I Design

Baby Eva's 1st birthday!

2012-04-09T15:51:00.001-07:00

I had the pleasure of making a cake and cupcakes for the cutest little one year old around (hi eva!). i love that there wasn't a theme because i like a nice understated chic kid party and usually they're not like that at all (go hana!).

i had creative freedom but kept it pretty simple. i made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla magnolia buttercream :

Eva's mom liked the stamped monogram cupcakes i made in the past so i made sure to use the same stamp for her toppers:

I made little bows to represent Eva's sweet little girly side and to tie in some pink...this was a baby girls party after all ;)

I kept the cake really simple, pale tiffany blue and white with pink accents. I made the cake topper at work; i based it off of the water bottle wraps that were made for the party to keep everything cohesive.

i added a couple medium sized polka dots and that was it, it was complete

Here's the final result:

the sun was not kind to my cupcakes....but i guess that's what happens when you make icing from scratch. started out pretty, then started leaning, and ended up a melted mess, lol. thank god it was for a friend

(it took an hour for them to die so people saw them when they were pretty, so not a total loss)

let me know what you guys think and link back to your blogs in the comments :)

Animal print cupcakes

2012-04-09T14:57:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone!

I know, I know....I'm never on this thing! Sorry, life's been really busy so please forgive me. Today I'm sharing the animal print cupcakes i made for a safari themed bridal shower. Since there was a large quantity (72) and I'm only one person, i decided to use transferable sugar sheets instead of icing/cutting out animal patterns. I posted about how to use sugar sheets here. Here's how they turned out:

Let me know what you think and remember to link back to your blog so i can visit :)

the bow

2012-03-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

the blog world is supposed to be a friendly little place. most of the time it is....HOWEVER i have gotten some serious hate mail about the fact that i didn't explain how to make the bows on my minnie mouse cupcakes. there was a whole section on how to make the big bow on the cake post (which was pretty much the same for the small ones).

a lot of people left comments asking how to make the bows but they didn't include their email address so i couldn't contact them back....if you're a "no comment blogger" you're not going to get a reply no matter how many times you write a mean email.

relax people, smile! the world's not that bad! due to the high volume of mean mail I've been getting for years now I'm addressing it with its own post. its taken me so long because if you don't have anything nice to say, you don't say anything at all. BUT i'm over it so here's one for all the meanies out there:

3 photos, here we go:

2 strips, one longer one shorter

fold both ends of the long strip toward the middle

wrap the shorter strip around

this is how they look...sorry its blurry, don't spam me about it lol

there people! can the cyber bullying end now??? geez lol

***to all the kind people that asked me in a polite way, i probably emailed you back about it unless you didn't provide an email address...i still love you guys ;)

Engagement photos

2012-01-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

We just got our engagement pictures back! Our photographer for the engagement session (as well as for our wedding day) is Amber Holritz. She's awesome, you should all check out her websites. Click here to visit her and her husband's website and here to visit her blog. You wont regret it :)

Here are a couple of our photos:

Don't forget to visit our wedding website and sign the guestbook!

some updates :)

2012-01-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

haven't posted any house updates since i finished the stone wall because everything since then has been little things, but little things make a big difference sometimes.

i can never resist a chloe pic:

one more bc i know you guys have missed her:

i STILL haven't done a single thing upstairs....literally. We don't even have baseboards : O

My wedding

2012-01-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

Here's the inspiration board for the ceremony i made when i first started planning. fast forward to today where we've already paid all of the deposits (except flowers and entertainment)

our super unique wedding is going to be 26 stories underground. yup, we're getting married in a cavern...not just any cavern, but a cavern with a waterfall inside (as you can see from the top left photo). we think its super awesome but 20% of people i tell HATE it. that's ok thought bc its OUR wedding :)

We've already taken 2 trips up to Chattanooga and set everything up for the wedding. we have one more trip before the big day. The only thing left for me to do is choose a florist and wedding entertainment...well that's all i think i have to do!

anyhoo, we just took our engagement photos a week ago and they came out great! i'm going to post them along with our amazing photographer's info.

Go visit our Wedding Website for more information on the wedding and don't forget to sign the guestbook!

Cat in the Hat cake + cupcakes!

2011-11-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Time for another cake post! i promise i have some home related things coming up i've just been so busy! This cake is cat in the hat themed, it was a fun cake and pretty easy...first step is always the same: bake and cool

red velvet anyone?

after the cakes were cool i decided to cover them separately, because there would've

been to many creases toward the bottom on such a tall cylindrical cake

(plus i covered the seam with stripes so nobody will ever see that)

i cut strips of fondant and stacked them up the cake, i used black

sugar paper for the black lines to cover the seams

the cupcakes were thing 1 and thing 2 themed...the first thing i did was find their little

logos and printed them out on regular paper and spent way too much time cutting

them out. when i was done i hot glue-gunned (new verb!) the pieces to the front

of my red cupcake liners (that already had the baked cupcakes inside of them).

here's how they came out after i iced them...pretty cute huh?

well i really wanted that crazy thing 1 and thing 2 hair to come across more so i decided to add

some blue cotton candy to them. you should do this as the absolute last step due to the fact

that the cotton candy will want to melt. i sprinkled a little powdered sugar around the

edges to dry it up a little then i pressed the cotton candy around the edges of the icing

loved this job! my mom always read me dr. seuss growing up and we share a birthday so i feel connected to the crazy seuss world :)

let me know what you think and as always remember to link back to your blogs so i can go by and say hi!

Brunchin' it

2011-11-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

Every time we have family in from out of town we put together a big brunch. I love trying new recipes each time, i make sure never to repeat my contributions. This time i decided to do an "eggs in a basket" type thing as well as french toast kebabs.

I wanted to bake my eggs inside of a "bread bowl" but of course there were no round rolls to be found anywhere!! ugh just my luck...the only round rolls i could find were soft, they need to be crunchy so i had to get oval ones :( as a result my eggs were too small for the oval hole *sigh* but they tasted great so lets just pretend they look just as good. Start by pre-heating the oven to 350

slice each roll at the top and remove some of the bread on the inside making room for the egg. I decided to put a piece of ham down as a barrier

Crack an egg in each roll and add some heavy cream and your favorite herbs (i believe i used tarragon), i also added some grated Parmesan cheese on top

pop them in the oven and bake until eggs are set and rolls are toasted (approximately 20 minutes)

the french toast kebabs are super easy, just make your favorite french toast recipe. when the french toast is ready cut them up into cubes like so:

just add them to your skewers with some fruit (we used strawberries, bananas, and pineapples) and they're ready...ok i may have also drizzled some chocolate on there too...shhh!

PS as good as all that sounds, its NOTHING compared to the staple of all of our brunches: Brown sugar glazed bacon! its amazing!!! and so easy! basically cover bacon with brown sugar and bake that's all, i found the recipe from Bon Appetite a while ago and have been obsessed ever since! Click the pic for the link

Let me know what you think and remember to link back to your blogs :)

Other recipes made for brunch include:
Baked Garlic Cheese Grits
Ham and Cheese in Puff Pastry
Peach Bellinis

Happy Halloween!! :)

2011-10-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

fear the dinosaur!

Busy at work

2011-10-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Lately work has been CRAZY busy! As a result I have no time to blog so I thought I'd show you a very short summary of some of the things we've been working on this past year

probably kind of boring for you guys since its mostly signage and industrial products but this is my day to day :) We're actually exhibiting at the Fort Lauderdale Boat show this week. Just finished wipping up some quick brochures tonight...nothing too fancy but it gets the point across:

I hope you're all doing well!! I'll be back soon with a Dr Seuss themed cake/cupcakes as well as a lamp re-wiring post.

P.S. go ahead and visit my company page on facebook and "like" it....pleeeeeeeeeease?? ;)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Candy cake!

2011-10-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I'm so sorry that I've been neglecting bloggy as of late. Things got CRAZY busy at work and in my personal life ever since getting engaged. I've been going crazy trying to find a venue! Hopefully next week i'll be sharing some good news about THE venue! then i can start doing wedding posts too :)

In the mean time, here's a cake tutorial i worked on over the weekend. Nine out of ten times, if you see a young girl themed cake its usually for my best little buddy Tiffany. I've been making her birthday cakes since she was born :) I re-arranged my trip to see THE venue in person just so i could be in town for her birthday.

The party had one main theme: CANDY! I was pretty excited about it bc i've been wanting to make this kit kat cake ever since i saw it....mainly because its so easy!! it requires no skill at all, and seeing as most of my cakes are tedious, i'm all about less work when given the chance. this post starts off the same way all of the cake posts do: bake and ice the cake

If you're doing 2 tiers like i am, you can add fondant if you'd like and stack them

dont fondant the kit kat cake WAY easier that way (for my cake i needed 5.5 packs of king size kit kats). Basically break them up and surround the edges with kit kats....super easy!

once you've completed that step, you'll notice that the kit kats rise above the cake and make the perfect little "bowl." fill it with m&ms or any candy you want

i used pink purple and green candies and decided to add some decorative ribbon

ordinarily my cakes are pretty simple, never too busy.....BUT this was an opportunity to go over the top so i added some zebra stripes since tiffany has a funky little style going on, she's a little fashionista....and if that wanst enough, i also stuck lollipops in there. i'm sure you can guess what the kids thought about this cake.....they went crazy for it :) Here's how it turned out:

i forgot to take pictures of the zebra process but basically just cut elongated shapes and add them vertically at different levels. The kit kat cake is reaaaaaaaaaaally easy and super beginner level. you guys should try it! if you have kids they will go nuts :)

Let me know what you think and link back to your blog so i can go visit <3

Guess what?!?!?!

2011-08-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

I got ENGAGED over the weekend!!!!! i'm soooooooooooooooooo happy its ridiculous, i've been wanting to marry this man for so long and now i finally get too! i'm so lucky :D

i hope you guys had a great weekend too :)

cake tattoos

2011-08-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Bought some cupcake tattoos last week as requested by some of my readers. First time using them and i have to say, they're super easy! there are tons of brands out there but i got the Duff/Charm City Cakes brand one because it was the only one they had at michaels; but you can find them online

First step peel it off

next step put it on your icing of choice: i used fondant. After it stuck on there use a cutter to cut any shape out or just leave it on the sides of your cake

that's how easy it is, perfect edible topper :)

i had some friends over so i decided to monogram them as well with some leftover fondant i had

Here's how they came out :)

as always, let me know what you think :)

Basketball cake tutorial :)

2011-08-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Back again with another baby shower cake....for the same soon to be baby actually. Baby JJ was having a second baby shower at his church, and this time daddy to be was going to be there. J.J.'s grandma suggested we make it a basketball cake, which is pretty perfect seeing as this kid is going to be a basketball star one day (his dad is a basketball coach and both mommy and daddy are extremely tall people lol).

Here's how i did it:

In order to get the spherical shape, i used Wilton's sports ball pan

I gave both cakes a crumb coat of cream cheese icing. then i kneaded color into the white fondant to make the basketball color and the blue color. and when i say "i kneaded color" i really mean that Pablo kneaded the color in. he's way better at that than me, i'm glad he was around to help :) once i covered the cakes, i put them in the fridge with the icing and i started baking the cupcakes

i had some dry spots in the basketball fonant that caused some stretching and light tears. If that ever happens to you, add some vegetable shortening to the affected areas. It fills in the cracks and tears perfectly (that's why the ball looks shiny below, it dries eventually)

now its time to add the little teeny net to the side of the cake. I tried to carve the cake to be smaller at the bottom like a real hoop/net, that didn't really work and i wish i would've kept it the way it was bc i think it looked a little blob-ish in the end...oh well, next time i know. basically cut a bunch of tiny fondant strips and add them to the cake in little X formations

the cupcake toppers were really easy to make, this is all you need:

once i cut out the disks and the initials, i drew on the little black lines with my food color marker

For the black lines on the ball, i used sugar paper because its super thin and it was really easy and neat looking. I used a ruler and an x-acto to cut even strips and added them to the cake with water.

next up: poke the cake 19283452130934 times with something small to create a texture for the ball. i actually used corn on the cob handles lol, the tip was the perfect size and not too sharp

i hope you like it! let me know what you think and remember to link back to your blog in the comments so i can check your stuff out, i love finding new blogs :)

Nautical baby shower cake

2011-07-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

hello everyone! sorry about the huge gap in posts, i've been super busy at work and away on vacation! Anyhoo, a friend of mine is having a baby boy that's sure to be drop dead gorgeous and she asked me to do the baby shower cake. The theme was nautical and i kept it pretty simple. I like simple cakes.

first step is always, bake the cake then frost it :)

and if you're like me, sneak in some chocolate chips or candy in the middle layer :)

once you're done, your crumb coat should look like this (crumb coat = very thin layer of icing)

*pretend there's pictures of me covering the cake with white fondant here*

if you need to know how to do this, click on my air force cake tutorial HERE

Next i wanted to border the cake with little waves (auntie to be sent me a pic of this on another cake), this was pretty easy to do as long as you have circle cutter...or even a shot glass would work. Roll out your fondant and cut it into a neat strip, then cut semi circles out

when you add the border to the cake it will look like this, pretty cute huh?

next up mini life savers...i didn't take pics of me making these bc i suck. Basically cut a disk out and cut a smaller disk out of the center and add little red squares...easy :)

i made the cake topper the day before at work, i know i have the unfair advantage of making awesome metal cake toppers. (i've been thinking about opening an etsy shop with custom cookie cutter and cake toppers.......not convinced though since my life is already so freaking busy) Basically i drew my design on AutoCAD and the waterjet did the rest :)

i sanded it down a little and washed it thoroughly, i painted it and waited a couple days to make sure it was super dry and no chemicals were still there, then i washed it thoroughly again.

red and nautical-y :)

i added little disks with the baby's initials all around the top and made little matching cupcakes

there they all are neatly packaged into my box and ready to be transferred

now that your hard work is done, have fun at the party :)

For all of the observant readers, you'll notice there were only 8 cupcakes at the party instead of the 10 in the photo. that's because my darling dog Chloe decided the spontaneously jump in the car while i was loading everything up and stomp on the box......this led to 4 cupcake casualties, RIP cupcakes

Luckily i had 2 extra cupcakes in the house and i re-used the lifesaver toppers, but i did freak out and cry when i saw what was happening, i was terrified to look inside the box!

and that is the story of how 10 cupcakes became 8

i was featured :

quick and easy s'mores bars!

2011-07-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

via

Here's what you'll need:

1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1	cup graham cracker crumbs
1	cup butter or margarine, melted
3	cups milk chocolate chips (18 oz)
4 1/2	cups miniature marshmallows

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and crumbs. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Press into ungreased 13x9-inch pan. your dough should look like this:

once the dough is pressed into the pan, you're ready to pop it in the oven. bake for 18 to 20 minutes

as soon as you pull the crust out of the oven, immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over crust. When it looks like this, you're ready for marshmallows:

Spread your 4.5 cups of marshmallows evenly over the surface. once you've done that set your oven control to broil and pop it back in. Broil the marshmallows for about 30 seconds, but keep an eye on them because marshmallows cook super fast! i love mine golden but if you dont, take them out after 20 seconds

let them cool for 10 minutes and cut them into little bars. they taste great warm so don't cool them too long ;)

this recipe makes about 24 servings. I actually found this recipe on the back of the sugar cookie mix and thought i'd give it a try, it was really easy :) next time i might just make the sugar cookies as listed on the bag but that's jut because i live for cookies!

we enjoyed these on 4th of july after a long day in the pool:

chloe was terrified! even holding her in the water wasnt working

my love and me

my brother trying to calm chloe down....that wasnt working either haha

let me know what you think and be sure to link back in your comments so i can visit back :)

Michael Jackson cake!

2011-06-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

This past weekend was by brother's 29th birthday and ever since he was born he's been obsessed with Michael Jackson! When we were kids we used to listen to the thriller album and cry when the scary voice came on lol...my mother even hired him an MJ impersonator for his 3rd birthday...we're talking hardcore superfan from the begining, haha!

I thought it was only appropriate to make him a michael jackson themed birthday cake! I only had 3 hours to make it but i think it came out pretty good considering.

First thing i did was draw up a Michael Jackson silhouette (i used one from smooth criminal music video). I cut it out at work, i know, unfair advantage :P

Next was the baking and covering of the cake with fondant

i used ribbons around the base of the cake, like i said before, i had very limited time and ribbons are a quick fix. i painted the michael jackson cake topper and made the sidewalk....i mixed in some black sugar into the grey fondant to make the side walk look a little dirty lol.

i dont know if you all remember the Billie Jean video BUT every sidewalk tile MJ walked on lit up. That's why there are 2 yellow sidewalk tiles under his feet.

the last pop culture reference on the cake was actually that pepsi video where Michael's hair caught fire. I decided to incorporate that idea into the candle Justin would blow out. I used a sparker candle that didnt really sparkle at all! oh well :) (also, poor MJs middle finger fell off, lol oops!)

Here's how it came out! i hope you all like it :) if you have any questions leave a comment and i'll get back to you as soon as i can. Remember to link back to your blog so i can go visit!

Busy weekend!

2011-06-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! i hope you all had a wonderful father's day weekend, i know i did! This weekend i had 2 dinner parties back to back, and i LOVED it! they were my first ones in my new place :) i can bake like its nobody's business, however, cooking doesn't come so naturally! I'm happy to report everything i prepared came out great, nothing got burnt, i didn't leave any ingredients out, and nothing was undercooked!

First dinner party was for one of my best friends Ginny. we met when we were 8 and have been friends ever since :) i missed her original birthday celebration and wanted to make sure she had a special day. Thankfully i had some help from my friend Sarah (click her name and visit her awesome blog) who's more experienced in the cooking department. But i am getting better lol. i obviously had to make Ginny her favorite chocolate chocolate chip cake with cream cheese icing, here's how it came out:

I made the cake early in the morning the day of the party so i didn't have so much time. I made it simple and used edible paper for the design under the G. Lots of look with minimal effort. Easy cake for beginners to try, sorry i dont have any step by step photos of this one, super rushed. you can go back and look through some past cakes if you want to learn how. We had lots of fun, i love doing nothing and talking crap with friends, sometimes its more fun than going out :)

Second dinner party was for my dad on fathers day. I made prime rib and asparagus risotto (mom helped with that one). For dessert my grandma made cannolis (my #1 favorite thing in the world...even above ice cream and if you know me, that's a serious claim) Here are some pics :)

family gatherings generally look like this, men gather around the tv and watch sports while the women slave away in the kitchen....kind of sexist but true lol ;)

mmmm....grandma cannolis!

Let me know what you think and link back to your blogs so i can visit :)

Can I brag about my uncle for a second????

2011-06-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! You all remember my uncle Jimmy right?? He's the one that helped me with my wainscoting project. Well, he's an AMAZING wood turner. I think he's more than just a wood turner, he's an artist. We've all been telling him that for a long time now. The things he makes for us are so beautiful and special!

Well i'm so happy to tell you all that his work is currently being showcased by Intown Gallery in Chattanooga Tennessee. I wish i could go visit the exhibit in person! So if any of you live there, go visit and let me know how you like it! Here are some photos of his work:

isn't he amazing?!

Antique candy dish from my great great grandmother

2011-06-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

a couple months ago my grandmother gave me a candy dish that belonged to her grandmother or my great great grandmother. its so pretty but needed to be polished badly (i researched, its from the very late 1800s according to the mark on the bottom)....its amazing what some silver polish can do! i still need to get a polishing cloth because it still needs a little more work... but still, big difference in 5 minutes :)

also, i have 2 fun baking jobs this month! cant wait to share :)

Wordless wednesday

2011-06-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

I is cold!

My new stone wall !

2011-06-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again :)

This week's post is about my stone wall. I've wanted a stone wall for a looooooooong time. I love the look and texture rough stacked stone brings. I've gone to a billion stone places the past 5 months trying to find an option that was the right color and in my budget. Finding the right color was easy...finding the right price was NOT! Everyone wanted around $20 a square foot, i did not want $20 a square foot. Luckily, I found a stone place that was completely incompetent and they misquoted me by a lot, and then they tried to take it back, but i complained. I called the distributor and after lots of back and forth, they agree to give me a wholesale price of $12 a square foot if i paid cash. Shaaady BUT i got my stone :)

A family friend of ours does a lot of stone and tile work so i gave him a call to help me out. I paid a lot for the stone and i wanted it to be perfect...plus i dont have the right kind of saw to cut the tiles. Mike came and helped me out :) this is the adhesive he used. You can find it here i did a little bit of research and this isn't the best option for flooring due to the fact that it takes 5 days to fully dry, however, since nobody is walking on my walls, its' perfect :) it's premixed so just open it and use it.

I watched mike work hard on my wall and i took photos of the process for those of you who are more confident than me.

Mike made sure each row was perfectly level...and they were because he's a pro :)

almost done and looking good

done :)

after the clean up :)

I'm really happy with the way it turned out! it looks even more amazing in person :) Let me know what you guys think, i always love your feedback! and as always, if you have an questions leave me a comment with your email address and i'll get back to you as soon as i can :)

aaaaaand since blogger has been temperamental lately with comment posting, just select anonymous or name/URL when leaving a comment if your having trouble with google sign ins....lots of people have been making the switch over to wordpress and i can see why!

Friday Find....I'm inspired

2011-06-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

The thing i love about link parties is that i get inspired every time! Great way to get your blog out there but also a great way to find cool things to try. Today one of my biggest issues i have in my bathroom was solved the second i set eyes on this post!

Laura over at Laura's Thoughts made a magnetic make up board. I cant wait to make one of these immediately! I have the perfect little wall in my bathroom where a medicine cabinet is supposed to live, no thanks, I'd rather have a makeup board! No more makeup all over my counter and scattered in random drawers :)

Baby girl baptism cake

2011-05-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, i hope you all had a great week. Just finished my last baking job for the month last night for my friend Melissa over at Days Filled with Love. Her GORGEOUS baby girl Olivia is getting baptized today :) go by and check out her blog when you get a chance!

She sent me a photo of the cake she had in mind and i recreated it as close as i could

Here are the steps to make this cake:

once you roll out and cover your cake with fondant, trim the excess and its ready for decorating. i explained how to do this in more detail in my air force cake. i dont want to be too redundant to regular readers lol

if you ever want to put a scallop shape on the top of a cake like this one, buy a cutter! lol this took me an eternity! they have a 6" one here if not this is how i did it: i drew the shape i wanted on the computer (I use auto CAD bc i'm used to it from designing at work). I printed it to scale on card stock paper and cut it out. i pressed that cutout into the fondant to get reference lines like this:

i cut the small radiuses with a straw, that way it would look perfect, unlike the outer curves that looked jagged at first. (i later went back and smoothed all those out bc it was making me crazy to see jagged lines lol)

i trimmed out the excess and began cutting the outer curves

ta-da! next up i added the silver dragees around according to the inspiration photo....you can buy them at specialty cake shops...if you live in miami i got them at Miles Cake and Candy Supplies
i stamped a little "O" in the center of the cross for Olivia :)

Here's the final product :)

Let me know what you think :)