Your New Favorite Frosting!

Remember a while ago when I talked about my sisters' birthday and the super cool tie-dye cake that I made? In that blog, I mentioned that I'd share about the super great frosting at some point. Well, that point is today! Woohoo!

To see the recipe for this frosting, check out this link.

Photo from Pinterest

So, pretty much every time I make frosting, I make this kind. Granted, before I made this kind of frosting, I generally didn't make frosting - I used the kind from a can - but this is so so so good and so so so easy, that I generally just make this whenever I need to frost a cake. It tastes far better than the canned stuff and, oh my goodness, just....yum!

The last time I made this frosting was for my son's 2nd birthday. I added the ingredients, mixed it together, and added food coloring (which worked wonderfully as well) and it tasted delightful, and I'm not just saying that - this is also according to all of the party guests - which was mainly family who don't mind being brutally (well...tactfully) honest when necessary. Thankfully, this time they did like it.

Unfortunately, after these two pictures, I got distracted and quit taking pictures, so I don't have a picture of the end result. But, the blog that I referred to above does, so I stole her picture.

Photo from 366daysofpinterest.com

Seriously, I could just spoon this stuff into my mouth.  The only version of this that I have tried has been with vanilla pudding, but I hear it works with chocolate pudding too - or any kind of pudding you may fancy. I'm looking forward to giving it a try sometime soon. Oh! And, instead of using cool whip, you can also use real whipping cream. I wanted to give that a try the last time I made it, but I was just too durned lazy. Awe well, there's always next time...

Really though, if you like cool whip, or frosting, or whipping cream, I'd recommend you give this frosting recipe a try. Because of the pudding it firms up nicely but still tastes fluffy and wonderful. Mmmm...I may have to find an excuse to make some right now.

Help! My white shirt is now pink!

I posted about this on Facebook the other day, but I am just oh-so excited, I want to make sure and share it here as well. Now, I realize I normally post a Pinterest Test of something that I've tried and this is! But this is a bit of an advertisement for a product too...and something I've tried...so I say it counts!

A few months back, I bought myself this beautiful cream-colored turtle-neck with pretty sparkly silver stripes. I wore it twice before the tragedy occurred. My poor, beautiful, light-colored sweater was put in the wash with a little red shirt of my son's. Somehow, that shirt just snuck on in with all of our light-colored clothing. Only my shirt and a pair of my husband's khaki pants were harmed in the washing of this load of laundry. But, alas, the khakis and my shirt were ruined.

I didn't take a picture of the pants, but in desperation and looking for answers, I took a picture of my sweater and posted it to facebook. Unfortunately, not many solutions were given.

HOWEVER, thanks to Pinterest, or at least someone who pinned a recommendation to Pinterest, I found the solution!!

This product is incredible. You can buy this through amazon. I just searched for it on amazon after finding out about it on Pinterest. The box I got was good for one item and it cost me about $6.00 including shipping. They do sell this product so you can use it on a whole load of laundry, but I really was just concerned about my shirt and not so much about the khakis.

I was so nervous to try this. Most of the reviews I read were very positive, but I was worried it was going to ruin my lovely (well...not as lovely) sweater! My mom coaxed me and reminded me that "it's not like you will wear it the way it is now...could this product really make it worse?" She had a point. So, since I was feeling not awesome because of this whole baby-doing-summersaults-in-my-stomach thing, my mom was gracious enough to do this test for me. She tested it on the shirt and the pants and, guess what, it worked on both!!!

My shirt is lovely and doesn't look like I've been beaten to a bloody pulp while wearing it and my husband's khakis are back and useable again. It's just that cool!

Mom said that she was worried for a moment about the khakis when she put them in the solution because the red turned a dark green color...but it still worked! This product rocks my socks!! Red or white - doesn't matter. I'll definitely buy this again if I ever come across this issue again. If I ever - HA - we all know it's gonna happen again.

Here is the after shot of my sweater:

See that? As good as new!

One other note: I did not dry my shirt or the khakis after the dreaded washing, other than they did air-dry. As soon as I saw the stains as I was putting things in the dryer, I pulled them out. However, I read reviews that many people had run their clothing item through the dryer and it still worked!

I'd highly recommend this product. It really is incredible. I don't normally wanna push products - I just wanna have fun making stuff and trying stuff out, but...it's just THAT cool.

Pretty-fying your iPhone

This is a silly little blog today and will only apply to those who have an iPhone...and maybe a Droid...I'm not sure if they make this app for the droid or not. I found a pin on Pinterest entitled "Make your iPhone pretty!" So, being the frilly, prissy, sparkle and pink-loving girl that I am, I was drawn to this pin. But, for months have been far too lazy then to do anything with it. Until today.

Here is what your iPhone can look like, according to the Pinterest blogger. I don't see any reason to attach the blog that goes with this pin, as the directions are no longer on there.

Photo from Pinterest

Because I did not find any directions easily accessible, I did what I could to make my iPhone prettified; I changed a few apps.

To make your iPhone all pretty like this, you need to download the CocoPPa. It's a foreign app, but it still works well and has simple directions in English. I didn't end up making new icons for my mail, phone and messaging because that was far more confusing than just doing it for the apps. So, my best recommendation - have fun with this, but don't get too carried away unless you don't mind putting in more effort than I apparently wanted to. Ha!

Here are some of the apps that I changed the icons for:

See the beautiful Rapunzel background I have on my phone? That was from a picture I took of a painting my husband bought me. I love it.

I am pretty excited about how pretty cute the new app icons look on my phone. Adorbs! Craftgawker is the only one not looking uber cute here as I couldn't find a new icon for it, but I like the other ones a lot!

You do have to save your original icons so you don't lose your info as these are kinda just the facades that connect to the actual apps. I put all of the original icons in a folder on the last window of my iPhone.

I had a lot of fun with this; being able to customize my icons is right up my ally! If only I could figure out how to do the whole phone!! Either way, I enjoyed the cuteness that is on parts of my phone now.

So, this is a pretty cool little app if you are interested in (and have time for) stuff like this - just make sure you read the short tutorial - it'll be very helpful. I may do some more customizing later, but I'm satisfied with the few changes I've made. I'm liking it!

Blueberry Banana Bread

Back in the day, when I worked as a receptionist at an engineering firm, there was a guy who would bring in some of the most amazing banana blueberry bread I had ever eaten made by his wife. I had asked for the recipes, but she was obviously a natural in the kitchen and would say she just kinda "threw it together." Those kind of people amaze me. I've never been that person - maybe someday I will, but I'm not there yet!

Anyway, since that time - well over 6 years ago - I have been on a quest to find a recipe similar to hers and I think I finally have!! To check out the recipe, go to this blog.

I made this recipe the other day for my MOPS steering team (aka leadership team) and I have to say, I think it turned out pretty good. I wasn't able to attend the meeting because of a sick child, but I'm assuming everybody there liked them too.

Either way, I do plan on making this recipe again - it didn't take long and my-oh-my was it tasty!

"Folding in" the blueberries

Instead of baking it in two loaf pans, I did as my co-worker's wife had done and I enjoyed so much, and I made it in a bundt pan (yes, I am certain the bundt pan played a role in the tastiness of her bread). At least, I think that's what those lumpy cake pans are called.

Because of using a different pan, I wasn't sure how much the baking time would differ, but it didn't really differ much - I think I may have had it in the oven for 50 minutes rather than the whole hour, but I recommend just checking it every once in a while.

Although it didn't turn out to look much like the picture from Pinterest, I think it turned out looking pretty and was very tasty. I definitely will be making this recipe again!

Rainbow Tie-Dye Cake

Last week was my sisters' birthday. No, I didn't put the apostrophe in the wrong spot - my sisters are twins! They are my sweet little sisters. I love them both very dearly and have been ever grateful for the gift God has given me in them.

Me and my sisters...just a few years ago...

All of that to say, for their birthday last year, I made them each a cake - Rebecca (who loves Rainbows), I made the Rainbow Tie-Dye Cake, and for Rachel (who enjoys a good cheesecake), I made an oreo cheesecake. The cheesecake recipe will come later - this post is mainly dedicated to the amazing Pinterest find of the Rainbow Tie-Dye Cake.

Photo from Pinterest

This cake was really not too hard to make - the only thing was it made for a lot of dirty dishes and many steps, but otherwise - it was rather simple and pretty. I don't have pictures of all of the steps, as I did this long before I had thought of doing a blog, but you can see how it turned out from looking at the pictures. The batter on the bottom of the picture was my first attempt, the batter on the top was second attempt with help from my husband - I believe the biggest difference was being sure to not put the same amount on each layer and not trying to spread it - it'll spread on it's own.

I didn't use the frosting that was recommended in the blog, I used one from a recipe I got from Pinterest. Becca, who doesn't like frosting, didn't even mind it! Well...that could've been because it had rainbows in it though. :) I will be posting about the frosting recipe in another blog post very soon. It is deserving of it's own post - it is that good. And...here it is! The best frosting ever.

The frosting was a bit more complicated to make look pretty - that takes a slightly steadier hand than my own. Thankfully my husband helped me with that part too - with his help, it still turned out alright, I'd say.

Here are the two cakes that were made, both seemed to be a success, thankfully. And, I thought they were pretty too. Woohoo!

I think she likes it! :)

The cakes were a yummy success, and I hope to make the tie-dye cake again. It was a lot of fun, and the results were oh-so pretty.

Happy birthday to my not-so-young little sisters. I love you both dearly.