Impressionist Faux Walls - Ensemble Theatre

This is what I did today at a theatre in downtown Houston.  I can't wait to go see a play there and admire my own work when the theatre renovation is complete. (smile wink wink) I used a strie technique with a lean towards impressionism.  Modern Masters metallics were used in  Copper, Pale Gold, Teal, English Brown, and Olympic Gold.

Decorated Cookies

I view my cookies as little edible pieces of art!  Let me start by saying, I do not like to bake or cook, but I LOVE to decorate food!  My husband is the cook in our family.  He is an award winning cook, as a matter of fact.  He used to cook in bar-b-que cook offs all of the time.  He would cook it, and I would present it.  I cut bell peppers to look like palm trees, or radish roses...etc.  What a team!

So that being said, when I first started my cookie decorating, I would get refrigerated dough from the grocery store, and add lots of flour, then kneed the heck out of it!  They tasted to store bought to me, so I tried adding powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg...but still didn't like it.  After years (and I am not kidding) of research and development, I have discovered the best knock of cookie ever!  I like my cookies to be very stiff for decorating.  I don't want them to fall apart, or rise and spread so you can't tell what the shape is.  In my unprofessional opinion, this requires a lot of flour.  To make the perfect decorator cookie, I use Krusteez sugar cookie mix as follows:

1 stick of margarine softened
2 1/2 cups of Krusteez Cookie Mix
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg

You will have to knead this with your hands.  I roll mine out to be about 1/4" thick and then cut with my favorite shape.  I flour EVERYTHING!!!  The surface I roll on, the rolling pin, and the cookie sheet.  I watch mine closely, (every oven is different) but they take about 9 minutes at 375 degrees.

After they are completely cooled, you can decorate.  I use 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp of milk.  I color the icing with Wilton paste food coloring.  This doesn't dilute and you get vibrant colors.  I usually buy icing bags at Michael's made by Wilton, but on the Halloween cookies shown, I used nothing but a zip lock back, and cut a tiny piece out of the corner.  To ice the solid base color, draw a line around the cookie and then fill in.  The icing sort of flows into itself and covers very well.  Everything I do is just sort of hand drawn, so your imagination is the key to a bright decorative cookie.  Here are some of mine.

Happy Baking!

XOXXO

Nee' Nee'

Faux Three Tiered Cake

I had a request to show the steps on the cake that was pictured on the Pink Bridal Shower post.  So, here we go!

First of all, I purchased three hat boxes.  I turned them upside down and glued them on top of each other with a glue gun to form the base of the cake.  Now, years ago I took a Wilton Cake Decorating class and learned tips and tricks for icing a cake.  I put these into play when making this faux cake as well.  I used an actual cake icing spatula, but I used something called joint compound instead of icing. 

As you can see, I had some other projects going on in the background!  My ADD was in full swing!  After that dried, I added some dimension.  The joint compound is used in home construction for sheetrock patching...or something like that!  When I look at it, I just see endless possibilities, not sheetrock!  I like the lightweight joint compound.  It runs around $7.00 for a box.  It comes already mixed and ready to use.  I buy it at Home Depot or Lowes.  This is what you are looking for:

It let the "cake" dry overnight.  I taped off the top to make raised stripes.  I applied more joint compound and then removed the tape.  That process formed the raised stripes.  Then I took a stencil and did the same thing for the diamond shapes on the bottom.  For the polka dots, I glued large acrylic jewels around the middle layer. 





The trim around the edges is watered down joint compound, that I put into an icing bag from Wilton.  I mixed in some water to make the joint compound about the consistency of icing, and just piped large dots around the edges to trim it out.  All of this dried overnight, and then I painted it with a brush using my favorite paint ever!  This was done with Modern Masters Pink.  It took about three coats to get it just like I wanted it.  I had planned on painting the diamonds, polka dots and stripes black, but the contrast was too harsh.  This is the final result!  It was a great decoration for the party, and I can take it with me to work, or restaurants when I want to celebrate some one's birthday!  My big plan is to cut a hole in it long ways, and make a slot for cards so we can use it at my nieces wedding as a card box. 

We had fun with this at the shower.  My niece, Maycee, acted like she dropped something on it and some of the guests were horrified, thinking it was a real cake.  My brother-in-law, Robert, was confused when he looked through the pictures.  He wondered why we had two cakes. 

Sharon wrote me and wondered if it would be possible to do cupcakes as well.  She has a party decorating company called Chubby Cheeks, and she wants to use them for display.  You could follow the same steps, but you would have to start with a small rounded box or maybe an upside down stryofoam cup.  I tell you, the possibilities are endless.  Let me know if you think of anything unique or exciting.  I love to hear new ideas!

Have a blessed day!

Nee' Nee'





Pinterest

We interrupt this blog to get you addicted to CRACK!  Okay, not really, but close!  Have you heard of Pinterest? http://pinterest.com/  If you have, YOU KNOW!!  If you haven't...listen up.  This is the greatest thing since sliced bread!  My darling step-daughter introduced me and my niece, Meagan, to it.  Meagan checked it out and then tutored my other niece, Maycee, and myself on it!  BEWARE, becoming a member of Pinterest may cause you to be late to parties, to have long periods of blacked out time, and cause you to start several projects at once! 

I am notorious for tearing out magazine pages (hope my doctor is not reading this) in office waiting rooms.  I collect ideas and put them in sheet protectors in binders.  Pinterest is like a virtual binder or more accurately, bulletin board!  People have collected their ideas, and "pinned" them on their boards.  They in turn are able to share all of this inspiration with others.  You browse the website and "pin" up things you like onto your own bulletin board.  It is always there for you to refer back to, or update.  I have several boards, such as Craft Projects, Organization, and Luv Me Sum Halloween (to name a few).  As you can tell, you can customize your board names!  I have a big work project coming up in September, so I made a board called Sept. Project, and I have been pinning inspiring ideas to it.  You can also add a Pin It tab to your toolbar, so you can instantly pin ideas that you find while you are surfing the net.  This is such a neat way to save your great finds.  So many times I have lost my place while surfing for ideas, and couldn't find my way back to the website.  Pinterest eliminates that! 

So...when you have a few...check it out! 

Have a good day!
Luvyameanit,
Nee' Nee'

Huge Glittered Letters

I saw a tutorial on Miss Mustard Seed's blog about how to do glittered letters.  http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2010/11/glittered-letter-tutorial-finally.html  This INSPIRED the heck out of me!  I wanted to do those for the upcoming shower I was throwing, but I wanted them to be really big! (shocking that I would want to go big or go home??)  In order to get them really large, but make them somewhat sturdy, I cut them out of stryofoam.  Home Depot sells sheets that are made for insulation.  I thought that would work really well for this project.  http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100320356/h_d2/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&keyword=foam+sheets&jspStoreDir=hdus&Nu=P_PARENT_ID&selectedCatgry=SEARCH+ALL&navFlow=3&catalogId=10053&langId=-1&ddkey=Search. (that link looks really long and ugly, but I wanted you to see exactly what I am talking about!)

I have used this foam to make headboards for beds, and for large scale Halloween decorations.  I found a couple of fonts that I liked, and free handed them out with a sharpie onto the foam.  If you aren't able to freehand, you can print out your letters, and take them to an office supply store to have them enlarged to the size you want. 

I found a tool that is made for cutting foam at Jo Ann's Fabrics.  It is called a hot wire.  It looks like a little curling iron, but with a wire.

It heats up, and literally melts right through the foam, to cut whatever intricate shape you need!  I got mine for $10.00, because I had a 50% off coupon!  Best investment ever!

After letters were all cut out, I painted them pink with my fabulous Modern Masters pink metallic paint.

When the paint dried, it was glitter time!

I picked out a couple of different glitters, a pink and an irridecent white.  I dumped it all into a large tub so I could recycle it over and over.

Then I brushed good old Elmer's glue onto the letters, and poured glitter over each one until it was covered.

My niece Maycee, who helped me, said I reminded her of Kesha.  I still haven't googled that person, but I am told she throws glitter everywhere.  I like her already, any girl who throw's glitter is a friend of mine!

This was the "drying station"

The final result, was a dramatic, ginourmous wall hanging for the shower.  We found out, (after cleaning up a lot of glitter from fallen letters!) the best way to hang these, is to use Command Strips by 3-M.  http://www.command.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NACommand/Command/  They have tons of items that will allow you to hang items securely to your wall, but will not take paint off when they are removed.  (otherwise, I would be faux painting my sister's wall right now!)

They made quite a statement.  So the moral of the story is IF A LITTLE IS GOOD, A LOT WILL BE BETTER!!!

The good news is, I think we may be able to find somewhere to use these at the wedding too!

They sky is the limit on this project.  You could cut out a cupcake or a birthday cake, or whatever shape you want and use it to put in the yard for your upcoming party.  Use your imagination to make it your own!

Have a blessed day today!

Luvyameanit.

Nee' Nee'

Pink Bridal Shower

This is the big reveal.  My sister Robin and I hosted a Bridal Shower for my niece Ashlee on Saturday.  We decorated a little each night last week.  It was a huge success, and we had a blast.  Here are the pictures. Enjoy!

The Bride and Groom in front of their names.  Lessons to come on how to make these!

Letters were cut out of styrofoam and glittered - I will give you tips on how to hang them later this week!

Remember Pom Making Class?  This is how we put them to use! My sister Robin did a fabulous job on this table!

More poms, hanging along with Christmas ornaments and faux chandeliers.

This cake is not real...it was made out of hat boxes!  This will be used at the wedding to hold gift cards.  Step by step instructions to follow.

This is the real cake, along with some candle sticks and finials painted pink to match the shower theme.  We also tied ribbons around a dress form for some dramatic height.

Beverage urns were decorated too!  You will love the yummy wine cooler recipe I will share later in the week.

These were the party favors.  Each guest took home a bottle of wine with the bride and groom's special label!

Wedding cake cookies were decorated in the theme colors as well.  We put out organza bags so the guests could take one with them (in case they were too full!)

We had such a fun time.  I will share more detailed information on each of these items as the week goes on.

Have a great day!
Nee' Nee'

Cake Balls

This is my beautiful niece Meagan.  Not only is she adorable, she is smart!  She recently graduated from Texas A&M University, Magna Cum-Laude!  AMAZING!  She is also the inspiration and driving force behind my blog!

While my sister, Robin, and I were decorating for our bridal shower, Meagan thought we could use some refreshments.  She made us cake balls.  She took a red velvet cake mix and baked it according to directions.  After it was baked and cooled, she crumbled it up, and mixed in one can of red velvet icing.  She then rolled them into balls.  They sort of looked like meat balls!!!  hee hee

Next, she melted Baker's chocolate http://www.kraftbrands.com/bakerschocolate in the microwave according to the directions, and dipped the cake balls in it.  After they hardened, they were ready.  It's that simple!  The result was a beautiful sweet treat! 

They are rich, so have some milk on hand!  Any quick delicious recipes up your sleeve?  Please share!

Have a great Monday!  Shower pictures to come!

Luvyameanit!

Nee'Nee'