Super Mario Cake

Here Wii go!

My Super Mario fanatic son was turning five, and all that he wanted was a Super Mario cake. Super Mario cakes are hard to come by these days, and I wasn't about to disappoint that sweet boy of mine. I have never decorated a cake in my life but decided to give it an old college try. 

I found this fantastic tutorial on how to make and work with marshmallow fondant.

I made a practice cake, and with the help of the above tutorial and my good friend Google images, I created this Super Mario Cake. 

My son's only complaint was that the "fire flowers" are not supposed to be coming out of the pipes. Silly me. And did you know that the ? is not supposed to be the color white in the dungeon? How dare I!
Each cake tier has five layers of white confetti cake and yummy buttercream frosting.
This cake weighed a ton, and I am thankful to report that we got it to its destination in one piece without incident....well, I did slice my finger trying to cut the plastic dowels to hold the whole thing together, but that is another story.

 I did purchase the Mario and Luigi cake toppers. Sculpting those little gems was a little out of my league.

 

I sculpted this 5 Up mushroom out of Rice Krispy treats. I covered the mushroom in buttercream, and then in fondant.

I made rolled sugar cookies as party favors. Each cookie has a fondant "helping star."
The tag says:
Here's the Helping Star to say
Thanks for celebrating Sam's special day!

Sam was one happy birthday boy! Ignore my tired eyes...making his birthday cake didn't leave much time for sleep!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Big Book of Scrapbook Pages

Yay! I've been impatiently waiting for The Big Book of Scrapbook Pages to be released. This is my first print publication, and so I am ecstatic to have some of my layouts featured in the book. The cherry on top for me was to see that one of my layouts was selected to be on the cover of the book. Here they are:

Whee!

Here is Sam trying out his new slide.

Lots of circles, stitching, and love went into this layout. Each circle is inked, and some are mounted on foam discs for added dimension. 

This layout can be seen on the cover of The Big Book of Scrapbook Ideas. Even though I have my own copy, I drag my boys to find "mommy's special book" every time we go to Hobby Lobby. I'm just slightly excited about it. ;)

Supplies Used: Bazzill cardstock, patterned paper (Basic Grey, BoBunny, October Afternoon, Sassafras Lass), American Crafts letters  

A Day Without Laughter...

  I wanted to make it seem that all of these self-portraits were taken in a photo booth, and so I scaled each photo down to about 2 1/2" X 1 3/4" and mounted them on long strips of paper. I love this quote and thought that it would make the perfect title for a fun and happy layout that reflects everyday life.
 

 I created each rose with a 6 petal flower punch. 

Instead of making stems and leaves, I curled tiny strips of patterned paper. 

Supplies Used: Bazzill cardstock, patterned paper (Basic Grey, BoBunny, October Afternoon, Sassafras Lass), American Crafts letters

{Hay} There

These are pictures of my son and niece playing with hay at the pumpkin patch. It's hard to believe that they were taken over 1 1/2 years ago. Where does the time go?!? 

This was such a simple layout to make.

I machine stitched around my design to finish out the look.

Supplies Used: Basic Grey patterned paper, Making Memories alpha stickers, Sassafras Lass stickers, Tim Holtz grungeboard

Tractors!

Journaling reads: "I'm not sure if y'all were even supposed to be on it, but this tractor was the biggest hit for you both at the Rodeo this year!" 

I love working with a simple grid. After using a 2X4 grid (or would it be a 4X2...hmmm?), I embroidered a large circle around my design and mounted some of the stars on foam discs for added dimension. 

What a fun memory! 

Supplies used: Paper Studio cardstock, patterned papers (October Afternoon, Sassafras Lass), American Crafts stickers

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Look Who's 2!

This is Jack at his 2nd birthday party. I used a sketch by Becky Fleck. Lots of different manufacturers going on here including the Basic Grey "Cupcake" line. This has always been a favorite line of papers for me, and so when I found a pad on clearance I couldn't resist adding it to my stash.

Supplies Used:  Patterned Papers (Basic Grey, October Afternoon, Fancy Pants, K&Co, Sassafras Lass), Cosmo Cricket alpha stickers, Jillibean Soup journaling sprout, The Robin's Nest dew drops, American Crafts foil letters

Thanks for stopping by!