Cinderella Cake

This cake was my first attempt at making a Cinderella Slipper! I have to say it was quite an experience.




First of all, as I found out after searching the Internet for tips, I found out that the shoe should have been made at least a week in advance in order to have plenty of time to dry. I made it two days before I needed it!




So then, since it wasn't dry, I had to get creative to give it enough support so that it didn't split in two on the cake. That's where a empty 2 liter Dr. Pepper bottle came in handy! The front part of the shoe is resting on plastic from that bottle. I didn't get any pics of that because by that time I was too stressed to even think about taking pictures!!

Here are a few pics I took while I was making the shoe. It shows a few of the different stages.








These pics were taken after the shoe was painted with white pearl dust.







My daughter came up with the idea of putting the birthday girl's name on the shoe.




I wanted to incorporate the pink sash in some way other than just laying it on the cake board. I like how this turned out.






The pearls and buttons are made of fondant.




And the magic wand!! I made it out of a straw, ribbon, a string of beads and feathers.




This was actually a very fun cake to make!! I'm hoping one of my granddaughters will decide they want a Cinderella cake for their next birthday!




Happy 1st Birthday, Rylie!!

My Favorite Sign!!

I picked this up a few months back at Hobby Lobby.

It was half off so I couldn't resist.

It's one of my favorites!!

Valentine's Day In Vanuatu

Remember these cookies that I sent to my son and daughter-in-law in Vanuatu? I sent them on January 26, hoping by some miracle they would make it by Valentine's Day.




Well, it happened!! They arrived at this little house in the bush on Friday before Valentine's Day!! (Okay, they had to go to the Post Office and get them, but I just had to show you where my son and daughter-in-law live).




My son messaged me on Facebook. It only took two weeks and two days - that's a record!! Especially since the last package I sent took seven weeks and those cookies were not exactly fresh!!

I talked to my son last night and he said these cookies were still fresh and delicious. A taste of home!!

Glaze Recipe Revisited

I posted here about the glaze recipe I used. I thought I'd give an update since I've started using a different variation. Same ingredients, just a thicker version.

The original recipe is a lot thinner. In order to do the detail work, it had to be thickened by adding powdered sugar.

With this version, I use the same recipe to outline, fill and detail. I got this version Cookie Crazie's blog. I love her cookies!!

Recipe
(This recipe is doubled. I rarely make a single batch)

2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 c white corn syrup
1/2 c water (I add gradually until I get to the consistency I'm looking for)
1 - 2 t flavoring

Mix ingredients together until smooth, holding a little water until the proper consistency is achieved. To get the correct consistency, peak with your finger. It should go smooth in 10 seconds (see Cookie Crazie's 10 second rule). Divide and color as desired.

I use bags and tips to outline, fill and detail. Most often I use tip #'s 2 and 3. Sometimes I use #4 or 5 to fill if the cookie is large.

I recently found this tutorial that has made cleanup a dream come true!! Keep watching until you see how she fills her bags.

Happy cookie making!!

Tombstone Cookies

These cookies were ordered by my daughter for my son-in-law's 30th birthday party.

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She obviously has a warped sense of humor. They were fun to make, though!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Divinity!

Divinity is my hubby's favorite homemade candy. I meant to make some for him at Christmastime. Really, I did. But it didn't happen.




So yesterday, I surprised him with some for Valentine's Day. Well, kind of surprised him. He came home when I was in the big middle of making it!

But he enjoyed it anyway!

Here's the recipe I used. It turned out perfect! (except I got my wood spoon caught in the beaters and finished off my mixer!) Oh, well. I was wanting a new one anyway.

Fabric Flowers

I've been wanting to try these for a while. I had actually bookmarked this tutorial at Restorative Living a couple months back.

So, in keeping with my "homemade" gift pledge this year, I decided to give them as Valentine gifts to my daughters and daughter-in-law.




I actually made this one first, then decided it needed less layers.




So I used less on these two, and decided I liked more layers!!





I learned a lot. What to do, what not to do, use something besides your fingers to hold the fabric over the flame, etc.!! I definitely like the tulle and I definitely like more petals.

I see a lot more of these in my future. I do have six granddaughters, after all!!

The Last of The Valentine Cookies

Finally! The end of the Valentine cookies!

I did have fun with it Friday night, though. My youngest daughter, Ruth, wanted to try her had at cookie decorating, so I loaded everything up and went to her house for the evening and we decorated cookies together.

Here are some of the cookies we decorated Friday night:






(Sorry about the lighting!)


And then, on Saturday, I finished up the cookies for my grand kids' Valentine gifts and a bag of cookies for my oldest granddaughter to take to school to give to her friends.





These are for those in my family who like plain cookies! I have such a hard time with that!




Next up: Tombstone cookies for my son-in-law's 30th birthday!!

70's Wood Plaque Redo

I was at a friend's house and she was getting ready to toss this wood plaque. She asked if I wanted it, and I said, "Not really." Then she said she was throwing it away. So I said, "Well, if you're going to throw it away . . . " That always gets me into trouble. I hate to see anything that could possibly have any use be thrown away. That's why my closets look the way they do!

I showed it to my daughters, and neither of them were impressed. So that was the challenge I needed!



Since both my daughters decorate with a lot of red accents and because I was snowed in and didn't have any other paint color I wanted to use on hand, I decided on red. But, with the crazy cold temps we had last week, I was leery of using spray paint (and I didn't want to freeze to death in the process!). So I decided to use craft paint. And my black tinted glaze.





Here's what it looked like after one coat of craft paint:




Much better after the second coat.




This is what happened as I was wiping off the glazing, probably due to the fact that I'm terribly impatient and didn't give the paint enough time to dry thoroughly, rather than because I used craft paint. But it covered up nicely.




And here's the finished project:




Kind of cute now, isn't it? One of my daughters was impressed. The other hasn't seen the transformation yet.




I'm really loving this glazing kick I'm on!!

Lady Bug Nursery

I've linked this post with these parties!



When my daughter, Naomi, had their fourth girl, they had to start stacking up the kids!! The baby, Sydney, had to go in with her almost three year old sister, Sylvie. Naomi bought this lady bug crib set for the baby.






So we needed to make Sylvie's side of the room coordinate with Sydney's side of the room. Here's what we've come up with so far.

I made this blanket, the bed skirts and pillow case for Sylvie's toddler bed. I found the lady bug fabric at Hobby Lobby.




Sylvie loves her small size pillow!




This bag was given to Sydney as a baby shower gift. The colors worked perfectly!!




I picked up this cute flower hanger for a couple dollars on the clearance aisle at Hobbly Lobby.




There are two windows in the nursery, so I made a valance for each.




I tried to use fabrics and colors that worked with the crib set. You can hardly see it, but here is black baby rick rack on the dotted bed skirt. So I used that and red baby rick rack, as well as the black checked fabric to tie it all together. I found the cute lady bugs at Michael's and hot glued them to the valances.




I found this Rare Editions lady bug dress at our local DAV store and couldn't pass it up! The lady bugs are made of Styrofoam balls cut in half and covered with felt. I used pipe cleaners for the antennae.




I glued on the eyes and spots with Elmer's glue. Pardon the weird looking antennae! I think Sylvie got hold of them! The lady bugs hang above the crib and fascinate Sydney!!




The lamp was one that was already in the nursery. My daughter was going to get rid of it since is was lavender, pink, yellow and green, but I decided a little craft paint would make it work just fine.




I picked up a half dozen of the little lamp shades at a clearance sale at Lowe's a couple years back. They are a sage green, which wouldn't work, so I spray painted it white! I then hot glued on the pink and red hearts and added baby rick rack.




We still have a few things more to do to finish the nursery, so I'll wait until then to show the complete room. But for now, we're loving how it's coming together.