DIY Spring Wreath

February 18, 2012

Instruction now available on youtube, click here.

How about some flowers that don’t wither or die? I made this wreath yesterday in no time at all. I didn’t even make a trip to the fabric or craft store. I just used scraps of fabric, burlap and felt that I had around the house. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I mentioned on facebook last week that I wanted to host a crafting/DIY workshop. The idea is that I would have all or most of the supplies ready, and you could just come and make something fun, cute, or useful. Maybe I can help teach you a new skill or technique. So, how about we make this Spring Wreath. In an hour or so, depends on how much chatting and eating we do, you could leave with a cute wreath like this one (or in any color or season you wish).

So, if you live locally (Bakersfield, CA), are you interested? Is this something you would like to make? Leave me a comment. I want you input. Would a Saturday morning be good, or would you prefer an weekday evening? I want to host this first event this coming week. So tell your friends and “Like” my facebook page to find out the time and day.

And if you don’t live near by, don’t worry, I’ll post instructions after the diy workshop on the blog.
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Would you like a youtube video with instructions? Or are photos what you prefer? Leave me a comment, I want your input.

Instruction now available on youtube, click here. Or if you would rather just buy one, check out my etsy shop.

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Manly Quilts

February 17, 2012

So, my dad’s birthday is rapidly approaching and really don’t know what to get him. Dad’s are hard to buy for, actually men in general are difficult buy gifts for. Girls like things that are just cute. You can’t give I guy something and say, “I just thought it was so cute, so I got it for you”. Especially if you have a manly dad like I do.

So, I’ve made a quilt for all three of my brothers. Joash’s quilt has retro fabric, Joel’s is modern and clean, and Josh’s is a masculine grey log cabin. So, I think it’s time I made my dad a quilt (shhhhh, don’t tell him). I’m becoming an expert at making quilts for men. It’s a lot harder to find fabrics that appeal to men. A lot of quilting cottons have flowers, and I don’t think that screams manly.

So, here’s the fabrics I’ve picked out so far for Dad’s quilt. I’m loving navy blue lately and how can you not love it with green. Now for a quilt design or pattern. Any ideas friends? I’m open for suggestions. I’m also working on a quilt for my new nephew/niece, It’s going to be a chevron pattern. Maybe something in stripes?

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Mexican Mocha Chocolate Pudding

February 15, 2012

Here’s a quick and easy Valentine’s dessert that tastes totally decadent and unique. I’ve made this dessert quite a few times this winter for my family. It’s one of the desserts that you can whip up late at night when you have a serious chocolate craving.

Mexican Mocha Chocolate Pudding
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
a pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup Kahlua
3 Tbsp. butter

In a sauce pan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, corn starch, cinnamon, and salt. Add the cold milk and whisk well. Add the vanilla and Kahlua. Turn the heat to med-high, stir continually with the whisk. Bring to a boil, making sure to continue to stir, cook until the pudding thickens (it should coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the butter until it is totally melted.

Transfer to serving dishes while it is still hot. Serve warm or chill and serve with whipped cream. Because this is a cooked pudding, the alcohol in the Kahlua cooks off, so I serve this to my kids. It still has the yummy warm Kahlua flavor though.

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Personalized Hearts

February 13, 2012

One evening this week, my kids had I had fun with some clay. We played with Crayola’s Air Dry Clay. I made these five hearts for all the members of my family. What are they for, you might be wondering? They are for cute. Simply for something cute to sit on a side table in a little bowl. Just some Valentine’s decor for our little family.

These hearts are about 2 inches wide. I used letters from a cookie press to write everyone’s names on the hearts.

After the hearts had dried for 3 days, I painted them with acrylic paint. All I needed was red and white painted. I started with the red heart and then added a little more white each time to the paint when I painted the next heart.

Last year I made these shirts, this meal, these lunches, these marshmallows and these cookies. It was fun to look back at my posts, but I do have to say that my photographs were not so great – I think I’ve made some improvements in the quality of my post photos.

If you like what you see, BE A FRIEND! Follow Oleander and Palm by email, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

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Home Tour: The Bathroom

February 10, 2012

One of the best parts of our home is the original claw foot tub in our bathroom. Until 2009, this was our only bathroom. When we first moved in we retiled the floors, installed a new shower door, painted the outside of the tub and resurfaced the inside of the tub.

Opposite the toilet is a glass corner shower (not shown in the pictures).

This room is now in need of a fresh coat of paint, and I’m afraid it will probably go a shade of grey (I just can’t get enough of that color). My dream is to put a curtain surround around the tub and add the fixtures for a shower over the tub (something like this one). Then we could take out the corner shower and have a double vanity with more storage. This is one of my New Years Resolutions for 2012.

I’ve decorated the room with shells we collected while living in Papua New Guinea. The jars of shells where shells I just picked off the beach. Hanging above the tub, I have three shells that were painted on bark (I bought those in Fiji).

For an update, here’s some of the work I’ve done. And this is the inspiration for the bathroom re-do. And here’s the finished product.

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Vintage Valentine: Party Day!

February 9, 2012

We’re ready for some fun. The girls are excited to decorate cookies, eat snacks, and just have fun together.

Beware: lots of pictures!

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Vintage Valentine: Sugar Cookies

February 8, 2012

I think everything is ready for the party. There’s food, there’s decorations and an activity. The girls are going to decorate Valentine’s cookies at the party. I hope my daughter enjoys this little get together. She’s 10 and I’m not sure how much longer decorating cookies is going to be cool.

I’ve baked the sugar cookies ahead of time so that we can spend our time decorating them. Sugar cookies freeze really well. So, there in an airtight container waiting patiently in the freezer. I made a double batch of what I think are the best sugar cookies. This is Lonnie’s Aunt Izzy’s recipe for sugar cookies (hope you don’t mind me sharing Aunt Izzy).

I made quite a few different sized hearts for the girls, so that they can take home a variety. I also picked up these cute brown cardboard take out boxes for them to package up their cookies in. I got the boxes at a restaurant supply store.

Sugar Cookies
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
4 tsp. milk
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp, salt

With an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Chill dough for at least hours. Roll out on a well floured surface, cut out shapes and bake on parchment lined cookie sheets for about 10 mins in a 350 F oven. Cool on a wire rack.

Come back tomorrow to see how everything came together. And scroll back through the last 5 posts to see more of the party if you’ve missed out.

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Vintage Valentine: Cake Pops and Linzer Cookies

February 7, 2012

There’s something about a party that just gives you free reign to serve and eat way too many sweets. These two goodies don’t only taste fantastic, but the look pretty great as well.

I love to make Oreo Truffles for parties and gifts, but this Christmas my friend Heidi gave me a fun new toy. So, I made chocolate cake pops. I dipped them in red chocolate and topped each with a little sparkly gold sugar. These a perfect bight sized treat.

I also made Linzer cookies. My mom gave me a Linzer cookie cutter set, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. I adapted the recipe that came with the cutters. I made these buttery cookies with almond extract and homemade raspberry jam (thanks to Lonnie’s mom). They are cute but dangerous, because you really want to eat more then one.

Linzer Cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups cake flour sifted
1 tsp. Almond extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Raspberry Jam

With electric mixer cream the butter, almond extract and sugar. Mix is 1 cup of flour at a time. When the dough is fully combined, place in an airtight container and chill dough for at least 2 hours. Cut out cookies with Linzer cutter or other cutters. Make sure to cut out a bottom and top for each cookie. The bottom is whole and the top has the center cut out (I cut hearts out of mine). Bake in a 350 F oven for about 10-12 min. Watch them carefully, when they are just brown on the very edges, take them out. Cool on a wire rack. Place a tsp. of jam on the bottom cookies and top with a cut out cookie.

You can’t have a party without candy. I filled jelly jars with red hot’s and cinnamon hearts. What says vintage more then Grandma’s jelly jars? I tied a simple piece of twine around each.

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Vintage Valentine: Pom Pom Cake Bunting

February 6, 2012

Here’s a super yummy cake and a very easy cake topper. This pom pom bunting adds a festive touch to the simplest of cakes.

Here’s how to make the pom pom bunting. You’ll need some cotton twine, 9 small pom poms, 2 bamboo skewers, 2 hearts cut out of glittered paper, a large needle, and a hot glue gun.

Using a large needle, thread the pom poms onto the twine.

Space the pom poms about 1 inch apart.

Tie the twine onto the skewers.

Trim the extra twine and glue on the hearts with a hot glue gun

The cake is my new favorite white cake. I adapted a recipe from Company’s Coming Cakes Recipe Book. I filled it with homemade blackberry curd and topped it with butter cream and sprinkled the top with gold sugar. It’s a light, silky cake that is a beautiful white.

These little love birds are available at my etsy shop.

White Chocolate Cake
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup white chocolate chips melted
2 1/2 cups cake flour sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup buttermilk

Sift flour and baking powder and set aside. Cream butter with an electric mixer and then beat in the sugar. Separate the eggs, add the egg yolks and the vanilla to the butter mixture and beat. Then add the melted chocolate chips and mix well.

Add the buttermilk and sifted flour alternately. Mix until just combined. Beat the egg whites till they have stiff peaks. Then fold in the egg whites.

Bake in two 8 inch round pans that have been buttered and floured. Bake in a 350 F for about 25 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

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Vintage Valentine: Book Page Bunting

February 5, 2012

Yesterday I shared my inspiration for Valentine’s Party I’m hosting this week. So, here’s the start of my posts about my Vintage Valentine inspired party. This bunting is a super easy party decoration to make. I love using pages from old books for all kinds of crafts. This copy of Romeo and Juliet has been used on quite a few project. I love the aged color of the pages and the type adds a graphic element.

Here’s what you need: pages from an old book, cotton twine, hearts cut out of glittered paper, and a glue stick.

Cut a triangle out from the bottom of each page.

Glue a heart onto the center of each page.

Fold about a 1/2″ flap along the top and glue the pages to the twine. I spaced my out every 3 inches. Hang and enjoy!

Tomorrow I will have more of the decorations and party food.