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!

Food Storage Analyzer

For the past year my family has been doing our best to try and build up our food storage. We started stocking up on items from different sales in our local grocery stores and buying from our local cannery. However, there were some items that we could not find, such as egg powder. So, I was told about this website www.beprepared.com. They have a variety of different food and emergency supplies that are important for all families to have. Recently they sent me an e-mail to try there Food Storage Analyzer and review it and in return they would send out a $10 gift card. So, of course I did it. I found the analyzer easy to use and understand. I enjoyed looking through and calculating the items I have and what I need. There were a lot of items that I have stocked up on that were not included in the list but I figured that the items they chose were the basic things that all families need in order to make a decent, healthy meal. It was nice seeing how many days we could survive on the food we have in our food storage and the nutrition we would recieve. I highly recommend using this. Even if you are not interested in obtaining the gift card, it would be worth using in order to review your storage and calculate how much you have in supply, what items you are in need of and how much it would cost in order to buy the items that you need.

Grapevine pumpkin

I recently found this on a blog and fell in love. Usually I am not drawn to things that look messy but I love the simplicity of it and thought it would look great on a front porch (I still need to put it outside). I plan on giving this one to my mother in-law. Sp, when I make my next one I plan on making a longer stem so it stands out more and I might wrap a thin green ribbon around the stem.













Here is a link to the tutorial: http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/09/grapevine-pumpkin.html

Swagbucks

My friend Sarah recently introduced me to the website swagbucks.com. It is a search engine that allows you to earn points while searching the web! With these points you can use them towards different prizes (examples: giftcards to restaurants and amazon, Dvd's, books, ect.) So, if you search the web, this might be something worth looking into. If you are interested go to swagbucks.com or click on the link on the side of the page or down below!