A Marvelous Mess #32 and Features!!!

Well, it's fall......and I saw lots of fun fall themed projects this last party. We're even talking some Halloween stuff!! I have got some Halloween projects waiting for the right time....I guess it's here!!

Here are my fave's from last weeks party:

Champagne crate inspired table from Art is Beauty

Autumn Yarn Pumpkins from Everything Under the Moon

Measuring Cup/Spoon Display

And, the post I am going to feature on my sidebar is...........

Wedding Bells from Turning a House into a Home!!

This wedding looks SO fantastic. I absolutely love the apple centerpieces and all the fall inspiration....I know you'll love it too:

Thanks to all of you for linking up and don't forget to grab a featured button!!

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Reading Tea Leaves

It's in my family to read tea leaves. My great grandmother could do it. Obviously, I was inspired at an early age to do some reading myself. I am totally loving my leopard pants and dirty socks in this picture....the dress my friend was wearing was one of my mothers and *coveted* by any girl who stayed at the house. It was way more gypsy than my costume.....then again.....that was probably just what I was wearing that day. :-) We were pretty retro back then.

Now, there are plenty of way to try and get your fortune read to you. Reading tea leaves is officially called Tasseography. If you would like to try to read your own tea leaves here is a basic guide:

~Make a cup of coffee with loose tea leaves.
~Drink the cup and leave a little liquid in the bottom to swirl the leaves around. 
~Swirl the last of the tea around and then drain the rest of the liquid. 
~Take a minute to focus your mind and look carefully for patterns in the tea leaves. 

Go HERE for a list of symbols and their meanings. Symbols close together are usually grouped to make a prediction.

Tea leaf reading probably originated in China, as tea was not introduced until the 1600's by Dutch traders. In some places, Turkish coffee has been used to read fortunes (with the same rules applying....drain the cup and swish the last bits around).  Other way to figure out your fortune include: tarot cards, numerology, melted wax readings, scrying (as in the picture above), astrology, augury....this list could go on for quite a while. One form of fortune telling that I have seen all my life is palmistry:

For more information on palmistry check out THIS site.

This post was written in association with Kasamba. All words and opinions are entirely my own.

Rainforest Party Pictures and Cake

This is the *only* slightly suitable picture I have of the cake I made for the Munchkins rain forest party. I (literally) finished decorating the cake as guests walked through the door. Not only am I Marvelously Messy....I am also Marvelously Unorganized. C'est la vie!!

This cake was totally fantastic. Easily the best Chocolate cake I have ever tasted. 

Here is the recipe (from About.com)

Prep Time: 25 minutes 

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and dust with cocoa two 9" layer cake pans. Set aside. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir with wire whisk until blended. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat well with wire whisk or mixer until combined, about 2 minutes. While beating, heat water in microwave oven to boiling. Stir boiling water into cake batter.
Pour the thin batter into the two prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan, top springs back when lightly touched, and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

After the cake had cooled we made a really basic buttercream frosting and I frosted the cake smoothly. Then, I colored some fondant with food coloring, rolled it, and used some flower cookie cutters to make different layered flowers. I rolled out some green fondant for vines. Voila!!

The house was decorated with lots of green balloons and some rain forest games. This felt rain forest puzzle was a fun addition:

It is a flat (can be framed or unframed) painted felt panel with all kinds of felt rain forest animals to place all around the board. Too cute.

In one room of the house I used cardboard to make a tree shape and draped some green crepe ribbon around it for vines. As well as a "canopy" of green balloons:

I found some tropical card stock paper birds in iParty which I placed around the house. Cheap floral vines were draped around the furniture and on doorways. 

I was planning on using a sound machine to play a rain forest background noise....but amazingly enough we lost power right as the party started to about ten minutes before it ended. Good thing we hosted it during the day!!

If you would like to see the rest of the decorations for the party you can find the rain forest pinata HERE and the party hats HERE.

I linked this post up to these fabulous linky parties:

Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design