There's no place like home...

There was a little bit of magic in my kitchen the other night...I made these shoes out of gum paste icing last week and left them to set. They were far from perfect with some bumps and lumps...but then I covered them in red sugar and they came to life. Seeing them side by side actually brought tears to my eyes...what a transformation!


This cake is for someone very special...it's the first time I have ever done anything like this (as with most of my cakes) so please accept my imperfections and enjoy it as it is with me...

As I was saying...this cake is for someone very special...a woman who stood up with my mother at our wedding and explained that she is a surrogate mother to me. So, when I was asked to make this cake I was honoured.

The more I thought about the cake, I knew it needed ruby slippers, a yellow brick road and a wand. We are all on a journey together, we need to feel beautiful and sometimes we need a little magic to keep it all together. So, here is to your beautiful, fabulous journey Jane. May turning 50 be magical...

Happy Birthday Jane!

Love
Heather

Have you heard?

Things have been crazy lately! In the midst of getting ready for Pampering Fest I have been featured in our local paper...check this out! This has been keeping me busy...then I had a cake to finish for tomorrow morning. I often forget to take pictures of the process...here it is already covered in fondant...

They wanted an angel on the cake...so here is the whimsical angel I made...my husband loved it when he saw it...of course the plain white dress wasn't enough so I decided to embellish it a bit...
Then, I got some silver from the halo on her dress so her dress became silver...I decided against wings because she is just so sweet in her simplicity...at least I think so.

Happy 87th Birthday Gram!!!

Enjoy!
Heather

Creative Bug & Pampering Fest

Well, I have spent the last few weeks dreaming up the best way to represent myself at Pampering Fest 2009...and it wasn't easy...There is so much that I want to share with everyone about what I do so, I am doing my best to pull together a bit of everything...

What can you expect at Pampering Fest you ask?

A tradeshow with a difference . . . a terrific fun day for women
only!  The focus is on products and services of interest to
women of all ages including health, beauty, wellness, fun &
frolic.  And our guests get a lot for the ticket price:

1) A light lunch provided by the Women’s Institute of Beamsville
2) A wide array of desserts
3) Beverages provided by our sponsors
4) More than 50 prize draws—one from every vendor & more!
5) Workshops on a wide variety of topics on-going all day long
6) Samples and treatments available
7) 80+ vendors and displays
8) The first 500 women will receive a complimentary copy of the
“Ain’t Just Berries” cookbook!

Volunteers are very much needed! If you can spare a couple of
hours or more, we need you!

Everything is included for the advance $12 ticket price or
$15 at the door.
Contact Jane (905-562-5191 or jgadsby@bellnet.ca) or
Barb (905-563-7274 or rstones@becon.org).  Tickets are also
available:
Beamsville—Maximum Recovery Centre, 4279 Hixon St.,
Grimsby—Marlene Smith’s Decorating, 19 Main Street W.

Check out the website for more details—www.StrawberryFest.ca
or contact me!

Here is a sneak peak at what I am bringing...Looking forward to seeing you there!

Enjoy!
Heather

Sweet Sentiments Card Class - January 27th

So I bet you have been wondering what happened to me...I have too!!! Things have been crazy lately! I have been preparing for Pampering Fest and have a small catering job (more about that later) that I have been doing...whew!

So, I have stolen a few minutes to get these photos here to show you what's coming up next week! On Tuesday January 27th, we are having a Sweet Sentiments Card Class at Trinity United Church. We will be making the projects shown below...

Isn't this card sweet? I actually found the idea in the latest Stampin' Up! Idea Book...call me to get your new book today!
I simply love this heart dandelion flower...so sweet. You can't see it in the photo but I also used a background stamp on the cardstock to add a little depth to the card.
Love...isn't that what it's all about? A little bit of fun with the Love You Much Bundle...
Finally a mini calendar that we will be creating.

Be sure to register now as supplies are limited!

Enjoy!
Heather

The Rainbow Connection?

I took this photo to show a few of my friends that my kitchen isn't really as tidy as it appears in my photos. You can see here that I got blue dye everywhere, Sean was stacking my colouring, and I was really struggling with my Mercken's Chocolate. What can I say it was my first time using it!
So, I moved on to my cupcakes...
Here they are united with the chocolate...
My marching rainbow...
These were simply too much fun to take photos of. Here are the napkins that I was coordinating them with...

And finally, here they are on the stand. Martin made a few little modifications so that the stand worked for 25 cupcakes.Happy 75th Birthday Bill!

Enjoy!
Heather

TWD Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Now, I baked these fabulous muffins on Monday but then a few things got in my way of posting...

1. I was too tired on Monday...
   
2. I fell not once but twice while I was out on Monday and it just hurt too much to sit.
3. I picked up the mail and found my new Stampin' Up! Catalogue waiting for me (how could I not sit down with that?)
4. There was packing snow so it was an absolute necessity to make a snowman with Sean...

So, without further adieu...here is my post for Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins. Thank you to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake for choosing Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins on page 6. I don't know why but I loved the colours of the dry ingredients...ohhh, and I used HOT chili powder so they were all for my DH!


Aren't they lovely? I have made the other corn muffins by in Dorie's Baking book and we thoroughly enjoyed the real corn in them...
Fabulous! And I do apologize to the TWD Goddesses...I really do love you!

Enjoy!
Heather

Give a plate, get a plate...

My girlfriend told me about a plate that she had picked up at Hallmark to share with a couple of her colleagues and well, I couldn't help myself...I just HAD to have one...so, I went to Hallmark and bought the last one they had...
I loaded it up with goodies and packaged it all up nicely (sorry forgot to take photos of my fine wrapping job!)

Meanwhile I have had my eye on this plate for sometime...it has been calling me from the window of a local florist. So, I bought it for Amy for Christmas (any excuse right?)

Well, it would seem that sometimes they do listen because my husband (not knowing that I had bought the plate for Amy) bought one for me for Christmas. In the last week, this plate has met Dorie's Sticky Buns, Hot Appetizers on New Year's Eve and a whole lot of love!!!

Sweet!

Enjoy!
Heather

Who doesn't love snail mail???

Every year I hand make and send out 60+ Christmas Cards and I can honestly say I don't get anywhere near that back but I don't do it for returns I do it for love...but when the chance to do a card exchange came up with our Tuesday's with Dorie group I was ALL OVER THAT!!!

It quickly escalated into more than just a card exchange and goodies have been sent to Dorie lovers everywhere!!! I was so excited to receive my parcel on New Year's Eve Day...and so was Simon!!! Look at him loving this little Gingerbread Man!!! The next one will have to run faster!!!Here are all of the goodies I received (along with a beautiful card) from Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table. I am especially excited about the sieve that she sent...can you believe she took the time to read my blog and see that I don't have a cool little handy tool like that??? WOW!

Thank you Kayte!!!
Wondering what I sent? Well, since I bought this cool candy thermometer to make marshmallows...I have been looking for other ways to use it so...
I made more English Toffee (yummy)!! I found this recipe somewhere in my blog surfing and have made it several times now but I can't seem to find the original source (shame on me!)

Anyway, I packaged up the toffee along with some other homemade goodies and a Christmas Card and sent them off to another hard working Dorie lover...she should be receiving this any day now...I hope it all arrives in good order!
It was great fun to do the exchange...I hope that everyone had fun!

Enjoy!
Heather

Welcome 2009!

While Martin was at work on December 31st, the kids and I took to the grocery store to get supplies to ring in the new year right...then we went home and got to work! Well, they watched a movie and I got to work anyway...
So, we went with various appetizers (the hot ones went on the plate at the other end of the table). And who you might ask were we sharing with? No one really! We had SO much leftover but the kids ate well that's for sure!!!
Here is Sean in all of his silliness!
Happy Simon and Happy Daddy!
Now here are my 3 hams...the kids thought it was all fabulous...how many more years can we get away with counting down at 7:30pm and getting them into bed by 8pm???
The honest truth is we were in bed by 9:30pm and got some much needed sleep as well...

How did you ring in 2009?

Enjoy!
Heather