Pay it Forward

Who wants to play along?? I just read about this on Kimberly's blog and am excited to play along! Here are the rules:If you want to join in the fun and get a little something in return ... be one of the first THREE people to leave a comment on this post and you'll receive a hand made gift from me during this year.

There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog (or Facebook* wall if you don't blog) referencing this post then come back and leave a comment on this blog post, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? And by in, you do know that means you have to Pay It Forward and give something to three people on your blog or Facebook page. It doesn't have to be handmade, just give something thoughtful!

I can't think of anything better than spreading a little cheer, especially in the economic environment we're in right now.

It's been a busy baking weekend :~)

A friend asked me to make her daughters first birthday cake and it was also my brother in laws birthday, so I was very busy baking and decorating this weekend. I'm pretty sure people who don't decorate cakes don't have any idea the time it takes, lol! I do enjoy it though. :~)

Here's the little girl's cake. Her mom is fan of pink and brown, and Sarah was dressed from head to toe in pink and brown, so she matched her cakes! I made her a little smash cake, too, of course. Got to have that, right?

And here's the cake I made for my brother in law. It's a 2-layer yellow cake with sour cream chocolate frosting, although my kids don't know about the sour cream, because then they wouldn't eat it, lol. The decorations are done with buttercream. I tweaked a recipe I had and now it tastes SO good and holds up well for decorating, too.

"Sweets for the Sweet" Valentine Candy Box

In an effort to spark some creativity, I decided to make a little valentine box to hold some candy hearts. I don't own the Tags Bags Boxes cricut cartridge, so I went to this site and saved the template as a jpg image in my picture file. Then I opened it in Microsoft Publisher. I didn't want all the designes printed on the box, just the template, so I cleared them by creating shapes, filled with white, and placed them over the designs. Then I printed the template on white cardstock.
After printing, cut out the template and then fold on the dotted lines.

I wanted my box to have a little window, so I used my Martha Stewart punch to punch one out on the front of the box.

I adhered a 2" x 2" piece of vellum over the inside of the window. Then you need to put the box together, glueing the tabs in place. When that's done, your box will look like this:

I cut a 2" heart out with my Cricut, using the George cartridge. I also punched a window in it, and glued it to the front of my box. I cut 2 more hearts at 1" and glued them on the top. I added a black and white checked ribbon and a whimsical little heart charm and the words "Sweets for the sweet" to embellish my little box. Next, I filled it with candy, and Voila! Finished! Kind of a "sweet" little box, dontcha think? :)

Boise State Cake

I made a cake yesterday for a friend of mine . . . you can't find anyplace that sells Boise State cakes, so I have had a couple requests from friends. The one I made this weekend was 2 layers of chocolate cake (squares) topped with a 3rd layer of whita cake, carved in the shape of the Broncos logo. It's not my favorite cake ever, probably because when you're not doing your own thing you don't feel very creative. But here it is, as well as the two other BSU Bronco cakes I've made. :~)

A quick little get well card

Needed a little get well card for a friend . . . I absolutely love this paper, too bad you can't see the glitters in the picture too well. I just wanted a pretty little card, so I cut out a couple of flowers (3) from the same paper and popped them up for some dimension. Then just stamped "Thinking of You" on the inside and voila. Actually turned out cuter than some more complicated cards I've made, lol!