Our Week With Minnesota Grandma

I just dropped Grandma off at the airport today and thought I would show you a little of what we managed to do during our visit.  This ruffled table runner was probably the craftiest thing made betwixt cooking, clean-ups and Diet Coke runs.  I was told that Minnesota Grandma's table was naked due to lack of a Spring table runner, so it was my crafty duty to rectify the situation.  I plan to make one for myself and will show you more up-close photos when that is ready.  

Auntie Kallie (my little sister) and her son Johnathon decided last minute to come along with Grandma.   Kallie is expecting in July so the only natural thing to do was to make a baby blanket, right?  Kallie found this darling, already-pieced fabric at Hobby Lobby and asked if I would help her put it together.  She sewed the blanket together, I got the fun part of putting the trim on.

Kallie pretended to be camera shy.  I feel it my very sisterly duty to get you a picture of the beautiful prego darling :0)

Hate to tell you Kallie, you can run, but you can't hide!

I have my ways-Wah-ha-ha-ha Ha!!!! (sinister, evil laugh)

Here is half a face :0)  We are half-way there already!!!

You should also know that I am rotten down to my very core when it comes to sibling torture.  I pride myself on the fabulous level I have achieved recently.  First piece of evidence, the underwear I had my mom steal from my sister's suitcase so I could ruffle it :0)

Yep, that is right!  I pulled out my ruffler foot and never laughed so hard :0)  Three fabulous rows of fluffy red ruffles on Kallies very favorite pair of undies!  You wish you thought of it, don't ya!?!

What else did we do while they were here?  Well, Emmalee and Chase took Little John out on the town, showing him the sights and sounds they call their own...really..there was a LOT of calling out MINE! over the past few days...but the kids really had a lot of fun together.

How cute is this little piggy!?!  I think she was actually posing for us.  She lives over at the house with all the petting zoo animals.  Since finding that yard of animals we have taken just about every toddler we know to visit.  Now Johnathon can add that to his Arizona Passport.

Grandma saved this very vital piece of
Federal property from the canal after Little John may or may not have allegedly, and ever so softly, tossed it into the canal.  FBI, give me a call and I will get you his address :0)

Our fabulous Aunt and Uncle came up from Yuma for a visit too.  We took the whole crew to someone else's neighborhood for a fabulous resort-like feel.  This community is not far from us with a huge man-made lake and tons of ducks to feed.

We dug through the cupboards for bread for the ducks.  It must have been good bread because it started disappearing before the ducks made it to our side of the lake.  

I took a picture of Johnathon throwing rocks a few days ago.  The rocks were frozen in the air, mid-throw.  Eli loved the photo so much he made me take 50 pictures of him throwing rocks into the lake until I managed a shot of his rocks frozen in time.  I do actually love the shot.  

One other place we took our visitors was our favorite Arizona Science Center.  Above is Emmalee, my little puzzle junkie, trying to put this poor guy back together.  Sadly, this 3D human puzzle was a bit more than she bargained for.

Here is Emmalee showing Johnathon how to use the pulley chairs.  You sit on them and use a pulley/rope system to pull your chair up a pole.  Emmalee loved this exhibit and wanted Johnathon to give it a try.

Johnathon hopped on and was like, "This is a lame ride!"  He didn't quite get the idea that you pull the rope and not just wait for it to pull you :0)  Good thing Uncle Scott was there to play human motor.

OH!  There is a picture of Kallie!  She was convinced to lay her pregnant self on the bed of nails for a little R&R.  Not sure it worked, but I am sure she loves this picture :0)  

Madison loves this exhibit.  The kids stand behind a screen and SOMEHOW it looks like the little beads are falling on them, filling up whatever ledge they fall on.  Tons of fun!!! 

We could not let a visit with family go by without a photo session at our favorite place.  We brought bubbles this time.  We didn't quite achieve the effect I was going for.  I wanted soft little bubbles all over the air, children smiling, all four grandkids in the shot.  Johnathon took one step into the field of wheat and ran the other way.  My kids were so distracted by the shiny, fancy bubbles that I couldn't get a clear shot of anyone's face.  Oh well!  They all had fun anyway :0) 

Johnathon took special interest in the pile of tires.  He lifted, tugged, rolled and pulled them all over the place. I had fun trying to get a picture of his face.  Apparently he is famous for showing you his backside every time you try to take a photo.  I like this shot.  He looks so deep in thought, like all 3yr olds are :0)

Oh, there is Kallie again!  That tire was actually a run-away tire trying to steam roll her flat.  Luckily she was "spared"

...get it...tires...SPARED! 

I am so funny!

We almost did it, got a picture of all the grandkids.

I still love the picture.  These are all of Minnesota Grandma's grandkids...and Kallie :0)  She really is just a big kid at heart so I guess she can be in the picture too.  That and the fact Johnathon looked like a floating head when he stood on the ground in the wheat, to quote Grandma :0)

This was a shot of the full moon that evening.  It was totally HUGE and simply amazing to see.  

Anyway, I had a great time torturing my sister and her little boy, visiting with my mom, and laughing myself soggy :0)  Next time we will go to Minnesota for the visit, but don't worry Kallie!  I won't forget my ruffler foot.  It doesn't take up much space at all in my carry-on bag :0)

Up next, I have been working very hard on the kid's bathroom.  I have repainted it and currently have a secret project under way.  I will have pictures to show you shortly...

Can you even wait!?!  I can't!!! 

Easter Cake Balls

Madison and I set out to make cake balls for Eli's class Thursday night and ended up with these.  I was going to just dip them in yellow almond bark and drizzle colored chocolate on top.  Once I the idea to make chicks popped into my head, we ran with it.  

Let me show you what I did.  It really was so fun and easy!

We made oreo cookie balls per Eli's request, rolled them tight, then dipped them into yellow almond bark.   

They were placed on wax paper lined cookie sheet while the almond bark set.

I used Wilton decorating tip no. 352, (for leaves) to make the beak and then again to make the feet. 

I made the eyes with chocolate frosting and round tip no. 3.  I used a little fuchsia luster dust to rosy the cheeks.  I would have preferred a lighter colored dust, but the fuchsia was all I had on hand.

We packed all 30 into a box and sent them off to school :0)  Love Them!!!

Halfway through dipping the chicks I thought of these bunnies and had to try them too.

We dipped the same oreo cookie balls in plain white almond bark, then used the same chocolate frosting to dot the two eyes and draw a line for the mouth.  I made a larger blop at the top of the mouth to act like glue for the nose.  The nose, by the way, is a jellybean cut in half.  I couldn't decide which way to cut them, so some bunnies have oval noses and some have noses that are more circular.

After they all had faces, I brushed the cheeks with luster dust and set them aside.  

For the ears, I used spoons and almond bark.  I thought about this for a while and tried a couple things... 

My final conclusion was that you can use either plastic or metal spoons-no plastic wrap!  Drizzle the chocolate onto the spoon to make a long, thin-ish ear shape.  Then, let sit on the counter for 15 min. or so.  The chocolate will harden enough to add the ear centers. 

The ear on the left I used almond bark tinted pink to make the center.  The ear on the right was brushed with fuchsia luster dust to color it.  You can decide which one you want to do.  I did end up brushing the pink bark with the luster dust.  I am a rather obsessed with shading things :0)

Once the centers were ready, I tossed the whole plate of spoons in the freezer to harden all the way. 

When the almond bark is hardened, it comes right off the spoons.  I dabbed a little wet almond bark on the back of the ears and attached them to the bunny heads. The bunnies hung around the edge of the cookie sheet until the ears were dry.  

How cute is my flock of bunnies!!!  We had a hard time eating them they were that cute :0)

Easter cake balls, or cookie balls I should say.  

Yumm!

It's In The House!!!

Ohhhh!  I want to cry!  It is in the house!!!

This beast of a cabinet has been in my garage for 4 months waiting to be finished.  I don't know if you remember, but the cabinet started out like this... 

I found it at Goodwill and it simply cried out, "Take Me Home and FILL me with CRAFT SUPPLIES!!!!"

I borrowed a truck, and by some miracle, got it home in one piece.   

I painted it the lovely Shrek Green during one brief spurt of energy whilst sick with the flu.  After days and weeks running away from me like wild deer, I finally set myself down in front of my dear forgotten project with a paintbrush and a dream :0)  It only took two more weeks to get up the nerve to call guys to come over and help get it in the house.  I will be making one huge batch of cookies for the 4 wonderful men that came over at 8:00 tonight to help us move it into the house.  It was an event, but those guys made it look easy.

I will show you more when the doors are on and the shelves are in (after I make the shelves, ugggh).

I am starting to really worry if all of this...

Will really fit inside!!!  Tell me it will!  My mom always said I was a miracle with a pile of luggage and a mid-sized trunk, so I think it can happen.  If not, I will have to go back to Good Will :0)

I will be back in the next while (notice the lack of time frame commitment) with finished pictures!!!

Tomorrow Bunco at my house, Wednesday, My Minnesota Mom Is COMING!!!

Wahoo!  Can't wait! 

Noah's Ark Cake

A friend of mine asked me to make a Noah's Ark Cake for a baby shower.  

After scavenging through photos on the web I found this... 

Cake at Make Me Studio.  How cute is that! 

After a little more searching, I found these animal heads...

From The Cupcake Gallery.

I fell head over heals for these darling little balls of sweetness.  They are cute as well as simple...or at least they looked simple :0)

Here is a quick version of how I made my copycat cake...

I baked a 11x17" sheet cake.

I wanted the ark to be tapered as it got closer to the bottom so I made two ark patterns, one larger piece for the deck, then a pattern 1 1/2" smaller for the base.  I cut 2 of the bigger, deck patterns out of the sheet cake.  

Once cut, I stacked the cake pieces on top of the large pattern, and laid the smaller pattern on top of the cake stack.  I trimmed away the extra cake making sure my knife was angled while I cut.  

Last minute I decided to cut a hole in the center of my cake cardboard foundation so that I could dowel the cake for sturdiness and not have to fight the cardboard to get into the cake below.

I covered a 10" cake with thin frosting, then blue fondant.  I iced my ark pieces, then covered them completely with fondant.  After envisioning all the wood pieces falling off my tapered ark, I decided to cover the whole thing with fondant first, then add the other decorations.  It was sure a good thing I did. While I am sure it made for a lot of frosting, the base piece of fondant kept my ark together when I added all the heavy animals.  I added the two dowels from the top of the ark for stability. 

There are very many nightmarish scenarios that run through one's head when making a cake for someone else.  You hope that the cake stays together, doesn't taste like dirt, that you don't drop the thing when carrying it, that the toddler will not run a pudgy finger through the freshly applied frosting.  Those are only a few of the nightmares.  I find transporting the darn things one of my biggest stresses.  I like to add dowels when possible to keep parts from sliding right off the cake's base.

I think it was about 10pm at the time I took this picture.  Here are my two helpers for the evening, Lindsey and Madison.  They were busy mixing fondant and rolling little critter heads while I worked on the ark.

These two were troopers.  We started at about 6pm.  Madison and Lindsey worked until about 2am.  I kept going until 5am, then stopped for a small snooze before getting back at it this morning.  I figure this cake took me about 15 hours, not counting mixing and baking the actual cake.  It took me another 2 hours to clean up after :0)  

Here is my first row of wood planking.  I rolled the fondant out, cut strips, cut the strips into segments, painted the back of each segment with corn syrup, then put them on the ark.  

I added a rope around the deck, and used a brand new clay extruder to squeeze out the hay-style roof for the ark.  

You know me and shading, right?  Can't live without it!  

I  mixed a small amount of brown icing coloring with a small amount of corn syrup and a few drops of water.  After mixing, I painted all the areas of the ship that needed a little depth.  I soooooo love the look of the shaded wood!  Nail holes were poked with toothpicks.

Given the fact it was a Noah's Ark cake, I simply had to add a rainbow.  Again paining on corn syrup first, I made ropes of color and applied them to the cake.  I also cut clouds out of white fondant using a little flower cookie cutter.  I found that if you roll the fondant out thick, then cookie cut, then roll with the rolling pin you can get a variety of shapes that all look similar, but add variety.  I used that idea on the eyes of the monkey you will see down below.

Here are our little animals.  They were so very fun to make.  Madison made all the bows.  It was pretty tough to decide which animals to make.  We finally settled on lions, tigers, panda bears, elephants, monkeys, pigs, snakes, doves and giraffes.  I really wanted to make zebras too but there just wasn't room :0)

Here is the cake decked out in it's rainbow and border.

I thought about making the bottom cake water, but I could not resist the rainbow.  You know, we actually had rain today and got to see not only a rainbow here in the valley, but a double rainbow.  Emmalee was so impressed she spent the rest of the night showing everyone how she could make a rainbow with her legs.  The talent that flows in this family is simply astounding :0)

Ta-dah!  That is one crowded ark!

I seriously think the monkeys are my favorite, but the giraffe's come in close second.

I ended up leaving the back side kind of empty.  I loved each and every animal so much I just couldn't decide which one to hide on the back.  Finally I figured out how to fit them all on the front.  Sadly, we had a minor tragedy on the way to the baby shower.  It was only a couple blocks from my house, but things slid. I parked the car, ran around to the passenger side to grab the cake from Madison (Official Cake Keeper) and nearly screamed.  All those chubby animals hanging out in front made our ark lopsided.  I started pulling little critter heads off left and right.  Madison just sat there in the front seat, cake in lap, critter heads in hands, holding the poor dears while I switched and moved all the animals to keep the ark from breaking.  

That was stressful.

We managed to work quickly enough, there in the driveway, that we saved the ark and all the animals on board.  Here is a photo of the cake at the shower... 

Whew!  Just call me the Cake Doctor!!!

Super fun, super cute Noah's Ark Cake.  Give it a try!  

If I can do it, I am sure you can too :-)