Piece of Cake

  I am a pretty happy lady tonight. My creative juices have been flowing and I've just completed something that I have literally wanted to do my whole life. Things are crazy with the move coming up in about a month, but I still need my down time, so I decided to try and decorate a cake- not just with icing, but with fondant. Almost a whole year ago I got a gift card for my birthday for Michael's. It's one of my all time favourite stores to go into and I know I bore Geoff endlessly when I am wandering around there, but he indulges me from time to time. Unfortunately there is no Michael's close to where we live but we were in the city for my brother-in-law's wedding (yay & congrats again, Jason & Anna!) and our wedding anniversary, so we went. I picked up some decorating supplies there and decided I wanted to try them out tonight.
  Something I've been thinking about for quite a while is running my own business from my home, and I knew it needed to be something where I could be creative. A couple of months ago I got the idea that maybe I could make cakes for people. I knew there were a lot of things to take into consideration with this but I figured I should try it first to see if I even liked doing it or had a knack for it.
  I am pretty pleased with the results of my first cake. Tonight I was able to figure out how to use fondant (quite a bit like playdoh) and how to make buttercream icing from scratch. See pic-->
and check out the recipe for Buttercream Icing here.
  I don't know if this is something I can eventually turn into a business or not but I had fun trying tonight and  I would love to hear your thoughts- do you like my cake? Please leave me a comment and let me know:) Here are some pics of the cake as it was progressing.

Cake with pale purple buttercream icing (left)

Cake with pale yellow fondant (right)

 Cake with pale yellow fondant and purple flowers (though they look like stars)

I am excited to see where this goes in the future, but for tonight I have a cake sitting here in my fridge! (anyone want some?) :)

An Ode to a Bride

  Today I wanted to write about something that is near and dear to my heart- my family. Or, in this case, my soon to be sister-in-law, Anna. As most of you know, Anna is getting married to Jason (my brother-in-law) in less than two weeks, and I'm pretty excited for their big day. 
  Now, I've always respected Jason, and felt like we had a lot in common (funnily enough, Geoff has a lot in common with my sister Steph, too..), but I was really excited to meet Anna for the first time a couple of years ago. I knew that whoever Jason chose for his future bride would be someone special. And she is.
  Over the next year or so I saw Anna on and off, and really enjoyed getting to know her better during those occasions. We've had some fun times- like shopping at IKEA (because really, who doesn't like IKEA?!) and running across the mall parking lot in the pouring rain- which is maybe a strange idea of fun, but I had fun. But it wasn't until recently that I really started getting to know her better, and from what I've learned of Anna, I know I will have an amazing new sister.
  Anna is passionate about God and it shows in her life. She loves and cherishes her family, and that has been very evident to me after spending some time seeing her interact with them. On top of that, she is a vivacious, open, funny, warm-hearted, compassionate, beautiful woman. 
  Anna- I hope you will stand tall on your wedding day as you join your life to Jason's. It will truly be a day of celebration, hope, and joy. 
  Love you sis:)