Cake decorating

A couple of months ago I hosted an Enrichment at my house. My sister-in-law Dawn, who is a pastry chef and attended Scottsdale culinary school graciously agreed to come and share her talents with many of us. I have been asked several times to do a blog post about it for those who wanted to come and couldn't make it. I loved the approach she took, she did simple things that anyone could do. We only had an hour and I got a lot of great ideas. She often works with fondant and her cakes take hours and hours to make. Click here to see her blog, she has a slideshow on the side of some of her cakes, she is awesome.

Here are some of the things she showed us: (this class was before Easter, so a lot of ideas are springy)
A marshmallow bunny with edible Easter grass, a flower she made with scrapbook paper and a couple different sizes of flower punches stuck to a toothpick with a brad in the center. She make the "leaves" with green ribbon stuck through a bobby pin (yes, a bobby pin). The third one is a vintage postcard she printed for free and mounted on cardstock and the last is a fortune cookie she dipped in chocolate and sprinkled for St. Patricks day.How cute and easy, suckers tied with a ribbon! She also did this with cute suckers shaped like flowers.
Slice a strawberry and fan it out, a pinwheel made with scrapbook paper (click here for a pattern) and the bunny is a foam sticker, how simple and inexpensive, yet so very cute.
These are the three cakes she decorated. The bunny and flowers are made of chocolate. For the bunny, she took a cookie cutter, put it on wax paper and filled it with white melting chololate. To make the cute flowers, use colored chocolate and usuing a squeeze bottle with a small tip, trace flowers from anything (she used a cute scrapbook paper with those shapes) . Place the coloring book page or scrapbook paper on the counter, then put wax paper over it and trace with the chocolate, let it set and stick it in the cake. (That is my very favorite one)
The middle one is a cake with buttercream, ganache poured over it and topped with lots of berries, some covered in chocolate. She then took pieces of ribbon through a bobby pin and stuck them randomly in between berries. The final one is simply flowers and ribbon through bobby pins stuck to the top.

See how easy and yet how cute? Anyone can do these. Thank you Dawns for the fabulous ideas and all your hard work and time you put into teaching this.

Evening at the park

This evening while at a fantastic party for this handsome little guy's 2nd birthday,

I snapped some pictures of these pretty girls and handsome boys:

Party and showers ideas

I came across a blog about a month ago, it is called Creative Parties and Showers and if you are planning a party, you have to go there for ideas, it is full of great ones. Today my twins flower party is featured! Click here to visit the Creative Parties and Showers website

My new blog

cjaneshoot.com

I have been having so much fun practicing and learning photography. I was amazed at the response I have had and am just so excited about it. I have been busy with appointments and each time I seem to learn more and more.I am still offering the $35.00 photo session if it is scheduled by next Wednesday, April 22 (the actual shoot doesn't have to be by then, just set on my calendar). I will be raising my price to $50.00 after that. I still have a couple of spots open for this Saturday and the weather looks pretty good. Next week should be perfect weather also and I have spots open several days.
For this price you get up to one hour of shooting time and it usually ends in 500 to 800 shots. I spend two to three hours editing, you get a cd with all images on it AND you can let me know of any you like that I didn't initially edit and I will edit those as well. You do your own printing and have all images digital.

Please click here to visit my site and see the work I have been doing

31 dates in 31 days !

No, not me. I wish me and Aaron could find the time and funds to go on 31 dates in 31 days. I guess we could, if you count eating dinner at a table with four little people as a date or if bathing, brushing and flossing four kids together could be date material.

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This is all about one of my favorite people, my friend from high school, Janelle. She is going on 31 dates in 31 days for 31 final days of her 31st year and I want to help, but I need YOU to help me help her.

Isn't she gorgeous?

She lives in Las Vegas and needs more dates, do you know anyone that would like to
go on a date with a beautiful, fun, adventurous, smart and funny girl?

Actually, who wouldn't?
(only a damn fool, as my dad used to tell me)

Her website is
www.funwith31.com


Help me find a fun guy for her to go on one of her 31 dates with. I think that this will be so fun for everyone involved, I can't wait to read about all 31 dates and see pictures.

He should be in the Las Vegas area, unless you know of a super rich, fun, handsome
guy that would fly her somewhere for a date, why not?

Spread the word.


Thanks everyone!!

Fun Easter tradition and the true meaning

Last year my sister-in-law, Dawn told me about a tradition she had in her family and now does for her kids on Easter. I could hardly wait for this Easter to come so I could start it with my kids, I think it is the cutest idea ever, and my kids all believed it!

The night before Easter you plant jelly beans

And in the morning, look what grew!

Now for my true meaning of Easter thought, a cute thing James once did.

Last time we went to California and our trip was over we loaded up in the car and drove off, leaving his only boy cousin his age (on my side of the family) and best friend behind. Needless to say, he was very sad and cried for a while. I tried to distract him and keep him busy by giving him a notebook and pen. He drew for a while and finally calmed down. At our first gas station stop I was cleaning up the car a bit and grabbed his notebook he had been drawing on when he was sad. I found this:
In his cute little first grade handwriting and spelling, it says, " I know that my Redeemer lives, what comfort this sweet sentence gives" I have this piece of paper hanging inside my medicine cabinet where I see it every morning and night. It was so nice to me that at his saddest little moment he thought of this. Today I am thankful He died for us and that He lives and for all that it means to me.

Happy Easter and a recipe

I hope yours is full of decorating and eggs,

a nice church meeting,

dinner with familyand lots of yummy treats

I never met a sugar cookie that I didn't like. I tried a new recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs, mykitchencafe. I have tried many of her recipes and they have all been big winners in our house. Check her out! These cookies were super good, I made the frosting w/ the heavy cream but ended up adding an extra cup or more of powdered sugar. Click here for her recipe, it will not disappoint.

Happy Happy Birthday

to my fabulously famous Aunt Marilyn. I love you!

Easter Photos

We usually take Easter pictures before Church on Easter Sunday and it usually results in a very frustrated me. We are no doubt in a hurry and lets face it, taking the perfect picture of all four of my kids is no fun and easy task. Aaron usually dreads when I say, "picture time". Not this year ladies and gentlemen. Since we were home all day watching conference we thought a Sunday drive would be nice so I threw the kids Easter clothes on and we headed out with my camera. I am so very happy to say that next Sunday we do not have to take pictures. Aaron will be thrilled.

If you don't want to mess with Sunday morning Easter picture taking, I am offering to take Easter photos of all your kids or your whole family for a very low price. You will get an hour of picture taking, a couple hours of editing and a cd with all images on it for $35.00. My prices will continue to go up once I feel more confident with my skills, take more classes, read more books and get more equipment. I think this is a great deal for both of us, I get to continue learning and practicing and you get a great price.

My wish . . .

is to master using my camera and photoshop.

I have several photographer friends whose work I envy.
Now where do I find the time to learn it all?

I got to practice more with my camera with these photo shoots.

First up, my cousin's absolutely adorable 1 year old twins:

Next, my drop dead gorgeous nieces, Anna Kate, Alexandra, and Hallie.
(Hallie is in the middle, sorry, but this aunt can't tell the twins apart)And finally, some engagement photos!
I vote them the best looking couple, don't you think?
It was so fun to shoot adults, they actually sit still and do what you say.

Julia's Hello Kitty Party

This year, Julia wanted to have a Hello Kitty party. She had a lot of friends, look at this picture, every single girl is smiling, can you guess why? Why, it is because Julia's handsome older brother was in charge of making them smile. I have never in my life seen so many girls (17!) laughing and giggling for so long.

They made Hello Kitty necklaces, played games and danced around.

My sister-in-law Dawn made this cake{cute} so she would have a candle to blow out.

And here are the Hello Kitty cake pops me and Dawn made for the party, aren't they cute? I was so proud to say I made them, I never would have thought it was possible. They are cake inside and dipped in white chocolate. (click here for instructions)

Even though there were so many girls, I think it was a success.