3 Tier Wedding Cake with White Fondant, Edible Pearls and Gumpaste Calla Lilies

My last post was April 9. On that day or the next I got a call from my sister in law. Her son and his longtime girlfriend had announced a few days before that they would be tying the knot. On April 18th. In 9 days. And would I make the wedding cake?

So I've been busy. The bride to be sent me a picture of her dream wedding cake, a beautiful and classic creation made by Sedona Wedding Cakes, shown below:







 I knew my rendition wouldn't look exactly the same as every cake artist does things a bit differently, adds their own personal style I guess. Also I had never made calla lilies before but I've modeled in fondant and polymer clay a lot so was certain I could do it. As the creator I can see every little imperfection but it was a good learning experience, lots of fun to make and I really am pleased with it.

 



 



 



 



The bottom tier was white chocolate cake with white chocolate buttercream, the middle tier was strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream and the top tier was vanilla cake (a cooks illustrated recipe) with vanilla buttercream. Hopefully I'll get a short tutorial about how to make your own gumpaste calla lilies published within the next few days.

I Heart Faces Entry - Wind

Funnest engagement photo shoot ever! We visited the UP house in Herriman Utah. It happened to be a very windy day. It was her idea to bring balloons and to do jumping pictures to look as though they were floating away. With the gusty wind blowing the balloons to the right and her fiancees mad jumping skills, this worked pretty perfect. She's trying to hold him back in this pic but he's getting swept away.

This is my photo entry for the "Wind" theme at I Heart Faces this month.

Thrifty Finds

I love thrift stores! We have three stores within 10 minutes of us that I've been visiting fairly regularly lately. Dropping 20 lbs. was really great, except on the clothing front. The pants and some of the shirts that used to fit like a glove look all baggy and frumpy now, so I've been gradually updating my wardrobe with items that fit. Doing this however, could potentially be really expensive. As the wife of a student, money is something we've never had so I avoid buying new whenever possible. I've long been proud of my couponing and ad matching skills and getting household necessities for cheap. Thrifting can work just as well for clothes. Yes, it takes more time to go through everything but it can be so worth it. I've rarely ever come away from a thrift store without an awesome find. It's good to visit at least once every two weeks or sooner since items are constantly coming in. Here are my latest scores:

These are Madden Girl Brand Boots. I found a very similar Madden Girl Women's Palaze Boot which is priced at $70. For these, I paid $7.99

The above are Ralph Lauren Magenta Corduory Boot Cut Pants. Pretty sure they were ridiculously expensive since I found a skinny RL corduroy pair online for $99.  I paid $7.99 for these.

Then there are these awesome and fun burnt orange pants. They are by a brand I hadn't heard of before, G1 Goods. After browsing their website, I think these probably retailed around $130 freaking dollars! I paid $9.99. They are 100% cotton, so comfortable and mold to my shape perfectly.

If you haven't started thrifting you are missing out!

Exotic Pets/Animals Photography Shoot

I've been busy editing more photographs from the photo shoots I've done with JMugleston's Exotics. All of these prints are available to purchase through my etsy shop. These creatures are just amazing!



  Cuban Knight Anole

  Bearded Dragons

  California King Snake

  Blue Tongue Skink

  Diamond Back Terrapin

  Tokay Gecko

  Black Throated Tuatara Dragon

  Giant Centipede 

  Asian Forest Scorpion

  Lemon Blast Ball Python

  New Caledonian Giant Gecko or Leachie

  Albino Python

  Trinidad Dwarf Tarantula

Whimsical engagement photos - Cotton Candy, UP House and More

Maybe one of these days I will get caught up on posting the many many photo shoots I want to share with you. The following photos, for instance, have been sitting on my computer waiting to be posted since August. But finally I've gotten around to watermarking them and writing this post. My niece through marriage, Jenny, was the mastermind behind this whole shoot. All the locations, the props (a few that aren't featured in this post) and the clothes. I just took the photos for her and fiance Harrison and we had a great time.



Cotton candy is always a great photo prop. And more than that, Jenny had a working cotton candy machine at her wedding, complete with bow tied cotton candy maker.



I'm going to guess that kiss tasted like...cotton candy.
















This was the location of their first date I believe.



Such a gorgeous mural in downtown Provo. Who says there's no style in this college town?

 





Dancing to the music of the friendly neighborhood street musicians.

 









Nothing says 'I love you' quite like a kick in the pants.

 





These next few photos were taken at the UP House in Herriman Utah. It was an extremely blustery day though somehow we managed to catch some shots right as each huge gust of wind would die down. I was also worried about the glaring sun beating down on us, but it's position actually created a more dreamy, magical feel. Not unlike the house itself.








The above picture is Jenny's personal favorite. Harrison was so good at jumping like he was getting carried away by those balloons. And with the gusting winds it wouldn't have surprised me if he wasn't faking it.




Loved doing this photo shoot! Thanks so much for asking me Jenny!

Thoughts on moving to Austin Texas

As I said in an earlier post, some parts of Texas are a dust bowl, but some parts are lush and green and in Austin's case, hilly. Ladybird Lake (a glorified river) runs through downtown Austin and is a top spot for recreation, as you can see in the photo below.



I took this while my husband drove over Congress Avenue. You may have heard of it referred to as the bat bridge. It's famous for its colony of over 750,000 bats which sleep under the bridge during the day. Lots of folks come to watch hordes of bats fly off at dusk in search of food. From looking at this picture it's hard to believe the bustling downtown is right behind us.


The Austin skyline itself is very nice. The photo above was taken from near the nature center. This skyline is far more beautiful at night. I've been to Chicago, New York, Baltimore and D.C. and other big cities but so far this one is my favorite at night. I'll have to get a pic of it sometime. It's really beautiful all lit up.




The most amazing sunset I've ever seen was while we were in Austin. This picture does it no justice. The sky was on fire, the clouds silhouetted in blazing orange were unlike anything I had ever seen.




Austin is an awesome place for people watching.It's a city with a fascinating mix of culture and fashion. During our six week stay we rented out a house on the east side. We were told the east side is the "bad side" of town. For us, after having lived in Baltimore, the east side of Austin is just fine. If anything it was more colorful (literally, like buildings everywhere painted bright blues, yellows and pinks) and eclectic than the rest of the city. We spent lots of time downtown and in the suburbs too, exploring and getting a feel for where we might want to settle. Yep, Austin is a pretty cool city.


I mean, where else can you find Mickey Mouse lighting up a cigarette?

Oh yeah. Maybe Portland.

I've been there too. I have to say Austin wins though. More sunshine you know.