New blog

You can now find my new blog posts at http://jessicacstewart.wordpress.com/

colors in all caps

It's funny how much things can change over the course of a couple of months.  How God's timing took me from being so uncertain about me future, to on the path to starting a business (with an amazing friend) before I even graduate.

Steen's plan for COLORS blew me away, when she told me about it last year during prep for Scarf Some Sweets 2009.  I'm so blessed to be her partner is this amazing journey!  Even though the name of the company is COLORS, you may see "colors in all caps" in some places.  There's an awesome story behind why COLORS is in all caps (you can read in on Steen's blog here), but there are some places where we can't express the word in caps, so we use the phrase instead!

In January, Steen and I will be traveling to Thailand to work with an organization called Destiny Rescue, that rescues girls out of sex trafficking.  We'll be teaching the girls how to crochet scarves and jewelry!  The 3rd Annual Scarf Some Sweets will be raising money for our plane tickets, yarn, supplies, and fees. 

December 10TH @ 7:30PM
River Park Clubhouse
166 River Park Crossing
Woodstock, GA 30188
$7 @ the door.
$25 for VIP access which includes front row to the fashion show & FIRST pick over all items!
*Cash and Checks will only be accepted.*

There will be live music, awesome desserts, a crazy-fun fashion show, and some fabulous accessories!

And thanks so much to everyone who is giving their time and talents to help make this business a success.  We wouldn't be here without all of you! 

You can read more about COLORS and the 3rd Annual Scarf Some Sweets at

Mayhay's blog 

Steen's blog 

and

The amazing MuncleFred's blog 

And you can learn more about Destiny Rescue here.

Let's Sing a Song of Buttons

If I were one of those people, I would probably join hundreds of Facebook groups about how buttons define my LIFE! Well, maybe not hundreds... (cause there aren't that many)......... (yes, I checked).

And when I saw this particular project in a handcraft store and on a random blog, I knew it was destiny.  Button Bouquets.

Or maybe love at first sight.

It wasn't hard to figure out how to get the buttons threaded and standing up.  I had some really cute scrap fabric and I like the idea of using it as the "grass". Or would it be "dirt"? It's cute, and that's all that matters!

Besides being quite adorable, they really only serve as cute centerpieces.  SO My wonderful friend, Kayla, gave me the idea to make them into picture holders!  I tried to find the clips that most similar picture holders use, but I couldn't find those, so I ended up making them out of key rings and significant use of a hot glue gun (which I can never seem to use without hurting myself).

The little girl in the picture is the wonderful Miss Lauren, of my favorite babysittees, the McCreary's! She got this one for her birthday (the big 7!).  And I took advantage of their pretty back yard to take these pictures.

I also have an undying love for weddings.  So the combination of weddings and buttons would be pure heaven!  As seen here, button wedding bouquets!!!

But I have to say, brooch wedding bouquets are a strong contender for my love.

Oldies but Goodies

So the rainbow cake was only my second "official" cake, but I wanted to post pictures of the cakes and cupcakes I've done before!

Owl Fondant Cake

This was my second attempt at using fondant.  My first attempt was pretty shabby.  I don't even think I have a picture of my first try.  This one was completely covered in fondant, but I usually prefer to just use fondant for decorations.

First Owl Cupcakes

Ha, I was still working on my icing technique at this point.  Buttercream icing, fondant decorations.

Jessica, Michaela, and Kayla's Owl/Bird Cupcakes

It was a bird/feather themed party!  So much fun!

Tara's Pumpkin baby shower!

A pink pumpkin cake!  I was so afraid to make this, because I'd never done ANYTHING like it before.  I ended up having to melt the icing and pour it over the cake.  Fortunately the texture wasn't too bad, and the fondant decorations were good for covering up the messy bottom!

First Icing Decoration

First time I had ever iced a round cake.  First time using icing bag to decorate.  Thankfully I had already gotten some tips from my friend Marcia (who also makes awesome cakes!).  It was just practice, so this cake ended up going to Noah's (because apparently, the kid never eats).

Oh, and I'm still getting the hang of how to edit these posts, so have patience with my horrible formatting.  And if anyone has some advice, shoot me a message!

The Rainbow Connection

My sister just started her own blog over at nearsighted. You should go read it. It's cute, she's cute. What more could you ask for? (Disclaimer:  I'm not responsible for what kind of language she uses)

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, which is why it has taken a while to post this. Lucy's actual shower was a couple of weeks ago. BUT this is the first official post under my new name "Cakes and Crafts"!!! See my new banner?? I made that. You're welcome.

So, Lucy's first bridal shower was a while ago, and I made these cupcakes for the gala.

White cake, homemade cream cheese icing, and handmade chocolate monograms. It was my first time ever doing the monogram decoration, which is why they are all "differently shaped", haha.

Well, right after the shower, I was browsing through blogs and found this amazing cake on Whisk Kid's blog, and I instantly wished I had made it for Lucy's shower instead! So when Leah asked me to make the cake for the second shower, I already knew what I was going to make.

I knew it was going to be a lot of work, considering that there are six layers and I only have one ten-inch cake pan....

 The first layer that Kati so proudly iced :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the cake before I crumb coated most of it. But this is it with the red layer before crumb coating.

Yay! All crumb coated!

I'm horrible at taking timely pictures, so this is it after final icing and starting decorations.

In fridge, waiting for the shower!! :D

And then the photos taken with Lauren's camera, cause they're way prettier.

My fave :D

Post devouring

OH! And the rainbow part was a surprise to Lucy :D So I got a video of cutting the cake.

Santorini

We only spent a few hours in Santorini, but it was one of my favorite cities!

 

As we were pulling into the harbor, it was SO windy!  Kate is probably going to kill me for this, but I think it captures the moment perfectly! Haha!

We also had the "wonderful" opportunity to ride donkeys up the side of the cliff to the city. Can you see the light, squiggly line between the left and center of the picture, that leads to the top of the cliff?  Yeah, that's the path that they donkeys walk on.  It was absolutely TERRIFYING!!!  Ha, well maybe not so bad, but I sure was scared.

This is the video of my "harrowing" experience.

Poor donkeys....

 The only thing we did was walk around and look at all the cute shops.  I got some cute pictures.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Thankfully we decided to ride the cable cars back down the cliff!  This is Kate being super happy about that! Haha (not really)

Rhodes and Crete

Rhodes was SO much different from most of the cities we had been visiting.  That is because Rhodes has been infiltrated and influenced by many, many different cultures.  There were Roman, Ottoman, Medieval, and Italian influences, and all can be seen in architectural structures and the culture!