Lou Lou's Homemade

Cody's First Birthday Cake

2011-01-22T15:02:00.002-05:00

Today is our friend Cody's very first birthday party. He turned one yesterday and his sweet mommy asked me to make his cake!

She gave me free reign for design but mentioned that Cody reminds her of a little koala.

And she wanted one cake to cut...

9" vanilla cake with vanilla frosting
The colors in the picture below are the most true to life.

some cupcakes for the kiddos

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting.
The ears are pink candy melts, the eyes are brown m&m's
and the noses are milk duds.

and a smash cake for Cody.

6" round vanilla cake with vanilla frosting.
The ears and nose are shaped cupcakes
and the eyes are junior mints.

Kayleen's Wedding Cake

2010-10-17T18:47:00.002-04:00

A dear friend of my sister-in-law's got married yesterday and I was fortune enough to be asked to do her wedding cake!!

The bride added her own cake topper, which she described to me as a gold wire tree with fall colored crystals for leaves. That sounds really pretty and very unique!

There were a couple of firsts for me in this cake, but I think they turned out well and i was pleased with the end result.

This was my first three tiered cake and my first attempt at using fondant.

I brushed the fondant with copper edible glitter to dress it up a little more for a special fall wedding. I also thought the shimmer might go along with the cake topper.

And I added 24 cupcakes to go with it. She picked the most delicious flavors.

Decadent chocolate with peanut butter cups baked in and peanut butter whipped butter cream in between the layers of cake AND lemon cake with raspberry filling. And then the whole thing covered in vanilla butter cream. Delicious!

Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 3

2010-09-27T21:06:00.009-04:00

Now that the birds have been finished, it is time to turn them into a mobile!

I played around with the layout on the floor; there are no right answers, only what looks good to your eye.

But there are some things to consider:

different birds together
different sizes together
which birds would be alone
where they'd be on the sticks
which direction they'd face and
how they would balance the mobile once they were in place.

For some of my birds I simply hot glued them to the stick. But for others (below) I added black thread to help anchor the birds so they didn't pitch forward. The added bonus was that the black thread could just look like their little feet perched on the branch!

Next, I added little eye screws from which I will hang my mobile. I was able to just tap them into the wood to start the hole, then screw them in by hand.

I added them in intervals which I thought would give some balance, but when I added the fishing wire to the eyes and tried to make it all balance, it took some trial and error. There isn't a way I can tell you to "get it right", I think you just need to keep experimenting until the balance works for you.

When I was finished, I put a white cup hook in the ceiling and hung the mobile.

It twirls a bit, but for the most part, I haven't had any trouble with it swaying or the birds pitching forward or backward.

And I love the way it looks! It is whimsical and playful without being too goofy and I think it will last for a bit in a little girl's room without feeling "baby-ish" in a few years.

For Part 1 Instructions, click here: Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 1.
For Part 2 Instructions, click here: Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 2

Noah's First Birthday Cake

2010-09-21T17:41:00.006-04:00

Noah's first birthday party had a jungle safari theme. It took me a while to decide how I might turn this idea into a fun cake for a little boy. The invitation was a great inspiration, so I started with a purple zebra on a round sugar cookie...

...and then added an elephant....

...and a lion...

...and a goofy giraffe!

I placed them all on cupcakes for the little ones to enjoy.

Then I made some other shaped cookies and placed them in the ~~cake~~ jungle.

This zebra was not as cute,

... but I do like how the lions came out!

And of course I made a smash cake for the birthday boy!

Stephie B's Wedding Cupcakes

2010-08-16T09:47:00.004-04:00

My sister-in-law recommended me to her friend to do her wedding cupcakes.

She had the most fun and vibrant colors.

She asked for 150 vanilla cupcakes

with fun designs on them

and some with their monogram.

I had a lot of fun playing with different fonts for their last initial.

I used candy melts

in a piping bag

and played with different sanding sugars

and nonpareils.

And made sure she got some extras

to freeze for her first anniversary

or taste test before the big party!

Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 2

2010-07-17T08:36:00.010-04:00

This little birdie...

has some new friends!

I've finished hand sewing all of the birds I'll be using to make Baby Girl Alix's mobile!

There are BIG birds

Small birds

and original sized birds.

There are even extra birds!

(These birds were made from test fabric to see if I liked how they turned out.
I'll likely use them throughout her room for more decorations,
but not necessarily on the mobile with the others)

The next step is to gather some branches

and arrange the mobile!

For Part 1 Instructions, click here: Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 1
For Part 3 Instructions, click here: Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 3

Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 1

2010-07-08T21:46:00.028-04:00

I kept coming across these beautiful bird mobiles in nursery pictures

Photo credit: Mrs.KLF

and after a Google search, learned they are all made from a free pattern provided by Spool. (click here for Spool's website and find the bird pattern on the left sidebar, or click here) They even have a whole Flickr page dedicated to them! I fell in love with them! I love the fantastic prints on the fabric and how the composition is really simple and incorporates the natural branches.

The directions are on Spool's pattern, but I thought I'd give you a play-by-play with pictures! The Spool pattern is for one size bird, but I used a copier to enlarge and shrink the pattern so that I would have three different sized birds.

I cut out the three different sized patterns; an enlarged bird, 2 original sized birds (because I knew I wanted the most of this size and wasn't sure the paper pattern would hold up to repeated use) and a smaller bird.

For the purposes of photographing and showing you step by step, I thought it would be easier to use the enlarged bird pattern. The pattern is enlarged to scale, however, so this should be identical, proportion-wise, to the original pattern.

The beauty of this project is that it could possibly be done for free using only materials you probably already have around your house! I used scrap fabric that I already had and loved, but didn't really have enough to do much more with than this!

Scrap fabric from Amy Butler Collection

After I had made a "test" bird, I purchased some fat quarters in fabrics I wanted to use in the nursery. These were the three main fabrics/patterns.

And here they are again with the additional complimentary fabrics. I'll use different combinations of these fabrics for the birds backs and bellies.

Begin by selecting the fabric you want to use for the bird's body. Fold the fabric and line up the Bird Body pattern so that the bird's back is running along the folded edge.

Pin it in place and cut out the bird.

For the Bird Belly, select another fabric and cut out one piece. (This does not need to be doubled or placed on a fold, so there is no photograph.) You will now have one Bird Body and one Bird Belly.

Place the two pieces right sides together (Body right-side-up and then the Belly wrong-side-up on top of it).

Slide the Belly over so that the curves of the tail on both pieces line up. Pin in place.

Work your way all along one side, matching the edges together and pinning in place. At this point the fabric will not lie flat - remember, your end product will be three dimensional!

Stitch all along the path of pins you have made along the edge of the fabric. I used a clear nylon quilting thread so that my stitches were guaranteed to be invisible. I also used a backstitch so that it would be a little more reinforced when I stuffed the bird later on. Place your stitches about 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the edge of the fabrics.

Repeat the whole process on the other side by first lining up the curve of the tail and pinning, then lining up the edges of the fabric all the way around, using the Bird Belly as your guide.

You will use the Bird Belly to know where to line up the fabrics and at the point of the belly your Bird Body fabric should naturally come together.

Once it does, line up the two edges of the Bird Body (by folding it where it was folded when you cut the pattern out of the folded fabric). This will line up the head and beak for you.

Stitch all along the length of the whole bird, starting at the tail and then stitching around the Belly and continuing to the remaining Body and around the head. Do NOT stitch the tail together!

At this point you will have an inside-out un-stuffed bird.

Because you left the tail open, use this to begin turning the bird right-side-out.

You may need a long thin object to help you turn the beak - I used sewing scissors, but be careful!

To help keep frays to a minimum, I folded the tail over and then began stuffing.

I used small amounts of poly-fiber fill that I worked all the way to the beak first (again, sometimes using scissors to help push the fibers all the way into the small beak).

Continue stuffing until you have filled the head and body and are close to filling the tail. Then, stuff the tail; being mindful of leaving some fabric to neatly stitch together to close the bird.

Fold your rough edges in, starting at the sides and then along the base of the tail, pinning as you go. For some variations I have seen ribbons and feathers added here to make a more dramatic tail.

Stitch along the edges to finish the bird. I used a whip stitch so that the seam resembles the
other seams (no top stitching). This is another reason I chose to use the clear nylon quilting thread.

You now have a finished stuffed bird!

With a beautiful belly and

a beautiful back!

You can add variations to this such as eyes, wings and tail feathers. Get creative! I'll show you how to add feet in the next post, when we put the birds on a branch and balance the mobile!

For Part 2 Instructions, click here: Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 2
For Part 3 Instructions, click here: Spool's Hand-Sewn Bird Mobile - Part 3

Mom's Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

2010-06-08T18:20:00.005-04:00

My mother loves pansies.

Loves them.

So they were the obvious flower of choice for her birthday cake.

I started by making royal icing pansies.

And then basted her cake with butter cream and added a basket weave to the sides.

And added some of the pansies.

I added some cupcakes

to compliment the display

and finished decorating the top of the cake.

Happy Birthday Mom, I hope you enjoyed your special day, your party and your cake!

Easter Bunny Cake

2010-04-08T18:03:00.004-04:00

I found inspiration here again for Easter!

Specifically on this page....how could I resist?

But instead of cupcakes, I tweaked it a little and made a cake!

And I couldn't find circus peanuts for the bunny's feet, so I used tootsie rolls.

Sarah's Sunflower Birthday Cupcakes

2010-04-08T17:54:00.006-04:00

For Sarah's birthday I drew inspiration from one of my favorite Christmas presents:

There is nothing like a good suggestion to get your creative juices flowing!

Sarah loves Sunflower, so this was an obvious choice.

I'm not 100% sure how she feels about ladybugs, but they were too cute to leave out!

I made some of the cupcakes miniature and covered them with "grass" to add some dimension and interest.

And I added just a touch of brown icing in with the yellow to make the petals more realistic.

How to Make a Filled Cupcake

2010-02-15T19:59:00.005-05:00

So you've filled your pans, baked the cupcakes, let them cool and your house smells like heaven. Have you decided how you want to decorate your cupcakes yet?

May I suggest an easy variation on the theme? One that provides a little surprise for the lucky recipient? Fill them with frosting!

You'll need a piping bag and a decorative tip. You don't need a decorative tip for the filling in the cupcakes, but since I am filling the cupcakes with the same frosting I am decorating them with, I used the same bag & tip for the whole thing.

The tip I used is over-sized. It is a Wilton 2D.

Take a small sharp paring knife and cut a cone shape from the top of your cupcake. It should be fairly deep (half the depth of your cupcake). Make sure your cupcake is completely cooled before you do this or you will create for yourself a mess of crumbs.

Turn the cone on its top and slice the tip off so it has a nice flat bottom. Go ahead and eat what you just cut off. You won't need it later and you deserve a taste.

Now put your piping tip into the hole you created and fill that cupcake up!

Then put your cap back on.

Add your frosting to the top. Using the piping bag to frost a filled cupcake is the best way to go because it will not pull and tug at the loose cupcake cap the same way a spatula might if you were to baste the cupcake.

Add some decorations of your choice.

Or a lot of them, if you want to.

No one will know there is a delicious surprise inside unless you draw inspiration from a famous filled cupcake. That might give them a little hint.

Now make sure you practice your most humble "thank you".

You put in a little bit of work for a big impact and your cupcakes are going to be a hit!

How to Fill Cupcake Pans

2010-02-07T19:50:00.009-05:00

I always have trouble filling cupcake tins. It seems that no matter how careful I am I always end up with batter all over the pan. I've heard more than once to use a giant zip-top freezer bag as if it were a piping bag. I think its a great idea and here's how I do it!

1. Place a 1 gallon zip-top freezer bag inside a bowl and fold the zip top down. The zip-top freezer bag idea is excellent, but getting the batter from the bowl to the bag has been messy in the past for me. Until, that is, I figured out that if I put the bag inside a bowl, it would hold the bag up and open for me, especially once the bag became full of batter. No more bags tipping over and half your batter spilling all over the counter tops! I also fold the zipper top down over itself a few times. This helps the top of the bag keep an open shape. It also helps the integrity of the zipper; when it is folded over it is protected from spills and will have a watertight seal when you are ready to zip it shut.

2. Pour your batter into the bag. You will be glad you have that bowl holding your bag upright now because you will have both hands and your undivided attention to make sure all of the batter makes it into the bag.

3. Now you're glad you folded the top over, cause you dribbled anyway. I always do, even when I'm not pouring with one hand and holding the camera with the other. It happens; that's why you folded the top over.

4. Unfold the top, zip it almost all the way together leaving a small space open at one end. With just a small opening left, squeeze the air out the bag, then zip it completely shut. Now's your chance to wipe off the bag if you had any spills, otherwise, you are going to get it all over your hands.

5. Snip a corner. If you sealed your bag properly you can pick it up out of the bowl and tip it upside down, moving the batter away from one of the bottom corners. Pinch the corner and snip just a small amount off, leaving a hole. If the snip is too large, the batter will come pouring out and you'll have no control over it. If the snip is too small the batter will barely come out at all, temping you to squeeze the bag harder, and that's just an accident waiting to happen.

6. Fill your cups. While you are still pinching that end shut, turn the bag right side up and let the batter flow back towards the open end. When you are ready, let go of your pinch and fill the cups. You can pinch the end shut when moving from cup to cup or just time your drips carefully. Squeeze, roll, fold and scrunch your bag to get every little last drop of batter out. Enjoy an easy clean up!

I recommend freezer bags over regular storage bags. They are more durable and they stand up better during filling.

Put It All Together And What Do You Get?

2010-01-25T21:27:00.007-05:00

The last few posts I have shown you how to make a Chain Garland, a Satin Ribbon Garland, Cake Pops and Paper Baskets.

But what I was really showing you, little by little, was how I was pulling together a small dinner party for some very special friends.

Put them all together (with a few extra touches) and this is what you get:

I added some crepe paper, some small hearts hanging from ribbons on the chandelier and some white tulle and colorful ribbon on the chairs. Then I set the table with the paper baskets for the Valentine exchange.

All in all, this whole room transformation was made with one pack of scrapbook paper, ribbon and tape. I added small embellishments like crepe paper and pink party napkins, but overall, the decorations and food were made by me.

The whole space cost me less than $30 dollars and it created a mood and theme, welcomed my guests and made them feel as though I had gone out of my way just for them.

Cake Pops

2010-01-24T20:54:00.010-05:00

I told you earlier about Bakerella's blog and even about her S'mores Cupcakes. But this is her signature item, the one the blogging world knows her for... and I had much better results trying my hand at her creations this time around!

Welcome to the world of Cake Pops! You're welcome!

Some of the items I needed to get started I had on hand (boxed cake mix, can of frosting), but some I had to purchase - like candy melts and teeny tiny cookie cutters to make my cake pops heart shaped. And the foam block is essential, so don't skip out on that!

For instructions on how Bakerella makes cake pops, head on over here to her original cake pop recipe.

But don't stop there!! She has made cake pops in all kind of shapes, colors and for many reasons. Do the right thing and check them all out- some of her later posts offer updated tips and were really helpful for inspiration and little logistical directions!

Now you can see why that foam block is so necessary. How else would you dry these things? I bought only one block and was a little concerned that they wouldn't hold all the pops. Well, it didn't hold all of the cake pops at once, but the candy coating dries fast enough that you can swap them out pretty much as you make them, so no worries there!

Her advice to use small amounts of the candy melts at a time is great- the candy hardens again pretty quickly so it is much easier to work with small batches. It can also be re-melted so if the bottom of your cup starts to harden or its just time to melt more candies, you can just pop the whole thing back in the microwave and give it a good stir.

These ~~are~~ were delicious!

Thank you, Bakerella!

Making Paper Baskets

2010-01-24T19:58:00.007-05:00

You may have noticed these in the flickr slide show on my sidebar. They are paper baskets that I made for Easter last year; to dress the table, act as a place card, and an Easter basket to hold yummy treats for my guests.

I made them again to collect valentines for friends, so I thought I'd show you how easy it is to make them! You will need paper, scissors, hole punch, stapler, ribbon and a ruler or small square tracer (not shown).

I used a square pack of sticky notes to measure the square I needed to cut out from each corner. The paper I used was 12" x 12" double sided scrapbook paper and I used a 3" x 3" pack of stickies. This made my finished basket 6" x 6".

Next, use your hole punch to put holes in each of the sides. This is how you will pull the sides together. In the very first picture you can see that I only made one hole on each side, but in the background you can see another basket where I used three holes. It doesn't matter how many holes you make, as long as there are the same number on each side!

Cut a length of ribbon for each hole. Then fold each side in towards the middle. Thread the ribbon through the matching holes....

...and tie them to hold the sides together.

Cut a length of paper for the handle and staple it on. You could also make 2 holes here and tie it on with more ribbon, or staples the ribbon on and tie a bow. Be creative!

And there you have it! Paper baskets that dress up your table that are just waiting to be filled with valentines!

For a more shallow or deep basket: change the size of the square you cut out from each corner.
*For a deeper basket (taller sides) make the square larger. This will make the bottom of your basket smaller.
*For a shallower basket (shorter sides) make the square smaller. This will make the bottom of your basket larger.

For a rectangular basket: start with rectangular paper. You will still need to cut a square from the corners, as this shape ensures the sides will be the same height when you fold them up and tie them together.

Trying my hand at Bakerella's S'more's Cupcakes

2010-01-24T18:34:00.011-05:00

Ever heard of Bakerella? If you haven't, go ahead and check out her site, I'll wait right here until you get back.

If you have heard of her, then I'm willing to bet you are as enamored and envious of her great ideas and yummy treats as I am! She's a favorite of mine because she loves to play with food and likes to find different ways to use regular ordinary sugary treats.

Recently she created S'mores cupcakes. Oh, the pictures of her little cakes made me want to try some- they looked delicious!

So I started out following her directions. In no time at all I had three different bowls of batter and began layering them in muffin tins. First, a vanilla graham cracker cake layer and then some buttery, sugary, graham cracker crumble.

Next, the marshmallows and then a decadent chocolate cake layer. If you try nothing else, please, please do yourself the favor of making chocolate cupcakes using Bakerella's recipe for the chocolate layer. The batter itself tastes like fudgey frosting. yum... And finally, top it all off with more of the graham cracker crumble.

Into the oven they went and when that timer went off a short 15 minutes later, the smell was amazing- just like toasted s'mores!

Bakerella suggests you put a cookie sheet underneath your muffin tin to catch any drips. Good advice; they are gooey and messy and they overflowed. I would add to that suggestion that you cover that cookie sheet with tin foil, that way you can trash the foil and not waste your time scouring hardened marshmallow of your nice cookie sheets.

Gooey, melty, oozing cupcakes full of chocolate and marshmallow. Just make sure you spray every little bit of the surface of your muffin tin before you start filling your cups, marshmallows are sticky.

I could not wait for these to cool enough to tuck into one and see if they lived up to the way the smelled and looked!

But then, a curious thing happened.

My cupcakes completely deflated. I was left with a cavernous hole where the marshmallows used to be.

I thought I could save them by maybe refilling them with fresh marshmallows (the instructions encouraged me to garnish the cupcakes with more marshmallow) and then cover them with chocolate ganache.

I waited until they were cool and then tried one and they were not salvageable. While the chocolately tops of the cupcakes were baked perfectly, the melted marshmallows had turned the vanilla graham cracker layer back into warm wet cake batter.

Even though the house still smelled like warm baked s'mores cupcakes, I couldn't serve them to my guests.

So here's where I appeal to you: have you made these? Did they turn out right? What did I do wrong? This was probably my first attempt at baking with marshmallows, and I know they tend to puff up and then deflate a little, but why did it liquefy my bottom layer of cake? And, tell the truth, would you have eaten them anyway?

Satin Ribbon Garland

2010-01-20T22:06:00.006-05:00

In the last post I left you with this picture of how I used my scraps to create a second garland.

I started with many different hearts cut from Valentine themed scrap paper to make a Chain Garland.

The insides of these hearts are what I used to make this Satin Ribbon Garland.

All I needed to complete this was a length of 1" satin ribbon and an Xacto knife. I made 2 slices in the paper with the knife that were wider than the ribbon.

Then I thread the ribbon through it. It was really that simple.

Then I went on to the next one. And the next one.... and the next one.

They're light enough that all I had to do to display them was tape a few to the wall. They're also easy, practically free, and they use up scrap materials!

Materials:
scrap hearts
satin ribbon
Xacto knife

Chain Garland

2010-01-17T20:35:00.024-05:00

Here is a quick, inexpensive craft that creates a theme and can be done relatively easily. I made these from hearts, but you could use almost any shape.

I bought a collection of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper that was double sided and that was my only expense. I did use my Cricut Expression cutter and I used the Accent Essentials cartridge to cut out the hearts. I made them 5" tall. On a 12 x 12 piece of paper that made 4 hearts. I saved the inside of the hearts for another garland (see below).

The hearts are going to create a garland by linking together. In order to link them, you will need to make a small inconspicuous cut, link the hearts and then tape the cut back together. First I tried it here, in the bottom of the V.

I quickly realized that this was not going to be the best place for two reasons.

First, having a cut in the bottom of the V would make that area weaker when the garland is hanging.

Secondly, I planned to tape the cut back together. With the cut in a curve of the heart, there would be no easy way to fold the tape over and hide the tape. There would always be an ugly clump of tape there unless I trimmed it with scissors. With a long garland, that could become labor intensive pretty quickly. Also, I wanted to tape the cut back together in such a way that it would not be obvious to the eye.

On my next heart, I made a cut at a diagonal along the side of the heart. This way the tape would be easy to fold over a straight edge, making it much easier to hide.

I also cut some smaller hearts using solid colored paper to mix in and give the garland a more interesting and whimsical look. I used 8 1/2" x 11" paper for this and was able to make six 3 1/2" hearts on each page.

I laid out each of my papers on the floor, decided on the order and got kitten approval!

And then I started assembling!

There is a small thing to point out during this step which will matter depending on how you wish to display your garland. I intended to display mine by hanging it freely from 3 points. I wanted it to look whimsical, allowing the hearts to be displayed in different directions and the paper to be seen from both sides. It didn't matter to me how the hearts were linked together.

If you have a preference about which paper is showing next to which or that all of the hearts be upright, you will need to secure each heart to one another and be aware of which way the hearts are linking together as you make the garland. For example, in the picture below I always added a new heart to the right and always used the new heart to loop through the last by passing it through the center from above, not below.

When I had finished I took it down stairs and hung it up!

I was careful not to make the sides hang too low as to temp that sweet kitten to play with it, but I left enough hanging to balance the sides.

And with the centers that I saved from cutting out each heart (and a long satin ribbon) I made another garland!

Materials:
patterned paper
scissors
clear tape
any die-cut machine or pattern cut with scissors