Tag: pumpkin

Craft Projects, Holiday

Shiny pumpkins

Jessica Smith

My pumpkins from Dana’s shower still have life left in them, so I transitioned them from fall to winter this weekend with some Krylon metallic spray paint.

Pumpkins_silver

I went out early yesterday morning and loaded these babies up with silver spray paint. I really liked how they turned out, so I grabbed some of the mini pumpkins from inside.

Pumpkins_silverandgold

I mixed it up with the minis, using both silver and gold.

Pumpkins_Silver1

I was impressed with how shiny the Krylon paints came out and was thankful that each pumpkin only required one coat. I am the messiest spray painter, so I would have been all silver, too, if the pumpkins needed more coverage.

pumpkins_silverandgold1

Once the pumpkins dried (I left then outside to dry all day, so I can’t say how long it took, exactly) I put them all at my front door for a cute little fall/winter display.

Pumpkins_doors1

I wondered if anyone would notice, since our front “porch,” if you can even call it that, isn’t visible from the road. But I had Dana’s bridesmaids over last night and they oohed and ahhed.

Pumpkins_doors

The metallic pumpkins look so cute with my winter wreath, too! I wonder how much longer the pumpkins will hold out — with the chilly weather, I’m hoping to have these shiny beauties for a few more weeks.

… and I’m looking for more things to use the Krylon spray paint on. IT’S JUST SO SHINY. SPRAY ALL THE THINGS.

When Thanksgiving is over, I’m definitely going to have to find another use for it.

DIY GIFT GUIDE, Gift Idea

Bridal Shower Gift: Kitchen Towel Cake

Jessica Smith

Kitchen-Towel-Cake_Final2

While pinning the heck out of some awesome fall bridal shower ideas I stumbled across a cute idea to do a version of a Diaper Cake with kitchen towels and other utensil. If you want to see the original, here was my inspiration.

I went to Home Goods, Target and Amazon for my supplies:

  • Normal dish towels
  • Microfiber dish towels
  • Scrubby dish towels
  • An apron
  • Cloth napkins
  • A pie plate
  • An oven mitt
  • Wooden spoons
  • Measuring spoons

I bought what I thought I needed, returned the extra sets I didn’t use, and gifted Dana a bag for the odds and ends that didn’t work. Depending on the size you’d like your cake to be or the size of your pie plate (which the cake sits in), you’ll need varying amounts of each.

I started on the bottom layer and wrapped up the largest, “normal” towels. Then, I tied them together with some twine. When that was secure, I folded the apron, which had beautiful fall colors throughout, and wrapped that around the towels to beef up the bottom layer. I knew I wanted the oven mitts on the bottom layer, so I took twine and tied it around the apron and the oven mitts to keep the entire bottom layer together. Then, I broke a plastic hanger and stuck it in the middle so the remaining two layers would have support when I needed to move the cake around.

Kitchen-Towel-Cake_step-1

I probably should have added more towels to the bottom layer since there was such a gap between the edge of the pie plate and the bottom, but the cake was already so full of towels. I ran back out to Home Goods and picked up a set of burnt orange cloth napkins, rolled them up and stuck then around the base of the cake.

Kitchen-Towel-Cake_step-2

For the second and third layers, I went through the same process. Choose towels, roll towels, secure with twine. I stuck each layer onto the hanger to make sure the sizing was appropriate. Then, I took the top layer off and added the wooden spoons into the second tier of the cake. I simply stuck them into the folds of towels, then angled and shoved until they were secure and looked right. I did the same thing for the measuring spoons, too.

kitchen-towel-cake_step-3

Once I was satisfied with layer 2, I added the top layer. I did redo the layers three or four times until I thought they looked right, so don’t get discouraged if your towels don’t look amazing on the first go around.

Kitchen-towel-cake_step-4

Pretty cute, huh? All I needed was ribbon to cover the twine and the cake toppers 🙂

For cake toppers, I ordered this adorable set of pumpkin salt and pepper shakers from Amazon. They barely fit on the top of the cake, so I was glad I went with this set instead of other sets that had two of the stumpier pumpkins. To make sure they didn’t fall off, I removed the stoppers (put them in a baggie or you’ll lose them!) and stuck each shaker on a skewer I’d shoved into a fold of the top tier.

Kitchen-Towel-Cake_top

I love love love this as a gift for a shower — especially for a bride who is a baker-chocolatier-chef extraordinaire like Dana is. It was a lot of fun to make.

Kitchen-Towel-Cake_final

It certainly is charming, isn’t it?

What clever gifts have you made for a bride-to-be? There are so many cute ideas out there!

Recipes

Pumpkin rice krispie treats

Jessica Smith

20121028-110755.jpg

Thank you, Pinterest for this adorable idea! These cute treats were pretty easy to make. Just follow the directions on the cereal box for regular treats and add yellow and red food coloring to the marshmallows after they are melted. Mix it all together then shape into round pumpkins with your hands. Tip: get your hands wet first so they don’t stick to your fingers. Add tootsie rolls for your stem! So cute!