A Beautiful Mess

A Beautiful Giveaway with Megan Nielsen

We’re so excited to bring this giveaway from Megan Nielsen! This cute little shop specializes in fashion-forward sewing patterns that makes creating beautiful, trendy clothing simple and straightforward. Their motto is “Making clothing should be fun.” You won’t find any shoeboxes full of cheap pattern paper here—these patterns include beautiful instruction booklets and high quality paper that you’ll want to use for years! Check out some of the favorites: 1, 2, 3, 4!

Today, we’ve got THREE LUCKY WINNERS:
First prize: $100 gift card to Megan Nielsen
Second prize: This cute tote!
Third prize: A sewing pattern of the winner’s choice from Megan Nielsen
To enter, simply visit their site and post your favorite item in the comments. Giveaway is open until May 28, and the winners will be contacted shortly after. Good luck! xoxo. Elsie + Emma

P.S. All readers can get 10% off anything from Megan Nielsen with the code 'BEAUTIFUL'!

A Beautiful Mess Giveaway Rules

Kitchen Experiments: Peekaboo Bread

I've been wanting to try out a peekaboo bread for sometime now. I think the first time I saw one was last fall. It was a beautiful pumpkin bread with a pumpkin cut out in the center. You can probably guess what peekaboo bread is just from the name. Basically you hide a different kind of quick bread or pound cake in the center of another cake. You get to blend the flavors and create a cute design. I decided to give it a try.First I worked on a raspberry quick bread recipe that I liked. I baked one without any cut outs first, and it was yummy. I'm pretty partial to raspberries—love the flavor and the vibrant red color. 

Raspberry Quick Bread, makes one loaf.

5 1/2 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
12 ounces fresh raspberriesCream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla extract. In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Stir the flour mixture in with the butter mixture. In another bowl mash up the raspberries. Stir the raspberries and their juices in to the batter.

If you want to add cut outs here's what I did: Cut a store-bought pound cake in half lengthwise. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes (like stars). Fill a buttered loaf pan with a little bit of the raspberry bread batter. Now place the cut out stars upright in the pan. Fill around the stars with the remaining batter, being sure to cover the tops of the cut out shapes.* Bake at 350°F for 45-48 minutes.

*Try to choose a cut out shape that is not too large, or tall. If the shape reaches above your batter it may not look the best. This happened with my first loaf. 

I also noticed that the color of my outer loaf changed based on how close it was to the center cutouts. My guess is that the cut outs, while cute, do allow for some uneven cooking within the bread batter. Maybe that explains it, maybe not. I'm not really much of a food scientist, just a curious home baker.What about you? Have you ever tried making peekaboo bread (or cake)? What other kitchen experiments have you been up to lately? xo. Emma

Elsie's Front Porch (Before + After!)

Our front porch is quickly becoming one of our favorite spaces in our home! It's a spot to hang out nightly and entertain friends. We even sometimes sit out there to use the internet during work. It's becoming a cozy favorite! 

Before: This is how our front porch looked for the first eight months we lived here. It was fine, and didn't feel as horribly unfinished as some of the other rooms in our home but I knew it had more potential! As soon as we got our first hint of warm weather I started messing around with ideas out there. My goal was to make it a spot where we would want to sip a glass of wine in the evenings, or enjoy a morning cup of coffee. :) 

Here's the story of everything we've added (so far)... 

By the front door we added a thrifted plant stand, painted white with some plants. When we were buying the plants we specifically looked for things that could stay outside all summer. Fingers crossed they all survive! I love this little pop of color that greets everyone who comes to our home. 

Adding green was a huge part of what made this space come alive. We made hanging planters and painted terra cotta pots white for flowers and extra plants. 

We made some DIY pillows. It was a quick afternoon project that adds so much pattern and fun to the space! 

Source List: Rug/Target, Chairs/Thifted, Coffee Table/Flea Market Find, Pillows/DIY, Plant Stand/Flea Market Find. 

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our porch! I am excited to see how it evolves in future seasons. For now, my only goal was to make it an inviting space that we actually use and that's something I can check off the list. Yay! 

Happy Monday! xo. Elsie 

Super Cute (& Quick) DIY Porch Pillows

I knew our front porch needed some fun pillows. And after shopping around a little, I decided DIY was definitely going to be the best solution! This was one of those projects where I bought the supplies like 2 months ago and just could not figure out what kind of a pattern to print. In the end, I went with the quickest/easiest hand printed fabric I've EVER made, and I love the casual, graphic vibe. Win/win.Step 1. Use the tip of a small foam brush and soft fabric paint to cover your fabric with lines. Each line is made by simply pressing the top of the foam brush directly down. I added more paint about every 3-5 lines. You can choose any size for your pillow. Mine started out as 20x20-inch squares of sturdy canvas fabric. Step 2. Allow the paint to dry completely before doing any sewing. Step 3. Cut a matching piece for the back of your pillow. With the "good" sides facing each other, stitch around three sides of your pillow with a straight stitch. Step 4. Stuff the pillow. Step 5. Hand stitch the open side shut, adding more stuffing at the very end if needed. Step 6. Add tassels (learn to make them here!) made with yarn or embroidery thread. Stitch them into each corner and ENJOY!Happy crafting! xo. Elsie