Janel's Turning 30...Yikes!!!

Be there or be square!! RSVP because it is just plain bad manners not to!!! -Nicole

Cake Class

I am taking such an awesome class. It is a cake decorating class. I have always, for as long as I can remember, wanted to decorate cakes. I knew it was something I would like and definitely a skill I can use in the future. Possibly for a sister and a sister-in-laws birthdays that are coming up!!! I am taking the class with a few of the bags ( that is a completely other blog in itself) and ones of the bag's twin sons girlfriends. Did I explain that right. Well, needless to say the class rocks and it is great girl time. I love it! So I have totally overloaded this post with pictures, but that's the best part of blog anyway isn't it?!!

Here is my cake and Megan's cake pre-learning anything. We have to come with a cake baked and iced. We learned how to do this the first class. Isn't it smooth and delicious looking!!!

Now we are ready to get to work. Our bags loaded with icing!!

Carol very hard at work practicing some of the boarders we learned. The shell boarder is my favorite. The reverse shell is another story.

I don't know how this happened, but I looked up and Jacqueline was covered in icing.

So here is my finished product. I think its pretty good for my first ever decorated cake! I did the shell boarder around the top and base, then some happy daisy flowers and leaves. I really need to work on my writing.

Darlene (who is hosting the class) and Dianna doing the C-boarder.

Yep, that's me. I am genuinely that happy and excited doing this. It is right up my artsy alley.

Now you can see why I said I need to work on my fonts...this is what it should look like!! Stacy is so amazing at this. She needs to open her own shop. I would work there for sure...after a few more classes of course!

Again, I cannot say enough about how good Stacy is:

Here is Megan's cake fr her Uncle's B-day:

This is carol's cake. she plans to use her newly acquired skills on cupcakes!!!

This is Jacqueline's cake. I love the grass tip around the bottom.

Darlene's cake. This seriously looks like something you'd buy in a shop.

Dianna's cakes. Such adorable flowers!!

Week #3 we learned roses, vines, leaves, and rose buds. Here is Stacy making a large rose. Keep in mind she did this with cream cheese icing, that Darlene and Megan made, which was really hard to work with.

Step 1: build up a tall base. aka a blob.

Step 2: swirl a small spiral with the flower tip.

Step 3: Make petals. In Stacy's case make petals look really easy so everyone is jealous when they can't do it good.

Step 4: Bam...you have a beautiful rose. Yep just like that...I swear!

Then I asked about leaves, mainly because I like fall colors and even in spring, fall colors will be the ones I chose to use. On the left is a classic fall leaf. Sweet. and on the right is another kind of leaf...yep! Stacy didn't even realize what it looked like until I pointed it out. Yes, a maple leaf! Haha!

So here is my 2nd cake of all time. I will say it now I hate the vines. But I love the bright, bold blue flowers. The buds need some work too.

Dianna's cake. Now I must say she wrapped her cake up quick, but I snuck a pic before she left.

Darlene's dot cake. Isn't is cute. She said I had to mention she had icing problems..but I like it.

Megan's cake. Doesn't the icing look so good.

And Jacqueline's awesome cake. She really worked hard on that boarder.

This class is so much fun. I cannot wait to go tomorrow night. I hope it doesn't get cancelled due to snow. This class rocks. Next i want to do a fondant class at Michael's. Who is with me?

Etched Glass DIY

So my friend, Sarah and I have resorted to making gifts for each other instead of buying presents. #1 like I said we are teachers, so we're broke and #2 homemade/handmade gifts are so much better anyway. So for Sar's (she prefers to be called Sar) Christmas gift, I etched her some tumblers. She has the rad peacock plates from anthropology seen here:

I figured she needed some glasses to accompany them. I went with a simple feather, as to not take away from the more intricate plate design. Here is the finished product:

Etched glass is extremely easy, but looks so elegant when it is finished. I had the privilege of having some amazing art teachers in high school, so I actually got to do this when I was a senior. I did a totally lame kung-fu girl on a mirror, but never the less, I got to do this early on. Suzanne Walker, kuddos to you!!!

Here is a quick and simple how to etch glass.

You will need : 1. Something glass to etch

2. Velvet etching creme

3. Contact Paper

4. An image if you don't want to free hand yours or a pencil if you do

5. An exacto knife

6. Tape

7. A brush ( a junky one)

This is the etching creme. It is around $20.00 a bottle, but it lasts forever. One place to order it is here. Make sure you read the directions and the safety precautions. It is very bad for you, so be safe!!!

Tape on your image, or draw one on. Totally up to you. Since I wanted all the glasses to be the same, I used the same image, but free handed my feathers, so they were all a bit different.

What ever you cut out, will be what is etched. Keep that in mind as you cut. Cut on top of newspaper so you don't damage your table. Your husband would be really mad at you if you did.

When you are finished, add the contact paper to your glass. Make sure to rub out any air bubbles. It may take some time, since glasses are cylindrical and not flat. If there is a crease or bubble near an edge, you run the risk of creme greeting under there and ending up with a weird blob instead of a clean line.

Brush on your creme. Be generous, because we will re-use the creme in a bit. Put it on thick.

If you see any light shining through, add more. This also shows any missed areas.

Yes, it looks this gross, and smells worse, but its all worth it in a few minutes!!!

Set a timer for 3 minutes. That's all it takes!!!

Now, I use a credit card or matte board scraps, but you want to scrape any extra back into the bottle so you can reuse it. This will make the bottle last a lot longer than if you just rinsed it all off.

Ta-da...almost done!!!!

Wash the left over off in running water. It may look like it didn't work while you are doing this, but it jut the water making it look dark. Trust me.

Peel off you contact paper and throw it away. Wash you glass and dry it. Revealing your beautiful master piece. I am thinking of using my cricut machine to do some monograms for our new house. What a great gift for someone!!!

Below is a single glass from the set I made at the beginning. Now go make your own!!!

YoCanDu Art Studio

Today in celebration of MLK Jr. Day, My momma, Janel, and I went to YoCanDu Art studio and made some art. Janel and I both made stuff for our homes. I had previously gone with my girls from work, and made and N...but now that I am married and we have "our" house, I felt bad hanging up an N with no M. So, I brought back my sister, and mom for support, to check out this amazing place. It is a wonderful studio where you can collage, paint, mosaic and craft. Check out their web page here.

Here are some shots from our radical day:

I adore that this wall has half a cup in it. I want to do this at my house in my basement. How bomb!!

ATC (Artist Trading Cards) having from above...beautiful.

This is the finished M...next to my N that I brought to match with!!

It has all sorts of found objects, like rusted screws, washers, tiles, skeleton key, worry doll

(a boy to go with the girl on the N), and a good luck coin like the one Matt carries in his pocket everyday.

Brushes hanging in the paint area. I love that they are in ketchup bottles and color coded.

Janel making a key rack for their kitchen...Adam, don't look at this. It might be a present.

Hard at work.

Sculptural books hanging from above. I want to do this.

I want this too.

Janel's finished product.

These are the jars that are full of tiles according to color.

This place is seriously amazing. If you live in STL, you should hit it up. I cannot say how awesome this place is.