Just Like Mommy...

Diva is just starting to really get into dolls lately, so I thought it would be cute for her to have a sling to carry her baby around in. Since we will be welcoming a new baby to our house in a few months, the timing is perfect for her to get into the whole Mommy thing. When she was little I used a sling all the time, and I figure I'll probably do it again-- so now we will be able to match when we go out to the park or are just playing around the house.
The sling was super easy to create. I went online and found two tutorials that I like and sort of combined them... parts from Koala Brains and this one from Momma's Milk. I did however, make mine reversible by sewing two fabrics (wrong sides) together, instead of just folding the fabric as Momma's Milk suggests. I also didn't worry about reinforcing the bottom seam since dolls aren't very heavy, and my daughter drops them on the ground anyway. Oops.

Tinker Bell Costume

For Halloween this year, we decided to go as a group costume. My husband would be Captain Hook, I would be Peter Pan, and Diva wanted to be Tinker Bell. As I looked around at Tinker Bell costumes on-line, I was really disappointed. None of them actually looked like Tinker Bell! There was only one thing left to do... I had to make it. Seeing as how last year's costume wasn't a total disaster I felt up to the task.

I created a tube dress out of some satiny fabric and sewed it to a flesh colored leotard (good thing too since we had a freak snowstorm in NJ just a few days before Halloween!). For the wings, I was a total sucker and made them myself too... note to whoever thinks about trying to make their own fairy wings. DON'T! Just buy the cheap-o ones... you'll thank me later. I also made her a matching pixie dust bag to hold all of her trick-or-treat goodies. I used this tutorial, but modified the size.

All in all I was happy with how it came out, and she had fun in it.

Quilted Christening Cake

As the family baker, I was "commissioned" to create a cake for my nephew's baptism. I decided to try something I had never done before... always a great idea for when 100+ people will be staring at it. But what the heck, I'm a gutsy gal (not).

I decided to try my hand at "quilting" the fondant. It always looks so pretty in pictures, and I read a ton about how to achieve the desired effect. So I bought the tools and off I went with a wing and a prayer.

The cake was a 3 tier white butter cake with cannoli cream filling. I covered it with a buttercreme flavored fondant that was quilted and tufted it with edible pearls. The monogram plate and roses were handmade with white chocolate and the cross and bows were hand-sculpted with gumpaste. 
Looking at it now, I'm pretty happy with it, but at the time all I saw were the imperfections. I think cake decorating is kinda like giving birth. While you are doing it you curse and scream and say you will never do it again, but then after some time has passed you look back and admire what you see and get excited to do it all over again.