weekend update

man this weekend was too short....right?

i had a baby shower cake to deliver to college station for a friend of mine Kim.

her shower was loosely themed after Shel Silverstein's children's books.  she told me her and the hubs really like his "Underwater Land" album so i decided to make the octopus from the album the main focus of the cake

isnt he cute....i cant get over how good he came out.  i kinda want to make one out of modeling clay and keep him on my desk.  the cake was my organic lemon cake with lemon curd and sweet cream filling....my fav flavor!

yesterday (sunday) i got sucked into watching the "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" marathon that was on TLC...anyone else find themselves glued to the tv? man...that show is cra-cra.

i was productive while i was watching though.  i started dying and making coffee filter roses for my wedding

what do you think?  i dyed them ivory, light green, and light orange....you cant really tell from the pic but it makes them look much more natural than stark white.  i love these roses...they look pretty real, elegant....and most important....cheap!!!  ill most more pics later.  last night was just a test run.  for more info on how to make them please visit Aunt Peaches tutorial on how to make these lovely blooms....this woman is seriously brilliant.

 

how was your weekend?

weekend update

it was a crazy busy weekend....which only included about 7 hours of sleep total...yikes. 

i had 2 custom cakes and 2 dz custom cupcakes....both for great friends.

Dave had a show this weekend with his spanish band La Sien.  The bill also included Making Movies - bilingual band out of Kansas City.....these guys are awesome on and off the stage (see my NowPlaying:Tuesday for more info about them)

here are some pics of this weekend....there is only a few because i was having to much fun to remember to take pics.

my first finished friendship bracelet since like the 4th grade

Graduation cap and diploma cake

custom graduation cupcakes (lemon and coconut)

polka-dots for a precious 3 year old girlie

Making Movies on stage

funny story about the show on Saturday night - the booking agent double booked the night.  it was supposed to only be spanish bands....but it turns out that he had also accidentally books a rapper showcase with like 12 different local rappers.  so both rappers and the spanish bands played.....im not going to lie....it was an awkward mix of people.  but sticking around til almost 2am to hear Making Movies was well worth it....plus we got to hang out with them all night prior to them going on.  cant wait to hang out and listen to them play again!

until next time

im going to do today's entry on

Cake - Showroom of Compassion

(their new album)

what can i say.....i love Cake.  this album did not disappoint at all!!!

im really digging "Long Time", "Mustache Man", "Easy to Crash."  Their sound is the same....its still very Cake, but stightly fresher....in a good way.  i dont know what else to say about it....its a great album!  if you are a Cake fan you will definately love it.  its available for $7 on iTunes (non deluxe version)...or if you want an extra song and video its $12.

let me know what you think

if there is a band/songwritter you think i should check out or feature let me know...im always open to new stuff.

all work and no play....newest cakes

ive been absent for about a week.  constantly working, even on weekends, has taken a toll.  im exhausted....my eye twitch is back....and i think these dark circles have become a permanent fixture on my face.  but all my work has resulted in a couple good cakes.  its been a while since ive put some cake pics up so here ya go

this was a baby shower cake a friend of mine asked me to do.  the plate on the left is what the them was for the party....and on the right is my interpretation of the plate in cake form.  it was a vanilla cake with strawberry preserves and sweet cream filling.  i think the little palm tree hanging off the left side of the cake is cute.

next up is my twin cousin's 1st birthday cake....based off the British show Shaun the Sheep (done by the makers of Wallis and Gromet...and is available on Netflix instant)!

i think it came out pretty good!  dave's help was invaluable to me on this one.  he made Shaun and the little baby on the top, as well as the big'en aka "Shirley."  he did such a great job on making them look like they do in the show.  i dont know if you can tell from the pics but there is a #1 on top that look it was formed with two boards.  Shaun makes stuff really fast in the show so i thought it would be fun to make it look like Shaun made a number one as well as the boys names out of wood.  this cake was chocolate with chocolate filling and the top teir was organic lemon cake with lemon curd and sweet cream filling.  everyone seemed to like it....so i declare it a success.

thats all for now but ill be back later today with more entries. 

merry christmas...wow its been a while

sorry y'all....its been a while since i last posted.  thats what the holidays to do ya....makes you forget everything.  this Christmas was pretty quiet.  we didnt do a lot of gift giving because of money....we are trying to save for the wedding and other big stuff coming up so gifts were very minimal.  dave and i went to my moms house for Christmas breakfast/Sis' birthday celebration and then headed over to his family's house to hang out. 

Christmas night we were once again invited to play Christmas Bingo with a close friend's family.  apparently Dave and I are really lucky at Bingo (there really isnt a way to cheat)....the past 3 years in a row we've won multiple times.  This year wasnt any different.....I won twice, Dave won twice, and we both threw a couple games because we felt bad cause we kept winning.  whenever you win a game you get to pick a "bingo present" (everyone brings a couple bingo presents) out of a pile and its fun to unwrap the mystery present....usually fun gag gifts.  this year i brought BaconPop (bacon flavored popcorn which im embarrassed to say is really yummy).  Dave won a candle and a giant...i mean giant zippo lighter.  i wont a plug-in scent warmer from yankee candle and handmade pillow.  always a good time.  dave had family come in to visit from Mexico...we had fun hanging out with cousins.  we had Christmas dinner with  his family on Sunday afternoon/evening.  All in all a good low key Christmas. 

this week at work is pretty quiet to....i guess people took the whole week off.  i found out yesterday that i got a promotion....yea...finally.  i am now a senior records anyalyst.  cant wait to see what my pay adjustment will be....im thankful for anything right now....every little bit helps. 

i also am booked for two cakes this week.  one of them, completed last night, is for a 30 somthing doctor.  the girl who ordered it had no ideas on how to have it decorated so i just came up with something.....that im pretty please with.  what do you think?

i think it turned out ok.  it says man cake.....right?  i have to deliver it tonight....fingers crossed the client will be happy with it.  i have another cake on the books for the end of the week.  the client wants the cake to look like a "Bugatti" car.  i had never heard of this car till i had to look it up to see if i could even do what the client was asking for.  ill post pics when im done....please say a prayer for me....it will be a tough one.

what a short....but full weekend

this weekend i had a cake order for a new client (one who will bring me a lot more business).  the cake requested was a "Gucci duffle bag with money coming out of it."  its kind of an odd order....especially since it was for a man's birthday celebration.  but i decided its better not to ask.  so thats what the majority of saturday was.....making cake look like Gucci.  here is a pic of the bag that the client sent me.....

and this is what i was able to come up with:

the lighting in my kitchen makes the pictures look really yellow (not helped by my vintage "harvest gold" countertops).....but i think i did a good job.  i only painted a few Gucci logos....i did them by hand and there was no way i was going to paint hundreds of them.  it was strawberry flavored cake with big chunks of strawberry pieces baked in, filled with my famous sweet cream icing.

also this weekend....i picked up my custom mucho mucho bueno bueno key necklace.  i believe last week...or maybe the week before Brandi posted on her blog that she was taking custom key necklace orders for the holidays.  i already have, and love, my anchor key necklace from her.....so i jumped at the chance to get mine and my fiance's name on a key. 

dave and i stoped by Brandi's salon on saturday (yea for being close and not paying shipping!) to pick it up....and its awesome!!  Thanks so much Brandi !!!

im so happy she was able to do the tree design.  maybe, after we are married, when we add kids to our little family we can add more keys to our family tree! Brandi....don't stop making keys

thats all i got for now.  ill be back later with xmas wishlist and other fun things!

cake orders from last week

this past week i did an order of custom cupcakes with hand painted "diva toppers" with piped "24s."  they were vanilla cupcakes topped with strawberry preserves, fresh strawberries and white chocolate sweet cream frosting. 

i also had a baby shower cake for a sweet friend of mine, erica.  she is doing an orange nursery theme for her lil boy....and she also has a love for owls.  so i based the cake on the invitation which had a mama and baby owl on it and very simple/angular trees.  it was dark chocolate cake with raspberry and chocolate filling.  

i think they turned out pretty good and my customers were pretty happy....so i declare them a success.  what do you think?

xoxo

-erin

tombstones, owls and a belly

it occured to me that ive done a few cakes in the past couple of weeks and i hadnt showed ya'll yet....sorry about that.  about a week or so ago (halloween) i made a birthday cake for the lovely miss. shelby, a halloween baby.  she requested a halloween themed birthday cake for her costume party.  so i decided to make a tombstone and grave cake.  i think it turned out pretty cool....she loved it!

the cake was a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, then coated in oreo cookie "dirt."  the tombstone was a giant rice crispy/crunch berries treat, that i carved to look like a tombstone, and then covered in a marbled fondant.  and of course,you cant have a grave cake with out a skeleton hand coming out.....shelby totally dug it....she was comparing her hand to it to see if it was accurate....so funny.

next up was my good friend erica's family baby shower cake/cupcakes.  they wanted a smallish preggy belly cake and cupcakes with an owl theme.  so this is what i came up with.

Mocha cake with sweet cream filling
Photo courtesy of Sara Van Buskirk

gumpaste tulips turned into owls (hey you gotta make due with what you got sometimes)



Gumpaste owls and leaves, hand piped with royal icing
Photo courtesy of Sara Van Buskirk

 

I think everything turned out ok....what do you think? ive been pretty busy with cakes recently, which from a business standpoint is great, but at the same time I have a full time job in addition to my cakes and its tiring.  I love making cakes...each cake is unique and different and presents new challenges.....which is one of the main reasons i am drawn to do them.  if you haven't checked out my website already i would love to have you visit http://www.littlegreenboxshoppe.com/ or click on the portfolio tab at the top. If you live in the Houston area and are interested give me a call!

xoxo

-e

cake and pancakes

sorry its been a few days....life is busy as always.  my car decided to be sick on thursday so ive been taking the bus to work.... ive had some fun experiences so far.  the first day i rode the bus i started chatting with this older lady....and she is so adorable i couldnt help but smile.  she was wearing this cute white suit with bright orange lipstick on...complete with matching nail polish.  today i rode with her again and she was wearing bright hot pink lipstick with matching nail polish.....so cute. 

Friday i had a cake to deliver and thankfully my mom offered to drive me. here is a pic of the cake.  it was chocolate raspberry cake with black and white pinstripes, gold bow on top and "curlers" with the number 40 hanging from them (clients request).

i think it turned out ok.  what do you think?

Saturday morning dave and i went to Lola for breakfast....we both ordered their blueberry pancakes....that should tell you how good they are.  dave cleaned his plate before i got halfway through mine.  so good

 Sunday i stayed home all day....since i didnt have a working car....and no one was available to pick me up and entertain me all day.  so i started embroidering my quilt back....it has my name and davids name on the back in a fun mixed font.  im trying to get it finished so i can use it when it gets cold.  here is the progress so far

you cant tell all the detail but...it looks cool in person

i dropped my car off last night at carmax thinking all is well...it will be looked at in the morning no problem.....but no.  some how my appt was made at a different carmax location.  so i got a call this morning saying...sorry you dont have an appt you cant leave your car.  i just about explode at this point.  it amazes me when people dont understand that we cant just appear places in a blink of an eye.  the woman on the phone was like....well your appt is at the other location....silence...silence.  me: well i cant just appear over there and pick up my car and drive it to the other location....im on the other side of town.  i dont get it....what response was she expecting?  anywho....im on standby.  if there is a cancellation they will fit me in....if there isnt they cant look at it until Thursday morning.  ARRRRGGHHHH.  needless to say i am very annoyed.  the only thing i can think happened is that google mixed up the numbers and locations....because i called the number it gave me for that location.  DONT always trust google to give you the right information.....lesson learned. 

sorry for my ranting....ill be back later with something a little more friendly-er

birthday cake

a friend of mine asked me to make her birthday cake for her party.....thought you might like to see it...it uber cute

it was a vanilla cake with white chocolate filling and fresh sliced strawberries....and it was yummy

crazy weekend / vintage train case remake: part 2

i worked on...and might be finished with my vintage train case remake (i may or may not add more). all i need to do is get some poly spray and seal in the paint and the paper appliqués. Here is how it turned out



i think it looks ok....not sure if im completely happy with it yet. what do you think?

on to the "crazy" part of this post. i may have mentioned last week that i had a graduation cake to work on this weekend. it was a simple enough cake...half sheet cake with some simple graduation decorations on it. i had no problem getting it done...i was done on time. so its 30 min before i need to deliver the cake (the place is 10 min away) and i go out to my truck to make sure that there is a space clear to put the cake. when i get back to my front door and its locked....and all i have with me is my car keys. *#@* @#^* $@#* ...thats what came out of my mouth. luckily i had my cell phone in my pocket. boyfriend to the rescue. i caught him at the right time too...he was about to leave town for the week and i caught him right before he left. and even more perfect timing...he got to my place 2min before the cake recipients showed up to pick up the cake. as much as it sucked to be locked out of my house for 45 min in 100 degree weather....it was really nice to see dave for an hour before he went away for a week.



it was also nice of cricket to keep me company through the mail slot



she is so cute right. i could imagine her saying "o hai...why u out therez? plz to come in an pet me." i also was really appreciative that i could feel a cool breeze from the ac through the mail slot.

recent cakes

i thought i would share some cakes that i have done recently. these pics havent even made it on to my cake website....so ya'll are special.

new flavor: s'mores cupcake (still needs some tweaking but its good!)

piano cake (i mentioned it in an earlier post but never posted the pic)

circus tent cake - it matched the invitation to a T (birthday cake)

Adam (my friends adorable baby) eatting "his messy" cake...he went to town on it

Adam's Birthday Cake

castle cake

baby shower cake

cupcakes for my company's family picnic



i have a baby shower cake to do this weekend. ill post a pic when it's finished. if you feel like spreading the word...im always looking for new clients.

xo
-e