On January 29th, I was challenged with helping a friend throw a baby shower. I didn't know the mother-to-be, I was sort of...well, the "party planner". I helped her design the menu, pick out decorations, set up her house and choose cute little odds and ends. The trick is to make things LOOK expensive, and do it yourself! Adding small touches like labeling food/drinks and making your own floral centerpieces from bulk flowers cuts back on cost AND looks richy-richy!

The mother-to-be doesn't know if the baby brewing is a boy or girl, so we went with turquoise and a hot pink as the main colors. I added hints of brown, too. We landed on a nature/bird theme. See the  little bird nest cupcakes I made with 3 teeny hungry heads popping out? I can hear you all go "AWH!". Yep, they're pretty flippin' cute. And soooo easy to make. I sware. Toast some coconut and plop 3 blobs of blue icing in the center. Add the orange beaks by piping icing from a leaf tip. Tah-dah!

Ok, so how did we pull off an expensive looking event?

1) Borrow items! I scoured my step-mother's house, my home, and my friend's house for useful items that I could easily tie into the set up and theme. A large birdhouse, cake platters, dishes, trays...ALL borrowed! And it added variety to the decor!

2) Do it yourself! We set up the sweet table---the centerpiece of the shower--by borrowing ideas we found on pinterest.com. Instead of buying a tablecloth, we made one. Instead of buying a rod to hang the tule (the backdrop for the kitchen island), we used a large stick from a yard waste pile. Instead of the tissue balls for $40 on etsy.com, we found japenese lantern-ish balls at Hobby Lobby for under $15 for 6! Oh, and that gorgeous blue fabric...$14! Skip buying fancy, expensive tablecloths. Go scour your local craft or fabric store for deals and a pattern that will fit! Measure your area, calculate the yards you need, and you're DONE! It all took time, but saved oodles of cash!

3) Think outside the box! I have a few comments on this point...

A sheet cake from your local bakery is ho-hum and so flat! By making TWO  7" tall cakes, we added variety in cake choice for the guests as well as something fun to look at. They were each decorated very distinctly, and didn't match each other. That provided some eye candy! One was devil's food with fudge filling--decorated in turquoise with white swirls. The other was white cake with lemon curd filling--decorated in hot pink roses...and yes, yours truly made them both!

Punch? No thanks. That's so 1982, people! Popsicle Spritzers were a HUGE hit at this shower! What are these you ask? Easy peasy, that's what! Buy Popsicle brand popsicles and a few bottles of a sparkling wine like Ballatore or Asti Gancia (and at $8 a bottle, they're easy on the wallet). Place the popsicles into champagne flutes/wine glasses 15 mins before guests arrive, so they have time to melt a little. The idea is to flavor the sparkling wine with the popsicle juice. If you have guests that choose not to drink alcohol, offer them Sprite instead! It looks nice, adds something to the decor, AND is a beverage that everyone will talk about! Oh, and the sticks had jokes on them, too. That can be a nice ice-breaker for your guests! I always find a dual purpose for things *blowing on knuckles, rubbing my chest*!

Serve a simple drink like pink lemonade in a nice glass drink dispenser with a spicket on a stand. This adds visual interest, and the simple addition of fresh sliced lemons and raspberries floating inside it seems more oooh-la-la than blah.

Instead of serving the food in the containers they came in (who does that, anyway) transfer the items to a nice glass platter. Remember all those crystal platters, plates, and nice ceramic pieces you registered for at your wedding? Dig them out, and dust them off! It's time to use them! A three tiered server works perfect for small spaces, too. Again, these were ALL BORROWED items! We didn't purchase anything to display the food on!

Centerpieces for a baby shower can vary from daisies to balloons. We wanted to be different. We purchased 4 PLASTIC, yes plastic, containers that looked like glass. 2 were for floating roses, the other 2 were for chocolate malt balls. 2 dozen hot pink roses bought in bulk at a superstore got their stems and leaves cut off and floated in tinted turquoise water. An addition of a mini rubber duck gave it a little baby-appeal. I wish the roses had opened up more. If you know a trick on how to open roses, please share!

4) Small touches add big impact. By making labels for every food item served, it looked well-planned for, and no one had to ask "Is this chicken or tuna salad?". Ribbon around vases, and using items out of context (bird cage as a floral centerpiece) makes everyone say "Why didn't I think of that?".  I made a banner that read "Tweet Table" to tie the bird theme into the shower. I don't scrapbook, I don't own a Cricut. This is where my God-given talent helped me create letters by hand. Don't hate me. I didn't ask to be an artistic whiz.

With a little planning, time invested and thinking outside the box, this challenge was a piece of cake! And I got to help a friend! I'm just glad people trust me, and let me put this creativity oozing from my pores to good use every now and again! I'd die of boredom, otherwise.

With limited chairs available, and 35 people to seat, we used the sectional as part of the seating for the guests! Thinking outside the box can help with those functional issues, not just the crafty ones!

Under Construction

So, as I imagined, my January projects are turning into my February projects. Grr. I really didn't want this to happen, but I have reason. Really, I do!

My entire first floor is under construction. We (meaning, my husband, not me and the mouse in my pocket) are installing hardwood floor in our dining room and foyer, and it's taking longer than I hoped. If my husband is reading this, it isn't because he isn't doing his best...it's not easy to lay wood floors, work 2nd shift and be a dad/husband. But... I'm out of my element. I don't have my large table to do projects on, and I feel disoriented since we're confined to the kitchen and small family room right now. My home isn't exactly an environment conducive to creativity at this point. February holds a better chance for me to tap the creative keg in my home again.

The only thing I've done since my last post is pin a bunch of ideas off Pinterest.com to my boards (my name is Jess, and I am a pinterestaholic). I have cupcake recipes I want to make, appetizers I want to try and photos of women with perfect abs that have inspiring words written on them. Sugary treats won't get you a six pack, by the way. I'm a virtual oxymoron on Pinterest.

I'm not playing dead, though. I was "hired" to execute the decorations/cake, etc for my friend who is hosting a baby shower on Sunday. It's a cute themed shower incorporating birds, turquoise, hot pink and brown. My visions are going to take shape on Saturday and Sunday when we set it all up. Let's just hope I don't burn my fingers on my glue gun this weekend when I make all this stuff!

Creative Project of 2012 #1 DUNZO!

Wow, does it feel good to say you're going to do something, and actually DO it.

One of my creative projects for January was "Try a new design on a friend's cake".

I set out to make a cake look like it had fresh full-bloomed roses stuck in it all over the place. How'd I do it? Do tell? Ok...here it goes...

I tinted homemade buttercream icing a nice shade of pink, put it into a piping bag with a large "star/shell" tip. I made 2 batches of buttercream icing. One to cover the cake first, the other for roses.

In both clockwise and counterclockwise motions, I started at the bottom of the cake, where I would later call "the back of the cake". In the middle of where I wanted each rose to go, I piped from the inside out in a circular motion, then lifting at the end of each, creating  a rose. The nice thing about this design is that you can overlap roses. It didn't have to be perfect as far as alignment or size, but I tried keeping them the same volume/size as much as possible. I made 2 rows up the side of the cake, then moved to the top where I started from the outside, working in. The center was sorta fun, I stacked the roses a bit, so one rose was the highest in the middle.

One thing I noticed is that my icing was a little on the dry side for this technique. Next time, I'll add more milk to make the frosting more silky and pliable.

Not only did I try the new rose design, but I made a homemade 4-layer white cake with lemon curd filling to top it with. This was my first attempt at both a homemade white cake and lemon curd. SUCCESS! And I found out that I really, really like lemon curd, too, (ruh-roh).

I wasn't sure what I liked better. The rose design, or the fluffy, yet moist white cake paired with the tangy and sweet lemon curd.

The cake made my birthday celebrating friend happy, everyone enjoyed it and I felt accomplished.

Piece of cake!

The finished product:

Wedding Song Art

Oops! I almost forgot about an AWESOME project I am working on for our bedroom.

We painted our bedroom about 3 years ago--it was the last room in the house to get painted, mind you. Why...well, I am fickle. I wasn't sure where I was going with our master bedroom. I finally decided I wanted it to feel spa-like. Serene. Three of the walls are a light aqua ocean blue, and the wall my headboard is on is like a bowl of chocolate pudding. Since it's been painted, I have been afraid of committing to hanging anything up on the walls. Um, because, when I hang things, I don't make one hole in the wall, I make about 11. Hey, I believe in eyeballing things, I don't need no stinkin' level!

Anyhow, I digress. My point is, I finally committed to hanging something on my walls! Yay, me! And I get to MAKE it. Well, sorta.

On etsy.com, there is a shop that will take your wedding song lyrics and create them into art for $17. While I would've loved to do this myself, it was worth paying someone else to do it for me. You specify the size you want, and she will design/cut/print them. I chose six 8x8 canvases to use. When I get my lyric papers, I'll Modge-Podge them onto the 6 canvases, and hang them 1" apart in a straight line in 2 rows, 3 across, (guess I have to use a level, rats!).

What I love about this project is that, 1) It's hand-made 2) It's unique and means something to my hubs and I (it's not some random print we framed), and 3) It was fairly inexpensive. Total project including etsy.com purchase, canvases and Modge-Podge $55.

Below is the example of the finished product. This is the link to the etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThisHumbleHome?ref=seller_info

For those of you following my journey into creative-land, I feel as if I've neglected you!

I have been spending countless minutes, even HOURS on pinterest.com getting inspired, and I think I've decided on the first few projects I'm going to attempt! Some are simple, others require money and my husband's braun and hammer (we'll see how those go over with him).

At the moment, we're tearing up carpet in the largest room in our home and installing wood floors. So, that could be considered a creative project in itself. Here's why; I've got to move my built in bookshelves! I'm thinking of taking them to a different wall, and doing shelving BETWEEN them to create more space for more pictures. Then I may have to get new furniture. And window treatments. And paint an accent wall. Muhahah! (my sinsister laugh)

Are you bored?

Ok, fine. Here is what I hope to do in the next TWO months. That's all I can commit to at the moment. I want to have a 12 month plan and do something creative at LEAST once a month...but that requires a to-do list (which I have too many of).

January:
-Try to make a new design on a cake for a friend's birthday.
-Take a photo of my daughter in my wedding dress.
-Be a party planner! I am helping a friend with a baby shower....soooo exciting!
-Install an organization shelf/chalkboard/hook system near my kids' bedroom doors on an empty wall.

February:

-Take some old windows I've been collecting and do SOMETHING with them. Anything is better them then sitting my garage.
 -Convert my entry closet (which is a crap collector closet, anyhow) into a  "mudroom in a closet". Wow, do we ever need this! Shoes, coats, hats and gloves...there is no "home" for any of it. I am really excited about this! This will require some money and my husband to get on board with me. Buuuut...usually when I draw up a plan, tell him what I need, and pretend to help, he's pretty sweet about it and does it. He is good like that.

Knowing me, some of my January projects will end up in February. Then some of those will migrate into March, April...even May.

The point is, my creativity keg is tapped, and I'm loving the taste of this brew!

Not that this is creative, but dang it tastes good! My 10 year old niece asked me back in July to make this for her birthday in December. Yup, it's THAT good!

Death by Butterfinger Ice Cream Dessert

This dessert started with a simple recipe I found in a recipe book, but I turned into something more sinful with the addition of hot fudge, butterscotch pudding and Butterfinger ice-cream! A perfect dessert for get-togethers or birthday parties!

• 2 sleeves of Club House crackers
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 5-6 regular sized Butterfinger candy bars 
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 2 jars of hot fudge topping, slightly warmed
• 1-1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 container of Edy's Fun Flavors Butterfinger ice cream , softened
• 1 container of chocolate ice cream, softened
• 1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 2 gallon sized Ziploc bags
• 9x13 pan
• Hammer/bottom of glass

Unwrap the candy bars and crackers, place each inside separate Ziploc bag. Smash with a hammer/bottom of a glass until they are reduced to crumbs.

In a large bowl, combine Butterfinger and cracker crumbs with graham cracker crumbs and melted butter mixing until fully integrated; set aside 3/4 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. dish. Chill for 5 minutes.

Remove from freezer and top with hot fudge. Spread evenly over crust, return to freezer.

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until set (mixture will be thick). Stir in Butterfinger ice cream. Spread over chilled hot fudge topping.

Remove approximately 1/4 of the chocolate ice cream and spread that over the Butterfinger ice cream mixture. Return to the freezer to set solid.

Once set solid, top with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. 

Freeze overnight, or at least 8 hours.

Serve by warming bottom of pan in hot water for a couple minutes. Use a heavy knife to cut into squares and serve.

Yield: 12-15 servings.

Mission: To take all these creative ideas spinning in my head, written on random pieces of paper, saved on my computer and spoken from my mouth...and make them happen! It's going to be a piece of cake. It will. (speak, repeat, speak, repeat). This is the year I'm going to do it!

I have been blessed with genes that allow me to create wonderful things (thanks to my Papa and Grazma!). My 2 greatest creations are my children, of course. Next in line are my cakes. I have no formal training or college degree in cake-making/decorating. I'm honestly blessed with a talent. When I am given the freedom, and have the time, I can design and execute some pretty awesome cakes. Fondant is my clay. Icing is my charcoal. I am a sculptor of edible art! I have a full time job, volunteer on the school PTO and try to have a social life, so the opportunity for me to actually do these cakes are not as often as I would like. And it doesn't pay well. Since I don't get things at wholesale cost like a bakery does, it's expensive to make these. I can put 10-15 hours in on a cake, then spend $80 in supplies and make only $50...that's less than $5 an hour for all of that work. I really enjoy it, but I do wish it paid better.

When I was in 6th and 7th grade, I remember I was obsessed with making floor plans for homes. I was caught re-arranging furniture in my parent's home and telling them how to decorate as a 10 year old. As a young adult, I was painting and decorating my own room with...gasp...contact paper on the walls! I always had an idea, and I wanted to make things look better. I started to look around at my home, and I just shook my head. I really haven't given my home the TLC it deserves. Sure, the skeleton isn't my dream house, but what is INSIDE is what I have control over!

So, it's time to dust the cobwebs off my creativity, jump start it, and put these ideas in motion. I'll post the projects I'm working on and hope to give you inspiration along the way! I guess you could say I'm giving you a slice of Jessicake! Get a fork, and enjoy!

Below are just a few of the several cakes I've designed and made for family, friends or clients.