How It All Began

A popular question lately has been, "Shelby, how did you start making cakes?" It is a little bit of a story, but I thought maybe those of you out there in Blogger land may be interested, too!

The Beginning:
I go all out for my daughters' birthday parties.  I mean ALL out.  I transform most of the house into whatever theme they have chosen for that year.  We start by picking a theme and then searching it on Google Images.  They pick out pictures of things they like and I save them in a folder made specifically for that birthday.
When my youngest was 3 and we were planning her 4th birthday party she decided on a Alice in Wonderland/ Mad Hatter Tea Party theme.  We were doing our annual Google search and we came across a picture of a cake that she just had to have.  "Mommy, that is all I want for my birthday.  You don't have to get me anything else, not even a Barbie.  I will be extra-special good.  Promise."  Then she gave me her big puppy dog look with the bottom lip sticking out.  I caved.

This is the picture we found:

 

It was on www.cakecentral.com ...which was a great resource on how to actually make the cake.

Here is what mine actually looked like:

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Looking back I can't believe what a good job I did.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Now, almost 2 years later I have a lot more tricks up my sleeve, but still think this first cake was one of my best.

Bathroom Update....well, Update

Last night I spent 2 hours putting in the floor.  I have three "tricky" tiles left and I decided to wait until I was more rested to try to tackle them.  Probably a smart move, don't you think?

So far I have spent $45 of my $50.  I bought the tiles ($32) and two cans of spray paint ($8) and four drawer pulls ($5).  I am leaving the last $5 for anything last minute I may need to finish up.

After I cleared out the bathroom I started by taking the legs off of the etagere.  Then I spray painted the cabinet green (my youngest picked out the color and I think it looks pretty good).  I used Google images to find old soap and bathroom ads.  I printed them out and then decoupaged them onto the drawer fronts and the top.  I used a clear matte spray paint to seal them (I seriously put 9 coats on the top). I put on the new drawer pulls and VOILA!  Look at the difference:

 

While I was waiting for paint to dry on the cabinet I tackled fixing the walls.  I filled in all the holes and fixed some badly done seams.  I let them dry overnight and then sanded and primed.

Then I painted, and painted, and painted.  The walls got a fresh new coat of blue (from a can of 8 year old paint I had to pry the lid off of).  I mixed that paint with a darker blue for the back wall. Then I painted all of the trim a pure white.  Oh...I forget to tell you that I had to take all of the 1/4 round off of the baseboards first.  I will paint those separately before putting them back.  It was starting to come together!

It's alright to be amazed by me right now.  It does look sooooo much better!

Next was the floor.  I bought some budget conscious peel and stick tile that was surprisingly easy to install.  Cuts were easy to make by scoring the back of the tile, bending it, and then cutting from the front on the bend.  I used a straight edge and a brand new blade in my box cutter.  My only problem was around the toilet and it still wasn't that bad.  I used the entire box (a few bad cuts on some tiles near the end) and it really made a drastic difference!

Before

After

I still have to finish the floor, 1/4 round, and hang the cabinet, art and photos, but I am almost there.  I have decided against a new sink skirt because it now looks fine without one and it makes it look bigger.  I also think it looks better without a window treatment now that the wall is such a focal point being bright blue. Three days, some hard work and a gift card...can't beat it. Let me know what you think!

$50 Bathroom Update

Our house was built in 1889.  We love it, but we have had to put tons of work into it.  One room that I have barely touched is our 3/4 downstairs bathroom.  When we moved in it was yellow with blue flowers stenciled on it and so far all I have done is to paint over that and add an etagere.  To be honest I painted the walls and then got annoyed and left the ceiling yellow.  That was 8 years ago.

This summer the sink fell off of the wall (lathing holds up absolutely nothing) and we had to replace the light fixture.  Now there is a large hole around the sink and a yellow square around the new light.  My goal for January is to make the bathroom look more, ummmm...taken care of, I guess.  This is the bathroom all of our guests use and I would like it to be nice and not scary.

My scary bathroom!

This project got off the ground with a $50 gift card for Home Depot we got for Christmas.  My challenge?  Not spend anymore than the $50.  Cross your fingers.

My plan:
1) Paint the ceiling and trim with leftover paint.
2) Fill in holes with joint compound that we already have.
3) Touch up the walls with leftover paint from 8 years ago (not kidding).
4) Update etagere by removing the bottom and hanging (securely) on the wall.
5) Repaint and decoupage the storage cabinet that my kids have written all over.
6) Update floor with peel and stick tiles.
7) Replace bathroom fixtures (I bought these a while back and have not used them yet.  I didn't figure them into the cost but they were around $80. I don't consider this cheating since I already have them.)
8) Make some kind of window treatment for the window.
9) Make a new sink skirt.


My shopping list:
1) Hardware to hang the etagere.
2) Spray paint for the cabinet.  I need a color and a sealant.
3) New knobs for the cabinet and the doors.
3) Peel and stick tiles. This is my biggest expense.
4) Fabric (If I can't figure something out with what I already have).

I already started by painting the ceiling white.  Ok, it needs a couple more coats, but it is a start.  Wish me luck!

Cakes in Review Section B

Didn't want to overwhelm you with my awesomness in one post.  I decided to spread it out a bit so you can bask in my creativity for a while longer.

I want to preface these next photos with this:  I had NEVER played Angry Birds before making these.  Thanks Ru, now I'm addicted and so is the rest of my family.  Love you!

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While the cake is completely edible I made the cupcake toppers with Sculpty clay.  We were also unsure whether or not to make them "Christmas-y" so I made decorations to add if the birthday boy wanted.

WARNING:  Best Cake Idea EVER!!!  

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Movie Cake

The whole thing

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Sam the Snowman

The Misfit Toys, Yukon Cornelius, Hermy and his Dentistry book, and Bumble the Abominable Snowman.  Total amazing awesomness.  I also made all of these characters from Scuplty clay.  I wanted the recipient to be able to keep them since the cake was a present.

Before I end this post I wanted to give you a quick tip...Candy Writers.  I use them for everything, including attaching all of these figures to the cake.  Best $1.50 you can spend.

Cakes in Review Part 1

So I counted my cakes and I came up with 54 this past year.  It equals one a week +2 (for those of you who are not math geniuses like me, HA!).  The crazy thing is that I didn't really start the business until June!  I love what I do and I hope in a year I can give you a much larger number.  Like the 600 cupcakes I made.  Can't blame people...my cupcakes do keep a party rockin'.

Here are the pictures I promised you in my last post...

Pokemon Pikachu Cake

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Mario Lego Cake

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Musical Theater Cupcakes

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Gotta Love Penguins Cake

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Sonic the Hedgehog Cake

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Mod Mickey Cake, Smash Cake and Cupcake

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I made mugs!

  Collage Mug

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Heartfelt Apologies to start 2012

So I have started 5 posts in the last two months and haven't finished any of them.  Boooo to me!  As I sat here on the couch waiting for the Orange Bowl to start I thought, "Gee, Shelby, you are just sitting here actually doing NOTHING...you should get your laptop out and update your blog."  I decided to listen to my very awesome self and do it.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday...whichever you celebrate!  We did here! I kept busy with cakes, crochet, and Christmas.

I promise (really, I do) to post cakes next, but first I am going to tell you about some of the crafty stuff I have been working on.

First, I made shawls for the girls' teachers this year.  I started right after Halloween and was still scrambling to finish the DAY OF the school parties, so next school year I will have to start earlier.  I had made this shawl for my oldest's Kindergarten teacher and it was such a huge hit that I did a repeat this year.  The second grade teacher also got a hat and a matching baby girl hat for the baby that is coming this Monday.  I am only a little sad they didn't pick Shelby for the name. :(

http://www.caron.com/projects/ss/ss17_flowers_shawl.html

This is a picture of the shawl and a link to the pattern.  I use these flowers on EVERYTHING!  If you want you can make them in different colors and pin them to your hat, coat, whatever.  Trust me, people will love them.  Every time I walk through Nordstrom wearing my hat someone stops me to ask where I bought it.  I admit~ it feels good!

Hmmmmm...what else have I been doing?  Well, lots, or I wouldn't have been ignoring my blog for so long, right?  Right.
Every year I make an ornament for our family Christmas tree. Yes, I have more than 1.  Ok, I have 4 trees.  Please, don't judge...I just have a lot of Holiday spirit.

This year to commemorate 2011 I made an ornament to show all of the new things we started this year.  My husband started biking (after I bought him the greatest Anniversary gift ever...a bike, in case you didn't guess).  I started my cake business.  My 7 year old started playing chess and she is obsessed and my 5 year old started gymnastics.

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Cakes coming next.  Promise!