One of my better cakes... With a surprise inside!

Here is of my better and more exciting cakes!!! It looks pretty badass yet unassuming from the outside... 

But then you cut it open...

...And m&ms fall out!!! So sugary but so good. As you can see in the bottom picture, all you have to do is cut out the middle part of the middle layer and then fill it with fun stuff. Still shocked it came out so cool! I'm typically hopeless with cake decorating...

On a whim...

My cousin posted something on fb about a similar dress in an attempt to win a drawing from a stylish boutique. It would be an Easter dress for her toddler. I then decided to go out and try to make it. I found a similar pattern and set to work making modifications to make it look like the picture.

It came out nearly perfect... The only problem was that it was a little big... Easily solved with a cardigan. Plus side: she can still fit into it a year or two later!! Rare with fast growing children!

Mermaid Costume DIY

When my friends were having a big Halloween party (with a cash prize for best costume) I took my obsession with costumes and my general competitive nature and went crazy. The cash prize wasn't much incentive (I spent more than what I would win on contacts alone) but the desire to win was a huge draw. After spending a ton of time on Pinterest I decided I wanted to be a mermaid. I'm no twig so bikini was definitely not an option ... Especially during fall in New England. I sewed the skirt myself and bought the crop top from a clearance rack at the mall. I dyed my hair red, bought turquoise contacts and used the Pinterest-famous fishnet stocking trick to give myself scales. Half pearls were glued on using eyelash glue.

Sadly I suck and didn't get a picture of me in full costume with makeup etc.

In case you were wondering, yes. I won ;)

I made that.

Yes. I made that genuine one of a kind handmade, hand sewn teddy bear... Soft brown fleece with floral accents on the paws and ears, jointed arms and head... Really quite a gem. 20+ hours of work right there. That bear is the reason I then learned how to use a sewing machine. Life changer!

Oh right... I have a blog...

Dear Imaginary Readers,

Since all of my previous posts have sucked so far and make me look like I have no artistic talent or crafting capabilities I have decided to go back and post things I've done or created since I last remembered I have a blog. Here are photos of two sketches I happened to have on my phone. 

Yes, the boy's lips were really that big. I googled sad child and that's what I found.

More to come...

Bicycle cake!

So I just typed out a really long and witty anecdote/ cake instructions. Then I stupidly left the page without saving and lost it all. I'm too tired to care to re type it now... Maybe I'll get back to it later. 

Moral of the story, (another) good friend was moving away so I made a cake. He loves bikes so I made it look like a bike tire. Box cake, frosting, food coloring and frosting bags. It's simple. I mean mine wasn't particularly beautiful but that's just because I'm terrible with frosting. But it really is simple. Good night :)

A "Thank You" Note With a Purpose

With the holiday season ending, the demand for cute, clever and creative gifts is dwindling. Which brings us to a new phase of the holiday: the post holiday thank you notes. Not everyone sends them but I was raised to. I usually procrastinate an embarrassingly long time to send them but with my new rule, I have been getting better. I decided that I wasn't allowed to cash any checks until thank you notes have been written. I don't know it anyone cares to receive them but I feel guilty if I don't send them. I typically don't care if I ever get one so why would someone else care? This year I was thinking about buying my thank you cards and hating it. You see, I have a stack of them at my parents house. That is six hours away. I could have written those thank you cards last week when I was there but... The procrastination. Then it came to me. What about recipe cards? I promptly chose  my favorite recipes and rewrote them on nice recipe cards that I already had. I then wrote my thanks on the back like a post card. Brilliant! I even matched recipes to who I think would enjoy them the most. So if you are trying to muster up the willpower to write some thank you cards try this. It's much more fun and hopefully more rewarding!