yumm

So, here's the deal. You NEED to try this recipe if you like carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. It is sooo amazing. I found it on allrecipes.com about two years ago, and can't bring myself to try another carrot cake recipe after this!

Here ya go, you can thank me later.

Carrot Cake V Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 (4.5 ounce) jars carrot baby food
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil; beat well. Add eggs, carrots, and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat mixture until smooth. Combine flour, salt, soda, and spices; add to creamed mixture, beating well. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then transfer layers to wire racks.
4. To Make Cream Cheese Frosting: Combine cream cheese and butter or margarine, beating until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla and confectioners' sugar; beat until smooth. Stir in chopped pecans. Fill and frost the cake with cream cheese frosting. Garnish with pecans, if desired.

I made mine into cupcakes (changed cook time to about 17 minutes a batch. It made around 34 cupcakes!) and they turned out to be fantastic! I also added a little bit of grated carrot for a little dimention. I would suggest you do the same if you make this recipe!

Anyway, here's my finished product.They aren't very pretty, but my husband and I had a blast decorating them.

ps. sorry in advance for the 300 pounds you will gain from devouring these.

Love is Spoken Here

I've been trying to post this for the past three hours. For some reason, this blog wouldn't let me type on it. I thought maybe it was a problem with Blogger, but then I checked my other blogs and they both worked. It was awful, I tell you. I even thought about crying, but thankfully it started working again. Whew!

Anyway, yesterday as I was browsing Etsy, I came across this print.

(click to see seller)

I loved it instantly. In fact, I almost bought it, but the crafty side of me wouldn't allow it. I knew I could make one similar using Photoshop. So, I got started.

About five minutes into my poster making, I realized that I could make a sign similar with old magazines and some white paper for a more "home made" feel.

I thought about tracing the letters onto the magazine before cutting them out, but instead I decided to just free hand them. I like how you can tell I cut them out myself, it gives the poster a little bit of personality.

To make the print a little more sturdy, I Mod Podged the paper to some cardboard I had lying around. I'm linking the end result, I'm also liking that I spent no money to make this.

I'm a blogging dummy.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Barnes and Noble to browse around. We love that place.
As usual, we found way too many books that we wanted. Luckily, we were able to dwindle it down to just two.

Mine was a book about Blogging. And, can I just tell you right now, it's amazing? I'm totally lovin' it. I really couldn't even put it down until around 2 am, when my droopy eyes made me go to bed.

(picture found on Amazon)

So, then I was thinking, "maybe I should ask my readers for some blogging tips and I can share them here, on my blog later!" It sounded like a marvelous idea, so here I am, asking YOU to let me know YOUR blogging tips. What kind of blogs do you like to read? What blogs do you try to steer clear of (looks wise or content wise)? What are some of your favorite blogs? How often do you like blogs to be updated? Do you thinks Ads are okay?

Let me know your thoughts on all things blog! Who knows? Your idea may just be featured in an upcoming post.


I'm participating in Tidy Mom's I'm Lovin' It! Fridays...You should too!

BLDG Materials

I honestly thought that that said "blog materials"...I wish!
(Sorry for the awful picture, it was taken with my awful phone)

Today was my husband's day off...So, we decided to go get new phones since ours have been on the fritz ever since we got them. Thankfully, Apple just came out with a new IPhone. What a perfect replacement. We deserve it...Right?

Anyway, on the way there we saw a ReStore Outlet location and I told my husband that I had always wanted to go there. Being the nice man that he is, he pulled into the parking lot right then. I was in Heaven! Cheap home improvement stuff everywhere.

Note: If you don't know what a ReStore store is, it's basically like a thrift store but for all things handy. It's sponsored by Habitat for Humanity, and all proceeds go toward building new houses for those in need. You can even donate your unwanted household items for them to sell. I highly recommend going to one, if you can.

After searching every isle (twice), I came home with a few new things to add to my craft pile. I can't wait to get started working on them to make them more fabulous.

Aside from things to craft, we found some great privacy blinds to put behind out bamboo blinds. We've been wanting them forever, but at $25 a window, it seemed like a waste when I could (probably) make them myself. Luckily, ReStore saved my life and had the exact ones I saw at Lowes for just $4. Perfect.