It's a Cake Fest

Following an extremely hectic week of baking and decorating cupcakes, Libby Lane Cakes held our first booth at The Festival of Trees at GSU, a good way to get our feet wet at a smaller venue. We were both running on fumes by Saturday morning but were troopers.

We want to start out slowly and keep everything manageable for now. I am still not 100% sure how I will be able to juggle all of this with working full-time and the two grad classes in January either. Never a dull moment that's for sure!

Last week, I literally walked through my front door every evening (except the one night I had to work late) and engaged in fest preparations, using every medium from sugar and the Kitchenaid to paintbrush and canvas.

My friend and first co-worker in my old office Marie is finishing up a business logo for us. Since we're just starting out at this and are having to rely on funds from our own limited pockets, I made the two signs for us to display so that we'd have some some signage at the table. I used a large piece of foamboard for the one that set outside our table and a smaller paint canvas for the one that set on our tabletop. I used paint, scraps of scrapbooking paper and a few little embellishments for the smaller one. For the larger one, I dug out the Mr. Sketch markers and found some cute cupcake stickers at the store. (Mr. Sketch is the best quality, longest-lasting markers for posters and other projects -- plus smell good so no marker stench headache.)

I also stole a cute idea from this blog: http://www.howdoesshe.com/cupcake-liner-pom-poms. I made this same cupcake pom pom using cupcake liners that have a cupcake pattern all over the sleeves.

And I totally forgot to take any good photos of our signage or of the table put together with my actual camera, and all I have to rely on are a few camera phone shots that are not the best quality.

This is our little table top sign.
It's dark, because it's a phone pic.

At the table -- again, a phone pic.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Owl Cupcakes

Snowflake Cupcakes

Football Cupcakes

A Little Team Spirit + Christmas Spirit this Year

There is an upcoming holiday event in the 'Boro, The 3rd Annual Festival of Trees. November 15-20, 2010.

(I am still processing that it's already mid-November and that Thanksgiving is days away.)

I will be at The Festival of Trees Saturday, November 20th with some cake samples, but my Aunt Linda and I also decorated wreaths that we donated for the Christmas tree and wreath raffle. Raffle tickets are only $1 each. Each tree and wreath has its own raffle box so that you can choose which ones you wish to spread your chances.

My Aunt made three wreaths, and I made one. I called my theme "Braves Country" since it is Braves on a more rustic, grapevine wreath. This could be pulled off for any sports team. I bought 3 star-shaped ceramic ornaments for 49¢ at Hobby Lobby. I printed off 3 pictures that I liked and cut them to fit on the front side of the ornament. I used some Mod Pod that I had in my crafting box, coated it very heavily with a sponge over the pictures on the ornaments and let it air dry over night. I wrapped a shiny blue ribbon around the wreath. I decorated it with red and silver foliage (found at Hobby Lobby) with just a touch of greenery (as not to detract from the team colors). I hot-glued blue glass Christmas balls along with red and silver stars from a garland I cut up. The glass baseball ornaments I found were much too overpriced, so I took a plain white glass ball, and while looking at a baseball, drew the stitching on with a red sharpie. I made the huge red bow and added it as the final touch.

So if you are in the area, stop by and buy a $1 raffle ticket for my wreath. All of the proceeds go to a couple of local charities that provide Christmas for families in need.

Ceramic star ornaments - after I used the
Mod Pod to adhere the pictures to it.

The CE ladies snapped my pic when I delivered it.

My wreath (above) and one of my Aunt's
wreath (below) on display, ready for next week.

When autumn comes, it doesn't ask.

To have such a sweet tooth and to love sharing the cake wealth, my "slices of life" posts are pretty lean in comparison. Life just gets so busy.

"When autumn comes, it doesn't ask. It just walks in where it left you last," as John Mayer sings. (I know a few eyes just rolled on that one.) And Fall more or less did just that in Georgia this past weekend. The brisk air rolled into town and has settled into the Boro for a bit. I actually wore a light sweater today and was not roasting by 12:00. It is quite welcome (by me) after the 100+ degree temps all summer long.

Every November I think: I don't want this year to be as hectic as the previous holiday, yet it always ends up being an overload of activity and overall rush-rush-rush. No doubt that this year will be the same, but at least it means I will get a few days off from work while seeing "old" friends and family. And I am looking forward to trying out a pretty awesome 3-D Santa cake pan that Elizabeth gave me.

There are some good things coming up on the cake horizon that I will hopefully be able to update on soon...still working on specifics and logistics.

And I couldn't not provide this update since Libby and I successfully completed our first wedding cake: a 3 layer poundcake with buttercream icing, dyed a serene ocean-y shade of periwinkle. White chocolate sand dollars and shells flanked the cake. Real shells my mom and I collected around Amelia Island, Florida this summer were set around the bottom of the cake. The cake was served at a beachside wedding on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, October 30, 2010.

Congratulations to John and Sarah Barber!