Cake Decorating Class 2: Week 4

Another cake class has come to the end. I'm always a little sad when that happens because they are so much fun. Tonight we worked on our final project. I was a little stressed over mine, but it turned out beautiful. One Monday I decided to bake my cake so I could do the main layer of frosting on Tuesday. So Monday night I poured the cake box mix into a bowl and added my eggs. When I turned towards the sink to add the water, the bowl bumped the counter and spilled on my floor. I was then out of eggs. :( So instead I made my cake on Tuesday night and then got up a little early on Wednesday to do the frosting. A while back I bought a horse shoe cake pan, but hadn't used it yet, so even though the inside curve intimated me, I decided to try it out anyways. 

I really wanted to do the basket weave, but the inner curve made me change my mind. I'm glad I did because just doing the bead border was hard. Then on the top I did the rope border. I think its my new favorite border. All we had to do for our final project was do a flower arrangement. I was only going to do mine at the bottom and up one side, but it was so much fun so I did both sides of the show and then some of the edges also. 

For my cake batter, I used my all time favorite cake recipe, Yogurt Cake and then I did Lemon Buttercream Frosting. I can't wait to try my cake, but I want Josh to see it first so I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow night. 

I already miss cake class, but our Fondant class will be next month so I don't have to wait long. Until then we also started a book club to keep us busy with excuses to get together. 

Bubble Bath

Hot water - Check

Bubbles - Check

Good book - Check

Curious kittens - Check

I wasn't feeling well on Monday so that afternoon I decided a hot bath might help. Ally and Buddy spent most of the time on the edge of the tub looking in. It was so cute that on Tuesday I decided to bath again just so I could get some pictures. 

Playing with (and eating) the bubbles.

 I think this is when Ally remembered she had fallen in the night before. It was pretty funny.  I was worried about Buddy falling in, which he almost did. I think he's know learned to jump to the edge and look in before jumping in all the way. Towards the end of my bath on Monday night he had tried to walk the entire edge of the tub. The edge against the wall is really narrow so I stopped him. A few seconds later Ally must have decided she could walk it because she fell in. 

Cake Decorating Class 2: Week 3

I think it every week, but class was so much fun tonight. First we started by learning a border I suddenly can't remember the name of. :p If you do it right, it is supposed to look like a pearl necklace. It was so simple and so cute! I asked Randi why we learned the shell border in the first class because this one was so much easier than it. She said that most cakes are decorated with a shell border so that is the first one she teaches. I don't think anymore of my cakes will be decorated with a shell border. 

Then we learned how to basket weave. I've always wanted to know how to do that! I need some more practice, but I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to try it on a cake. We also learned the rope border which I think is so pretty. Its a great way to top off a basket weave cake because it pulls in the whole basket theme. My bag was almost out of frosting so my rope border didn't turn out how I would have liked and I was to anxious to learn more flowers to refill my bag. The second rope border picture was the one Randi did to show us how to do it.

The flowers we learned tonight were daisies and pansies. They were both so much fun. By the end of class I think I was finally getting the hang of it. I love that pansies have more color, but its also more work because you have to keep switching bags.

Getting big and moving out

Ally has LOVED being a mom. Twelve weeks old and she still lets them nurse. Most cats ween their kittens at 6 weeks, but I don't think Ally cares that they still nurse.

Sleeping with Zipper.

I think Bullet is trying to silence Buddy.

Friday was an emotional day for me. I called Classifieds and advertised the kittens. I only advertised 3 of them because Melanie and the boys were going to take one. After I hung up, I bawled. Then a minute later my phone rang. It was my father in-law. He was pretty sure Barb wanted one of the kittens too.

That afternoon Melanie and the boys came up. The kittens all hissed at them. I had told Melanie Buddy was the calmest but when we asked Preston what kitten he wanted he told us "The orange and white one." Well, first he said Zipper, which Josh said he could have. But then he choose Honey. I will love Preston for that forever. I have been so heartbroken about giving up Buddy. I wanted to keep him, but if I couldn't, I wanted my nephews to have him. When Preston choose Honey I knew I would be keeping Buddy. :)

Then last night Barb told us she would take Bullet and Lewis. I'm so glad I found such good homes for my kittens. Of course no one spoils cats like I do, but I couldn't have chose better homes for them.

I was worried that Honey would keep hissing and scratch the boys, but Melanie said he slept with Preston the first night and even purred. I'm so jealous, they have never purred for me, they only purr when they are nursing.

So here is a few more pictures of all the kittens. After that, it will be just Buddy.

Buddy helping me set up the wireless Internet.
Buddy still sleeps in the quirkiest positions.
Ally taking a break from being WILD with the kittens.
When Melanie and the boys were ready to leave, we couldn't find Honey. That is when we noticed he was hiding under the wood stove. We didn't even know they could get there.

There is Honey hiding.
And Buddy hiding with him.

Cake Decorating Class 2: Week 2

This week we learned how to do roses. They are a lot of work so that is all we worked on, which was nice because they took a long time to figure out.

Here is the one my teacher did to show us how to do it. I wanted to see what some of my other ink colors look like, so I dyed my frosting orange this week.

In 2 hours I was able to make 10 roses (plus my teachers demonstration rose is on the board). By the end of class I was feeling much better about my skills. As always, my biggest problems is learning how to hold my hand and rotate it for the different rows of petals.
The rose on the left was my very first and the one on the right was my my best one. My teacher was so excited that I had finally figured out how to do an open rose so we had to get a picture.

Close to My Heart September Pages

Here was our September Close to My Heart Pages. Our techniques for the night were chalking and the pinwheels. Another technique, for myself, is just stamping correctly. I have a hard time with that. But I have found if I go to a harder surface, I seem to do better. So each group I leave the craft table and use Janel's kitchen table to stamp my images. I have started doing the same thing at home and it has helped so much.

Here's a close up of the pinwheels. They were a little bit of work, but they were a lot of fun and I love how they look.
Here is some more random pages I have done at group over the last few years.

By Janel

By Andrea

By Andrea

By Janel

By Andrea

If you want to order any Close to My Heart products, Janel has a website HERE.