Design Your Life: May 2012

5.29.2012

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

Ummm, so strawberries were on sale.....

My husband takes things very literally. When I asked him for some lotion at Victoria's Secret for my birthday when we first started dating, he bought me an entire sample pack with about 5 pounds of lotion, the matching body sprays, and one large of each of his favorites. Needless to say, we've been together 8 years and I still have an entire drawer of lotion. I digress. So I asked him for strawberries yesterday, and I got about 32 million pounds. Strawberry cupcakes anyone?

Ever read something that rings so true you want to tattoo it on your arm?

Start by making cupcakes from the box. Butter recipe is still my favorite! Put about 5 large strawberries in a blender and pulse 3 times, or until straberries are chunky. Mix strawberry pulp into batter and continue to bake folling instructions on the box.

Frost using my favorite frosting recipe!

3-3/4 cup (l lb. box) Powdered Sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick), softened

1/4 tsp. salt

Dip a few of the strawberries in Nutella, and place on the top of the frosted cupcakes! Are you drooling yet?

Place sliced strawberries spuratically on top and leave some plain. Garnish all with white or green pearl sprinkles for a touch of fun.

5.19.2012

Hanging for Dummies

Do you look at something with 2 hanging brackets and run the other way? No more! This is the easiest way to hang a picture, a shelf, or whatever you could ever hang! Here's what you need:

Hammer

Nails

Toothpaste(preferable blue in color)

A level

Put a dab of toothpaste on the bracket, right above where the nail would go.

Lick off the excess if you'd like for minty freshness ;)

Hold the subject to be hung with a level against the wall and when you get it in the right place, gently press the brackets into the wall, just enough to transfer the toothpaste on the wall.

Locate your toothpaste marks on the wall, and revel in the simplicity of this method!

You now have perfect marks of where exactly to put your nails!

Hang, and use the rest of your free time to laugh about what a pain hanging a picture used to be! :)

Beautiful!!!

5.09.2012

The Apple of my Iris

Last year in my daily browsing of my beloved Craigslist, I decided to check out the "free stuff" section. I'm not going to lie, that section scares me a little..... But 2 days after I had purchased Iris bulbs for $4 a piece, the title "free Iris bulbs" caught my eye. (Rest assured, I am always very cautious when I do my Craigslisting. More on that later.) I showed up at the house with a small spade and a Nordstrom bag. Little did I know.... This guy had 5 beds of Iris the size of my house!! He laughed at my spade and gave me a full size shovel and in 3 hours I had the entire back of my Jeep FULL! I planted them on my side yard so I could cut them and have them inside!