I cut down the sugar and used low fat butter and sour cream.  I like to think I cut the calories in half at least.  Well, that's what I told myself when I ate it :)

And here is my cake!

I have friends coming in town this weekend and I thought that I'd infuse some vodka with cucumbers.  YUMMMMMMM! Another friend told me to try it with Watermelon so that's next on the list!

Another Furniture Makeover

In addition to our Ikea furniture, we also had this old bookshelf from Target that we got on a whim when we moved into our old place back int 2007.  We just wanted something cheap to serve the purpose.  Four years later, we still have it, so I thought I'd spruce it up a bit.

Before

This is a pretty crude and old pic of the bookshelf from right after we got it.  I forgot to take a before shot so this is the best I could do.

Close up.

 

I was a really, really easy transformation.  I just primed it, painted it, found cute pieces of scrapbooking paper, and double-stick taped them to the back.  I turned it sideways and we are using it as a stand for the TV in our room.  I refuse to paint the walls in our temporary apartment, so any bit of color I can add, I do! 

All done!

Pound Cake Pops!

In the spirit of every single day of the year being a National "Something" Day, someone decided March 4th would be National Pound Cake Day.  Because there isn't enough going on in the world to talk about on the news (sarcastically) the Today Show had a segment on all the different things you can do with pound cake.  Before I became a Stay at Home Wendy, I did not cook.  I didn't like to cook and I was not good at it.  But, as they say, practice makes perfect, and I've been practicing! Now, I love to cook and love finding new fun things to try.  So, for Philip's birthday last week, I thought I'd try and make these little white chocolate covered pound cake pops and they were a mild success.  It was my first time using a double boiler and I had a really hard time getting the chocolate to stay at the right temperature, but I got a couple made, and they were good!  After I dipped the pound cake in the white chocolate, I rolled them in toppings like toasted coconut (yummy, yummy, yummy), rainbow sprinkles, crushed walnuts, and chocolate chips.  Even if they didn't taste good, they looked pretty!!  I took them to a dinner we had for Philip and it was so convenient to just be able to have a bite of something instead of bringing a whole cake and worrying about plates and forks/knives.  

Yummm!!!!  Here is the recipe.  

A couple of pieces of advice are to dip the pops in the chocolate as fast as you can before the chocolate burns and hardens and to not toast the coconut as long as they tell you to.  Mine burned really quickly. 

Recipe: Pound cake pops

Catherine DeOrio

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounces) package frozen pound cake
• 1 (12 ounces) bag white chocolate chips or white melting chocolate
• 20 4-inch lollipop sticks
• Bag of shredded coconut, toasted

Preparation

1. Slice pound cake horizontally into 1-inch thick slices.

2. Use one-and-a-half-inch wide round cookie cutters to cut pound cake.

3. Place circles in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Insert a lollipop stick into the bottom of each pound cake round. Freeze 1-2 hours.

4. When ready to dip and decorate the pops, place shredded coconut into a separate bowl.

5. Place white chocolate into a large glass bowl in a double boiler set-up. Stir until chips are completely melted.

6. Dip each pound cake pop into the white chocolate, then sprinkle with coconut flakes.

7. Place back onto the cookie sheet. When you have decorated all the pops, chill until firm, about 1 hour.

How to toast the shredded coconut Spread coconut flakes in a thin layer on baking sheet. Place in an oven preheated to 350 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes until coconut is toasted. Stir frequently as it cooks to prevent burning.

Filing Cabinet

It's been so long since I've posted anything!  Time flies.  I have been working on this filing cabinet for Philip's birthday present.  I bought it for $5 at a thrift store.  It was in really rough shape and rusted all over.  The drawers were so rusted they barely opened!

Before

I basically used Rustoleom stainless steel spray paint and spray painted the entire thing including all of the insides and the drawers.  Now they open and close like magic.  Of course, I had to do something to add some color and flair so I did the oh-so-popular zig-zag pattern.  Now, if I can only get Philip to condense all his files into this organized cabinet!

 

After

 I'm working on a couple of other things, so hopefully I'll be done soon and have more to post! 

Homemade V-Day.

Valentine's Day is on Monday, and most people celebrate by buying gifts, cards, and candies for their significant other. While a nice gesture can make your day, there is the undeniable feeling that comes with the holiday that is not so touching; the feeling of selling out to commercialism.  Every year, Philip and I try and do something special for each other without "selling out."  I've been scouring the internet looking for ideas and have come across so many cute ideas, I wanted to share them.  All of these ideas are quick and easy DIY projects or something that is handmade that you can buy and support the handmade nation.

 Heart Shaped Tea Bags

Gotta love a Martha Stewart idea!  This is so quick and easy, and so cute, and you can write whatever you want on the heart!

Root Beer Float Cupcake




 This is the cutest thing, EVER.  How romantic!

 Heart Lollipop Bouquet
Instead of cut flowers, which are the obvious choice, you can give your lover bouquets of sweet heart lollipops.  YUM!! 

  I am obsessed with how delicate and sweet these are.  How cute and easy! Thanks again, Martha Stewart.  

Doily Envelopes

 Vintage Ruby Earrings

I don't know any girl who wouldn't love some sparkle on the big V day.  These little earrings are homemade, vintage and only $16!  Men, take note, and get more bang for your buck.

 For the non-believers and bitter singles:  There are cute cards out there for you too!

   This Holiday is BS Card

This card was made by my friend's company, Farewell Paperie!  They have the cutest cards on sale at etsy.com: click here and buy them up! --> Farewell Paperie

 

Can't get enough!  I love these cards more than bacon. 

 So many cute homemade goodies, it kinda makes you want to celebrate Valentine's Day, huh?  It does me!  

Here a little memento from mine and Philip's first Valentine's day.  It was hand drawn picture book of the dialogue from the first time we met at karaoke at Peachtree Tavern.  He's not the best artist, but I don't care because it is the cutest thing I have ever seen.  It was the most memorable Valentine's Day ever, and he didn't spend a dime. 

If you're like me, you'll probably be watching the Grammy's on Monday night, but Happy Valentine's Day anyway! 

I'm tired of Ikea "wood."

Like most college students, while in college, Philip and I acquired a lot of Ikea furniture.  While in this temporary apartment, we don't want to buy all new furniture but I'm so tired of the fake wood color! The Ikea furniture serves it's purpose for now, so I decided to paint it.  Here's what I came up with.  

  Here is the before....

 ....and the after!

I wanted it to look old and antique so I painted it a couple times and then sanded the hell out of it.  Then, I got a "how to use a drill" tutorial from Philip, and I added these super cute knobs (on sale at Hobby Lobby for $2 each!)

 

This is the before of our TV tray.  We use them randomly around the house for whatever is needed.  

Here is the after!  I painted them gray and then painted on a design on the top.  Now they look like a happy matching pair.  

We will probably still use them as an end table and a night stand.  

I hope you like!













Of course I couldn't do this by myself.  My kitty Mable kept me company while I was painting :)