Gingerbread House

This year I didn't get as fancy with my GB house because I had structural challenges that took most of my time.

My cousin & I had the fun idea of trying to bake together via the Internet. She lives in Florida and I in Texas. We couldn't get a video going so we used our iPhone's FaceTime.

It worked well but we couldn't hold the phone AND work. So we decided to just check in as our projects moved forward.

My cousin, who was sick & should be resting and not baking, decided to bake some Italian cookies. Me, I had the GB house built and ready to go.

We made our first FaceTime call and reviewed our progress & hung up.

Immediately thereafter my house collapsed to the ground and her mixer failed to do the job!! Arg!!!

We didn't give up but we did postpone our event. I had to let my GB house set for at least a couple of hours before I could try again and she was ready to just throw the cookies in the oven and take a nap.

When I returned to decorate my GB house I decided to use Necco wafers as shingles (should have bought more). But I love how it looks.

Then as I was doing the final touches my icing bag busted open. So I couldn't do any more intricate decorations!! But I still had not piped out the windows! Dangit!!

I decided to use wheat thins and drew window panes with my candy icing. Genius!! I then glued candies all over with blops of icing and wha-la!!

Here is the final house. I think it turned out cute. My cousin said her cookies were still good in spite of her lack of taste buds. Dog seemed to like them too.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Goodies

This year we did one of my favorite holiday activities- baking Christmas goodies.  Lucky for me, my good friend Kayle  & her sister decided to get crafty and join in the fun.

On the agenda are the following treats:

• Snowmen Sugar Cookies
• Snowflake Peppermint Candy
• Brownie Balls
• Dipped Pretzels

.... and possibly some wine drinking and snacking!!

First stop; pick up some more wine, last minute decor items, lunch & snacks.

Once in the kitchen it was baking time.  We started baking the sugar cookies & brownies.

As they were baking we started melting the chocolates for the brownie balls and snowflake candies.

Bake the Brownies using the non-cake method and after they cool, roll them into 1" balls. 

Then you dip them in the chocolate and decorate.  These were yummers and super cute!!

I didn't have many of these left to give out - note to self - make more of these.  Yummy!

For the melted snowman "look" I topped each cookie with royal icing.  Once it was set we then melted the marshmallows in the microwave for just a second to make them soft and then applied the semi-gooey mallows to the cookies and started decorating. 

• We used food-doodlers or food markers for eyes. 
• we used colored edible dots for buttons & noses. 
• We used colored icing tubes or gels for scarves. 
• Gels take a lot longer to dry (if ever) so if you need to stack them use an icing that will set like colored Royal or other candy icing.

The pretzels were super easy.... and this is when I think I finished my class of wine.... just dip them - then add sprinkles and lay on parchment paper to set.  These were fun and messy.  We found that smaller Jimmies and Dot Sprinkles stick best.  Do them over individual paper plates and you can pour the un-used sprinkles back into the jars.

 

The snowflakes peppermints were poured into snowflake molds with 1/2 chocolate and half peppermint flavored vanilla candy coating.  We then sprinkled crushed Peppermint on top.  They turned out super cute!!  But very sweet!  Maybe next year we'll make them a bit smaller.

It was a lot of fun making Christmas cookies and other treats with my fun friends! We've got a creative bunch here!!   I hope we can do something like this every Christmas!!

Fall Porch Decor

I am so crazy excited!!  I was chatting with one of my customers about porch decorations for the fall and mentioned that I've always wanted a mini bail of hay.  And the next week when I showed up at her house she had bought me one!!  So awesome of her and OH MY - do I love how it looks!  She did warn me that snakes like the hay.  uh oh!

I have collected a few silly scarecrows over the years, painted a few little signs and with the addition of the hay - I've got the best front porch Fall decor in years!!


Along with my awesome bundle of hay - I added a few touches to my Fall door wreath so the whole ensemble matches.  I love the colors and it makes me smile every day!

Halloween Pumpkins - Carved

This year I wanted to carve a design that I wanted.  Meaning last year I did a light saber design from Star Wars for my husband.  So this year it was my turn.... what did I pick?  You guessed it - A DOG!

A Jack Russell Terrier to be exact.  It was actually very difficult, time consuming and MESSY!!

I used my clay carving tools and some cutters I had left over from last year's pumpkin carving kit. 

I ended up enlarging the image on my scanner so it would fit the pumpkin more proportionately.  I outlined the stencil with my pokey tool and then cut each piece.  I ended up getting a few hand cramps in all that.   UGH!  Time for a glass of wine to help that.


The tiny saw is very useful. One ear turned out bigger than the other and the tiny parts of the nose broke off.... could have been from all the wine.  ha! 


The old school days of a pumpkin having triangle eyes, nose & mouth are gone - with these style new designs you just trim the outside shell off to expose the underneath flesh of the pumpkin and that part will glow lighter.  While the complete cuts show full glow!  I love it and I can't wait to get better at the carving.  I love doing clay work and this is very similar.  I saw some guys on TV that did some amazing free hand carving  - maybe one day.

Otherwise I think it turned out AWESOME!!  If you look at it from a distance you can't even tell the mess ups!

As with all carved pumpkins - it died in just a few days.  Melting into a moldy mush on my back porch.  When my dogs started barking at it - I threw it away.  Next year maybe something bigger?  Or maybe something more complex.... with more wine maybe.

Halloween Pumpkins - Painted

Since these projects were only done a few weeks ago, I still feel they need representation in the blog!  I love to carve a pumpkin every Halloween.  My husband and I don't necessarily 'celebrate' Halloween but I do decorate the house and carve a punkin!!

First I tried painting the mini pumpkins at the store.  Super cute - it came with hats and fuzzy toppers, paint and idea book.   Here Biscuit is posing as I get ready to paint my mini pumpkins.  My husband calls them "Throwing Pumpkins" so let's hope he likes them or they might end up across the street.

I looked on the internet and in the idea book.  I decided to do a few different designs.  One is the legs of a Witch - I guess they should have been the other way like she was squashed - but it looks cute any way.

The 2nd was a Frankenstein - inspiration from my Cake Pops!  Love this pumpkin.  The 3rd one is just a goofy face.  I loved this one - looks like he's balding.  The 4th one I did to look like a dog... of course!

The paints were easy to use and dried quickly.  I was happy about that.  My mess was really easy to clean up.  It is now a few weeks into November and these pumpkins still look awesome.  Curious how long they will live.  I may need to add Santa decor to them.  ha!

Cake Pops - Halloween Designs

As a small business owner, keeping your referral partners happy is key to continued referral business.  Typically I would make cookies or dipped pretzels - but this year I wanted to try something new.  I first saw cake pops online and so I ordered the book from well knows blogger Bakerella.

Since it was near Halloween I chose to make my first set with that theme.  Of course I used my favorite flavor cake to start with - Strawberry cake with Cream Cheese Icing... YUMM!

My first set was Ghosts and Frankensteins.  I used white and chocolate candy coating.  I didn't find any green so I colored it myself with candy coloring (you can't use food coloring).  I was pretty surprised with how well the green turned out.

I used the chocolate for the decor and my Food Doodler pens to make the stitches, nose and mouth.  Honestly when I was finished I wasn't sure what I thought.  I left them there for my husband to see and when I came back home he said "Those are great" and through his eyes I actually started liking how they turned out.

The great part was when you bit into his head - it was all pink on the inside... Ewww - perfect for Halloween.  The ghosts were super easy.   Just the white coating with the chocolate eyes and mouth.

I gave this batch out to my husbands co-workers, my graduating agility class and customers. I got some great feedback - yum, yum and is this for humans or dogs?  Mostly - yum!

So now I have to make more for my referral partners.  I liked how the Franks turned out so I went with them again except this time I bought the colored candy coating.  (did not like this as well as coloring my own, it was very thick and i had to thin it out with a lot of oil!!)

I didn't want to do boring ghosts again so I chose Mummies.  The white coating I found was actually bright white so I love how these turned out.  I enjoyed playing with the white strapping and making a curlie Q on top of his head.  This time I used Lemon Cake with Buttercream Icing.

I decided to try to make a round shape - so I did Pumpkins.  I used cut Mikes & Ikes as the green stem and the orange pre-colored candy coating.  I experienced the same thing with the pre-colored coating... very thick.  ugh!

These also were a big hit!  The people who gave feed back said - YUMMY and when are you going to make more?  I think now that it's November I'll trying something with the Fall/Autum theme.  Not sure but I already have Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese icing... mmmmm!

The Balls & Cinnamon Wreath

Basically - if I can make it - I will try before I'll ever buy it.  Example in point - Decorative Ornate Balls.  I used white beans and hot glued them around the ball.  If you do this - plan to make a mess, get a hand cramp and spend about an hour or so - depending on the size of the ball.  I then painted them to match the room they were going in.  Here are a few.  I plan to make more.  Maybe cut glass, mirror beads, mosaic chips. Not sure - still looking for ideas.

Now on to the wreath.  I've made many wreaths - there is one on my front door for each season.  Summer, Spring, Fall & Christmas!

This time I wanted to make a wreath to keep indoors.  I found a great article in Foot Network Magazine about making wreaths out of food.  Peppermints, Andes Candies and this one - the Cinnamon Stick.  Here is the picture from the magazine:

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the berries on it so I didn't pick up any at the store.  I found the cinnamon sticks at Hobby Lobby in the Christmas ornaments section.  They were with the pine cones and other wooden type items.

I didn't get a large foam wreath ring - I wanted a smaller or medium sized wreath.  Plus I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into.

I got the silky ribbon in a dark creamy brown and wrapped the foam wreath then layed the sticks out to get an idea of how they would arrange.

To make them go around the circle properly you needed to pay more attention to laying them straight on the foam and not so much the cinnamon stick next to it.

Here is how mine turned out.  At first I wasn't too happy but as it's hung in my front foyer on my coat closet door - I've grown to love it more and more.

And BOY does it smell good!

I actually think it looks more 60S style retro than the magazine sample.  Either way it was fun to make and I think I may need to try a few more wreaths.   The next one I have my eyes on is made of balls.  Ornament balls or wire balls.  Not sure what I'll try but it's next on the list for the Holiday Decor.