crissy's first birthday (baking extravaganza)...

One of my dearest friends Stacy had a baby girl about a year ago and this weekend we celebrated her first birthday! Stacy and I grew up two houses down from each other and I consider her more family than friend. I was honored to be invited to the celebration and even more honored to bake for it! Actually, Stacy baked and made the frosting for the cat cake and I did the rest!

The cat cake was chocolate with chocolate covered in vanilla fondant. The cupcakes were vanilla with Swiss meringue butter creme. The cakepops were vanilla/vanilla pop dipped in white chocolate.

This was my first real trial at cakepops. I had tried a few before cupcake camp because I knew that at camp I'd be meeting and learning from Bakerella - who 'invented' these little things, but they'd all been flubs! While at camp I learned about the real difference between melting chips, which is the coating on the outside of the cakepop. Then on Friday I visited my friend Megan who I made this farm cake for a few months ago, and she happens to live a few blocks from The Decorette Shop in Portland! There I bought too many just enough new supplies to make me happy :)

On to the pictures!!

Crissy's kitty cake!

The set up. Stacy did a wonderful job making it all look pretty!

Setting up the cakepop station! Please mind the mess.

Patting and Patting the cakepop!

Look at them!!

My favorite. Mrs. Purple cat cakepop.

My second favorite!

Pretty pretty cakepops.

Cupcakes! I always forget I have this stand :-)

Happy First Birthday Christine Elizabeth!!!

cupcake camp ~ michelle bommarito fondant 101...

The first thing I did when I got to the Oregon Coast on that Friday was take a Fondant 101 class from Michelle Bommarito (linked in a previous post).

Though I have worked with fondant before and even taken a Wilton class on it, I figured I would learn something and DID I EVER!!! I learned about the different types of fondant, tricks of the trade, how to kneed it correctly and how fast it dries! I sat next to a girl named Holly who liked taking pictures almost as much as I did so that was a plus. This class was more "demonstration" than hads on, but we did get some time to play around. She showed us so many tools, tricks, patterns, colors, and I was soaking it all in. I did take some notes but am not sure where I have since put them so hopefully it will come back to me.

My work station. Yes, I sat right up front :-)

She's super sweet AND super sassy :-)

The rest of the class watching.

Kneeding.

Rolling.

Covering. She was amazing at this part!!

Perfecting.

After the class.

I do have another story with Michelle...but that is for a different day. Bakerella was next :)

Oregon Coast Cupcake Camp!!!

I spent this last Friday and Saturday at cupcake camp! By now you know I love baking and have began to dable in cake/cupcake decorating. I found out about this camp through a friend I went to high school with who was one of the main volunteers. And then once I found out that Bakerella was going to be there I was SET! I also got to meet, take a class from, and actually assist Michelle Bommarito!!! I also entered some cupcakes into a contest and donated some to the worthy cause of Donate Life Northwest. You see, this whole cupcake camp was a charity even put on by Celeste of Nye Beach Market in Newport, Oregon. Everyone there had something to share, learn, or give about this event. I myself am an organ donar should that time ever come. It was a toucing, exciting, fun, and pretty much "one of the best things I've ever done for myself" kind of weekend.

I'm going to post some pictures tonight and I'll write more about the events of the weekend soon! Jason and I are currently cooking like crazy in the kitchen - we're finally trying to make a menu for one week, go shopping for the 'little' stuff that week (we do our big grocery shopping at Winco or Costco once a month). This will hopefully make us become more mindful of our food, our meals, and help us to not eat out as often, though that is still on the menu, but only a few times a month... baby steps :) More on that later too...

Onto the cupcake camp pictures!!!

:) Can't wait to make more cake pops!!

Meeting Bakerella :)

Dipping a cupcake pop in Bakerella's class.

Myself and Michelle Bommarito

Look at all the cupcakes! And they were all donated!!!

I bought some cupcakes!

The judges eating MY Marionberry cupcake!!!

lylasttdid. take two...

On Bree's last weekend home we decided to get together again to sew! I had a project in mind!!! See, I have this fondant rolling pin and mat that I keep in a tube that I bought at the UPS Store, a cardboard shipping tube. It is not pretty. My solution...make it pretty!

I headed to JoAnn's a few weeks ago looking for fabric to make curtains for my classroom (more on that later) and found the perfect fabric for a fondant rolling pin cover!! Brown background, pink cupcake decorations! Love at first sight. I bought just 1/3 of a yard and it was enough to make not only what I had in mind, but two other things!

I brought the fabric and ideas to Sewing Day and set to work, with my Mom's help. We pinned and plotted and really, came up with the perfect solution!! A tube cover with a strap! Because this tube is long, awkward, and it rolls...not always the best combination when moving it around or traveling with it.  Once I had made that, I had some left over fabric and decided to make a pot holder and a fondant tool pencil case. I really like sewing days with Bree, my Mom, and Kathy - Bree's Mom. I hope this is a tradition we start...especially since Bree says she's moving home next spring!!!

Mom and I in the planning stages.

All done. Pot holder. Fondant cover and carrier. Fondant tool pouch.

This makes me happy!!!

The cover.

Closed.

Top of the container.

A peak inside :) Secure, clean, and decorated!

The original plan. Came out just like I wanted it too!

reposting & intro about CCOC...

So I figured out how to get all of my 'old' posts from the family blog over here...so I'll be adding those as time goes by. Though...I will tell you I am going to my first ever CUPCAKE CAMP at the Oregon Coast (Cupcake Camp Oregon Coast - CCOC) this weekend so the next two nights I'll be busy baking!!! Well tonight is more about getting things lined up and making sure I have all the ingredients before the baking starts tomorrow! I have one of my favorite friends Sabrina helping me with production tomorrow and a husband who's agreed to watch TV in the bedroom to avoid the madness :) Actually, that was his idea! There will be SO MUCH more on Cupcake Camp this coming weekend...fingers crossed!

the first...

Welcome to my 'homemaking' blog. It seems to me, and to many of my friends and family, that in the last few years I have really started to take an interest in many things related to homemaking. I love cake decorating, I'm interesting in scrap booking, and have really started to enjoy sewing - 99% of the time!

This blog is meant to take the "family" out of it, that's for the other blog, and focus on my adventures of homemaking. We've been in our house just a month under a year and it is really starting to feel like home as we start to make memories here.

You'll see things about baking, my adventure's in cooking dinners (my least favorite activity), scrap booking, photography, and sewing...at least for the time being. I've been known to knit about once every two years and like to think I now how to match colors to make the room look good. I even once, just last week, used the word decor in a sentence!

And who knows where this will lead...someday...well, I guess we'll see when we get there :)

lylasttdid...

One of my other favorite friends Bree has been working at 'home' in Portland this summer. Though she currently resides in the OTHER Washington (DC that is) she convinced her job as part of her rotations to let her come home this summer. Its been great having her back! We've been over to her house for a couple camp fires as well as pool parties and sewing nights!!!

Before Bree came back she requested a cake, to which I was happy to oblige! Though I was certainly surprised to know she wanted a carrot cake but I was happy to try that out. I got the recipe I used from my Mom who'd tried it many times before so I had encouragement that between that cake recipe and Martha Stewart's creme cheese frosting recipe I'd be in good hands.

action icing shot! thanks hunny.

going for a 'tropical' theme. lemon yellow, pink, orange, and sky blue.

i used a cookie cutter to get the flowers 'about right'

Bree and her cake. This is the first cake I've ever made for anybody else :)

Later that week we had a sewing party. Bree has been wanting to learn to sew for a while but has been wanting my mom to teach her. You see, Kathy and I are like-sewers. We eye everything, don't really measure...etc. My Mom and Bree are like-sewers. They measure everything twice and worryworryworry!

A funny thing happened though. My mom brought over a project for us to work on because she wasn't sure if Kathy and Bree would have anything. The project...a burp cloth. You know...for people who might be having babies some day. The razzing started there! Kathy and Bree had a HAYDAY teasing my Mom about being passive agressive about wanting grandchildren...and she did not deny it. Oh no, she did not admit it either. Not sure which is worse.

So my mom prefaced the project with "you can buy ribbon to customize it to who you are giving it to. You could buy basketballs for a sport fanatic, ABC letters for a teacher OR...AND THIS IS THE FUNNIEST PART...you could buy cupcake ribbon for someone who likes cupcakes". That brought on even MORE razzing!!! Bree decided to first make me an eventual baby shower gift of a burp cloth made out of a cloth diaper with cupcake ribbon sewn on. How thoughtful ;-)

My Mom teaching Bree (with her little helper Maya).

Bree and I sewing. I think our Mom's were very proud of this moment.

B hard at work. Making a reusable bag.

B and her bag. Now all she has to do is add handles. I taught her how to do this and my Mom had taught me. I love family :)

Bree is only home for one more weekend so hopefully I get to see her again!!!