Cake-tastic weekend!!

Just got done making two cakes!!! woo hoo :) I made my sister, Dehli, a cake for her 20th birthday and my baby sister, Olivia, a cake for her high school graduation!!! Its been a very eventful weekend!!

Dehli LOVES Tinkerbell so Tasha and I knew that her cake would definitely be Tink :) I tried to start her cake yesterday to get ahead of the game so i would not be doing nothing but cakes on Friday. But that didnt go as planned umm to say the least lol.. (pictures to follow shortly) My mom bought a different type of cake mix and icing that didnt quite work out well (Do you like how im deflecting blame here! ;)) So it started to crumble as i was assembling it so i was not going to decorate it bc it look so bad!! so that was our "practice" cake and everybody dug in and said at least it tasted good! So i had to go to the store to get the right type of icing so that i could attempt to make it again today. My sisters went out on a "conveniently" planned shopping trip because they both knew they were getting cakes but did not know what they would be so i wanted it to be a surprise! I remade the cake and this time it did not crumble and the icing went on nice and smooth! (two very important things in the cake baking world) :) So i decorated and think it came out pretty darn cute especially since i have the MOST unstable hands EVER! they shake like im a 97 yr old woman when im trying to decorate things!! but seriously they are really bad. (Pictures of the finished product to follow)

Olivia is into photography so naturally we would make her a cake in the shape of a camera. This would be the first time we would attempt to build something that is not just 2 dimensional. It would also be only the 2nd time i worked with fondant. So we knew that it would definitely be an adventure and that it would either come out looking good or fail miserable! lol There would be no middle ground on this one! and id have to say I was wrong in thinking that bc it came out ok (in my eyes, I am my own worst critic). It looks like a camera but the fondant was a little dry for my liking (gotta figure out how to fix that, if anybody has any tips please SHARE!) and the corners weren't as flat as i would like. but im sure that i will always be able to find flaws no matter how "perfect" i get the cakes to come out one day. I had a lot of fun building this cake and testing my abilities. I found a picture of a camera cake online and used it as my starting point and then changed some of the details to what i thought would work easier for me. (pictures will be posted soon)

So i am pretty caked out for today :) but it was FUN!! cant wait til we are dong this full time (hopefully). O yea and id like to point out that my co-baker aka Natasha Lnei some how became MIA when it was to make these cakes this weekend!! lol how convenient! But its okay i had another assistant step right up to the challenge, my momma!! :) and I guess ill let Natasha slide this ONE time since she was getting the girls out of the house so that i could make the cakes without them seeing them :) :)

Thanks for checking in!! :)

Wish us luck...

We’ve been pretty MIA and busy with life and such. But don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten our dreams and our goals.

We are still looking to start our business and maybe one day, our franchise 553: Altogether Lovely. During our hiatus we’ve been able to discuss how we want to do this and down which avenue we want to go. SO stay posted for some big big things. We’re excited to get this thing rollin’…

Wish us luck…

Natasha

Party Time

So I have been MIA for awhile its been crazy around here. The holiday season is officially upon us and I feel like I have been running non stop since Halloween! Today is my sons 5th bday party! We are so excited :) We have decided to have it at a local pizza place so that there is less for me to have to deal with! Thank God for party places they keep moms sane!! I have been working on getting this MASSIVE bow order done in between working and taking care of kids and it has not been very easy :( and so blogging has been thrown to the side unfortunately but I am trying to get back into it and do it more consistently! Thanks giving is next week I cannot believe it. This year has flown by! I cant wait for thanksgiving to come and go because then my countdown til Christmas can begin!! We are going to New Mexico to visit my parents and two younger sisters and I am super excited. The only bad thing about it being the holiday season is that my husband and I are trying to lose weight!! UGH This is going to push our self control to the max!!! but we can do it :) After I finish my bow order I also have a pillowcase dress to make for a friend :) I have missed my crafts since I have started working full time outside of the home again :O I am going through some serious crafting withdraws!! So maybe tonight after the party i will sew and bow in order to wind down after a day with screaming, wild kids!!! That sounds like a great idea! :)

Until next time,
Alex :)

Website Work....

Sitting here trying to get our website up and running. I've added products...WOOHOO, so people can buy things..but the color scheme and our logo need to be updated...However, bigcartel.com uses this exact moment to stop working :/

We've already had our biggest order yet...$90 worth of merch :) That's all thanks to our youngest part-time employee, our cousin, Ayanna :) We have a business agreement that if she sells, then she will get paid...and her dad said that if she wants to be a part of this, then to make her work for it...so we will, believe me. haha. And we've got some prospective clients and some ideas we're working on..I'm getting pretty excited. I can't wait for this thing to BLOW up...

I'll add all the pictures of us working "hard" when my Internet isn't acting up.. :(

<3 Natas3ha
(the 3 is silent)

What a day!!

Ok what is the correct way to begin a blog??.. Is there such a thing as a right way to blog?? Today has been a HECTIC day to say the least. We (Natasha and I) set out bright and early this morning to go buy supplies for our craft/business day. We bought fabric and all kinds of other goodies at Hobby Lobby, then ventured over to JoAnns where we stood in line FOREVER to get our elastic that was sold by the yard cut bc the lady in front of us had a zillion bolts of fabric to get cut...We then walked into and right back out of Hancock fabrics bc nothing looked appealing. I forgot to get a pattern that was on sale while we were at the first Hobby Lobby so what did we do? We stopped into another one and of course I got side tracked in the ribbon department (i make ribbon bows, but well get into that on a later post) and totally forgot to even look at patterns until I was in my car driving away! Thats my mind for ya... As we were driving back home my car started making a funny noise... and let me stop here to say that my husband and I just bought this car YESTERDAY! so to say I was NOT happy was an understatement! I popped the hood and Natasha informed me that it was the "serpentine" belt... didn't know she was the mechanic type :) .........

We finally made it home after we got somebody to change out the belt (a testimony to the fact that there are still nice people in the world) and began our crafts. We are beginning to build our inventory to sell online. Which is going to be an adventure all on its own! Tasha spent the evening setting up our website and this blog.. There were times during the night when I didn't think her computer was going to make it to see tomorrow! but I am happy to report that it is still alive :) And while she was slaving over the computer I was making bows. A few months back I challenged myself to find a hobby and began to teach myself (with the help of online tutorials and some questions to my mom and Sister Sibley-my Pastors wife) to make bows and sew. I am quite proud of myself for what I have accomplished but I am by no means done learning. I want to do BIG things!

Until next time...
<3 Alex

Blog #1

Here's to new beginnings...

Our first blog and all I want to do is throw my computer across the room. Who knew setting up a website/email/blog/etc was soooo stressful! BUT...it will all be worth it one day.

Natasha :)