..caking..

Wonder what keeps me from the blog for a few days at a time? Well, besides these two lovely little bugs?

That would be these..

 

Just a few things I've been up to..

..6 days left..

Until I (hopefully) find out what these critters are! I hope they cooperate at the ultrasound Tuesday. I'm supposed to drink 36oz of water before the appointment and go in with a full bladder. Umm, you want me, pregnant with twins, to load up my bladder and then let someone push all over it?! That's going to be torture, lol :) But they said it pushes the babies up and makes them easier to see. I guess whatever gives me an advantage :) I've had three dreams about them so far, and in each one it has been a boy and a girl. I don't know if that's intuition or just me really hoping. I guess we'll find out.

In the meantime it has been wedding after wedding, and lots of prep work trying to get ready for the new shop. Here's some cakes from a wedding last weekend..

The groom is a big turkey hunter, and the wedding had sort of an Asian theme. It was beautiful, lots of light and dark pink everywhere. I loved it. These aren't the best photos, I made them with my phone. The good photos will be on the Sugar on Top website in the next few days. Better lighting and no one's head in the background :D Hope all of my wonderful friends out here in blog land are having a great summer.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..i think i've lost it..

I've heard that pregnancy brain can make you think/say/do some weird stuff, but I didn't think it would make me go insane. Let me tell you what my 3 1/2 month pregnant crazy self did this week... I signed a lease on a shop for Sugar on Top. As in, I'm going to have an actual bakery. No more renting kitchen space, no more special-order-only. I'm going to have an honest to goodness storefront! I'm going to have babies in 5 months and I'm opening a shop! What was I thinking?! I think I wasn't thinking.. but the perfect spot became available. It's a spot that I've wanted ever since I decided to start doing cakes, before I even got pregnant. It's right in downtown, it's the perfect size, and it's cheap. They said, "It's available," and I said, "Wrap it up!" I can't believe it, but I'm so excited. And I think I'm more nervous about starting this shop than about having twins! Maybe 2010 will just be my year :D

..pictures, pictures, yay!..

Finally going to post some pics from the Bridal Show!

I'm about to upload the rest of them to the website :) You need to go there to see the one that the lighting guy used. It was pretty cool, if I do say so myself :)

And since we never get snow here, I have to document it :)

And here's the F.E. Monster looking all cute and snowbunny-like :D

..rainy tuesday..

Woke up to showers this morning. We needed it, but now the sun is out and shining bright. I might just get to cut my grass today after all :)

Things have been crazy around here. I decided to take the plunge and go head first into the cake biz. I mean really put myself out there. Because of that, I've had phone call after phone call lately! I'm so not complaining. I'm already pretty much booked up for October. Which is awesome! :D I think I've also decided to have a table at the Fall Bridal Show which is in a month. I'm a little nervous about that though, for a few reasons..

1. The table fee is $400. Granted if I made just two orders from the show, I would make that money back.

2. There will be two other major cake tables there. Two businesses who have been around a long time, and until me (heh) they were pretty much your only choice for cake around here. I'll be the new kid on the block, and I don't know how well I will be received.

3. Since it has only been in this year that I've really focused on the business, I don't have tons of pictures to show. Silly me never thought to take pictures of all the cakes I've been doing the last FOUR years! But, I've told recent clients that I don't really like having a book, because I don't want them to feel limited by what they see. I am all about customization and individuality when it comes to designing a cake.

4. It's gonna be a LOT of work. I'll have to have at least 2 display cakes, plus enough petit fours to feed at least 500 people. Mom will help me, and she will also help me run the table but sheesh :D

So.. I'm about 97% sure I'm gonna do it. It just makes me nervous :D

On the swapping front, we have 16 people signed up so far for the 13 Days of Halloween Swap! Yay! And you can see we've gained a couple more prize sponsors too. And these sponsors are giving away some cute stuff! If we make it to 25 swappers, I'll add 2 more prizes. So go tell all your friends. Let them know they need to do this swap. It's gonna be fun :)

And I'm a loser and haven't done anything crafty lately, so I'll leave you with some fashion eye candy. I am in love with you, J. Crew..

All photos courtesy of jcrew.com

..brandy's baby shower..

Well the baby shower was great. Brandy got tons of girly stuff! It was pink everywhere you looked. She decided to paint the baby's room light pink and chocolate brown. And she described it as "modern," which is what inspired the cake I made..

I should also mentioned that she has decided to name the baby Ashlynn, which is the reason for the "A" on top :) And I finished the baby quilt at about midnight last night, lol. But it turned out really nice. And it was fun to do all of that squiggly quilting :)

And now I'm pooped! I want to get in my jammies and lounge around on the couch and watch a movie. It feels like a comfy kinda night :)

..well..

Apple wouldn't fix my phone for free... I had to ask. But it looks like I can sell it on Ebay for the same price as a new one. So I'll just do that and then fork out $399 for a brand spankin' new one.

Put a new cake up on my Sugar on Top Facebook Page. It looks like this...

And after tomorrow you'll get to see pics of the cake and quilt I'm doing for a baby shower. Guess I better get that finished, huh? :)

..it's july!..

Holy cow, this summer is running by at lightspeed. I've got so much to do. When summer starts, you know I have to cut our grass like, every couple of days. And if it rains? Well then it feels like I have to cut it every couple of hours! It grows so fast..

I also have lots to do cake-wise this month. I have an anniversary cake to make for Friday, a teenage boy's birthday cake in 2 weeks, and a Baby Shower cake at the end of the month. But let me tell ya, I'd much rather be busy making cakes than be busy doing dishes or something stupid like that :D Speaking of my cakes, I started a new Flickr account to put all of my pictures there, in case anyone wants to have a gander at them.. I really wish I had started taking photos of my stuff back before I decided to do cakes as a business. One of my favorites is a Mickey Mouse birthday cake I did for a coworker's little boy. It was adorable, and I didn't take a single picture. Hmm, I wonder where he works now, maybe I can track him down :D

I leave you with a picture of my Quality Control Supervisor. Whenever I'm sewing, she's there watching, making sure I'm doing things right..

She's a tough one I tell ya..

..the big 3-0!..

Today is my hubby's 30th birthday! I can't believe it.. he was 20 when we met and started dating. I'm so happy that I have been able to "grow up" with him :) I threw him a little party last night.. nothing major, just invited over some friends he hasn't seen in a while. We had a blast! His parents brought over their Wii, so check out these pics of Jeff and his dad Wii skiing! :D





It was hilarious :D Everyone had a competition going to see who could have the longest ski jump. And before I show you his cake, you gotta know the story behind it.. Red velvet cake is his favorite. I make it for him every year. But a couple of weeks ago he said, "Why don't I get a special cake?" Soo... this is what he got :)





You also have to know that spaghetti is his 2nd favorite meal. (2nd to BBQ, but I couldn't see me doing that out of cake, lol) So it was red velvet cake, cream cheese icing, fondant meatballs, and some strawberry jam thinned down for the sauce. He thought it was cool.. my old man got his special cake :)

..santa claws & cake..

I had to show you all this.. it's just the cutest ever.



I know, so cute. Pogue wore the hat for the longest time.. she was awake when we put it on her. She's the more subdued of our two cats. Raleigh would never have allowed us to put ANYTHING on her. If I wanted a picture of her in a hat, I would have to Photoshop it onto her head. But Pogue was very cooperative. I actually think she enjoys playing dress-up.

And I just wanted to show you a pic of the Classic Coconut Cake I did for last week's Festival of Trees Banquet. I usually do a 6 layer cake, but this one is just a 4 layer.





Can you tell what those poinsettias are made out of? :) I was kinda clever on those.. it's chewing gum! :D

My dryer is buzzing.. time to fold some clothes.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..raindrops keep falling on my head..

Woke up to a drizzly day here. Maybe that's why I overslept a bit. But it was nice :)

I have had a huge response to my giveaway, which is posted below. And for all those who have entered and who will enter, I wanted to say thank you :) I also wanted to say that even though I may not get to respond to all of your comments, I PROMISE I read each and every single one. Some of you are making me laugh, and some of you I'm definitely going to have to contact for some cookie recipes :)

All I have to share today is a strawberry shortcake I made for a special order the other day. It was for a lady's birthday, and shortcake is her favorite.



And here's how it looked all pretty and packaged up..



And if any of you are interested in seeing it, I'm getting my special order blog up and running. It's Sugar on Top.

Now I'm off to make a coconut cake. Our local Art Society has a "Trees of Christmas" celebration every year, and tonight is the kick-off party. I have the cutest idea for adding a little decoration to the top, I'll post pictures of it later.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..yay, he's done!..

I'm so happy this guy is finished. I'm really happy with the way he turned out, considering this was my first time using fondant on a shaped cake. Liiiittle tough in some places :)



Haha, I love the look on his face. It's like, "Hey blondie, you plan on doing something with that hair of yours today?"



I hope Puddin' likes him too. That's what I call the little boy that this is for. He's turning 3 today, thus the 3 on McQueen's side (instead of his usual 95).

Now off to clean up the incredible mess I made in the kitchen.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!