Making Cakes

I have been obsessed with reading posts from this site...Ashley always has fabulous ideas and tutorials and for the last few weeks she has asked Brittany to be a guest blogger. Brittany is doing a make-a-cake series where she shares her tips on baking and decorating cakes. Her cakes are amazing...

and the tutorials are so easy to follow anyone can do it...even me...

I have always been intrigued by cake decorating and have often thought to myself, "How in the world do people get cakes to look fanciful and life-like much like pieces of artwork?"And wouldn't it be fabulous to be able to make a cake that looked professional without spending an arm and a leg? Not that my cake looks anywhere near what a professional cake looks like, but you have to start somewhere and I had a lot of fun doing it!

My real motivation for taking the plunge in baking and cake decorating is Carson's birthday. It is coming up next week and I want to make a cake similar to this...

but on a smaller scale. Maybe I am a bit ahead of myself in thinking I can pull it off, but I sure am going to try!

This is my practice cake. I wanted to make sure that I could bake the cake, make buttercream icing, fondant, color the fondant and cut/apply decorations. I am glad I did! Now I have a better idea of how long it takes and will do a little each day. I also found that my "Golden Sunshine" Wilton icing coloring was more orange than yellow. Good to know...I need yellow!

I also want it to taste good, not just look cute. So...I cut a slice...

and let my little taste tester be the judge.

And I think it passed the test!

If you have any interest at all in making cakes you should head over to the make a cake series. It will give you the confidence to give it a try. And you will be glad you did!

Dance Duds

Carson started dance class! A friend of mine emailed me and asked if Carson might want to join her little girl and another friend of ours in the "Tiny Tutu's" class. It was so much fun to watch she and the other little girls.

Before we went I ran to Target to pick her up a leotard for the class. My niece had given us one, but C had already outgrown it. It was the only one left in her size and pretty reasonably priced (around $15). A few days later we went to a local dance store to pick her up another leotard. I am not always up on the wash so she would need a back up. I couldn't believe how expensive they were. I think the most basic one was $20. Some of the more embellished were as much as $45. So you know what that means...I am going to attempt to make one myself!

I took an older bathing suit, but one that still fit and dissected it! It was going to be my pattern for her leotard. It took me over an hour to rip it apart. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to reassemble the new piece, but was making metal notes as I ripped the old one apart.

ahh, finally!

Then I pinned and cut out the leotard. I used a lycra fabric and nylon for the lining. I stopped taking pictures at this point. Sometimes documenting gets in the way of the task at hand:)

Next, I put the elastic around the legs. Then I put elastic across the back/top of the leotard. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to do the binding for the arms with the elastic. I couldn't figure out how to do it where it looked decent so I didn't end up using elastic in the arms. The lycra had enough stretch to it. If anyone has advice I would love to hear it!

I cut three one inch strips and I ruffled them up. I put it across the back and on the arms. I did this for two reasons...to hide my lines, they were not attractive on the straps, AND because I like ruffles!

Here is the finished product!!

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out seeing as how it was my first venture at using an article of dissected clothing as my pattern. However, I wasn't sure if it looks more like a bathing suit or a leotard; so, I added a skirt. I apologize for the poor quality in photos. I brought my camera, but the battery was dead...URG! So I had to settle for phone pictures. You get the idea...right?

I have a maternity dress to leotard refashion in the works. I also ordered some fabric to attempt one of these! Does anyone have any experience making pettiskirts? Any advice?

Linking up with...

Who ever said you can't...

play with your food!

We had a little fun while daddy was away this weekend. One of the things we did is make a huge mess! We used these ingredients...

Side note: I bought the cook & serve instead of the instant. I had to cook it on the stove and then let it cool. The instant pudding would have been easier. I still would have had to stick it in the fridge for a bit, but would have been able to skip the stove top step.

to make this...

and do this...

The girls had a blast finger painting and eating it too!

Carson is learning how to spell her name and this was a fun way to practice. We also had a mini lesson on primary and secondary colors. We mixed blue and yellow food coloring to get the green color of the pudding paint.

I had to throw both girls into the tub afterwards. They were a wet, sticky mess, but sure did smell good!

Happy Puddin' Painting!