Very Hungry Caterpillar cake

This is a cake I made for a friend last month. I actually pinned it with no one specific in mind.  I already have a theme for Olivia's party this year but I just thought it was super cute!  Anyway, a friend of mine saw the cake and asked if I could make it.  At first I was really intimidated but I decided to give it a try.  It ended up being one of my most fun cakes and I'm sure I'll end up doing it again.  It's far too early to start planning birthdays for next year but I have a feeling the Very Hungry Caterpillar will be a top contender. 

I just used the image from the book's cover as a guide and cut a shape out of parchment paper that looked like the caterpillar.  I made the head seperately so it could also be used as the smash cake.   Since it is covered in fondant I think it might be hard for a baby to dig into.  For the body I marbled different shades of green fondant by using green (of course) black, blue, yellow and white colored fondant.  I even used a little green luster dust on a few of the pieces.  I didn't want to go crazy with the shimmer because it was for a little boy but for a girl I might glitter it all up ;)

The head is covered in red fondant and the eyes were just cut free-hand.  The legs, antenna and lining look really dark but it is actualy chocolate fondant.  I think it tastes pretty good... especially compared to the regular fondant.  The dots were cut out using the bottom end of a wilton icing tip and the board is covered in white fondant.  This cake took SO much fondant.  I usually decorate cakes with buttercream and add fondant accents so this was a little different for me.  Overall, I am really happy with the way it turned out and my friend seemed really pleased too. This last pic was taken when I had just finished it before I put it into the cake box.  I added a little cupcake for the birthday boy but this pic just has an empty cupcake liner.  So what do you think? Is the Very Hungry Caterpillar a good theme for a party or what?

***update: I didn't add any links in this post.  I'm working on how to remove them but the links you see are ads so don't click on them.

Cupcake Social

This is a little late (as I often am) but I was so thrilled to have a cupcake social a while back.  It was so much fun and I would love to do it again and again for my mommy group, birthday parties or just because.  We put a new spin on an old-fashioned ice cream social... with cupcakes!  First, I saw plastic artist palettes like this and thought "wouldn't that be cute with a ton of different sprinkles?"  They were about $2 each and I just felt like that was too much for maybe 20 kids for something I thought was going to be disposable.  Then I found these and they were perfectly priced (especially with a 50% off coupon).  I hoard stockpile collect sprinkles so I'm sure I already had enough but I couldn't resist the urge to get 3 different varieties of hearts since this was before Valentine's Day.  On a sidenote, I get my sprinkles all over- craft stores, grocery stores, online, but my favorite place is called Midwest Bakers Supply.  They are a local store and do not sell online :(  They have the basics but they also have a lot of things you can't find in stores and they are priced really well.  I don't shop exclusively local but I do like to shop local when I can.  They have every possible thing you could need for baking so if you're ever in need I recommend this little shop. 

Anyway, the palettes have 10 little holes or wells and I put different sprinkles in each well using a little baby spoon.  As it turns out, I really overdid it on the sprinkles bc I had TONS left over.  I also put buttercream icing into little disposable cups with lids so that there would be no double-dipping  (I did this ahead of time so it would be easier to set up)  The kids just used popsicle sticks to spread the icing onto the cupcakes. I got these tiny little spoons from Olivia's GiGi for them to put the sprinkles on top.  They look a lot like the spoons you would get at an ice cream shop for samples.  I have seen metal ones at bed bath and beyond.  I thought I saw the mini plastic spoons at party galaxy but I didn't find them on their website.

The kids had a blast decorating their very own cupcakes!  Most of them even ate the cupcake! My daughter, however, still just ate the icing and sprinkles.  I thought this was so much fun! I loved to see all the different ways the kids decorated their cupcakes given all the same supplies.  How fun would this be for a birthday party?! And just think how easy it would be! It would save SO much time and effort that you could put towards the decor or favors or some other part of the party.  Plus it could be used as entertainment too.  I wish I would have thought of this earlier.  If I didn't already have Olivia's party in the works I would totally do this.  So, does this look like fun to you? Let me know what you think!

The girls' room

I thought I had it all figured out. Olivia received the cutest bedding from PBK after she was born. It was a total surprise bc we thought we were having a boy and had jungle bedding.  Anyway, a good family friend got this and I just LOVE it! It's pink and gray and just perfect really.  I just thought I would let Penelope have Olivia's old bedding and get Olivia something new to coordinate.  The only problem is there is nothing in pink and gray.  That's ok.  I can make it ;) There really aren't any fabrics in both pink and gray. So, I decided that I would just use this great gray damask print and pair it with some pink prints and solids. I just never found anything I liked well enough.   So, here we are just about 6 weeks away from Penelope's arrival and I have absolutely nothing done!

This fabric kept catching my eye but it didn't match anything else I was planning in my mind.  It's hard to tell on this pic but it is gray, lavender (or wisteria) and yellow.  After searching and searching and (watching that fabric go out of stock while I waited) I decided to change my plans, found this fabric at a fabric wholesaler along with all the coordinating fabrics as well.  I can't wait to get started! My first project? Cornice boards for the girls' room.  It will be in this fabric to the left.  After I get those up I will decide on how to use the other prints.  I just love it, don't you?!

Valentine's Day Projects ~ I Love Your Guts!

These are a few of the projects I did for Valentine's Day. I wish I would have done them a little earlier because I stayed up way too late last night. I couldn't be happier though. Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the heartache of painstakingly hand making every little thing.  Maybe it's because I have such crafty friends who are so talented and I feel  like I need to keep up but lately I blame pinterest! I see all these great ideas and think "I can totally do that" and I can... I just don't have time to do it all.  I bet if I spent a little less time pinning and a little more time actually crafting I would get more done :) but when it's all said and done I am always really glad when I see the end results.

I'll start with these adorable valentines I made for Olivia's class. (I think they would also make cute invites for a monkey themed shower or birthday party) I got the idea from pinterest of course. It was from the fiskars website. It has great directions so i won't write them here but it used 5 different cutters that they sell. I didn't have any of those cutters so I just played around with sizes on my cricut until I got this.
2 1/2'" circle
2" heart
2 1/4" oval
1" circle
Instead of using the 1/8" hole punch for eyes I used googly eyes. I just love me some googly eyes! I put everything together with a glue stick and glue dots. I printed out tags for the back using trace letters so she could write her name herself. She was so proud of herself and so was I. She's only 2, so to me this is pretty impressive. She loves to "write" and draw so much so I just printed a tracing sheet for her with her name. She loves to do it so I printed more. I think I will laminate a couple sheets and let her have at it with dry erase markers.

I also made this little gift for her teacher. It's hanitizer! That's what Olivia calls hand sanitizer. I just removed all the labels and used some goo remover stuff to get the rest of the sticky stuff off. I used my cricut to make this too. I know it took me a year to take my cricut out of the box but now that I have really started using it I LOVE it so much! My friend Keli has a program called Sure Cuts A Lot that allows you to use files from your computer on your cricut. It basically does a lot of the same things cricut craft room does but with that program you still have to have all the cartridges. SCAL can use any font you have in word or download from sites like dafont.com. I can also download tons of images or make my own (which I haven't tried yet). It saves a ton of money on cartridges.

And finally, my favorite project is the card I made for Nic. When we first started dating I would say "I love your guts!" I said it to my friends too, sort of the opposite of I hate your guts, right? Anyway, in the beginning (before I could admit I actually loved all of him) I would just say this. I have said this for years but I never thought to make it into a card... until pinterest. I don't know how to embroider but when I saw this pic I just knew I HAD to make this for him. I did make some changes but I'm not sure if they were actually improvements or not. He loved it though. He actually laughed out loud, gave me a big hug and kiss and said it was "perfect". It's kind of an inside joke now so he's probably the only one who would enjoy this kind of card. I also made him an etched beer mug but I think I'll write about that later since this post is already so long.

Personalized cake carriers

 I have had my cricut for at least almost 3 years but I'm just now really getting the hang of it.  It probably stayed in the box for about a year! Although I just had to have it, it really intimidated me.  I broke it out last year to make some birthday decor for Olivia's party.  With the help of my cricut buddy I have really started to have fun with it.  My newest obsession? VINYL! It is so fun and can be used to personalize so many different things. 

Look at these fun cake carriers I made for a couple of my sisters. They are both just basic fonts you can find in Word.  You could also download some fun fonts on dafont.com  I've also used it to etch on glass but that is a gift for someone who has not yet seen it so I will post pics of that project later.  I really want to get some iron-on flocked vinyl to make some funky T-shirts or fun pillows.  I am in love with my little cricut now but my MIL got me the Cricut Cake for Christmas and I am actually intimidated by that now.  I've used it a couple times (without much success) but I plan on playing with that more so I can get the hang of that one too.

It's a girl... I think

So, in case you didn't know... We're preggers again and we are having a girl (I think).  We are still going to get a couple more ultrasounds to be sure after what happened with Ethan Olivia.  In the meantime, we have been having trouble thinking of baby girl names we both like that are not already taken.  Some of my favorite names are Sophia, Ava, Abigail, Claire, Ann, Lilly and Emily.  I have a very large family and all of those names are already taken in some form by other beautiful girls in my family.  I do have some others in mind.  Ordinarily I wouldn't tell everyone my names because sometimes people are a little, um, blunt with their opinions and I might end up choosing that name anyway then I'll know they hate it.  I really want some input this time though.  So here are some of my ideas in order of preference.  I really just want a name that is a little unique but doesn't sound made up.  Please let me know what you think (even if you hate it) but be nice please.  Also if you can think of any terrible taunting names or rhymes mean little kids might think of for these names, let me know that too (Like Josie grossy)

         My list:                                                         Nic's list

1. Eleanor                                                   1.   Madeline
2. Penelope
3. Eloise
4. Avery

On the 5th (and 6th) day of Christmas...

I am half way through the 12 days of Christmas with the hubs.  He has really enjoyed it.  I mean, who wouldn't like getting gifts everyday, right?  Well, I have enjoyed it too.  It makes me happy to make him happy but it also makes me happy when he does the dishes, gives O a bath or just offers to run errands for me.  Oh yes, he has been doing all those things since I started the 12 days.  Honestly, he helps out so much anyway.  I think this just maybe made him want to do a little more.  I'm sure he feels more appreciated.   

So, on to the gifts...

Day 5 I gave him a $5 gift card to Starbucks.  That should get him a grande (I hope! Starbucks is so expensive~ Geez!)  I thought with the simpler gifts I should present them in a more extravagant way.  This was a pretty simple gift but I packaged it in a nontraditional way. I put it in a can. I saw this idea last year and just sort of filed it away in the back of my mind. I can't take credit for it and there are probably a bajillion tutorials online already so I will not go into detail.  It's pretty simple.  I used a can that has a pull-tab top (usually soup cans do) Instead of opening it from the top I used a can opener and opened it from the bottom.  I emptied the soup (into my belly- love Italian wedding soup Mmmmmmm!)  I cleaned it really well. 

I even used a little bleach bc I felt like it still smelled a little soupy.  after it dried completely I put the gift card inside.  I also added some little candies because I thought it needed something else.  I used one of those fancy pampered chef can openers that don't actually puncture the can.  When I went to put the bottom back on I really didn't even need any glue.  I decided I would use hot glue anyway and it wouldn't work.  With that kind of can opener, there is no space for glue.  I ended up just using 2 little beads of hot glue and just firmly reattaching the bottom.  In the future, I will probably get a cheap can opener for projects like this.  That way I have more room for the glue and it will be totally hidden underneath the can.  After I closed the can I wrapped it in scrapbook paper.  I even cut a circle for the top bc there was a big NFL logo ontop and that didn't really fit my Christmas theme.  Not so bad for the first time, eh?  He had to pull the top open to get his gift.  He thought it was cool.  I guess I put too much candy inside though bc he didn't even notice the gift card.  He was happy with just the candies. 

On day 6, I gave him a 6-pack of reinbeers.  Cheesy? Yes, but I love it!  I got this idea from pinterest.  I thought the Guinness looked super cute but I happen to know that he does not enjoy Guinness from a bottle.  BC I am preggers I have not had beer since July... maybe August but he just found a new brewery out of Colorado that he really likes called Great Divide.  IDK a lot about their beers but they smell really yummy.  This one is called Claymore.  It reminds me of claymore mines (yes I'm a nerd) but the box is green and a little festive so I chose that.  Anyway this was really simple and needs no instruction.  I just thought I would post a pic for you to see.  Enjoy! 

By the way, I'm stumped for days 8 and 9. Any suggestions?