Butterfly Wishes for Ellie

Butterfly Wishes for Ellie is a dinner/silent auction to raise money and awareness for a terrible disease called Epidermolysis Bullosa.

Sweet little Ellie is almost 4 years old and is just about THE CUTEST little thing ever! Ellie suffers from Recessive Dystropic Epidermolysis Bullosa, which is classified as one of the worst forms of one of the worst diseases. I highly encourage you to do some research on this disease - read about it, learn about it and pray for those that have it.

This is the easiest and best basic definition of EB (taken straight from www.debra.org) - Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic disease characterized by the presence of extremely fragile skin and recurrent blister formation, resulting from minor mechanical friction or trauma. This condition is not contagious.

An estimated 1 out of every 50,000 live births are affected with some type of EB. The disorder occurs in every racial and ethnic group throughout the world and affects both sexes equally.

That is the "generic" definition. What this really amounts to is that sufferers of EB live every day with extreme pain which can be compared to second and third degree burns. Most EB patients die before they make it to their 20s. This is a very serious and usually fatal disease. The main issue with this disease is that there is NO treatment and there is NO cure. Efforts are being made and clinical trials are underway - but currently these are not available for every sufferer.

I am extremely passionate about raising awareness and doing anything that I can to help promote funding for a cure. Why you ask - because, like Ellie, I have Recessive Dystrophic EB. You would not know it to meet me and most people that learn this are suprised by it. After 35 (almost 36) years, I have become a master of disguise and realized that "this" doesn't matter. I will not let it run my life. I am also very aware of the fact that I am an exception to the rule, I am truly blessed to still be alive.

I have a rare talent that I will gladly use to help those helping this cause. I was very honored to be a part of Butterfly Wishes for Ellie - and although it was just a cake, it meant to world to me to be able to do that for her. (Seriously people - CUTEST little girl EVER!!!)





I used the invitation as inspiration for the cake. I am thrilled with the way it turned out! Everything is edible and by the end of the night there wasn't much left!

Thank you so much Shawn and Andrew for letting me be a part of this event!

- Janel

Lil Blue Boo Giveaway!

SERIOUSLY!!! Lil Blue Boo is giving away a custom dress on her blog!!! NO - I'm not kidding - RUN don't walk over to her blog and enter!!!



Click HERE to get to her blog!

Hello Kitty Cake - blast from the past

Since The Amazing Race isn't on tonight I went blog hopping and found Gina at Mother of 1 Princess and 2 Princes. As I was reading through her blog I came upon this post. This BLEW MY MIND! My daughter is a SERIOUS Hello Kitty fan. I really think its possible that we have every Hello Kitty toy sold in the US. I even have a Hello Kitty cookie cutter ordered off Ebay straight from Japan!

Of course, when MacKenzie's birthday rolled around last year I asked her "What kind of Birthday party do you want?". Knowing that most almost 3 year olds change their minds every 2 minutes, I started asking early and often. To my suprise (ok, not really) she said the same thing EVERY TIME! "Kitty" was her answer. More specifically "Kitty Cake" was her answer. Obviously, my precious little ones has her Birthday priorities in order - 1. CAKE; 2. FUN; 3. PRESENTS!

Being the disgusting over-achiever I strive to be - I decided that MY daughter deserved the biggest and BEST cake I have ever made - oh yea folks - I'm talking 3D Hello Kitty cake! Then the inevidable happened - I over booked; over scheduled; over procrastinated and totally ran out of time.

So, 3 days before the party I sat down with my husband and a picture of Hello Kitty. This is the point that I realized I made a huge mistake - I am NOT THAT GOOD of a cake decorator! After I did the measurements, I realized that Kitty's head is as big as Kitty's body. This creates a structural cake nightmare - you see, I'm a cake purist - I DO NOT like using anything non-edible in my cakes - and to date, I haven't! So, in trying to figure out how to make Kitty's head stay on Kitty's body I concluded it to be impossible with my current skill set. The last thing I wanted was to spend days on this cake only for Kitty's head to fall off and my 3 year old to be traumatized for live by a decapitated Hello Kitty!

So, I did what I always do in a cakepanic - check Cake Central! If you are ever looking for a cake idea or help with a cake - this is the place to go! Membership is free and it has thousands of pictures and recipes and all the help you could want for any decorating dilema!

I logged in, went to the galleries and headed over to "search" - there are a ton of Hello Kitty cakes. I found the one that I liked and at 8:00 the night before her party I started decorating! (nothing like waiting until the LAST minute!)

All edible and handmade Hello Kitty - you can actually see where her face cracked a little bit when I put the whiskers in - oh well!

I LOVE this cake! It may not be the biggest and it may not be the best, but, it made her smile and even 7 months later its all she talks about when you ask about her Birthday.

She has already started putting in her request for a SpongeBob inspired cake this year. I love my daughter, but I HATE SpongeBob. At least I have a few more months to talk her outta this!

Disclaimer: In my diffence of my last minute cake decorating - I was doing another cake for the same day and preparing the rest of her party as well as preparing for family to spend the weekend. Speaking of family - there is NO WAY possible that I would have finished this cake without thier help!!

Hope you enjoy! - Janel

Sew Spoiled

Have you guys seen this!



Head over to Sew Spoiled for a free pattern and tutorial along with a "Sew Along".

This is definately on my list of things to do!!

Unfortunately I won't be able to do the Sew Along, I have so much going on in the next 2 weeks! Tomorrow I am having a cake tasting for a friend who is getting married in November and then I need to get started on a cake for Butterfly Wishes For Ellie and then next weekend I have a crazy cute cake for a friends little girl and the following weekend is my 5th anniversary AND a batman cake for another friend's son! (yep, I'm pretty sure that was one amazingly long run-on sentence!)

I think I might have overbooked a little! Oh well! Stay tuned for some CUTE cakes coming up! In the meantime - go make that awesome bag! (Its a FREE pattern - I love FREE!)

Ultimate Blog Party

So, I decided to participate in this years Ultimate Blog Party! So, if you are stopping by from UBP - THANK YOU!!!

My blog: Is about everything that I am working on (at least some of it anyway!). I am really new to blogging, but not to crafting.

My Family: I have a 3 1/2 year old little girl who calls herself Miss Kenzie - Attitude with plenty to spare and share!

My Life: I am a stay at home mom, very involved with the Mom's Group at my church, willing to help anyone with any advice you ask for, married to my best friend, and a craftaholic. I live in Florida, so my house is much like a hotel, especially in the spring and summer.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I can't wait to come and visit your blog!

Kelley - thank you so much for pointing out that I forgot to mention what I wanted to win - frankly - I really want that computer so my husband will stop stealing mine!! But, really - I would love to win ANYTHING! I'm sooooooo not picky!


Janel :)

Baby Shower/Baby Bag Cake

I spent this week taking care of a sick kid, preparing and hosting company and making this AWESOME and ADORABLE baby shower cake. Everything on the cake is edible, the diaper bag is made of chocolate cake and the bottom is almond cake. Everything is covered in Fondant and all the accessories are made of a fondant/gumpaste except the baby bottles which are white chocolate.


Baby Alexander is all set with his toy keys, binky and little shoes!
Tuck in a diaper in the side pocket and add 2 chocolate bottles - perfect!
Close up of the shoes - they are so cute (and a total PAIN to make! - but I would do it again in a heartbeat!!!)
This week I am determined to make MacKenzie a new monogrammed shirt to replace the Peep shirt (since Easter is over) and I MUST get started on my cousins T-shirt memory quilt!

Easter Bunny "Peep" outfit!

At the last minute I decided (because I'm not busy enough) to make MacKenzie an outfit to wear to our church Easter Party (which I'm in charge of planning).

I ran out to Hobby Lobby yesterday to pick up some Easter fabric. Guess what - they didn't have any. When I asked about Easter prints the lady behind the counter gave me a "pity" look and says "We sold out of that WEEKS ago." Let me just tell you what I heard "HAHAHAHAHA!!! yea right lady - the GOOD MOMMIES came and bought all that fabric MONTHS ago. Really, you should be more prepared - SLACKER!" ANYWAY! I found a really cute pattern that I just LOVED and thought would be adorable for what I want to do.

After Hobby Lobby judgement, we headed over to Target to get a T-shirt. Target has some great plain t-shirts in the girls departments. They are only like $5 and they are really nice quality! Super cute colors too. And in another unprepared SLACKER move, I left the fabric in the car and was forced to buy 4 different colored shirts to make sure that at least one would coordinate. (Starting to think that I should have named this blog MacKenzie's SLACKER Mom!)

When I got home I logged right onto Google Images and found a great picture of a Peep Bunny to use as a template. (I just googled "Peep Images")

And last but not least I grabbed a pair of jeans out of my scrap pile - they still fit M in the waist but are about 2 inches too short - PERFECT!

So, I gathered all my gear tonight and got BUSY! (sewing - get your mind outta the gutter!)


Then I put the jeans on M and measured where I wanted to cut - took them off of her and hacked the bottoms off. I actually haven't cut up a pair of jeans since I was in high school, so this felt pretty good!
Next, I ironed on some Wonder Under to my crazy cute SLACKER fabric, then I drew on the Peep bunny image.
Now, cut out your image and iron it onto the shirt.
I use the satin stitch on my machine ( I LOVE MY MACHINE)! Sorry, had to get that out of my system!
And here is what the shirt looks like finished! Its not perfect, but I LOVE IT!
Next is to add the ruffle to your jeans. Measure the width of the leg of your jeans and double that and add 1/4 inch seam allowance. That will be the length of your rufffle strip. Then you need to decide how long you want your ruffle to be. I wanted mine to be 2 1/2 inches long plus a 1/2 inch seam allowance - double that and then you have the width of your fabric- mine was 6 inches wide. Once you have your measurements and cut out 2 strips of fabric for your ruffles; fold them in half and sew the short sides closed. Then fold the fabric in half lengthwise and iron. Mark the ruffle strip with 4 pins at the 1/4 marks. This will help to line it up and evenly space out your ruffles when you are attaching it to the jeans.
I do my ruffles a little differently than I have seen on other blogs. First I set my machine to the zigzag stich and then I set the stitch width to the longest setting. Then I use a long length of crochet thread and stitch over it, making sure NOT to catch the crochet thread in the zigzag stitch. Do not backstitch at either the beginning or at the end and leave a long tail on both ends of the crochet thread. I tried to take a pic.... hopefully you can see what I mean.
Pull on your crochet thread to ruffle your fabric, being careful to not pull the thread all the way out. Line up your ruffle with the bottom of your jeans and spread out the ruffles so that they are even. This is where the 1/4 pin marks help.
Sew the ruffle to the bottom using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. I added a top stitch to give this a finished look as well as to catch the seam.
And then you have a finished outfit perfect for an Easter Party that is being organized by your SLACKER mom!
And this is what she will look like on Saturday hunting for eggs!! Can't WAIT!
A little disclosure about this picture - first of all, it was taken at 11 o'clock at night. At 10:30 she got up and says to me in a very teenage voice "I can't sleep". So I let her stay up and watch a cartoon for a few minutes and then I made her model. I have about 50 pictures of her modeling this outfit - but this one shows the actual oufit the best - unfortunately, this was not her favorite pose! After this picture I told her to put her jammies back on and she says "No, I want to sleep in this!" - so I guess she likes it!
YEA!!! SHE LIKES IT!!

I hope everyone has a very happy Easter!