Eclipse is here!!!!

DD and I are less than 7 hours from Eclipse.
I made this to mark the occasion.

Tools - New to me at least.

While going through the process of getting certified to be a SDU instructor I got to see some a lot of tools. (I haven’t heard if I’m actually certified or not, but I learned a lot and passed the test). Some of the tools are duplicates of my SU stuff, like chalks and such, but others were new to me. Wow, I need to get out more. I also did a little shopping, JoAnn's was having that big 40% off sale and I picked up some stuff and a few things I ordered on-line.

Here's the new stuff that I bought that are new to me:

Zig Writers - I have a full set of SU markers and love them. I am noticing color issues since mine are older SU colors and I'm not fully matching some of the non SU papers I have. I bought their bullet/fine tip pens, Carnival Lights colors.

Zig Calligraphy - Last time I looked for calligraphy pens there were only black, blue and brown. I bought a set of 8 primary colors.

Pigma Micron Pens - Like the markers and the calligraphy pen, these new to me. These fine point pens will be a great tool addition. I just bought black pens, 3 different sizes to add a little punch and zip to my lettering and work.

Gelly Roll Pens - My only white pen is starting to fade out on me. These were nice to find in a 3 pack, and a 50% off coupon made them very inexpensive.

EK Powder Tool - It's basically a stencil brush attached to a refillable bottle that holds baby powder. Seems silly, but adding powder to make things not sticky is sure easier with this. It does the usual, makes stickers not sticky, etc. But the ease of use is sure nice. It was only a few dollars so it was a fun purchase.

EK Centering Ruler - This is a neat flexible ruler that has a 0 in the middle and goes out to 8" each direction (and has metric). Flexible to wrap around a can or pot to find that center point. Lightweight and clear with easy to read numbers. I also learned through SDU training, and it says so on the package, that you can stick stickers on the matte side of the ruler, so they hang off the edge, and use them to line up your letters before putting on the page. I’m seeing lots of use for this ruler with Cricut letters and such.

Cutter Bee - Honey Bee Scissors - Wow, nonstick blades. I have the little yellow Cutterbee scissors and I love the sharp point and how well I can get into small areas. These Honey Bee scissors are exactly the same size, and work just as well, except the blades are non stick. That means I can actually cut a glue dot in half and it didn’t stick to the scissors. I was able to cut mounting foam and other pop dots with the same non stick. The ability to cut smaller pieces of sticky foam, wonderful.

Cutter Bee Retractable Knife & Blade - Okay, it’s another craft knife, but it’s a craft knife I can use and save money on bandaids. LOL. I purposely bought this for travel purposes and it came in so handy during VBS at my church. The fact that I can retract the blade is wonderful. During VBS I was able to walk around with the knife and a small cutting mat and make the cuts for each kid. We were working with kids from 1st through 6th grade, and we had 70+ kids each day. A few times the kids would pick up the knife thinking it was a marker, but since the blade was in the barrel no one got hurt. It comes with extra blades and the refills aren’t expensive either. That knife got quite a workout this past week, well worth the investment.

Studio G - I hadn’t really seen there stuff until a trip to JoAnn’s. I picked up these cute little alphabet stamps and the Glitter glues for $1.00 each. Not bad, and I love sparkly stuff.

Madeline's 13th Birthday Cake

I can't just make a cake just to test designs, I am sort of end project sort of person. I haven't made a multi layer cake in a good 20 years, as you can see I need a lot of practice. Honestly the cake isn't leaning as much as it looks like in the middle picture. weird how it came out in the photo.

So Madeline and I finished the cake together and we'll use it for her 13th birthday. We like it.

Buttercream cake with Roses & stuff

Hi!
This is the last cake for the interview. I was able to make better looking roses, I made the royal icing stiffer and I think they look better. The basket weave part was fun, I haven't done that in a long time.

Tim's Cake, and Madeline Helped

Tim used all the leftover colored fondant and just made stuff. This is his cake. Madeline helped, she made the multi colored piece and gave artistic/supervisory input. Tim worked, and she said, "Yeah, that's nice." ROFL!!!! Pretty cool cake, it's for dessert tonight.

Flower Fondant Cake

Hi!
Here is the first of two cakes I'm making for the interview. This is a chocolate cake covered in white fondant. The balls were hand rolled. The leaves were hand cut and shaped. The flowers are blossom cookie cutters, notched, hand shaped and dried on the floral molds. Those U shaped ones. I used a texture plate to give a little dimension to the flowers. Let me know what you think. It took most of Saturday to assemble. So worth it, I like the way the cake turned out. Thanks

Roses

Hi!
I'm so rusty at making roses. I probably should have practiced on something easier. Oh well, taking a break and going to go back to practicing after dinner. Let me know what you think. Thanks

It's Done - Yeah!!!!

Hi!
I've been making these flag samplers for few years now. This is the 4th one, they are all exactly the same, just for different people. I carry them around in my purse throughout the school year, it's my take along project that I work on, when on breaks, waiting to pick up someone, and such. I'll do the last one when school starts again in August. I will pick up Noah's Sub this evening, I really need to use some different colors besides red, white and blue, LOL!!!!

Actual Decorated Cake

Hi!
This is our first real cake. We decorated for our niece who graduated from High School. We like the way it turned out and received a lot of compliments. Our niece was happy and that's the best praise.