Elizabeth Holcombe ~whimsies and words~

Cake Sunday

Hello, My Friends!~~~

On Sunday I wanted to bake! I wanted to make a cake for my Mother-in-Law to thank her for a lovely kindness she gave to our son. And I wanted to make a cake to serve to our neighbors when they came to visit. I was so glad when All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray arrived at my door from Amazon on Friday!

This book is delightful! Melissa describes every step of the baking process as if you were her friend and standing next to her in the kitchen! I am a pretty good cake baker, but I learned things from Melissa that I didn't know or at least didn't do properly. One of which is "never open the oven door to check on the cake!" That's what that the light inside and window in the oven door is for!

Here are the cakes I made on Sunday:

In the morning I made Melissa's "Sour Cream Spice Cake with Orange Butter Frosting." This is the yummy cake I took to my MIL. It turned out so well, and I known it's because I followed the instructions to the letter!

In the afternoon I made Melissa's "Dark-Chocolate Red Velvet Cake." My neighbor and surrogate little sister, Caroline, told me that Red Velvet in her favorite cake. I had never made one and this one turned out tasty too--whew! The photo in the book shows a three layer cake, but the instructions called for prepping two cake pans. I think I will do the recipe in three p[ans next time and adjust the baking time. I didn't add as much red food coloring as Melissa called for, hence the deeper shade of red. But the taste was incredible!

I will bake later this week for Easter, and All Cakes Considered will be by my side!~~~XXOO, Beth

What Has Kept Me From Blogging and Crafting

Hello, My Friends!~~~

Well, for most of the past two weeks the Washington DC area has experienced balmy late spring/early summer temperatures! As you may recall, I spent a good deal of my past winter posts lamenting about the cold weather and wanting spring to arrive ASAP! Well, wishes do come true!

I have spent every minute I can out in the garden, planting, cleaning out beds, making new beds, and soaking up the sunshine!

So here are the fruits of mine (and hubby's) labors:

This is our new raised vegetable bed with three lonely kale plants! I'll plant veggie seeds this week! The hanging baskets will be secured to the wooden stakes and will be the home of some of the strawberry plants I've ordered.

I began some of the peas indoors in late February and they are now cozy in this pot with stick and metal trellis.

I have lettuce in lots of containers, but I adore this wooden box that my friend Debbie gave me!

Leeks are nestled in pots and growing more every day!

You may remember from a post I did in January, that this rusty, holey wheelbarrow was slated to be a planter. Here spinach is coming up!

And radishes are coming up in this "piggy" pot!

That is just a peek of our early spring garden! I'll be back with updates!~~YAY! Spring!~~~XXOO, Beth

Tiny and Bright Bathroom

Hello, My Friends!~~~

A couple of weeks ago Hubby and I painted the little half-bath off of our bedroom. It was in woeful need of a touch up. I removed everything from it, spackled the walls, and picked out a fun shade of Sherwin-Williams paint called "witty green." Hubby painted which is a good thing because only one person can fit into this small bathroom. For the most part, I am the only one who uses it, so I made it more of a "girl's room."

I found some frames at the craft store and painted one aqua and one yellow. I used some vintage wallpaper as a background putting photos in front. I found two cute ones of our son when he was a toddler and loved water! The shelves are vintage metal shelves in their original white. A vintage pink Easter basket holds magazines.

Here is a close up of the yellow frame with wallpaper and old photos of me as baby being held by the important people in my life: my father, mother, and both grandmothers.

And on the small wall beside the door I hung a frame I spray painted yellow with a photo of me and my mother from 1962. The bluebird wall pocket was owned by my grandmother and she glued to together several times never wanting to throw it away. I love it the way it is, cracks, glue and all!

So there's the wee tour of our tiny bathroom. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed showing it to you!~~~XXOO, Beth

Ribbon-o-rama!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

This weekend my wonderful friend Kathy and I paid a visit to one of my favorite places: The Offray ribbon outlet! The lovely springtime colors of the grosgrain and satin ribbons were more tempting than a dozen chocolate Easter bunnies! I went overboard to say the least, but who can blame me?

I know not all of my blogland friends are in the vicinity of a ribbon outlet so I have decided to put some of my stash in my Dime Store Chic etsy shop beginning Sunday evening (March 14th) and into Monday, March 15th. MOST ribbons will be sold in generous ten yard (closer to eleven yards!) lengths for twenty-five cents a yard plus shipping! If you need springtime ribbons, hop on over and check out the gorgeous colors!~~~Thanks so much, my friends!~~~XXOO, Beth

Art Auction for Angel Faces Charity!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

The talented and wodnerful folks at Inspiration Avenue are having an auction with 100% of the proceeds going to Angel Faces, a wonderful organization which heals and inspires young girls with facial disfigurements.~~~Below, is my auction. I am offering a lot of two bright and cheery pin cushions and a sweet prize ribbon ballerina corsage! Your bid is for all of these together!

How fun!~~The opening bid for this colorful, sweet group is $10 USD. To bid on my offering and/or others, you need to scoot on over to Inspiration Avenue! There are lots of fabulous handmade goodies there up for bid! The auction is March 7th through March 14th!~~Thanks so much for supporting Angel Faces!~~~XXOO, Beth

You Can Now Find Me Here!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

I am thrilled to bits to announce the addition of three of my handmade creations in limited quantity exclusively at Bayberry Cove!

Welcome Spring with this limited edition of five Spring Chick corsages. You can find them here!

This sweet vintage salt shaker lamb pin cushion (limited to 2) can be found here!

This adorable springy vintage chalkware chick and basket of posies (limted to 3) can be found here!

I am honored to be one of the artists in Bayberry Cove and I look forward to contributing more limited edition creations to this fabulous on-line shop!~~~Have a wonderful week!~~~XXOO, Beth

HEY!

Hello, My Friends!

Sometimes you come across something that is a little more than you want to spend, but you just HAVE to have it! Case in point with a pink poodle dishtowel I bought. I just knew this cutie would have a new life as a tote...

It's as if she's saying "Hey there, spring is on the way!" This cutie pie is in my etsy shop too! Have a great day!~~~XXOO, Beth