Happy Halloween

My three kiddos. The Bro, 2 years 11 months, Big Sis 12, Lil Sis 4.

The Bro and Lil Sis told me Tuesday night they wanted to be Frosty and a Pumpkin. 

This was after I had them convinced to be something we already had on hand. 

So my Momma Lou came to the rescue with her sewing machine and whipped these up.

Here's a close-up of Big Sis' beehive hair-do. I will get better pictures in the morning, because we are doing this again for school. They are having a costume contest and she entered the best hair category!

Halloween Cookies with Royal Icing

  

I made a batch of sugar cookies with royal icing for a local benefit. I have only been using royal icing for a few months. I took a class at a local bakeshop to learn the technique. I also read a blog called Sweetopia. She has an awesome royal icing recipe that I think is the best.You can find her tutorial for it at the link below. She has amazing pictures as well. Make sure to spend some time looking around.

Sweetopia Royal Icing

My mom and I have been baking sugar cookies every year at Christmas for as long as I can remember. We have a family recipe we use that I have been asked not to share. Sorry. They are the kind of cookies that bake up light and fluffy and melt in your mouth. We usually decorate them with butter cream frosting and sprinkles. They really are not good for royal icing, because they fluff too much. I am working on a sugar cookie recipe that still tastes good but holds it shape. I am close, but not quite there.

The ghost is my favorite. It started as just a few drops of black. When you lightly drag your toothpick through the black this is what you get. The icing in this picture is still wet. That is why it looks so shiny.

Kaci's Tips that will hopefully prevent you from throwing your pastry bag across the room.

If your icing is the wrong consistency, most of the time too runny, it will make you very angry. Especially when you thought you outlined it perfectly only to come back and find that your ghost has slid off the cookie and is trying to mate with the pumpkin cookie. Do not overfill your bags like I do every single time. It's such a mess to take the icing out, thicken it and put it back in if the consistency is wrong. Seriously, I do it every time. 

A small lump in royal icing will also make you angry. I usually use a tip 2 or 3. These clog easily. I find it best to remove the tip completely, rinse it with warm water, dry it, then replace it. I also have started sifting my powdered sugar before mixing it in. This helps to prevent lumps. Also keep your royal icing covered with a damp paper towel. I usually let the towel gently rest on the icing, then cover the container with the lid.

I have read many places where others say you can save this icing for a week or so at room temperature. I am yet to make this happen. It separates and is never quite the same. I suggest baking a ton of cookies and decorating them all. This will make your family and friends very happy.

Once you get the hang of royal icing it is a lot of fun to work with. My 12 year old daughter loves when I make it. It's like grown-ups art and crafts time. Enjoy!

Beach Themed Cake

This cake was quite delicious. I made it last year for my oldest daughter. We'll call her Big Sis. 

The reason behind this cake was really because Big Sis loves flip flops. 

I thought making a flip flop cake was kind of gross so I settled for this. 

The flip flops and sea shells are actually made from candy. 

The sand is crushed graham crackers. 

The frosting is of course butter cream. 

Here is Big Sis with her cake. She was pretty pleased. 

Hard to believe she has had another birthday since this picture! 

Time sure does fly! 

Here's a close up of the flip flops. I only used two on the cake.

I had enough candy to make four, so I did. 

There's always room for more candy!

My two girls; Big Sis and Lil Sis. Lil Sis had a Wizard of Oz cake. 

 Their birthdays are only nine days apart. We celebrate both at the same time.
Lil Sis was going through a faze where she only wore that Snow White costume. We went through three costumes before her faze ended. She is one of those kids that hates to wear pants. We always joke that we need a pants tree for her. As soon as she comes home the first thing she does is take off her pants.
Her hair cut in this picture is self done. She's so fun! 

Creative Tractor Cake

This is a cake that I made for my number one nephew. The boy loves tractors. The cake itself was made from a tractor cake pan. A few days before I acutally made the cake I went ahead and molded the wheels, the window and the engine in the cake pan itself with candy melts. I knew I could never replicate the tires or the windows with the star tip or any other tip for that matter. I enjoy working with chocolate or candy melts. Whenever I make any sort of cake or cupcake I always immediately think of how I can incorporate it into my design.

The cupcakes were pretty easy. The cute little lambs are made with mini-marshmallows. The other animals were piped using a number 2 tip.

The trailer was just a slice of cake that I poured melted candy melts over. The wheels are mini-cupcakes with melted candy melts as well.

I doubt I will ever be able to top this cake for my number one nephew. You bet I'll keep trying though.

Crayola DryErase Crayons Review

A couple of months ago I made my kiddos name placemats. The idea behind the placemats is for the kiddos to have something to start writing their names. They are laminated. One side has their names that they can trace and the other side is blank. They are actually really cool and the kiddos love them.

We used regular dry erase markers with them to start. They showed up great, but they were a major pain to erase. Lots of elbow grease. Too much elbow grease. Not a fan of that. I found washable dry erase markers and thought I hit the jackpot. Not so much. They cleaned off easier, but the colors were very light and not as fun.

One day I was walking through our local Drug Mart and I noticed DryErase Crayons by Crayola. They were $3.99 for 8 large crayons. The package came with a built in sharpener and an E-Z erase mitt. I had little faith in them, but thought what the heck, I'll give them a try.

We have been using the crayons for a few weeks. They are great. They show up like regular crayons on paper.

The best part. They clean up so easy. My four year old can easily clean her name placemat. She actually decided to use a slightly damp paper towel to initially wipe it clean. Then she dries it up with the mitt included with the crayons.

When I clean them up I only need the mitt. I am amazed that crayons can be wiped up with a wet paper towel though. Below are the results of Lil Sis' efforts. Pretty good job!

I have seen them in drug stores. I am sure you could find them anywhere that sells kids art supplies. I know you can find them on Amazon. I posted the link below.

Crayola Dry Erase Crayons

These really are the perfect fit for my four and two (almost three) year old. They have no odor, they will not stain your clothes and they will not dry up. They are a great and in my opinion a superior alternative to dry erase markers. To be fair, I have not tried them on actual dry erase boards. Only things that I have laminated myself.


Note: I only showed one side of the name placemats, because I am making an effort not to use my children's names. I am going to make a generic placemat and post a picture of it. They really are neat and my toddlers love them.

Kaci

Golf Themed Cake

On occasion I have been known to decorate a cake or two.

I don't do this professionally, just for fun. This past weekend I created

a cake for a friends husband that is really into golf.

Below is how the cake started.

Next is a side view of the cake.

I just like the way the layers look.

Nice crumbs on the table.

Oops.

Now the finished cake.

Sorry.

I'm new to this blogging thing and didn't think to take lots of in between shots!

This cake is covered in green buttercream. The golf balls and the golf bag are made from white almond bark. The sandpit is crushed graham crackers. The little golf ball hole is an upside down chocolate chip. Sometimes the simplest things are the best! The chocolate cake is filled with a peanut butter filling. The yellow cake is filled with a white chocolate, marshmallow fluff, ginger filling. Sounds weird huh.

I was told it was delicious!

I hope so!

Preschool Activities

I have recently become interested in preschool activities for my two preschool aged children. There are all sorts of free downloads all over the internet. I have had tons of fun finding things, printing them out and spending good quality time with my kiddos. I have even taken it a step further and created a few things myself.

My two kiddos are working on number and letter recognition. They are at the very beginning stages of this. They are also working on color recognition and coloring in general. I have created some very simple color by number or letter printables. I thought this would be a great place to share them.

You can download my first printable here.

Dog and Apple Color by Number and Letter.

I hope to add even more printables over the weekend.

Already adding more.

Butterfly Color by Number and Letter

Car and Truck Color by Number and Letter