Do you Tangerine Tango?

I have a thing for bright colors in the coral family - brilliant coral reds, fiery coral oranges, and vibrant coral pinks. My wardrobe has reflected this through the years. And when it comes to flowers, especially roses, make them a bright shade of coral. I was so excited when Pantone announced their 2012 Color of the Year: Pantone 17-1463 Tangerine Tango. It's a bright, reddish orange that reminds me of a highly polished coral cabochon gem. We will not dwell on the fact that it is also reminiscent of the burnt orange color so popular in 1970's interior design. I mean, what child of the 70's doesn't remember the Brady Bunch kitchen?

I question their choice to include the word "tangerine" in the name. I mean, I like tangerines and "tangerine tango" is a really cool name, but I've never seen a tangerine this color. If they would have asked me what I thought the name should be, I would have named it something like "Coral Captivation". But they didn't ask me and now they've made the big announcement, so there's no turning back at this point.

I was so inspired by this bold and energetic color that I decided to feature it in the color palette for this blog. The blog had originally been created to showcase my photography, so I kept it dark, avoiding color so as not to detract from the photos. But now that I've switched directions, I decided it needed a fresh new look with cheerful and vibrant colors. I combined the vibrant orange with a pale blue since, in this case, opposites really do attract! Now I just need to decide whether to keep the dark gray body color, or change it to something lighter and brighter. What do you think?

This fiery orange-red color also reminds me of some of the most beautiful sunsets that I have been lucky enough to photograph at Lake Martin-Cypress Island Preserve in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, just a few minutes from my home. This is one of my favorites. If you like sunsets, or just nature photography in general, I have an entire Lake Martin, Cypress Island Preserve set on Flickr.

"Glow" by kim dever thibodeaux

Check out Out of Curiosity::Is Orange for You? a post by Kristi Linauer on her blog, Addicted 2 Decorating. She's just a state over in Waco, Texas. Her blog inspired me to revive this blog. Her talent and bravado have resulted in some amazing makeovers. She has the job I dream of!

Here are some inspirational photos of designs that feature colors similar to Tangerine Tango and, in some cases, have been paired with blues similar to my selection.

This next one really evokes the feeling I'm striving for in my Master Bedroom Makeover.

Morgan Harrison Home featured on DecorPad.com.

So tell me now...Do you Tangerine Tango?

Happy birthday, Hubby!

Today is my husband's birthday so I made a cake just for him. It's an 8-inch, three layer, french vanilla cake. One layer of banana filling and one layer of red raspberry. He requested Duncan Hines Classic Chocolate frosting, so I obliged. One must choose their battles!

I hadn't worked with fondant before today, so I decided I would try it out. Since he is a barbecue fanatic, I mean "enthusiast", I was going to cut out flames. But I decided to keep it simple, so I figured I could try out my new set of circle cutters. I chose a white stoneware cake pedestal so I figured there needed to be some white on the cake to tie it all together.

Working with the fondant wasn't so difficult once I realized that I needed a little Crisco to keep the fondant pliable and prevent it from sticking to everything. I could have cleaned up the edges of the cutouts a bit better, but in the end I thought it turned out OK.

When I showed it to him, he laughed and asked if I had made it to coordinate with our comforter. And that's when I realized that the two were quite similar! And then he said that it wasn't really a birthday cake, it was a project cake. I told him it was indeed a birthday cake, but I had taken some creative license.

Most importantly, he said the cake was absolutely delicious and I could bake another one whenever I wanted to.

Hmmm...gotta start thinking about what design to try next!

Oh, and here's what our comforter looks like, if you were wondering. We got it from Overstock.com.