A Work In Progress

I have had this "Great Stuff" sitting idly on my garage shelf all summer.  It has been patiently waiting for me to find the exactly perfect containers for my fake cake cupcake project.  

Well, I found the perfect containers in Utah last month and finally got a couple minutes to get the project rolling!!!

I have never used this stuff before, but have always wanted to get my hands on it.  It is the kind of stuff you never, ever want your 8 year old son to get a hold of, but deep down inside you want to just spray it into the sky just like him.  It is usually used to seal cracks and gaps in your house around window and door jams before you put the molding on to finish up.  It is an insulator to keep drafts out and so on.

But in my house, it is used to create inedible food.  The nozzle just twists on, then you pull back only on the bottom part of the handle {attached to the nozzle you just screwed on}.

I filled each cup to just under the top rim.  I am sorry for the terrible pictures.  I tried to just snap a couple with my phone.  Ugh!  Anyway, I just went in a spiral motion around the edge of the cups and filled in the center here and there.

I was able to fill about 5 cups with one can and it just so happens that I had TWO cans!!!

OK, so left the stuff to dry while I worked on the phone all day...Came out into the garage a few hours later to grab a practice cupcake and ... 

They were HUGE!!!

What the???

OK, so don't fill to just below the rim.  I ended up using all my time cutting the foam down so I could have room to frost my cupcakes.  Hopefully tomorrow I will get some time to get that done.  I have never been so anxious to get cupcakes done in all my life.

Seriously.  I probably could have filled 20 cups, not just 10 ;-}  The other thing I noticed was they end up a little top heavy.  So, if I ever get these right and you ever want to make some yourself, throw a heavy washer in the bottom of the cup to give it some weight, will 'ya?

And just for kicks and giggles, here is another fabulous Minnesota sunrise.  The beautiful sky is the best part of being up and out driving kids around before even 6 AM.  It almost makes it worth it.  A gorgeous sunrise is definitely a great way to start the day of happy.

More on the fake cake cupcakes soon...

Xander is 1!!!

I had the best time last week playing photographer.  Thursday and Friday I practiced my skills by taking these first birthday pictures of Xander.   He was a total doll.  

I was more than excited to do a cake smash with the little guy.  It was so fun to watch him pick at the frosting.  Xander didn't like the feel of it on his fingers, but he managed to enjoy himself regardless when he finally tasted the sugary goodness ;0}

Thanks Xander for being such a fun subject for on of my first attempts at an indoor shoot!!!

Birthday Baubles

I just got an order for a couple of these the other day and went today to find the pattern but couldn't find it!

After a little digging, I found this blog post and decided it was worth re-posting.  If nothing else, maybe I will be able to find it easier next time ;0}

I made these a couple of years ago to use as birthday gifts for the ladies at church.  My heart is heavy today though, because my good friend serving in the presidency with me at the time, she passed away last month, just one week after giving birth to a beautiful little girl.  I just ran across a picture of her in a different post, and now looking at these cute birthday baubles makes me think of her sitting by my side...and how she never will again.  So sad.

As for the business end of this post, 

The cupcake is cut from a 2x4.  I cut the frosting from 1/8" mdf {HomeDepot} with paper mod podged to the front.  I inked all edges with my permanent ink pad and applied a top coat of the mod podge to seal it all up.

I thought it would be cute to use a dumdum sucker as the cherry on top.  I drilled a hole as deep as I possibly could and it happened to be just deep enough.  The sucker fit completely inside, then I tied the curling ribbon on for added festiveness.

The present is just a smaller version of my Christmas Present.

They turned out super cute.  I also cut these from a 2x4.  I glittered the "ribbon" sash for a little bling.

I am still debating wrapping a sucker in the curly wire just to make things fair.  

Just for kicks and giggles I made up a pattern for anyone that wants it :0)

Click on the image to make it bigger, then right click and save.  

Now I will print that pattern out myself and hit my 10 degree garage for as little time as it possibly takes to cut my current order out.  All the while I will try to remember the happy times with my dear lost friend and try to remember our fun-filled moments together.  Happy and cheerful like these birthday baubles.  That is how Season always was.  Smiley and happy, and bubbling over with sweetness and concern for all.

What Teen Doesn't Love High Heels!?!

Madison's birthday was this weekend.  We drove out to Worthington to see Lindsey and Kylee and brought a few crazy projects with us to do there.  This was the first.  I left Lindsey and Madison there to bake cupcakes while I drove Eli to a campout at Lake Shetek, then came back ready to decorate.

I can't find the direct link, but Grandma sent a picture of the cupcakes CINDY made and we just had to try them out!

I took the lazy way, bought cake mix and frosting.  I believe it was Pilsbury that had the pink, blue and purple frosting.  The blue would be PERFECT for a Cookie Monster cake, by the way ;0}

Lindsey loves it when I put her picture on the blog ;0)

Madison got all creative with her shoe-cakes.  Love the butterfly!

We took these to church and shared them with all the Young Women on Sunday.  The rest I took to Madison's school at lunch on Monday so she could share them with her school friends.  They were totally easy and absolutely adorable.  Thanks Grandma for the idea!!!

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!

Happy Birthday Pennant Printable

It is my baby girl's 14th birthday today!!!  Yay for Madison!!!  I made a pile of oreo cakepop cones to take her at school.  I made this banner to spice things up a bit.

I taped BBQ skewers to the side of the pan to hold the banner.  

I used this printable to print out the banner, cut the pennants out, then just sewed them together, pulling the stings longer at the beginning and end to tie to the skewers.

A little curling ribbon on the top of the poles and SHAZAM!

We have a portable birthday surprise. 

Mads and all her classmates loved the cake pops and begged for more.  We may just have to get one more batch made for them before school is out in a few weeks :0)

You can download the pennant banner printable HERE with Dropbox!