Got Cake???

I'm taking a cake decorating class at my local Michael's and i'm having a ball. Last week we needed to bring a 2-layer cake and buttercream frosting in 3 different consistencies. We leveled, filled and frosted the cake. Then we learned all sorts of borders and zigzags and writing and the rose. The rose was definitely the hardest, some of mine looked more like cabbages. My daughter asked me if this was my wedding cake. I didn't bring any colors with me, so the whole thing is white! Here's my first attempt.




This week I am bringing cupcakes and we are learning more decorations. I can't wait!

Reveal Day-Garden Party!

It's reveal time for Scrapbooker's Club House. This kit featured the entire line of new My Mind's Eye Garden Party paper. And let me tell you, it is gorgeous!!! The kit also included some Heidi Swapp goodies, ric rac, Maya Road journaling sheers, Making Memories letters and more! It was fantastic to work with, I completed many layouts, tons of cards and a cute little gift bag!






I made this gift bag by following this tutorial. The perfect fit for a handful of candy goodies or even a gift card.


I made quite a few more cards and even have more scraps for...more cards! What a fun kit!! Thanks for taking a peek!

Growing Up Acrylic Album

I've wanted to do this album for a while, even had the photos printed out and everything. I got this Rusty Pickle acrylic album at a scrap expo I attended back in February. And...I finally got around to doing it! This was so much fun, these pictures range from the very first good shot I got of my kids together to present time (well, last Christmas). My kids had a blast seeing old photos of themselves. I basically put them in chronological order according to my daughter's hair. We've never cut it and it just keeps getting longer and longer!

The paper and diecuts are from Fancy Pants (Daydreamer collection) and a mish mash of a bunch of other stuff! I used alot of paint and stickles around the edges.







I have another acrylic album I bought and have just the idea for it! I can't wait to play with that on!

Some new layouts

So...I'm participating in 4 week challenge over at Scrapdango. Each week we get 1 challenge and 1 bonus challenge. The first week was a tough challenge, use orange, green, and purple on a layout. Also use 7 flowers and 5 different papers. That was a tough color combination for me, but this is what I came up with.

We also had to create our own sketch. This was fun, i've done sketches a few times and i'm getting better at it. I made this one in power point.

For this week's challenge, we were assigned somebody else's sketch to create a layout from. How fun is that????? Here is my layout based on Regina's sketch.

I used my new Pink Paislee stamps for the skulls and made my own skull from felt. Stitched on the eyes and mouth. I also used my nail file to grunge up the outside border of the layout and the PP. I stamped with corrugated cardboard on white cardstock to get the other patterned paper. This one was fun!! And I love these photos of my kids, they just LOVE music!!

The bonus challenge was to create a layout based on your own sketch. This came together quickly, i've been wanting to scrap this photo for a while. Love those felt flowers!!! I wish I had every color under the sun of the flowers!

I'm having fun with all the challenges!!! And the message board is so friendly, stop by when you have a chance!

Weight Loss Special

Okay...just kidding! If you thought this post was about weight loss...you are sadly mistaken. It's all about this beautiful wonderful Peanut Butter Cup Cake I made this weekend. We were going to dinner and a playdate with some friends and my friend just had her birthday and because of the holiday I missed it. So...thought i'd bring dessert. And she likes peanut butter cups and I like peanut butter cups and I recently saw this post on Bakerella's blog. Have you seen this blog? One of the coolest foodies blogs out here! So many amazing foods and the photos she takes are amazing, too! Anyway, had to try out this cake.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 box (18.25 ounces) devil's food
cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chopped chocolate-covered peanut butter cups (about 8 ounces), plus more to garnish
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line with waxed paper; coat paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.

3. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto wire racks and cool completely.

4. Place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and whisk until smooth.

5. Trim top of cake layers flat with a serrated knife. Put 1 cake layer on cooling rack and place on a baking sheet. Pour 1 cup frosting on top; spread evenly with a spatula. Top with remaining cake layer. Pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and sides with spatula. Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Transfer cake to serving plate and garnish with chopped candy, if desired.

I made the 9 inch cake rounds on Thursday night. Frosted it on Friday night and put it in the fridge. I used more than a sprinkling of peanut butter cups on top, I went a bit overboard. Actually, I don't think it's possible to go overboard with peanut butter cups. You can see the frosting slid a bit and isn't perfect on the sides, but I did my best trying to smooth things out.
I was a bit freaked out about it melting all over the back of my car Saturday, as I had an hour drive to our dinner/playdate. But it survived in tact!




It was delicious! It was almost too rich and chocolately to finish, but by golly I finished my piece. Didn't want to be struck down by the rich and sinfully chocolately gods for not finishing my cake. Thankfully, I left the remainder of the cake with my girlfriend or else I might have eaten it for breakfast. She probably did!

Acrylic Wall Hanging

I always love the acrylic projects I see everywhere, so I decided to dabble a bit with the stuff. I had a fairly thick sheet of it that I bought at Home Depot last year. Took me this long to dabble in it!! My sweet hubbie cut me a piece that is roughly 8x8 and drilled two holes in the top for threading of ribbon. First off, I painted the outside edge with acrylic paint and then Stickles. I also dotted some Stickles in the corner in both blue and gold.

I used a glue stamp pad to stamp the flourishes, then dusted them with blue glitter.


Had two large chipboard stars, which I sanded and added quite a few layers of gold and blue Glimmer Mist. I just kept misting until I liked the color I had. I also added a chipboard saying to the middle of one of the stars. Added some ribbon as well as some more Stickles around the points of the stars. I went a wee bit Stickle-crazy. It's easy to do.

Matted my photo with a bit of patterned paper and there you have it!!

This hangs right by my scrap hutch and I love it!!

I'm a Daisy Girl!!!!!

I am so excited to announce i've been chosen to be on the Daisy Girl Design Team for a brand new site, Color Me Daisy!! The message board and site are going live August 1st and it's all very exciting!! I am looking forward to meeting all the Daisy Girls and launching this great new kit club. Check out the blog and i'll keep you posted when it all goes live! It's going to be FUN!!!!