feeling {bridal}

 

This is my only post today that happened a reasonable amount of time ago to blog about, but that's the way life goes!  And now I'm caught up on blogging about my creative time as of late.  :)

This morning I made a red velvet cake for a bachelorette party.  I am excited about how it turned out... simple, classy and elegant.  The bride's colors are a pear green and chocolate brown, so that's the reason for the green!

 

 I found the inspiration idea for this cake online.  My favorite part is the white butter cream details.  Lovely.

oreo cupcakes!

In February I made these little guys for a Valentine's dinner and dance we went to with couples from church.  They were yum-o.  I love the whipped cream frosting instead of butter cream.  It's simple, light and airy.

I made a few modifications, but basically followed this recipe at Annie's Eats (which is a fabulous food blog if you're looking for one!).

a little pillow makeover

I wasn't a huge fan of the pillows on our couch so I decided to break out my NEW old sewing machine and make them over.  I got the sewing machine for Christmas... it's Manly Man's grandma's machine from years ago.  I never got to meet her, but have heard wonderful things about her, including the fact that she loved to create things.  It's fun to use her machine to do the same thing!  :)

And here's some photos... a before:

And an after.  Please note the wrinkly grey one that my husband was lounging on while watching March Madness about 23 seconds ago until I made him and his "I-had-Kentucky-beating-Ohio-State-in-my-bracket-didn't-you?" behind move for a moment.

I made a few mistakes, but am pleased with my first pillow project since an enlightening 7th grade "Family Consumer Sciences" class with Mrs. Christensen.  I like that the colors are more "me": light, modern, and casual.  The large pillows I made reversible.  The small pillow I made using an envelope pillow tutorial found by my friend Jenny, who is a rockstar crafter.  So simple, I'll definitely do it again.  I have a few more pillows to make for our Omahoma, stay tuned!

long overdue... another ELMO birthday!

Beautiful Haven celebrated her second birthday months ago now and I have yet to blog about it!  Fail.  She also wanted an "Elmo cake" that we made a bit more girlie in purple.

Elmo is always fun to make, especially when there's an adorable kiddo who will get to enjoy the cake on their special day.

Happy birthday miss Haven!

perfectly {papered}

I participated in a little sale a couple weeks ago and have a few lovely leftovers.  If you are interested in any of the following, contact me at stephanie.creates@gmail.com

Christmas cards:  $1/ea.

I also made some delightful 2011 calendars that would be great in an office or kitchen.  I saw this idea on a blog I love to read and wanted to make one for myself at work.  Once I got done, I loved them so much I decided to share them with anyone else who'd like one as well!  Sometimes I think the best (and most practical!) art is just doing what you like for yourself and allowing it to overflow.  :)  One option for the calendar is excerpts from hymns and the other is just fun sayings.  They are $6/ea, measure 4.25" x 11" and are printed on card stock.  If you would like me to make a custom calendar for you with 12 of your own sayings, I can do that for $8.

 

Hymns excerpt calendar:
(1) and on him cast your care (2) take and seal it (3) it is well (4) sing ye heavens and earth rejoice (5) was blind but now i see (6) amazing love how can it be (7) arise my soul arise (8) love's purest joys restored (9) naught be all else to me save that thou art (10) tune my heart to sing thy grace (11) this our hymn of grateful praise (12) tidings of comfort and joy

Sayings calendar:
(1) here we go again (2) know love (3) take time to wonder (4) risen indeed (5) do justice love kindness walk humbly (6) all things new (7) fun in the sun (8) practice curiosity (9) go big red (10) fear not (11) full of thanks (12) love came down

Fun.  Have I mentioned I love paper?  stephanie.creates@gmail.com if you're interested!

happy birthday to {asher}

Our friend Asher got to celebrate his THIRD birthday in style with a fun Elmo cake.  I had so much fun making it, which was probably due to all his excitement for a strawberry "Elmo cake"!  He helped me pick out and bake the Dora cake for Praja's birthday in October and actually fell off a chair in the kitchen as we were mixing the batter because he couldn't contain his excitement.  :)

The stats: 9" round strawberry cake with buttercream and fondant icing.  3 year old kiwi with a serious sweet tooth.  1 sweet family and 1 fun Sunday afternoon.

We met the MacDonalds a year ago this week when God brought them to Omaha from New Zealand for Asher's big sister, Aria, to get a multi-organ transplant.  You can follow them and the incredible story of how God is at work in their lives here.

Happy birthday, little man.  Thanks for the joy you bring to your family and all those you meet!

praja's a{dora}ble birthday

Praja's mom asked me to make a Dora birthday cake for her 5th birthday party today.  I was a little nervous because it was my first attempt at making a character cake that people are supposed to recognize and I know from other art projects that these things usually go one of two ways... they're a huge hit or a major flop.  Just google "Dora birthday cake" like I did for inspiration and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about!

Praja's cake is a strawberry 10" cake (yum) with white buttercream filling and icing.  All of the decorations are in gumpaste and fondant.

My favorite part is the fact that it imitates Dora's actual logo.  I like the little Nick Jr. logo turned into "She's 5!".

I had so much fun making it and am really excited about how it turned out!  Happy birthday miss Praja.  You are loved!