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.