Cutesy Envelopes

So I decided to make some cutesy envelopes...because I saw it on Pinterest.

"Tutorial: Easy Tiny Envelopes"-Original pin from Poppytalk.

(Which is actually a guest post by Ruth Bleakley of RuthBleakley.com.)

Getting the mail is usually the highlight of my morning.  I do a lot of on-line shopping and I'm almost certain the mailman hates me.  He is actually the second mailman we've had this year.  The other one retired (and I'm almost certain that was because of me, too).  But hey, USPS is going through some rough times.  I like to think I'm providing job security for this endangered American Institution!  Right?

Here's my mail from one day earlier this month...

Anyway, without disclosing my true age (a lady never tells), I will say that I'm no longer in the stage of life where wedding invitations (the pinnacle of all mail varieties) are common inhabitants of my mailbox.  Luckily, there have been an abundance of baby announcements to take their place.  In my opinion, nothing compares to a piece of mail intended for you, personally.  A birthday card, an invitation, a letter...someone taking time to write a note just for you.  So much better than an email or text.  

And you know what's even better?  A pretty envelope.  

When I saw these cute little envelopes on Pinterest, I immediately decided to make some.  The beauty of this project is that its completely free and you can use any form of paper you happen to have around the house. Really the possibilities are endless-think newspaper, magazines, old books, etc!  (This is incredibly exciting for me because I subscribe to Martha Stewart Living and every page is perfeciton!)

I decided to use scrapbook paper for my envelopes.

I am a scrapbook paper hoarder connoisseur.  All my pages are carefully sorted by theme in a special bin with wheels that lives in the guest room closet.  Actually, the hardest part of this project was deciding which papers to choose for this post.  I decided on some cheery prints from my Spring stack.   See?  Cheery :)

All you need for this project is an envelope you like the size and shape of, a bowl of warm water, scissors, a thin piece of cardboard (I used a piece of cereal box), cute paper, and some glue (or double sided tape).

Just soak the envelope in a bowl of warm water for about 3 minutes or until the glue loosens enough for you to undo the envelope. 

Lay the undone envelope out to dry for about a half hour.  I am lazy and impatient so I pressed the water out of my envelope with a paper towel so I wouldn't have to wait that long.

Trace the envelope onto the piece of cardboard, then cut out the shape.  

I'm actually couch-blogging at the moment.  I'm super sick.  And it just occurred to me that I could have skipped this step entirely (lazy me can't believe sick me didn't think of this before now) and used the envelope itself as a template.  Yes, its thin, but it would have totally worked.

Now you have a template for tracing your envelope onto any paper you choose.  I labeled the top and bottom to help my antibiotic-drugged mind not bugger this up.

Trace the template onto the back side of your paper and cut it out.  Then just fold and seal the edges.  

I used Elmer's glue sticks (they go on purple but dry clear) because I have a whole six pack that needs to be used up before Jake gets tired of looking at them and they disappear!  Much like my bobby pins and ponytail holders tend to... Anyway, if you're not planning to use your envelopes right away, use permanent tape.  Glue stick stick-ability isn't that great long term.

Aren't they darling?

I would be thrilled to open my mailbox and find one of these little envelopes in there!  It really doesn't take much to make someone feel special.  I know a sweet note would make my heart happy!  

I think I will send The Good Girl over at GoodGirlsInc a little note to let her know how much her blog makes me smile.  Especially since she added the Breaking Dawn countdown widget... 

My name is Cassie and I love Twilight.

So overall, I give this project an A+!  Its super easy, free, and you can make any kind of envelope you want!  Think about the possibilities:  sweet little lunchbox-note envelopes, seed envelopes, invitation envelopes...you could even make paying your bills less dreadful with a cheery envelope!

And you may never have to buy envelopes again!

Go make an envelope and someone's day.  Happy crafting, friends!

Happy Sunday! Have a Sundae!

So I decided to make chocolate chip cookie sundae cups...because I saw it on Pinterest.

"Sugar Cookie Bowls" - Original pin from Wilton.

We are definitely in the holiday spirit at my house.  This year, Miss Precocious and I tricked Jake into putting our Christmas tree up the first week of October.  How did we do it?  We told him it was going to be a "Holiday Tree".  

We decorated it for Halloween during the month of Octorber.  This month it has a Thanksgiving theme.  And next month it will be a Christmas Tree again.  (I think Jake secretly likes having it up, but he won't admit it. Men!) 

Anyway, to me it just feels wrong to decorate a tree without cookies baking and some sort of holiday music playing (Bing Crosby Holiday on Pandora!!).  So when it was time to switch the Halloween decorations for the Thanksgiving decorations this weekend, I decided to make us a special cookie treat!  

I pinned those Wilton cookie bowls a while back and decided to make them as soon as I got some Pillsbury.  I have to be honest, I didn't read a single instruction off the Wilton site.  Not one.  Lazy.  But how hard can it be?  Squish some dough, bake, eat... 

One day I will learn.  

We'll get to that. 

So here is what you need to make this happen:

I just molded the dough thinly (I swear it felt thin) around the bottom of the ungreased muffin pan.  Like so.

I was only brave enough to try one. (Can you blame me for not wanting to waste Pillsbury cookie dough??)

And since I bake cookies all the time, I know a little trick.  If you want the cookies to hold their shape, stick them in the freezer for 5 minutes before you bake.  Now I know this works for cut-outs so I figured it would work for Pillsbury too.  

Umm...no.

Wilton can kiss it.  Maybe I should have read the instructions?

I am a cheater.

Tada!

Well at least it tastes awesome!  

I give this project a big E-F for Epic Fail!  Hope you have better luck :)

Happy Sunday!

Happy Birthday Mom! Have Some Cake.

So I decided to make my mom a very special birthday cake...because I saw it on Pinterest.

 This is a two-for-one post ;)

"White Wedding Cake Cupcakes"-Original pin from Lori at RecipeGirl.

and...

"Rose Cake Tutorial"-Original pin from Amanda at I Am Baker.

I bake all the time!  Its my favorite hobby.  And I absolutely adore I Am Baker! Amanda is so clever. She is always hiding things inside her cakes (no, not like keys or money!).  Seriously.  Read her blog.  It's amazing. 

I saw that amazing rose cake a few months ago and I actually pinned it myself! I keep getting emails (like 3 a day) telling me that someone else has pinned it too.  It's a pretty awesome cake, and I guess I'm not the only one who thinks so!  

I bought the special tip for making those roses (Wilton 1M) the same week I found this cake post.  I haven't tried to make the rose cake but I did make some rose cupcakes that were pretty cute. Want to see?

I made this cake, the cookies and cupcakes for a little friend's third birthday party. I had so much fun making these!  Pink...it's my favorite color.  Anyway, those are the little rose cupcakes.

Where was I?  Oh!  Ok so why two pins in one post?  Well, I am using the recipe from RecipeGirl and the decorating idea from I Am Baker.

You see, I've been decorating birthday cakes for a while and I always use boxed cake mix.  Remember, I am the epitome of lazy.   And this has worked pretty well...so far.  But the last cake I made was a monster and the cake wasn't as dense as it should have been which caused some stability issues.  Cakes from a box tend to be a little on the fluffy side so I am hoping that this recipe from RecipeGirl will create a more dense cake with minimal extra effort on my part!

"What is the occasion for this cake?" you ask.  My amazing mommy's birthday is this week and she is coming to visit so I wanted to make her a very special cake. 

This is my sweet little mama when she was a youngster.  Isn't she the cutest thing ever? I just want to pinch those cheeks!!!  Love her!

Alright, so this is the recipe for the cake:

1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream (I used light)
4 large egg whites

Need a visual?

Now, nowhere in her post does RecipeGirl say that this cake will be dense.  I am just using my reasoning skills (which have been wrong before)...but it seems that adding an entire cup of flour and a cup of sour cream should weigh things down a bit.  

Anyway, I am making two 8" round cakes and a few cupcakes for mom to take back home to my dad (because he's pretty awesome, too!). I am a fan of the grease-and-flour method of prepping baking pans.  This is the only way I've found to ensure my cakes don't stick. I get a lot of Crisco on a paper towel and run it around the pan a few times.  Then I dump flour in and wiggle it around until everything is coated.  Ah-like-so:

You know how I mentioned that my mom was pretty awesome?  Well to illustrate that point, look what she brought me!

Yes.  Every baker's dream.  A STAND MIXER!  Wooohoooo!!!  If I could do a cartwheel, I totally would.  (Mom, you are freaking awesome!)

Ok so first you need to wisk together all the dry ingredients.  

Now I'm just showing off my fancy mixer.

Then blend in all the other ingredients.  Since it's my mom's birthday (and for no other reason) I even removed the little white squishy yuckness from the eggs.  She can't stand the thought of eating those, no matter what.  Happy Birthday!

Can you see how amazingly smooth that cake batter is??  Gratuitous mixer footage.

I filled two 8" pans a little more than halfway and I still had enough batter for 9 cupcakes.  The oven was preheated to 325 and I should have set a timer but...I am a lazyface.  

After they started to smell really good (who needs a timer when you have a nose?), I tested them with a knife and tada! Perfection. 

While the cakes were cooling, I started working on the buttercream.  I mixed 2 sticks of salted butter, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 4 cups of powdered sugar in the separate bowl that came with the mixer (it has TWO bowls!).  Then I added  a little bit more powdered sugar...and a little bit more milk...and I did that a few times.  I just work with it until it is the consistency I think I want for the tip I'm going to use (you'll meet the tip in a minute).  

When I had it the way I wanted, I put the smidgeniest amount of Wilton Rose and Sky gel food colorings and stirred by hand.  I was going for a lavender color.  I actually tinted properly! Can you tell? Whoop!

Since I've used this tip before I know that it can be a real buttercream hog!  And I knew I wanted to give the cake a little flavor (I didn't add any flavoring to this lovely buttercream).  So I made a separate, smaller batch of strawberry buttercream to crumb coat the cake with.  

I used 1 stick of butter, 1 tablespoon of milk, 1/4 cup of Duncan Hines strawberry frosting and enough powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit.  Adding the tub frosting is so much fun!  It's totally cheating, but it adds just enough flavor to the buttercream and it makes it extra smooth.  

Yep.  I forgot to tint the crumb coat buttercream lavender.  I hate that my brain never recovered from being pregnant.  I wonder how much mental capacity I lost...  Can't even think about it!

Want to meet the beast?

That's the Wilton 1M.  My very favorite tip.  LOVE!  Get one.  You can make pretty cakes too!

Ok the first roses should go on the side of the cake.  Start in the middle and loop around until the entire side is covered.

Adding roses to the top is tricky.  I started with one square in the middle and had to scrape it off.  It didn't leave me enough room for the roses on the outside. They would have been like...half roses or something really awkward.  

So I started at the edge and did the entire circumference of the cake and then filled in from there.  There are going to be holes and gaps between the roses.  Just make some swoops with your tip to fill them in.  (This is where tinting the crumb coat the same color as the roses would have been helpful.)

I just kept swooping and before I knew it, I had a fancy rose cake!  That was easy!

And goodness, this cake was divine!  It truly is wedding cake!!!  

Way to go RecipeGirl!  I give this an A+!  The cakes were dense (in a good way) and I barely had to level them at at all.  And the decorating was easy to do, thanks to I Am Baker's tutorial.  

Oh I wish I could share a piece with every single one of you!  But now you know you can make one yourself.  So get to it!