Perspectives - A Photo Challenge: Black & White

It is week #4 of "Perspectives - A Photo Challenge hosted by Lena B Photography, Agape Love Designs and When Shutters Click.


This week's challenge was Black & White.

Since I didn't actually have any photos of zebras, pandas, oreos, dalmatians  or other things that are actually black and white, I went with black and white versions of the photos.

1.  Sweet Willow getting ready to take a nap on her fluffy bed.

2.  Giant palm leaf I saw at Meijer Gardens. This thing was huge - about three feet across.  I think the swirly bit in the middle looks a bit like the nose of some crazy plant monster.

Thanks so much to Lena B for featuring my palm leaf as one of her photos of the week.

3. This is my husband, D. We were messing around while on vacation.  D was making these crazy faces while I was playing with all the settings on my new camera.  He makes me laugh every day.

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Here are the deets so you can join in if you like. I really hope you will! I would love to see the photos that represent Black & White to you.

Each week the hosts will choose a "theme" and on Friday, they ask that everyone link up 3 different photos representing their PERSPECTIVE of the week's theme. 

It's all about YOUR perspective and interpretation! {If you don't have a blog, you can link to a flickr account, etc. They just want to see your photos!!} 

By the way... 
you dont have to be a professional photographer to join in! 
You can even use your camera phone. (I know I will!) 
They just want to see YOUR perspective! 
They want to see how YOU view the world. :) 
So don't by shy, or afraid to join in! 

The following week, each host will choose and highlight their favorite photo from the linkup! The next linkup is going to be happening today, August 10rd... Link up your post with 3 photos you've taken to represent this week's theme: Black & White.

They want this to be successful, so if you're IN give a few shout outs! Grab a button a spread the word! 

Feel free to tweet using hash tags #Perspectives or #PerspectivesPhotoChallenge as well as tag @mariagridly, @Mom2MandR and @shuttersclick.

Victoria Sandwich Cake

Sunday was another family dinner. We have them the first Sunday of every month.  D and I love having family gather and spend a relaxing afternoon chatting and catching up.  Another nice part about the family dinner is that I get the chance to make the dessert so I have another reason to try a new recipe. Wahoo!

I knew I had seen a recipe that would be perfect linked up in a past Tout It Tuesday from Tartan Tastes in Texas. The recipe was for a sponge cake with jam in the middle topped with powdered sugar. It sounded delicious! Plus, there was the added bonus of it being named after England's Queen Victoria - so it was the perfect dessert to have during the Olympics.  

The original recipe called for self-rising flour and round pans - neither of which I had, so I adapted the recipe making my own self-rising flour, using a high sided baking pan and cutting 2-7x7 squares of cake to sandwich together.

This cake looked great and tasted even better. No one passed on dessert when I brought this out. Definitely the sign of a successful recipe.

Victoria Sandwich Cake
Adapted from this recipe from Tartan Tastes in Texas

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 8oz Butter
• 8oz Sugar
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 8oz AP flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 t baking powder

For the Middle Layer

• 8 Tbsp (or so) strawberry jam

For the Top

• Sifted powdered sugar

Directions

• Set oven to 350F.
• Spray bottom of a high edged baking pan (like this one) with cooking spray.
• Line with a piece of parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Mix together dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
• Add a bit of the beaten eggs, alternating with the dry ingredients.
• Mix only enough to combine until smooth.
• Pour the mixture into the baking pan and level off.
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes until cake has risen and is springy yet firm to touch and a light golden color.
• Turn out to cool on wire rack.
• Cut out 2 pieces, 7 x 7 inches in size.
• Once cooled sandwich together with strawberry jam.
• Sieve powdered sugar over the top.

Willow Wednesday

You mean all dogs don't get tucked in for a nap with a pillow and blanket? Too bad for them. :-P

Tout It Tuesday - #18

It's time for Tout It Tuesday - #18! 

Sorry for the delay in getting this week's party up. But better late than never right?

D surprised me last night with flowers and dinner out on the town for the 7th anniversary of our first date. He is just the sweetest man! Makes me glad I married him. :-) We had a fabulous dinner at our favorite sushi place and left full and happy to have had the chance to take some time away from the house projects, busy work schedules and the usual evening obligations. But all that eating and taking a break meant that my plan to visit everyone's link ups and get the post written went out the window.

So this week we only have the Fan Fav. Next week I will get back to the usual features and visits.

This week's Fav Fav is

How to make your own pizza at home from Countrified Chicks.

make sure to grab the Fan Fav button.

<a href="http://claimingourspace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/gooch100/?action=view&amp;current=COSButton-FanFav.jpg"/></a>

I can't wait to see what people will be share this week and know that I will be inspired by everyone's projects and recipes. 

Just a few rules/guidelines.

1. I would love it if you would follow through GFC or Bloglovin'.

2. Please do not link shops or link parties that are not related to a project, photo or recipe challenge. Everything else is accepted.

3. Linking to Claiming Our Space isn't required but I would appreciate it if you would grab my button and either display it with the post you are linking up or under your list of parties.

<a href="http://www.claimingourspace.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/gooch100/COSButton-ToutIt Tuesdays.jpg" /></a>

4. Don't forget to click on the "like" button on your favorite project or recipe so I know which one should be the week's Fan Fav.

5.  Please try to visit at least two posts for each link you submit and leave a comment. Comments make everyone happy!

With all that out of the way, let's Tout It!

Perspectives - A Photo Challenge: LIFE

It is week 3 of "Perspectives - A Photo Challenge hosted by Lena B Photography, Agape Love Designs and When Shutters Click.


This week's challenge was LIFE!

After last week's difficulty finding photos with yellow, this one was much easier.  Sorry for all the dog pictures but D and I are some of "those" people. We don't have kids of our own so Willow is a HUGE part of our life and the reality is that much of our life revolves around her. Plus, she is just so stinking sweet.

1.  Willow enjoying in the pond at the dog park.  We take our silly dog to the park several times a week and getting her lots of exercise makes our life much happier and calmer. Plus, the exercise does us good too.

2.  Our 65 pound dog thinks she is a lap dog and will howl at D until he lets her up into his favorite lounge chair. She will stay up there for as long as he lets her just getting good snuggles. Sometimes she even falls asleep like this. It cracks me up every time I see it.

3. This last one I call "the one thing you can count on in life (and renovations) is that you will find something you don't plan on." When we tore up the carpet to install our bamboo flooring we were horrified to discover major water damage from an old leak. Boo! We ended up tearing out the sheetrock in the corner, discovering carpenter ants (shudder) and then tearing out the subfloor to the joists before putting it all back together again so we could actually install the flooring. Blerg!

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Here are the deets so you can join in if you like. I really hope you will!  I would love to see the photos that mean Life to you.

Each week the hosts will choose a "theme" and on Friday, they ask that everyone link up 3 different photos representing their PERSPECTIVE of the week's theme.  It's all about YOUR perspective & interpretation!

{If you don't have a blog, you can link to a flickr account, etc. They just want to see your photos!!}

By the way... you dont have to be a professional photographer to join in!

You can even use your camera phone. (I know I will!)
They just want to see YOUR perspective!
They want to see how YOU view the world. :)
So don't by shy, or afraid to join in!

The following week, each host will choose & highlight their favorite photo from the linkup!

The second linkup is going to be happening today, August 3rd...
Link up your post with 3 photos you've taken to represent this week's theme:

LIFE

They want this to be successful, so if you're IN give a few shout outs!
Grab a button a spread the word!
Feel free to tweet using hash tags #Perspectives or #PerspectivesPhotoChallenge and #July20
as well as tag @mariagridly, @Mom2MandR, and @shuttersclick.

Guest Post - Rachel from Adventures of a DIY Mom

It's a guest post day here at Claiming Our Space.  After checking out Rachel from Adventures of a DIY Mom's amazing furniture refinish (where does everyone find these furniture deals?), head on over to check out my plastic horse bookends.

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I'm Rachel and I blog over at Adventures of a DIY Mom.

I love to share craft and sewing projects. I love to bake and I often share recipes. I also host a weekly link party on Tuesdays.

Today I'm sharing a furniture refinish. I had been looking for something that could house all of our games. Right now we have board games in two bedroom closets and card games are in the kitchen. So when I came across this at a yard sale, I knew it would work perfectly. I snagged it for only $8.

It was part of a huge three piece entertainment center. Luckily, they didn't make me buy the whole set. My husband thought it was just a boring box, so he added baseboard and crown molding to give it some character.  So this is not a true before picture, but you can imagine what it looked like.

I took off the doors and gave it a quick sand. Then I painted the outside a light green I had left over from my basement. The color is Prairie Sage by Glidden. I left the interior white.

Then came the fun part - stenciling. I searched through the online Silhouette store and found this damask pattern.

I cut it out with card stock, taped it on the door and painted. I used Frosted Pine by Glidden {another leftover from finishing our basement.}

Next I cut out some smaller stencils and painted them on the sides.

Both on the bottom and the top of the cabinet.
This was so much easier and quicker than my last stenciling project.

Once I was done painting, there was the problem of the glass door. I wanted to keep games inside, but that's not always very pretty. I decided to frost the glass. But I wanted to keep the damask theme, so I cut out some vinyl and put it in place.

I also taped the edges off and started applying the etching cream.

The bottle says it is not intended for large areas, and I wouldn't recommend it if you want it to turn out perfectly. There were a few spots that looked uneven, but overall I'm happy with the results.

I lightly sanded over the stenciled areas and also along the edges to let some of the white paint show through.

And here's the final result.

It fits perfectly in this spot at the bottom of the stairs. These pictures best capture the true color of the piece.

And a look at the before and after.

I spent a total of $9. The cabinet was $8 and I spent $1 for the Silhouette stencil. I used leftover paint and etching cream. The baseboard and crown molding were also left overs.
I love a good makeover that doesn't end up costing me a lot.
What do you all think of the result? Do you like the color and the stencil?

Thanks so much for having me!!

Willow Wednesday

My kitty toy needs biting!