Big & Little

There's nothing sweeter than welcoming a new baby! And, in my opinion, it's made even sweeter when a big sister or brother is born along with the new baby!
Here's the big/little shirts that K made for our hair dresser and friend!
I think they turned out adorable! Especially since they were last minute!

Organizing stitches

So the K of K and A was given a monogramming machine this past Christmas. I've been giving her most of her "unpaid" business with things I've wanted to have done for the kids.
This project has been one of my favorites so far and definitely the most useful. I needed to get some organization in the kids bathroom. It always seemed the ugly towel monster would sneak up on me and all of a sudden EVERY towel would be dirty at once. So I purchased each child three towels in their own color. Mom then monogrammed their names on them. Now, when I'm down to one towel a piece I know that's it's time to wash.
I love everything being where it should be but if you walked into my house at any given moment you wouldn't think that was the truth. I'm picking up and the three kids are pulling out! But at least this little bit of organization in the bathroom saves some of my sanity!

A Night Owl Party

Lucy recently celebrated her 6th birthday and to help her celebrate we surprised her with a "Night Owl Party"!  While she was attending school Friday we busily set up her party decorations.  When she returned home she was so surprised and excited.  The look of excitement was so well worth the work put into her party.

We had made the dining room table into a bed.  Making the headboard from foam board.  Then to give an "outdoors" feel we stacked the cake and cupcakes onto pieces of wood. 

The cupcake toppers were edible, made from royal icing.  We also had put together s'mores pops.  Do you know they now sell flat square marshmallows?  These fit perfectly in between two graham crackers drizzled with chocolate syrup.  We made owl sugar cookies that matched her party invitations.  The treat bags were in the shape of an owl's head and filled with gummy worms.  The kids are crazy about those things.

The little girls showed up dressed in their PJs.  They were all so cute and silly as little "night owls" should be!

Another Blessing

This week we were blessed with the arrival of little "Samuel Jude"!  A big boy weighing 8 pounds and 8 ounces.  He was welcomed home by big sister Lucy and big brother Eli.  A few mementos were made to honor this special occasion.  His mother made this adorable wreath to hang on her hospital door and then to bring home and hang on her entrance door.

I wanted some onesie cookies to give to

guest as they came by to welcome Samuel. But not the traditional onesies.

So I flooded the cookies and left the

outline of a onesie in the center.  After that dried I came back and flooded the

center in a coordinating color.  Later I applied the little details that make the cookies pop.

Not staying with traditional baby designs I decided to make houndstooth cookies.  This was my first attempt at this design.  After the first few it became a little easier.  The only problem is that you really have to work fast.  The flood icing needs to be wet when you add your second color.  Then you need to drag through the wet icing to get that houndstooth design. 

WELCOME SAMUEL JUDE!

23 days and counting....

Until the LSU football season, that is. If you are like most from around these parts, you knew that already.

Here is a cake we recently did for a young boy.

The football is made out of rice cereal treats and covered in fondant. We also gave our cricut a good workout with this cake. It cut the tiger stripes, tiger eyes and the lettering.

Hope you had a great birthday Ryan!



Dang This Heat!

In order to keep cool these last few weeks I've decided to stay indoors.  Wow .... triple digit temps are unbearable!  Good time to get some of those "put off" projects done and stay cool at the same time!  Here are a few -

These are cookies I made for my Dad.  His comment when I gave them to him "Oh, John Deere Cookies"!  That was enough to make me happy.  With his health not the best and his age, 87, I was not sure what kind of response I would receive. 

Just love this tray I got on sale at Hobby Lobby.  But it was plain and thought it needed a little something.  So out came the cricut to "dress" it up a bit.

I made this chalk board from a 16" x 20" sheet of wood I purchased at Lowe's.  After attending early church service on Sunday mornings we love to sit and drink coffee in our newly added sun room.  I decided the sun room would be the perfect place to hang my chalk board.  Each week I like to add a spiritual, motivational or inspirational quote.

With this heat not letting up any I think I'll remain indoors and complete a few more projects.

Eli Eli O

Last month, Eli turned two! Where has the time gone? We celebrated his birthday with a "farm" themed party. His first babysitter would always sing Eli Eli O to him and that, of course, got us thinking... what a cute idea for a party!

I ordered the invitation here.  She has a lot of adorable things and was able to customize the invitation to read Eli Eli O instead of the normal E I E I O.

For the back drop, we refinished a room divider screen by painting it black and cutting and sewing cow print fabric for the panels.

The cake was designed completely from the invitation. The barn is hard to see but it is a fondant mock up of the barn on the invite. 

K's signature cookies that matched the theme perfectly!

Next up... stick horses! To me, this was the cutest and most fun thing to put together. We made 17 stick horses as favors for our little guests. All of the horses came from scrap fabric that I have been saving over the years. We loved watching them come to life and seeing their different personalities. We may or may not have been a little sad to watch them leave the party!  

The birthday banner was made by cutting burlap squares. I used the cricut to cut out my letter templates and then painted on the letters to each square. I love the way it turned out!



 For the menu we had corn dogs, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, veggie cups, chips and of course corn on the cob.  The birthday boy really enjoyed the corn!

Here he is with his stallion. 

The kids enjoying the stick horses. 



Happy Birthday Eli! We love you more than you'll ever know!



Chunky Monkey

When a friend at work asked me to bake for her son's first birthday I was honored.  A first birthday?  Wow, this is a memento occasion!  Sure I said, what's the theme?  Well she had to think on that and came back a few days later with a "monkey" theme.  She said that they call him "chunky monkey" so that would be fitting.  Then she supplied me with pictures she had downloaded.  A cake, smash cake and cupcake toppers.  I thought, "oh boy, this is a big order to fill".  Not to mention the cookies I had always promised her I would donate for his first birthday.  The cake - a ten inch round with a gum  paste monkey on top surrounded by many, many gum paste bananas.  The smash cake - a banana shaped cake,  and the cupcake toppers - twenty-four little fondant monkey faces.  What did I get myself into?  Well I did say yes, so buckle down and get busy.  My first task was to create a fondant monkey for the cake topper.  To test my skills I first made one from modeling clay.  I loved the outcome so then I proceeded to duplicate him in fondant.  Again, I was pleased with the little monkey and decided I was done with that task. 

 Next, bake cookies and decide what cookie cutter to use.  I have a monkey face but decided not to use it. Instead I opted for a circle cutter.  Flood the cookies in green and add yellow polka dots (since these were two of the colors chosen for the party theme).  Next, make monkey faces to go on top using the royal icing transfer method.  I really loved the look of these. 







Now the biggie .... The Cake.  Really this was the easy part.  Once I had it baked and leveled.  To apply the icing and get it really smooth did not take as long as anticipated. 

Then on to the gum paste bananas.  This too was a really quick task.  I just had to make very many of them to get the look I was going for.  Once complete it was time to put it all together.

Then on to the smash cake.  I took a ten inch round cake and cut the shape of a banana from it. Covered it in chocolate butter cream icing.  Rolled out my yellow fondant and applied it to the banana shaped cake.  This worked well and made a clean banana shaped cake.

Smash Cake

Last, the monkey face cupcake toppers.  These were made of fondant dyed in two shades of brown.  Then using an edible food marker I drew the eyes and mouths.  Again, not difficult just time consuming.

Whew ... job complete!  But I hear Drew had a wonderful 1st birthday and that he really enjoyed his smash cake.  He ate the entire "banana" cake.  That makes it all so well worth the work!

We had a request for personalized megaphone cookies.  I was happy that I had made these once before and had a cookie cutter on hand.  So "A" made the dough and my task was to bake, decorate and personalize.  These were for a five year old celebrating her birthday who happens to be named Meg, who also loves cheering.  Her party was held in the school gym of the school she attends with  the cheerleaders cheering for she and her friends.  WHAT A CELEBRATION!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

I had excess royal icing remaining from some sugar cookies I recently made.  I HATE to throw away icing that is perfectly good.  I had read on one of my favorite blogs about using royal icing to make cupcake toppers.  So I decided to give it a try.  I loved the way these turned out so after making them I then needed cupcakes.  The recipe for these was super easy and the icing even easier.  I added mint green americolor gel to give them the extra green they needed.  Everything green for St. Patty's Day!  I brought them to my co-workers and they were quickly devoured. 

More Mardi Gras

Staying with the traditional colors of Mardi Gras I had to add green and yellow to these fleur de lis cookies.  With them specifically for Adeline's party I also had to personalize them.  Now they are ready for her party favors!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

 I love living in the South .... so many reasons to celebrate.  Mardi Gras is one of the main celebrations around these parts.  These fleur de lis cookies though are actually for a sweet little princess who is celebrating her third birthday.  Her birthday this year fell right in the middle of the Mardi Gras festivities.  So what better way to celebrate her birthday?  Yes, a "Mardi Gras Themed Party"!  I hear her cake will even be the traditional King Cake, yummie!  These cookies will be bagged and labeled as a "thank you" to the guests who attend her party. Happy Third Birthday Adeline!

Mod Monkey 1st Birthday

I loved the theme for this little one year old birthday party! So adorable! 

The following image is what we based the cake off of.

Here is what we came up with! 

About two years ago we made our first wedding cake for this little family. Now they are growing and celebrating a first of their own. Happy 1st Birthday little "Izzy"!  

Little Extra Valentines

After baking for a special little girl's class party I decided I needed a few more Valentine cookies.  I have been wanting to try this chocolate recipe I found on another great blog and decided to go for it.  Anyway, I was pleased with the results but had no one in particular to give them to.  So, since my husband was the instructor for a local "Spin Class" on the night of Valentine's I decided to bag them up and give a treat to the class afterwards.  Hey, what better time to indulge than after a great workout?   I'm sure those calories are burned off instantly when the "furnace" is hot, RIGHT! I was sceptical as to how the class would respond but everyone was so excited to receive a Valentine that night.