This past weekend in the midst of preparing my favorite wedding cake to date, we managed to clean out our front bedroom, otherwise known as "the junk room" and start painting it. For this room and probably the other bedroom and bathrooms, we chose a Laura Ashley shade called Sand 3 I believe. I can't seem to find the swatch now - I'll correct this later if I'm incorrect. The walls are painted and look gorgeous! Just need to finish the trim - I'll get back to work on that after I finish this little blurb and after i get the last cake layer in the oven. (It's another crazy wedding week).
The exciting thing this week is that we ordered wood laminate to put in the front bedroom, hallway, and living room! I'm beyond excited! The carpet in those rooms is horrible & I've been embarrassed for people to come over for quite some time. I found a great deal on discontinued colors at Home Depot. We chose a color called Brazilian Cherry - it looks similar to the color of the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. I can't wait to get it in so I can start taking pictures :)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Preparing to put our house on the market!
Yay! After almost 10 years in the little duplex, we have decided it's time to move to something bigger! Of course, we've found a house we'd love - right next door to some of our very best friends. BUT - in order to move there, we've got to get this place in order! The next 2 months should be insane! Roof estimates, A/C unit estimates, new floors, & painting, painting & even more painting!
The fun began this weekend! We painted the kitchen a very close to the original shade - this one is called "Beach" from the Eddie Bauer Home Lakeside Cottage line. We used this new Valspar paint that has the primer built in. It's awesome because we only had to put one coat on... it would have been nice if the salesperson would have told us we'd probably only need half as much as usual since we only had to put one coat on. Oh well - we have plenty of room for touch ups if we need them. It only took 1.5 gallons to complete the kitchen walls. We trimmed it in an Ultra White High gloss paint. I have to say, it looks really good! So nice and clean and smells like a brand new house! We finish touching up the kitchen and putting it back together tomorrow. Next weekend = new project! Wish us luck!
The fun began this weekend! We painted the kitchen a very close to the original shade - this one is called "Beach" from the Eddie Bauer Home Lakeside Cottage line. We used this new Valspar paint that has the primer built in. It's awesome because we only had to put one coat on... it would have been nice if the salesperson would have told us we'd probably only need half as much as usual since we only had to put one coat on. Oh well - we have plenty of room for touch ups if we need them. It only took 1.5 gallons to complete the kitchen walls. We trimmed it in an Ultra White High gloss paint. I have to say, it looks really good! So nice and clean and smells like a brand new house! We finish touching up the kitchen and putting it back together tomorrow. Next weekend = new project! Wish us luck!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The One-A-Saurus
Using the same Cricut Cartridge I used to make my niece's Prissy Penguin invitations, I created this little dinosaur. Can't wait to figure out the rest of the invitation and his cake! It's going to be a blast!!!
First Big Cricut Cake Project
As soon as I heard about the Cricut Cake machine last January, I knew I HAD to have one! They didn't go on sale until May though, so I waited, impatiently waited, for this wonder machine to become available...I stayed up until midnight the night before the Home Shopping Network offered them and bought it as quick as I could!
I tried it the day I got it and took it out of the box...unfortunately, it was a little trickier than expected. I tried fondant paisleys for a little birthday cake box...they worked a little, but not nearly as wonderfully as I'd hoped. I wasn't ready to give up yet though. I blamed it on the thickness of my fondant...surely that was the problem.
Next project - my nephew's awesome 13th birthday soccer cake! Surely I could make awesome things this time. Maybe I just need to use the icing sheets that came with the machine? Yeah - those didn't work so well AT ALL! But I was in a hurry and didn't really have as much time as I wanted to make it spectacular. So, I still didn't give up!
Over the next few months I "played" with it here and there - a name on a groom's cake, some butterflies on something else, even tried another soccer cake. I got more comfortable with it, but still not so comfortable that I could count on it. At the beginning of January, I was bound and determined to get the thing to work for me! I studied online blogs about what worked best for others and tried their suggestions. I had a cake opportunity that would be beautiful if I could make it happen. Would it work when I really needed it?
First try - mix tylose with fondant (store-bought black - duff's brand), roll it out and freeze for 1 hour. This cut beautifully, however, I couldn't get the pieces off without destroying them. Never fear, I have another "practice night" before I have to resort to a very cramped hand from all the piping I'd have to do if I couldn't get it to work.
Next attempt - mix black fondant, gumpaste, and some extra tylose and black gel coloring. Rolled it out very thin. Heavily loaded the mat with crisco (well more than I had in the past). I added the rolled out fondant to the mat and hit cut!!! I watched as it cut each piece close to perfection....but is it going to come off the mat? OMG it worked! I have all these pieces still intact! It worked it really worked!
After several more cuts for the decorations, I was ready to decorate the cake. I was pretty happy with the results :-) Can't wait for my next opportunity to use it!
I tried it the day I got it and took it out of the box...unfortunately, it was a little trickier than expected. I tried fondant paisleys for a little birthday cake box...they worked a little, but not nearly as wonderfully as I'd hoped. I wasn't ready to give up yet though. I blamed it on the thickness of my fondant...surely that was the problem.
Next project - my nephew's awesome 13th birthday soccer cake! Surely I could make awesome things this time. Maybe I just need to use the icing sheets that came with the machine? Yeah - those didn't work so well AT ALL! But I was in a hurry and didn't really have as much time as I wanted to make it spectacular. So, I still didn't give up!
Over the next few months I "played" with it here and there - a name on a groom's cake, some butterflies on something else, even tried another soccer cake. I got more comfortable with it, but still not so comfortable that I could count on it. At the beginning of January, I was bound and determined to get the thing to work for me! I studied online blogs about what worked best for others and tried their suggestions. I had a cake opportunity that would be beautiful if I could make it happen. Would it work when I really needed it?
First try - mix tylose with fondant (store-bought black - duff's brand), roll it out and freeze for 1 hour. This cut beautifully, however, I couldn't get the pieces off without destroying them. Never fear, I have another "practice night" before I have to resort to a very cramped hand from all the piping I'd have to do if I couldn't get it to work.
Next attempt - mix black fondant, gumpaste, and some extra tylose and black gel coloring. Rolled it out very thin. Heavily loaded the mat with crisco (well more than I had in the past). I added the rolled out fondant to the mat and hit cut!!! I watched as it cut each piece close to perfection....but is it going to come off the mat? OMG it worked! I have all these pieces still intact! It worked it really worked!
After several more cuts for the decorations, I was ready to decorate the cake. I was pretty happy with the results :-) Can't wait for my next opportunity to use it!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Fiesta
Topsy turvy fiesta! Three tiered cake made from 2 8 inch, 2 6 inch, and 2 4 inch round cake layers carved into the shapes, covered in fondant and then stacked.
No matter how often you make one or how confident you are in stablizing the cake, there is always the chance of a cake disaster. I didn't find out until 3 days after the party that this one didn't make it to the party as it looks in this picture. Apparently grandma took a turn too quickly and it toppled over :(Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Fruity Pebble Scarf #2
A fruity pebble scarf for a sweet little lady. These are so fun & easy to make! It only takes 1 ball of chunky bright multicolored yarn, size 10.5 or 11 knitting needles, a yarn needle, and a couple hours! Cast on 15 stitches, then knit 1, twirl 1 (most people call this a yarn over), then knit 2 togther until the end of the row. Every row is the same until the end. When you have it as long as you'd like it, cast off, thread the remaining yarn through with a yarn needle to hold it in place. Cut and make your fringe from the left overs! This one measured about 55 inches long (without fringe) and 3 inches wide.
Monday, January 24, 2011
My favorite favorite wedding cake ever!
Or at least so far! My friend sent me a picture of this cake and said it was perfect for her daughter. I was a little concerned since i'd never used the icing strips before, but they turned out to be wonderful! They look like a million bucks and were so easy to work with! woohoo!
Sweet 16 Topsy Turvy...
So, I knew going into it this was going to be a very large cake. I didn't realize it was going to consume over 12 hours of my time! I worked on it for 2 nights... after the first night i thought surely this would be the cake from hell!!!! But after a good night's sleep and dinner with friends, it turned into a masterpiece!
Buttercream covered cake with fondant accents. Fed between 80 & 100 ppl!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Thank you Card
I made a Thank You Card for my grandparents tonight using the Cricut & the Storybook Cartridge.
Penguin Topsy Turvy Cake
Okay! Here's the day we've been waiting on! Well at least the day i've been waiting on! It's the day of the infamous Penguin Party! Woot Woot!
I made the invitations, I made the goodie bags, of course I made the cake! It all made it 100 miles from my driveway and the kids had a blast roller skating... Apparently, the area had been iced in for over a week and everybody in the 50 mile radius decided to bring their kids skating that day. It was a madhouse so I didn't quite get to try out any new photo techniques in the rink, but I did snap a couple of pics of the cake before I left to share.
The cake is a 3 tier, topsy turvy style cake. I covered each tier in homemade marshmallow fondant and airbrushed it in blue. The snow capping each tier is smoothed buttercream. The igloo topper is made from rice krispie treats and fondant. The penguins are also made from fondant. I modeled mine after one of the cakes I saw on the pinkcakebox website - i can only hope to be as good as her one day!
Thanks for looking! PaRTy LiKe a PeNGuiN!
I made the invitations, I made the goodie bags, of course I made the cake! It all made it 100 miles from my driveway and the kids had a blast roller skating... Apparently, the area had been iced in for over a week and everybody in the 50 mile radius decided to bring their kids skating that day. It was a madhouse so I didn't quite get to try out any new photo techniques in the rink, but I did snap a couple of pics of the cake before I left to share.
The cake is a 3 tier, topsy turvy style cake. I covered each tier in homemade marshmallow fondant and airbrushed it in blue. The snow capping each tier is smoothed buttercream. The igloo topper is made from rice krispie treats and fondant. The penguins are also made from fondant. I modeled mine after one of the cakes I saw on the pinkcakebox website - i can only hope to be as good as her one day!
Thanks for looking! PaRTy LiKe a PeNGuiN!
Pink & Green First birthday Cake
Oh yay! It's almost a super special girl's very first birthday! She's super girly with favorite colors of pink and green. What goes best with these colors? a giant bow and some dainty ballerina slippers!
This cake is covered in pink vanilla buttercream, with mainly buttercream accents. The bow and little slippers are made from a fondant/gumpaste mix.
Penguin Party Goodie Bags are finished!!!
Finally - the finished goodie bag! After gluing all the pieces together and letting it dry, i just stuck the penguin to the bag with the Elmer's double sided glue tape. It's wonderful!
Penguin Party Goodie Bags
I've been getting ready for my niece's birthday party. I used the Cricut Expression machine and the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge to do these. I used a basic solid color paper pack from Michael's and a cute Sweets glitter paper pack to do these. They were too much fun!
I used the 3 1/4" setting to cut the Penguin base, Layer 1, Layer 2, & Layer 3 for the penguin. I cut the Bow from the Porcupine at 2 3/4".
Iron Man Cake
Iron Man cake! I covered the cake with buttercream icing and then airbrushed the background. Iron Man's face & the lettering is piped on the sides of the cake. The topper is made from a fondant/gumpaste mixture.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Kitchen Tile Project
Oh this documents the completion of the kitchen tile project! My hubby did such a wonderful job! I'm so excited! It looks sooooo much better than the regular painted sheet rock backsplash we had before. This looks like it should have always been here.
Penguin Party Invitations
This next photo is of the invitations I made for my nieces upcoming Prissy Penguin skating party! This was my first real project using my Cricut! I've gotta tell you - it was a lot of work, but the outcome made me smile!
I used the Cricut Expression machine, the Create A Critter & ZooBalloo cartridges to make this.
#1 - Fruity Pebble Scarf
This year started off with several projects. I taught myself to knit just before Christmas and didn't have time to make gifts for everyone - just wait until next year! I have a feeling people will be tired of scarves!
My teddy bear is modeling the scarf I made for my niece. It was the first I'd done with fringe! I love the colors & she seemed to like it too :o)
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