Happy Halloween

Halloween is tomorrow. 
I hope you are ready.

I loved trick or treating as a kid.

I guess the tradition wasn't that old when I was born. 

I love seeing the kids in my neighborhood in costume. 

They are so cute.

Have a fun and spooky evening. 

Sprinkled with treats for the goblins,

Katie

Pumpkin Layer Cake

Pumpkin Layer Cake 

It was farm week at school.

I usually dress up as a farmer and ride in on a John Deere Gator. We build a scarecrow and cut open a pumpkin. It is so cute watching the little ones smell the seeds  and goop inside.

This year I decided to do a pie pumpkin. I have wanted to make my own pie filling for a while.

I have been intrigued by the pumpkin 
roll recipe I have seen floating around the internet.

But!

I was not excited about a making a
 jelly roll cake.

I think I tried it once many years ago and it didn't roll.
 I knew I could handle a layer cake.
So I brought the pumpkin home and researched how to cook it.
I used my old Joy Of Cooking cookbook.

Cooked pumpkin

Cut a pie pumpkin  in half.

Scoop out seeds and clean out pumpkin.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour until tender.

Allow pumpkin to cool and scoop out the pulp.
You can run the pulp through the food processor to puree.

Layer Cake
2/3 cup pumpkin

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp salt

Mix pumpkin, eggs and sugar.

Add flour and other dry ingredients.

Pour into two greased and floured 9 inch cake pans.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
The layers will only be about an inch high.

Allow layers to cool.

Cream Cheese Filling/Frosting
4 oz of cream cheese softened
1/4 cup butter
11/2 cups powdered sugar
A dollop of half and half until frosting is desired consistency. 
Frost in between layers and on the top.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on the sides.

The cake came out beautifully.

I cut a piece for me. 

Bill was skeptical but he took a bite.

He liked it.

Mr. Bill doesn't like pumpkin anything, ever!
He said it didn't taste like a can.

I loved it. 
I love the cream cheese frosting.
The pumpkin cake was moist and delicious.

I wasn't sure it was going to be after I realized that the cake had no butter or oil.

Did you notice that this cake isn't orange?
I have no idea why. 

I froze the rest of the pumpkin. I am either going to make a pie or  two more cakes.

I think I will try a pie. 
Sprinkled with pumpkin and powdered sugar,
Katie 
Linking with,
DebbieDoos  
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
Savvy Southern Style 
Between Naps on the Porch

Lime Green and White Pumpkins

 I changed my fall decor after we got the cabinets painted. 
I have wanted a white kitchen for so long, I didn't really want to put  too much orange in the finished space. 
I just got rid of orange oak cabinets so I didn't want to add orange back in.
This season I have been drawn time and time again to green and neutrals. 
I found these green leaves at Tom Thumb.

 I love them. 
A lovely chartreuse.

The leaves  don't typically change color in our neck of the woods until November.
This shade of green is a little out of the norm for me and since the leaves are still green outside, I think they are perfect.
I love using natural elements in my decorating.

I have paired the leaves with some white pumpkins. 
I know they are all the rage, but I never noticed them in the store until this year.

I love these peach colored roses and white pumpkins.

I went on a quest and spray painted some of my older ceramic, wood and resin pumpkins white.

The green and white together is so calming.

Nothing feels overdone.

I put some dried hydrangeas with some white pumpkins. 

I've sprinkled a few burlap pumpkins in the mix, just to change it up a little.

My sister in law and I each made a burlap memory board. 

I filled mine with vintage postcards and a picture of Rebekah at the pumpkin patch. 
She was about 5 at the time.

I am crazy about vintage postcards 

This one of the birch trees and the canoe is just so cute.

 I bought this sweet fellow of off e-bay.

Finally I will show off my first painted sign. 

I saw this craft on Pinterest done by 
Sweet Something Design.
I had a fun Sunday afternoon painting. It isn't perfect but I love how it turned out. 
I love how the house feels decorated for fall but not decorated, you know what I mean?  
Sprinkled with neutrals and green,
Katie
Linking with,  
 Savvy Southern Style  
The Brambleberry Cottage 
French Country Cottage  
Debbie Doos Power of Pinterest Party




  

Brass Chandelier Makeover

I wasn't completely happy with the 
French looking chandelier in the kitchen. 
I liked it but the scale was off.  

 I really needed a five arm 
fixture instead of a 3 arm. 
I wanted something I could transform with
spray paint and crystals. 
You can read about  my dining fixture here.
I went to one of my favorite junky chandelier stores. 

They had about 5 blingy, brass, 90's fixtures to choose from at the Re-Store. They had some nine arm chandeliers but they would have been too big.
They had some 3 arm lanterns.
I sort of wanted a lantern but I went more traditional and classic. 
I found one 90's fixture that was sturdy and it had 5 lights. None of the arms were bent.

It had good bones and some detail that I thought would look cute ORB.

I stopped by Lowes on my way home and got a package of long crystals and new candle covers. I planned to recycle the crystals off of the old one. The whole thing only cost $35.00.
I hung it out in the yard on my shepherd's hook. 

I did many light coats with Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic from Rust-Oleum. 

I didn't want drips.

I took the big ball thing off of the bottom. 

I was able to put a new plate and finial in place of the ball. 
The other two fixtures in the room were a little on the brown side of bronze. 
They didn't match anymore.

 I didn't want to take them down and possibly mar my new ceiling, 

so I sprayed the Rust-Oleum on to a piece of paper and dabbed it on the fixtures with a brush. 

It took some time but now they are more black than brown.

The scale is correct. 

Brass Chandelier Makeover

It provides more light

and some sparkle.

I love it with the newly painted cabinets. 

Sprinkled with chandelier love,

Katie
Linking with,
Debbie Doos 
French Country Cottage   
Funky Junk Interiors