Pigtails and Minions!!

Confession time. I'm not a big fan of following directions. I suppose that's probably because of the little control freak that lives in me. I like to do things my way. I look at something and I wonder, "would I do this differently?" Sometimes it works out great and sometimes, not so much. This has been the case for me with crocheting. I get an idea about something I want to make and I go on-line in search of a pattern. But that little control freak refuses to let me follow the directions! For one reason or another I just have to change something! Sometimes it's a little something, and sometimes it's the whole dang pattern. The best examples I have of this are the pigtail hats and the minion hats. I found free pattens for both of these hats on-line and immediately fell in love. They were both adorable ideas!

So what did I change? With the pigtail hats I only changed the thickness of the cuff. I wanted it to be just a bit taller. So instead of just two rows of the front and back posts I did three. But with the minion hats I used an entirely different pattern for the body of the hat. Not that there was anything wrong with the pattern, I was just having a sizing issue. A more experienced crocheter might have known how to make all the right adjustments but no matter how many different things I tried I just couldn't get the size right. So I took the minion idea and made it work with an existing pattern I already had. And it was a pattern I had already used to make my kids hats so I knew it would fit. I did follow the pattern exactly to make the goggles/eyes. I just made it bigger on Noah's hat since he only wanted one eye. Chey wanted me to then of course make hers a girl. So hers got a bow. : )

I think overall, the little control freak has served me well. Yes, he has also caused me a few problems from time to time, but ultimately he's challenged me to do my very best at any and every task I undertake. And he pushes me creatively. : )

And finally I want to give credit where credit is due. If you are interested in checking out the original patterns for these two hats they can be found here:

http://gamergirluniverse.blogspot.com/2010/08/minion-beanie.html

http://www.allcrafts.net/fjs.htm?url=suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2006/10/suzies-stuff-kids-tassel-hat.html

Thank you ladies for these patterns and the super cut hats!!

A Farewell Cake

It's never easy saying goodbye when someone leaves. And while I was bummed out that a friend was moving away, I was pretty excited about making my first "going away" cake. (Shh, don't tell him that. ) ; ) I had been wanting to try my skill at a suitcase for awhile but really had no reason. Finally, a reason presented itself. A friend of ours, Kit, was headed back home to Colorado after living here in Boise for awhile. And what better way to say goodbye then with a party!? And what's a party without a cake!? So to the kitchen I went. I couldn't just make any ole' suitcase cake though. I really wanted it to represent Kit. Now, this is not a guy you would find rolling around some yuppy designer suitcase. He is laid back, grunge at it's finest with a passion for the snow. So with that in mind, this is what I came up with. A snowy hilltop and a vintage leather suitcase propped on top. And of course the little snowboarder in the ball of snow crashing into the suitcase. (It had to have that.) And to make sure everyone new the snowboarder was Kit, I gave him a little red beanie. You'll have to trust me on this one . . . everyone knew it was him. : )

My First Crochet Project

My mother-in-law is a crocheter and after seeing some of the super cute things she made everyone for Christmas I knew I wanted to learn. So she bought me a pack of hooks and some yarn and we had our first lesson. Within the first three minutes I wanted to quit. I couldn't even manage a simple chain. Good grief I felt awkward. But my sweet mom-in-law sat there and encouraged me (trying desperately not to laugh i'm sure) as I clumsily tried and tried and tried to make a chain. I finally got it. Horray! Next, she taught me a couple basic stitches (single and double crochets mostly.) After I at least had the basic idea, she left me on my own to just practice those over and over again. And once I was comfortable with those it was time to actually try and make something.

I'm a huge fan of scarfs, particularly super long ones, so lucky for me a scarf is a nice simple place to start. = ) I had to pull all my work out a few times before I finally found a width and a look that I was happy with. And while that was ridiculously frustrating I'm glad I did. Cause after about five days of doing nothing else (hey, it was my first project and I was still very slow and awkward) I finally had my scarf . . . all nine feet of it! I was THRILLED! It was fabulous! But what's a scarf without a matching hat? I was on a roll! So I found a pattern that I liked and got busy. The hat was a little bit trickier. I was calling my mother-in-law every day asking if I could come over so she could walk me through the next step. She's such a patient woman. = ) I again found myself frustrated at having to pull out all my work a few times. And my poor family was equally frustrated cause mommy kept "shooshing" them every time they tried to talk to me. What can I say? I didn't want to lose count. But eventually I had a hat. It wasn't what I had originally set out for but it turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!

So now I am officially "hooked." HAHA, pun intended. I havn't stopped crocheting since. = )

Cookie Creations

One of my favorite things to bake (and eat) is cookies. So while I had originally figured my business would be strictly cakes and cupcakes I have decided to do cookies as well. My first "Cookie Creation" was a Christmas Cookie bouquet. I made 5 of these actually. Chey and Noah's teachers each got one and Isabelle's cheer coaches got them as well. The finished product was wrapped in a clear cellophane bag with a big red bow and lots of ribbon. They were a hit! I also recently made megaphone sugar cookies for Isabelle's cheer squad. For both of these cookies I painted on an icing that dries with a hard glossy finish but isn't super hard like royal icing. And while I am a big fan of buttercream I don't love it for cookie decorating because it can get smooshed too easily. (However, I did use it to put the finishing touches on the Christmas cookies.) The "paint" icing is perfect though. Just the right amount of soft and sweet and it doesn't take away from the delicious flavor of the cookies. For the megaphones I even used lemon as well as vanilla flovoring and it made for a wonderful tasting icing!

Let's hear it for music!

So far i've made two cakes that had a music theme of some sort. One was a guitar cake for the worship leader at our church. He's a good friend of mine and an amazing musician. The other was also a birthday cake for a friend. She a bassoonist and is going to school to be a marching band director. Lucky for me when her mom ordered the cake she specifically said she wanted something simple and round. I don't think I could have made a cake in the shape of a bassoon. = ) The guitar cake is a marble cake. The bottom cake is covered in cream cheese frosting and the guitar itself is covered in a chocolate fondant and decorated with modeling chocolate. I really wanted the guitar to have a wood look to it.

The music notes cake is a rainbow chip cake (the bday girl ALWAYS has a rainbow chip cake on her birthday) with buttercream frosting. The decorations are made with both fondant and modeling chocolate.

A Precious Kitty and A Curious Monkey

This Hello Kitty cake was a cake I made for my brothers girlfriend when they came to visit. (She's a HUGE fan.) It was a chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting and then covered and decorated in fondant. This was actually the first time I made a strawberry buttercream. I sliced up and pureed fresh strawberries and it was delicious! I've seen recipes that offer quicker and easier methods but I don't think I could ever do it another way now. I was eating the leftover frosting on graham crackers for a few days. So yummy! = )

The Curious George cake was for a 4 year old's birthday. It was fun trying to create George flying through the air but I think the puffy clouds and cupcake balloons did the job nicely. This cake was white chocolate cake as well as white chocolate buttercream, with a chocolate buttercream monkey.

I was a little nervous about trying to duplicate well known characters on a cake. I mean, it can't just look like any cat or any monkey. I had to get it right. But overall, I was very pleased at how these two cakes came out and i'm excited about trying more characters.

First Two Weddings

To date I have only done two weddings. The first was cupcakes and the second a three tierd cake. They both were fun and challenging in different ways. And go figure . . . a shade of purple was the main color in both. The cupcakes were a mix of vanilla and chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and little sugar pearls. The topper cake was actually a spice cake with cream cheese frosting, (the brides favorite cake) then covered in fondant.

The three tier cake was a white cake with white chocolate buttercream and then covered in fondant with a fondant ribbon. And I really love the look of the round and square cakes together.