wedding cake!

Today, I did a tasting with another bride. Here are some pics of my test cake. I did cream cheese pound cake with fresh raspberry filling and white icing. She said she liked daises, and so i made some gumpaste ones to go along the top.

savannah part two and callaway

Callaway Gardens is running a promotion where you can get in free through the end of the month. Brian and I went down on Friday. We were hoping to get there early enough to take our bikes, but it did not happen. I think we are going to try and get back next weekend and hit the bike paths. We went to the butterfly house and the Sibley Center. I was very disappointed in the butterfly house on this visit. I feel like the last few times I could have beat the butterflies off with a stick, but that was not the case this time. I guess that even though the temperature is 1000 degrees inside the center, they know it is subzero outside.





This was one of the beds in the Sibley Center. I would love for this to be in my front yard right now.



















I took this picture in Forsyth Square. I loved walking around looking at all the parks and squares in Savannah. It was so nice to see all the people out and about with their dogs and kids.

























When we were in the hotel, the local news covered the Valentines service at this cathedral. One of the couples in attendance had been married over 70 years. I hope I will be so lucky!























Someday, I want a front entry, like this one, into my house. At the rate the economy is going, I don't know if that will happen. What do you think this would look like as an entry to a split level?

week???

If I counted correctly, this is project 11, so think I am ahead for the year. Somewhere along the line, I forgot to keep the week number in heading for the posts. I will try and reconcile that for next week. This week, I remade Linda's birthday cake. Thankfully, she made it home safe and sound from up north and was able to enjoy take 2 of her birthday.
On a whim, I bought gumpaste and punches at Michael's. I actually had an easier time working with the gumpaste than I had thought. Working with the gumpaste also got me excited for my next class at the viking store:)

Savannah, my new city crush

This year for Valentine's Day, Brian took me to Savannah for a night. Brian always goes out of his way to make February 14th special; which is especially nice of him considering I am not a huge fan of the holiday.
I think that I am the only person in the free world, or at least in the state of Georgia, who had not been to this town. So, I walked around like the biggest tourist ever with a map in one hand and a camera in the other. (If only I had a northern accent, I would have blended right in!) I think we just scratched the surface of things to see in the time that we were there. On Sunday night, we ate at Huey's on the River Walk, and then we had an icee at Wet Willies (which I might add is the ultimate icee experience, there is one opening in Atlanta soon!)

I loved looking at all the architecture, and now I want to design a house! Its probably a good thing that we are staying put for a few more years, because if I designed a house off of one trip to Savannah it would probably look ridiculous. But, none the less here are some of the pics from the trip.

I was very intrigued by this side porch. I would love to know the story behind it because it looks like more of a pool house than a porch. All it needs is an outdoor kitchen and a sitting area.

I saw this in the window of a shop that was closed. Which was a good thing because I would have tried to find a way to take it home with me. It would look perfect in my dining room. On a side note, I liked the way the building reflected in this shot.

The Mercer House, I have wanted to visit since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We didn't take the tour because they won't answer any questions about Jim Williams, otherwise they would have gotten my $13.

I was amazed at the number of historical markers in Savannah. Some of the squares had 3 or 4 markers in each one. This one was right by our hotel, and it caught my eye because I had always thought that Athens was the birthplace of UGA.

snow...

So the snow messed up a lot of stuff this week. The cake I made was supposed to be a birthday cake for a friend, but she got stuck up north. I had thought I would just freeze the layers and save it until she got back from her trip, but then I realized that I could serve it to our dinner company tonight. Guess what? The snow screwed that up, too.
My other accomplishment for the week was cooking my first recipe out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Here is what I love about French cooking. It can take the most common foods and make them sound exotic. The recipe with the fancy sounding name was really just beef stew. The Boeuf aux Oignons went perfectly with the cold weather (see, when its in a foreign language, it no longer sounds common!).




Other than making it pretty outside, the other thing I got out of the snow was a quiet night in. Brian and I had a great time watching the Olympics. I just realized that it is colder in Griffin, GA than it is at the site of the winter games. How often has that happened?

















Lily loves snow days. I think she is convinced that it is her own personal ice tray. She makes it her mission to eat as much of the white, fluffy stuff as possible.























This is as close as Torrie thought she was going to be to the snow. Don't worry, we took her out and made her walk around in it, she was thrilled...

















Our house, I wish that one flake hadn't caught the flash.












Anybody up for a polar bear swim???













My handy duck boots, left over from my horse days. I am SO glad I kept them.

Valentine's Day

I cannot believe that it is less than a week away from Valentine's Day. I would love to custom design a gift, edible or floral, for your Valentine. Email me kathleen.hutson@gmail.com!!

Flower Show 2010

This past weekend, Brian and I went to the Southeastern Horticulture Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria. There was so much to look at! We both found inspiration in different places. I thought that this fountain was really cool. I have no idea where I would put something like but maybe at the next house.
















Brian really liked this sitting area. He thought we could do something like this at the deep end of the pool (where the existing flower bed is), and do hinged covers on the benches (we need storage!) I like it because it great sun and would be perfect for laying out on. Then we would put the kitchen part on what is right now the wood decking. This is going to be a BIG project. We have wanted to do an outdoor kitchen/living area since we moved in the house, and now I think that we have a better idea of what we want to do. I also like the built in fire pit. When we run the gas lines for the kitchen part we are going to do a gas fire pit as well.















I love the leaf in the vase. I got this idea and the roses and orchids below from the Cut Flowers Wholesale booth. http://www.cutflower.com/
I guess all I need now is a business licence, and I can spend my paycheck on fresh flowers. (Brian will be thrilled)















Coffee Break roses, wouldn't these be great for a fall wedding?
















Vanda Orchids- we tried to get a better picture, but the actual color of these flowers would not come through on the camera. In real life, they had a bit more of a purple tinge to them. Gorgeous!




















Right now, we have some railroad ties that are acting as a retaining wall on my hill in the back yard. They are not very pretty, so I would like to replace them with something like this. I have been wanting a place to grow some veggies, but I have had a hard time finding a place to put them.




















I have some plastic urns I got at Big Lots (I painted them black so now you can't tell that they had humble beginnings!) I am wanting to use something like this to grow ivy on in the urns. I am hoping that Dad can fabricate something like this for me.















I thought this was a great centerpiece idea. There is a close up of the hanging vases, below.






























The Kermit and Peter Cottontail were two of the competition pieces. I just thought they were super cute.


































I have always loved Chinese lanterns. I thought this was a great gazebo idea.
















Here was my one purchase. They call these things Water Beads. The start like like grains of sand, and when you put them in water they grow up to look like marbles. They also have a ton of colors to choose from. According to the people at the booth, these little guys are supposed to hold their shape for about a month (and then you can recharge them with more water). They also said that my orchids will love being in them. So we will see if their claims hold any water, HA! I am testing one of my orchids out in them. I am a little skeptical because when I got up this morning I probably poured an inch of water out of the bottom of the vase. These are also great for making flower arrangements. I saw some centerpieces that used the water beads to anchor the flower arrangements.
















I think that the pothos might like the water beads better than the orchid.

Super Bowl

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Here are the pics of the cake I took to the youth group party. Brian was a big help making the logos for the cake.

Week Five

I think I am be a little early in posting this, but oh well! This week, I attempted a recipe I have never made before, hummingbird cake. I had only heard of this type of cake because Brian's mom, Sally, (who is a wonderful baker) would talk about it on occasion. I am very thankful that Sally freely shares her recipes with me, and this one is even more special because this was Brian's grandmother, Martha's, recipe. For those of you who have never had it, a hummingbird cake is pretty much banana bread on crack topped off with cream cheese icing. Also, I could never find a good answer for why it has the name that it has, any input?

My friend, Sydney, is hosting a wedding shower this weekend, and asked if I would make this recipe as it is her friend's favorite. Instead of baking the recipe as a cake, you guessed it, I made them into cupcakes. And I have to say, they turned out pretty well. As you can see from the picture I was not that overly ambitious in my decorating this week. However, nothing makes a prettier cupcake than Ateco tip #846. I guess I could have made little marzipan hummingbirds in sugar nests, but I ran low on time. So I will save that for the next time someone wants a hummingbird cake.

Oh, one more thing! My mom bought me the cupcake carrier that these cupcakes currently sit it! What a handy tool to have. Thanks, Mom!

a little variety

Here are some pictures of some flowers I did for a wedding back in September of 2009. I had a great time doing these for a friend of mine's family. Please excuse my modeling skills; it had been a long night getting all of these together. But, the results were worth the lack of sleep!
To the left is the bride's bouquet, and it was hand tied with white and pink roses, Fuji mums, stargazer lilies, and the most gorgeous spray roses that had just a hint of pink on the tips of each bloom. You can't see it in this view, but I used a pink ribbon to bind the stems.





Here is a view of the brides and one of the bridesmaid bouquets. For the bridesmaid I used mums, roses, and some pink carnations. The bridesmaids had black dresses, and the colors that the bride picked out had a nice contrast with the dresses.









This was the toss bouquet. I like the layered effect that was created with the hot pink spray roses, baby's breath, and mums.


















Here is a centerpiece that went on the buffet table.














And finally, a boutonniere.