Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Rustic DIY Cupcake Stand

My Mr. and I decided that instead of spending $100-$150 dollars on a cupcake stand for our wedding that we he was going to build one. We are going to have a totally awesome dessert buffet for our wedding including cupcakes and mini pies so this stand will be the perfect accessory to our table. Here are the details.

Project difficulty: Medium
Estimated Time: 4 hours (including paint)
Estimated Cost: $60

The first step in this DIY project is to pick a design and stand height that you like. A good place to start is Etsy, where (depending on size), you can easily spend upwards of $200. I decided to go with a 3-tier design which I can add small rustic boxes or mason jars to give the cupcakes varying height.

My first stop was the local hardware store for materials. For each tier I chose precut 24", 16" and 8" wood round table tops. The hardware store also carries stair baulsters that are milled in precut lengths and styles.

The shopping list included:
(1) 24" table top
(1) 17" table top
(1) 14" table top
(1) 9" stair baulster
(1) 14" stair baulster
(1) can of white primer
(1) can of satin white paint
(1) container of gorilla wood glue

The next step was to get home and have the Mr. work with me on putting my plan together! The tools you will need are:

(1) Drill; drill bits
(1) Square (or anything with a straight 90 degree corner)
(1) Pencil

Each baulster comes with one end with a "bolt" coming out of the bottom for a screw-in installation. The other end is flat and needs to be glued to the bottom side of the tabletop.

However, before we can drill the tabletop for the baulster, we need to locate the exact center of the circle. I don't know about some of you, but I don't remember my geometry homework! Luckily, the Mr. knew and explains it like this:

To find the center, you first need to draw 3 "chords" on the outside of the circle the same length (pick an easy number, like 12 inches). Once you draw all 3 lines, divide them in half and mark the center of the chord. From the center, use your square or 90 degree angle and draw a line across the tier. Do this for each chord and the exact center is the intersection of all three lines. He is so smart!

When you have the centers laid out, its to drill a hole slightly smaller than the "bolt" coming out of the bottom of the baulster. Drill this hole only HALFWAY into to the tabletop, and make sure it is drilled straight. Once this hole is drilled, drill a much smaller hole through the larger hole to mark the center of the citcle on the other side.

Now that the holes are drilled, we now want to glue the baulster to the bottom side of the table top. To be exact, find the center (process above) of each baulster and measure the distance from the center to the edge of the baulster. Measure this distance on the tabletop and mark the edges of the baulster. This is an important step, or else the tiers will look staggered from each other. Now, apply the gorilla glue to the baulster, press firmy agianst the table top, and hold together for about a minute. Repeat this process for the other baulster, and let dry overnight.

The next day is paint day!
Vana White for you!
At this point, you should have three pieces that have been glued together and resemble this (largest round not shown):

Apply your primer first, and be sure to cover all parts of the bare wood. Once the primer has dried, paint two coats of white paint to really cover it well and hide any paint streaks. Once your paint is complete, you should be able to take the three pieces and assemble them by screwing them together (since you have already drilled your hole). Voila, your finished product should resemble something like this!


We used cabinet hardware to make feet for the bottom of our cupcake stand. We just chose something with a flat surface that would sit level on a table. So what do you think?? I think this is going to make a great addition to our dessert table.

Heather

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Showered With Love

This past weekend was my bridal shower hosted by my mom and one of my bridesmaids/oldest friend in the world! Wait, no, she is not literally old, just that she has know me since the womb. Making her my oldest friend to date. And as she will tell you, she enjoys being 3 months younger than me.

The shower was at my mom's house which also happens to be my childhood home that I grew up in. My mom has been working all summer to have her yard look amazing for this event and boy did it ever. The shower was wonderful and I was blown away by all the love and support that myself and my Mr. received. If this is a preview to how the wedding is going to be then I am beyond thrilled for what an amazing day it is going to be. Here are some photos from that day.
  
Signage

Enjoying the Festivites

Grow with Love Favors for Shower Guests
 
Future Mother In-Law, Bride and Mother of the Bride

From the Top: Future Sister In-Law, Bride & Freind, Some of the Bridesmaids, Bride and Brother's Girl Friend
 
Very Large Ribbon Bouquet
 
From the Top Left: Cousins, Mother of the Bride, Nana of the Bride and Awkward Pose with all Those Ribbons

DIY Drink Stand
A huge thank you to all of my bridesmaids, my mom, family and friends who helped make this such a wonderful bridal shower. My love tank is full and with 45 days to go we are in the home stretch.
Heather

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

How Does Your Garden Grow

This spring the Mr and I suggested talked my mom into letting us build a planter bed at her house so we could have a summer garden. This then consisted of us building the beds and helping to plant them and then completely leaving all the water and maintenance to her. (See what we did right there!) I am happy to report that wiith all of our her hardwork the garden has done wonderfully and we (you know we have been there for harvest) have enjoyed many nights at her house of being able to go outside and pick almost everything needed to make a full meal.

To avoid being wasteful, I have started getting very creative in my cooking to make sure we use up all of those huge zucchinis that we grew. Here are some of the recipes that I have been making.

Zucchini Brownies




















These came out so yummy, but are more like chocolate cake then a brownie. They ended up being great with some vanilla ice cream.

Paleo Zucchini Almond Muffins
















I made these muffins this afternoon and I have to say that I wasn't to impressed. Maybe it is just me but these tasted really dense and were totally not sweet like a muffin.

I am dying to try this recipe for Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini


















If I had more time, (I feel like I say that a lot here) I would totally love to can some veggies to have through the winter. We have also been busy with our wonderful jam making party. As you saw here, I inlisted the help of some great friends to pick blackberries and help me make homemade jam for our wedding favors.  I'll be back to give you a full tutorial on jam making and how the final product turn out.

Happy Wednesday!
Heather

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

MIA

Wow I just noticed how long it has been since I posted. Here is a little photo recap of all the fun we have been having this summer. I'll post a full recap for you later this week

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

{Engaged & Inspired} Bridesmaids Attire

Today I am over at Engaged & Inspired talking about what my beautiful ladies will be wearing for our big day.

Tomorrow be on the look out for my post recaping the wine tasting class I took over the weekend and some fun wino tips.
Happy Wednesday!

Heather

Friday, July 6, 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012

Honeymoon Stylings

I am dying to go on vacation right now. Sadly their will be no big vacations for us until our honeymoon in October. So, instead I found few items that I totally want need for our week away.
honeymoon

honeymoon by heatherjones-i featuring a chiffon tank

Heather