40th Birthday Cake

I got a request for an elegant 40th Birthday cake in Chocolate and White. So, here's what I came up with. The bottom layer is chocolate cake with chocolate filling, the top is White cake with raspberry filling. I got feedback after saying it was the best tasting cake they had ever eaten :)

The numbers on top are chocolate, held up by a chocolate coated craft stick! I used my new cake pattern presses to imprint the scrolls on the frosting, and then piped along those lines and added my own embellishments.

Front ViewSide View

Back View

Cutest Aprons EVER

Not my project, but a good friend of mine makes the cutest aprons ever. If you want one, let me know- I'll give you her contact info!

Pathetic Cake

I am in charge of making birthday cakes (individual size) for each of the young women (age 12-18) in our church group. I have been so unmotivated for the last few, no new ideas, nothing cutesy coming to mind... anyway, it's starting to show. This is the pathetic cake I turned out yesterday- actually this is another brownie cake, frosted with cream cheese frosting. Tasted great, just looked dumb. At least the little 13 yr old girl liked it :) Gotta get some new inspiration! Cake making is so fun, but making a little 4-inch cake two or 3 times a month is just not enough to make me want to get out all my fun supplies! I'll do better on the next one!

First Wedding Cake

Here are pictures of the a wedding cake I made for my Sister in Law. Her colors were lime green, chocolate brown, light pink, and white. Her flowers were roses, calla lilies, stephanotis, baby's breath, and various other lilies. Bear in mind that this was an outdoor reception in August and it was 103 degrees. That's why the frosting was sweating a bit. I used a fan blowing on the cake to minimize this, but it was unavoidable.
The bride had two receptions, so I made five layers of cake in all, so she could cut two layers at the first and still have a nice looking cake for the second. They ended up serving most of the cake- over 250 guests.
Here was the cake at the second reception- they only cut and served one layer at the first reception so we ended up with 4 layers displayed at the second.

The key limes are real, but all of the flowers I made using gum paste. I added details to the flowers with non-toxic chalk. Chocolate curls and shavings topped it off. Close ups of the flowers on top:



What do you think? Not bad for a first attempt- I had never used gum paste before in my life. It took me about 2 months of "spare time" to make all the flowers and 3 days to make all of the cake, fillings, and frosting. I was so happy when it turned out looking alright and tasted great!

Projects in the Works

Well, I was going to post more photos of projects that I have recently completed, but my laptop won't connect to the main computer that has all the pictures on it... so, instead I'll tell you about the projects I have going right now.

1) Relandscaping our yard. We just got our garden in last weekend (finally) and now it is time to re-do the rest of the yard. My husband and I are working on a rock pathway that goes from the backyard deck around the house to the driveway. We have about 20 feet left to do. Getting close! I also want to build a planter by the front of the house for a rose bush, and I need to redo the flower beds with summertime plants now that the spring bulbs are all fading.

2) Pillows- We just purchased a new bedframe and so of course I feel the need to redo our bedroom decor. I am making pillows in the new colors- chocolate brown and aqua- by embroidering flowers on silk. I only have 3 flowers left to do and then I can sew these pillows. I got the pillowforms at IKEA (20" square) for only $2.99 a piece! I will definitely show pictures of the finished products!

3) Picnic Table- My good friend has a picnic table that she has wanted to refinish for a few years now. I told her I would help her with it this week, so we'll be sanding off the old flaking red paint and refinishing it in her color of choice. I love the difference a little bit of elbow grease and paint can make!

4) Name Letters- A friend of mine just had a baby boy, and so I am making custom name letters for his nursery. Just need to finish sanding the edges and varnishing, then I can send this project off!

5) Fabric Flowers- Uh Oh. I just saw a CUTE idea for making fabric flowers with button centers and now I HAVE to make a bunch! I am preparing to go to a big 4th of July fair with my company, AngelHeadbands, and I'm thinking that these fabric flower hair clips would be a favorite! I'll show off the finished products when I make them!

This is by no means a complete list, but these are just the projects I'm hoping to complete this week! Wish me luck!

Mini Brownie Cake

This is a mini brownie cake I made for a friend of mine. Four layers of yummy chocolate brownie with caramel sauce in between and caramel and chocolate drizzled over the top. Topped off of course with a maraschino cherry. My friend loved it because she doesn't really like cake, but falls for brownies every time. I didn't know that when I was making the birthday brownie for her- I just didn't feel like making a cake! Perfect!

April 26, 2009

Easter Gifts

I know we're way beyond Easter already this year, but here are a couple of photos of gifts I made for my kids for the holiday. The first are kid size aprons- my kids love to help me cook. They are made out of a hot pad and dishtowel and put together with ribbon straps to tie. The kids love them and they were super easy to make.
I also decided that my baby girl needed a purse of her own because she LOVES carrying mine around and emptying it out. I sewed it without a pattern, just figured out how I wanted it to be and then made it. I used soft flannel fabric so it is completely washable (a must for kids!) She adores it! She loves putting her play keys and phone in the purse and carrying it around. I'm working on making a bunch more of these to put on www.AngelHeadbands.com. I figure if they are a hit with my little girl, they're sure to be a hit with others as well.

Flower Pots

I painted terra cotta pots and saucers to plant ferns in- one for me, one as a gift. I used a foam paint stamp to do the flowers. Varnish made the pots glossy. I need to take a picture with the fern planted in it. A little reminder of where I grew up (Oregon! I miss the ferns everywhere!)

April 2009

Grampa

Purposely spelled wrong, just like my kids say it when they are talking about their Grandpa. These letters I did for my Dad's birthday this last week- he loves fishing, football, outdoor anything, and owns a red (okay, well... it's burgundy) pickup truck. He owns his own business and has a nice executive office with a bookshelf that holds pictures of his family and grandkids, cards he's received, as well as plaques regarding his licensure and schooling. Anyway, he took it to work the day after we gave it to him, so I'm guessing it's on that shelf!

I purchased the wooden letters (don't have the tools, time or skills to do it myself) and then painted them, sanded the edges, and then varnished with modpodge and attached the fun little wooden figures I got at the craft store.

Island Birthday Cake

This was the cake I decorated for my Dad and 3 year olds birthday-- they share a birthday, isn't that neat? My dad loves fishing, and we just got back from a trip to San Diego a week ago where we spent a lot of time at the beach, so this is the idea I came up with.

May 17, 2009

The palm tree I made out of paper and a wooden skewer, the fishing pole was a wooden skewer and dental floss of all things, the shells were made from white and milk chocolate swirled together and placed in a chocolate mold, and the sand was crushed Nilla Wafers.

What do you think? (Have I mentioned I LOVE comments?)

Twitter with Me

I forgot to mention that you can follow me on Twitter at this address. https://twitter.com/angelheadbands See you there!

Welcome to Creativity Strikes Again!

This is my new blog to record all of the crazy ideas that pop into my head, the process of making whatever that strikes my fancy, and the finished products. Please be aware that not everything I do turns out well or even half decent, but it's the learning process that counts because I try to never make the same mistakes twice.

I make a lot of cakes for all different kinds of occasions, so you'll see a lot of cake pictures on here. Some have been a total flop, but others turn out to be, in my opinion, masterpieces (they should have, they took a month or more of my life away!!). The frustrating thing to me is that the ideas always look great in my head, but don't end up that way. Such is life.

I also am in the process of redecorating/refinishing/updating my home, so bear with me as you will see a bunch of before, during and after photos... it's not always a beautiful process.

I also own a baby bow and headbands site and am always coming up with new ideas for it. You can see my business by visiting www.AngelHeadbands.com. I have written a book on how to make baby bows and have it available in print or pdf format. Cool! I never thought I would really author a book and yet there it is! A second, advanced version is forthcoming, the next time I have 6 spare months :)

I am the mother to three adorable children-- two boys and a baby girl. I try to do a lot of crafty things with them as well because I think they learn so much from it. My boys, age 4 1/2 and 3, LOVE to color, cut, glue and do hands on crafts. Try papier-mache with little kids, they love it! So I'm sure throughout the course of this little blog journal you will see my ideas to do with little kids.

Lately I think a paintbrush has been an extra appendage as I've been making custom name decorations with wood letters for friends and family, as well as painting the house and refinishing furniture. I love to have an audience to see the finished products- afterall, they all take so much time to do!

I'm just the type of person that when an idea strikes it bugs me until I follow through with it. Consequently I have way too many projects in the process of being completed all at the same time and needed a way to motivate myself once again to actually complete them all. So enjoy! Maybe my silly creative ideas will spark something in you and get you in this beautiful mess too :)