A lemon chiffon cake

I decided to make a cake for my fabulous friends birthday. Originally I was thinking of making my classic cupcakes but decided to take the plunge and make something new. I stumbled upon a lemon chiffon cake recipe and thought that a zesty lemon mouthful would be perfect for a summer evening.

It turned out perfectly and was a big hit at the birthday party :)
so I thought I would share the recipe with you:

3-4 large lemons
2 1/4 cups cake (soft-wheat) flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
1/4 cup water
6 large eggs, separated at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

preheat oven to 325 f (165 c) position rack in the middle.

grate lemon zest and set aside. Juice lemons, you will need 1/2 cup of the lemon juice.

(Have ready a tube pan ready!)

In a clean bowl stir flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt with a fork.

IN a separate clean bowl combine, oil, water, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest. beat with a whisk until well mixed.

Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet using a rubber spatula until batter is smooth.

In a clean bowl mix egg whites and cream of tartar, beat on medium/high speed until soft peaks form.

Using spatula gently fold in soft peaks with batter mix. the mix should be smooth but foamy.

Pour mixture evenly into tube pan

Bake for 45-50 minutes (until toothpick inserted comes out clean)

place inverted pan onto cooling rack, leave to cool in pan for 45 minutes

ta da your done!
now have fun decorating



To decorate my cake I sliced through it, mixed vanilla frosting with lemon juice and spread a thick layer and then sandwiched it back together. I then drizzled some more of the frosting over the top and decorated with fresh strawberries and a sprinkle of confectioners sugar.
Good luck!

Hitting the jackpot! (pictures to come later! this computer is having some issues uploading)

By chance I saw what appeared to be a yard sale sign at the four way stop, I thought it said a tool sale so my husband was enthusiastic to take a look, to my complete amazement we stumbled upon the most amazing sale I’ve ever seen. A small outbuilding overflowing with treasures, washing lines draped in beautiful blankets and tiny silk handkerchiefs, plants growing from perfectly aged pots, chairs, mirrors, old windows, trinkets of all kinds twinkled under the Christmas lights. I was so excited I didn’t know what to look at. I couldn’t focus I was completely overwhelmed. I distinctively recall saying to my husband “O my gosh I don’t quite know what to do with myself I feel like I’m experiencing a little piece of heaven right now”
After finding an old weighing scale (which apparently the lady used to weigh her babies on!), an amazing blanket, an adorable salt and pepper set, a lace trim table runner, a few more odds and ends and a flower pot that I just could not live without we headed home.

(a few of my treasures)

Naturally I could not keep this treasure spot to myself so I called my girlfriends and headed back a second time! The second time was even better than the first, I had more concentration and was less over whelmed and of course when you have your girlfriends shopping is always twice as fun. This time I snagged a fantastic mirror, a sold oak chair (for $3!!!), some vintage beaters, teacup and saucer and an array of adorable lace trims. We then had a whole lot of fun trying to squeeze it all into my car……….. did I mention that each item was between fifty cents and five dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just random!

A wonderful day of yard sale rummaging, sunshine, delicious food and funny stories. Ok well first off as promised I will finish yesterdays posting... ill start with cute cupcakes, after spotting a really adorable overpriced cupcake decorating kit at the paper zone store I decided to create my own decorations and have a girls night in.

I used toothpicks some cute paper and a glue gun to create these little beauties.

Secondly i will share the milking story. My parents in law had a baby calf this week- well obviously they didn't give birth to it but their mama cow did :-) unfortunately baby calf had some serious issues figuring out how to get food from his mama. So naturally we had to trap mama cow -who by the way has a lovely set of huge horns! in between the barn wall and a hinged gate- lovely. After putting baby calf on mama's udder and him still not being able to have any idea what to do, there was no choice but to milk the mama! by process of elimination we discovered that my husband is a natural milker- I'm not sure how pleased he is about this as he is now officially the milker in demand.
Here's me and baby calf- who by the way I would like to name Charlie.

So now I can share with you my amusements from today.. trust me they are truly amusing!
I'll start with my visit to Les Schwab (which for those of you who don't live here Les Schwab is an automotive service center) to fix our squeaky car. My husband and I were getting pretty bored of sitting in the waiting room when in walked a sight to behold. There at the reception counter stood a man who at first I could have mistook as a clown, he was in his late thirties, had shiny high top basketball shoes, long baggy red and white check shorts, a volcom handbag or 'man bag' and a baseball cap with the price tags still fully attached dangling at the back. My husband and I exchanged giggles. He then proceeded to lead a mechanic out to his car, we peered through the window and about died with laughter when we discovered that he had a mini van with reflective rainbow color wheel rims. He certainly made our wait worthwhile, I just wish I would have had my camera to hand.
However when taking a walk in the park this evening I just so happened to have my camera... naturally there was a downhill skateboard speed competition going on! and the participants happened to be a little on the old side!

Well I warned you that I had an interesting day! I'll make sure that tomorrows posting is more design orientated :-)
xoxo

Finally a post!

Ah where to start, firstly sorry for the lack of posting this week, I have had so many adventures and squeezed in so much crafting this might be a bit of a random monster posting!
I'll start with crafting and then move on to; rescuing a duck, milking a cow, a day at the beach and cute cupcakes..

Firstly I'll start with some new items added to the shop


A wonderful Memory book perfect for, to state the obvious keeping memories, photos, scrapping, sketching, inspiration collection, the perfect gift or even a wedding guest book

Adorable clothes pins with beautiful fabric fancies, a mixture of printed fabrics make up this adorable set of clothes pins perfect for organizing paperwork, using on indoor inspiration wires, securing bags of food or making any arrangement at the home or office look twice as cute. Environmentally friendly Clothes pins made from Bamboo.

I have done some redecorating at home with a new window banner and table runner
and yes i will admit I have gone a little flower and ruffle crazy!






and the table runner


OK well uploading all these photos has taken a little longer than I originally intended so I'm afraid that I will have to fill you in on the cute cupcakes, rescuing a duck and milking a cow tomorrow. I'll post on this tomorrow I promise
xoxo

weddings, sunshine, sewing, shopping and a little tutorial just for you!

Where do I start... the last few days have been busy!
I'll start with today because it's pretty fresh :)I finished a corsage which I actually designed to be a necklace but when I tried it on it just didn't look right, so I transformed it into a corsage/brooch. I think it's turned out pretty well and will be adding it to the shop in the next day or two- disappointingly I haven't had any sales yet in the shop but I'm staying positive!

On the weekend it was my friend Lorilyn's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful sunny day too. I made the wedding gift which I'll share with you too.

I actually made myself some of these cushions not long after I got married and thought that I could make some more for a quirky wedding gift. I found a font that I liked on Microsoft word, I typed in Mr & Mrs, I then printed out the letters cut them out and used them as templates. I used cotton twill for the pillow body and felt for the lettering as it doesn't fray. I used wonder web (the sticky stuff that you fix on with an iron) on the back of the letters to position them before sewing them down. So go ahead and try some lettering pillows yourself :)

Lastly I thought I'd share my weekend purchase with you. There is an amazing little store round the corner from my house called Aunt Bees it's made up of lots of little booths all from different sellers. I bought this little birdcage yesterday which fits on top of the coat hook perfectly. Now I'm brainstorming on what to put inside the cage... I'm considering painting some eggs in a pale speckled blue.

Thankyou new followers :)

Today I have gained 7 followers to this blog! I am so delighted to have you join me, thank you so much for stopping by! you have made my day.
I am afraid that today has been pretty uneventful, I have spent most of the evening putting items in the shop. I can't believe how slow I am at adding items to etsy, I took so long that it has gotten pretty late and I have ended up eating sour candies for dinner!
Hopefully I will have something more exciting to share with you tomorrow. Have a great Friday everyone, bring on the weekend :)
xoxo

Finally items in the shop :-)

I have finally put some items in the frenchy and sophie store. So stop by take a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/frenchyandsophie

xoxox

Fabric pretties

House sitting at this gorgeous county house has provided a great source of inspiration with flowers galore and rustic farm features in abundance I have been busy creating fabric pretties.