Thursday, January 28, 2010

Cake refashion anyone!?

So I must start this post with a disclaimer: Cake refashioning is overpriced and only for those who are in a hurry and are not good at assembling the initial steps of a cake... which for now (until I take a class) is me!
As I was planning on doing this I searched and searched online for anyone who had done a cake refashion, and I found none... I must be crazy! Go ahead google it, you'll see, I am the only one crazy enough to do this...
Fortunately for me, it was very easy and not time consuming, so I was able to make what I think is a pretty darn cute cake very quickly!
So just in case there's someone crazy like me out there that doesn't have mad cake making skills or needs to throw a cake together real quick for their kids party... I give you cake refashion...
Ugly flower cake.... meet my little kitty....
OK, so to begin... MAKE SURE your cake is real cold! And begin plucking the icing decorations off. The first time I did this I was able to keep the colors separated rather easily and I reused the icing!
If you come across some stubborn pieces, don't fret, you can lightly scrape till the color is gone. And if you come into real trouble you can always use the white border to cover a lot!
One thing I had not done in the past that I did this time was ask the guy at the bakery if I could have some hot pink icing... and he was happy to sell me some, easy solution for getting real butter cream in the color you want!
After you have scrapped your cake clean cut out the figure you want to put on the cake and here you have a couple of options... again, MAKE SURE your cake is cold!
Option #1: lay out your design on the cake and use a toothpick to mark out the pattern
Option #2: for this cake I used chocolate candy melts and piped it directly onto the design, refrigerated, peeled off and very carefully placed on the cake! The thing I absolutely loved about using candy melts was that with the cold cake it got solid fast and if I made a mistake it was very easy to break off and start over on... Good for a novice like me!


Then lastly I went to town! I filled in Hello's shirt with a ruffly look, mostly to disguise my lack of skill, then dusted it with pink sanding sugar for some sparkle! Then I piped along the bottom and top edge with the same color doing a similar ruffle. For kitty's eyes and nose we used jelly bellies, smashed a little so they we're a little wider. Then we used sugar hearts to make the flowers (use 4 with a dot of frosting in the middle) and threw on some sugar confetti for some extra fun. The bottom border was butterflies, again we used the sugar hearts (2 with a line of frosting in the middle) and confetti for a cute dotted border!

So in conclusion... if you're a cheapo, this is not the method for you! My half sheet cost me $20, the extra icing was $3 and the deco-cake hearts and sprinkles were $3. The candy melts I always have on hand for cake pops :) so they're kinda free...

But if you need a quick fix for your little one's party and you don't have the skills, here's a really fun and easy solution!

Have fun!

Monday, January 25, 2010

My boy!

My sweet precious baby boy turned one today! I can take myself back so easily to that moment, probably because it happened right here... seriously we were joking about it, but I could have web-camed by birth because I was right next to the computer... I've assumed most of you know that I'm a weirdo home-birther, that grows my shoes in my garden (supposedly) and on occasion drinks fermented tea. But if you didn't I hope you won't hold it against me. In fact enjoy it, I'll be the weirdo you know you want to be, and you can just live vicariously thru me!
But really my point was more to do with how I have been really enjoying reflecting on the birth of my sweet little man. I took on having a boy with a bit of intrepidation, but the minute he popped out, no, the minute he was pulled out with great force, I was in love!So I started looking thru photos that I thought would be old news, that I had looked at 20 times before to reminisce about my sweet bundle of joy and then I started to kinda freak out, because I don't remember having a baby that looked like this...

All I think about is my baby that looks like this! He is so stinkin' funny... I wish you could see of all the photos I have from this moment, because it would make your sides hurt...


Well buddy, this year has not been free from challenges, but it has been such a great year getting to know you! You are so special, loving and hilarious! I love being you and Emmy's mom. God has richly blessed me with you two!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

two observations

I found these pictures this morning, and couldn't help but notice the resemblance in my two children... so my observations: The cute Kiwi and I only make one kind of baby, just in the boy or girl version. And secondly; point and shoot camera's have leaped in their capabilities in 3 short years. Sorry Emmy all your baby photos are just gonna look real bad next to your siblings... don't blame me, blame technology... in fact that's always the answer, I'm sure behind most problems in the 21st century, we can somehow blame technology...

That's all for now, my internet connection's having trouble... told you!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Wait! Where did December go?

Isn't there just something about December! It's magical yet hectic, and no matter how hard I try to make it slow down, it just goes too quickly and I'm always left a little sad that it's all over, and disillusioned by the mess I have to clean up!
It seems like just the other day I was posting on my facebook status, to decorate or not to decorate... And I'm sure you can guess by the looks of this here photo, I gave into sentimentalism and tradition. I can't help it, I'm too old skool I really try so hard to break out of the shell but I just can't. So in typical O.T. Cyndi style I bring you December in pictures, in January... "sigh"Gave in and decorated, this year I held back (a little bit)Emmy started December right, with a rousing performance of "splish, splash it's rainnin' in my bath" at the CBS children's Christmas program, with all her good homies by her side!Next Emmy and I spent a little too much time round the sugar, wholy moly although I ate very little sugar, I'm pretty sure I ingested it through my pores, cuz you couldn't talk me into eating any for the next few days... but we had fun!Then the next day for some reason I felt compelled to make all the ladies at my church Christmas tea, their very own Christmas Tree cake pop... When I get these brilliant ideas somebody please do me a favor and hit me over the head... !this is what 80 cake pops look like... unfortunately I have no photos of what 80 cake pops makes my kitchen look likeNext we had the Weeks Fancy dinner party, which for me was the highlight of December! We had friends from church join us for a 4 course meal which I prepared with a little help from my friends!I discovered an old lot of beautiful linens that inspired the decor for the evening... it was so fun to use them with my grandmothers etched crystal and my fun and funky Bakelite silverware!We talked about how the gospel had impacted our lives in 2009 and toasted to the gospel with wonderful wine, and pretty darn good food, if you ask me... notice the mostly devoured croque embouch my girlfriend made!We enjoyed good conversation and a hilarious white elephant gift exchange that brought tears to many eyes... Is that wassail Dave??And this is definitely the best present of the year for me... My sweet girlfriend Laura who couldn't be at this year's party sent gifts for us to open up from New Zealand. And what could be better for her Old Time friend than a 50's inspired Pavlova recipe apron??? I'm mean seriously where do you find this stuff!
I'm so thankful for my church and my sweet friends that God has blessed me with, it's been an awesome year!Next we had yet another Christmas production, which Emmy played a little angel in. I have to say she was slightly overshadowed by a hilarious 2 year old who inched right up to the mic in desperate anticipation of saying "happy birt-day Jedus"
I got to do the music for the kids... (I think it's time to touch up the roots there Cyndi)Then the week preceding Christmas, we took a little r-r-road trip up north to the central coast! Dang their cute and are excellent travelers, their well seasoned...We took a little hike around Laguna lake up in San Luis Obispo... photo courtesy of Emmy!Judah loves to hike in the sling... Attack of the baby fangs! Man I love this kid!Then we headed up for a little time of R and R at our 2nd home.... yeah right. If you didn't already know this is Hearst Castle and if you haven't already taken a tour, it's remote and time consuming and if you have a big family, expensive, BUT definitely worth it! Wow, so cool!I wish we could have had more time up there, seriously ridiculous how much money that guy had and spent!Then we rushed home for Christmas Eve service that Mike and I were doing the music for, here's me with a couple of the girls that serve in the music ministry at church... looking good girls ;)Then we had Christmas morning... I still need to have a talk with the folks about this one! We said no gifts... long story, but they are grandparents, and everyone knows they can't help themselves! Judah pretty much loves this one anyways!Then definitely the highlight of Christmas for me was going and hanging out with these guys and a few others... Some friends and I decided to make pancakes and coffee and go hand them out to the homeless, or as they like to say "home free" of Laguna Beach. It was such a cool time and as we were standing around talking and eating, some sweet people came by with a car load of sleeping bags and just handed them out (this is me being super stoked on them!)And lastly we finish with Judah doing it right... pooping at the brunch table. Thanks for the extra special gift buddy... bonus: no changing table at this restaurant!
Well it's been an awesome, awesome year, and I definitely will fill you in on more of the details of that, who knows when... but you know how I roll.
Thanks for reading and I pray this next year is filled with God's many blessings and a closeness with Him that rivals anything this world can offer you!
Peace out 2009!