a few summer creations

Well, it's been much too long since I've posted. Sometimes I get so interested in doing something for a while and then....

Summer has come and gone so quickly, but I'm happy to get the fall term started.
For my birthday in June Nick bought me some cake decorating goodies. I really want to learn more about decorating cakes. Almost a year ago I took the Wilton course 1 for decorating but I missed the last class because I was sick. Of course the last one, in my opinion, was most important. Here is a picture of a cake I made for my best friend, Shelby who came and visited us from Texas. I was trying to make a specific design for the top border, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted. I definitely need to practice it.






A few months ago I made a cake for a baby shower for my boss. It was my first time carving a cake and creating a cake with this design. So, I was pretty pleased. Since then I've learned some techniques to smooth my frosting better. I airbrushed the bottom layer and used pink frosting on the top layer. It turned out a little bit more pink than I wanted on the bottom layer especially. Overall I was pretty happy with the results; I mean I am a beginner after all. Everybody loved it and thought it tasted good too!

I also made a journal for her (with Bonnie's help with the "spiralator")as well and many of my coworkers wrote well wishes for the new mom.

Hopefully, I'll keep things a little more updated in the future. ... Take care my online friends.

Keepin' Busy

This past Friday I had a good time as always. Linda and I played with a stamp set of Bonnie's called Bella ??? something. It was fun seeing what we each came up with. Crazy thing is I think both of us only accomplished creating one card. I would have finished the night with two cards with the similar flower if it weren't for my ink disaster. -Thanks Linda for helping me fix the ink pad. I lifted the idea for the shading and making the flower dimensional. Here it is...

This card I made last night for a guy in the office. It certainly isn't the most masculine card, but I did what I could. I like the tag line because he has been through some difficult times recently with his health.

Here are two birthday cards I made recently. Tricia gave out the pink and green plaid type paper at the Scrap Pink Crop. I couldn't believe how great it went with the kiwi kiss cardstock.

Christmas Cards

Well, I've kind of stayed away from the computer over the break, but I just haven't quite gotten into the blogging habit. Maybe someday I'll be a constant blogger like Sue. :)


I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!

Here are some pictures of cards I've created recently. Somehow I didn't take a picture of the Christmas card I made for family. Some of you may have seen it. I used the crab & company set by Stampin' up. On the inside of the card I put a picture of Nick and myself holding live lobsters during our summer vacation in Maine.


Here are a few different Christmas cards I made. The truck snowman card were made for 2 separate swaps.


This is a candy box I made for some coworkers. Sue taught how to make this at club and Priceless had a class on gift card holder and this box. Hmmm.. . I made some cute gift card holders, but I guess I missed taking a picture of them before I gave them away.




Happy crafting!!

Finally made some cards

Here are some birthday cards I made recently. The first 2 are quick cards I made for some coworkers' birthdays. The last card is very similar to a card I made at last month's Stampers ten club. I used brocade blue and soft sky. I really liked the card Sue nade, so I just had to get the upsy daisy set.

Cake. Cake. and more Cake!

In October I decided to take course 1 of the Wilton cake decorating classes. I've sort of become the unofficial birthday cake baker for a group of friends, so I wanted to learn some technique. Honestly, I didn't learn too much that I didn't already know, but it did help some. The unfortunate thing was that I missed my last class since, as you may know I was sick after returning from my trip to NH. Here are pictures of the cakes I made for my classes, work birthdays and finally the poker birthday cake I made for Nick. Yes, he loved his cake! -and well, I was proud of it too.

Piece of Cake?!?

Well no one ever said life would be a peice of cake, but my goodness sometimes you do something just to be nice and it just backfires!

The weekend of cakes...




This all occured last weekend.




Warning Rant coming on.....


I'll start at the beginning. A little over a month ago I signed up for a class at Priceless to make a tombstone shaped Halloween book. When I saw Bonnie making it I knew exactly what I could use it for, Nick's birthday party pictures from last year. So a few weeks ago we found out a friend was going into the army. Well guess what time the birthday/going away party would be! Well, she asked me to make a cake and I obliged. I have kind of become the unofficial cake baker for a group of friends. Usually I just make a 9 inch round cake but she was expecting 30 people so I made an 11x15 cake. So it was interesting trying something new. Nick even helped decorate. He did so since he loves the fact that he has better handwriting than I do. Writing on a cake is a bit different though! Thank you for your help Nick!! Here are some pictures. They aren't perfect, but I am just beginning. They tasted SO good though! :)








So, the party was the same time as my class. I wouldn't bail on a friend so I went to her house bright and early to help decorate and then left later in the afternoon. So, I left the class early to go back to the party. When I arrived things weren't going so well. People were not arriving to the party as expected and she decided to give me heck when I got back. I'll leave it at that and spare the details of the one sided yelling fest. If you know me well, you know that I would never say those words nor would I speak to a good friend in that manner. Hopefully, things will be better when I see her next time. All I can do is pray for her while she is going through this difficult time.


Sunday, I was busy making another cake. This one was for the birthday club at work. A couple of weeks ago I sent an e-mail to everyone which in a nutshell said if you are interested in celebrating birthdays (we stopped probably 5 months ago) let me know since I enjoy baking and decorating cakes. I offered to do for a dollar a person except of course for their birthday month. I arrive to work Monday with a note outside my office door from the person who used to make cakes. It was ridiculous. It said, "Before you read your e-mail. Don't get mad at me. Just think about it. Here $1" I wondered what on earth was this about. Then I read my e-mail from her which went on about how she thought a dollar was too much. Um, you can't buy a peice of cake in the grocery store for a dollar! I found out from a coworker that while I wasn't in the office on Friday that she decided to talk about me behind my back. After work one day last week a couple of girls asked me how I was doing which was nice. They work with her on a daily basis and are used to her. Basically, it boils down to money. Doesn't everything? She never asked when she did it so she never got anything, but we did put a donation together. However, I usually make them from scratch. Oh well, you certainly can't make everyone happy!!



-Yes, I forgot to cross my T! Of course I noticed this AFTER I cleaned up!

back to school & visit to new JoAnns

Well, life has been quite busy around here. Between the new fall term at CF and getting myself ready to start my UCF classes tomorrow, it has been quite crazy. In some ways I dread the deadlines and all of the work involved, but at the same time I can't wait to get started. The sooner class starts the holidays will be here and I will have two more classes under my belt with only four more to go after that. Fall is my absolute FAVORITE time of year! I might go to NH in October with my mom, but it will depend on how much schoolwork I have during that time.

Today I went to the new JoAnns in The Villages. Nick and I were out at the new Best Buy because he needs a new charger for his laptop since part of the wire is coming apart. Unfortunately, the replacement is not working well. Since we were there Nick said we could check out JoAnns. I am very disappointed that AC Moore didn't move in the plaza as originally announced, but this JoAnns IS better than the one in Ocala. They seemed to have a better selection of cuttlebug and cricut products. I bought 2 scalloped punches 1/5 and 2 inch and a cuttlebug folder. I was planning on browsing, not buying but Nick knew I had been looking for the punches so he insisted I buy them. I can't argue with that.



Here are some pictures of some cards I've made recently.
The border on the always & forever card is actually the inside of the card. It blends in with the top part in the picture.