a freak fake tornado destroyed my cabin cake

Two quick pics to share tonight.  First, read last night's post.  Did you do it?  Seriously, do it!  Okay, now continue.

Last night I tried to make a free-standing cabin cake like the cabin on Little House on the Prairie.  Unfortunately, the prairie can be a dangerous place, and there was a freak tornado that destroyed that cabin. This picture shows the aftermath of the tornado that destroyed the cabin.  (Do you like my costume?  That's me transformed into Caroline Ingalls.)

After calling my insurance company and finding out that I'm not covered for freak fake tornado accidents that destroy horribly made cabin cakes, I came up with this one-dimensional cabin cake as a stand in for my daughter's birthday party.  It's not what I was hoping for, but she liked it.  Cake done, party over . . . clean up begins.

Craft on!

two things I learned today

Each night as I tuck my oldest into bed, I ask her, "What is one thing you learned today?"  Well, tonight I'm answering my own question.  Here are two things I learned today:

First, I learned that I need more than two hours to create a Little House on the Prairie cabin birthday cake.  Who knew?  I made my youngest daughter's dog house cake in two hours, so I gave myself two hours for Laura's cabin.  Denied!  I tried and tried and tried, but I just couldn't make it work.  I called my daughter into the  kitchen and said, "Honey, mommy may not be able to make you a Little House on the Prairie cabin cake in time for your party."  She said, "Mommy, it's wonderful.  I love it!"  This is what she was looking at . . .

This is clearly a cake only a daughter could love!  I love her even more (although I'm not sure it's possible to love her more than I already do) for saying that.  I tried a few different methods, but I finally had to admit failure.  Here's a few other pictures of the cake that almost was. 

As I was tucking her into bed tonight, she said, "Mommy, can you tell me a story about a time when your mom tried to make you a hard cake and failed."  Aw shucks . . . sometimes I hate failure!  But in spite of not being a fan of failure tonight, I will be adding this cake to my flickr group celebrating failure. 

The second thing that I learned today is that I can make felt bread.  Yippeeeee!  Success!  One piece down . . . nine more to go. 

Celebrating failure and success tonight.

Craft on!

let us eat cake . . .

Tomorrow my baby turns two . . . I guess that makes her offically no longer my baby.  As I think back over the past two years, I can't believe how fast it has gone.  It's been such a blessing to get to know her over these past two years.  So far I've learned that she is determined, passionate, loving, curious, not easily distracted, very active and so much more.  I look forward to getting to know even more about her in the years to come. 

I've mentioned that I call her monkey because, often, as she climbs on the counters, over the kitchen table and under chairs, it's easy to mistake her for a monkey.  However, lately her animal of choice is a puppy as she crawls around on the floor under foot panting and barking.  So . . . for our little puppy's birthday, I decided to craft a doghouse cake.  I'm thankful for the inspiration Jennifer at JK Country Bakery provided (see previous post).  And although Jennifer is clearly more crafty in the cake creation department, I did try my hand at cake decorating this weekend in celebration of my spunky puppy's second birthday.    

I have to admit that it was a whole lot of fun to figure out how to make this thing completely edible.  A whole different kind of craft.  So whether you have a special birthday to celebrate, an anniversary coming up or you're just hungry for some cake, think of something fun to craft out of cake and go for it.

Craft on! 

saturday spotlight - let's eat cake!

I'm a big believer in the fact that crafting takes many forms . . . whether it's cute clothes for a dancing chicken, a beautifully reupholstered chair or a cleverly decorated cake.  That's why this week I'm shining the spotlight on my friend Jennifer Probst who owns JK Country Bakery with her husband, Keith.  Jennifer is an incredibly talented baker.  Everything she makes tastes d-e-licious!  I'm a super big fan of her monster bars, apple pie and pumpkin cookies.  I'm not ashamed to say that I could eat an entire plate of her monster bars in one day.  (Okay, I'm a little ashamed to say that, but they are THAT good!)  Jennifer made this pirate ship cake, and I think it looks almost too good to eat.  Although . . . I bet the little boy whose birthday it was for had no trouble digging into it.

Here are some of her other cute creations.

If you live in the area and have a need for a sweet treat, give Jennifer a call at 712-756-4462 or you can check her bakery page out on Facebook.  (Don't worry I don't just post people's phone numbers on the internet for every nutcase to see - not that anyone who reads this blog is a nutcase.  Jennifer gave me permission to toot her horn a bit and post her contact info.  Thanks so much Jennifer!)

I'm using Jennifer's inspirational cakes to craft my own cake-creation this weekend for my youngest daughter's second birthday.  What will you be inspired to create?

Craft on!