Strawberry Nails

I have been on a little nail art kick lately. 

I saw Strawberry Nails on Pinterest, and decided to give it a try.

I love the results. So summery and fun!

What you will need:

Pinkish red nail polish

Scotch tape

Pinking shears

Green nail polish

Toothpick

White or black nail polish

Top coat clear nail polish

1. Start with reddish pink nails:

2. Use pinking shears to cut of a short piece of Scotch tape and adhere to your nail:

3. Paint the tips of the nail with a generous coat of green polish and immediately remove the tape:

4. With a toothpick, angle and dip it into white or black nail polish and dot onto the pinkish red part of the nail. These will be the "strawberry seeds":

5. Finish with a top coat and you're done!

I find that the white nail polish looks more like strawberries, and the black makes them look like watermelons. Either way, I really like them.

What are your thoughts? =)

Castle Birthday Cake

Boo requested a castle cake for her birthday. And not sheet cake, but a 3D "real" one. Oh man. Luckily I watched enough cake making shows to somehow manage this task. ;)

These are all my pieces:

Two 10 inch rounds

Two 6 inch rounds

6 soup can cylinders (3 of them with the top leveled off)

 7 bamboo sticks for structural support

1 tub of buttercream frosting (from Michael's or JoAnn's)

The towers were made from soup cans! 

I took the label off and gave them a good washing. I used parchment paper to line the bottom of the can. I used the can to draw a circle, cutting it out slightly larger, and then little snips on the edges, as shown below. 

Then I lined the sides of the can, and make sure it's a good few inches taller than the can because the cake will rise:

I filled up about 2/3 of the can with the batter. I baked them at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. I had no issues with the cake sticking. It came out easily. I rolled it out of the parchment paper and peeled the bottom off:

When the cakes were cooled, I stacked the round cakes together after leveling them off, making sure the top layer is flipped upside down. Then I did a light crumb coat. I used the soup can to trace out part of the circle where the towers will fit in. Then cut it out. 

I stacked the towers on, secured with bamboo sticks, and chilled it in the fridge:

Meanwhile, I tinted the buttercream frosting. I like lavender...a completely pink castle cake would have been too much for my eyes! I took the cake out of the fridge, frosted it and put the waffle cones on top. 

I got the cones from Baskin Robbins, which was just down the street from our house. But I don't think I recommend getting these because the cones were wonky - I had to carefully cut for a good fit, and the tips were not very pointy on most of them. They were 99 cents each and I didn't want to waste any more time finding other cones.

I spooned the sprinkles on each level, and used Hershey's cookies 'n cream chocolate bar for the door and windows, which were "glued" with more frosting. Then I piped the borders around:

I didn't get the frosting as smooth as I wanted to, but then I finally said to myself, "It's a castle. It's not supposed to be smooth!"

Lastly, I got light blue fondant to cut out the "E" and little strips to wrap around the tips of the turrets. I also made flags out of fondant and toothpicks, but couldn't poke a hole through the cones, so I omitted them:

When we arrived at the party location, I topped the cake off with a candle, and Disney princess figurines that I got at the Dollar Tree.  The Cinderella glass slipper was a gift from a staff at Disneyland a few weeks ago. We were in line for a ride, and the Cast Member graciously gave it to Little Boo! We were beyond excited. A friend said, "You have to put it on the cake!" and it was a great idea: 

View from the top:

The after math:

It was really fun to make, and surprisingly didn't take long either, aside from the baking time....a double oven would have came in handy. ;)

Teacher's Appreciation Week: Candy Gram

It's Teacher's Appreciation Week!

Boo started preschool a few months back, and we definitely need to recognize our teachers. They are fantastic. 

I decided to do a candy gram.

It was fun and easy to do! I had the little one paint the 2 poster boards while I assembled the candies. I wrote the sentences on construction paper, glued them on the poster boards after they dried, and used double stick tape to stick the candies on. Boo also liked "signing" her name - I wrapped my hand around hers, and we wrote her name together.

The card says:

Dear Ms. S and Ms. T,

Do U-No [you know] how lucky I am to have you as my teachers?

You are Mounds of fun, and learning is Good & Plenty.

You help me Crunch the ABC's, and learn things I will use Now & Later.

Even though sometimes I can be a Cry Baby and you have Zero energy left, you still go the Extra mile for me.

I know some days are a Rocky Road, but I always appreciate you! Thank you!

You are worth 100 Grand and more!

Love you to Pieces.

From your little Sugar Babies

The teachers loved it, and Ms. S almost cried. I didn't realize how touching this is, and now that I re-read what I wrote, I truly meant every word. Her teachers are a blessing.

What are your plans for Teacher's Appreciation Week?

Easter Deviled Eggs

Hi Friends! I apologize for being absent on this blog for so long. I took Boo to an incredible one month long trip to Asia. It was fun and we had a great time! She did really good on all the flights and I could not have asked for more. =)

So back to the festive Easter Deviled Eggs! 

I boiled 12 eggs and peeled them. Then I cut them in half, took the yolks out [put yolks in a bowl] and dyed the whites with food coloring until they reached the desired color.

To dye them, put 2/3 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 3 drops of food coloring in a glass cup for each color. Then put the halved whites in and waited until the color took. Line a plate with paper towels and let dry.

For the yolks, I added a very generous 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste, and "special ingredient"....a small splash of pickle juice. Mix well, and pipe or spoon back into the egg.

Folding Plastic Bags for Easy Storage

Storing plastic bags frustrates me. You know what I'm talking about...all those Target and grocery bags! I have a few reusable fabric bags, but it's never enough and I always leave the store with 10 more plastic bags.

I reuse plastic bags but I have a hard them storing them. They are crumbled and wadded up into balls. Then stuffed in a drawer. It's a mess and takes up a lot of room.

My mother in law introduced me to folding them into little triangles, and oh my gosh, how that changed my life! Hah. It is so simple and clever.

I found a tutorial on Youtube - here it is:


Isn't that great? =)
Good luck and start folding away, my friends!