Hope

I was recently contacted by someone who has asked that I share

her incredible story, and after watching the video,

I am happy to do so.

Heather was diagnosed with cancer a few months after

having her first baby; she was told she had just over a year to live.

Fast forward 7 years, and now she is cancer free.

You can see a great video about her by clicking here.

She is trying to raise awareness of Mesothelioma (cancer caused by asbestos),

and also to encourage people to continue to hope as they struggle with

whatever problems they are dealing with.

It's a Winner!

We went to the fair on Saturday, and I was excited to see

a blue ribbon next to my cake.

It's not my best work, and I definitely had some problems

when I was putting it together....

(for some reason I bought an off-brand shortening - big mistake!

And I know better than that...)

But it all worked out beautifully.

As you can see, I went with the taller, more realistic bluebirds.

My husband said that they were better.

When I went to pick up my things yesterday evening from the fairgrounds,

I received an envelope with my prizes in it.

I brought home a blue ribbon, a sample of Red Star yeast,

a coupon for more yeast, and my score card for the cake.

I scored Excellent in each area (Appearance, Creativity,

Craftsmanship, & Appropriateness).

At the bottom were the following comments - "Swirls on top

coordinate well with bottom layer; contrast of color is good; 

piping is uniform; roses look like fabric - very nice & pleasant to look at."

I was quite pleased with everything.

Sneak Peek

The county fair is next week.

I've decided to make a cake to enter.

The top layer will have two bluebirds, but I couldn't decide which kind I 

wanted to do.  So I came up with these two sets.

I think both sets are adorable, and I can't decide which one I want to use.

 

It might come down to which pair dries the best.  I still need

to try to add the legs (the sticks on the plate), but I want to make sure that

the beaks stay in place first.

Which one do you like the best?

Betcha Can't Guess...

...what my last name starts with!

Here's my latest home project.

I love it.

And we've still got room on the wall in case

we come across more letters we love or another idea on how to make another one.

I spent less than $30 for all of it.

The white sparkly one, the lower case orange, and the uppercase red

all came home with me in my suitcase from Utah,

when I stopped at the Wood Connection.

The vinyl letters also came from there - in the clearance box for .50 - $1 a piece.

I made the yellow one - it's cardboard wrapped in yarn.

The green and brown ones were found at Michael's for .99 or less.

And the blue one with a threaded letter I made myself from scraps around here.

I'll post a tutorial on that soon.

Here's another look:

 

Watermelon Cupcakes

Every July, our church celebrates the 24th of July.

It's the day that the pioneers finally arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

The celebrations are all different, depending on where you live and what your

ward/stake (congregations/groups of congregations) decides to do.

In our current stake just outside of Seattle, they plan a big party for the afternoon.

There are bounce houses for the kids, games, and a pot luck where they supply the main dish.

Last year, we were really disappointed with how the day went.

I won't get into it much, but it was hot, everything was late, and we were hungry.

And it didn't seem to be very organized.

This year was so much better.  The weather was perfect (overcast and cool),

the girls enjoyed the bounce houses, and it started on time.

I volunteered to bring some cupcakes again this year.

Last year, if you recall, I made some cutie little covered wagon cupcakes.

But people tended to view those with suspicion.

I think they thought the white was paper and weren't interested.

And this year I wanted to take something that looked great and was more appealing, but

I couldn't think of a pioneer-ish cupcake.

So I decided to do a summery cupcake.

Watermelon won.

 Don't they look delicious?

I used a vanilla cake mix (because the store didn't have white),

made it as usual, but added a small box of watermelon jell-o for a hint of flavor,

and some pink food coloring for a better color.

 Then I stuck some cutie gingham paper to the bottom of these clear plates to make it seem

like a picnic tablecloth, topped them with some delicious 

vanilla buttercream frosting and a Sour Patch Kids watermelon candy.

They turned out great, and they were eaten quickly.

Always a good sign.

We made some fireworks shirts during FHE a few weeks ago.

Of course, they were to wear on the 4th of July.

I bought the shirts at Joann when they were on sale, 2 for $5.

I let everyone choose if they wanted red, white, or blue.

Except Daddy, since he didn't come with us.  And the baby, since

I just used one of his old onesies.

We cut up some painters tape and placed it where we wanted

the fireworks to be.

Then put some cardboard between the front and back of the shirt so the

paint didn't run through.

 Then we started painting.

We used acrylic paint and round stencil brushes.

Just dab around where you want it.

 We let them dry and then I sealed the paint in

by ironing the shirts...make sure to use a cloth between the shirt and the iron - you don't

want to get paint all over your iron.

 The results:

Wood Craft

I spent a quick weekend in Salt Lake City last month,

and while I was there I stopped in a the Wood Connection.

It's a little shop that sells unfinished wood crafts.

It's probably a good thing that we don't live nearby and that the things

they sell online are limited, because it's pretty tempting to buy up the whole place.

So many fun things!!

Of course, since I was flying home and had to keep my luggage light, since

I wasn't going to pay to have it checked, I was limited by more than a budget.

I grabbed several things, though.

Some I am still working on, but this one is done and displayed

on the mantle.

The watermelon pieces were around $6, and the vinyl was on

clearance for 50 cents.

I painted the back piece of the watermelon green, then

glued on some red gingham paper, then glued on the beadboard

that I had painted red, and then glued on the seeds.

The yellow sign was a piece of scrap wood from the garage.

They actually sell 2 more pieces of watermelon, which would have made a super

fun collection, but the weight and the budget were considerations that I had to keep in mind.

You can check out their website and see a few things they sell online,

but looking around their blog allows you to see finished products that people

have created from the unfinished products they sell.

So fun!