Wedding cake

Here is my first wedding cake. I made this as a gift for my brother. I forgot my camera at home, so these are from my phone but will post some better photos in the future. The entire cake is yellow cake and on the bottom layer it is filled with homemade strawberry jam and the top two layers are filled with chocolate ganache. It is then covered in fondant and the gerber daises are also made of fondant.

Homemade jam and canned peaches

My in-laws recently brought me a lot of peaches, so I had to think of different things to do with them. For the first batch of peaches they brought me I made baby food and a peach pie for my mother in-laws birthday. I got the recipe from here. Whenever I make fruit pies I love to look for recipes with almond extract in it and I loved how this pie turned out.

















For the second batch of peaches I decided to make homemade jam for my very first time. I have been wanting to do it for quite sometime and just decided to go for it. It was easier than I thought. I just followed the directions in the sur-gel box. Since the first time I made jam was relatively easy I decided to make some strawberry jam for the filling of my brothers wedding cake.

With the last batch of peaches they brought me I decided to can the peaches. I followed the directions from this blog here.

(there should have been more jam but I gave away quite a few jars before I took the picture)

















I love figuring out things to make with different produce. A few months ago when my in-laws brought me bags of cherries I made a pie, a cobbler and a crisp and stil had some too spare! The next thing I hope to attempt to make is to can pizza sauce!

Cupcakes and Fruit Bouquet

Recently a friend of mine through my future sister in-law a bridal shower. I thought I would help out by making some of the food. I made cupcakes, cheesecake brownies (on the lower right hand side) and a fruit bouquet. My friend did a wonderful job throwing the shower. It was so much fun and the table she set up looked great! The cupcakes were funfetti and chocolate with cream cheese frosting (some of the cupcakes had chocolate buttercream frosting mixed in). I got the idea for the fruit bouquet from a Taste of Home class I went to with a friend awhile ago. I have been wanting to try it for quite some time and finally found an opportunity. It is suprisingly easy!

Bithday cakes.

Recently it was my daughters fourth birthday and we threw her two parties. The first cake was for her princess paty and this was the first time I have ever done a cd figure out of fondant. The second cake was for her flower themed party.

Valentines

Every year I help the kids make their own valentines. Last year we mainly did butterflies with heart wings and a sucker for the center. This year we decided to make flowers with heart shaped petals and then decorate them with stickers. So, here is the bouquet of flowers we made:

UP cake!

I recently made this cake for my sons second birthday. His birthday party theme was the new movie Up. It is chocolate and white cake with a cream cheese filling and covered in fondant.

Wood Pumpkins

I saw these pumpkins on www.itsadaisyday.blogspot.com and knew I wanted to make them. They would not only make great decorations for Halloween but for Thanksgiving as well. It is also very cheap, easy to make and a great family craft. I ended up spending a total of $1.27 and that was for the orange paint.
What you need:
orange paint
wood blocks
sandpaper
sticks
ribbon
raffia

Start out by finding some scraps of wood. My husband found a 2x4 for me and cut it into three blocks. The kids and I then painted them. Once the paint dries use the sand paper and sand the pumpkins however you like to give it a rustic look. Next, hot glue medium size sticks (we found these laying in the back yard) about an inch and half tall to the top of each pumpkin. I then found some old ribbon and raffia and tied it around each stem. You could also use wire or fake leaves if you have some on hand. That's it, a simple, easy and cheap pumpkins!

I will post the kids Halloween costumes soon!