Leona Lane

Gluten Free 4th of July Cake!

This afternoon I'm sharing another gluten free experiment... I have to say, I was really nervous about this cake, since the batter didn't really sell it. But once it was all baked, it was amazing! Add some vanilla bean ice cream, and its the perfect Fourth of July treat!

I used this vanilla cake mix from Bob's Red Mill, following the directions on the package. Then I divided it into three 9 inch cake pans, and dyed one blue and one red. I used about 10-12 drops of food coloring per pan. 

For the frosting, I used a storebought buttercream frosting to hold the layers together, then made a lighter frosting for the top of the cake:

Whip 2.5 cups heavy whipping cream until peaks form, then add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and beat until combined. 

topped it with fresh strawberries and blueberries, and made a little 'Happy Fourth' bunting with washi tape and fun straws! Next year I'm going to try this cake! 

Happy Baking!

Photo Friday: Red, White & Blue

This week we are extending our celebration of Independence Day by posting some red, white & blue photos from yesterday. Renae and I had a little afternoon BBQ after our bike ride and we kept it pretty festive with this awesome cake:

Renae made the cake and I photographed it. :) Actually this is the simplest cake ever, because it's composed of store bought angel food cake, home made whipped cream and strawberries and blueberries. We added a cute little banner made from stripey straws and washi tape banners. It was fun and also delicious!

Here's Renae's photo - Summer fruit at our BBQ yesterday! I love berry baskets, this is my newest one from Crate and Barrel. Yummy!

And Sarah's photo: Mine is of another gluten free experiment.. A Fourth of July cake! It turned out so cute, and yummy! I'll share the recipe soon :) 

Hopefully our awesome weather will continue into the long weekend! Happy Friday.

MINI-BOOK | GUESTBOOK FOR PHOTOBOOTH PICS

So today I wanted to share with you how I made the guest book for Sarah's bridal shower. I wanted to incorporate all the notes that we had her guests leave as well as all the photo booth pictures that I took.

As Jenn mentioned in this post we had a photo booth set up at the shower. We had a bunch of goofy props that I found at the dollar store and hung a giant piece of kraft paper on one wall with "Photo Booth" and an arrow drawn at the top. Everyone took turns to pick out funny props and have their picture taken. I used the PocketBooth App and was really happy with how the pictures came out. (If you are interested in how I print non-standard sized pictures, refer to this tutorial here).

Once I had all the pictures printed out and cut, I went to Michael's looking for a cute journal to put them all in. I didn't find anything that seemed right, so I decided to make a mini-book instead.  

Supplies I Used: Art Journal with Gray Paper (5.5 x 8.5 size), 1 Sheet of Scrapbook Paper, Variety of Washi Tape, Letter Stickers, Twine, Cropadile, Scissors, Paper Trimmer, Adhesive and Binder Clips. 

Directions: Decide how many pages you will need, and carefully rip that many sheets of paper out of the art journal. Use your paper trimmer and cut off the ripped edge, making all the pages the same width. Take the 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper and cut to make 2 cover pages that are the same size as the inside pages. Adhere the photos and notes to the inside pages (I kept the photos on the outer edge and the notes on the inner side). Use washi tape on the edges if you like that look. Decorate the cover with washi tape and letter stickers. I also choose to adhere her bridal shower invite to the inside cover, and added a title page opposite that. On the back of my "title" page, I added a little handwritten note explaining the contents of the book. When you are done, carefully line the pages up and place binder clips on top and bottom edges to keep pages from shifting. Punch 3 holes using the cropadile, thread twine through each one and tie securely.

Thanks for stopping by! Leave any questions in the comments.

DIY Painted Tea Towels

For prizes at Sarah's shower, my sister and I decided to give out potted succulents and hand painted tea towels. We packaged both in blue berry baskets, and I have to admit they were pretty cute! I might have to make a few more for myself! The cut celery makes such a pretty flower shape! These were fun to give out at the shower but they would also be fun gifts for other occasions if you are looking for a budget friendly idea. Since I already had some supplies on hand, they worked out to be about $2 each.

Supplies Needed:

• Flour sack towels or tea towels
• Head of Celery
• Sharp Knife 
• Fabric Paint 
• Foam Paintbrush 
• Fine tip paintbrush 
• Paint Palette (or use an old plate)

Directions:

Lay the your towel down on a flat surface with a piece of cardboard underneath to protect your surface.

On a cutting board, cut the head of celery straight across to make it shorter until you like the shape and size of the "flower".

Pour some paint onto your palette, mix until you reach desired shade (I mixed red & white for the larger flowers, pink for the smaller flowers and green & white mixed for the vines.) Using the foam paint brush, apply paint to the ends of the celery and stamp onto fabric. Repeat as needed to achieve desired pattern. To make a 2nd smaller flower, cut the head of celery shorter and follow the same painting technique. Once the flowers are complete, free hand the leaves and vines on with the fine tipped paintbrush.

Allow the paint to dry per directions on the paint bottle, steam with an iron if specified. I let mine dry for 3 days before washing and drying on regular settings and the paint did not run or wash out at all. Iron if desired, I personally liked the somewhat crinkled look.

Put to good use or wrap as a gift for a friend. 

Bridal Shower #1

So as you probably saw from Renae's post the other day, last Sunday was my bridal shower! It was a crazy awesome weekend, since Saturday my wonderful work friends also had a work shower for me! I thought I'd post a few pics today.

We had it in my friends basement, which looked out over her gorgeous backyard pool and the city of Spokane. I loved everything, especially Heidi's mimosa bar! She brought four different kinds of juices and 10 bottles of champagne. Ahhh-mazing!!

I made a purple ombre cake, (don't worry, I insisted on it.) It was definately a first, and one baking experiment that went right! Thank goodness! I love how it turned out, and everyone said it tasted amazing! The blackberries really topped it off well! I'll be posting the recipe this afternoon.

Here's the whole group:

Thanks to all my work friends, and of course Renae and Rachel, last weekend was one of the best weekends ever! You all went above and beyond for sure!