Roses, Roses

There was a couple who got married and never had a reception. She had always wanted a "traditional" wedding, but they couldn't afford it. Our ward came together and put on a beautiful celebration for them. It was really cool to see what we could throw together from what we each had stashed away. I got to make this cake, which turned out to be a tough task. I made a red velvet cake. It was perfect. Moist, etc. I thought I needed to pair that with cream cheese frosting. BAD IDEA. It was so sticky and hard to smooth out. It took me hours. I kept refrigerating it between smoothings and it just wouldn't cooperate. So the top layer took HOURS. The bottom layer took 5 minutes. It looks fab. Love the roses technique. I actually ordered red fondant from Sweetwise, because it is sooooo hard to color fondant that color. I learned, though, that by using lecethin, it will help to keep the color more vibrant. I also used a new silicone mold for the pearl border. By adding tylose powder to my fondant, it made the fondant less stretchy and they came right out of the mold. I love how they turned out and are edible. It also worked for making the gumpaste flowers from fondant. It dried hard. Not as hard as gumpaste itself, but good enough. Lastly, I bought a new toy. It is a brush that applies the shimmer dust to the flowers. It contains the powder in it, so it doesn't make a mess. LOVE IT.

Remembering Hawaii

I am finally getting around to scrapping my Hawaii getaway from 2011. Oh, these pictures make me wanna go back. Too bad I have to wait til 2015. Scott is taking forever to turn 12 :) 

So many ideas, so little time

I love creating. I love making gifts and scrapbooking and baking and playing with photos and and and...oh, yeah. I forgot. I work full time, too. I have depended on crafting for my outlet since I got married 15 years ago. I feel instant stress relief when I get to play in my craft room. This, however, does not happen as often as it used to. In fact, I rarely get to. Something has to give. I gotta do something to get back into my room. Having three boys heavily involved with sports and working full time is the reason I don't get to .  

Anyway, these are some of my latest attempts  at crafting. I get a monthly stamp shipment from Stamps of Life. She has some really fun stamps and sayings to with them. I look forward to them every month. I think she mostly does card type, though, not as much for the scrapbook. I may have to say goodbye to that monthly shipment. I really need to spend my time scrappin'. 

Scott, my goonie, wanted a Napoleon Dynamite party. It was too funny. His cake was white cake with bavarian cream in the middle. Scrummy. His Nana even found him Moose Tracks ice cream.

Maybe it's because it's still FREEZING outside

I tend to bake more when it's bleh outside. I have found some great recipes. This one was from Williams and  Sonoma. I think they tend to go over the top with their recipes, so I don't make them often. This was a delicious pumpkin genoise. SCRRRUMM. It was not too sweet and the "cake" part was much more like the Russian desserts the girls at work bring in. The mousse was very light, so it wasn't too rich. Definitely going to make this one again. 

I made these for my birthday. I think the fruit makes the desserts so much more pleasant.  I can't wait to have more berries in season. I hope our own berries do better this year. We'll have raspberries and strawberries. 

AND, yes, these have filling...gotta have filling.

And now for the big'un. My co-worker's daughter was turning 16 and she was at a loss for what to do. She sneaked in her daughter's room while she was sleeping and grabbed her cell phone for ideas. She found this cake and wondered if I could pull it off in 2 days. WOoo hoooo. I was all set up with the supplies, I just needed to figure out how to make zebra stripes. A few Youtube videos later, this is what it turned out like. Phew. I was so relieved that it turned out. I have never done a cake this style.

Top layer was white cake with bavarian cream and fresh strawberries for filling. The bottom was chocolate with white chocolate, cream cheese mousse filling. 

The worst part was driving it to Tacoma assembled. I usually don't assemble cakes until I get there, but this had to be done and ready to go. The cars behind me must have been so mad...tee hee. Maybe I need a sticker on my window, "Transporting Cake"

a lil' cheer

I have enough negative around to drown me. BUT, I must find a way to bring more light with me to "git it gone." I find that reading my scriptures and uplifting books helps. So does music. So do my boys. So do holidays. So does my hubby Bohunk. So do my friends and family. So do bright colors and SPARKLIES. Aaah. I feel better already.

Mmmmm! I love Fall!

Oh, I LOVE fall! I love the cool weather, the leaves, the excitement of the holidays coming up, and the smell of cinnamon. I canned quite a bit this season. This was my apple pie filling. I love having this on hand. It's great for all kinds of recipes (even over waffles on Saturday mornin')

These muffins are the absolute best muffins I have EVER made. They were so scrummy. Moist. Crunchy on top. Yup. Just right. This recipe is from  My Baking Addiction. Her recipes are fabulous.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: about 24 muffins

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Filling

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, slightly softened - not room temp
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons light brown sugar

For the Streusel Topping

4 1/2 tablespoons Gold Medal all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon homemade pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup chopped pecans
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened and diced

For the Muffin Batter

2 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons homemade pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Prepare the Filling: In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until soft; about 3 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until pretty smooth - there may be some cream cheese chunks, that's perfectly fine. Set aside.
3. Prepare the Streusel Topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
4. Prepare the Muffin Batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Add eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until just combined and smooth - do not overbeat .
5. Using a large scoop, evenly distribute the muffin batter between 24 muffin wells. Add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into the center of the batter of each muffin. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.
6. Bake in preheated over for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove muffin pans to cooling racks and allow the muffins to cool completely before serving.

Notes:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are best served the day they are made; however, they will keep in an airtight container within the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

No, I haven't forgotten to scrap a bit on my days off. I am in love with my new background crackle stamp from Papertrey. So fun.

pretties!

Peonies!!! I made this for a gal at work for her grandparents. I loved the fall colors!! and...gumpaste came to the rescue again. These peonies and roses were all made in advance, so I could focus on the baking only.

Gold luster dust is FUN!

to feed the crowd, I also made 150 cupcakes. These took forever, but were fun to decorate. I used my new dogwood flower cutter\embosser for these.

during conference a few weeks ago, I got to sit down and scrap a lil':) ahhhhh. I sure love scrappin'.

clear embossing resist technique