Ladies Weekend (183:365)

Today was part 1 of the rockin' mommy party.

We celebrated 3 birthdays, as well as a brief vacation from motherly duties, by shopping till we dropped, eating out in fancy places where kids are not welcome, doing cartwheels down the hotel hallway, and laughing until we cried.

We are all crafty moms, or are aspiring to be such, therefore most gifts for the b-day girls were homemade. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of what others gave, but I do have pics of what I made.

Hairpins made from vintage cabochons.

Rosette hairpin, button hairpin and hair tie.

Fabric wrapped headband with a gold filigree and rose cabochon.

What have you made for someone lately?

Birthday Gifts (182:365)

I've been working on some birthday gifts for 3 of my girlfriends.

No, I will not be sharing what they are because I know you all read this blog.

Hope you like them!

Cupcakes no.23 and no.3 (178:365)

My friend Heather just had a birthday so I made yummy cupcakes for her. We ate them at church with all the Young Women after our meeting. They were really good! I can say that because they were not my recipe, but were from one of the best cupcake websites I've seen. Find it right here.

I've made cupcakes no.5 and no.9  from this site before, see them here.

I made no.23, Vanilla Cupcake with Lemon Filling. I used Trader Joe's lemon curd for the filling and my own vanilla buttercream for the frosting. Then topped them with Turbinado Sugar. Yum!








We also ate no.3, Flourless Chocolate Cake with Real Whipped Cream.
So dense, rich and delicious! I topped them all with a dusting of cocoa powder.





Are you salivating yet?

Goose's First Birthday Party! (177:365)

We had a lot of fun having a baby party today. We played with balloons (yes, I let babies play with balloons...supervised), watched Baby Einstein, ate Goldfish crackers and watched Goose poke a timid finger into her giant cupcake. 

 

It was all very cute. I love kid parties! 

My Baby is 1 (175:365)

I can't believe it.

That was the fastest year ever.

I've never seen a one year old get into their cake as much as she did!

It was like she'd been waiting her entire life to eat that cupcake.

Happy Birthday my little Angel Pie.

A Goose for Goose Part 2 (174:365)

Finished this sweet little Goose today.

I put an "L" on it's tummy so Goose knows it's hers.

(I got the "L" template from this page here.)

Things I learned while making the Goose:

1. I have a 1970's sewing tips book that taught me to securely fasten buttons onto fabric where they will be pulled at a lot and there is a risk of coming off, by putting another button on the other side of the fabric and stitching them both together. That is a great tip for making things for kids that could be choking hazards.
2. Test the strength of your vintage fabric before using it if you are making something you want to last a long time.
3. Measure twice, cut once. (I should have learned this by now! I'm just too impatient.)
4. Google "free _____ tutorial/ printable" for anything. You will likely find a sweet pattern from a kind crafty soul.
5. I HEART Heat N Bond. Will be using more!

I cannot believe my Goose is going to be 1 tomorrow!!!

A Goose for Goose Part 1 (173:365)

My baby is going to be 1 this Thursday and I couldn't resist making her a Goose plushie. I got most of it done today, but encountered some snags because I used a vintage fabric scrap for the body. The fabric isn't as strong as I thought it would be...so I'm not sure how long this Goose is going to last.

I found the pattern at this cute website.

First School Birthday Cupcakes (82:365)

I know she's only in preschool, but I feel the pressure anyway.

School, being equal to other moms, having the same stuff as the other kids (remember Dee's cute backpack I made? We caved and bought a bigger one like the other kids have).

But that's not the point, today I made cupcakes for Dee's "Special Day" tomorrow in preschool where they are going to celebrate her birthday. I'm excited for her!

She wanted white cake with Halloween sprinkles. 

(Honestly it was either that or Christmas sprinkles, so...)

She's pretty excited too.

My little sweetie pie.

Rainbow Cake for Dee: Part 2 (73:365)

Dee's party was a smashing success!

For more on that, click here.

The cake went very well.

It looked so pretty up on it's pedestal. 

Dee LOVED it to bits.

And that's all that really matters.

After baking and cooling the cake layers, I then layered them on the cake pedestal, according to Roy G. Biv, and put a layer of frosting in between each one.

Then I frosted the outside. 

Since I'd refrigerated it for a while before decorating it, the frosting was hard and did not want to accept the skittles onto it's sweet frosting coating...have no fear, flaming torch is here! 

Yes, I used a torch to melt the frosting a bit so that I could get the skittles to stick. 

I like to think of myself as resourceful, not insane. 

Thank you.

So, then I decorated it with a skittle rainbow and a number 3.

Doesn't look like a 3. 

I know. 

I was nervous making the rainbow, so I made it too small, it ended up really tight and smushed, and then the 3 just looks weird. My friend Julie told me she thought it was all a cute rainbow umbrella.
She's very sweet.
Let's just pretend that's what it is.

The pretty insides.

The remains of the day.

Here are the steps for making this lovely cake.

1. Prepare two White cake mixes.

2. Evenly pour batter into six bowls.

3. Add food coloring until desired colors are achieved (I prefer the gel type that you can buy at a craft or specialty store, or sometimes Wally-World).

4. Bake each layer according to directions on box, only, more like for 12-15 minutes since the layers are smaller than the box says to do.

5. Let cool completely.

6. Begin to layer the cake on desired serving platter, adding a layer of frosting between each colored layer. (Baker's tip - add a thin layer of frosting between bottom cake layer and the serving platter to help stabilize the cake. Thanks mom!)

7. Frost the outside.

8. Decorate

9. Enjoy!

Recycling Old Crayons (72:365)

For Jane's party tomorrow, I decided to make some rainbow crayons to put into the treat bags. I found this quick little tutorial at one of my favorite blogs, indietutes.

 It's a very easy process that even Jane enjoyed,
helping me the entire time (that is a FEAT I tell you!).

Step 1: Gather all old and broken crayons.
(I am a collector of restaurant crayons, merely for this project.)

Step 2: Tear off paper.

Step 3: Sort crayon pieces by color and break into tiny bits.

Jane really enjoyed this step. Breaking them is the best part!

Step 4 (optional): Take a picture of a cute baby.

If you don't have a baby, you can borrow mine when I need a nap.

Step 5: Spray mini muffin tin with oil.

Step 6: Put broken pieces into muffin tin, layering how you want it to turn out.

Step 7: Bake at 200 degrees until they are melty.

Tip: I'm pretty sure I cooked my for too long because they started to separate, the tops got all oily and they don't work to color from the oily part. I kept waiting for all the chunks to melt down, but I don't think that is really necessary. As long as most of it is melty, they will all harden back up together anyway.

Step 8: Let it cool for a while, then put into fridge or freezer to harden them back up.

Step 9: Tip muffin pan, and they should pop right out!

Stop taking pictures, mom!

Rainbow Cake for Dee: Part 1 (71:365)

Dee will be 3 soon and has been asking for a rainbow cake for MONTHS. I showed her a picture of a rainbow cake here and ever since she has been talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it...

She even tells strangers about it.

While on our summer vacation she actually picked up the phone in our hotel room and "called" the rainbow cake lady and talked to her about her cake. I later told her that I was the rainbow cake lady (since I'm the one making the cake, not some cake fairy) and that confused her a bit.

So, Phase One occurred tonight. 

Mixing colors.

And baking. 

I'll frost it tomorrow and put skittles on it on Saturday for her little party. I think I'm probably as excited about it as she is!

Tardy Issues (53:365)

I have a disorder called "Tardy-to-Everything-Itis". 

What this means is that I am chronically late for everything. Meetings, picking up my Jane from preschool, church, parties, and I even gift late for birthdays and holidays. 

Yeah, I'm super cool and reliable.

I am working on it, but my poor sister is just another one of the casualties of this disorder (which runs in my mom's side of the family, so she is also a carrier of the disease, therefore, she is understanding and forgiving).

The purpose of this confession is that I am working (still) on her birthday stuff, as you can see that things came up this week to displace my b-day projects. Therefore, there are no pictures today since what I am doing is for her and I KNOW she is reading this post. 

Sorry Sarah! Love you!

First Time as a Stake Dance Chaperone (31:365)

Tonight I chaperoned for the first time at a Dance for the youth of our church. It was a little surreal watching them dance to the same goofy songs I used to (about 15 years ago!), like Cotton Eye Joe and The Electric Slide. It was fun though! I boogied a little.
For your listening and viewing enjoyment, here are two classics!



Oh man, I've never seen the original. Maybe there's a reason...


I also had a blast celebrating two of my friends birthday's this weekend, sleeping over at a B&B. Last night was my first night without a kid in almost 3 years! It was a much needed good time. Thanks ladies and Happy Birthday Ashley and Cheryl!