Lately I’ve been obsessed with those amazing colored layered cakes that have been popping up on the internet! So, when our church was asking for people to donate cakes for the cake walk at our harvest festival I knew exactly what I wanted to make… but of course, it needed to be tested first 🙂

I wish I could be there when the family that wins the cake makes the first cut… at first glance you’d think it’s just a normal cake with toasted coconut on top (I’m going through a MAJOR coconut faze).

But, after the first cut you realize there’s a surprise inside!
Bright orange and brown layers! It’s super simple to make – here’s how I made it:

You’ll need 1 box of yellow cake mix and 1 box of chocolate cake mix. For each mix you’ll want to separate it into two 9 inch round cake pans and bake – so when you’re done, you’ll have four layers total. Before you bake the yellow cake mix, you’ll need to add 2 oz of orange food coloring to it. Don’t use the grocery store liquid kind, this will just water down your cake mix. You’ll want to use the paste or gel kind you can get in the “professional” cake isle at the local craft store or online.

Once you have your 2 orange layers and 2 brown layers baked and cooled, you’ll then want to slice off the tops of the cakes so you have even layers.

I then made the frosting you’ll find here. BEST frosting ever!! For the frosting in-between the layers I added extra un-toasted coconut to the icing. This gave an amazing flavor and texture to the cake – although, it does make slicing the cake a little difficult!

After you have all the layers stacked, with frosting in-between each layer, you are ready to frost the entire cake! Add some extra toasted coconut to the top for decoration and chill it in the fridge a couple hours before serving.

And, just a warning, it’s addicting!! Coconut fans, you’ll go nuts of this one! Also, it’s amazing what homemade frosting does to store bought cake mixes! You couldn’t even tell the cake wasn’t from scratch! Yummy!!! Maybe I’ll be doing the churches cake walk, lol!

I had so much fun visiting everyone’s blog last week and reading about what others are thankful for! Thank you all so much for participating in this project with me 🙂 Can’t wait to see what everyone’s thankful for this week!

Don’t forget to post what your thankful for on your blog (feel free to use the image above) and post the link in our comment section or you can just post what you’re thankful for, directly in our comment section below 🙂

GOD: I feel beyond blessed to know that He is always there for me. That He has made a plan for me and knows more about myself than I do. I take comfort in knowing that I shouldn’t have to worry or stress about things when He is in control. I’m so thankful for the life He has given me and the people He has surrounded me with.

BEING AN AUNT: I feel so thankful that I get to watch this little guy grow up. I’m so lucky that I live close to him and get to see him multiple times a week. Right now he’s really starting to smile/giggle and doing a ton of “baby talk”. It’s absolutely adorable.

THE STRANGER WHO HELPED THE MAN ACROSS THE STREET: You are amazing. You got out of your car to help the elderly man who was frozen in fear, in the middle of a really busy intersection. You jumped out of your car and ran over to him, stopped the crazy drivers who where swerving around him and helped him to the other side. I wish more people where like you in this world 🙂

The other day while I was cleaning my scrap room, I set aside a large Priority Mail flat rate box and filled it with supplies I knew I wouldn’t be using anymore. There’s no since keeping these items if there’s someone else that can use them!

I’m sending these items, plus some Elle’s Studio tags, to Camp To Belong. Our local news station featured this camp in the summer and it really touched me. This camp reunites siblings that have been placed in separate foster homes or other out-of-home care. During this special time, these kids get to see their sisters and brothers, some it’s their first time for the year! They get to do all the things typical siblings get to do everyday together like eat breakfast together, share bedtime stories, eat meals, etc. They also get to celebrate their birthdays and other holidays together and during their time… they get to… put together scrapbooks! Scrapbooks that capture their time together and hold all their memories of that special week.

They have locations all over the US and even in Australia! It’s an amazing organization and I was so excited to be able to donate scrapbook supplies to them, knowing how meaningful their scrapbooks they create there would be to them. I can’t imagine!

They currently are in need of: scissors (regular and shaped), shaped punches, stickers and embellishments. The albums they work with are from Creating Memories and are 8 x 8 albums, with sleeves – so nice of them!! If you want to donate some supplies, you can either go to their website or contact Deb (Deb is Washington’s Co-Director).

I’m feeling so excited and inspired after reading Ali Edwards post about her December daily. Every year I want to make one, but always run out of time. This year, however, I will! I’m starting early on the base of the album, so it won’t be overwhelming in December. I love this idea of starting early 🙂 I know I’ll definitely be using our Vintage Mix & Match Numbers + 12 Days of Christmas tags for all the numbers… then combining a bunch of our other tags, too. Can’t wait! But first, I have to decide how I’m going to bind it all together… I can’t decide if I should cut the transparency (above) in half to make a cover, or use a little album…

Today is also the day where I’m going to purge my summer items and bring fall + winter back out. It’s a large pile to tackle, but as I do it, I always find things that inspire me all over again. Do you do a “fall” cleaning, too?

While cleaning up a little I also take time to re-evaluate the items I’ve accumulated over the months, pulling out the items that can be passed along to others. Keeping a flat-rate Priority Mail box by me makes this process extra easy. On Wednesday I’ll be sharing where the box is headed off too – it’s a pretty amazing place that could use your donation, too!

We hope everyone has a great weekend! Monday we have two designer spotlights to share and they’ve both made super amazing and fun projects to go along with their interview! Can’t wait to show you 🙂

xo, Elle

There is always something to be thankful for and for some reason, during the fall season, I find myself wanting to reflect on those things. I think it might have a lot to do with the holidays and Thanksgiving 🙂 I also remember seeing others do this last year, and thought it was such a great idea!

My plan is to do a thankful post every Thursday, for the month of October and November! Will you join me? There’s only one rule and that is to write at least one thing you’re thankful for! It doesn’t have to be a huge list, but it can be if you want! Sometimes my thankful posts will include photos, sometimes not. There shouldn’t be too much pressure here – the point is to just get it written down.

MY PARENTS: Who have always encouraged me, even as a young child, to do what ever would make me happy and to follow my dreams. Who have always been there for me. Who have always been able to help me make decisions and weigh the good and the bad. I am so thankful for them.

OUR READERS + FANS: I’m so grateful for each and every one of you that stops by and reads our blog, visits our site and who place an order at our store. We appreciate you so much 🙂

MY HOBBY: I’m so thankful that I’ve found a hobby that I thoroughly enjoy and that can grow with me. I love that scrapbooking allows me to express myself and captures my memories forever.

Now it’s your turn! Either leave a comment with what you’re thankful for or head on over to your blog and blog about something your thankful for. You can even use the image above that we created! Then, come back here and let us know in the comment section so others can see what you’re thankful for, too 🙂

I think it’s cooking week, hehe! When fall weather arrives I tend to find myself in the kitchen more and more. Last week we made this soup and I just couldn’t resist sharing this recipe with you – it’s SO good… beyond good! I’m not a fan of kidney beans either and I ate them ALL!

It’s super easy – basically throw it into a pot and let it simmer. And, it can be made gluten free, too, so that’s a double bonus for those of you with gluten allergies!

RECIPE:
1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
1 medium sweet onion

Brown the meat in a pot, adding the onion at the very end.

Once the meat is browned and the onion is added, drain all the grease and add to pot:
5 sticks of celery, chopped
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
2 15 oz cans of kidney beans, rinse and strain before adding
2 15 oz cans of yellow corn, including the juice
2 packs of taco seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder (optional)

Let this mixture come to a boil and simmer on med/low for 1 hour, or longer. I couldn’t wait longer than an hour and it was perfect, but I’ve been told the longer this soup cooks on the stove, the better it gets!

Don’t forget to serve it with a dollop of sour cream and cheese on top, with corn bread on the side! Yummy!!!

You know your week is going to be a GREAT one when it starts off with cupcakes 🙂 These are super spooky cupcakes that turned out even more scary than I ever imagined!

To make these spooky treats, I used a boxed cake mix and frosting – both chocolate!
Then you’ll need some chopped up white chocolate covered pretzels for the bones and crushed Oreo cookies for the dirt (remove the filling, and crush them up as good as possible). You’ll also want to cut out and mount each grave cupcake topper (free download is below) onto a wooden pick.
Frost you’re cupcakes… yummy!!
Dip each frosted cupcake into the crushed Oreo cookies.
Now, insert your grave into your cupcake, towards the back…
Don’t forget the “bones”! Add some of the chopped white chocolate covered pretzels into the dirt… yikes!
Take these cupcakes to the next level by adding a skull – I found these at our local Michaels Craft Store in the baking section.
YIKES! Talk about spooky!!

Download your free copy of the grave cupcake toppers below! If you make some cupcakes with them, we’d love to see them. Please feel free to post your links!
Just click here to download the pdf file. Please click “Save” when prompted. You must have Adobe Reader to open this file, if you do not have Adobe Reader, you can download it for free, here. If you are having problems downloading or opening, please make sure you have the latest updates for Adobe Reader.