Cake Decorating - Revisited

Last night was cake decorating classes. We learned how to make drop flowers and leaves. I was very excited about the way our cakes turned out. Here is mine:



I need to practice some more. I kept turning my hand too fast while making the flowers, and they didn't flatten out as much as they should have. I also made my leaves a lot more squiggly than they normally are, but I don't think it looks too shabby for a first try! Here are a few more pictures.



Brat Girl's cake turned out BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE the colors she chose. They went together perfectly! You can see pictures (warning - they are large) of it here and here.

Christmas Tree #2

Finally, I have taken pictures of the Christmas tree in my bedroom. Originally, this tree was put up in the "powder" room that guests use when they come and visit us. But, since we never have guests over, and there is only one electrical plug in there, I have started setting it up in my bedroom. (Eventually, I plan on getting a larger tree for the bedroom, and this will go back into the "powder" room.)

Both rooms are decorated in what "I" am calling a Moroccan theme. (You can see some pictures of my bedroom here and here) This Christmas tree kind of reflects that theme as well.

This picture is dark but I REALLY like the way the lights made a design on the walls. It almost looks like a faux finish has been painted on them.



I used a peacock as the tree topper.



I LOVE this picture of one of the peacocks on the tree!



And here are a few more.



Now, I need to move to the living room and decorate "BIG MAMA!" She is 9.5 feet tall! I also have to put up the garland coming down the stairs. I will post those pictures when I am done.

A Little Of This! A Little Of That!

I hope that everyone had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! I spent the day cooking and cleaning like a crazy woman! We finally sat down to eat at around 3:00 pm. It was a very yummy meal, that left us with LOTS of leftovers!

I am getting ready to make some turkey noodle soup! Which will be perfect, because it's COLD (37 degrees at the moment) and rainy here. I am thinking soup and a grilled cheese sandwich sounds delightful!

I have been meaning to post some pictures of this adorable cover that Mrs. G, a sweet lady that I work with, made for my Pazzles machine. I absolutely LOVE it! I still need to find some kind of embellishment to add on the front of it, but I wanted to wait until I found the perfect flower. Usually, Mrs. G will add a flower, that looks like a daisy (or whatever you want)on the flap, but since the fabric I chose had pink roses on it, I wanted to find something that would match it perfectly. She also makes these covers for the Cricut machines, and sells them at our store! You can see other samples here and here.

They are just so cute!



Two weeks ago, Brat Girl, Niece from Germany, and I, started taking cake decorating classes. This past Tuesday, we all had to take a cake, and two batches of icing (UMMMMMMM! Can we say DIET BUSTER?)with us to class. Our instructor showed us how to ice the cake, and make it smooth. We then learned how to make shells, and rosettes. Here I am, practicing like a good little student! TEACHER! Do I get a gold star?



After we practiced on our boards for a little while, we moved on to the cakes. By golly! I'm doing it! I'm icing my first cake! (Pay no attention to the fact that some of my rosettes are on top of the cake, and some appear to be falling off the side of the cake!)



And here ya go!



We actually decorated the top of the cake too, (using stencils) but I didn't like how it turned out, so I decided to just show the plain top.

OOOOOOOO! Did I mention the fact that Brat Girl, Niece from Germany, and I, all live in the SAME HOUSE? What does that mean? That all THREE cakes were brought back here, to be eaten! UGH! Next week, I think we will be taking cakes to work with us!

I Am Running To The Store!

To buy this:



I have been counting down the days until One Republic releases their album because I LOVE their song "Apologize!"

Today is the day that it is coming out! Now I can jump up and down, and do a HAPPY DANCE!

UPDATE! I found the cd at Target and it was on sale for $7.98! YAY! Everybody RUN to Target!

Isn't She The Cutest?

OK! Obviously, I am OBSESSED with birds! I realized that I have them on two of my Christmas trees already.

Of course, you have already seen the cardinals on the tree I put up in the dining room. There are peacocks on the tree in my bedroom, and I have been searching all of the stores for ivory/pearl colored doves to go on the Christmas tree in the living room.

But, now there are THESE!



While I was at Michael's the other day I saw these ADORABLE PINK bird ornaments. I could NOT leave them there! Look at those curly feathers! Aren't they SO stinkin' cute? They are SO pink and fluffy. It was love at first sight! They had a couple of other colors, but these called (actually SCREAMED) my name! I plan to eventually use these on a Christmas tree in my craft room.

P.S. Let's not forget the CROWS on the Halloween tree!

Sunday!

Mr. Mister and I had some fun this Sunday.

There was a little (as in only about 5 blocks long! LOL) Veteran's Day parade, in a town near us, that one of our friends was participating in. So we headed over around noon and waited for it to begin.

Afterwards, we decided to go out for lunch. We couldn't decide what we wanted to eat, so we just started driving towards the closest Romano's Macaroni Grill (which is approximately 45 minutes away, in Missouri.) I was already beginning to salivate over the thought of their bread dipped in olive oil, and a big bowl of their vodka rustica pasta.

As we were driving, I asked Mr. Mister what particular foods he wanted to be included on the menu for Thanksgiving. He mentioned several of his favorites, one of them being homemade green beans. Well, that started him saying things like, "I could really go for some green beans right now!" But we were already half way to the Macaroni Grill, and the OOOOOOOOO SO YUMMY bread & pasta by then.

We kept driving and he mentioned green beans again! I said that we would have to turn around, and head back to Texas Roadhouse, because everyone knows they have the BEST green beans in the state! (Well, at least that is my opinion!) So we take the next exit and head back into Illinois. Needless to say, they were darn good, when we "finally" got to the restaurant to eat.

We then headed out to do a little shopping. I needed to pick up a stamp at Michael's that said "Handmade by:" so that I can stop writing it by hand on the back of all of my Christmas cards. Then we headed to K-Mart, and I figured we may as well stop at Barnes & Nobles to pick up a copy of the Christmas Jars book, since we were already in the area.

While we were doing all this running around, I mentioned several times that I wanted to see the movie Fred Claus, especially after reading Kari's review of the movie.



We drove by the movie theater, and the next show was in 30 minutes. We parked and bought our tickets. Of course, no movie is complete without a heaping bucket of popcorn and a large soda! (So much for dieting!)



We settled in and waited for the movie to begin. Mr. Mister pulled out his cell phone and started playing solitaire, while I answered a text message from our daughter. What in the world did we ever do before cell phones came along?

The movie was great! We laughed a lot! I even teared up at some parts. (YES, I'm one of those people that cries at every movie.) Like Kari mentioned on her blog, the North pole was awesome! The buildings, the atmosphere, everything was just so cool to look at. I would definitely love to visit a place like that!

Christmas Jars!

I was reading the message boards on Organized Christmas today, and came across a post under the Sharing The Season subject that I thought was a wonderful idea.

They were talking about a book that was written by Jason F. Wright, called Christmas Jars." (Which I plan on purchasing as soon as possible!)

In the book, a journalist happens upon a human interest story that winds up teaching her lessons about love and forgiveness and renewing her own faith in human kindness. On Christmas Eve, twenty-something Hope Jensen is quietly grieving the recent loss of her adoptive mother when her apartment is robbed. The one bright spot in the midst of Hope's despair is a small jar full of money someone has anonymously left on her doorstep. Eager to learn the source of this unexpected generosity, Hope uses her newswoman instincts to find other recipients of "Christmas jars," digging until her search leads her to the family who first began the tradition of saving a year's worth of spare change to give to someone in need at the holiday. (The above information was taken from a review by Publishers Weekly on Amazon)

This book has started something magical, and it's spreading across the United States. Last year, thousands of Christmas Jars were given away. You can read some of the stories on the Christmas Jars website.

In 2008, the book will become a movie. People are already saying it will be a classic. They are including it with other great movies like: It's A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas Carol, and A Christmas Story.

I spent the afternoon reading everyone's messages, of how they are doing their own Christmas Jars. I read about how they gave jars to unsuspecting people, without letting them know who they were from. The reactions those people had, and the joy that it brought to those people. One lady gave a jar to the janitor at her church. She put the jar in a box, included a copy of the Christmas Jars book, and some Chex mix, because everyone knew how much the gentleman loved Chex mix. She said, he keeps telling people that he had an angel that helped him buy his grandkids Christmas presents that year!

I get tears in my eyes just reading all of the stories, and I have decided that I would love to be a part of this! I know that it is probably too late to start a Christmas Jar for this Christmas, but I can definitely start one for next year.

Some people mentioned that they had bought several copies of the book to give as a gift to others. They were going to give it with an empty jar, that the recipient could begin filling up with change. Many were choosing to decorate the jars so that they were not just plain jars. The possibilities are endless!

So, if you were considering doing something special, maybe this is a great idea for you too. I know that there are many ways to help our communities, and that many people have certain charities that they give to, but I just wanted to let you all know about this wonderful idea as well.

P.S. If this idea is something you think you will enjoy, maybe you could help spread the word to others by mentioning it on your blog as well. Just think about how many Christmas Jars we could help get started if we all posted about it! WOW!

Christmas Tree # 1

YEP! I am one of those crazy people that has Christmas on the brain all year long! Every year I add more trees and decorations to the house. This year we will have a total of five trees up. (My goal is to eventually have one in every room!)

The kids both have their own trees now, so they are included in the five. They will decorate theirs, and I will be decorating the other three.

I always start putting up the trees in November because I like to take my time decorating them, and if they are up earlier that means I get to enjoy them longer.

So, this weekend I got the first tree up. It is the cardinal/woodland themed tree.



(I really like the picture above. I am thinking I may need to make my Christmas cards with it one of these years!)

It has picks with "ice" on the ends, berries, pine cones, cardinals, and all kinds of things sticking out of it. It sits in the dining room.



I chose cardinals because they are one of my favorite outdoor birds! I love to see them in the winter time with their red feathers contrasting against the white snow. SO PRETTY!

Fall Colors!

Mr. Mister and I, went out for a little drive this morning hoping to catch some of the fall colors before they faded.

We were too late!

Most of the trees were already turning brown and losing their leaves. We didn't get a lot of rain here this year and the colors just weren't as vibrant as they should have been.

I did manage to get a few pictures.