MacKenzie's Crafty Mom

Hoo Are You

2010-08-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to participate in Night Owl Crafting's Hoo Are You for some time now, but for one reason or another it just hasn't worked out....Until today!

Copied from Night Owl Crafting:

Here are the RULES!!!
I can't wait to get to know each other a little better and see what else we have in common besides our craftiness! Here's how it will work, each Tuesday I'll post a few questions. They can be anything from What's your favorite color to What's your favorite movie.

•You will then copy this week's questions and change the answers to your own.
•You will post them in a new post on your blog (you can back date this post so it doesn't show up as your newest post) and then come and link up that particular post (not the link to your main blog) here on our link party.
•Make sure to visit as many blogs as you can and comment! It will be a good way to get to know some fun and interesting things about your fellow crafters!
•Also add this cute little button to your post so that others can join in on the PARTY!!! (It is over on the left side bar).

Here are this weeks questions!

1. What is your favorite flavor?
2, What was or is your favorite subject in school?
3. What are some of your hobbies?
4. Do you prefer fruits or vegetables?
5. What color of eyes do you have?

Here are my answers!

1. My favorite flavor(s) would have to be Chocolate and then peanut butter and anything chocolate/peanut butter flavored - I'm a sucker for a peanut butter cup!

2. My favorite subject in school was anything Math related. Math makes sense to me! English Lit on the other hand...... HATED it!

3. Obviously I love to craft and cake. I also read a lot (funny given my above answer!). I feel like dieting should be listed as a hobby since it consumes so much of my time.

4. I guess I would prefer veggies. But, if I'm being honest here - I don't really like very many in either category! haha! Give me a starch any day... hmmm.. I think I just found the reason DIET is listed under hobby! haha!

5. I have blue eyes. Very very blue eyes. I constantly have people ask if I wear colored contacts. I had hoped that my daughter would inherit the blue eyes - alas, that did not happen, dirt brown hers are!

I can't wait to read everyone else's answers!!!

Randoms....

2010-08-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:
its fixed!!! YEA!!!!!

A few random things on my mind....

1. What the HECK happened to my blog. My whole design is GONE and I have no idea how to fix it.....

2. I HIT A 100 FOLLOWERS!!! (101 to be exact!)

3. How do you check how many "subscribers" you have?? (can you tell I'm new to the blogger thing?)

4. I need to work on the tutorial to go with my AWESOME giveaway - I want to get it up by Wednesday. (make sure you check back because its going to be AWESOME!)

5. Why does my daughter have night terrors EVERY NIGHT - seriously, this one was bad and scared the crap outta me!)

6. What was Bendon thinking with those nominations?!?!

7. The comments from my penguin cake post were so so so sweet!!! Thank you all!!!

8. I gotta get some sleep.....

Goodnight my blog readers - sorry about the appearance of my blog - hang tight for that tutorial and giveaway!

Summer Vacation officially OVER!

2010-08-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been a little MIA lately - summer just took over and I lost control! Even though MacKenzie hasn't started school yet I feel like summer is officially over. We have done all the back to school shopping and I have gone back to cake overload!

We took a vacation to Ohio to see my family and my grandmother (88 years old). While there my cousin Jen turned 21 and I made her a quick little cake:

This was a coconut cake with buttercream icing. I did the side design free hand and all piped. I just kinda winged it - I LOVE the way it turned out and Jen loved it as well.

As soon as I got back I had to get started on THE MOST adorable cake for a friends daughter -

I can't tell you how much I LOVE this cake - again its all edible.

I am working on an awesome (cake related) giveway for when I reach 100 followers...... just something for you to think about!!!

Hope you enjoy!

SugarEd Productions

2010-07-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure that I own every SugarEd DVD ever made. They are AMAZING! When I got "Perfecting the Art of Buttercream", my cakes took a turn for the GREAT! If you are new to cake decorating or want to learn to decorate - this is the place to start!

SugarEd Productions is owned by my cake hero Sharon Zambito. She is a rock star in the cake world and has competed on Ultimate Cake Off on TLC.

Sharon has a new DVD out called "Back to Basics, Baking for Cake Decorating". I am so excited about this DVD. You can't decorate a great cake unless you bake a great cake to start with. This DVD will teach you all the tricks to get your cakes perfect! It also includes recipes and a bonus section on how to make Cake Balls (or Cake Truffles). Check out the trailer that Sharon put together:

Isn't that awesome! Seriously - you have to run over to her website and ORDER this DVD - while you are there grab the Buttercream, Fondant, Stacking, Sheet Cake and Topsy Turvy DVDs!!!

You also need to check out her blog. She teaches you some really fantastic things!

Can you tell I LOVE HER!

(I was not in any way compensated for this - I just really really believe in her methods and am proof that she can teach anyone!)

Blast from the Past: Mario Kart Cake

2010-06-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

This is my nephew's cake from last year:

He LOVES Mario Kart. Everything on the cake is handmade and edible. This cake is, to date, my most "over the top" creations. Here are some other views (its a 360 degree cake)

And now for some close ups:

Donkey Kong

Banana Peel

Bullet, Mushrooms, Turtle Shell and Yoshi

Flowers

Yoshi and Mario

I think he likes it! Makes all 2 weeks of work totally worth it!

This year he has already put in his request for a Sonic the Hedgehog Cake - I am at a total design loss!!

Birthdays....

2010-06-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been so long since I've blogged. I didn't realize almost 2 weeks has gone by!! Can you tell I was on a "cake break!". We had a wonderful Memorial Day with friends and then the normal craziness of the week, followed by 3 days at Disney. I'm still recovering!

Anyway...today is my birthday - wanna guess how old I am?? actually - don't! haha! I really wish that I had a bunch of giveaways lined up, but I guess you will just have to settle for the last cake that I made.

It was a 30th birthday suprise for one of my husband's best friends....he is a serious NY Yankees fan -

This is fast becoming one of my favorite cakes! The jersey has his name and his age on the back.

The hat is rice crispy treats covered with icing and fondant.

I think he likes it! Acutally he said it was "The best Birthday Cake I have ever had!". YEA!!!!

I am doing his and his fiancee's wedding cake in November - I LOVE the design they picked out!

Whenever my birthday rolls around everyone asks me who's making my birthday cake. Here's the short answer - no one ever makes me a birthday cake. My hubby and M usually go out to eat and I get something off the dessert menu. This year we are going to Bone Fish for dinner and I will be skipping the dessert portion of dinner - see I am dieting - hard core dieting and I have lost 14lbs since May 1st.

So - who makes YOUR birthday cake?

Quick and Easy Cake

2010-05-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

I just made this cake for a guy my husband works with. He takes care of my dogs when we go out of town, so even thought I feel terrible today (I feel like poo, which is kinda like having the flu - but different) I felt obligated to get it finished. So, although this wasn't my original design, I really like the way it turned out.

I just wanted to show you a cake that was really quick and easy, that you can totally do on your own and get a lot of ohhhh's and ahhhh's! I made this cake using the technique that I showed you yesterday in this post.

Sorry about the bad quality - too tired to take more pictures!

Hope you like it and I would LOVE to see any cakes that you make!!

Cake Tutorial #1

2010-05-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

As promised - sorry it took so long. Its been a really busy couple of weeks, but I did finally get around to putting together that tutorial I promised.

As I was making this cake I realized the one key thing that you can do to make your cakes look more professional. Level your cakes before stacking them. This is so easy to do with a large serrated knife. A level cake makes all the difference in the world.

Next, something easy that you can do to give you cakes so wow factor is adding fondant decorations. I had a question on one of my other cakes "Do you use the cricut to cut out your fondant decorations" - the answer is no. I usually use either cutter (gumpaste/fondant cutters or cookie cutters) or I use an exacto knife and a template of some sort. So this is were we will start!

You will need:

Fondant

Tylose powder (optional)

Pasta roller (or rolling pin)

Template of something you want to cut out

A new exacto knife

A smooth cutting surface (like a cutting board)

Shortening

Powder Sugar

A cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper

FONDANT: you can use store bought or make your own fondant. I have never really had much success with making my own fondant and frankly I'm usually running so far behind I don't have time to make it! So I buy my fondant (order it online) - or you can buy it at Walmart/Michael's. I have it on good authority that the Wilton Fondant has improved their taste considerably! I prefer to use Satin Ice and I also buy precolored fondant - especially red and black!

TYLOSE POWDER: Although I put this as optional it will really make this process much easier! It will also be essential if you plan on using your cutout as a topper as I did in the Batman cake. Its fairly cheap and lasts a long time, however, it is not easy to find and you will need to buy it at a cake decorating supply store or order it online.

TEMPLATE: Google Image is my friend. I love Google Image. Almost anything that you can think of can be found there. Its my "go to" place to find pictures of anything! For this cake we needed STAR WARS! I went on Google Image and printed out the logo. Next I wanted to add the birthday boy's name, so I searched for the Star Wars font to make it all go together - I found it for FREE at dafont.com - another site I LOVE!! I printed out both the logo and the b-day boy's name.

Now - grab your trusty scrapbooking scissors and cut that bad boy out! I just wanted the letters, so I cut out each individual letter.

You will then want to knead some tylose powder into your fondant - you will only need about a 1/4 tsp of Tylose Powder. Continue kneading until your fondant is pliable and easy to knead and stretch.

At this point you can either run your fondant through a pasta roller (easiest!) or you can use a rolling pin to roll it out. I always start on the thickest setting of pasta roller. I use it thick for a stand up topper and a little thinner to add accents to the side of cakes. Make sure to dust your fondant with powder sugar before running it through the machine or rolling it out by hand. Also dust your cutting surface or your fondant will stick.

Once you have your fondant rolled to the desired thickness - lay it on your cutting mat/board. Grab your cut-outs, exacto knife and some shortening.

Rub a little shortening on your fondant and the stick your paper cut-outs on top.

Use your exacto to cut around the templates - the shortening helps to keep the cut-outs from moving while you are cutting.

If you have jagged edges just use your finger to gently tap or rub them out - you can also purchase a steamer (like the ones used for clothes) to make your finished accents look smoother.

Place your cut pieces on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to dry, or to just move them so you don't accidentally mess them up (yep - done it!).

Its finally time to add them to your cake! I use gum glue to stick my fondant pieces on the cake (1/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp. tylose powder - mixed and left in the fridge overnight). If you don't have time or tylose you can simply use water. Just use a small clean (never used for anything but food) paintbrush to add the water or gum glue to the back of the letter/accents and gently put them on the side of your cake.

And the final cake looked like this:

Buttercream iced all accents are fondant and handmade. you can see a little flaw in the buttercream on the right - poor Darth Vader took a tumble off the top of the cake :( Oh well - I still like it!

Please feel free to let me know if you have ANY questions and if you have an idea for the next Cake Tutorial please let me know!

Winner Winner..... AGAIN!

2010-05-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

I never heard from our first winner of the CSN Stores Online $60 gift card - so.... here we go again...

And the winner is: JOY at mommaskindacrafty.blogspot.com! Joy is a follower. Joy - please email me at mackenziescraftymom@gmail.com within the next 48 hours to claim your prize!

Congrats!!!!

Winner Winner!!!

2010-05-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to: ROCKIN DEALS who is a follower.

Please email me at mackenziescraftymom@gmail.com within 48 hours. If I don't hear from you, I will be forced to pick a new winner.

Thank you all so much for making my first giveaway a huge success!!

Only 3 days left! CSN Stores Giveaway

2010-05-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

You only have 3 days left to enter the CSN Stores $60 Giveaway!!!

Your chance to enter will end at 11:59 on the 13th. Hurry Hurry Hurry!!!!

Become a follower of my blog (click the little "follow" button) for one chance to win. For another chance click the link above and leave a message telling me what you would use the $60 on!

All the Cool Kids are doing it!!! CSN Stores GIVEAWAY!

2010-05-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

I was really suprised when I was approached by CSN Stores to do a giveaway on my blog. I'm also really excited for one of you who will win a $60 gift certificate to any one of CSN's 200 online stores! Oh yea - 200!

After I was contacted I noticed that a couple of the blogs that I follow are also doing a CSN giveaway - I've always wanted to sit at the cool kids table at lunch!!

One of you lucky readers is going to win - so you better get shopping, with over 200 stores it could take a while!

Some of my favorites? Oh, I'm so glad you asked! I make most of my cakes in my kitchen and if I had the gift certificate I would spend it on some new lighting! All I can say is Track Lighting has come A LONG WAY BABY!

I can totally see a row of 3 or 4 of these babies hanging over the bar in my kitchen!

I'm pretty sure that these are the lights that are hanging in my Dr.'s reception area. I usually just sit there are stare at the lights - they are SO PRETTY!

All of those lights can be found at CSN's online Lighting Store. Other places to shop with your gift certificate include: Cookware.com - SERIOUSLY! I couldn't be more excited about this site!!

Check out this cake plate - they have TONS! And frankly I think I'm in love with all of them!

Or, you could shop at the main CSN Store - where they have more stuff than the mall! Their kids and baby section is TO DIE for! I mean SERIOUSLY! This baby bedding set makes me want to have another baby and pray for a BOY! (if you know me, that's huge!)

Ok - now that you are going to spend the day shopping at CSN Stores - here's how you enter to win the $60 Gift Certificate.

1. If you are a follower you are automatically entered (so if you are not a follower - click that little button over there and Follow Me!) There is no need to leave me a comment about being a follower.
2. Leave me a comment telling me what you would buy if you win the certificate - be specific - go shop and then let me know.

Its that easy! MacKenzie will draw a winner on May 14th! So make sure to check back!!!!

Disclaimers: Open only to US and Canadian residents. May be responsible shipping charges and shipping charges may be more for canadian residents.

Teacher Appreciation/Mother's Day Gifts!

2010-05-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

In true slacker fashion I waited until the LAST minute to make something for M's 5 teachers! Its ok though - Its crazy cute and super easy!!! Wanna see?!?!?! Ok.... I'll share - AND, I tell you how to do it!

Aren't they CUTE!!! And really these are so easy to do! I did take some time and paint the pots with Chalkboard Paint - made them all the cuter!!!

Are you ready to get started? Ok - here we go.

Step 1. Bake your favorite Cupcakes, try to keep the top fairly level, it will make piping the flowers a little easier.

Step 2. Grab some yellow buttercream, a piping bag, and a tip 352 (leaf tip). Put the tip in the piping bag and fill with your yellow buttercream. This leaf tip looks like it has a V in it. You will want to hold the tip so that the V is facing the side, not the top. Holding the bag at a 45 degee angle and with steady pressure squeeze and then start to pull out, stop squeezing and continue to pull - you just made your first petal! Do 2 rows of petals on the outside of your cupcake:

Step 3. Grab some chocolate fudge icing - its ok if you cheat on the chocolate (I do!):

(just don't use the sprinkles.)

Again you will want another piping bag and a tip 16 or 18 (star tip). Put the tip in the bag and fill the bag with chocolate icing. Make sure that you do not leave the icing in a hot environment or in the fridge before you use it. To pipe the middle, just fill it with stars. Hold the piping bag at a 90 degree angle with the tip almost touching the cupcake. Squeeze, stop, lift, repeat until the whole center is completely full. (if you use chocolate cuppies and you miss a spot, no one will know! shhhhh!)

BEAUTIFUL!!

YUMMY!

Now, if you have had enough and you want to quit - grab a cute box (michael's) and give 'em to the teachers or your mom. BUT! If you want the real WOW factor - Keep reading!

Grab a couple things:

Flower Pot; Foil, Styrofoam to fit the pot, Small wooden skewers and your FABULOUS sunflower cuppies!

(the picture shows sucker sticks also, but I did not use these. So... ignore those.)

Wrap your styro ball in foil - don't want all that messy foam getting on your cupcakes!

Next, use the tip of your skewers to poke holes in the bottoms of your cupcakes (not just through the paper but actually into the cupcake) - this makes it easier to put them on later.

You will then want to start by pushing one of the skewers into the styrofoam ball - the angle depends on how many you want to fit into the pot. I do them one at a time. Then when I get to last one I place the middle one as well. Make sure that you push the skewers in far enough into the foam that they will not poke through the top of the cupcake.

Once you get all the cuppies on - YOU ARE DONE! Wasn't that EASY!

After I made this one, I decided that, for teachers it would be so much cuter with chalkboard paint! So, I made THESE:

At the last minute I also decided that it would be best to cover the edges and the styrofoam ball with crushed up oreos - like potting soil. I love the look!!!

I got SO MANY compliments on them just carrying them from the parking lot to the classroom.

Feel free to jazz up your pots however you like - the sky's the limit - HAVE FUN!!

Really - what could be better than flowers you can EAT!

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I got a Makeover!!!

2010-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Do you like it?!?!?!?!?!? I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my new blog! I even have a new button!!! GRAB IT! SHARE IT! WEAR IT!! It the hot new fashion accessory for your blog!

But seriously! Jenny Buttler from Simply Delightful Designs is AMAZING!! I actually won a complete blog make-over during Today's Creative Blog's Spring Fling. I was so shocked that I won something I actually GASPED when I read my name on the list! I needed this!

I loved my blog before, but now I feel like I'm home.

Jenny was so amazing to work with - especially for my undecided, computer illiterate self! I just cannot say enough wonderful things about her.

So, if you need a blog makeover, a button or anything else for you blog - go check her out, she can hook you up in style!!

Thank you so much Jenny!!! YOU ROCK!

(dontcha just LOVE my signature!!!)

Holy CAKE!, Batman!

2010-05-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

One of MacKenzie's little boyfriends turned 4 this past weekend. He had a Batman themed bowling party. We had so much fun! And, for the first time I really really like the "boy" cake that I made for him.

Check it out!!

The topper is an edible image that I got printed at a local bakery. I brought it home and then I put it on a piece of fondant mixed with tylose powder and then cut around the image with an exacto knife.

The edible image was difficult to work with and if you look close you can see that it ripped in a couple places. I think I did a pretty good job of piecing it back together!

This is definately going to be my next "cake" purchase! Edible images are so amazing and I think with some practice I can make it perfect!!!!

I freehand cut the buildings out of the same fondant/tylose powder mixture that I did the topper. Then I used some melted yellow candy melts to put the details on the buildings.

Tylose Powder = can be purchased in most upper end cake decorating stores (you will not find it in your local craft store). Its not very expensive. You can mix it with fondant to give it some extra body/stiffness and make it dry much faster. This makes it easier to cut out images and outlines.

I got an email asking me if I use the Cricut on my cakes and although I have 2 (yea I know! I couldn't help myself!! - I'm a little ashamed!!) I do not use it on cakes. I have one set aside for just that purpose, but it takes some work to get the fondant/gumpaste to the right thickness and the right setness (totally just made up a new word!)and frankly it's easier and quicker for me to use cutters or an exacto sometimes.

I also had a question about my black fondant - NO! I do not make my own black fondant. I don't even make my own fondant. I live in north Florida and with the drastic weather changes that we have sometimes my homemade fondant is fine and sometimes its a nightmare. I just don't have the patience for all that. I buy Satin Ice fondant and I order it from FondantSource.com - cheapest prices you will ever find. They also have precolored fondant - like Black and Red - the "nightmare" colors.

I have finally made some decisions from the last post - the giveaway is coming!!!! AND! I finally decided on the first Cake tutorial. If you want to try out what I'm going to share with you, you will need the following things:
1. Fondant
2. a pasta roller
3. a new exacto knife/cutter
4. shortening
5. a cutting board without a texture (wood is best)
6. an image that you want to put on a cake (a more basic shape is best to start with)

Can't wait to share some of my "secrets" with you guys!

- Janel

Zebra stripes!!!

2010-05-01T17:28:00.001-07:00

Zebra stripes are HOT right now - especially in cake. I'm not usually one that really likes things that have gone overboard in the trendy world, BUT! I love Zebra Stripes on cake!

So I was really excited when my friends daughter picked out a cake with zebra stripes and hot pink! I really really love the way that it turned out - there are a couple flaws that just stand out to me, but overall I LOVE IT!

I actually made this cake last week right after the butterfly cake. To make a VERY long story short - I had a 5 hour drive home and a very sick kid and absolutely NO sleep!

So, based on those circumstances, I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out!

All vanilla cake with butter vanilla buttercream and Satin Ice Fondant - everything is edible. I really liked the topper which really pulled the whole cake together - unfortunately you can't see the sparkly black sugar that covers that #9 in the pictures... trust me it was there!

So - there is my cake! I hope you love it as much as I do (minus that stupid air bubble that I see screaming at me from the top tier!)

NOW - I have a question (ok questionS) -
1. I have been thinking about sharing some of my cake knowledge with you through some tutorials. My questions is - What would you like to learn??????
2. I also have been approached by a company wanting to do a giveaway - I haven't done one yet and I'm a little nervous. If you could register to win anything what would you want to win (besides a million dollars!)?? Kitchen? Baby? gift certificate???? craft supplies?

Let me know what you want and I will try to make it happen for you!

I have another cake to post so stay tuned and get in touch with your inner Batman!

- Janel

Butterfly Wishes for Ellie

2010-04-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-12T12:30:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-04-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

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!

"TO DO" Sunday

2010-03-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have to longest "To Do List" today. Am, I'm happy to announce that one of those things just got crossed off! I helped my friend Denise at Whimsy Couture by editing one of her patterns. I got to a point that I got technologically stuck (ie - my computer wouldn't do what I wanted it to do and I thought about throwing it out the window). I did finally get buckled down and beat my computer into submission. I just sent that pattern off to her and I hope its exactly what she wanted!

Next, I'm going to head upstairs and face my fear of piping and finish this apron pattern if it kills me! (if you don't hear from me for a couple days send in a search party!).

THEN - the thing I have putting off for way too long - TAXES. As much as I procrastinate this you would think I did them myself. But, no, I just take them to an accountant and let them do all the work. The thing is, for the second year in a row I know we are going to owe money - I don't want to pay it. So, there it is. I don't want to get my stuff out, I don't want to take it to the accountant and I don't want to bite my nails until Mr. Taxman tells me how much we owe and most of all I don't want to write that check!

Ok - off to the sewing room to put off the tax thing - ha!

Hope you are all having a very productive, cross off your "To Do List" kinda weekend!

My Friend Debbie

2010-03-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Debbie passed away a couple days ago. Her wake was tonight. I'm really sad. I'm sad for Debbie's husband, I'm sad for her kids, I'm sad for her parents, I'm sad for her sister, I'm sad for her friends.... I'm just sad.

I call Debbie my friend even though I didn't know her that well. I wish I had. She was such an amazing person. I am friends with Debbie's sister and some of Debbie's other close friends who are expecting 400 people for a reception after the funeral tomorrow morning. 400 people will come out to honor her amazing spirit.

Debbie died of breast cancer. Debbie was 31 years old. 31. Debbie left behind a loving husband and 3 small children 6, 4, and 2. She found a lump while doing a self breast exam. She found out that she had stage 3 breast cancer and started chemo. She found out after she started chemo that she was pregnant. Doctors recommended that she terminate the pregnancy to resume her chemo, they told her it was her only chance and that because of the chemo she had already had there would likely be complications with her baby. Debbie quit her chemo and had her third beautiful son. He is perfect, he is wonderful, and there is not one thing wrong with him. Within days of her c-section Debbie had a double mastectomy and for the next 3 years she fought for her life. Debbie is at peace now, she will suffer no more.

So, today I am taking a break from blogging about crafts to honor Debbie and her memory and to remind each of you - do your self breast exams, live your lives with courage, do not take one minute for granted, kiss your kids and extra 100 times today, tell your husband you love him, call your mom and dad, and live your faith.

2010-03-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

I love doing MacKenzie's hair - she on the other hand, HATES for me to do her hair. By some miracle she actually let me do her hair 2 days in a row! She had 2 Saint Patrick's Day shirts to wear this year so we had to do 2 different Saint Patrick's Day hairdo's!

Yesterday we did a 3 leaf clover:

And today we did a 4 leaf clover:

I know that this picture is not the best, but I hope that you can see it. I was just happy she let me do it!

So - wanna know how I did it??? Head on over to Adopt a 'Do. She has some of THE COOLEST ideas for hair for little girls and little girls at heart. She also has some great tween hairstyle and fantastic ones for short styles too. These are so suprisingly easy, especially the ones with videos!! yes! VIDEOS! for FREE!!!!

I hope you love her site as much as I do.

Janel

Sugar Cookie Tutorial part 2

2010-03-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Back to your regularly scheduled post! I finally got a chance to decorate those cookies today. So, lets just get started because this is going to be a long post.

First gather your ingredients for the icing. I use a glace icing instead of a royal type icing. Royal dries really really hard and it puts some people off and can sometimes have a funky taste because of the meringue powder. This glace dries firm and set but not rock hard and does not have the meringue powder taste.

I got this recipe from www.cakecentral.com as well - it is not an original recipe of mine.

Glace Recipe:
4 cups powdered sugar
4 Tablespoons light corn syrup
4 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon clear extract flavoring (I used almond)
Mix all ingredients together. If it is feeling too stiff add more corn syrup or a little more milk.

When thinning your icing make sure that you go slow - too much and then you have to add more powdered sugar etc... vicious cycle (not that *I* would know about that! haha!)

This recipe gives you a slightly clear looking icing. To make it have more color and body add 20 drops of White food color. Wilton makes a white that you can get at your local craft store - I use A LOT of white so I purchased a BIG bottle.

So, now its time to color your icing. I'm pretty passionate about this. I love COLOR! I love deep full color! To get that color you MUST use a gel food coloring. The liquid stuff that you buy in the grocery store is NOT GOING TO WORK. It will water down the icing and change the whole consistency, you will not get the color saturation that you want. So, definately go to your local craft store and buy the Wilton gel - it lasts forever and you get great color.

So, now I have my icing mixed - green and white only for this project and I have all my cookies layed out on my countertop with easy clean up parchment paper covering my countertop. In case you forgot - I love parchment paper!

I like to use disposible pastry bags (purchased at your local craft store) and I also like to use piping tips (I use a number 3) - if you don't have these things you can use a zippy bag with the corner cut off. The icing that you will use in a pastry bag will be thicker icing for the outlines.

Next you will want to thin the remaining icing. To do this you can just add a little bit of water and stir. Check for consistency by dropping a glob back into the bowl - if the glob disappears by the count of 3 you should be good. Quicker than that and it might be too thin, longer than that and it might be too thick.

I use these squeeze bottles for my "flood icing". I think it makes it much easier to control, especially when you are using mulitple colors for each cookie.

Outline your cookies. I like to outline them all at once.

If you want to use sugars there are a couple ways to do this. The main thing to remember is this - sugar will stick to whatever is wet. So, if you have wet icing on your cookie - that is where the sugar is going to stick. And, in the exact opposite it will not stick to anything that is dry - so icing that is dry or a cookie with no icing on it etc....

I personally hate the shaker part of the sugar topper so I take those off immediately and then I pour all the sugar into a small plastic container.

Here I have taken a cookie that I outlined - outlined only and then I poured the sugar all over the cookie making sure to completely cover the edges where the outline was. I left this to dry for a while just like this. The middle of this cookie does not have anything on it, so even though the sugar is sitting there, its not going to stick there.

Once dry, I shook off the excess (kinda like glitter!) - and this is what I was left with - pretty....

These were the 2 that I did and then I filled the middles with the "flood" icing.

This is another technique that I love to use. You can add so much character and depth to your cookies. First you outline your cookie and then you flood your cookie and then you take another color of flood icing and just place small drops on the wet main color. The drops will sink into the main color looking like polka dots.
Now you want to grab a toothpick and drag the pick from the top of the dot all the way through to the bottom and you get a great heart - CUTE!

Here is another version of the same technique - use 2 (or more) colors of flood consistency icing and make stripes (any direction that you want).
Grab a toothpick and drag the pick through the icing back and forth (picking up the pick at each end) in the opposite direction of your stripes. (stripes are vertical, drag pick horizontal). You will get this really cool effect:

Here are all my cookies done and decorated - use your imagination and go crazy! Hopefully I will have time to decorate some easter cookies and get some more variety of color.

Make sure to let them dry completely before trying to move them - usually takes about 12 hours. Plan ahead!

I think they look fantastic and tomorrow morning I am going to be Rock Star Wife #1 at my hubby's work!
I hope these tutorials have helped you move past stress and fear of sugar cookies - they can be so much fun - and YUMMY!!! Let me know if you use any these ideas - I would love to see your crafty cookies! (If there are any left to take pics of!)

Post Interrupted

2010-03-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Tonights post, Sugar Cookie Tutorial part 2, is being interrupted due to the dentist.

I had a dentist appointment late this afternoon and it just threw my whole day off. A 3:00 dentist appointment means I have to leave here at 2:30, I didn't get done until 4:00 - home at 4:30 - nothing planned for dinner???? See where I'm going with this. Its all the Dentist's fault - blame him! Yea.... blame the dentist! hehe!

Anyway - I am going to take the girl to school tomorrow and get the cookies decorated - then I'm going to test another sewing pattern!!! I'm so excited, I'm testing an apron pattern for Puking Pastilles. (Her stuff ROCKS! - seriously - check it out!).

So, tomorrow I have a big day - I need to go to bed!!

Sugar Cookie Tutorial part 1

2010-03-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

In part 1 of this tutorial I am going to explain how to make and bake the sugar cookies. I think this is the most stressful part of sugar cookies.

First - start with a great recipe! Hopefully this link will work - this is the No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe. Not only does it taste good, it holds its shape during baking.

Second - make sure to preheat your oven. Your oven needs to be hot to prevent the cookies from spreading.

A couple baking tips - make sure to follow your recipe to the T! Bring all of your ingredients to room temperature before starting to mix your dough. Use unsalted butter and all purpose flour unless other wise stated. Also - you can use any type of extract that you want to, vanilla, maple, peppermint, coconut, lemon - you name it!

Gather your hardware - Cookie sheets, rolling pin, parchment paper, cookie cutters, chilled cookie dough and food coloring and ingredients for your icing (tutorial on decorating and finishing touches coming tomorrow).

Make sure to chill your dough for at least 2 hours, preferrably overnight. Then you will need to let it sit out for about 30 minutes so that it will be elastic enough to roll out.

Some people roll their dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper before they refrigerate. I've tried this method and it doesn't work well for me personally. I wish it would, would be much less messy. So, if you can get that to work - go for it!

Your next step is going to be rolling out your dough. I roll directly on my countertop. We have granite countertops so its a smooth surface that is easy to clean.

If you have problems getting your dough rolled out evenly you can buy strips of wood that are 1/2 or 1/4 inch thich and use them to roll out - or you can buy guides that go on your rolling pin to keep the dough even.

Now - grab your cookie cutter(s). I am only doing shamrock for this tutorial. If you are using multiple cookie cutters, I recommend only baking like kinds of cookies. Different shapes have different points and different baking times. You don't want to have some burnt and some not cooked. Better to take longer to bake them than to not have them perfect.

Cut the cookies out as close together as you can - maximize the effort involved with rolling out the dough!

Make sure to line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. I love parchement paper. It keeps your cookie sheets clean, there by reducing the chance of your cookie sheets rusting and it makes them last longer. It keeps your cookies from sticking and keeps them from getting brown or burnt on the bottoms. I LOVE parchment paper!

Wax paper is NOT the same as parchment paper - wax paper actually has wax on it and will melt in the oven. Cookies and wax do not taste well together.

Make sure that your cookie sheet is room temperature. If it is even a little bit warm you cookies will spread.

I only set my timer for about 6 minutes and then I check them from there and add a minute or 2 if needed. I really don't like my cookies to get overbaked. As soon as they start to look brown on the edges (I mean just barely toasted) I take them out.

Allow them to cool for about 3 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer them to a cooling rack.

YUM! I cannot wait to decorate these. But, its 10:30, I'm tired and so they will get wrapped up and decorated tomorrow. I hope that this has helped you with some of the issues that you have when baking sugar cookies.

Let me know how your cookies come out and check back tomorrow for all the decorating tips!

For those that have left a comment or anyone that does leave a comment - leave me your email and I'll share another super secret tip to sugar cookies that makes all the difference in the world!! (If you've already left a comment, leave me an email address and I will email it to you!)

This post is linked to "Anti-Procrastination Tuesday's" at New Nostalgia"

Alice - EAT THIS!

2010-03-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is what I have been working on this week. My friend's daughter turned 11 and she took a bunch of girls to see Alice in Wonderland the movie.

I get most of my inspiration from the party theme and then I go search on Cake Central. This was no exception. This is the original cake. I'm pretty proud of this cake, I really like the way it turned out and this is only my second topsy turvy cake.

The cake is banana with chocolate ganache filling and icing, covered by fondant. Everything on the cake is edible.

I hope you enjoy!

Skecher's Shape-Ups

2010-03-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

Recently I got a pair of Skecher's Shape-Ups. I had been looking at them for a really long time and I finally broke down and got some. I LOVE THEM!! *I am in no way getting paid for this!

What I really like about them is that I can wear them all day and they don't hurt my feet. I have also noticed that my back doesn't hurt as much either. As far as the actual "shape up" part of them, I'm not so sure. My husband says that I look smaller from the rear if you know what I'm saying - but he could be lying (I think he might be). I'm not working out in them, I just wear them as you would any tennis shoe. I have walked around in them quite a bit and still no foot pain and I have stood in them working on cakes and no back pain!! As far as I'm concerned by butt can stay big as long as my feet, legs and back don't hurt!

This is a picture that I borrowed off the website to show you which pair I got:

You can go online and read all about the Shape Ups, the different styles, what makes them work, how they are built and how much they cost - here.

If you get a pair or have a pair - leave a comment and let me know what you think of them!

Fabric, Fabric Everywhere!!

2010-03-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

First I would like to say SORRY for the terrible quality of todays pictures - its ok, you can say it - they suck!

My favorite fabric store is going out of business :( . I am so so sad about this! She is having a huge sale to get rid of everything and I stopped in the other day. I'll admit when I went it I really expected only to find some "filler" fabric left - but I was WRONG!! All the fabric that I have been eyeing for MONTHS was still there! So, I stocked up! Here is what I got:

LOVE THIS!

SO CUTE!

These are my favorites!

MOO Cows!

All the farm animals - how cute is that pig!

I'll admit that most of these fabrics I bought with MacKenzie in mind - but these! These are all MINE!

I know a special friend having a baby girl!!! HINT!

Stay tuned for some super cute items made from this super cute fabric!!!! Simply Sew, I will miss you, your fabrics and all your wonderful sewing tips!! Thank you for everything!

Monday Night!

2010-03-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

This was MY Monday night:

Eating:

Drinking:

Watching:

Cheering on:

Sharon Zambito of Sharon's Sugar Shack and SugarEd Productions! One of THE BEST cake decorators and Cake Decorating Teachers EVER! She Rocks!!

Watching it right now - hope she wins!!!!

Jonah's Birthday Cake

2010-03-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

I'm a cake decorator. (In case you didn't know). It's not something that I do for a living, just something that I love to do. Recently I had the chance to go to North Carolina and do a super special birthday cake for an incredible little boy.

Jonah was born with Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa (JEB). He just celebrated his first birthday and oh, what a party it was! You can read all about the party and all about Jonah on his mom's blog here.

This cake was made to feed about 280 people and without the help of a friend who also does cakes, I don't think I could have pulled it off! So - Joanna - THANK YOU!!!

The party was a county fair theme and she had the venue FULL of carnival games and popcorn and cotton candy and all the fair type food you could have, tons of prizes and face painting and balloon animals and even a petting zoo outside! AMAZING PARTY!! Patrice I think you missed your calling as a party planner!

To go along with the "fair" theme, I made a fair cake, complete with bumper cars, a roller coaster, some petting zoo animals, white picket fences, games and fair food topped off with a giant box of popcorn.

Everything on the cake is edible and everything is handmade - did I mention my awesome friend Joanna?!?! yea - she made most of the little pieces on the cake, like all the games and all the food ect... all handmade by one amazing caker!

This is the bottom tier of the cake. Measured 14X28 and was vanilla with vanilla buttercream.

The top tier was the popcorn box, hand carved and was a white chocolate lovers cake.

The second tier was a 9 inch round carrot cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing.

The "petting zoo" tier is 12 inch round triple chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.

All of the tiers are covered in fondant and the whole cake weighed about 75lbs! That was one BIG OLE cake!

You can see some of my other work on my Facebook Fan Page.

It was such an honor for me to go and make this cake for Jonah. He is just so adorable and his mom (Patrice) has done so much to raise awareness for EB - she is just amazing!

Wanna know the coolest part of his party? They had an online auction to raise money for DebRA.org - which is the organization that offers support to families with EB and is working toward a cure for this horrible disease. Head on over and check them out!

On a side note - if you are ever going out of town on an extended trip and are looking for something more than just a "hotel" but don't want to spend the $$$$ on a condo - check out the Residence Inn by Marriott. We had a 2 bedroom unit. It had a full kitchen and a living room. Seriously, I think it was bigger than my apartment in college. You can't beat it for the price! (no, I'm not getting paid in any way for that review! Just thought it was a great deal and one I certainly didn't know about until this trip).

Ok - so as promised, I have posted 3 of the 4 posts that I mentioned before. The next one to come will be all about making the perfect decorated sugar cookies! Tips and tricks to make them AWESOME!!!

Janel

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My Craft Room

2010-03-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

A while ago I paid a personal organizer to come in and do some work in my home. You see, I was born without the organization gene. Before she helped me rework this room it will full, and by full I mean you couldn't even walk into this room, of junk that never got unpacked.

So, we worked and worked and worked for DAYS on cleaning and organizing this room. I thought that I would give you a run down of what we did - basically, I want to give you a mini tutorial on what I learned while organizing. (ya know - share with you what cost me a small forture - WELL WORTH IT THOUGH!)

This is my craft room. The big desk was given to me by my dad after he retired - I LOVE IT! It gives me several different work areas.

The space right in front of the window is where my sewing machine goes - when I took this picture it was in the trunk of my car so that I could go to my sewing class.

The space to the front of the desk is open for whatever - scrapbooking, painting, cutting or pinning fabric - you name it!

This is the "office" area - where the computer goes and faxes get sent and bills get paid etc...

This is my printer and my bookcase. The bookcase is full of all kinds of books - I'm a bookaholic. I LOVE books! Underneath of the printer is a basket full of "printer stuff". Misc. cords and extra ink cartridges.

LOVE THE BOOKS!

This is also another multi purpose work surface, but mainly this is the scrapbooking area. Those baskets are full of the most used scrapbooking tools and some pictures that need to find their way into a book!

I also use this space for cutting and pinning fabric and planning out projects etc.

BEHOLD - the craft closet! This is the uber-organized craft closet where all my supplies are kept. Sewing, scrapbooking, general crafts, glues, glitter, fabric, paint etc.... all in this AWESOME closet - all labeled and easy to find! Best of all - its easy to clean up because you KNOW where everything goes!

Look at those labels - how awesome is that!!

This is where the tiny stuff is stored - all seperated into tiny little containers inside these drawers.

Best way to store ribbon EVER!!! and organized by color - SWEEEEETTTT! (there is actually another row of ribbons behind these - I really like ribbon too!)

Thats all my fabrics up there - again, organized by color and some are in a "seasonal/holiday" bin.

All my scrapbooking embelishments organized by theme.

So if you want to do this to your room or closet or crafting space here are a couple things that I learned.

1. If you are like me you get a little overwhelmed looking at "the big picture". Pull one box at a time OUT of the area that you are working in and deal with just ONE thing at a time.

2. Only work for 3 to 4 hours a day - any more than that and you will get burned out and lose focus.

3. Sort, Sort, Sort - use large bins or boxes to sort your stuff into categories by craft as well as things to donate/sell and things that are trash.

4. Sort, Sort, Sort - I know - more sorting! Sort each of your categories by either color, theme or size depending on what category you are sorting.

5. Find things to use to organize your space. Desks/tables/shelves/storage totes etc.

6. LABEL EVERYTHING!

I hope that this helps you to organize the space that you have. I cannot tell you how this has cleared my mind and made my crafting easier. My favorite part is how easy cleaning up is - takes like 15 minutes! seriously!

What are you waiting for - GO SORT!

I'm sharing this post here:

Whimsy Couture Pattern Tester

2010-03-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been to Whimsy Couture's Blog? Etsy shop? Really - you need to go! Her stuff is SO CUTE!

So recently she put up a request for some pattern testers, obviously I JUMPED at the chance to test her new pattern for a pillowcase jumper. (kinda like a pillowcase dress - but WAY CUTER!)

So here is my finished product modeled by the one and only MacKenzie! She is totally ready for spring - now, we're just waiting for spring to get here. (how wrong is it that she had to wear mittens to school this morning - we live in FLORIDA! seriously!)

So here is Miss Kenzie in the finished prduct front view:

Gettin Sassy!

Check out the rear!

Super cute! I'm thinking about heading off to JoAnn's to buy some fleece to make her one to last until Spring decides to show up!

Enjoy - and please head over to Whimsy Couture and check out her awesome patterns at her etsy show and some great tutorials on her blog!

Good things to come.....

2010-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

I have about 4 blog posts that I am working on - but, I've been too busy to get them up! We are leaving for vacation tomorrow so that has taken up much of my time.

As most of you may know I'm a cake decorator and I am currently working on the most important cake EVER right now. See, there is a little boy who is beating the odds and celebrating his 1st Birthday next weekend - guess what...

I GET TO MAKE THE CAKE!!! I'm so excited!! I cannot wait to make this cake for him and his family. It is going to be ONE BIG OLE CAKE!! I mean seriously HUGE!

Please take a minute to head on over to read about Jonah and about EB. Also, there is going to be an AWESOME auction coming up in honor of Jonah and all proceeds go to Debra.org to fund support and research for families effected by EB. Check out the Auction too - super cool stuff there!

AND! (I KNOW! it just keeps getting better) I get the chance to be a pattern tester for Whimsy Couture - so excited! So I went today and picked out some cute orange floral fabric for the jumper I'm going to test.

So - blog posts to look forward to soon -
1. How to organize your craft room!
2. Super awesome cake for Jonah
3. Whimsy Couture pattern tester
4. Helpful hint to make the perfect decorated cut-out cookies!

I really hope you are looking forward to these posts as much as I am looking forward to getting them posted!

Hey - did you hear - Samster's Mommy is preggers again!!! Congrats Nat and whole Samster family!

Chocolate Covered Oreo Tutorial

2010-02-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

What can you do with.....

AND.....

You can make THESE.....

YUMMYYYYYY!!!!!!

These are really pretty easy! First thing you need is a cookie mold. You can buy some at your local craft store (Michaels, JoAnns, or Hobby Lobby). They are made by Wilton and you can see some here. I prefer to use molds from a company called Spinning Leaf, I love their selection. Their molds are a little bit deeper allowing you to use Double Stufs and get a better cookie to chocolate ratio. In the Wilton molds you should use regular Oreos.

So - you will want to pick your colors of candy melts, which you can also get at your local craft store. For these I went with Pink and Red for the hearts and then light brown chocolate and white chocolate to cover the cookies.

First, melt your colored chocolate to fill the decoration on the top. To fill small areas of decoration you can use a paint brush, but for this size decoration I used MacKenzie's old baby spoons. Make sure you don't overfill the decoration part - you don't want that color spilling over into the cookie section.

Next you will want to put them in the freezer to let the chocolate set for a few minutes. While they are in the freezer you can start to melt your main cookie color. Once the hearts are set take them out of the freezer and put a small amount of chocolate into the mold, not quite 1/2 full.

Next you will want to place your oreo into the chocolate.

Gently push down on your oreo while twisting slightly. This will allow the chocolate to get into the grooves beween the cookie and the filling and make sure that you don't have any cookie part showing through the chocolate.

Now fill the top of the mold. Try not to over fill and then gently tap out the air bubbles and ensure the whole cookie is covered. If you over fill the mold take a straight edge (icing spatula etc) and scrape off the excess back into the bowl of chocolate.

I usually do one cookie at a time to make sure that the chocolate doesn't set up as I'm filling - but this is what all the steps look like together:

Once all the molds are full place them back in the freezer for a few minutes.

Then simply turn your mold over and they should all just pop out. If you have any that stick gently press on the top of the cookie (in the heart).

And then you have BEAUTIFUL, YUMMY chocolate covered oreos! 6 at a time!

I made these for M's preschool teachers, so I went simple with packaging. It had nothing to do with the fact that I waited until the last minute and didn't really have any other packaging on hand - not at all, I intended to go for a minimalist look.

Who cares how they are packaged! Look how good they look:

And you will be a guaranteed ROCK STAR! And don't worry - if you mess them up - EAT THEM! YUM!

I always use the left over chocolate and the broken cookies too. Break the cookies up a little bit more and mix them in with the left over chocolate and then spread them out on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and pop in the freezer - instant oreo bark!

Now - go see if you have any oreos!

Caitlyn's Baby Shower Presents

2010-02-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today I went to a baby shower for my friend Mary who is having baby girl. I saw a dress on Etsy and I just fell in love with it - but of course I said "I can make that!" (which has gotten me into so much trouble over the years!)

So off I went to JoAnn's to buy some zebra print and hot pink fabric. The dress that I saw had shirring at the top and a super cute ruffle at the bottom.

It wasn't until after I finished the dress that I decided that I should start a craft blog and that I would offer some tutorials on things that I make. So for now - all you get are pics of the finished product. But, if you love it and want I can make another and put together a tutorial.

Isn't it ADORABLE!! (if I do say so myself!!)

I also made her a couple flower hair bows and one butterfly hair bow. I can't wait until the baby is here!!