Ending July in Red, White and Blue

This weekend, I spent some time painting... a canvas! I actually got this idea off of young house love who got it off of pinterest (which are great websites if you havent yet experienced them). I used acrylic paint on a canvas. No this wasn't a difficult painting, but it was pretty fun.

I measured the lines out with a straight edge and used pencil to sketch it out before painting. I am planning on putting it up on our dining room wall, but want to paint a "sister" painting in the same color scheme before I hang them up. I really do have a blue and white theme on the main floor... Hopefully that doesn't mean I am boring! By the way, I mixed my two deeper blue colors with varying amounts of white paint to get all the shading down. I really like the final result - J pointed out it looks like ribbons.

I also made red velvet cupcakes this weekend (from scratch). J's parents and grandma came to visit us on Sunday for lunch, and since I recently was able to use the electric stand mixer (wedding gift that we hadn't had a place for until now), I thought it would be fun to make something delicious! Yes, that's right, we have our new C&B kitchen island! I love that I have more prep surfaces, and that the piece fits perfectly in the room. I was worried about the flow between it and the rest of our kitchen, but it works great!

And yes, mom, the mixer works! My mother had been worrying about not having tried out the mixer and it not being returnable (ya know since it's almost two years old now). But it was in perfect condition and able to make some scrumptious red velvet cupcakes!

A little sidenote about the icing. It didn't work out quite the way I wanted it to (as you might be able to tell from the pictures above). I think there were two problems. The first, I don't think I let the cream cheese and butter soften quite enough. The second is that I maybe should have stuck the icing in the fridge for just a little to get it to harden just a bit. I tried using frosting tools, but it really just made the frosting look sqiggley and didn't really achieve the look I was going for. Next time, right? They tasted great anyway, so I guess it didn't really matter. Actually next time I want to try these red velvet macaroons not to mention trying these oreo cupcakes. Good thing I got that elliptical huh?

Lastly, J's grandma brought us a housewarming gift! And no kidding, the idea came from this blog (my fairy blog-mother- ha!). She got us a hydrangea bush! At first, I thought to put it on the front steps, but as soon as I really thought about it, I decided to plant it. So, after some time sweating it out digging in the ground, we have a hydrangea plant! I'm excited to see if the flowers change color! And now, I can stop plotting to take the blooms off our neighbor's gorgeous hydrangea bush. :) Just kidding, I wouldn't do that. Hopefully this one will turn out as gorgeous as the one at my parent's house. I will remember to water, I will remember to water...