Cake Cavalcade

So here are some pictures of some cakes I've done (Or helped with) over the last couple of months...

I'm going to take all the credit for this one (even thought the girls helped put the 'beads' on the crown)  This was for a little girl in my ward.  I made the beach cake for her sister back in September.  Anyway the crown is gumpaste and I used a foam crown for my template.  I wanted it to be thicker, but the gp wouldn't cut properly so I had to keep rerolling it to get it to the right thickness.  I wrapped it around a big cup and let it dry overnight.  Then we glued on pink pearl and silver non pareils.  I'm not impressed with the drop strings on the side.  I used Wilton's glitter gel and everytime I use it I think to myself, 'I know it won't be a gloppy mess.' But that's what I always end up with.  I'm willing to try the gels one more time....so I haven't given up hope just yet.  Anyway, this was a chocolate cake with buttercream icing.  I used vanilla and almond extract for the flavoring. (BTW - I almost always use that flavor combo.)


For the next (or last) 3 pictures, the cakes shown will be decorated using Wilton's Punch Cut Decorate Line and Sugar Sheets.  This is there answer (my opinion only!) to the Circuit Cake machine.  It's alot of fun too and I can't wait to get the new book specifically about this line.

Ok on to the cakes.....

This masterpiece is Emily's.  She used the butterfly and flower punches. 

Sophia created this heart and spiral masterpiece.

I'm so proud of both of my girls and their creativity and their patience with me while I 'played' with my new toys.

Lastly, this is one I made a few weeks ago for my mom's birthday.  I used the diamond boarder punch.  Again, I really like the simplicity of the punches and am impressed with the pieces I have from this product line.





What a 15% rotation looks like....Or what happens when you try to fly

On December 8th, I received a call from Emily's school.  The woman on the other end explained that Emily was out at recess and fell.  She hurt her pinky finger and that I should probably come and get her.  I gave my Dad a call and he picked her up.  His job was to look at her hand and tell me if I needed to get off work right away and take her to see a doctor or if it could wait until I got off work ( a couple of hours later) and take her in after dinner. 

He said I should take her right away.

So I left work and took her to the doctors office.

You can see from this view that there is definitely something wrong with her right pinky right?

Here you can see the rotation of her finger and her cool scrapes on the side of her hand.

 So basically the doctor said that they would like us to see a hand surgeon and they would wrapped it and she wore a sling for the weekend.

Oh and I probably should say at this point they believed there was some damage to her growth plate in her little finger.  They also said if that was the case, to expect surgery, so we did.

Monday morning we saw the specialist. He had confirmed the growth plate damage.  He said that he could do the repair in the office, but that kids had a tendency to scream loudly and scare the other patients. (he is a funny guy!)  So he had us schedule surgery for the next day (12/13). 

Em and I went to the hospital to get checked in and changed.  Dad came later after he dropped Sophia and Nathan off at daycare.  Emily got a new pink blanket and some little hospital socks.  The staff was great and super accomodating for her.  A child's advocate came in and talked with her.  She brought in an oxygen/anesthesia mask to show her what it would look like and a puzzle she could keep.

She went into surgery and was done in about 45 minutes.  Her recovery took awhile.  She ended up getting sick and the medicine they gave her to stop her nausea made her sleepy so we didn't get home until almost 1 (we were there @8am).  She could keep anything down, not water or sprite and definitely no food. 
Finally she ate some saltines and was starting to feel better, but that was about 7pm that night.





Here is an x-ray taken after the surgery and before the wires were trimmed down.

She had a post-op with the specialist about a week and a half after surgery.  They took some more x-rays and we had to get a splint made for her.

Here is the her hand after the surgery.  It had been wrapped up since then, so we couldn't really wash it - that's why you can still see the "this is the right finger for surgery" dot on the top of her finger.

Here is a close-up of the wires.  You think they're gross now, you should have seen them when they were pulled out - but don't worry - there aren't any pics of that.

This splint was made in the physical therapy dept of Riverton IHC while we waited.  That purple stuff is sorta like plastic canvas that is put in warm water to soften and shape.  Then the lady attached the velcro straps.  It was really cool to watch her make it!

So she sported that cool purple accessory for 3 weeks.  She had the wires removed on 1/11 and she's doing great.  She even got to keep the wires.  I told her she could keep her wires with my pins! She didn't think that was such a cool idea - besides, I think she wants to put them on her shelf in her room as a badge of honor or courage or just plain grossness.  Yeah that's probably it...now she has a badge of grossness!

So this is it.  Emily's right hand 2.0.  This was taken the same day the wires came out and after a shower!! (please don't think that she went a month without bathing, she didn't. But it was the first time she could get her whole hand wet)

Ok, are you wondering how this whole thing started in the first place?  I guess a boy was teasing her friend during recess.  This friend took off to clobber he and Emily went chasing after.  I can't help but wonder, if she did this to herself, what would that kid looked like if she was able to catch him?











My Bad...

Yeah I realize that it's been several months since my last post.  I wanted to write more, but just couldn't bring myself to do so.  I guess you could say that I was having a pity party in my head because the thought of updating my class schedule or posting about cakes I've made would mean that I would have to admit to myself that as of late, I haven't been a very good teacher (lack of registration or sign ups) or a very good cake decorator (lack of interest to decorate).

However, I'm happy to report that for the last 2 months I've had 2 classes.  My enthusiam for teaching has been somewhat rejuvinated.  There is new staff at my store and they have assured me that they will do everything they can to create advertising for me.  SO HAPPY for that!  Now if I can just get them to update my isle signage, I'd be pretty close to heaven for sure!

Just to give a sort of family update.....Right now, currently as of this very minute, we are all fairly healthy (a few of us have been battling colds).  Happy to report, there are no broken bones or stiches to be had.  We had a great time over the holidays and enjoyed spending time with one and another and our extended family!

So to follow this post, I'll be putting up some cakes and Emily's adventures in trying to fly.