Patriotic Ladder

My ladder is like my dress up doll . . . I decorate her for every holiday so here she is decked out for the 4th.

The tea towels were a thrift store find, $3.00 for the pair.

 I removed my vintage hankies and replaced them with clusters of these cardboard stars that I got at the same store for 50 cents a package.

 The banner was made from old book pages that I cut out, distressed/aged and then attached a star cut out.  I printed the star shapes on the back of decorative paper and cut them out.  The centers are just a circle added with dimensionals to pop them up.

 Since I had a bunch of these stars, I added some to my window photo displays on the wall and

 scattered some around my jars with ferns.  I have also added red and blue food coloring to the jars for the holiday.  AFTER I took these pictures, I realized it's time to put new ferns in these jars . . . they look a bit sad!

If you haven't entered my give away for the vintage sheet music . . . be sure to do that!

 

Oh Say Can You See My Mantle? Give Away!

Finally getting some patriotic decorations out . . . this is my "mantle" which is actually just a strange rectangular opening in the wall of our living room.

 I was finally able to use these great letters and vintage crepe paper rolls that I bought from Jillian at Bella Rosa Antiques.  She is constantly getting new things in her online store so you should definitely check out her site!

The sheet music came from one of nine books I got on Ebay

This one is just full of patriotic songs . . . here are some of the others I got . . .

These are SO old, I don't have to 'age' them at all for projects!

See, complete with their own stains!

Now for the give away part . . .

I could never in a million years use all of this sheet music so I'd love to share it with one of you!  The winner will receive

- Ten pages from a hymnal (you choose the 

songs you want!)

- Five pages from a nursery rhyme song book

 (no musical score but most are illustrated!)

- Ten pages of miscellaneous sheet music 

To enter: (Leave a separate comment for each one)

Become a follower of my blog 

(or let me know if you already are) - 1 Entry

Blog about this give away - 1 Entry

Tell me what you would do with the sheet music

if you win - 1 Entry

Winner will be chosen by Randomiser on Saturday, June 30.

Copycat Four: Low Fat Lemonade Cake

I'm on a roll -- copied my fourth project from my Pinterest Boards and modified it for our diet and Father's Day.

Carrie at Saving 4 Six made a beautiful pink lemonade cake but since this was for Father's Day, I went with yellow.  You can check out her wonderful cake and recipe on her blog!  Because we're on a pretty strict cardiac diet, I had to modify the recipe but truthfully -- it is DELICIOUS! My whole family loved it.

After you bake the cake, poke holes in it and pour the glaze mixture over the warm cake.  After it cools, you add the icing which I tinted yellow.

Following Carrie's lead, I created this sign to put on top of the cake -- my husband even used this during his greeting from the pulpit this morning in church :)

Happy Father's Day!

1 package lemon cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package instant fat free/sugar free lemon pudding mix 

1 c Egg Beaters
1/2 c sugar free applesauce

1/4 c fat free sour cream
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9X13 with non-stick spray.  Combine the cake mix, lemon pudding mix, egg substitute, applesauce, sour cream, 1/2 c lemonade concentrate and skim milk.  Mix until smooth. Pour the batter
into the prepared pan.  Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes.  Remove from oven and prick cake all over with a fork. Immediately
pour lemonade glaze over top of cake.

LEMONADE Glaze Recipe: (that you pour over the cake when it comes out of the oven)

1 cup frozen  lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup Stevia or other sugar substitute
Combine the remaining thawed frozen lemonade and the Stevia.  Mix thoroughly and pour over still warm cake.  Now, let cake stand in pan until almost cool then make this frosting for the top of the cake.
 

Yellow Frosting/Glaze Recipe (for top of cake)

Combine 2 cups of powdered sugar into a medium size bowl. Beat in skim milk until it's a thick, pouring consistency.  Add yellow food coloring until you get the desired color.  Drizzle over cooled cake.

 

Copycat Three: Fav Color Gifts

I'm trying to make use of my Pinterest Boards for more than just ideas . . . I'm finally getting around to copying some! This is round three which I call, Favorite Color Gifts.  My twin girls turned 21 this week and we had gotten them some tickets to Chicago's Lollapalooza coming this August which meant the gifts on the actual "Birthday Day" were simple and inexpensive :)  I stole these baskets from hubby's work area and painted them red (Sarah's favorite color) and blue (Megan's favorite color) then filled them with mostly Dollar Store finds.

 My inspiration came from Karrie at Happymoneysaver.com and her adorable "Box of Sunshine".  She has some cute printables to go along with this too as well as lots of money-saving ideas and links on her blog.

 My second copycat project was inspired by Angie at Echoes of Laughter and her Birthday Candy Jar.  Angie's blog is filled with great ideas and recipes so you'll want to be sure to check it out!

My version was made using jars purchased at Walmart and I just sprayed the lids the same colors as the baskets.  I got most of the candy at one of those bulk stores (any idea how long it takes to grab ONE gummy at a time from the multi-colored bin using those big, plastic tongs??!!). 

The girls really enjoyed these fun gifts and I plan on using these ideas for others too.  I mean, how fun to get something that's all in YOUR favorite color?? The girls had celebrated with friends on their actual birthday and then celebrated with us the day after.

  LOL - THEY say they're now old enough to drink.  I say they're now legally responsible for all of their actions! 

Have you been copying anything from your Pinterest Boards or are you mainly a 'collector' of fine ideas?

Copycat Two: Low Fat Pineapple Funfetti Cake

I'm on to number two of my 'copycat' projects . . . this YUMMY cake from Mindy May over at Bacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo (Don't you just LOVE the name of her blog?!) As soon as I saw the title of this cake, I knew I had to try it.  It really IS just like she says: Quick, Easy and Reduced Fat but best of all . . . it is FABULOUSLY GOOD!

 So good in fact, when I served it to company the other evening -- NO ONE could believe it was low fat.  I made just a few changes, the first one being I baked mine in a 9X13 pan.  I also didn't have enough pineapple juice for the icing so that was just powdered sugar and skim milk.  The next time I make this, I think I'll use crushed pineapple instead of the tidbits because I want to experience more of the pineapple pieces throughout the cake.
Here's the recipe:

Cake Ingredients:

1 Box of Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix

1 cup of Pineapple Juice No Sugar Added

1/3 cup of Apple Sauce No Sugar Added 

3/4 cup of Cholesterol Free Egg Product

1 Snack Cup Bowl (113 grams) Pineapple Tidbits, drained

Glaze:

1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar

2 tbs of Pineapple Juice

Topping:

Rainbow Sprinkles 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Using an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients listed above under "cake ingredients". Mix for 30 seconds on low, then 2 minutes on medium high (or per cake mix directions on box). Pour into your greased bundt pan. I used a butter flavored non stick spray to prepare my pan. Bake per cake mix directions on box, for me that was 37 to 41 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Invert cake onto a wire wrack to remove from pan, and let cool, or serve warm, good either way. Mix your ingredients for the glaze together and pour over cake, then top with sprinkles and serve.