Gum Paste and Fondant Cake Class

There are some ladies in my ward that have been taking cake classes at Michaels Craft. When I found out and showed interest they invited me to come too. There are four classes and they had already done two. I didn't have time in Sept to take the third class so I signed up for the fourth class with them. It was a fondant class. If you've followed my blog for a long time you know I've worked with fondant before.

This is the cake I made for the last class, using techniques we've learned.  In one of the manuals there was a hexagon cake that I fell in love with! And hexs are so in right now! haha

These bake even strips work great-as long as your oven is level....

This is the second layers. I totally forgot to use the strips! I ended up remaking the little hex.

All frosted and ready for the fondant. The chocolate buttercream was divine!!

Then I spent a day make gum paste roses. Max played with play dough next to me.

 And Enzo hung out in the swing on the other side of me

I was going for a Tim Burtonesq cake. We'd just watched the Corpse Bride and Nightmare before Christmas.  I made roses with purple and green and other gradients of gray too.

I wish I'd gotten a better picture. But this is as much I got done. With Halloween the next week, pumpkin carving, costume making, dinner, karate, carpool, volunteer, activity days, etc. I just didn't have time to finish it :( But I LOVE how the hex came out. I was waiting and waiting to show Lexie because she loves Halloween. It went bad while I waited and we didn't even get to eat it!!! But, I'm glad I made it! And I'd love to make another when I'm not busy....

Painting Pumpkins with the Boys

Oct 19

It was a Friday and Zac gets out early. I suppose after the mini pies I was feeling ambitious. I'd been wanting to paint white pumpkins like candy corn, and idea I saw on Pinterest. So we went to Smiths and picked out some little white pumpkins and came back home and painted them. The boys had a good time and so did I.

Max got a little crazy with the yellow paint.

I also tried to do a vinyl stensil. We did it a couple weeks before and I let it dry and when I took the stencil off if took most of the paint off too.  So this worked much better!

Cook with a Book

Oct 19

Another way I get my volunteer hours in at Zac's school is by doing the "Cook with a Book" activity for his class. Once a month, I get to pick the book and then I decide what we'll "cook" and get it all ready.

For October we read, "Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies". It has a nice rhyme and rhythm that makes it easy to read. The kids enjoyed it. After that we made mini pumpkin pies that I'd seen on Pinterest.

It used pre made and rolled pie crust. I let them use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut their crust out and put it in a mini muffin tin. I already made the pumpkin pie custard mix. They each got to add a spoonful or two, to their crust. I had 24 mini pies already baked from home so they got to eat those right away. One boy wasn't sure about it and kept asking if I'd already cooked them. I also made little bags of thinned chocolate frosting for each student to pipe on their mini pie. The kids loved it; most of all Zac. He was so excited to help me at the front of the class. He's the real reason I do this.

Enzo: 7 Months

Oct 19

I feel like I know Enzo better than I did the other boys. I don't know what it is? Maybe its just easier to meet his needs and I feel like I make a difference?

He started to sit up on his own. He's still pretty wobbly. Its fun to see him develop. And see how his hair changes! I think he's had 2 hair cuts by this point!

Color Me Mine: Fall

When the boys had a fall break, I wanted to do something fun and different. I decided we'd go to Color Me Mine. I really love that place.

Last time we went before New Years. Max chose a snowman ornament and Zac did a plate. Max has been a little jealous of the plate b/c he didn't have anything to eat off of. I let them each pick their own, but I decided to make a mug, like Zac, so Max would have something to use too.

Max picked a little dragon that now sits on his dresser.

Zac made a gory skull mug.

Enzo was so so so good!!! I was able to get mine all done and help the boys all while he just sat here and watched.

This is the mug I made. I like it! And now the boys have festive mugs to drink their cider in!

Zac Fall Soccer 2012

This is Zac's coach and his team. I don't know why I don't have pics of Max :( its only his second season and first time without Zac on his team. Probably because I was constantly pushing the stroller from one side of the field to the other to be at both of their games since they were often scheduled at the same time and Jon couldn't make it to some of them. Zac was in the older age group this time. He did great. The teams are bigger and the kids are bigger so he was a little intimidated but he did great! He got hit right in the face with the ball one game and had a pretty good bloody nose. But after we got it all cleaned up he went right back in.

Embellished Witch Hats and More

I went to Swiss Days this year and I saw some WAY cute witch hats that had big flowers, boas, tulle all that good girlie stuff!  She was selling them for at least $50 each! I thought I can make one cheaper! The next week I went out and bought a ton of Halloween picks. I spent a lot.....so I recruited a couple other people to make some with me so I didn't feel so guilty. I typical over buy this stuff, because its easier for me to use creative freedom when I have a lot of options.

This is the first one I made.  It was too unbalanced to wear so I used it as a decoration on a lamp and have a word cut out that says, "The Witch is In" under the lamp. I love it!

I invited my friend Whitney over to make one too. I wish I'd taken a picture of hers. It was really cute and had a big bow and a crooked tip. And I also had Lexie come and make one for herself before we headed to Thriller in Park City that night.

Zac's school has a Gala fundraiser dinner and they auction all sorts of things off. They ask each student to donate or solicit something. We donated a little bit of Skullcandy of course and I decided I'd make another witch hat. The dinner was only a couple weeks before Halloween. This is the one I made. I think it went for $40!

I was also recently put in as an Activity Days leader at this point and we made some tulle monogram wreaths and I had extra stuff so I thought I'd make one to auction off. Nice and girlie! It went for $15 or $25, I don't remember which.

I have found that for me, creativity really helps keep the blues away!