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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Cake Pop Mania!

I have a new obsession... these tasty little bites of heaven that I am consumed with creating! If you follow my blog, you know I love to bake. I bake lots of things, but my favorite things combine baking and art. I love to bake brownies that look like eyeballs, or spritz cookies that I can pretty up with sprinkles or colored dough. I basically love to pretend I am Martha Stewart! It compliments my artsy side along with my need to be precise and exact. I also love creating cute things, showing them off and hearing the "ooooh's and ahhhh's." These cake pops do it all for me, and they're absolutely delicious! That part is a perk and a downfall. :( My waistline is not happy about that one!

My friend Kayla and I got together one day to try our hand at cake pops for her daughter's birthday party and we both fell in love! We are also both very invested in cute little sprinkles, mini-cookie cutters, and lots and lots of lollipop sticks!

We are looking for someone that has an upcoming event and would like their event to be adorned with these cute little creations. Please contact me if you have a kids birthday party, baby shower, or other event approaching. We would be happy to supply pops free of charge to give us an excuse to get together and create! We will choose the event with the best theme so give us a challenge, and if you are chosen we'll surprise you with what we come up with!

p.s. In case you are unfamiliar with cake pops- it is any flavor of baked, crumbled cake mixed with frosting, rolled into balls, dipped and decorated. They stay moist and have a texture similar to a truffle. They are DIVINE!


This is not the last you'll hear of our creations, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Packaging.

Packaging client orders is my favorite. It's like Christmastime!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Outdoor session in February?

I can't believe that we were able to have an outdoor session in February! We popped outside for some shots of the kids and it felt great to breathe in some fresh air! Just a little sneak peek of these adorable kids...




Erica + Erik | farm love

Erica and Eric are engaged! Eric is a cattle farmer so they chose to shoot their session at a friend's farm.







Congratulations E+E! I look forward to your wedding in June!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Lego themed birthday party!

My two youngest boys were born 6 years and two weeks apart so it only makes sense that they share a party date, at least for the time being while they don't mind. Oliver has a Valentine's Day birthday so it is a tradition that I bake him a heart shaped birthday cake. He started off his morning opening up his new present- a mini-trampoline! Needless to say, it was a big hit!

The mustache... he had it painted at school but I love what it adds to the picture!
This year I made my own Lego invitations. Here is what I used (everything is available at Michael's):

12x12 primary color card stock paper
Recollections brand 1.5" circle die cutter
ArtMinds brand pre-cut foam mounting tape or foam mounting dots (found in adhesives aisle)
Crayola colored pencils

Each 12x12 sheet makes two invitations. My invitations measured 6"x 3.75". A paper cutter is a huge timesaver for this project. I cut each 12x12 in half creating two 6"x12" strips. Then I cut the 12" side down to 7.5". With the 4.5" scrap portion, I used the circle cutter to punch out the 6 dots that will mount to the folded invitation. I used coordinating colored pencils to write "Lego" on each dot before mounting them.

The computer fonts I used for the invite were: Claire Hand (main body) and Helvetica ("Ages 2+8").

Each 12x12 could produce three 4"x4" invitations if you chose to design 4 dot Lego blocks. I liked the look of the 6 dot Lego blocks.

Each party guest received a custom made Lego block of soap that I purchased from this Etsy store. I cannot recommend them enough! They were so great to work with. They packaged them individually and created these cute little tags which were a nice surprise.

I knew I wanted a cool Lego cake and although I love to bake, I decided to leave this project up to the professionals! I booked Sweet Simplicity Confections. She is Ellen Bartyzal and she is based in New Prague. She did such a great job of taking the internet photos I found and brought them to life!


These cake pops were so delicious! So delicious that they inspired me to try my hand at them. I recently purchased some cake pop supplies to give it a try (this will be another blog post).
Ellen presented them in this fun Lego block carrier. Her husband drilled holes into the bricks to push them through. I love how hard core that is!


I loved how the cake turned out! Thanks for everything Ellen!
As fashion obsessed as I am, the boys had to have a cute birthday outfit on! I found these customized Lego logo shirts at this Etsy store. They turned out so cute! I spent the morning doing so many photo shoots that I neglected the fact that I had to feed twenty people! Oh well, everything turned out and the photos were more than worth it!

A rare smile from Aidan. By rare, I mean RARE. I love my boys so much!

A great time was had by all and I had so much fun running with the Lego theme. Party planning is so much fun! Do I smell a new business venture? Ha- I sound like Tori Spelling.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Canon to Nikon --> this girl's plan


I'm dreaming of a new camera... only it isn't the rumored new Canon 5D Mark III (although I am very curious about that!), it is the new Nikon D800. Yep, I'm switching to Nikon. Why? I'll admit it, I never in a million years thought I would switch to Nikon. I have always been a Canon girl. When you buy your first camera you ultimately have to choose. For you non-photographers, Canon and Nikon are like Ford and Chevy. Which one is better? That's tough to say, but most photographers feel strongly either way. For me, it started with almost everyone I know shooting Canon. Once I got to know more photographers, a Nikon shooter would pop up here and there. Now that I am good friends with two different Nikon shooters, I have fallen in love and am excited to make the switch! In my eyes its the best and I have to have the BEST!

The Nikon D800 is currently on pre-order and available next month. I recently priced out all of my equipment for sale and here is a list:

Canon 5D w/grip- pending sale
Canon 30D w/grip
Canon 20D
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L non IS
Canon 50mm f/1.2L- pending sale
Canon 85mm f/1.8 w/hood- pending sale 
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro w/hood (non L)- pending sale 
Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye- pending sale
Canon 550ex Speedlite- pending sale

pending sale means that there is a buyer for the item but the item has not yet exchanged hands. 

Please contact me for a full price list. Serious inquiries only please. I need a realistic look at my funding for the new Nikon gear. Some of the gear is available for purchase now, but since I am still shooting, some of it isn't available until next month.

Thanks!