"Spa-aaah" birthday party cake

The plan for this cake was going to be that I also made flip flops and nail polish bottles out of fondant and rice crispy treats.

But let me remind you in case I don't say it often enough! I'm freaking I'm pregnant, though, so just having a homemade cake is accomplishment enough

I tried to match the "Spa-aaah" writing from the invitation,

And since I was just doing buttercream anyway, I thought I would practice my rope border and some stars. Hmmm, probably not the best picture to show you for that...

The cake was from a white cake mix (which I added lemon zest to, because I have decided that it makes it so yummy!) which I divided into 2 pans, and tinted one neon blue, and the other green. her party also had teeny tiny bits of dark pink, so I added a layer of fresh strawberries to the middle.

My daughter did say, to make me feel better, that it was ok that I didn't get to the fondant, because she's the only one who likes fondant, her friends don't. Which just goes to show that I'm not raising a total brat she does have a sweet bone in her body.

I'd love to say, "Fondant and Rice Crispy treats next year, fer shure!", but the reality is I'll have 5 kids by then so forget it! I may not be up for it then either.

You might just get some day old doughnuts with a match stuck in one...

Or 12 birthday spankings and a kiss on the cheek.

Ya, that sounds more like it.

Project #40!!!! Hutch Makeover

If you read back to my post about staining my furniture you'll recall that I have a lot of this light pine that I wanted to re-do. I started with the end tables and hutch, and I'm happy to report that I finished them the last weekend in April, and moved them into my house!!!
Then my camera died so I couldn't take any more pictures...

....skip ahead 6 months... I have a camera now, and I looked through and saw this draft and realized that this post never got finished... because um,... oops.
So, the hutch has been in the house all summer. It just got moved again so we could put the newly done entertainment center in.
I did this one all by myself, and am super happy with it!!

Ok, I know this looks kinda sad, because it needs to be accesorized. I think you would be more impressed if I could put a before picture right next to it. But those are on my old computer. It's taken me awhile to switch to new camera and new computer....

I think I'm what they should call an apologetic blogger. It's a new term I just came up with.

This picture shows you the inside which did not get stained, so it shoudl give you a little bit of an idea of what the before looked like.

 



"Boo"-ya! (#42-46)

So last week at our church we had a craft night. I thought I would be spending most of the evening helping to watch the kids that were there in the mursey. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got to do some crafting.

(So I know this only takes a minute to put vinyl on, but I'm still counting this as project finished #42!)

I really got into the crafting groove. About 10 minutes before it was ending, I told a friend, "I think I could keep going another 2 hours."

(Learned how to make these felt flowers... #43... I think if I make the leaves smaller it would make a cute hair accesory)

It seems like in my life right now it's hard for me to find any uninterrupted time for crafting...

(This is a photo pendant that I made there. Those are my 2 youngest girls, hard to see in the picture- I just got a chain so I can wear it now! #44)

The next day I spent a few hours, ignoring the condition of my home, and getting my craft on.
There had been a demo about how to make pendant banners. I've made a few before, but the teacher did a short one that just said, "B-O-O", which is a lot faster to make than a "H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y-!" banner. I had some scrap fabric left from when I made my Jack-o-lantern quilt. It was so small, I didn't think I could do much with it, but it was so cute, I hated to throw it out. So, I got the idea to make some mini-pendant banners.

(#45)

I made "BOO!" and a "Spooky" and I have enough left to make a "Beware" one. I decided that since they were so small, it wasn't worth cutting out and appliquing teeny tiny letters, so I embroidered them on. Easy peasy. I ran out of stabilizer, and haven't made it to Hobby Lobby to get more... so that's why "Beware" isn't done.

(#46)

I cut the little scraps that were left to tie on in between. No fabric wasted.
Since I used stuff from my project closet for this- this TOTALLY counts as a finished project!!

MORE CANDY CORN TREATS!

So I guess I'm on a candy corn streak. (You can see the candy corn cupcakes here)

I needed another treat for something, and I had a lot of rice crispies and marshmallows on hand. I was supposed to make part of my oldest daughters cake with fondant and rice crispy treats... I didn't feel well, and that part of the cake didn't happen.

So, I made a double batch of regular rice crispy treats, and after the marshmallows and butter were melted, and just before I poured it over the cereal, I added orange food coloring.

 

My 5 year old helped with this.

After they cooled, I cut them into triangle shaped pieces, and moved them to parchment paper.

then I melted some yellow chocolate I had on hand and dipped the big end into it. It used a lot more than I thought it would, and I ran out. So, I did the rest in milk chocolate. Those looked cute too, and tasted good. We called those ones Indian corn.

Then I dipped the other end in white chocolate. I say dipped, but it was more like I spread it on there with a spoon.

 

Then I put them in bags with a few candy corn pieces, tied a cute bow and a card with it...

 

I think they turned out really cute... except that I don't like these bags from Dollar Tree cause they have printing all over them. It really detracts from the cuteness factor. Plus, I don't want anyone thinking the treat was made in China. Cause it wasn't. It was made right here in my kitchen in Texas!

linked to:

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

My quick Home Made Pinata

So a few years ago, my son and I made this Valentine's Day box. You can read about it here. I think he used it 2 years in a row, to take to school and have the other kids drop their valentine's for him in the slot on top.

It has been in the garage, and I knew my husband was about to clean out the garage again. I knew it wouldn't survive the purging. Plus, my oldest daughter told me (after I had bought everything and spent the budget- of course) that she also wanted a pinata at her birthday party. So, I decided to turn this into one. My baby had lots of fun filling it with candy. ("I help. I help!!")

I even decided to get her dressed for the picture!

My daughter was having a "Spa party" complete with mud mask facials, pedicure, and manicures... I wasn't sure how a pinata would fit into that theme.

At least I could make it match the color scheme...

so I wrapped it in green wrapping paper, stapled tissue paper on the back around the edges, and ebmellised it in aqua blue, and even matched the writing from the invitations.

They loved it...

More party details coming later...

linked to:
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

I heart Candy Corn

Last week was my daughters birthday, and she asked what kind of cupcakes I was going to make for her class at school... like 2 days before her birthday. Well, I didn't want to make a trip to the store, so it was going to be whatever I had on hand.

One one of my favorite blogs had this tutorial for Candy Corn Cake tutorial

I didn't end up doing the cake, but looked around at all her other Candy Corn ideas, and came up with these:

I used a yellow instead of white cake mix,(cause that's what I had) but added the lemon zest, which really made it yummy. I colored the batter yellow and orange, and used some fall cup cake liners I had. Then used some orange sugar, and yellow sprinkles along with what was left of my candy corn bag! 

 

They turned out yummy and cute. But, really, you should check out Leigh Anne's blog for some great candy corn ideas.... she might be the only person I've met who might love candy corn more than I do... maybe.

 

 

P.S. Thanks for voting on the dresser color. It is still being worked on, but I'm told it's almost done. I gave him the new hardware I bought on Friday. Hope to reveal it soon!