What's the Smatter?

Five Minutes and a Glue Gun: Steampunk Headband

2014-03-04T15:06:00.001-08:00

One day I happened to have five minutes and a glue gun. I also happened to have a few tiny gears from a craft store pack.

I also had a $1.00, boring gray headband. Clearly the only thing to do was make a steampunk headband.

Here it is:

Not bad for five minutes and 2$. Don't you want one?

Funny Things Children Have Said To Me

2013-12-31T19:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a brief collection of some ridiculous things small children have said to me while I've been substitute teaching:

11. "I saved ice from a puddle in my backpack, but I think someone stole it."

10. "You are the prettiest substitute teacher I've ever had!"

9. "I don't want to look in the mirror because I am afraid of the skeletons in there."

8. "It's cold and my hands want to go inside."

7. "How do you spell 'colossal squid'"?

6. "It smells like there is a horse parked nearby."

5. "I wish I had a penis."

4. "Mommy didn't shower today!"

3. "When I grow up I'm going to either be an engineer or a rabbit."

2. "It's my daddy's birthday. I'm guessing he's like...either 34 or 70."

1."If you want, you can come to my house and use my time machine. Bring your kids."

This is just a sampling of the gems I hear at schools. I'll try to keep better track and post another list soon.

Easy DIY Decor: Chemistry Lightswitch Covers

2013-12-31T18:53:00.003-08:00

You might think I would be tired of customizing light-switch and electrical outlet panels by now, after the many others I've done, but they were so easy! I couldn't resist adding some to the kitchen.

I decided on a chemistry/science theme for the kitchen décor, so of course the periodic table had to make an appearance.

I also made a couple with diagrammed molecules. They took a little longer because I had to cut out each molecule instead of just slapping on the whole piece of paper, but even these just took a few minutes plus drying time.

I'm running out of electrical panels to decorate!

Bellingham Garden Spot: Greenery for the Holidays

2013-11-27T21:36:00.000-08:00

If you are close enough to Bellingham to pay The Garden Spot a visit this holiday season, it's well worth the trip! This weekend I attended their holiday celebration this weekend and had a chance to view some of their wonderful foliage, ready to be taken home and enjoyed.

Evenf you didn't make it to this outstanding nursery for their holiday event, you haven't missed your chance to peruse winter plants such as these bright primroses,

and hellebore and heather of many varieties.

Don't forget to check out the irresistible lawn accoutrements:

Don't have yard space for new greenery? No problem. The Garden Spot even has tiny tropical plants for your apartment windowsill.

Whether you're searching for just the right gift or planning to brighten your yard this winter, The Garden Spot can help.

Happy holidays!

African Animal Baby Shower Cake

2013-03-13T12:04:00.001-07:00

I have many friends in the zookeeping world, so maybe it's not too odd that a couple weeks ago someone said to me, "Hey, could you make an aardvark baby cake? Maybe one where the mom is holding a baby but the baby head is an aardvark?"

Yes. I could.

I had a lot of angst preparing for this cake because I was trying a lot of new things. I'd never made a stacked cake, covered a cake in fondant (except to make it look like a tablecloth, as in the tea set cake), made figures out of fondant or painted on a cake. Sooo...there were a lot of ways this cake could have gone wrong!

Fortunately, the cake turned out like this:

My largest challenge was actually covering the cake in fondant. I didn't have a rolling pin, which made rolling it out quite a chore. I used a drinking glass. The fondant got all bunchy along the sides of the cake, but I don't know if it was because I didn't roll the fondant into a big enough piece or didn't roll it flat enough...In any case, painting the cake covered HUGE errors.

Here's an embarrassing photo of the covered cake as I'm starting to paint.

It's also clear that the stacked cake is not exactly level; this, too, seemed to be somewhat remedied by adding the figure and paint.

I used food coloring gel and water to paint the whole cake and then used some icing for the clouds.

It is supposed to be a progression of day into night going from the bottom to the top, but I'm not sure if that idea comes across.

I worked on the fondant figures ahead of time so they would be dry in time for the baby shower and they were pretty fun to make. I used animals from the mom-to-be's nursery mural, which has an Africa theme. The animals on the mural are: an aardvark, a hornbill, a hedgehog, a serval and straw-colored fruit bats. The aardvark is on top of the cake with the figure of the mom.

She looks like this without the aardvark. I made them separately and stuck them together at the last minute.

The fondant white-bellied hedgehog and hornbill looked like this:

The straw-colored fruit bat is there too; I also made her from fondant, but instead of sitting her next to the cake or suspending her, I just made her very small and adhered her to the side so she can "hang" from the tree.

The serval was tricky because I had no fondant of a color that would work and had to paint white fondant and use an edible marker for the details.

And the final product, displayed here at the baby shower, ended up looking pretty good!

I enjoyed the painting part--it was like watercoloring! But it would help to know how to do water color... And I'm definitely going to have to do some research on improving my fondant covering skills. Youtube, here I come!

Movie Popcorn Bucket Cake

2013-03-10T19:56:00.001-07:00

If you're as interested in cake as I am (I know you are), you've probably seen many variations of the movie-cake, where a talented decorator creates a realistic popcorn bucket out of edible materials--none of which are actually popcorn.

I decided to try my hand at this for my aunt's birthday/Oscar night party this year. In the past, I'd decorated some very elaborate cakes for my dear Aunt Sittrea, including a book cake and a tea set cake. I was excited to try my hand at making this cake, and even though it looks simpler than the other two I'd made, it had it's own set of challenges.

The finished product looked like this:

First I needed to make the popcorn, which in the end, was my favorite part of this cake!

I started with a bag of mini-marshmallows and, after some experimentation, discovered that cutting them into clover shapes gave them the most realistic look. If you are hoping to try this, be sure to clean the knife frequently so it doesn't get gummed up; this tears the marshmallows rather than slicing them. I added a dab of watered down food gel along each one and let them sit out for a day to get stale so they weren't so squishy. I made about two cups of them, which took a while, but was worth the effort!

Next I had to bake and stack the cake for the bucket. I used four six-inch rounds.

I measured the cake and estimated how tall and wide to make the strips of red and white fondant around the bucket and put them on over the "dirty icing" layer. I also added a plaque of sorts to be the front label of the bucket.

This label was my biggest problem and my biggest disappointment. I should probably have traced or used a stencil or something to compensate for my sloppy handwriting. My first attempt looked pretty bad and I ended up removing the plaque and making a second one.

Here's the first one:

The second was better, but not stellar. Lastly I adhered the popcorn to the top of the stacked cake with icing and painted it with yellow food gel as butter.

I think the Oscar party-goers appreciated the cake and I keep learning every time I try something new!

Aardvark, Bird and Gifraffe Wall Art

2013-03-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

If you don't work at a zoo, (and even if you do) you probably have never heard a pregnant woman say, "I'm planning on decorating the nursery with an aardvark theme." But if you're me, this was hardly unexpected. My brilliant and kind friend Sara is due to give birth to a baby in April and I wanted to make her some aardvark art to adorn the nursery walls, since aardvark art is not easy to come by.

This was an incredibly easy project that turned out so well I made some more for myself. I simply bought two pieces of scrapbook paper with complimentary colors, modified an aardvark drawing I found to make a template, and cut out the form of the aardvark from the solid colored-paper.

The framed result:

I liked the aardvark, but for my bedroom I wanted some custom bird art, so I found a drawing I liked and made a stencil of two birds on a branch. Add frames found on clearance at the craft store and...

I have two pieces of art with exactly the colors and patterns I had in mind to brighten the walls!

Before I made the aardvark, I had tried the same technique for a wall-hanging to go with my giraffe-print electrical panels. I liked how it came out and will put it up, but I think using a darker solid color would have made the giraffe print pop more.

Merman Cake

2013-03-10T13:21:00.002-07:00

Maybe it's a reflection of my personal style, or maybe the friends I choose, but occasionally I get requests for really odd cakes. For instance, this anteater cake I did last November.

This time the cake was a merman cake for my friend Tom. He loves really tacky merman ornaments like these, which inspired my artistic pal Adam to suggest a merman cake for Tom's birthday party. I insisted that Adam collaborate with me on the project and this is what we ended up with.

Genius. I can't take credit for the parts that are impressive, such as the illusion of rock hard abs or the cute cowlick in the hair-do, but I will admit to making all of the sea creatures, only some of which are visible from this angle.

My favorite is the octopus.

In the next post, I'll demonstrate that I have more strange friends (aardvark nursery art?!)

Anteater Cake

2012-12-07T23:11:00.002-08:00

For my most recent foray into cake decorating, I was challenged to make a cake for one of my co-workers whose favorite animal is an anteater. I considered making a cake with a fondant anteater on top, but decided to up the ante and make a cake that was actually shaped like an anteater. This was my first cake that was not cake-shaped.

I practiced a few techniques the week before the party and ended up with what appeared to be a seamonster on the counter. I diagrammed how to make two 8-inch rounds into a body, tail, head and neck so I could replicate the proportions. I also baked the cake differently so it would be dense and easier to work with, like sponge cake.

The body piece below is comprised of one 8-inch round cut in half and glued together with icing. I also thinly covered it in chocolate icing.

For the tail piece, I cut out most of the edge of the second 8-inch round in two pieces and stacked them.

The head and neck are wedge-shapes cut from the remainder of the 8-inch round I used for the tail pieces. The proportions here are a little off because of the size of tray I needed to fit the anteater onto. I think the head should actually stretch out more to the left.

I used semi-circles from the second 8-inch cake for legs and covered him in fondant except for the tail. When I covered the head I created an extension for the nose that is all fondant with no cake underneath and tried to smooth out the seam. Then I made facial features from black fondant. I think my favorite part of this cake is the adorable ears!

I put a stripe down the anteater's back with a strip of black fondant and then I added fur (after much experimentation attempting to approximate the color gray) using a decorating tip intended for making grass. If I were more ambitious, I could have covered the whole body, but I decided to be more of a minimalist because the coloring in the icing gave it a funny taste (also it would have taken forever).

With the addition of tiny ants and a red tongue (all fondant), he was starting to at least marginally resemble a giant anteater, which was about all I could hope for, since it was my first "shaped" cake.

Hopefully I'll have a reason to continue expanding my repertoire of decorating techniques with more cakes that are this fun!

Beach Cupcakes

2012-11-25T19:50:00.001-08:00

I haven't had much time to do any elaborate cake projects lately, but for my mom's birthday earlier this month, I did manage to throw together some cute beach cupcakes. There are similar cupcakes all over the internet so I had no shortage of photos for inspiration.

Making this batch of cute cupcakes was actually pretty simple. First I baked some gluten-free cupcakes and gathered my supplies.

I used a gluten-free cake mix to bake the cupcakes and went the easy route with the icing and just bought some Pilsbury blue frosting instead of coloring it myself. I put a little smear of the icing on half of the cupcake and then rolled it in smashed up gluten-free animal cookies.

After the "sand" was glued on, I added the ocean part of the cupcake using a closed star icing tip to make swirls. Gummy sharks and Swedish fish served for tasty sea life. Cocktail umbrellas gave these cupcakes the finishing touch.

DIY Custom Electrical Panels

2012-11-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

My previous home improvement blog post involved "sewing" and painting some curtains to cover my closet, which have turned out to be a wonderful investment of time (just a few hours) and money (just a few dollars!)

Now it's time for another frugal and fun home improvement project: custom electrical panels. Because we (okay, I) chose a theme for each room in the house, I've been toying with inexpensive ways to unite the furnishings and decor while conveying the theme. Also, because we did a lot of painting and tearing down sheet rock, many of our electrical panels ended up stacked on various counter-tops.

For our travel-themed room, I used some pages of maps from an atlas of Alaska that I bought for a dollar at an estate sale. I traced around the panel and adhered the map to the panel with decoupage glue. Then I used a craft knife to cut out the space where the plug-ins go through or the light-switch flips up and down. Lastly I covered the maps with a few layers of the same glue and sprayed a clear sealer over the top.

Voila!

I used the same method to create some panels for one of the spare bedrooms where I've decided to have an owl theme.

The cute owl wrapping paper came from World Market, and I used the same paper to add some pizazz to an old Ikea bookcase.

I also covered the panels in the hallway bathroom in a giraffe print to match the tile and mirror:

The living room downstairs is going to be outer space themed, but I wasn't able to find paper that satisfied me, so I painted them with acrylics.

I'm hoping to do more of these fun (and easy) decorating projects, and I'll try to keep up with blogging about them!

DIY Painted Curtains

2012-08-30T18:38:00.001-07:00

In an effort to rekindle the excitement of this whole home renovation thing, I tried some fun projects that I hoped would also add to the overall appeal of the house (without having to do ANY MORE washing, sanding, painting, etc.)

The master bedroom closet is very long and the previous owners had a curtain stretching over it, rather than closet doors. We'd taken down the curtains to paint and carpet the room and had been staring into the disarray of the 96 inch closet ever since.

I decided to make some curtains that would coordinate with the duvet cover I found at Bed, Bath and Beyond's clearance section for super cheap.

The duvet cover has a pattern with a silhouette of a bird on a branch, which I wanted to replicate on the curtain. I made a stencil by tracing the bird on tissue paper and then gluing the tissue paper onto cardstock. The result was this:

I bought a king-sized sheet which would stretch across the whole closet for 6$ from Goodwill. I cut the sheet in half and "hemmed" it using Stitch Witchery. This stuff is amazing! It's an iron-on adhesive that holds fabric together and is so much easier (for me) than sewing a seam!

Once I had two panels of blank canvas, I experimented with some spray fabric paint and a scrap of fabric to see if the stencil would work. I tried the spray paint, some acrylic paint and bleaching out the color to see what looked best.

The bleaching didn't work at all for this stencil and the fabric paint wasn't precise enough for the detail either. The acrylic paint with a small brush would have to do, though that was the most time-consuming option. I had to free-hand most of the design and I came up with it right on the spot, so I might have done something more organized like a repeating pattern if I'd known ahead of time what method would work with the stencil.

I started making a black tree with a mixture of the fabric paint and acrylic paint, but I had to pour the fabric paint out of its bottle and scrap the pump spray because it wasn't accurate enough:

I used the stencil for the birds, but otherwise free-handed this whole panel. Then I added the white accents.

For the second panel, I wanted a design to complement the first, but knew I could never replicate the whole thing. So I did this:

The white horizontal lines are just from sun streaming through the blinds. Sophie is inspecting my work as it dries.

When they were dry we hung them on a wooden rod that the previous owners had left us with.

Right panel:

Left panel:

Together:

Again, my photography skills are woefully insufficient, but in person the curtains look pretty good! The entire project took me probably around 8 hours, but it only cost about $12. Not too shabby.

Laundry Room

2012-07-26T10:42:00.001-07:00

Another time-consuming project we had underway during our move was the laundry room, which is also the bathroom for the lower level. When we bought the house, there had been a washer and dryer in a homemade laundry room that had been sectioned off from the garage. It needed a bit of new flooring but we thought that wouldn't be a problem.

When the occupants left, they took their washer and dryer, which should have remained, to their new home. After a little investigating, Jared discovered that not only was the floor rotting out, but the vent hookup had not really been done properly either. We were left with this:

So we decided to put the laundry room back where it belonged, rather than try to fix the strange set-up that the "remodelers" had constructed.

Jared's dad patched the hook-up holes for us:

Then we had to go about tearing up the walls in the perfectly good (except hideously painted) bathroom where the laundry hookups needed to be returned. I say "we" but what I mean is "Jared and his parents."

With all the walls down, Jared figured out how to reroute the water and the dryer vent back to the house's original design. I was impressed to say the least!

With the addition of entirely new walls, the space started to look like a room again.

I was especially pleased with the water hookups and dryer vent. They work!

Add a little paint and put the fixtures back in (easier said than done) and voila! It's a laundry room/bathroom!

Jared also added vinyl wall-base trim and a lighting fixture, not to mention the washer and dryer units themselves, but I don't have photos of those yet. The last items to add are the mirror above the sink and maybe a shelf. Yay, Jared!

Homeward Bound

2012-07-11T17:01:00.001-07:00

Well Blogfans, in case you haven't heard the news, Jared bought a house that (now) looks like this:

It's unfortunate that it's so difficult to photograph entire rooms, because these pictures hardly convey the amount of work that has been (and will continue to be) going on in this house. There are too many projects to put in one post, but I'll start with one that was a major concern: the sloping cement floor.

We pulled up carpet, padding, tack boards and trim, scraped adhesive, and convinced one of the brilliant operations employees from the zoo to come measure the uneven spots with a laser level

Then Jared ground down the exposed cement and built up twenty little mounds to mark how far up each low spot on the floor had to be raised. Our savior from the zoo, plus my mechanically-gifted brother-in-law and an extremely generous friend of Jared's spent several hours mixing, pouring and smoothing what turned out to be over 4,000 pounds of cement!

There aren't any good "after" photos yet because the room, even though it is now carpeted and full of furniture, isn't really set up. We aren't quite to the "after" stage yet.

Another project that was rather time-sensitive was the hall bathroom, which needed to be in working order for us to live in the house, since it would become our primary bathroom. It started out looking rather shabby, with some strange safari wallpaper border, a lazy paint job (they didn't paint near the door trim and also neglected to paint near or around the mirror).

Additionally, Jared found that the caulking in the shower was...insufficient. Unless you really want a removable soap dish. And rotten drywall.

After some intensive scraping with a putty knife, (and some help from Jared's hard-working mother!) we eventually removed all of the hideous wallpaper as well as the caulk. The joints in my hands did not thank me. Here is the room with the new paint job, soap dish and complete re-caulking:

Okay, so the photos don't look like we're transforming the house quite the way I FEEL like we're transforming the house, but they're all I've got. Trust me, we're working hard.

Home

2012-07-06T21:28:00.002-07:00

I know I've been neglecting my blog lately, but there's a good reason for it. We bought a house! Technically, I am nowhere on the paperwork, so I guess I didn't buy one, but I get to live in one anyway.

I also got to spend an entire month going completely out of my mind trying to fix up the place to get in move-in ready. It looks much better now than it did, but I will admit that during all the chaos I didn't manage to take many good photos. But never fear, the DIY projects are enormous and not nearly complete, so there will be plenty more posts to ogle.

This one will be brief, but I do have one set of photos for you.

Exterior before:

And exterior after:

More to come soon!

Left Behind: Inherited Items Discovered in Our New Home

2012-05-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

Buying a home brings all kinds of emotions boiling to the surface--excitement, hope, terror... And of course, it brings an enormous amount of home improvement projects. But those things are boring unless it's your own house, so instead, for my first "First Home" post, I'm posting a photo journal. Not a photo journal of the house, per se, but rather of all the odd things bequeathed to us by the previous owners.

This is the front door, with a large, odd ship carving. (They had to leave the door though, so it probably doesn't count as part of the photo journal of "left behind" items.)

In the front yard we found this sturdy, handmade wooden rocking chair. I love it.

We inherited a chicken coop (I think?), but no chickens,

a bird bath (full of dirt) with a stone squirrel,

and a rather spacious pen with a rabbit hutch.

Our inherited decor includes this bird light switch,

and this Noah's Ark wind-chime.

This geode ashtray was tucked in a kitchen drawer and will probably get no use as an ashtray,

but we might use this sack of potatoes, also stashed in a kitchen cabinet.

On the fridge we found a dry erase note board complete with someone's number, but more importantly, they left us the magnet with the contact information for a plumber... Did they know something we don't?

And in a drawer with a few photos of children and appliance manuals, we found an important reminder: Bring zucchini!

Lastly, we found this guy hiding under the deck.

What odd items have you inherited when you've moved into a new place?

3 Reasons to Visit Point Defiance Zoo

2012-05-24T18:26:00.002-07:00

In case you weren't aware of the entertaining, educational and relaxing venue for patrons of all ages and interests, consider yourself updated! There is an amazing zoo in Tacoma, WA that you simply must visit this spring/summer, especially if you have never been or haven't recently visited.

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium used to be the neglected step-sister of the Woodland Park Zoo, but incredible vision, planning and hard work have made PDZA one of the premier zoos on the west coast. Breeding programs, exhibit designs, educational programs and live animal presentations propelled this city-run park into the nation's top tier of animal facilities.

So why should you go?

3.) The weather.
Western Washington has had a couple of really tough summer seasons with temperatures lingering in the 60's, and clouds dominating the Doppler for months. Not so this year! It's only May and I have already worn shorts to work several times! Amazing. The outdoor exhibits are delightful to view on these brighter days, as tigers and tapirs lounge in the sun. They also make good days for picnicking on the zoo's lawn.

2.) Babies. The fuzzy, striped or spotted kinds that steal your heart on sight. Point Defiance participates in a number of breeding efforts as part of Species Survival Programs. The keepers' diligence and experience is paying off this year as the zoo welcomed meerkat babies, clouded leopard cubs and just this week, a litter of endangered red wolf pups.

1.) The Wild Wonders Outdoor Theater.
I'm a little biased on this one, but I'm declaring the new animal show as the number one reason to visit Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium this season. The show debuting this year is the fast-paced, animal-filled "Captain Adventure vs. Dr. Do-Nothing," featuring a cast of characters including Tilli the aardvark, Cactus Jack the porcupine, Caper the macaw, Herald the Wonderdog, and many more. The show is geared toward children, but audience members of all ages are feeling inspired to get up and try some fun outdoor activities.

I'll see you there!

2012-05-04T18:14:00.003-07:00

Several of my family members have April birthdays, and I knew I wouldn't have time to make a cake for the joint birthday party we were having, so I brainstormed some craft projects I could give as gifts. I decided on decoupage coasters, inspired by these ones. Mine had a bit of a different flavor though, since I was making four sets, for four very different people.

The first set I tried was for my brother-in-law, who loves the show Arrested Development (who doesn't?!). I printed out the sequence of photos from Buster's encounter in the photo booth, though I forget which episode it's from. I cut the pictures out and glued each one onto a tile and painted over them with three coats of decoupage glue. Then I cut squares of felt and hot glued them to the backs of the tiles.

Simple! They looked pretty good, but I wanted to be sure that hot beverages and moisture wouldn't damage them, since they are coasters after all. I sprayed them with two coats of sealant to finish the job.

I wish I had taken a photo of the whole set of the Arrested Development coasters! I did remember to take photos of the Mario Brothers 3 set I made for my brother, as well as the Doctor Who set I made for my dad's wife.

I liked them all so much I wanted to make duplicates for myself! I will post more photos of the next sets as I finish them. Not only did these coasters work as personal gifts for anyone--print family photos on a set for Grandma, Monet paintings on a set for an art lover, etc.--they were also very inexpensive to make. The tiles cost 13 cents at Home Depot (or 16 cents at Lowe's), and felt is 33 cents a sheet from any craft store. I also tried adhesive felt, which was easier than hot glue and less messy. This would still only run you about a dollar per set of coasters. I already had the decoupage glue, but it runs about 7 dollars a bottle.

Have fun!

Writing a New Zoo Show: A Heroic Effort

2012-03-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! I'm back at the Point Defiance Zoo, helping to train the animals and write the script for this year's new show. I can't say much about it yet, but it's going to be SUPER.

All of the animals are getting in shape for their performances...

We humans will be memorizing lines, gathering props, hiding secret identities--um, I mean, making costumes. Many of our veteran animal ambassadors will be included of course, like Herald the Wonderdog, Rototiller the Amazing Aardvark (aka Tillie) and Twiggy the Lizard-smasher. A few new animals will be making appearances in this year's show too, such as our hedgehog, Petunia the Powerful.

Don't you think that sounds SUPER? Tune in next week for more about our super-animal-friends. Same zoo-time, same zoo-channel. Holy new-presentation-orchestration, Batman!

Totem Cake and Teapot Cake

2012-03-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted a cake blog, so here's one for my decorator fans!

Last year I made a cake with a chocolate topper made to look like a salmon in the style of Native American art, which was one of my first cake attempts.

I thought it turned out pretty good, especially considering melting chocolate is not the easiest artistic medium to work with. For his birthday a few weeks ago, I made another cake in Native art style, this time modeled after one of his favorite Ellen Neel totems.

I used green icing on a round cake to represent the earth, which is the middle part of the totem. Then I used melting chocolate again to recreate the "wild woman" character on the bottom of the pole and the eagle on the top. I must say, they were trickier than the salmon.

I also had an issue with this cake because it came out very crumbly and when I tried to apply the icing, bits of cake ripped out and got into the frosting. As a perfectionist of sorts, I was about ready to give up on the project, but decided that with cake decorating, at least mistakes are edible! So I took it to the party anyway and it tasted great. I'm still searching for the magic technique to make the icing smooth like the pros. No matter how many Youtube tutorials I watch, I can't seem to get it right.

The next cake I made was for my aunt, who is a Leap Day baby. She turned 16 this year! She loves tea, so I experimented with fondant modeling and brush embroidery for the first time. I covered a round cake in fondant draped to look like a tablecloth and brush embroidered the flowers onto it.

Far from perfect, but it was reminiscent of a tablecloth, so I was satisfied. Plus, I really liked painting all the flowers on. When the tablecloth was finished, I wanted to find other things to frost so I could practice my new brush embroidering technique!

To place on top of the "table," I needed to fashion a little tea set from fondant, which I bought in a little box that contained 4 colors. This helped make the fondant more affordable, since I didn't need a lot of each color. I used pink to make a teapot, blue for mugs and spoons and yellow for plates and napkins.

For the finishing touches, I placed chocolate chips upside-down in each mug to be the "tea," and I painted one more flower onto the teapot.

Ta-da!

This was such a fun cake and I think the partiers at my aunt's birthday really appreciated it! I only wish the lighting in the photos was better so the colors of the icing and fondant showed up in its fully glory. Brush embroidery and fondant modeling are definitely techniques I am going to be employing in the future!

IAATE Part III

2012-02-29T22:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning brought another round of thought-provoking paper presentations, though Saturday sessions tend to be more sparsely attended due to late nights spent socializing in the hospitality suite. Energized by caffeine and genuine interest, I was present and taking copious notes on all the speakers' topics.

In the late afternoon we were released to sit-in on round table discussions or have a little free time before the end-of-the-conference banquet celebration. I opted to go for a stroll in the nature reserve nestled only minutes from our hotel.

It didn't take long to notice the drastic difference. between Minnesota's winter vegetation and Washington's. Everything was brown and bare and the sun blazed. We saw an eagle's nest and a small river, as well as quite a few airplanes, due to our proximity to the St.Paul airport.

Eagles' nest in the tree; airplane in the sky

There was still time after our visit to the nature reserve for me to take a quick trip to the Mall of America for a couple of souvenirs. I went alone on the hotel's free shuttle, then darted in and out of the mall, dodging hordes of shoppers and amusement park visitors. Because the shuttle ride had only been about five minutes, I assumed I could walk back to the hotel, but pretty much immediately second-guessed my route choice. I asked an older couple waiting with me at a cross-walk if they knew where the Crowne Plaza Hotel was, and they employed the services of their grandsons' smartphones to get me directions. The stereotypes about Minnesotans seemed to all be true. The locals I met spoke with an accent that was almost Canadian and they were unfailingly kind. The couple offered to drive me to the hotel in their Escalade, but I declined.

I walked back to the hotel as the sun set, enjoying the view now that I was certain I was pointed in the right direction and wouldn't get lost after dark (and without my phone!) in an unfamiliar place.

Back at the hotel banquet room, I took my last chance to chat with some of the other conference attendees and had the fortune of sitting at the same table as Steve Martin (the bird trainer, not the comedian), though he was off mingling a lot, his attention being much in demand.

The board presented awards for the best poster and paper of the conference, as well as for behaviors trained by IAATE members throughout the year. And as a grand raffle prize, a painting from the performance artists at Splash!, who create giant, visually stunning works of art, created through choreography and whose aim is to connect audiences to endangered species.

The next morning I took the airport shuttle with a bird trainer from England and we passed the time waiting for our flights by discussing everything from red-legged seriemas to BBC.

I can hardly wait for next year's conference in Tampa, Florida!

IAATE 2012 Part II: Zoo Day

2012-02-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

The next morning after another breakfast buffet at the hotel, I went to a workshop focusing on environmental education. I love exchanging ideas with other people in the field to see how they convey the complexities of flight, conservation, or bird anatomy to their audiences. Educators from the Minnesota Raptor Center provided the group with some props for teaching about owl casts and owl hearing that were particularly fun.

We also learned that a regular chicken egg, when put to the test, will hold anywhere from 40 to 100 pounds!

Afterwards in the mid-morning, we all piled into three buses and rode to the Minnesota Zoo. I couldn't have hoped for better weather in a Minnesota February. It was 35 degrees and cheerfully sunny. The air was crisp though and knowing I have no tolerance for cold, I wore as many layers of clothing as would fit under my borrowed down jacket, and tucked some toe-warmers in my boots.

The Minnesota Zoo has a lot to see, but isn't too large to visit with the whole family in an easy day trip. Their expansive Northern Trail exhibits feature moose, takin, musk ox, caribou, tigers and prairie dogs, but if you need to get out of the cold, head to the toasty Tropics Trail to see gibbons, tamanduas, tree kangaroos, hornbills, komodo monitors and so many more awesome animals! The exhibit designers for this area were geniuses. The animals have lush vegetation yet are visible to the public, the barriers are unobtrusive, and the variety of animals is amazing. Every individual animal looked healthy and comfortable and all the guests' eyes were glued to the exhibits.

Admittedly, I was too enthralled to get many photos, but I couldn't help snapping one of the snoozing red panda and a contemplative gibbon.

Here are some other highlights of the zoo day:

Very active grizzly bears!

Attendees of the IAATE conference had the privilege of receiving a behind the scenes tour to see how the program animals were housed and kept. Plus, the Minnesota Zoo's program department put on a special show just for us, so we were able to see their birds (and staff) in action.

We did other things that day, such as hold an IAATE board meeting and attend another workshop (this time about the essentials of training, presented by the premiere bird trainer, Steve Martin!)

But the zoo was the high point of my day. If you are ever in the area, don't miss an opportunity to see this great facility!

IAATE 2012

2012-02-24T21:34:00.002-08:00

It's an unusual group of people who are riveted by presentations about avian visual acuity or about practices for maintaining the health of geriatric birds, but the attendees of IAATE (the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators) are exactly that group. The Minnesota Zoo hosted this year's IAATE conference, where over a hundred bird nerds from across the U.S., plus a handful from other countries, gathered to discuss their work breeding, training, and caring for birds.

My journey to St.Paul International Airport was uneventful, aside from coincidentally sitting beside a man going to a pheasant conference. He informed me that the U.S. has many organizations for gaming bird enthusiasts, including Cocks Unlimited. I have not been brave enough to Google that.

The traditional ice-breaker event at the hotel the first evening included sumo suits for the more gregarious bird nerds, as well as card games and puzzles for anyone unwilling to sprawl ridiculously on the floor, swaddled in a lumpy, sweaty mattress that makes you look like you're in your underwear. A pasta buffet was included.

The next morning we arrived in the conference room, which is the only one I have ever been in that was kept at a temperature above freezing. This, combined with free yogurt, fruit and coffee is an excellent way to start the day. At some conferences I have attended, I will find there is a paper presentation or two that just doesn't interest me or that is meandering or inapplicable. IAATE's papers held my attention consistently and I filled a whole little yellow notepad with thoughts on feather maintenance, hooded vulture training, and engaging program audiences.

Our day was broken up by a light lunch in the hospitality suite (okay, so the gluten-free option was just carrots and cheese, but that's still a "light lunch") and following the afternoon of presentations, we were on our own to explore the bustling metropolis of Bloomington, MN. The bustle consisted entirely of the Mall of America. So we went.

Aside from the mini-theme park in the center, the two-story Lego creations and a handful of stores I haven't seen before, Mall of America was, as advertised, a mall.

One of the highlights was the Lego store, where giant portraits made entirely of Legos were displayed. The Peeps store (no, I don't really like them) was also fun. We also stopped at the American Girl Doll store, which was an odd experience. Rows of little girl dolls of every conceivable skin shade, eye color and hair style lined up to be purchased, along with their ponies, hair brushes and cheer-leading uniforms. The cafe on the second level of the store was inviting and the bathroom had special hooks on the stalls labeled "doll holder."

It was someone's JOB to make a Lego moose portrait.

Star Wars Lego scenes were also popular.

Dinner at a brightly decorated (and I mean BRIGHTLY) restaurant called Kokomo's was quite satisfying.

After some lively conversation in the hospitality suite, I retired to my hotel room to rest up for our visit to the Minnesota Zoo the next day.

Roller Derby: Empowering Entertainment

2012-02-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

I don't want to speak for all Seattlites, but I know that it came as a surprise to me (and many people I talked to) that Seattle had a roller derby league. Roller derby seems like a thing of the past somehow, and invokes images of burly women who, as Jim Croce would say, are "built like a 'frigerator with a head."

Not so, Blogfans, not so.

Some friends and I went to the Rat City Rollergirls bout at the Key Arena this January, not really knowing what to expect. Specifically, I wondered what kind of people go to roller derby bouts. As it turned out, the spectators were people in their 50's, hipsters, teenagers, nerds, and everyone in between. And they all seemed to love roller derby.

Having never been to or even heard of anyone going to a roller derby bout, I had to look up the rules and read them ahead of time to know how the scoring worked, but the energetic announcers clarified what was happening, so you don't have to be a derby expert to follow the bout.

Another assumption I held about roller derby was that the sport was very violent. While it's true that the skaters got knocked down and body checked and went sprawling across the rink frequently, the nature of the collisions spills was not malicious. There were none of the aggressive, angry confrontations one sees in hockey games, for instance. The skaters here got back up, continued to skate and then talked and laughed with the opposing team when they returned to the lineup together.

It's hard to tell from my photos, which are taken from a distance with a zoom lens, but the participants vary in size and shape. Some of the girls were very large, as per the stereotype, but many were average-size women and a few were actually quite small. One thing I loved was that each girl has a derby name, so she creates her own persona, such as Anya Heels, Kamikaze Kim and Missile America. The smallest skater called herself Nehi (knee-high) Nightmare.

Watching the amazing displays of athleticism was really the highlight of this event. The skaters are quick, strong, agile and extremely tough. I would say that the Rollergirls' bouts are fun for the whole family, but in truth, you might want to be aware that there will be some references that parents might not want young children to be exposed to. A skater named "Muffstache" and a team called the Sockit Wenches are just a couple of examples, but nothing rated R. Maybe PG-13.

If you're looking for an activity that is exciting, out of the ordinary dinner and a movie, and that is empowering to women, go see the Rat City Rollergirls!

German Chocolate Cupcakes and Coconut Pecan Frosting

2012-01-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend I experimented with a new type of icing for my friend's birthday party. To celebrate his German heritage, he and his friends hosted a German potluck and they asked me to bring some German chocolate cupcakes. (I learned during the making of said cake that German chocolate cake is, in fact, not at all German, but made it anyway.)

First I made the German-themed chocolate cupcake toppers. I thought German flags, pretzels and glasses of beer would be appropriate symbols of the country.

Remember that with a chocolate transfer, you have to do everything backwards from how you'd like it to appear on the cake. In this case, "Tom" appears correct because the letters "T" "O" and "M" happen to look the same forward and backward.

I couldn't taste the cupcakes themselves, since they weren't gluten-free, but they looked moist and fluffy and I placed a pecan on top of each one.

While they cooled, I prepared the icing combining a couple of different recipes. It seems that coconut pecan frosting is very easy to adapt to anyone's preferences and the amounts do not have to be exact. I used recipes from Barbara Bakes and The Joy of Baking.

It was simple to make and adjust. If you like coconut, add more. If you like pecans, add more. If you like butter, add more. Simple. I would suggest that if you are making cupcakes instead of a full German chocolate cake, that you chop the pecans a little smaller than the recipes recommend.

When the icing was cool, I spread it on.

And then added the German-themed chocolate toppers.

Happy birthday, Tom!