Shop Nursery Road!

Hey sweet friends!

So sorry about the radio silence from over here, I have been SO BUSY! Quick life update: I quit my waitressing job and am staying home full time with our son and am working part time with the company my husband works for. We are SO grateful for this change in our lives. We used to see each other for weekends and then like 15 minutes on weekdays when we traded off our son so being able to see each other every evening is an absolute treat for us!

I know my eyes are closed, but look at that grin on Luke!

 On top of working remotely with my husband's company, I have been able to make some super exciting developments with making a Nursery Road SHOP for you guys! Whoop whoop! I'm so happy to announce I now have a storefront space within Every Nook and Cranny in downtown Mt. Dora AND an Etsy store that is available for you guys to shop any time. These developments have been in motion for a few months and I couldn't be more excited about it. You can find my Etsy store here at: Nursery Road.

Here are a few items I have at the storefront and on Etsy! I'm creating tons of new stuff and add to it frequently. As always, the best way to stay up to date with whats going on at Nursery Road, follow my on Instagram! My handle is @nurseryroadblog.

Cute little view of my essential oil diffusing bracelets at Every Nook and Cranny in downtown Mt. Dora, these are also available in my Etsy store.

I also make essential oil diffusing earrings using black lava stones and either 14k plated gold or sterling silver plated earring posts.

The succulents are exclusively available in the store at Every Nook and Cranny in downtown Mt. Dora

Cute little view of a hanging planter and Cafe 334 inside Every Nook and Cranny in Downtown Mt. Dora, stop in for an amazing vanilla cardamom latte!

These macrame planters are so fun to make and I LOVE how they turn out. They are only available at Every Nook and Cranny in downtown Mt. Dora

This is ELLA- she's my absolute favorite macrame I've made to date and is currently available on my Etsy store for purchase!

I am so excited to share all of the new goings-on in the little house on Nursery Road. I also have some BIG news coming that I can't wait to share with you all coming next week! Stay tuned :)


Love and hugs,
Sarah

NURSERY ROAD UPDATE

HEY THERE SWEET FRIENDS!

Just wanted to hop on here and give you all an update on what's been going on at the house on Nursery Road. So much has happened in the last six months in our lives. I completely dropped the ball on posting on here so I want to apologize. I love and value each and every one of you that reads my blog. Thanks for coming back!

HURRICANE IRMA

The little house on Nursery Road went through Hurricane Irma back in September. We're still standing, didn't even loose power! We did however, have a flooded backyard (the lake got a little excited... the water level took a full month to get back to normal), downed trees in the backyard, and a blanket of Spanish moss over our entire property. Here are some pictures of our damage:

 

Like I said, not too bad considering what others faced. We are so blessed and grateful The Lord kept us and our home safe and sound. 

AFTER IRMA

After our home survived the hurricane so well (it was built in the early 50's!) The hubs and I decided to invest more time and love into making our house a home. After living in the house for nearly four years, the only things we have altered was painting one bedroom (only because we were converting it to a nursery) , and redoing our plumbing (not a fun thing to renovate, but a huge blessing once it was done.) 

I am a total home design junkie and re watch episodes of Fixer Upper on repeat for weeks and am constantly pinning more home reno ideas on my respective Pinterest boards. Originally, Hubs and I decided to save our money because we were newly married, working semi-good paying jobs, and wanted to find another home a few towns away which is closer to church, friends, and work. While we are still keeping our eyes and ears open for an opportunity to move, we've come to terms with the fact that we need to bloom where we're planted and make the most of what we have and where we are. I am so excited to make our house more of a home with this decision. Definitely expect more posts about that in the future! 

REST IN PEACE

In the midst of all of the Hurricane clean up and getting our lives back to it's normal rhythm, one of my dear friends from childhood passed away in a sudden and extremely tragic car accident far away from home and her family. I was fortunate enough to be able to take time off from work and go to her celebration of life ceremony. That was truly what it was for Michelle- the woman who loved anything fuschia and sparkly, marathon runner, yogi, vegan recipe explorer, and full adventurer of life. She recently climbed Macchu Picchu with her sister and didn't waste a single moment. The way she lived her life is such an inspiration to get my butt in gear and get stuff done! I'm tired of feeling eternally sleepy, not healthy, not getting anything done... I'm tired of the excuse of "I don't have the time" running my life. I want to make a conscious effort every day to do everything I need to do and then do a few things I actually want to! 

HAPPY PLANNER

Going along with this mindset, I recently bought myself a Happy Planner (basically a blank slate that you decorate and organize to fit your life and goals). I'm going to post my pages every week on Instagram (@nurseryroadblog)  to not only keep myself accountable to keep up with it, but to also share my attempts at organization to help create a better sense of self and help my over-all well being. 

SOCIAL MEDIA CATCH-UP

If you don't already, please take a minute to follow Nursery Road on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest! I post updates and what I'm up to on social media more frequently than sitting down and writing out a whole blog post. If you want to stay updated on the day-to-day of what we have going on, those are the best platforms to do so. (You can follow each of those really easily by clicking the icons in the top left corner of my blog page, the links will take you to each website or app, respectively.)

Biggest news on social media since we last chatted was the fact that we reached over 100 followers on Nursery Road's Instagram page! WOOOO! Thank you all so much for your continued support! To celebrate, I hosted a giveaway on Instagram where I gave away a Harvest banner I handmade to the winner.

KITCHEN RENOVATION

If you do follow my Instagram, you will have also seen that in the spirit of customizing our home, we renovated the kitchen! It’s truly amazing what a coat of fresh paint, some contact paper, and a bit of reorganizing can do to a space! If you haven’t checked it out yet, go! I’m so in love with the way it turned out. I will also be posting an entire blog post on what we exactly did, what products I used, and other details of the project at a later time.

2018

Sorry about the extra long post, you guys. There sure was a lot to talk about. To wrap things up, I’m so excited for the new adventures and opportunities that 2018 will bring for our family and this blog. Thank you as always for following and walking alongside me. I’m so ready to show you guys everything I have going on right now! Make sure you stay tuned!

Triple Berry Trifle and Homemade Whipped Cream

Triple Berry Trifle

Triple Berry Trifle to the rescue!

Hello again! Sorry I didn't post last week, the house on Nursery Road was particularly busy and the next thing I knew the week was over! Ever have that happen to you? Like you know you have to do something and you keep reminding yourself to get it done and then your deadline you had for yourself becomes completely obsolete? Yep, that was me. lol!

Anyways, I thought I'd make it up to you all and give you a two-for-one special and have two recipes in this weeks post. Guys, they're so so yummy. You're going to love them. But who wouldn't love HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM and a TRIPLE BERRY TRIFLE?! Crazy people. That's who. Or those who are lactose intolerant. If you are lactose intolerant, I totally apologize in advance. 

So let's make the whipped cream first, shall we? It's super easy to throw together and only takes three ingredients: heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. It makes a world of difference in the Trifle since using canned whipped cream or cool whip would be a sugar overload. Trust me. Just grab a couple cartons when you're out buying your berries and you'll be golden. Okay? Let's go! 

Homemade Whipped Cream

Only takes three ingredients!

Ingredients:

So, like I said the three ingredients you need to make the whipped cream are 2 cups (16 oz) of heavy whipping cream, 6 Tbs. of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.

Put all the ingredients together in a stand mixer

Directions:

Add all three ingredients into a stand mixer (if you have one, if not just mix in any bowl with a hand mixer. You could also whip the cream by hand if you want to work on your arm muscles!). Turn the mixer on medium-high speed and mix until the cream holds stiff peaks. Personally, I like my whipped cream well mixed, not as loose. The following picture shows the consistency I like to use.

I definitely ate that sweet little blob of whipped cream on my finger, lol!

That's it for the whipped cream! Seriously so so easy and well worth the five extra minutes (if that) it takes to make. Your friends and fam will go ga-ga over this alone, trust me! Let's move on to the Trifle Recipe. 

Triple Berry Trifle

All the ingredients together

Ingredients:

So for the Trifle, you are going to need 1 package of strawberries (washed and chopped), 1 package of raspberries (washed and drained), 1 package of blueberries (washed and drained), homemade whipped cream (follow recipe above), and an angel food cake. I used to buy pre-made angel food cake from the bakery from my grocery store in a loaf size that was just the right amount but they didn't have it! I went ahead and made a box angel food cake the night before to let it cool completely. Either is totally fine, completely up to you. 

Directions:

Step 1

Step 1: In a large bowl (see through glass are the prettiest to use, you can see the layers when you're finished), put some berries in the bottom of the bowl. This is your first layer. From here you're basically just going to add alternating layers of whipped cream, angel food cake bits, and more berries. Here's how I did it:

 

2nd layer- add whipped cream

3rd layer- add torn up pieces of angel food cake

4th layer- add more whipped cream

5th layer- add more berries

6th layer- add more pieces of cake

7th layer- one more layer of whipped cream

8th layer- decorate with berries on top

That's it! Too easy right? Once you get to the top of the bowl or when you run out of ingredients that means you're finished. You can serve it right away or chill and serve. Mine usually lasts around four days in the refrigerator.

I hope you guys enjoy these recipes! Let me know how yours turn out!

Love and hugs, 

Sarah Tremblay

Patriotic Cake Mix Cookies

Patriotic Cake Mix Cookies

June 30, 2017

Patriotic cake mix cookies!

Okay, quick story time before the recipe for these yummy cookies! So have you guys ever came up with your own recipe by trial and error of others? That's what these guys are. A while back I kept seeing these recipes for cake mix cookies and I just thought "Oh well, that's cool. But I like my homemade cookies better." And that was that. It's probably been a solid year since I first heard about them. Recently, my hubby and I went to a bible study and I volunteered to make cookies and for whatever reason these guys popped into my head. Y'all, I am so so happy they did! I made them that night and they went over amazing. I tried to make them again earlier this week but ran into a snag when I couldn't remember the recipe! I had made my own version based on a few recipes I saw online but carelessly didn't write it down. But, I spent hours in the kitchen today playing around and figuring out just for y'all (and me, lol!). Lesson learned- write down your recipes! Okay, now onto the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

For a recipe that makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies, use the following: 1 white cake mix, 1 tsp. of baking powder, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract, 1 egg, and sprinkles! (I just used the entire side of the red and blue sprinkles in my little multicolor pack I had.)

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1

Step 1: The very first thing you want to do is to empty your cake mix out into a large bowl and whisk the baking soda in so its well incorporated- try to work out any lumps!

Add in the wet ingredients

Step 2: Now you want to add in your wet ingredients. Go ahead and add in the egg, butter, and vanilla extract. Stir them all together.

All mixed up!

This is just a picture of the what it looks like mixed up! Typical cookie batter consistency, maybe a little more smooth. 

Probably my favorite picture!

Step 3: Its time to stir in your sprinkles! I used the whole segments of red and blue sprinkles from a multicolored canister I had and then added in a few leftover red white and blue stars I had leftover.

Roll and place

Step 4: Now that your batter is ready, roll into small balls and place on an ungreased nonstick cookie sheet. You want to bake the cookies between 7-9 minutes, just until the centers don't cave in when you press them gently. You don't want to over bake these, they are supposed to be soft and pillowy.

Fresh out of the oven!

Here are a couple pictures of the cookies fresh out of the oven!

Look at those soft little pillows of sugary goodness!

One thing you want to remember for these cookies, they need to sit on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes so they keep their shape. After a couple minutes feel free to transfer them to a cooling rack. You can put whatever you want into the mix as well to make these your own! I have seen recipes with white chocolate chips, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, or basically whatever your heart desires. 

Hope you guys enjoy! Enjoy your 4th of July with your friends and family and give them some cookies!

Love and hugs, Sarah

Pallet Flag DIY

Pallet Flag DIY

June 24, 2017

I am so so so excited to share my very first DIY project with you all! Fourth of July is coming up and I wanted to add something to our home to make it look more festive. I remembered seeing these Pallet Flags on Pinterest and in some cute antique stores in the area and after thinking it through, I thought it would be a perfect project to make a patriotic addition to our front yard. Look how cute it turned out!
 

The finished product!

Y'all I'm not kidding, this was so easy to make. I was able to complete it with only one run to the craft store and one nap time!

In this post, I'm going to walk you through the steps of making this flag so you can add one to your yard, patio, deck, wherever! (Or, if you're interested in having me make one for you, shoot me an email and I'll help you out!) It makes the perfect addition to show support and love for our country and to remember to be grateful for all that we have this time of year. 

SUPPLIES:

For this project you need the following: a pallet, red, white, and blue craft paint, and a 1 1/2" paint brush, a 1" paint brush, and a detail paint brush.

These are the paints I used (Am I the only one
who thinks its ironic the blue I used is called
English Navy?

These are the brushes I used: a small detail, 1",
and 1 1/2". 

DIRECTIONS:

For my pallet, I was able to spot one on the loading dock of the craft store I went to buy my paint from and was allowed to take as many as I wanted for free! Because my car is small, I only took the one half-sized pallet for this project but I think I will definitely be looking there again if I need another. I'll just have my hubby bring his truck!

Before you start, make sure you are painting on a surface that you don't mind if it get paint on it. I used the old carpet on my back porch and was super careful. 

As far as preparing your pallet, you want to make sure it's dry. If you paint it wet, the paint won't bond well. I was going for a rustic look and definitely not clean and polished so I didn't sand it down or anything. 

First step: red!

1. Your first step is to paint the red stripes of your flag. Remember to leave room for the field of navy and stars! The half pallet I used had a piece of wood that ran down the middle so I used that as my guide. Then I painted every other plank of wood red with my 1 1/2" brush and red paint.

2nd step: white!

2. Your second step is to paint the planks you left blank white. Just like you did with your red stripes, be sure to leave space for the field of blue! I washed and dried the same 1 1/2" brush and then used it to paint the white stripes. If you use the same brush, be sure to get out ALL the red paint- you don't want streaks!

Brush change for the stars

3. For your next step you want to change your brush to the smaller 1". Still using the white paint, you paint on your stars. Again, I wanted to have a more rustic looking finished product so I didn't use a stencil or stamp. If you want all of your stars to look exactly the same I would highly recommend you use one of those methods. I also decided to only paint as many stars as I could fit comfortably in the areas I had available. Unless the stars were only an inch big, there was no way I was fitting 50 of them in the space I had. I settled on nine so the flag still looked dignified and not messy, but this again is just my personal preference. You can make this flag your own- personalize it the way you want!

Here's a picture of how my stars turned out. 

Finished stars

Step 4: Field of blue.

4. It's time to add our blue! Once again, I used the same brush for the white paint so before I painted the blue I washed and dried the brush so I didn't have streaks. I was also very careful with the blue paint to not touch the white stars because if i did, the paints would mix and look messy. A simple way to not worry about this happening would be to wait for your stars to dry before you add the blue. I was on a time crunch trying to finish before my son woke up so I didn't wait. I did touch up some of my unpainted spots in the next step.

Step 5: Time for touch-ups

5. I wanted to touch up some of the spaces between the field of blue and the white stars so I grabbed a small, coarse, stencil brush and touched up my blue where I needed to. 

All done!

After you touch up any spaces you might have missed, you are all finished! Again, I didn't want this to look absolutely impeccable and perfect so there are still some in-between spots that I am completely fine with. If you want your project crisp and polished I would recommend sanding down the surface of the pallet you will be painting first so it is smooth and you should use a stencil for your stars and paint with smooth, great condition brushes for the cleanest lines. 

So pretty!

All in all, I am SO happy with how my pallet flag turned out and can't wait to take pictures of my little one next to it for Independence Day! I hope you enjoy your own pallet flag and use it to celebrate with your friends and family. Feel free to comment or message me with your thoughts or questions on this project. Also remember, if you would like to have one of these for your own home and don't have the time to make one yourself, let me know! I'd love to make one for you to enjoy. 

Lots of love and hugs,

Sarah