Lemon Cream Velvet Pie

This Lemon Cream Velvet Pie is the perfect pie to make this Spring!  It is so light and fluffy as well as refreshing with the lemon.  Try it out for yourself.

Ingredients

• Pie crust recipe found here-Bake at 425 degrees for 11-12 minutes
• Or 1 rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crust, or 1 frozen crust
• 1  tsp.  unflavored gelatin
• 2  Tbsp.  cold water
• 6    egg yolks
• 1-1/2  14-oz. cans  sweetened condensed milk (2 cups)
• 1/4  cup  whipping cream
• 1/4  tsp.  salt
• 3/4  cup  lemon juice
•     Whipped Cream
•     Thin lemon peel slivers

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Roll out pastry portion on a floured surface, or plastic wrap to a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Transfer to a 9-inch pie tin or plate without stretching. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Prick bottom and sides of pastry with a fork. Bake 11-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. (If using rolled refrigerated crust, bake according to package directions.)
2. In a small bowl soften gelatin in water 5 minutes. Heat in microwave for 14 seconds; set aside.
3. In large bowl combine egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk. With an electric mixer, beat on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until well combined. Beat in gelatin, whipping cream and salt on low speed. Add lemon juice and beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Pour into prepared crust (pie will be full).
4. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until center of pie looks set when gently shaken; cool on wire rack 1 hour. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
5. Top with whipped cream and lemon peel slivers just before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Lighting Bargains

This beautiful light is from Pottery Barn for $399.

I found this beauty from Home Depot for $109.  I love this and think it would be beautiful in a master bath above a stand alone bathtub.  

 This is the Celeste chandelier from Pottery Barn for $299.

This is the one in my dining room from Overstock.com for $198.  Again, thanks Pottery Barn for the inspiration, but look elsewhere for the bargains.  They are out there!

A Glass of Lemonade

 Here's Pottery Barn's drink dispenser for $79.

Here's the Creativeware Acrylic drink dispenser on sale at Costco for $15.99 (There's a coupon for $4 off in this month's Costco coupon book).  I just purchased this for my backyard entertaining.  So glad I didn't spend $79, when I could get one similar for $16!

The Perfect Outdoor Lantern

 I love entertaining in my backyard in the summertime.  Nothing creates the ambience better than a grouping of lanterns with candles lit.  Here are two sets from Pottery Barn ranging from $39-$149.

Here are some that I bought from Ikea for $7.99.  They are 11" tall and 6" wide.  The larger version is 17" tall and 9.5" wide and sells for $14.99.  They also come in black.  Ikea is my favorite place to shop for high-quality, inexpensive items.  If you need help navigating the Ikea maze, call me.  I love to go there and know where to find the gems!

Pottery Barn Inspiration; Budget Prices!

All week long, we are featuring great Pottery Barn inspiration at budget prices.  I love perusing the Pottery Barn catalogs for inspiration, but cannot bring myself to pay their prices.  So, this week, I am going to share with you some of the items I found for cheap elsewhere from my Pottery Barn inspiration!

These galvanized steel buckets are darling, but expensive at $19/each. 

Here's Ikea's version for $15.  They come in blue, red, green, yellow, and cream, and fit perfectly in the Expedit Shelving units featured here.  I had to have one and use it as Porter's garbage can in his room. 

Lemon...

There's something about spring and lemons...here's two absolutely delicious lemon desserts (one to make, one to buy at the store!)

If you are entertaining for Easter, this is the PERFECT Easter dinner dessert.  If you've never ordered it at Cheesecake Factory, you must sometime.  It's the Lemoncello Torte and it is so yummy.  Costco is selling it right now ($14.99 for 12 slices...great deal because at the restaurant its $6 for one slice!) and it's so delicious!

And here's something you can make...shortbread cookie with lemon frosting...so delicious (thanks for the recipe Raelene)!

Lemon Cookies

1 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2/3 cup corn starch

1 cup flour

Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Rind of one lemon, grated and chopped

2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar

For cookies:  cream butter and sugar.  Stir in cornstarch and flour.  Drop by teaspoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 15 minutes.  Cool.

Combine frosting ingredients and spread on cooled cookies. 

Makes 20-24 small cookies.

Home Tour...Nelson's Nest

Jodi Nelson is a neighbor and friend to Lisa and I.  When she said I heart IKEA on Facebook she wasn't kidding!  She's incorporated so many great pieces from that store and has done a GREAT design job on her home...I think you'll agree.

She was looking for a new spring wreath but didn't want to spend $25.  So...she bought the yellow garland for $9 at Roberts and added it to her twig wreath she already had!  So great to make new uses for old things!

Her home layout includes a long front room.  To utelize the space well she's broken it up into a sitting space and a living room space behind.  Love the IKEA white drapes for each set of windows...creates a great soft feeling in the room.  (I've also always loved the mustard yellow floral pillow from Target...gotta love Dwell Studios!)

Here's an example of where she's used a great IKEA furniture piece.  Great decor and perfect storage!  I believe this one is between $200-$300.

Cute Easter decor!

When they moved into this house it was very simple and standard.  They've sure put alot of work into it!

Kitchen before...

...and kitchen after!  They restained their cabinets an espresso color, added the white beadboard accents and changed to granite countertops.  If you are going with granite, I suggest the thicker slab which they've done.  We went with a thin slab and seeing hers makes me realize what a difference the thickness makes!  Her cute little Sydney also wanted to add to the decor :)

Love the floral bunches placed above her cabinets...these are from Rod Works.

Another before picture.  The laundry room before...

...and what a great use of space after!  They learned their washer/dryer were stackable and bought the wardrobe unit from IKEA for storage on the other side!  It provides a perfect place for little shoes and drying clothes and looks great! 

She had a blank wall in her kitchen and created a perfect storage/reminer space.  Again so many great uses for IKEA items!

Jodi found this great rug at World Market (there's one in Park City on the other side of the highway from the outlets...they have some great things!)

A friend made this awesome poster with their last name!  If you have Photoshop talents here's a project for you!

I love their master bedroom and the bed frame is from Overstock!  She paid $2.95 for them to drop it off at their house!  She warned you have to be sure you LOVE it because it costs much more to return.  But she made a great choice and it looks great!  Also love the bedding (and the cute chandelier from guess where!)

Little miss Syd's room...I haven't ever seen a crib set-up as a full bed and here it is!  Looks great!

Hobby Lobby lamp (they still carry it if you're looking!)

What a fun little touch in her room to add chalk paint on one wall!  She said it cleans up fairly easy also.

Jaxson is her darling baby and has a darling room!  Love the stripes!  The dresser is IKEA for $150!  She added the handles herself.

Paper lanterns are a great touch!

I loved their do it yourself project in the bathroom...they built the frame around their mirror with pieces of baseboard!  With a meiter saw you can do great things :)  Great idea!

 Loved the mod podge magnet board in the office...

 ...and the cute clock from Target.

I know this piece of furniture looks familiar :)  Just goes to show how well this bookcase keeps you organized!

And finally another great find from IKEA and great design for the room.

If you ever need a buddy to shop IKEA with you I know the perfect girl!  She can also help you find a use for about anything in the store!  Thanks for sharing Jodi!

Flowering trees

We've slowly been working on our yard the past few years and its exciting to see things you've planted bloom the next season!  I thought I'd share a few of my favorite flowering trees if you are in the market to add to your landscaping.

My favorite tree in our yard is the dwarf weeping cherry tree...

 It blooms these pretty white/pink flowers in the spring and turns a bright green color in the summer.  It's been a pretty addition to the front of our house.  We bough it at Home Depot.

Last summer we planted TWO sets of flowering topiaries we bought at Olson's Nursery in Lehi only to have both of them ruined by our dog...so frustrating.  Needless to say, hopefully we can try one more time.  They are the Monrovia magnolia flowering topiaries and are sold at most nurseries.  They are beautiful, don't get too big and add color to your yard in the summer!

(Example of a magnolia flower)

It's so great to see everything getting green!  Spring is a great time of year!

Frame collage

Now that the basement is done it's time to decorate!  There's nothing better than a room with blank walls!  I've been collecting these frames for a few months and found the few final pieces to finish it off and hang it up! 

To do a frame collage, start by arranging everything on the ground first.  The great thing about a collage is you can put frames as close together or as far apart as you'd like.  And precise measuring is not necessary!  It's suppose to take on its own character and style...

One measurement that is needed is the center point of the wall.  For my design I moved the center picture up a few inches from the exact middle so my boys can't easily reach the bottom pictures of the collage.  Eventually I'm also going to put a long skinny table under the pictures and I wanted space to put decor on top of the table.  Make sure to take the full design of the wall into consideration before hanging!  It does create lots of little holes! 

Here are a few pictures showing the progression of the collage...

Notice the incorporation of the cute signs from yesterday :)

Here were my latest frame purchases...I love them both!



 

 $10.99 at Rod works (I also bought this in a 5x7 for the wall).  Such a great price for an ornate frame!

Roberts now carries a line of larger frames that are better for design than their previous selections...and with the 40 or 50 percent off coupon they are great prices!  This one was $20 and comes as a 12x12 opening with a mat.  I decided to print a 16x20 photo and cut it to 16x16 to display the photo without a mat.  They also had great chunky wood frames...I had a hard time deciding!

This is such a fun way to keep older photos displayed as well as candid shots taken from your own little camera! 

Fun find...vintage signs

Found these at Rod Works this weekend and love them...

I'll be posting about my photo frame collage this week that I originally talked about here.  These signs are part of it.  Stay tuned!

The Proof is in the Pudding

This is simply the best chocolate cake recipe.  It is so moist, you don't need frosting.  However, a butter cream glaze makes it to die for!

Cake:

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Devil's Food Cake Mix
• 1 (3.4 oz) pkg chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan or tube pan.
2. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into pan.
3. Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto heat resistant serving plate. Cool completely.
4. For glaze, make butter cream frosting recipe found here. Microwave on high power 10 to 15 seconds. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over cake.