Daughters First Birthday Scrapbook Page

It has taken me a week to do these two pages. For some reason inspiration was not coming easy to me. But I just finished them and thought you would like a peak. The first page says on tags step one, step two, step 3, step 4. For each of the four pictures of her opening her presents. The birthday girl is a rub on but I rubbed on glitter that came with the rubons that was green. It was pretty fun. the last layout was her eating her cake and blowing out her candles. These pictures were over a year and a half ago. How time flies.

Just a Scrappin

I found this awesome blog that has cutouts for the design studio software for the Cricut. I am so excited to use the files. I have the softward but I havent known how to use it properly. Now I know. Yippe!

Wedding Cake

My hubbys cousing just got married. She didnt want a cake but her

fiances family insisted on having a cake (they seemed to do that with most everything for her wedding). I have always wanted to attempt to make a wedding cake. So my friend and I made the cake. It actually turned out really well. I was surprised how fun it was to do. If you need any pointers on how to do it yourself ask away. Or even better if you have tips for me then fire away. I don't know very much and it would be really helpful.

For the fondat we made it with marshmellows.

Marshmellow fondat:

1 bag marshmellows

1 bag of powdered sugar (you don't quite need the whole bag)

1 dsp of flavoring (we used coconut)

2 tbsp water

Melt the marshmellows, water, and flavoring in the microwave. Stir well. Mix in the powdered sugar, (it is best if you put it in a kitchen aid or I use my bosch) make sure not to add too much because it will get too stiff to work with easily. Then put it in some press and seal wrap (this works so much better than suran wrap) Let is sit for about 15 minutes then roll it out and put it on the cake.

To smooth the fondant onto the cake start with the corners (if it is a square cake) and work your way to the middle of the sides. Another great thing to use is fondant smoothers. They work wonders for getting out those imperfections on the fondant.

Another hint is to frost using buttercream icing (I think that regular frosting would be just fine) on the cake before putting on the fondant so that the fondant has something to stick too.

I really can't think of anything else that would be helpful to you. Just ask and I will try to figure it out if I don't know the answer

Pretzels

Tuesday night my husband, daughter and I went to the local baseball game. It was really fun. We left right before it got over so I don't know who won but we were one behind. I could smell the pretzels and I really wanted one, but then I remembered that I would be babysitting a neice and nephews on Wednesday, so I decided that in order to pass time in the small apartment we would make pretzels.

I ended up only having the neice so it wasn't that bad (except my daughter would not share her toys, ugh). The pretzels were a hit with both my daughter and neice. I actually really liked them also. I did not have course salt, but they still worked out.

This recipe is kinda sweet. I ate them with jam and it was really good.

Pretzels

1 1/2 c warm water

1/3 c sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 beaten egg

1 tbsp yeast

1/2 c margaine melted (I used real butter and they turned out fine)

4-6 c flour

course salt

Combine all ingredients (even the egg and butter, I wasnt sure but it worked out) to make a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes (I kneaded mine in the bosch for 4 minutes). Roll into ropes, then make pretzel shape. Drop into boiling water and boil for 5-10 seconds (the girls loved counting for each pretzel). Brush with beaten egg (a different egg than is in the ingredients list), sprinkle with salt. Bake at 400 (at least that is what I guessed, the first batch I did at 350 and they took 20 minutes and were not even brown) for 9-12 minutes (Mine ended up being 15 minutes) until golden brown

I know that one of the pretzels looks more like a lump than a pretzel. Thats because it is a lump. That was my daughters masterpiece. The other two were mine. The neice took hers home. I hope that you enjoy this great activity even if you do it all by yourself.

Scrapbook Cabinet

I saw a scrapbook cabinet in a magazine a while ago (I don't remember which one it was). So I tore the page out and saved it. I told my dad about it and he said "Lets build it". I was really excited. We just got it in our apartment. I love it because I can close it like a cabinet and no one can see inside my mess.

It is not quite finished yet we still have to attach the desk because we need to find some good and long stops. I really don't want to use chains to support the weight of it so we are still looking to see what we could find.

I also need to find (probably at walmart) some hooks for the peg board that is above the desk and I also need 12 x 12 stackable paper racks.

The front we are going to paint a stencil motiff on it, but I havent found the one that I am wanting.

Around the front sides of the cabinet is a rope so that you can't see the seam.

For the shelves on the inside we used plexi glass so that I can see what is on that shelf.

The cupboard measures 36 inches wide and 6 feet tall. The back part measures 18 inches and the front part measures 8 inches so for a total of 26 inches deep.

There are 5 shelves on the front part and there is 4 shelves (the desk, two top shelves, and under the desk) in the back part. The top shelf I am going to use for my Cricut that is why I made it so deep. The next shelf is not the full 28 inches is is 14 inches so that paper can still fit on it and the desk can lift up and fit inside the cupboard when it is shut.

I have been putting myt stuff inside over the last day. It is not organized yet, but I am working on it.

Sorry about the pictures, I can't find my camera and they are taken on my phone. If you would like to get better dimensions or pictures let me know