Tuesday 29 September 2009

Let them eat Cupcakes

Earlier this summer I made a lot of cupcakes. A lot. It was all done as a trial for what I did last week. Last week, with a lot of help, I made the cupcakes for C's wedding. (The cupcakes were for eating... the fake cake was for decoration.)
In the end we decided to go for Chocolate with Mocha Meringue Buttercream (topped with a chocolate covered coffee bean), Lemon with Lemon Cream Cheese icing, and Vanilla Buttercream cupcakes. Yum!
And they must have been a hit since they all got eaten! It was lots of fun to do actually. I had a ton of help! I even made a new baking friend (a friend of the bride's who came to help). We've since emailed recipes back and forth. She did a fabulous job decorating them!
Since they say that a picture is worth a million words, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


This is unfortunately where fondant flowers go to die. They were made early, but not many survived the trip.
And here's the final result:

While I was vacationing

Sometimes getting home from vacation is sad. But sometimes getting home from vacation is nice. You get to sleep in your own bed. You get to make your own food in your own kitchen. And getting home from vacation is even nicer if you have a package of amazing surprises waiting for you!
Like this one!
I took part in Special K's Share Yourself exchange. I sent my package off before leaving for Canada a week an a half ago, and my package was waiting for me when I got back yesterday. Look at what I got! I'm in shock by all of the amazing looking treats that Angharad from eating-for-England sent me! She even wrapped all of them in funky paper that I am totally saving and reusing! (I know. I'm a pack rat. Sue me.)


I'm totally looking forward to trying it all. And reading more of her blog! I love finding good new blogs.
But, back to the stuff.
I've been meaning to try Marmite forever! She said it, and I've heard it before that it's something you either love or hate. I'm wondering which it'll be for me. Hopefully love The other stuff is perfect for me too. Who doesn't love Nutella? Whenever I eat it, I remember the week I lived off of it while traveling in Ireland. Good times! & I love tea! I drink it every morning. I haven't tried this kind so that'll be fun. Any cookie (sorry - biscuit) that are "melt-in-your-mouth" good and that you are supposed to dunk in tea sound fabulous to me! I can't wait to try it all.
Thanks so much!!

Monday 28 September 2009

A Cake made of Styrofoam

When is a cake, not a cake? When it's styrofoam.
Yup. So here's the first set of pictures in the way of recap from last week. It was a busy week!! Bridesmaid-ing is hard work let me tell you. But fun! So much fun!

The two layers above are just styrofoam. On top, I put fondant. Horrible, beautiful, fondant. Sometimes it works. And sometimes it doesn't.

This layer, the top layer, was a real cake. The idea was that no one was going to eat this cake, but the bride & groom wanted to be able to cut the cake. So I made a $1 box cake and then covered it in fondant to go on top. I put ribbon at the base of those layers, and then the rest of the decorating was done by other fabulous ladies.
Enter the other 3 bridesmaids, some fresh cut flowers, and a lot of discussion.
And in the end, the cake was beautiful. Although I can't take full responsibility for it, but I am pretty proud of it. I think it looks pretty freaking fabulous. And I'm guessing with the flowers, fondant, cake and Styrofoam... it probably cost about $75. Not too bad.

Saturday 26 September 2009

Trusting

Sometimes you just gotta trust people.

Today I am trusting that these bangs are going to look okay tomorrow too. Yes. Bangs. The hair dresser asked if she could cut my hair by 2+ inches. She didn't ask if she could cut me bangs.

They look okay right now... totally straightened. I'm just not sure they will look good tomorrow.
Needless to say I'm a little worried.

On Monday there will be pictures...

Wednesday 23 September 2009

FYI

FYI - Today I learned two things.
1) I'm horrible at ironing. (I never iron my clothes... Sorry Mom.) Folding is MUCH easier!
2) Fondant? It really isn't as easy to work with as I was led to believe. I did a trial and everything! But today the fondant wasn't so friendly.

Oh well, such is life.
That's all I got time for. No rest for the wicked... Err... nor for the helpful.

Monday 21 September 2009

Orchids

Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself: "This person is sooo cool! We have sooo much in common! I hope we become great friends!" ? Don't you just love it when that happens?
On the other hand, I bet there are people out there who you've met and thought: "There is absolutely no way in the world we have anything in common."
I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but when I first met C my thoughts were more along the lines of option 2 than option 1 of those two scenarios. When we met I was a lowly and very shy co-op and she was (it seemed to me) a loud and very confident full timer. Being so shy, I didn't talk to her much. We were employed in the same office, but didn't work together on any projects and thus our paths rarely crossed.
When I came back to work full time at my current job that changed.We didn't work on a project together, but we did start hanging out at lunch, having tea time at 10am, and just in general started talking. Much to my surprise and delight I found her to be friendly, thoughtful, funny, intelligent, kind, genuine, and generous.
Now, five years later (has it really be so long?!) she is one of my dearest friends. And although she lives ~4,300km away (~2,700 miles - thank you google maps!), I couldn't imagine us not being friends. Just goes to show you. You shouldn't judge.
So when C called with the exciting news that she was getting married, I gave a cry of delight and immediately started scheming about her wedding gift. To me weddings mean cross-stitch and like the ones in the past, I try to customize the gift to the recipient(s). I hope I've done an okay job.


This has been my big craft of the spring/summer. I started it in March, and finished mid-August. (It would have gone quicker... only I got side tracked with all my other knitting things you've seen around here.)

C&A have seen it now, which is why I'm posting this now.


I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out. I'm happier than I thought I'd be while I was doing it. I had doubts in the middle, but it's nice. I can't wait to see it framed.
I hope C&A like it.
And C - I hope we are friends for a very long, long time. You rock!

Thursday 17 September 2009

design fail - hat

It's been awhile. Sorry. I've been busy. And this craft is sort of lame, so sorry again. But stick around next week will be awesome. I will finally be able to unveil my big summer craft (that I love) and have a few other things to show off too (hopefully...)

Meanwhile, I can show you this hat.

I made this sometime in August. I wanted to make a hat for a friend's birthday and thought that maybe I should try my hand at designing a hat. How hard could it be, right? Foolish, foolish words!
I thought I'd put cables on it and to make it simple, I decided to divide the hat into quarters.
This hat was always meant to be a test. I did four different cable patterns, a different one on each side. I designed my own cables, which I think is the problem. For the real hat I was going to use the one I liked the best.
Unfortunately... I don't like any of them. (And yes. They are all different. The differences are subtle, but they are there.) Here is what I came up with.


Oh well. It was worth a try. (The hat size also came out really small, hence why you can see my ears in these photos. So failure all around.)
So, I guess I'll just have to use a tried and tested pattern for the birthday gift. Good thing I have until late October for this one.

Thursday 10 September 2009

Side projects

I'm a very good procrastinator. Very good. Too good probably.
But I procrastinate in a weird way. I procrastinate by making myself busy. I don't avoid work. I just avoid a certain thing by doing other things. Related things. So, sometimes while I'm avoiding doing one craft I'll do other small ones. I feel they are justified because they won't take very long. That's how all of these little things came about.

I wanted to use another one of my fabulous buttons, and so I did with this mug cozy! I like my old one, but I love this new one. And such a good use of the flower button.

Here's another dishcloth from this fun, from this easy pattern. It was knit up in just a few hours and it used up the last of that yarn. (I'm glad about that!)

A cuff. The cuff is based off of the same pattern as the cozy above, but it's to warm my wrist rather than a mug. I just liked the basket weave feel to it.

There are a few more small projects I've done that I haven't posted about, but I'll get to those... eventually. But I'm more excited about the post of my big craft of Summer'09. That'll be coming in just about a week.

Monday 7 September 2009

Little slippers for Little Women

What is it with pink? I say I hate it, but then three of my last few projects have been in pink. Like these!
Aren't they super cute? I saw the pattern on Ravelry and immediately started them. I wonder what it is about a project that makes me think, "I have to start these right now!" I have patterns in my queue that have been there for 8 months+, and I still like the patterns, and I still plan on making them. One day. But these I saw one night, and by the next morning they were on a set of needles.
And they were a super fast knit too. It only took a few hours to do each! And did I mention they are cute?
I had both the yarn and the ribbon in my crafting stash, but I think they pair nicely. Okay. They are bright, but whatev. I actually chose the pink cause I wasn't sure I was going to like the finished product so I figured if they suck, not much will be lost on these. Only some pink yarn I don't care much for. Well, I like them so much I just might have to make another pair in an even better colour scheme!

Like I said, it was a quick knit. The pattern (named after Amy March from Little Women - a book I love to death!) was written out a little oddly. It was more like someone talking you through it rather than a how to instruction guide. If that makes sense. I did get to learn how to do toe up knitting and I think the next pair of socks I make will be toe up! Hmm... maybe I should go look at sock patterns. Yeah.
Well, I know now what I'm going to be doing for the next... hour.

Thursday 3 September 2009

Afghan? Done.

It's done.
I just couldn't stand to look at it anymore.
So, it's done.
And I guess it's okay...? It doesn't look bad.
Since the last post I added in two rows of the lighter sea foam green yarn just to give it a tiny bit more width and sort of and edge. And I'm just going to say it's done. This pattern is definitely one I won't be repeating. That's for sure.
Sigh. I just hope my friends (the almost new parents) like it.

This project was so blah, I can't even bring myself to write anything else.