Under Construction Baby Shower

When my sisters and I found out that our brother and sister in law were having a little boy, we were so excited! There had not been a boy baby since my oldest sister had one 16 years before! We had gotten so used to planning girl baby showers so this was new for us! My sister really liked the "Under Construction" theme, which is all boy and so cute! We had a lot of fun coming up with the decor and food.

We had chocolate donuts as truck tires. I found most of the decorations at Hobby Lobby, but I made the signs on my Silhouette Cameo. They were really easy, just print and cut a diamond shape with the food name. We did Nothing Bundt Cake Bundtinis for the dessert because my SIL loves them and they are so delicious! 

We had different dessert breads and muffins as rocks and boulders and had them spilling out of the back of the dump truck. We gave all of the trucks and tractors as part of our gift. 

A bowl of fruit was nuts and bolts. We also had concrete mix or more appetizing, hashbrown casserole!

The beverages were placed in the fueling station! 

For favors we did Mounds Candy Bars with tags that said "Thanks for the mound of gifts!"

It really turned out to be a cute shower and it was fun to do something that was completely different than what we normally do with all of our girlie parties!

Nutcracker Cookies

We just finished another year of Nutcracker rehearsals and shows! This year my daughter had a solo as the Columbine Doll so we were all super excited! We finished the week with a cast party after the Saturday show. I decided to make decorated sugar cookies. I made mice, snowflakes and tutus. Tim made the cookie cutters on his 3D printer, which was very convenient! I was really happy with how they turned out, I just wish I had more time to make more! They went fast!

Colorado Springs Trip

We took a quick trip up to Colorado Springs recently and had such a great time! We crammed a lot of driving and activities into just a few days! It took us about 12 1/2 hours to get there, but it was so worth it! We arrived in Colorado Springs on a Friday and decided to drive right up Pike's Peak. I was extremely nervous about this, but I managed to hold it together. I was even able to snap a few pics on the way up!

The last picture is of some sheep that were grazing very close to the top of the mountain. It was around 86 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and in the low 40s at the top, which we were very excited about! When we got to the top of the mountain, we had to try the donuts and hot chocolate. The girls did not like the donuts at all, but loved the hot chocolate. The donuts were a cakey texture with hints of nutmeg and other spices. They were OK, but I'm pretty sure they are only famous because of the mountain and experience! We snapped a few pics at the top and then headed back down. We happened to see a goat walking near a lookout point so we stopped and I got out to take some pics. 2 more walked up at that time, which was really exciting! 

Later that night we went to Cave of the Winds. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I didn't take any pics inside of the cave, but I did take some on their balcony. The place is located high in the mountains and extends over a canyon. They have some thrill rides but I would never have the guts to do them! After the cave tour, we waited for the free laser show. After dark, they cast the lasers onto one of the canyon walls. The show is set to music and was great. The breeze that came through was so nice! 

The next morning we attempted to go to Garden of the Gods, but it was way too crowded. We decided to drive up to Breckenridge, which was a nice 74 degrees. We rode the gondola (which is free in the summer) and got some awesome views. Afterwards, we played in the Blue River. This was probably the girls favorite part of the trip! The water was very cold but so clear and beautiful! 

Later that day we went back to Garden of the Gods and it was empty! We had a picnic in one of the picnic areas and enjoyed the views. Then we hiked one of the easy trails up to The Siamese Twins rocks. Both girls really enjoyed it and loved playing on the rocks. It was getting dark, but the views were still awesome!

On Sunday we went to Cañon Springs and went on a family raft trip. We really enjoyed this and I would highly recommend it! Next time we go we would like to try one that has a few more rapids since this one was very tame. We did the morning trip, which was nice because it got pretty warm. Our guide was great and the girls thought he was lots of fun. We didn't snap any pics and I really regret that because their picture prices were ridiculous! If you ever go, make sure to bring a waterproof or disposable camera!

We also decided to skip the tourist attraction of Seven Falls, but we still wanted to see the falls. I had done some research online and found that you can hike an "easy" trail to the top of Mt. Cutler. While this trail had no real obstacles, we still found it long and a little slippery. However, this was our first mountain trail and I am a bit of a scaredy cat! Maclayne actually did the whole thing without having to be carried (but not without whining)! We didn't go all the way up to the summit because it was thundering, but we got a great view of the falls! It was totally worth it!

We finished the trip with one last visit to Garden of the Gods so the girls could run and play. They had so much fun and were very sad to leave (so were mom and dad)! We left for home the next morning and drove all day! The girls were so good and we all can't wait for the next trip to Colorado!

Rustic Wedding Cake

My younger sister got married this past weekend and asked me to make the cake. I knew it would be a huge undertaking, but I decided to go for it. This is only the 2nd wedding cake I've made but it was by far the biggest . I usually just make birthday cakes, which are so much less stressful! My sister asked for a rustic cake so I thought I could handle it. I know I over thought the frosting technique because I was trying to duplicate a picture. I called her on the wedding day, freaking out a bit, to try to understand exactly what she was expecting(a little late, I know!). She simply stated that she wanted it to look intentionally messy. Messy is hard for me since I'm all about pattern and symmetry, but she was happy with the finished product! I'll explain a little more about the process!

I feel like one of the hardest parts of cake making is getting perfect tiers. This cake is 14 inches, then 10 inches, then 6 inches on top. I was worried about how the biggest layers would turn out, but they were some of the best I've made. That silver thing in the middle of the cake is a flower nail used to make buttercream flowers. It makes a perfect heat core! I made sure to grease it well and put it in the middle of the pan before adding the batter. I also always bang the pans on the counter to even the batter and get out any air bubbles. I only put 1 pan in the oven at a time to ensure that it baked evenly. The cakes baked up perfectly!

I felt kind of dumb, but I just recently learned the proper way to put a cake together. I used to always flip the cakes over and make the bottom of the cake sit on top, since it is always flat. This is all wrong. You want the tops of the cakes to be touching. This way you have the light colored crust in the middle of the layers, and the darker crusts around the edges. It makes for prettier slices, but also made my tiers very even. I didn't even have to cut these. I also cut and placed 4 dowels in each of the bottom two layers and then put 2 sharpened dowels through the middle of all 3 layers.This icing technique required a good, chilled crumb coat before adding the rustic look.

Once the cake had chilled for about an hour, I made a ton of buttercream icing. You want to be very generous when applying the icing. I used a small offset spatula and moved it back and forth and up and down, all over the cake. I would get big dollops of icing and just start moving it around the cake. At times, my husband would catch me creating too much of a pattern, so I would go back and try to mess it up a bit! I wrapped the twine and ribbon that I had lined with wax paper around the bottom of the tiers and secured it with clean sewing pins. It was very secure. After it was done, I placed it back in the fridge to set up a bit. It was pretty easy to transport and didn't move at all! It was a lot of work, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment when it was done!

Princess Canvas and a Silhouette Cameo Trace Tutorial

Maclayne loves the princesses, so when it was time to decorate her room, I knew they needed to be included! This project was super simple and didn't take long at all. I had her pick 4 of her favorite princesses. You could do as many or as few canvases as you want. I bought a pack of small canvases from Hobby Lobby (using a coupon of course). I had some left over paint from painting Mackenzie's room and it matched perfectly with the bedding in Maclayne's room. I applied 2 coats to get the finished look that I wanted.

Now you will need your Silhouette. I searched online to find the shapes that I wanted, paying attention to the actual silhouette rather than colors or facial expressions. Once I found an image that I liked, I copied and pasted it onto the Silhouette program. Then I traced the shape.

All you have to do to trace is click on the trace window in the upper right hand corner. Once it is open, click on select trace area. Drag the mouse and make a square over the image you want to trace. For this project, select trace outer edge. This will leave you with the silhouette of the image. Make sure the traced image is set to cut (you can delete or move the original image from your mat screen). Set your Silhouette to the vinyl setting. I find it cuts best for me when the blade is on a 2 and the speed is low. You will load your vinyl directly into the Silhouette. Make sure you bring the white holders all the way in to grab the vinyl, then cut! After the shape is cut, remove the excess and put your transfer paper over the cut out. Then all you have to do is smooth it onto your canvas! Super easy! This can be customized to any colors, characters, or themes you want!

Maclayne's 4th Birthday Party

We had Maclayne's 4th birthday party over the weekend and she had such a great time! We got her and Mackenzie a joint gift, which was a trampoline. I think she jumped on it almost the whole time! We just had family this year so it was very laid back and a lot of fun!

She loves dinosaurs and it just so happens that Peppa's little brother, George, always has his toy dinosaur. So I decided to make peppa cookies and dinosaur cookies.

We also had "Muddy Puddles" which were No Bake Cookies. These are one of our favorite cookies and I think they worked perfectly with the theme! We also served "Muddy Water" or chocolate milk. Maclayne really got a kick out of all the names and called them muddy puddles and muddy water! My husband printed out the poster, but you can find them for pretty cheap on Ebay. 

She insisted on me making a chocolate cake and was a little bummed when she saw me with blue frosting. She wanted the whole cake to be chocolate! Brown is just too boring for me! I did a very simple shell technique for the cake and it did not take long at all! All you do is make rows of shells all along the sides. You don't have to be perfect! I made a chocolate muddy puddle by melting chocolate candy melts and forming it into a circle. I then placed her Pig family on top. You could make the characters out of fondant, but I really didn't feel like it was worth the time and no one would eat them anyway!

For party favors I just did candy and dinosaur bubbles. I used pink bags and printed stickers on the silhouette with a picture of Peppa. I really kept it simple this year, but I loved the way it turned out!

Peppa Pig Invitations

I recently created Maclayne's 4th birthday invites on the silhouette. She loves Peppa Pig and decided on that theme for her birthday. This is a very simple invite and took very little time to make.

First, I decided on the colors that I wanted for her party-pink and yellow. Next, I found an image of Peppa Pig that was good enough quality to print on the invite. I began by creating a square with rounded corners. It is a shape that you can select from the upper left side. I filled it in the dark pink that I wanted. Next, I found a shape that I wanted to use to put the text in. I was able to expand the line thickness and make it yellow. Then I placed the image of Peppa Pig at the top. The banner at the bottom is also a shape that I already had. I added the text to fit in the banner. If you double click on the text, there will be a little black cross or x that appears. You can move it around to make the curve needed for the shape. Finally, I added the text in the center of the invite using the Miss Smarty Pants font.

Now it's time to get it ready to print. Click on the cut icon to make sure that only the large square is set to cut. Then go to the open registration marks icon at the top right of the program. Add your registration marks and make them as small as they will go. I was able to fit 2 invitations on one piece of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. After you have set the registration marks, you can either click on send to silhouette or print. After it has printed, load it onto your mat and into the machine. Click detect registration marks. Once it says it has been successful, click cut. Voila! You can either send them as is, or make a square a little bigger than the original, cut it, and paste the printed invite on top. That is what I did because I like the sturdiness and contrast it gives. Hope you like it!