Category Archives: craft

Rolled Fondant Cake

Yesterday was the Glambaby’s birthday and today is Boo Boo the Wonderdog’s birthday. I decided I was going to try my hand at rolled fondant frosting. It’s #60 on my goals list and I’ve always wanted to try it.

candles

I’m left handed and it’s really hard for me to decorate with buttercream because all of the tools, tips, etc. are made for right handed people and it just doesn’t work. But fondant always seemed like roll and place and I figured it would be easier to do.

I used the Marshmallow Fondant recipe at All Recipes to make my own fondant. I don’t konw what your fondant eating experience has been but mine has been Blech! Nasty. The reviews for this recipe were good for taste and ease. They were also very enlightening. I read through them all so I would have the best chance of success. There’s also a video to watch to gain more courage.

I knew I could do it, I was ready!

I chose this cake for inspiration.

I made two layers of brownie in five inch pans so it’s a pretty tiny cake but it’s all we need. I put peanut butter cups into the brownie before I baked it. For filling, I melted chocolate chips.

cake1

Then I rolled out the fondant. It was easy! I used cornstarch to keep it from sticking.

rolled

I then place it over the cake.

I took a small amount of the fondant and worked some red food color paste into it. The palms of my hands are still red. 🙂

hand

I then cut out the little hearts, painted their backs with water and stuck them to the cake.

cake

I know there are fondant cake making secrets I must still learn. How to keep my hands from being dyed when coloring the fondant, how to make it smooth.

But for the most part, I’m pretty darned excited with my first effort at rolled fondant. Doing what I did seemed pretty easy and I would definitely try it again. 🙂

If the crown fits

Back when Nikki was first pregnant and deciding how to decorate the baby’s nursery, we sat for a very long time in a pricey baby boutique looking at fabric.

As we sat there, I looked around and saw a cute wall hanging that said, “If the crown fits”. It was in the wrong colors to hang in Aniston’s room and was probably terribly expensive but I thought, “I can make one of those myself!”

I created the artwork.

Then I looked for a place to put it on canvas so it would look like it had been painted. I found canvasdiscount.com. The prices were super reasonable and I hoped that the finished product would look great. It did!

I was a little freaked out when it came unassembled from the frame which I also had to put together. But I freaked myself out over nothing. I waited for David to come home and put the frame together and watched him. I’ve since ordered another canvas and I did the frame myself. It wasn’t that hard!

I then used a staple gun to staple the canvas to the frame.

I ordered a 1.5″ frame so I could put ribbon around the edges.

Then I wandered around Hobby Lobby to see what I could use to hang the picture. It is 19″ x 19″. I found a drapery tie that measured 22″ and it was perfect!

Over the course of time, Nikki threw in some more colors other than the leopard, brown and cream so in my wandering, I noticed some tie backs that matched the trim for the bedding and I got that, too, to tie it all together.

And here is the finished product on Aniston’s wall.

I was so happy with the way it turned out and the best part is that Nikki loves it!

It looks great and it was only a fraction of the cost of the one in the baby boutique. I love that I could make this for Aniston. 🙂

Ugly, Uglier and Extra Ugly

So we’re living in a corporate apartment here in Little Rock and they furnished the apartment for us. The lamps that were brought in are, in a word, extra ugly.

Okay, two words, but they really are extra ugly. And they are not color coordinated. With my personal motto being “color coordination is everything” the lamps could not be allowed to remain.

I spent so much money just outfitting the kitchen with glasses, pans, dishes, etc. that I balked when I saw the price for new lamps. Do you know they don’t sell them all together? You buy the lamp base and then the shade separately.

I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve bought a lamp.

Anyway, I decided I was going to check out the Goodwill. I had seen a big store when we were out to dinner one night.

I found two lamps.

Ugly

and

Uglier

For some reason the gal who checked me out told me she was going to give me 85% off of Uglier. I felt kinda bad for him but who am I to argue with an 85% discount? Besides, I was going to make him gorgeous.

So I paid $6.50 for my two lamps.

Then I headed to Hobby Lobby and got some paint and Wal-Mart to get lampshades and the hardware to attach them to the lamp.

I started painting Uglier and look!

He looked like a gorgeous chocolate fountain. Yummy! 🙂

Once he was dry, he still looked gorgeous but not so much like a chocolate fountain. Doesn’t he look great by our bed?

Next I had to paint Ugly. He was going to remain in the living room with the black and tan furniture. I’ll never understand why they put a green lamp in here.

Anyway, I think he turned out beautiful, too.

Now our house is color coordinated and we can sleep nights. Ahhhhh. 🙂

Baby shower!

I had so much fun preparing for Aniston’s baby shower! Nikki asked me if I could design the invitation first and then the thank you cards. Her sister and mom had decided on a pale pink and leopard theme so I went with it.

I love the way both items turned out!

I asked if there was anything I could bring and Nikki said I could bring anything. Her family knows me well enough to know that I major in sweet treats.  It was really fun to scour Pinterest and the Internet to come up with ideas for what to make.

In the end, I decided on chocolate and pink popcorn

Pink chocolate covered Oreos

Pretzel snacks

(Super easy and delicious! Place pretzels on waxed paper line baking pan, top with Hershey kisses, place in 170 degree oven for 6 minutes, push M&Ms into the tops.)

Candy skewers

Cookies that I painted and bagged with matching thank you notes attached for people to take home

and strawberry cream cheese jelly bellies.

I also labeled water bottles to go along with the theme.

Of course it was overkill but I haven’t figured out how to make “just enough”. I didn’t want anyone who was there not to get something because there wasn’t enough.

They brought a cute cake!

There were lots of presents.

Lyndzee came.

bringing the chair she re-covered for Nikki.

It was great and I really loved watching Nikki’s face when she opened the gifts I had made for Aniston.

The Chucks

and the little Rott-I-Tude outfit.

I made a wall hanging for her bedroom, too, but I need to get a photo of it when it’s hanging on the wall in her nursery for full effect. 🙂

Lyndzee brought me my Christmas present she made for me which I adore!

I’m so excited to be Glammie. 🙂

Bling my Chucks

I’m not sure whether it took knowing that I was going to be a grandma to a little girl or having a couple of successful Pinterest projects under my belt to find out I kinda like this craft thing. The two things happened about the same time.

I couldn’t be happier with the way this latest project turned out.

I was cruising Pinterest, and I stopped at Nikki’s board for Aniston Lee. I saw some embellished Chuck Taylor shoes for a little girl. I thought, “I can do that!”

I was wandering through Gordman’s trying to kill time and I found a pair of pink Chuck Taylor crib shoes.

I bought them. Then I got the rest of the pieces I needed to complete the project.

I started out by applying 5mm AB crystals to the toes.

And to the middle of the star on the side of the shoes.

Then I replaced the laces with ribbon.

I measured the ribbon against the lace but it turned out not to be long enough.

So I cut the ribbon the length of the lace and then half again. This gave me enough room to trim off the edges and make a nice big bow. I finished off by coating the ends of the ribbon with clear nail polish so they won’t fray.

Are these not the CUTEST shoes ever! I can’t wait to see Aniston wear them and to make another pair. 🙂

Emboldened by Pinterest

I just got finished making the cutest candy skewers for Aniston’s baby shower.

When I posted a photo on facebook, my friend Paula asked if I had gotten the idea on Pinterest. Seemed a good conclusion since I’ve been going craft crazy since I joined Pinterest but I didn’t find this idea there.

Actually, I had been searching the internet for ideas for the baby shower. I knew the colors and theme and I knew I would bring sweet treats. It was then that I stumbled upon the candy skewer photo. How cute! But when I clicked on the link to see how I could purchase some, the link didn’t work.

Hmmmm. That stopped me for a minute. I searched a little further to no avail. I looked at the photo some more and, emboldened by Pinterest, I thought, “I could make those myself!”

And I did. 🙂

They weren’t that difficult and once I decided how I wanted them to stack up, it probably took me only 2 hours to make 50 of them.

Basically, you need some gummy candies, sucker sticks,

plastic bags to wrap them with and a little ribbon to tie them off. Cute!

You’re limited only by your imagination and the candy available and I think you end up with a pretty impressive little treat. 🙂