Cake decorating class #1

This post will be rather boring...NO PICTURES!

We didn't decorate last night, we just spent time learning how to bake cakes, what tools are helpful in creating the best cake, and learning tricks to make a level, smoothly frosted cake. We learned the recipe we'll be using for decorating this course (it's a butter creme). We saw the differences in the consistencies we can make. We also took a stroll down the cake decorating aisle at Hobby Lobby and I picked up a few items I think will be helpful. I picked up some clear butter, vanilla, and almond extracts. A large angled spatula. A cake leveler and some disposable decorator bags.

They were out of the 8 inch cake pan I wanted, as well as the decorator tip 789. I'll check back later for those.

Until next week (or maybe this weekend if I get ambitious enough to practice :)

Sewing Sunday

Pictures from last night's sewing time. I'm finding it to be a great way to have 'me time' and still feel like I'm doing something productive. Special thanks to Betsy for her help. The kid will know how to hoop and trim threads before she can talk!

Kitchen towels, part of a wedding gift.

Betsy embroidered a baby blanket



Embroidered fleece blanket


Bibs! Ben's cousin Jonathan and his wife Christi find out the gender of their baby in a few weeks. I made these in honor of the big reveal.

House Warming.

A couple Ben works with is closing on their first home tomorrow. What's better to 'warm' a home than a cozy fleece blanket? I love embroidering blankets. They're easy to hoop, hard to mess up, and who doesn't like a blanket?

CAKE DECORATING!!

It's a sign. The day after I blogged about taking a cake decorating classes I saw a sign offering classes in my area. It's the introductory class, offered through Hobby Lobby for only $17. It's a four week class the Tuesdays in the month of June. The class is from 6-8 pm which is pretty good timing since I get out of work at 5:30. I'm pretty excited. I anticpate making this cake after the last week of classes...



NOT! This is a beginners course, so let's see if I can shoot for not injuring myself or knocking someone else's cake over.

Burp cloths and baby hats

I think I mentioned before that I pledged a few embroidered items for an online charity auction benefiting cancer research and awareness. This is one of the items, two pairs of personalized burp cloths. I threw the hats in for good measure (because what is more adorable than a baby in a personalized hat?!). Thanks Carol, for your support of such a wonderful cause!

Cake decorating attempt

I would love to take a cake decorating course. I don't know when I'll have the time, maybe at some point this summer. I do own the Wilson cake decorating kit and I occasionally break it out and attempt to make something not-too-homely looking. I need to work on my icing writing. But this isn't terrible for one of my first times at cake decorating without any supervision!

Cowboy cuteness (LISA! DON'T LOOK!)

Ben's cousins Andy and Lisa are delighted to be expecting twins this summer. They are decorating their nursery in a cowboy theme and I took the opportunity to make a diaper wreath in coordinating colors and style. I'm thrilled with the results. Here's the finished product.



Here are a few close-ups.






Items needed to make this wreath:

- Metal wreath base and wreath hanger.
- 30-32 size 2 diapers (depending on how tight you roll them)
- Two rolls of approximately 1/2 inch ribbon to tie diapers to base
- Stuffed animal for the top of the wreath (I bought a set of two in the toy section at Target)
- Two pack of pacifiers
- One baby hat
- One rubber piggie
- Two pairs of baby socks
- Two bottles
- Two small cowboy hats (I found these in the doll section at Hobby Lobby)
- Two personalized bicycle license plates
- One page of cowboy themed scrap booking stickers
- One roll of twine to tie on embellishment
- One roll of ribbon to tie on embellishment

Instructions for wreath assembly. This method can be used for any wreath. I recommend taking a couple weeks to look for items to go with your theme.

- Do not open the diaper to roll. Leave the diaper folded and tightly roll from the top down. Guide the ribbon through base so the ribbon holds the diaper to the inner two meatal strips. Roll each diaper and tie to wreath base with alternating colors of ribbon. Roll and attach diapers one at a time rather than rolling them all then attaching.

This is the blank base



This is what the back will look like after you have tied the diapers to the base.






- Cut each bandanna in half, then in half again so you have four equal square small pieces of both red and blue bandanna. Then cut each of these squares into 4 strips approximately 1.5 inches thick.

- Tie strips of bandanna between each diaper in alternating colors. Do not knot the ribbon, just tie once then spread the top and bottom of the strip open so it shows on either side of the diapers. These strips should be too short to make a knot, and less of the bandanna would be visible.

- Once base is fully covered with diapers and bandannas determine which point will be the top. I recommend attaching the stuffed animal at first (at the 12 o'clock position) so you can symmetrically distribute the rest of the embellishments. Use either twine or additional ribbon to decorate with a bow. I used an additional smaller stuffed animal in the 6 o'clock position, tied and decorated with a bow.

- Next embellish the bicycle license plates with cowboy themed scrapbook stickers.

- Tie the embellished name plates at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions using twine.

- Desribute remaining embellishments evenly. I used two pieces of twine to tie on each additional embellisment, and leftover strips of bandanna to attach the pacifiers on either side of the stuffed animal.

- To attach the doll hats I poked holes on each side of the hats and used twine to attach.

Please let me know if my instructions are confusing or if you have any questions. Happy crafting!