Past Baking Endeavors....

Here are some pictures of all my past baking endeavors:

Butterfly Cupcakes

Penguin Cupcakes w/Ice berg Cupcakes

Commissioned Sheet Cake

Cookies I baked in my truck...

My son's birthday cake

Snickerdoodle Duo Cupcakes

Horse Cupcakes

Rice Krispy Ice Cream Cones

Chocolate Dipped Frozen Cookie Dough

Uncooked Chocolate Chip Cookies w/Brownies inside

Cooked Chocolate Chip Cookies w/Brownies inside

Commissioned Owl Cake Pops

Another cake for my son's birthday

Commissioned Wedding Cake

Vertical layer Rainbow Cake

One of my most recent baking attempts was making a rainbow cake.  I took my most trusted vanilla cake recipe and separated the batter into six parts and added food coloring to each part.  Then I baked each color separately in a loaf pan.  Then, I stacked them...

I put buttercream icing between each layer....I attempted ROYGBIV...but alas I messed it up ...DOH!

I laid the cake on it's side, squared off the sides, and frosted the entire thing....my husband helped with the sprinkles....he learned quickly you can't just take a handful and throw it onto a side of a cake...

Then, I brought it to work...where they promptly ate it before lunch...

My Family:)!

Hi!

I thought I would take a break from the DIY to introduce myself and my family! 

I am married to this handsome man:





I am also the step mom to this cutie (he's eight!!!):

These are also some of my other boyz:

Thing One aka Tanker Tot Smith

Thing Two aka Slim Jim Smith

Hunter 'Tiberious' Smith

'Tiger' James Smtih

Here I am:

Operation Warm Greetings

These past couple years have yielded quite a few changes for me....

1.  Getting Married

2.  Becoming a Step-Mom

3.  Becoming a Homeowner

I find it interesting that with these changes came a sense of 'nesting'... wanting to turn my house into a "grown-up's home".... and also a desire to find my happy place... I think that through this blog and all my different projects I plan to embark on that I will find what I'm looking for...

DIY Project #5:

Operation Warm Greetings

I have always loved the idea of having a wreath on our front door, but have never actually followed through with it, since I think most wreaths (that are pre-made) are hideous and clearly fake.  So, I decided to go to the local craft store and make my own...and came up with this:



I took a styrofoam wreath and wrapped it in yarn.  Then, I hot glued circles of yarn on, adding buttons for detail.  I used my cricut to print out the chipboard letters. 

I wrapped a nest with yarn and added three birds, one for each member of our family.  I doodled on the birds to make them look like our family also:)!

Cost: $10.00

Time: 3 hours

Operation Cabinet Transformations

I grew up with a love of cherry wood and a great dislike for oak wood...

Unfortunately, our house has had a kitchen entirely comprised of oak cabinets...

I decided to take a few days off and change the cabinets...

DIY Project #4:

Operation Cabinet Transformations

Before...

Taking/Taping off the Cabinets...

Applying the Bond Coat...I chose Espresso, which is a dark brown:)!

Note to self: Lock up the kitties next time...

He's just so darn cute though....

Applying the decorative glaze... (glazed is on the left; un-glazed is on the right)...

Putting new hardware on  = 88 new holes that needed to be drillled...oi to the vay!

The finished product!!!!

Cost: $130.00

Time: 2 days

LOVE IT!!!



Operation Die Vinyl Die

Our house was built in the early '90s in the middle of Suburbia... where cheap vinyl floors are king..

I loathe vinyl flooring, especially when it it suuuuuuuuuuuuuper cheap... which ours  is was...

DIY Project #3:

Operation Die Vinyl Die

Our laundry room floor had AWESOME vinyl flooring in the following pattern:

After researching viable options, I decided on a paper floor....

I purchased Red Rosin Paper, Polyeurathane, and gloves at Lowes and got to work..

My awesome husband removed the washer and dryer and we started pulling out the vinyl...only to discover ANOTHER layer of awful vinyl below it!

But, luckily, it wasn't glued down...pheww...made our job WAYYYYY easier.

After sweeping/vacuuming, I was ready to start...

I tore the paper into smaller-ish stone sized pieces and crumpled them...

then, coated them in polyeurethane and laid them down, smoothing them out...

over...and over...and over...again...

I put four coats of polyeurethane on top and let it dry...

Here is the after pic (with everything moved back in, including blankets for our new kittens)...

 

And a close-up:

Cost: $50.00

Time: 1 day

I think it's perfect for our laundry/mud room:)!



Operation I Need Some Color

When you have a photographer as a husband, you would think that finding wall art would not be an issue...

BUT, if your husband shoots high-speed photography... the pictures don't neccessarily match your home decor...

Which accounts for our TOTALLY empty walls...

So, I thought that I would create some fun wall art for a nook in our house....

DIY Project #2:

Operation I Need Some Color

Crayons + Canvas + Heat =

Cost: $5.00

Time: 10 minutes

P.S.  Here is some of my husband's artwork:

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WideEyedIllumination?ref=pr_shop