Spring Bell Jar Display

I love this display jar because I can change it for every season and more often if I get tired of it.    

  Everything in this display I had around my house.  I had seen sheet music as a background so I ripped a sheet out of an old piano music book.  I love old post cards and have quite a large stack of them.  I added one and may add a few more.  The bird and nest I had on a bookshelf.  I found the branches while cleaning a closet and added them.  

I have had this as a center piece on my dining room table and now it's on a side table in my sitting room.  

Easter Party

I enjoy hosting Easter Brunch for my family because our tradition is to have an Easter Egg Hunt. Over the years I have improved my system to make it both entertaining and fair for all the kids. I have grandchildren ranging in age from 9 to 28, many of whom still like to participate in the hunt. Apparently, the cash and useful gadgets found in the eggs make the hunt worthwhile.
I have color coded the eggs to match their bags and each paticipant has 10 eggs to find. Grandpa is sure to hide the eggs well, making it a challenge for each grandchild...often taking an hour to discover all the eggs. All participants end up with the same cache in their 10 eggs. After all the eggs are opened, I retrieve the eggs and bags and save them for next year. The favorite is the Golden Egg, often filled with cherished family treasures (and a cash bonus!) Sometimes the egg is hidden, and sometimes we play a game of chance for it. Great memories are created each year.

Triple Layer Strawberry Cake

Here's an easy but impressive cake that tastes good, too!

Triple Decker Strawberry Cake
From Southern Living 2004 Annual Recipes

1 package white cake mix (18.25 oz)
1 package strawberry jello (3 oz)
4 large eggs
½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ cup finely chopped fresh strawberries
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup milk
Whole strawberries for garnish

Beat first 8 ingredients at low speed with electric mixer for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Scrape as needed. Chopped strawberries should be well blended into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased/floured 9 inch round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes or until cake springs back. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack. Spread strawberry buttercream frosting between layers, on sides and on top. Store refrigerated.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
32 oz powdered sugar
1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries

Beat butter at medium speed until fluffy. Add sugar and strawberries and beat on low until creamy. Add more sugar if too thin, more strawberries if too thick.

Graduation Dinner

This vase was used as a place card holder for a family dinner we hosted to celebrate our son's college graduation.  I bought the vases in bulk for $1.00 each.  I personalized them by finding a photo of each guest with our son.  This took a little time, but once I had all the photos together on my computer, I printed a contact sheet of the photos.  One sheet of photo paper will print 12 -  1 1/2 inches by 1 inch photos.  Each photo was cut out and backed in black paper and attached to a purple ribbon (school color).  Simply slide the ribbon over the neck of the vase.  A wide variety of flowers were used to fill each vase so they were all unique.  The best part was searching for your photo with the graduate to determine where to sit.  At the end of the evening each guest took their vase home.  I put together a total of 30 vases.