Happy (early) birthday to me

Since my birthday is this week, today I made my first fondant covered cake. I have had visions of decorating cakes before (maybe I've been watching too much TLC) but I NO longer have any desire to bake or decorate cakes. This project took me about 4 hours. (I even cheated by using a box cake mix and pre-made icing!!)


I started out with my cake mix (strawberry because I wanted the inside to be pink.)

I greased and floured the pans and then baked it according to the directions. They looked great when they came out of the oven. I set them aside to cool while I worked on the fondant.

For my first try I wanted to make things as easy as possible. I planned to buy a tub of pre-made fondant from the store...until I found out it cost $20. Instead I bought a bottle of glycerin for $2.60 (which has enough to make several batches) and used the fondant recipe on this page. (p.s. this is NOT marshmallow fondant and it tastes amazing. you can substitute any flavor you want for the almond flavor.) It was pretty easy to make. I colored it a pale aqua. I do wish I had gone a bit darker but this is OK I guess. I almost forgot to save a little out to color pink for the flowers. I managed to save a bit just in time before I got the blue all mixed in. (There are also directions for coloring the fondant on her site, or you can click here.) 

After the cake had cooled the amount of time recommended I tried to flip the pans over and remove the cakes but nothing happened. I cut around the edges with a knife. Still nothing! I had my husband come bang on the bottom of one pan and HALF the cake fell out. He managed to get the other half out in one piece so the bottom layer of my cake is broken :( On the other pan he used a spatula and loosened up the other layer and got that one out intact. 


I used my new Wilton cake leveler and cut the raised part off both layers (I don't think I took enough off as I found out when I tried to stack them...oops) frosted in between and then dirty iced them all around. 

Then I tried to roll out my fondant. This is when I started sweating. Literally! I had it all rolled out nice and thin but it was glued to the mat. I tried rolling it out on wax paper with some powdered sugar. Same thing. I tried again on the counter. I used the rest of my powdered sugar. I was able to roll it up on the rolling pin this time and transfer it to the cake (barely.)

(see how it was sticking?) 

 I covered the cake but ended up with a wrinkle that I couldn't figure out how to smooth out. I ended up covering it with the flowers. The flowers would have been really easy if the fondant hadn't been sticking to the surface so badly. I cut them out with a tiny cookie cutter & shaped them by hand. I used the end of a paint brush to push in the middles. I painted a tiny bit of water on the back and stuck it to the cake. Then I put some candy beads in the center of each flower. I wanted to use some pearl colored beads I had seen but this worked out alright. 
Oh yeah, and there are the same number of flowers as the age I'm going to be this year! Figure that one out... 

 I would say it's OK for my first attempt but I think this may be a first and last attempt. (Unless someone can teach me the trick to getting it to stop sticking!!!) Little h will have to work on me pretty hard if she wants me to make her birthday cake this year! 

I kinda can't wait to cut it open so you can see the pink inside!! 

Happy (early) Birthday to Me!!

Stuck inside a snow globe

About three years ago my grandmother got a snow globe of my cousin as a gift. He had taken a photo of himself arms outstretched, face to the sky trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue, cut it out and put it in one of those "add your own picture" snow globes. My grandma wanted me to get Hailey to do that so she could have one of her too. Well, at that time we were living in Texas and there was NO snow. Last year I got the picture of her doing that, but I couldn't find the snow globes anywhere!  This year I found the snow globes and decided to finally do it. I'm hoping that since MY memory isn't so great that my grandmothers might be even worse? Or maybe since time seems to go faster the older you get, maybe at her age it'll seem like she just asked me a couple of months ago? I can hope right? 

I had planned to use this photo I took last year with her arms out...

But it's from last year and I wanted something more current. So I *borrowed* this picture of my daughter from a friend. (See the previous blog on how to edit out things in the background.)

 I wanted to it to show on both sides of the snow globe. I hadn't decided if I was going to cut it to fit the globe yet, or cut around the photo so I had to make a mirror copy so they would line up when they were back to back. To do this I opened the photo in Photoshop, made a copy and then went to the "Image" menu at the top. I clicked on "image rotation" and then "flip canvas horizontal." Then I printed out both pictures, put then back to back and cut around the template that came with the snow globe. 

It's still not quite right because there is quite a bit of space where you insert the picture and you can see into it. I tried cutting a strip of paper, stuffing it with tissue paper but I think what I'm going to do is paint it from the inside. (see what I mean) 

 

That'll have to be a different day. I think since I found the snow globes pretty cheap I'm going to purchase some more and try the photo from last year, and try cutting around her so none of the background shows and see how they look. (I guess I didn't need to edit my husband out of the photo if I'm just going to cut around it anyway!) Oh well :) At least I learned how to do it!

If I get around to it I'll post an update with pictures...

How we made our Spiderman Pinata

Ok, I promised I would post instruction for the pinata. It's a little late but here it is....


We used this recipe that I found online. We used both the tips about the salt and the cinnamon. I don't think the cinnamon helped with the smell at all so I will probably skip that the next time.
I used the same batch of paper mache for the whole project so if you plan to do the same it's a good idea to mix it in a bowl that has a lid so you can cover it up while the pinata is drying between coats. We cut old newspapers and flyers into strips and put them in a ice cream bucket. Even the somewhat shiny flyers seemed to work just fine. 

So, since we were just doing Spider-man's head our base shape was fairly easy. We just used a large balloon and covered it completely with only the knot where I tied the balloon sticking out. I tied a string to the knot so we could hang it up to dry. To cover the pinata dip each strip of paper into the paste and then pull the strip through your fingers to get off any extra paste. You just want the paper to stick on the balloon, but you don't want liquid running down it, or globbed on. After you have one layer of paper on the balloon hang it up to dry for at least several hours. Some websites will say 24 hours but it will depend on how well you squeezed out the strips and how dry or humid it is in your area. Mine did not take long to dry. I was able to put 3 coats on in one day. We put about 5 coats of paper on since it was so large and was going to be holding a lot of candy. I wanted to make sure it didn't break before the kids started beating it! 

After the pinata is dry you can take a marker and mark your design on it but first you will need to remove the balloon and cut a hole for candy (if you will be filling it.) The best way to remove the balloon is to pull the knot a little to stretch it and then cut a hole in the balloon with a scissors. Let the air out slowly so that if the balloon is stuck to the paper anywhere it will not deflate too fast and ruin your shape. You can either use this hole to fill it or cut a new one. If you will be making a new hole then you will need to cover the hole where the balloon came out. A couple of coats of the same paper mache will work just fine. Then it can either be painted, or covered in tissue paper. I have always preferred the tissue paper method. I think it looks better although it is a lot more time consuming. The painting should be pretty self explanatory so I will just tell you how to do the tissue paper. Cut large sheets of tissue paper into small squares, about 1 inch squared. They don't have to be exactly the same size or perfectly square. If you can't find the right color tissue paper you can use crepe paper streamers and just cut them into squares. Then you will need a pencil, a paper plate and some school glue. (Elmer's glue, or whatever brand you prefer.) 

Squirt a quarter size bit of glue onto the paper plate. You will need more later but if you only add a little at a time there will not be so much wasted if you have to stop for awhile and the glue dries up. Fold the square of tissue paper over the eraser end of a pencil and twist it around the pencil. Do not push too hard of the pencil will tear through the tissue paper. Then remove the paper and hold it by the open end, dip the flat end into a tiny bit of glue and then attach it to the pinata. You may need to hold in in place for a few seconds and then try not to touch it until it dries. If it just falls over you probably used too much glue.  Line the next piece of tissue paper up as close to the first as you can and attach it  using the same method. Continue doing this until the entire pinata is covered in your design. I did the whole pinata except the flap where I filled it up with candy. After filling it I punched a couple holes with a hole puncher, attached some 550 cord (so we'd have some way to hang it), and duct taped it shut. Then I covered the rest with the tissue paper. After the entire thing is dry you can take a scissors and up the paper to make it a little more uniform.  

I didn't need to worry about it breaking too easily! The kids at the birthday party each took turns hitting it and I think we went through all the kids in the line at least 3 times! Finally the parents got to whack at it and we barely dented it! Maybe 5 layers was too many? Ha ha!

My No Sew Fleece Blanket

I finally finished my no sew fleece blanket tonight. I bought the material back in December when we were in the states and I've been putting it off for the past six months. I don't know why. It was incredibly easy. The material cost about $18. If you keep an eye out you can usually find pre-cut kits for about $25, but most of them have children's prints or characters on them and I wanted something different. I apologize for not taking pictures at each step. You'll have to accept my crude drawings as a substitute.


All you need to make one is:

• 2 equal size pieces of fleece (you can make it whatever size you want, but keep in mind they width of the fabric is usually 54" so if you want a bed sized blanket there will have to be some sewing involved) I believe I got 2 yards of each color
• Scissors
• (optional) measuring tape and pins

Lay the two pieces of fabric on top of each other good sides out. The ideal place would probably be a large table but my table was full of clutter and I didn't feel like cleaning it off so I used the bed. If you do it on the bed make sure you don't cut your comforter ;) Trim the edges to cut off any raw edges and make sure they are straight. 
Then cut a 3-4" square from each corner. I cut the first corner and then used the cut piece as a pattern/guide on the other 3 corners

The next step will depend on how anal you are. My mother and law explained how to measure 3-4" in from the edge all the way around and use pins to mark every couple inches. I just eyeballed it using my cut corner as a guide. Cut a fringe all the way around the same depth that you cut the corners to. They can be as wide or narrow as you want. They don't even all have to be the same width if you want a funky look. Just make sure they are all cut the same depth. 

After you have cut all four sides you can start tying the two pieces of fleece together. My single knots all came out so I would suggest a double knot. As an alternative to knotting the fringe you could sew around the edge with a sewing machine and leave the fringe unknotted. I may try that next time. 

When you are finished you have a super warm and cozy blanket to cuddle on the couch with!