Jaiden's Graduation

Jaiden had her preschool graduation last Saturday. It was very nice, but is was so hot! Her school doesn't have air conditioning and when you pack 50 people in a small room, it gets hot! I have been trying to post the video of her graduation but, it is taking forever to upload. I tried putting it on you tube, but it exceeds the 10 minute time limit. I am still trying to figure something out.

I made Jaiden's dress and had to pat myself on the back. I am so happy about how well it turned out! I am working on creating a PDF to share the pattern I made.

Mama's Doughnuts

This is a super simple recipe for doughnuts that my grandmother used to make. I remember as a little girl going over to her house and we always had to make doughnuts. An easy, cheater way to make these is to used refrigerated biscuits instead of making biscuit dough. There are several different possibilities to use as topping for the doughnuts. You can use powdered sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon/sugar mixture, icing, and/or sprinkles.

To make these doughnuts, heat oil in a deep fryer to 375*. Place 2 cups of desired sugar in a paper bag (ie. powdered sugar, granulated sugar, etc..). Separate biscuits and make a hole in center if desired. Drop 3 biscuits at a time into hot oil. Fry biscuits until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes. Place on paper towel to drain and immediately place in choice of sugar. Shake to coat.

In the picture, I used granulated sugar for the doughnuts on the left and a cinnamon sugar mixture for the ones on the right.

Fredia the Fundrasier

I feel like "Fredia the Fundraiser" right now. I baked 36 Sesame Street cupcakes for a bake sale at Jaiden's church for a Haiti Fundraiser, I ("and Jaiden") raised $190 for a trike-a-thon for Jaiden's school that supported St. Jude, and I have baked 60 cinnamon rolls for a business expo Jaiden is participating in at my mother's school. I am just in fundraising mode right now!

My Cookie Monster cupcakes need a lot more practice, but I thought I'd share them any way. I cheated and used store bought icing and used coloring to tint the icing. For the fur, I used tip #233 and for the eyes, I used tips #12 and #18. Cookie Monster's mouth is an Oreo cookie cut in half. I also made Elmo, Oscar, and Big Bird cupcakes, but I didn't get a picture of them.

The kids had a lot of fun riding their bikes at school! The teachers had a drink and snack station set up for the kids and a toy gas pump. Here's a little video of the trike-a-thon. Jaiden is in the hot pink helmet.

FBCT - Frozen Buttercream Cake Transfer

This is Arya's cake that I made for her birthday party! I was so happy with the results and got a lot of nice comments about it! The transfer for the cake is made using the frozen buttercream cake transfer method, FBCT.

It is really easy to make, I practiced twice before I made my official transfer for the cake. I had never used the piping bags to decorate anything other than cookies. I really needed to practice the technique of tracing. After I felt comfortable, the rest was a breeze! (Click on any pic to make it bigger)

Supplies:

Wilton Black Decorating Icing (comes in a tube)

Pipping bags and attachments- coupler, coupler ring, decorating tips. (I used small round, medium round and star tips.)

wax paper

coloring book page

masking tape

small icing spatula

icing/frosting (I cheated and used store bought in a can)

coloring/tint to color your icing

portable surface, IE. cutting board, cookie sheet, etc...

1. Clear out a space in the freezer to accommodate your portable surface.

2. Cut or print out the coloring book page (CBP) and tape it down to your surface.

3. Cover the CBP with wax paper and tape it down.

4. Using the Wilton Black and a round tip, trace your CBP. I used both small and medium. You'll want to think of this as in layers, if needed. For example Jerry's whiskers would be the first layer I traced and his face the second. This is so that when he is turned over and put on the cake, his whiskers will be on top of his face and not under it. Also, any thin lines that go off the image, as in his one set of whiskers, do not trace these, add them later. The didn't transfer very well. (The pic is of my first attempt)

5. Use your coloring to tint the icing to the desired color of each part. I used light pink of his ear and tongue, light brown for his body, and white for his eyes.

6. Fill your piping bags with the colored icing and attach tip. I used the small round for the smaller areas and the star tip for the large areas. When the image is fully covered, use the icing spatula to evenly spread the icing and to fill in any areas that might have been missed.
7. Put your image in the freezer to harden, I left mine in overnight.

8. Have your baked and iced cake ready to go. Take the transfer out of the freezer, carefully remove your transfer from the portable surface, and place it on the cake. (Icing side down, wax paper on top)

9. Rub lightly over the transfer to "set" it on the cake. Very carefully, take one corner of the wax paper and begin removing it from the transfer.

10. Go back with your Wilton Black and fix any necessary areas or to add thin lines like the whiskers (mentioned above in step 4)

Remember, your image is going to be backwards, so print any words in a mirror image so it will appear correctly on your cake.

Happy, Happy Birthday, to You!!

Today is Arya's 3rd birthday! Time is just flying by! After 3 short hours of labor and a bunch of pain, Arya was born after 5 in the afternoon.

Ryan and I were having a hard time trying to find a name for her. We both wanted something unusual, but couldn't decide. I was in love with the name Araya (A-ray-ah)and was trying different ways of spelling it when I came up with Arya. It is a combination of both Ryan's and my name. I fought with Ryan to put a "H" on the end of her name, but he was really against it. I wish I would have listened to myself and put it there anyway, then maybe people wouldn't have such a hard time trying to pronounce her name. (Oh, well, I guess it goes with choosing an unusual name!) Arya's name is pronounced A-RYE-AH, not "area".

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little girl!!!

Dollar Store Homemade Deodorant

I have been searching the internet for recipes to make deodorant and I have found there are just as many different recipes as there are brands of deodorant in a store. I took bits and pieces from the different recipes and made my own deodorant. Let me just say, it works! I have put in to the test for three days now. I put some on in the morning and that evening, I mowed grass, the deodorant held up! Ryan wore some to work yesterday to test it himself. It was a hot day and was out in the elements all day delivering several appliances. In other words, he had a hot and busy day. He even came home and worked in the yard without applying more deodorant, he really put the deodorant to the test. It's amazing how it kept odor away all day! This is a keeper! He usually has to reapply deodorant when he gets home from work, but didn't yesterday!

I bought all the ingredients at Dollar General to make this and spent $3.50 for supplies that will make a ton of deodorant. A big price break from store bought, plus this stuff isn't giving Ryan a rash like the store bought does. This deodorant will not keep you dry, but it defiantly keeps the smell away!

I just used a plastic spoon for measuring and stored it a mini Glad container.

Homemade Deodorant

3 tsp. Queen Helene Cocoa Butter Cream
1 tsp. Vitamin E skin oil
2 tsp. baking soda

Stir all together to make a cream deodorant. It may be necessary to add more coca butter for a smoother consistency.