Sunday, July 29, 2012

Oh Mama!

How cute is that belly!  This sweet mama is a friend of mine and I should have been paying HER to let me take pictures.  She is soooo gorgeous it made snapping the shutter totally fun.  She seriously should have been a model professionally.   Our other friends will back me up on this.  "Babe, you are gorgeous!"


Papa and big brother came along for some really great shots.  Out of respect to mama's wishes I didn't put any pics of big brother in my post, but it nearly killed me.  He is totally handsome and so very excited for baby sister to be born.  



Probably not the most flattering pic to my friend, but that belly is adorable!  I say stick it out there with pride.  You had to work hard to grow that baby bump ;0)

Did I mention that Mama is like...I don't know...twelve feet tall!?!  OK, maybe not that tall, but seriously, she is like 6'2, and she always wears heals.  "I am telling you, Modeling is in your future!"

Belly{love}




This is one of my favorites.  It is just so sweet and shows that amazing affection between mama and baby that exists even before birth.  So sweet.

What a super fun shoot!  Thanks friend for letting me take your pictures and even more thanks for letting me share them!


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Back to School Printables

 
Hello everybody!  Today we are traveling somewhere between the rocky hills of Mt. Rushmore and the totally flat farmland surrounding Sioux Falls, all in the name of Marching Band :0)  Forward we go.

I thought somewhere out there in the bloggosphere might enjoy my new back to school printables.  I tried to make up samples, but got swept away before it was possible.  Now my pile of printables sits lifeless on my craft table.  I am hoping someone can cut the wood and send me a picture of what this project looks like put together ;0)  If not, I will have to do it myself when I get back to Arizona.  

The Printable above was going to be all traced onto 2" wood and cut out with either my band saw or my circular saw.  I intended the "BACK" blocks to sit right on top of the pencil.
The top printable was made with blocks that were all the same size for ease when cutting the blocks out.  This version is for all you out there that like a little variety in your blocks like I do...I even added a block with a "B" that doesn't look upside down {in case you don't like the one that came with the original font}

Here are two versions of my pencils.  The top is for 11x17 paper, the bottom for 8.5x11.


Here are some signs.  I intend to print these guys out, cut them apart, and mode podge  them to blocks.  The page above are sized for 11x17 paper, making blocks out of 2x6's.  The blocks below are sized for 8.5x11 paper, making blocks out of 2x4s.

I am so sad about not being there for Super Saturday this year, I thought I would go ahead and make the centerpieces.  I thought a back-to-school theme this year would be a nice change ;0)  I do have a couple more ideas I am hoping to make up.  

Have a great weekend you guys!!!  

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Sew*Cake Makers Move!!!

The Sew*CakeMaker family is MOVING to 
Sioux Falls, South Dakota!
Shocking, I know ;0)

This is a picture I found online of the beautiful falls in the center of town.
We love them!

Just to give a fair comparison of old and new...here is
 Arizona {where we live now}...

Here is South Dakota {where we are moving...um...very soon!}
It looks like this...

And sometimes this....


But usually THIS!  Crazy, huh?  In the six years we have lived in the Phoenix area I have come to think of snow as one of those fairy tale things made up by filmmakers to make movies have an element of mortal dread :0)  Now that mortal dread gets to be a real part of my life {so proud}

This is a picture of Badlands National Park.  It is on the other side of the state, right along highway 90.  Scott loves to drive with me cross-country because I make him take all the weird off-the-road scenic options.  The Badlands is always top of my list.  It runs right along the freeway making it totally convenient...like a drive-up window at McDonalds...Drive-up window national park!  Fabulous for our fast paced lives, but I would love to come back some day and take it a bit slower.

Also on the other side of the state, Mt. Rushmore!  Also a place I force my husband to go every time we drive out to Minnesota to see family.  We love it.  I would LOVE to stay here too for a week or so and just vacation.  There is a gorgeous lake, cute little cabins to stay in, and fun little things to do all over the place.  With us moving to SD, maybe it will be more likely ;0)

That is pretty much all that I can think of that South Dakota has to offer...in addition to soon being the home of the Sew*CakeMaker family that is.  Come on by and see us if you are ever in the area :0)

Prologue:
So, I found out Monday that the marching band has only one empty hole in it's entire field show...and that spot is for a flute {what Madison plays} SOOOoooooo, looks like we are leaving TOMORROW to get her down up there for BAND CAMP!  You know we just fly by the seat of our pants around here, right?  Wish us luck.  My sewing machine will be packed and you can expect to see some serious clothing remodels coming up shortly ;0)  Thanks for checking in and we will see you all soon...on the other end of the country!


Monday, July 23, 2012

Missionary Pics



I can't even tell you how much fun it was to do this photo shoot!  This young man was so excited to go on a mission for his church.  He just smiled the whole entire time.  


This was in full sun, I know...You should never take a picture in full sun.  This was kind of a "working" picture.  We live our lives in "full sun" after all.

Don't you just LOVE the wheat field!?!  I am not sure how I ended up so lucky, but I manged to find one, here in Arizona, lined with trees so we had a nice sun-free place to take pictures!!!  Super excited...and lucky. 




This is one of my favorites!!!

You wouldn't even believe how well behaved he was ;0)  I didn't have to bribe him with candy, or use my squeaker or anything!  I am going to have to do more missionary shoots, I am telling you!!!

We had to pour on a little {ChEeZe}
I am so jealous.  I LOVE St. George!  Have a great time Elder....and go eat at Judds for me ;0}



We had to get a couple with Mom.  She helped get you to this point, right!?!

Super fun.  

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Over-The-Hill Cheater Cake :0)

With my fabulous friend Jennifer turning 40 and her husbands sweet request for a cake, I had been searching my crazy, mixed up brain trying to figure out just how to make a cake for Jennifer.  This wouldn't be a problem, except for the embarrassing fact that our "temporary house" we are living in right now doesn't have an oven.  Yep.  No oven.  Please don't ask me how I make dinner.  It is a moment I dread all day long, and a trauma I work all night to forget.  

We won't go there, but here is the cake I came up with.  
Costco.  They are my new best friend!
I ran on over to Costco and bought this fabulous, already torted, frosted, and boxed chocolate cake.  Frankly, it was probably cheaper to buy this cake than it would have been to buy all the ingredients and slave away in the kitchen for a whole day...and probably night ;0)

With my current lack of organization I didn't get a cake ordered, so I just grabbed a fancy floral cake, took it home, and scrapped the roses off the middle.  

Since I was going for a graveyard theme to my cake {even though I think that 40 is looking younger and younger every day} I made some dirt.  A couple crunched up oreos and a little brown sugar mixed together did the trick.

I liked the sections already on the cake.  They were fancy so they got to stay.  I just spread the cookie/dirt mixture where I wanted it.

Next I used Wilton's 233 tip to make little patches of grass.  This is NOT a well kept graveyard ;0)

It looked like this after being "seeded."  

Next I made The Coffin Candy Mold.  I picked it up from my fav, ABC Cake in Phoenix.  So if you have never done a big mold like this, don't sweat it!  It is so easy.  I opened a bag of Wilton candy melts, heated them in the microwave until they stirred smooth, then I just poured the chocolate into the mold.  Here is the only trick, make sure and tap the mold on the counter a few times so the bubbles rise to the top.  I put the chocolate filled mold into the freezer for 15 min or so {it is done when all the chocolate is firm to the touch}.  Take the finished candy out of the freezer, turn upside down and remove the candy from the mold.  You can trim any extra chocolate with kitchen scissors, just shave it off.
Fabulous!

I made a tiny mummy from white fondant to put into the coffin.  The headstones were cupcake pics purchased from the cake store.  I had some cute candles too that apparently were left out of this picture {tee-hee}.  They said "Lost Count"  Jennifer, when you read this, you will need to email me a picture ;0) so I can have a finished picture on the blog {thanks, that will be great}.

Fabulous Jennifer!  Thanks for the picture ;0)

So, the whole temporary, oven-less house thing, yeah...I will be able to explain that on Monday :0)
Have a great Weekend!


Novelty Print Quilt Pattern

I have had a hard time finding good quilt patterns for novelty prints the past couple times I purchased them.  I made up this pattern so tha...