Baby Shower Guest Book

For the baby shower, I was asked to do something creative for the guest book. I looked on Pinterest for a long time trying to come up with cute ideas. I wanted it to be something that my friend would actually use somewhere. I didn't like the idea of framing a picture with a mat around it that everyone signs, I didn't like the idea of a signature quilt...but I wanted to make something for the baby room.

Rachel told me that the theme was jungle. I came across this pin on Pinterest and I liked the idea of everyone signing something that will become part of the picture, so I started brainstorming and I came up with a giraffe with signatures on the spots!

I think it turned out so cute. I cut the giraffe out of construction paper. I also included a bible verse (Psalms 127:3) so that whenever Rachel looks at it she'll remember that her baby is a gift from God.

:)

The only thing that I forgot to do was to put the date somewhere on the picture...maybe when the baby comes, Rachel can put his birthday on it or something in the corner.

Wilton Method of Decorating Cakes: Session TWO

Well, the second session of my cake decorating class was....OK. And I only say that because I had planned to decorate a 2 layer cake, but after all was said and done, it turned out to be only 1 layer. Frosting the top and sides of the cake and making it nice and even is HARD. Especially if you have a lot of crumbs you are dealing with.

So first things first. I made my cake from scratch using this recipe that I found on Pinterest. I had never baked a cake before that called for soda pop in the recipe and I thought it sounded good! I used a Zevia coke instead of real coke because their is ZERO sugar and ZERO calories!!!

For the frosting, I made my own buttercream (it is soooo good) using this recipe:

1 cup butter (I use the Land-O-Lakes brand)

1 pound of pure cane powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp meringue powder 

First, cream together the butter and vanilla extract, then slowly add the powdered sugar and meringue powder until combined! 

I went ahead and made two batches of the icing.

Now for the cake, note that if you are planning on making a 2 layer cake, the batter should be spread evenly between the two pans. At first, I was only planning on working with one layer of cake (I used a 2" thick cake pan and was planning on cutting it into two 1" layers in class), but then I had a lot of batter left over so I decided to just bake a second layer. 

In the first class, the instructor told us that it works better if you bake the cake at 325 degrees instead of 350 degrees.

I didn't have the same amount of batter in each pan and so the second one did not get as big as the first one, as you can see below. 

This is how my cakes turned out! The one on the bottom is the one I ended up using for class.

In class, I learned that one of the most critical things to get right when icing a cake is to get the consistency of the icing right! 

The top and sides of the cake should be iced with medium-stiff icing. By the time I got to class and had worked with my icing to make it smooth again (I had stored it in the refrigerator and so it was hard), it was too soft, so I had to add a LOT of powdered sugar to it to make it stiffer. If the icing is too soft, it will pick up the crumbs off the top of the cake and it will not dry as fast. 

I didn't want to waste cake, so I saved the layer I didn't end up using and smeared the last of my green frosting on top. It's not very pretty, but it doesn't taste half bad. I had bought a lemon creme pie filling to put in between the two layers so there is some of that in this cake. 

The one I decorated doesn't have any filling.

:(

Ta-daa!! Here is the finished product!

(In case you are wondering, it's a cup-cake with green frosting and a purple base...STACI)...

Wilton Method of Decorating Cakes: Session ONE

I went to the first session of my cake decorating class this past Monday.

My take on the class was that it was slightly boring/disappointing, although I did learn a lot of information that I didn't know before about how to bake a cake, and the differences between icing consistencies (like if you want to write letters with the icing, you need a softer consistency and if you want to make petals or something like that, you want a firmer consistency). 

Towards the middle of class, we learned how to prepare the icing bags and the different tips you can use to make different designs. She also went over how to hold the bag and different hand positions to use when you make different designs. 

And at the end of class came the fun part! We got to practice decorating sugar cookies that we were all supposed to bring with us to class. 

The different techniques we learned in session 1 were stars and dots. I think that my stars are pretty good (they are not very hard), but my dots could use a little bit of work. It's hard to get them smooth on the top and still look like a dot. 

I am looking forward to the second class because we were all given homework to bring a cake with us next time to practice on! We are also supposed to prepare our own icing to use. We are going to practice cutting the cake in to two layers to put a tasty filling in between the layers. 

We each got course booklets to review, and there is a recipe for icing in there that we're supposed to use. However, it calls for vegetable shortening (Crisco) and I refuse to use that. Hello, the name of the recipe is Butter cream Icing. Last time I checked, Crisco isn't butter. 

So I will be modifying the recipe. It tastes better if you use real butter anyway. For the first class, we used the Wilton brand ready to use icing. I had never used Wilton brand icing before, and I do not like how it tastes.

I asked the instructor if that would be alright to use butter instead, and she said that it would be fine but I may need to add extra sugar to make it the right consistency.

Whatever, more sugar is like my middle name.

Cake Decorating!

I've always wanted to learn how to decorate cookies and cakes, and I finally decided to take a class! Last night I signed up for the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 at the local Michael's Craft Store. 

Course 1 is split up into 4 sessions, 2 hours each. I bought the student kit that goes with the class last night, and I couldn't wait until I go to the class to open it up! There is a lot of stuff that comes in this kit (see the picture below).

In the first course, I'm supposed to learn a lot of stuff!

 - How to bake a great cake for decorating

 - How to fill and hold a decorating bag

 - Decorating bag pressure control

 - Icing consistency 

 - Dimensional decorating

 - Drop flower

 - Piping gel pattern transfer

 - Rosette

 - Shell

 - Pompom flower

 - Shaggy mum

 - Ribbon rose

 - Printing and writing on a cake

 - Guidelines for elementary cake design

My first class isn't until August 5th and I can't wait!

For the first class, there is a whole list of things that I have to bring with:

 - The decorating basics student kit
 - 1 can of Wilton ready to use decorating icing
 - 6 plain flat cookies
 - Apron
 - Pen and paper
 - Scissors
 - Sticky notes
 - Damp cloth

Quite a list! I'm excited to show off my home-sewn apron!

I also need to decide if I will try and make my own cookies from scratch or if I will buy a mix. My goal is to try and make healthier treats...so maybe I'll try to make a healthy version of a cookie?

I am so excited!

Refashionista

So last week I stumbled upon this blog. I was inspired, and I knew the perfect piece of clothing to start with. I bought this maroon dress a long time ago to be a part of a costume I fashioned in college.  My original thought was to make the top into one of those cute peplum shirts. It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted...maybe I'll post some pictures of how that turned out sometime. 

The afterthought was to make a skirt! I think it turned out nicely. I found an old pair of shorts that I never wear anymore that had an elastic waistband and I cut them up to use the elastic since I was too lazy and cheap to go the store and buy new elastic.

Before/After

Then I made a trip to the Family Thrift store and I found this dress for $3.33! I thought the print was fun, and I knew it would be oh so simple to sew up the sides and make it fit, and I really like how it turned out!

Before/After

I'll give you a sneak peek at my next project - I got this dress last year at a clothing swap we did at church. It is too tight at the top, and I've never worn it, but I know just what to do! I'll be posting more pictures when I'm done!

I can't wait to do some more thrifting!

Cinder-block Bookshelf

The in-laws are in town, and that means that our house is getting clean and organized this weekend!  To start things off, Cody's parents decided to build us this quick, cheap bookshelf out of cinder-blocks and wood. The total cost of this bookshelf was $33. They purchased all the supplies at Lowe's and Home Depot.

Here's a list of materials:
   - 3 pieces of 10"x1/4"x whatever length you need for your shelf
   - 2 half cinder-blocks for bottom
   - 4 regular sized cinder blocks

If we wanted to get really fancy later on, we could stain the wood and it would look a little bit nicer, but I sort of like this look!

It was so easy for them to put together, literally just set the wood on top of the blocks and repeat until you have the number of shelves you want. The holes in the blocks make nice cubby-holes for CD's, notebooks, pens, note-cards, anything you want.

Seriously, it was so easy to put together, I'm not even going to type DIY instructions.  If you can't figure it out on your own, there's something wrong...;)

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

New Year Resolutions Part 2

So last week I posted our new year goals. This week, I'm going to post our plan about how we will accomplish them. I've already started preparing to start the new year off with a clean slate (literally) by cleaning up the house, putting all my clothes away, organizing my jewelry, etc.

I also made a nifty spreadsheet that I uploaded to Google docs with a list of our goals down the side, and then days of the month across the top. This way, we can keep track, and put an X down on each day that we accomplish one of the goals.

This will hopefully keep us accountable since I look at my Google docs almost every day (our weekly budget and our debt snowball spreadsheets are on Google docs and I update them all the time). Plus, we'll have something to look back on at the end of the year to see how well we did!


I know that for some people this may not work out so well because they either a) don't like spreadsheets, or b) are not as technically savvy and prefer something else more pen and paper.

For those people, I would say you can do the same thing, just make your own little calendars and have them somewhere at your house, say on your refrigerator? Or in the laundry room, or some place like that.

The next step for us will be to take a trip to the store and find some organizational tools. I'm thinking about bins to put things in. Every time we go to get our mail, we bring it in and set it down on the table, or on the counter, and before we know it, a huge pile has accumulated and junk mail is everywhere! We have to push it into a pile on the other side of the table to make room for us to sit down and eat every night. So I'm going to buy a bin to put the mail in, and that way we can keep the mess in one area.

I also think I will look into some laundry baskets that I can use to put my dirty clothes in that help you sort your clothes into lights and darks, so I won't have huge piles in the hallway when I'm doing laundry.

I'm also going to create a reading list for 2013 so I'll know which books I'm supposed to read already. That way, I'll actually read like I want to.


BTW, here is how to upload something to Google docs in case you don't know...

Step 1:

Create a gmail account (I think gmail is a lot better than most other email services anyway).

Step 2:

Locate the bar at the top of the page once you're signed in and click on Drive. This will take you to the Google docs page.

Step 3:

Change the settings to convert uploaded files into the Google docs format. This way, you can edit them later on.

Step 4:

If you've already created a spreadsheet, click the button right next to the create button. This will let you upload your spreadsheet. If not, you can start a new spreadsheet by clicking on create.

Follow the prompts there to upload your spreadsheet, and you're done!

Love Birdies...

http://cinnamonbirds.emmalinebride.com/

Ok, I am loving these love birds!  I love the top hat.  And this green color would look great on top of my wedding cake.  I stayed up last night working on some of my own :)

I made a little pattern and sewed one together...well I haven't got the wings or eyes added yet.  The only thing I need to figure out how to do is make the feet to where they will stand up on their own.  I think I'm going to need supplies that I left in Sherman...

I even bought a little wooden bird house at the Dollar Tree last night, and I'm thinking of maybe trying to set them on top of it somehow and then the whole thing can sit on top of the cake.  Not sure if I should paint the birdhouse though.  I don't know if that would be safe to do and then put on top of something we are going to eat.  Maybe I will have to put some sort of finishing coat on top of it.

Or it could just look cute plain.  Painting sounds like a lot more work than I want to do...

UncommonGoods

Check out these really cute necklaces I just found!  I stumbled upon a website called Uncommon Goods...they have some pretty neat stuff for sale.  I want a necklace!

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/birth-month-flower-necklaces

Pew Bows...

My mom knows how to craft!

Today my mom ordered flowers for the wedding!  We decided to go with carnation boutineers for the guys because I don't think I'll have time to come up with something more creative like I wanted too.

I was thinking about doing something fancy like having Cody tie some thick string of some sort into a bunch of boy scout knots and having the guys pin those on their suits, but I am not sure if that would look right or knot (Ha Ha...).

Maybe it would be neat if I got Cody to tie the knots and then I could pin a flower on top of it...

I need to test it out before I commit.  Maybe this weekend when we are done moving all of our stuff into the new townhouse I could try to come up with an example.

I also need to finalize how I want to get my hair done!  Well, I know how I want it done, I just have to figure out how we are going to fit the veil in and where to put my little hair combs that I got in.

I was also thinking about maybe trying to make my own hair comb out of the stuff that I have.  My grandma had this old brooch thing that we have at my house in Sherman that I thought might look pretty with my wedding ensemble, and I was thinking it could be my something old!  I just have to figure out what to do with it.  I originally thought it would make a nice addition to my hair, but I don't know how I will get it in my hair since it is not attached to anything.

I'm an engineer, I should be able to figure it out right?

Bachelorette Party Invites!

Yesterday, I got the invitation to my bachelorette party in the mail!  My maid of honor, Gigi, did an excellent job on them!  They are very cute.  She got the idea from www.etsy.com.

Front

Back

Flowers!

I think that I have finally picked out what type of flowers that I want to have in my wedding.
Here is some inspiration...

Hydrangeas I'm thinking will be the base flower for my bouquet to make it look fuller.  I haven't decided yet if the bridesmaids will have hydrangeas in theirs or not...

I also am thinking that Carnations will be pretty flowers to use.  They will also fill out my bouquet, and they are also cheaper flowers, so I think they are perfect!

The third flower I'm thinking of is a basic Spray Rose.  I think that the combination of these three flowers will be really pretty.  I just can't decide about the color.  I thought about having the bridesmaids carry ivory flowers since their dresses are going to be purple, and then carrying purple flowers in mine since my dress is ivory, so the flowers won't blend into the dress...but I really like some of the light pinks in the roses, so now I'm wondering if I should rethink my color choices all together.