2 Tiered Naked Butter Rum Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Why is that my heart skip beats when I see those pictures of 'naked cakes' on Pinterest? {here}. I know! It is because like seeing a beautiful woman with natural beauty, flawless skin and just a lip gloss of a make up. Don't get me wrong; we women love seeing beautiful women, right? May be we just simply admiring her beauty steeling a glance from a distance.  Or maybe because this cake is a 'without trying so hard to look pretty' cake. Therefore this cake reminded me a lot to those women; no make up, no covered icing or fondant showing bare skin with effortless elegance and beauty.

I found that this cake is very easy to do and to decorate. It is a 'Butter Cake Mix' cake. The different is that I put a little bit of rum in it. And ohh....it is so delicious and just melt in your mouth when eating it with the fresh  fruits {strawberry, blueberry} and lemony cream cheese frosting.

You do not have to be extra careful to decorate either. Just put any kind of fruits and flowers; guarantee it will look beautiful. On this cake I particularly want to put tiny white flowers with berries on the cake. And I do not know what flower are those. The only thing is that when you want to put cream cheese frosting after you cut the cake in half; you might want to smear a lot more, much more! As you can see on the pictures, mine is not enough and therefore it does not show but a thin white line. You want it to be dripping a little bit on the side to make it even more delicious and inviting. Other than that I am very happy with the look and the taste of this cake.

::Recipe::

Butter Rum Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

~ 1 pkg Butter Cake Mix

~ 1 cup water

~ 1/3 cup melted butter

~ 3 eggs

{mix according the package's instruction}

~ 5 tbsp rum. I suggest put less first since you might not like the taste of a strong rum in the cake. Then you can always adding up if needed.

Mix rum into batter. Pour in baking pans. And bake at 350 deg  for about 30 to 39 minutes. (Depending the size of the pan). Let the cakes cool for about 1/2 an hour.
Note: If you are going to make 3 tiered cake then you need two packages of Butter Cake Mix. If it is like mine (these are small by the way) you need little less than one package. I used the whole package and discarded the remain of the batter.

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Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

~ 11 oz. cream cheese, softened

~ 2 cup powdered sugar {I put less sugar since I prefer less sweet of frosting}

~ 1/2 tsp vanilla

~ 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

~ 3 tbsp lemon juice

Using electric mixer; mix all ingredients for about 2 minutes.

Cut both cake in the middle horizontally and spread some of the cream cheese. And sandwich the cakes together. Spread more cream cheese on the very top and decorate with berries and flowers your choice. 

Happy Baking!

Linked to;
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Savvy Southern Style

Made From Pinterest

Unwrapped {Photography with Nikon D3100 and Styling}

I am very sorry because this post is long over due. The reason was that I must planned on my head how am I going to present it so it still looks 'pretty' rather than just a tutorial post.

In the past I had readers who asked how and what camera I shot my vignettes for my blog post. To be honest I am not a professional photographer. And I learn as I go. But there are few important elements in order to make beautiful photography.

So I am going to break down this photography tutorial post in to 6 categories.

1. The camera. What camera you use is what  shown on your blog post. Mine is Nikon D3100 {here}. Nikon just introduce the better version of D3100 and is D3200 {here}. This camera is very good for blog & photography but since my blog is about object more than people I want to have a strong depth of field. For this I bought an extra lens called AF Nikor 50 mm f/1.8D {here}. Mostly I shoot with this lens for my blog post since it creates the depth of field that I want.

2. Lighting. A good natural light is very important for photography. Since I always shoot inside the house I choose my object near a big window or door where natural light is mostly coming in. Also it is better to shoot when the sun light is getting softer or when the sun is about to go down on the horizon {they called this 'the golden hour'}. Usually it is around 4 to 6 pm in the afternoon. The reason is that at noon the sun light is very harsh that will make picture harsh also. I want a soft clear picture. And the soft natural light is very good for shooting photography. It is also apply to photography people out door. That is why professional photographer has giant umbrella to block the sun light. If I must shoot during a cloudy day or at night; I am using artificial light. I bought these spot light and day light bulb at Home Depot. Last seen, here.

As you can see I placed my object near where the sun light comes in most.

 I am so embarrassed to show the spot I shoot my pictures. But this is the best place to shoot so I must stay on this spot right now.

3. Props. Props are as  important also. To create good picture; let's say for a recipe post you need props to support your recipe picture that you are presenting. Props can be expensive but it does not have to be. I love flea market and yard sale. So it is good to keep an eye for props for photography shoots. For example, a vintage spoon, vintage napkins, vintage plates, vintage baking pan, bottles,etc. A good source also from Jo Ann fabrics. They sell a small piece of quilting fabrics that you can use for props. 

4. Back drops. I created my own back drops. My home is small that does not have open space or table to shoot from. And the shape of the house is long where there are big sliding doors at one end and the entrance on the other end. so I chose a spot using back drops near by the big sliding door. And that is where I shoot most of the time. For this I bought ply wood from Home Depot. They are already cut to size that I need. It is about USD 4.00 per piece. I distressed paint the ply wood my self. The good thing is that I can create many color of back drops I want. But I also bought an old wood from a barn some where in Vermont to create a rustic back drops.

I distressed the white and blue boards myself. The old plank wood bought at an antique store in Vermont. It is from an old barn. I used these boards for most of my pictures. I am sure you have seen these back drops on my blog posts in the past.

5. Composition. When you are shooting with the Nikor 50 mm lens; you will be having fun! I shoot about 100 pictures for one object. I shoot on all angles; at eye level, left, right, close ups, from above, I guarantee you will get beautiful pictures out of those many angles shots that you shoot. 

I love creating picture on 45 deg. angle. Just tilted the camera slightly.

This composition is straight up but by cropping the background object makes it more interesting to look at. The main object is the little naked boy.

The star of the show is still the naked little boy only now he was placed behind the bottle. The lens still can make it sharp thus the foreground object {the bottle} became blurred. This is what the Nikor lens does. Both of these images has been editing on Picmonkey.

6. Additional tips. Photo Editing Software {Picmonkey here and Picasa, here}

Although you successfully shot beautiful pictures; one last stop to spruce up you photo is on photo editing software. I am using Picmonkey for all of my photo editing software. It is free and very easy to navigate. I also using Photoshop Elements to create graphic images when I need it. There is nothing wrong to post pictures straight from camera after down loaded them. But using photo editing soft ware like Picmonkey makes a big difference. You can see the big difference under category no. 1. 

Related reading; Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin {here}

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Thank you so much for stopping by!

Linked to;
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Clean & Scentsible 
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Dancing Flower Petals & Feathers

Hello,

I apologize that I have not been socializing much lately. I have not been joining any link party since last Tuesday. The reason was that suddenly things got very busy here. Everything were happening at the same time and I can not focus on my blog. I am sure you must have faced the same situation in the past.  Also I was focus on creating my first youtube video tutorial {here}. I am very thrilled to have hit the button and published it just now. I worked very hard the last few days. You know when you do something for the first time, everything is trying and error. I worked until almost 4 am for 2 nights in a row. Now it has gotten a little easier. I know it will be a lot easier for my next video tutorial.

Also, please apologize that I am posting images about feathers again. I do not know why that I am into feathers and water color lately. I find it very soothing painting feathers using water colors.

I also successfully created a short movie about  feathers and flower petals. This is an experimental video and I do not publish this video on youtube. 

Steven was a way for a few days so I had plenty of time by myself and shot these videos simultaneously with the video tutorial now on youtube.  The flowers are the peonies and roses that I posted in the past {here and here}. Eventually they are dying so shooting a video of them and the water color feathers together seems to be a great idea.

 

As mentioned many time before how I love painting with water color; I also found out that I love capture the delicate color of water color on camera. To me it feels like I was trying to repaint the painting itself only this time I am using camera as a tool and lighting as a canvas.

Thank you so much for reading!

Have a great week end Everyone!

Linked to;
Savvy Southern Style 
Clean & Scentsible

Vintage Silk Flower Tiara, Fifty Plus And Me

And so as I am little over 50 now the question is how do you grow old graciously and happy?

 I never been so sure about what I want to do in life like what I am doing now. I never been so happy for simple things that I create or achieve like I have achieved today. Not much, but I think of myself that I had grown older and mature spiritually. What I mean by this is that nothing is constant in life, not your pair of shoes you love so much, the designer pocket book you bought the other day, your family, your car, your house and so does your look because it will change as time passes by and as you are aging. But I believe that we do evolve. Evolve by how you look into yourself and think that you have became something else more beautiful than when  you were younger. For me to get to this stage is by being healthy spiritually and physically, being able to take care of your body, skin, hair and inner self. I found that creativity is also play an important role to feel happy. To show your creativity to others and especially got credit for it is a big rewarding and a happy feeling. It keeps you motivated and feel younger. And amongst all women whom experience reaching 'the five zero',  I am not the healthiest one to think this way to begin with. Not after I had many surgeries and health issues 8 years a go. But it came  to a full circle, since I came out a live from those surgeries and health issues, I was able to embrace and chose to grow old, happy and healthy at this age. Right after released from 2 months  hospitalization; nothing is matter to me but to choose being happy and healthy even though it meant just to see  one petal of flower blooming each spring year, to be able  to hug my son and tell him how much I love him,  to create something simple with my own hand and put a smile on someone's face, to see the fine lines showing on the surface of my skin  face in the mirror and said  to myself  "hhmm I still look beautiful"  each day. Those wrinkles are wisdom, it tells you a lesson from the past so you can only be a better person, to forgive yourself and others, to find who you really are and finally said I know who I am and I just like what I am supposed to be. Those things are constant. Those things are priceless. Those things are what I embrace and would like to own for the rest of my life. 

Believe me we human does no matter how old  we are;  are all in the same boat and going in the same direction but it is up to you how you choose to finally reach there. And yes, nothing can stop that; WE --  WILL -- BE -- THERE.

So what do you think about getting older? How  do you feel the minute that you suddenly notice that first wrinkle appear around you eyes that were not there last you have seen your face on the mirror? Panic, happy, sad, proud, or never thought about it at all?

~~~oo00oo~~~

With little story above; I took close up pictures of myself the other day. I happened just finishing making the vintage silk flower tiara at the time. I bought a bulk of vintage millinery flowers from Ebay  and I love them so much. I had taken pictures of some of them for my blog posts in the past. I thought it would be pretty to put these silk flowers together as a tiara which I am wearing and showing on the pictures. I know I am too old to play princess but I can't help it; my youth inner self is telling me is okay to feel young, is okay to try to look young. And so I did.

 I created below image through Pugly Pixel tutorial and lay out {here} but I did not down load the template from them. I found my own images through Google  and processed the images in Photoshop.

Thank you so much for reading!

Day Dreaming of Future Living Room Color Palette

I was on an instant love for these Blumarine Spring Summer 2013 collection.

A series of interior rooms with these color palette entering my mind. And said to myself these are the accent color I love for our next interior home. That is if we ever moved out and sold  our current home. This time I do not wish to have a bright colored wall. I only want white or light grey. 

I can see the living room come a live in my head. I could use these color for accent pillows, curtains, gold ornaments and vintage gold frames.

I am having an open house tomorrow please wish us luck, we really need it. Trying to sell this apartment has been taking us a very long time.

Sources; Bluemarine on Coco e L'Istrione and Pinterest

I hope you are having a fantastic week end. I am all by myself starting yesterday Saturday until Wednesday as Steven is away visiting clients in Washington DC and Pennsylvania and taking the time to play golf with his buddies at Greenbrier.

As for me, I am using the time to catch up on projects like {I am trying to make a youtube video} that  has taken me a long time now to finish. And I am going to spend time with my two mother in-laws.

Thank you so much for reading!

Water Color Feathers + Peonies

A rain storm hit our area and so it was raining all day yesterday. 

I managed finishing a few projects that was behind and I am thrilled to show you one of them. Since the outside was a dark stormy day; I used day light lighting to shoot my projects. Dark room and photography are not good friend, I think we all know this fact. And I am not a fan using artificial light simply because I am a bit lazy to take the light out from somewhere in the house. But today I desperately need it. So I took them out anyway.

First I was always wanted to paint feather using water color. I am an acrylic abstract painter and I love water color as well which is the opposite technically. And I never took a formal class on how to learn to paint with water color. From reading a book, water color is not easy to do simply because unlike acrylic when you made a mistake you can paint it over with white and start all over again. Not with water color. You must build up the image layer by layer. Once you made a mistake, it can not be erased. And this technique is totally different than painting with acrylic I know.

Anyway, I read books and try to learn from it. So here is my water color feathers that I created.

As you can see the water color feathers are not perfect. Looking at this made me want to take a formal lesson on how to paint water color as it should be.  More less I am very happy with it. I think if I practice more often {I am thinking that is what I need  to do} it will get better. On the other hand, I am very happy with these peonies images as a result of using artificial lighting. Don't you think! The close up ones can be printed as a post card because those images are very sharp.

I also finished another project that long overdue; but I am going to reveal it next time.

Thank you so much for reading! 

Have a wonderful week end Everyone!