A Pop of Color

Home improvement projects continue to be an ongoing thing at the Holland House, and I'm really excited about the most recent one that Hank just finished. Our front door/entry way left much to be desired, but figured we could find an easy and inexpensive solution to remedy the problem.  The overall situation was pretty dark and dreary, but I couldn't be more pleased with the result.

Two issues to address:

1- lack of light in the foyer
2- a really ugly colored front door

On a whim, Hank decided to peel/scrape off the privacy film on the windows surrounding the door, making a dramatic difference in the amount of light that came in. That quickly fixed issue #1, and really prevented us from purchasing an entirely new door that would let in a little more light.

Solving the second problem wasn't quite so easy. Hank called one afternoon while making his usual Home Depot Saturday trip, asking what color I had in mind. I said "a light, almost turquoise color". He came home with two samples that weren't even close to what I envisioned, and proceeded to paint two test patches on the front of the door. No dice.

A few weeks went by because we got tied up with other things, and the test patches remained on the front door. It's a shame I don't have a pictures of those. I'm sure our neighbors loved seeing two blobs of funky blue as they drove by. Finally a weekend rolled around where we had some time, so Hank tried again with a paint sample, and nailed the color on this try. He picked up Aquifer by Behr Marquee, and a quick test patch was all I needed to see. It was perfect!

Front door before:

Front door after:

I would have tried to sweep up the pollen, but it would have fallen again before I had a chance to take a picture. Spring in Austin....

I love how an inexpensive project can make such a big impact. We've received so many compliments from neighbors, and just love the fresh new look at the front of our house. What ways have you used color to make a significant change in your home?

Easter Weekend with Family

Before I recap a super fun weekend with family, I just want to pause for a second and brag about how ridiculously beautiful/fun/precocious/adorable my niece is. Georgia is now 4 1/2, and there is not a day that goes by that I'm not amazed at what a wonderful little girl she is turning into. This picture was taken at lunch with my parents on Friday. I die over those curls!

Not to be outdone, my nephew Blair is growing blazing fast, and is equally as adorable (in a boy kind-of way), even though he could care less about getting his picture taken.

Friday afternoon my brother and sister-in-law came into town from Houston and spent the night with us- what a treat!! They usually stay with my parents or her parents, so we loved that they saved a night just for us. We headed to Black Star Co-Op for dinner, totally unprepared for the line out the door! But the boys stayed in line to order while Meredith and I stalked tables, and we lucked out with a booth by a window. We had a great meal, but I felt only meh about the beer I ordered. Since we were waking up early to run the next morning, we headed back to the house for a night cap and some entertainment via prankdial.com. Sorry if you were one of our victims, but we were dying laughing over the "you hit my car" option.

Saturday brought about an early 6 mile run with my brother, followed by our weekly Taco Deli breakfast. Nothing beats tacos and coffee after a good run! They went on to a few birthday parties, while I spent the afternoon in the kitchen working on Easter cookies and bunny cake. It has been tradition for as long as I can remember, and I'm so glad we have continued to do it. I was on my own this year for making it, but am hoping that I can get some family help next year.

On Sunday, Hank and I enjoyed a much needed lazy morning together. He had been out of town for work, and I have been swamped in the kitchen, so it was nice to just have some quiet time together before heading over to my parents. Everyone met up in time for brunch, and my mom served an incredible meal. Never one to miss any details, she made sure that the meal was perfect from beginning to end.

After eating, we headed outside for the egg hunt. Competition is stiff among the adults (there is money on the line), and Hank and I had a poor showing last year. We meant business this time around, and ended up walking away with the grand prize egg. Georgia had her own little area, and was thrilled with her glittery eggs and candy!

Overall it was a terrific weekend with lots of fun family time- leaving me feeling so thankful for all the great things in my life.

Hank and Amy

My parents with Georgia and Blair.

Sister's family- and she swears they did not color coordinate on purpose.

Brother and Sister in Law

Annual sister picture, but G steals the show with those curls.

An Exciting Announcement

I've been baking up a little something different in the kitchen lately, and I'm so excited to share my lovely new website with you. Hank has been gracious enough to work with me on putting this together, and I'm really proud of it. There is still work to be done, and my goal is to turn it into a place where I can share content and provide more information about my work with my clients.

The Texas Cottage Food Law only allows me to bake and sell locally, so unless I'm able to deliver sweets to your door (or have you pick them up from mine), I'm unable to sell to you. However, if you are the least bit interested in cookie decorating (or sweets in general), please come back to visit my site. I'm working on the "Blog" tab, and hope to create a small community for those who share my love of sweets.

And since I'm making announcements, I'll also throw it out there that I'm also planning a series of cookie decorating classes. Smaller classes will be done in my home, and I also plan to host a few larger ones at our lovely clubhouse in Steiner Ranch. If you are ever interested in getting a group of friends or family together for a class, please let me know. Teaching has always been a passion of mine, and I'm looking forward to combining it with my love of cookie decorating.

www.sweet-elise.com

Photo credit to Emily and M Photography

Spiderman Birthday Extravaganza

Oh hello! Apologies for the short absence from posting, but I have been buried alive in the kitchen and am just now catching up. I have a few fun projects, starting with these two Superman cakes. Four year old Jake celebrated his birthday with friends recently, and I made a two tier detailed cake for the occasion.

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream, and fondant accents made up this first cake. I learned one important less- and that is you can never underestimate the value of a well structured cake. This one ended up being heavier than I anticipated, and it really needed an internal support structure. Luckily it survived the car trip for delivery, and made it in one piece. But I could have prevented a small sagging issue had I just used a dowel down the middle.

White fondant letters with tiny spider webs.

Finished cake, safe and sound at the party.

Cake number two was a really fun Spiderman face that I made for his smaller family birthday dinner. His mom did not request the fondant, but I wanted this cake to look very different than the first. I did some research online, and came across this amazingly informative tutorial for how to get the shape of the face. I've made marshmallow fondant before and have a recipe that I prefer, but I have not actually covered a cake with it yet. I find this particular recipe very easy to work with though, and it gave such a nice smooth texture to this cake. I was glad I decided to use it.

Chocolate cake and buttercream before it was covered in fondant.

Spiderman web was done in black royal icing.

Final product, with fondant eyes.

Underneath the fondant was yet more chocolate, and the most delicious chocolate buttercream. Even though the marshmallow fondant tastes far better than the store bought kind, at least I knew it could easily be peeled off so that the buttercream could really stand out.

Our Little Family

Hank and I never had the chance to get engagement pictures taken last year before our wedding, so when Emily from Emily and M Photography approached us about taking some pictures for her portfolio, we jumped at the chance. She is new to Austin and working on building her business. After seeing the beautiful pictures she took, I can highly recommend her to anyone in the Austin and surrounding area.

We met her at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in our neighborhood, and she quickly put us at ease. Since our very first date was over coffee, we thought this would be a great spot to take some fun pictures. We were both a little nervous, and totally awkward at first, but she really made us feel so comfortable once we got started. 

After the coffee shop, we drove around the corner to our house for a quick change of clothes. We also grabbed our 3 dogs and headed out to the greenbelt behind our house. At the time we had no idea that Marley was not feeling well and that we'd be saying goodbye shortly after (though we can now see in the pictures how much she had aged recently). Having these pictures with her is now beyond special to us. Emily was able to capture each of the dog's personalties and seeing their faces cracks me up! Of course the shoot was not without drama. Brees managed to break loose from us and went traipsing through the woods for a bit, scaring me half to death. But luckily we had a bag of smelly treats with and were able to get her to come back pretty easily. 

Choosing the ones that we are going to have put on canvas is going to be a tough task.

Pink Heart Cookies and Petit Fours: A Very Girly Baby Shower

I was contacted by an old high school friend about making treats for a very "girly" baby shower she was hosting. She wanted pink, hearts and dainty treats, and I couldn't have been more excited to work with her. That is.....until she asked for petit fours. I've tried making them twice, and have been less than thrilled with both the tedious process, and the results. I even vowed to never make them again. But I just couldn't tell her no.

So I took to Google, determined to find a better way to make them. After lots of browsing, I happened upon the site for the Woodland Bakery Blog, and her tutorial for poured fondant icing. Not only did the recipe pique my interest, but so did her method of actually pouring the fondant with a piping bag, instead of dipping or spooning it over the cakes. I've not had much luck getting an even coat on the petit fours, but this method seemed to give more control over the placement of icing. Genuis!! Not only was it so much easier this way, but it was also less messy. I love how they turned out, and  have officially added petit fours to my price list.

For the heart cookie favors, I used the Sweetambs tutorial for wet on wet roses, and the result was a  beautiful, almost hand-painted looking cookie. These were wrapped in cellophane bags and tied with ribbon, and I think they made for a really special take home treat.

As luck would have it, Hank and I had our pictures taken by a new photographer in Austin that same weekend, and I sent her home with a few leftover treats as a thank you. She took these beautiful pictures at home, and I just love them! If you're in the Austin area, she is a wonderful photographer to use. Thank you Emily and M!

Happy 1st Birthday, Brees!

On March 4th, our amazingly wonderful foster-fail dog Brees turned 1 years old (we think). Since she was picked up off the streets at just a few weeks old, it's hard to tell exactly when her birthday is. The shelter picked March 4th, and it sounded good to us.

We were traveling back from our Napa trip the day of her birthday, so I had pre-arranged a very special birthday party at her boarding and playcare facility, Mud Puppies. Yes- we are those kind-of dog people. Our animals are our children, and I knew that she would enjoy the special attention. She has brought so much joy to our lives- and it only seemed fair to return the favor on her special day.


It's hard to believe that this:

Has turned into this 60-something pound this:

She is such a goofy, beautiful, loving, playful, and (sometimes) smart girl, and we just adore her to pieces. On our flight home, Mud Puppies started posting pictures from her party, and each one of them cracked us up. They seemed to catch every bit of her personality. And after losing Marley so suddenly, it was so nice to have something to smile about when we returned home. We love you so much Breesy girl, and are thankful that you fell so unexpectedly into our lives.