Cakes!

I made T's birthday cake this year...and probably will for the rest of his life, unless he decides he likes something else better :)

I keep things simple...for starters, and stick to the box cakes.  They are YUMMY and pretty fast.  I ended up making 6 different cakes, all of which were put together into 2!  His smash cake was chocolate with rainbow chip icing filling...yeah, I know, I rock :)

The big cake had a funfetti base with a top chocolate tier, both with the rainbow chip filling :)

 Now, despite my Wilton classes, most of my techniques were just picked up from here and there.  One of the things I do is make a base for the cake.  This make it easier to move and work with.  Sooooo, instead of buying the pre-cut Wilton cake bases, which would be too easy ;), I make my own.

If you're like me and have a constant supply of diapers and wipes, you basically have everything you need for this step.  Add some wax paper, and you're good to go!

 I traced the pans I was using for the cakes on the card board, and then cut away!  After that, I just layed the circles on the wax paper, taped it on and I was good to go!

 3 bases for my 3 cakes!

 Ok, now here is where there is a lack of pictures. 

I used this wonderful marshmallow fondant recipe from this site, and this super quick and easy video to help me put the fondant on the cake.  I'm really glad that I went with the marshmallow fondant because it tasted so good! 

Now, for the lack of pictures.  If you read the recipe, you'll see that I was dealing with gooey marshmallows, powdered sugar, a broken sifter, and more Crisco then I'd like to have my hands on again ;)  Big A was in the garage building something, and although we've practiced, Sookie wouldn't take the pictures ;)

So, this is how it turned out!

 Now, remember, this was my first time!!!  There are a few creases because my fondant may or may not have started unrolling itself off the rolling pin and I had to throw it on the cake and make it work :)

All in all, I was super pumped, and did a little Chandler dance around the kitchen as I called my sisters and mom to tell them that it worked!!!  (I had a plan B just in case a teething biscuit type situation occurred)

I then moved on to the decorations.  My older sister had recently suggested that I try working with Airheads and/or Laffy Taffy to add the details to my cake, instead of trying to color my fondant.  Great idea!!!

I bought a multi-pack at a gas station and had all the colors I needed!!!  Since it was an Eric Carle themed party, I went to work on those adorable colored dots from The Hungry Caterpillar book, and the huge sunshine!!!  I heated the Airheads for about 5 seconds in the microwave, which made them easier to work with.  I also wore rubber gloves to keep from dieing my fingers, and it worked very well.

 

This was the end result!!!  We had bought candles that made up his name before he was even born, and the were perfect!!!

His smash cake was pretty easy.  I didn't fiddle with the fondant, and just colored white icing.  This cake was themed after the book off to the right in the picture about a little cloud.  Super cute, and adorable blue cake!! It was a hit!!!  Turns out T likes food ;)

So, that's all for the cakes!  :)

party DIY gone wrong :/

 Earlier this summer, I made a some notes (...6 pages...) of what I wanted to do for T's party.  Part of that was making as much as I could!  I hand high hopes of completing every part of my list, however, time and skill didn't allow for that :)

The first project that didn't work out were the homemade teething biscuits for the party favor cups, found here.  I already had all of the ingredients, and thanks to a great tip from a reader on the site, I whipped out some pretty cute biscuits.

 I was covered in flour, everything was covered in flour, I was super excited to use my cookie cutters, and I just knew this was going to be fantastic.  My friends would sing my praises and ask for the recipe, and I would be the the Baby Food Pioneer Woman.

 Things seemed to be going well.  I was following the instructions, things were baking, and "buuuuuuuuuzzzzzz," the timer went off!!! 

They cooled, but then something didn't seem right.  They were soft.  Like chocolate chip cookies out of the oven soft.  And, that didn't seem right.  Weren't they supposed to be crispy?!  That's what I thought too.  So, I had a choice to make:
1. I could put in another batch, cook them longer, and see if they came out crispier (it was already 9:30 pm...I go to bed an hour later)
2. or, throw in the towel and buy some puffs...

Guess what I did :/  If I hadn't had a million other items on my to-do, I would have given it another try, but I had to just move forward, so I did!!! :)

If you try these at home and get them to work, please tell me what i need to do to make them work!  Thanks! :)

Invites

Hey!  Well, T's birthday weekend went off AWESOME!!!  He had so many great friends and family who came to celebrate with him, and well, my baby is a YEAR old!!!!  (drying tears, fixing makeup...Ok, I'm good)

Where are the pictures, you ask?!  Well, they're on my mom and sister's cameras!!!  As soon as I get pictures of the whole party, I'll show you, but until then, here's a little tutorial on T's invites that I made!!!

 Since we had an Eric Carle themed party, I thought it would be fun to include his artistic style in the details.  After I made and printed the invitations, I prepared the envelopes.  In Eric Carle style, I painted different color paper (although he usually used tissue paper).  I then had T color on them, for a bit of a personal touch :)

 Next, I made a template that would fit inside of the envelope, and cut all of the colored pieces to size.

 Next, I glued them in, and stuffed them!!!  I think it added a colorful touch when the recipient opened the invitation!!!

I was pleased with how they turned out, and loved the personalized look of his card!!!  I even used some of Carle's letters for the invite, and it turned out great!!!

Do you have any other invitation or stationary ideas?!  I'd love to hear! 

This and That

Happy Monday!  I thought I'd share a few of the things that went on this weekend! 
*I was able to work on a few more pages in my Chi-Town sketchbook:

*And, I got a great surprise when I came in to get T-man up this morning!!  This was SO cute!!!  Not only was he sitting up and talking, but he had set P-Twizzle, his stuffed pig, next to him!!!  I took a million pictures, of course, and sent one to Big A at his first day back at work!

*As previously mentioned, T's 1st birthday is this Saturday!  I started this weekend on a few of the projects, and let me just say, I'm really glad I did! ...This one Did Not work out! :/  Soooo, I'm glad I know, but I also have to figure out a plan B.  :)  Let's just hope that the cake doesn't end up like this! :) 

*Lastly, I got a great surprise yesterday!  I went to the library yesterday, and upon leaving thought I would take a few shots of the train tracks.  To my surprise, as i looked down the track, I saw that the Fair Train was parked outside the station due to the fair being canceled yesterday.  I was able to take a ton of shots of this gorgeous locomotive, and just wish Big A and T-man had been there with me.  We could have gotten some great shots of all of us!  Despite that, it was an amazing experience!!!

Check out all of the photos HERE, and be sure to "like" my page while you're there! :)

Also, if you have any cake decorating tips, be sure to leave them for me!!!  I'll be tackling that project on Thursday! :)

Fun Photos

 I thought I'd share a few pictures that I've taken recently while T and I have been playing.  He's been wearing his little chuck taylors recently and he just looks. so. cute!

I'm pretty sure I could do something with these...add some text, hang them as is...something cute :)

 I love this picture!  The colors are gorgeous!  T and I were playing out front, and when I layed back, this is what I saw:

 Anyways, tomorrow begins T's Birthday Week!!!  I'm beginning the decorations tonight, and have lots to do!!!

I will be taking TONS of pictures of this big event, and plan on having a tutorial week afterwards for all of the birthday projects!!!  To spike your interest, here are a few of the things I will be attempting:

*marshmallow fondant- never done before
*a 2 tiered cake- pretty sure I can handle it...hopefully ;)
*marshmallow fondant details on the cake

Those are my big ones...pray for me! :) Happy Friday!

Flowers and Football

 Quite a combo, right?!  Not if you live with Ava and Landon!!!  My friend, Katie, from high school is an extremely talented photographer, and a wonderful mother to 2, almost 3, of the most adorable kids ever!!!

Ava is going to be sharing her room with her new little sister, Haddie, in just a few weeks now!  To help consolidate, her dad build her this awesome bed with storage underneath!

 I painted flowers in the room to match the bedding, and put the girl's names on the wall above their beds.

 Ava loved all of her flowers, and now she has a colorful space to play with her Barbies and Littlest Petshops!

 We didn't want Landon to be left out, so I made over his room, too!  First of all, let me tell you that Landon has my dream room.  He lives in the basement (which is a rough term since it's a finished space, and very nice).  It's away from the rest of the family, and feels very "Box Car Children-ish," which Landon has just started reading. 

Landon loved the ideas of turning the cut outs on his walls into "lockers," and his parents came up with the score board idea for his book cabinet.

 We continued with the sports theme above his bead.

 This is my favorite mural so far!  I think it was the lockers and score board, but the over all look was so much fun!!!

 I really liked painting at their house.  They were gone most of the time, but while we were there, we jammed out to some Tim McGraw and Justin Beiber.  The best part was when both kids were standing on either side of me on the bed and belting out "Baby!"  It was priceless, and I wanted to take them both home with me after that.

Thanks Landon and Ava for letting me adorn your walls!  I had a blast with you guys!

Local Celebrity

 That's right.  I'm kind of a big deal ;)  You see, I get calls all the time for appearances at local events, broadcasts, radio shows...the usual.  People. Love. Me.

Please tell me you don't think I'm serious!!!  I just like to mess around a little.  Live in my fantasy world.  Pretend I'm an A-lister.  :)

Actually, I got a sweet set up at our local bank!  Apparently, they do a Business of the Month, and my dad signed me up for August!!!

 I got this whole table to set up my goods, and promote myself a bit!!!  Unfortunately, I only have about 20 business cards left after the the Fishers Freedom Festival, so those who don't get in there fast enough will have to just write my info on their money ;)

 I'm super pumped to have this awesome set up as free advertisement!!!

 I tried to put a little bit of everything to advertise all I've got!!!  Hope it works well!

If you live around here, be sure to stop in the 5/3 Bank on 146th and Hazeldell!!!

SBP 2012!

 One year ago today, Mom and I got together to celebrate the start of our first Sketchbook Project!  I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant with T-man, and couldn't wait to start this new project!  (Oh my, I have grand expectations!)  

 We're really big on traditions in our family, so, we met together today in Mom's new creative space to begin our 2012 project!  Mom chose the theme "Encyclopedia of" and I am tackling "Folds and Stitches."

 

We wore our t-shirts from our Chi-town trip, and added a little "get crafty" flair because, well, we're just cool like that ;)

 We gathered our supplies, and with the help of Elle, got to work on our books!

 I brought over my supplies in my grandpa's old tackle box.  When my Grandma passed away a few weeks ago, my dad brought this home for me.  I was so excited to use it because I knew Grandpa would love that I was using his box, and Grandma would love that I was filling it with art supplies!!!

 This year was a little different than last.  Last year, I jumped into this project with reckless abandon, painting pages, applying my cover-jabbering and giggling along the way.  Mom however, was a bit more hesitant.  She was nearly paralyzed by the looseness of the guidelines, and not sure of how to approach the blank pages.

As the project progressed, she warmed up and found her groove.  I slowed down as T-man got a little older, but we both finished with pride and excitement.

This year, Mom seemed to be a little more prepared :)  She had a clear idea for her first page, and dove right in!!!  Although all my ideas are in my mind, I seemed to only produce a random part of my to-do list! I painted my cover, a few pages, and made some bagels inspired by my lunch :)

 I also created a few pages with some stamps in preparation for journaling.  Feel free to upload these and use them for your own projects!!!

 It was a wonderful work day!  We listened to Adele, chatted about our ideas, and laughed!!!  Oh, it's so good to laugh!  I'll continue to update as pages progress!