How to build a gnome home out of cake ...

Start with your favorite cake recipe and stack 10in rounds four high.

Insert some wooden supports so the cake doesn't later make you cry.

Find the perfect door online because this is the one item you ran out of time to make!

Place it in the perfect spot and begin to carve and shape your cake.

Here's where a nifty tool will help your inner sculptor come out to play,

so pull out your grandmothers biscuit cutter and let it save the day!

Those crescent moons that you just carved out will become the perfects roots,

as your once boring cake turns into a magickal stump with the click of your crafty boots.

                          Now onto the crumb frost, which is a crucial part, so do not skip this step!
                       For without this layer your final product would turn out to be a great big mess!

With this now done, you may walk away and leave your cake in the fridge for about an hour.

Grab a snack, take a nap, and do not start back until you've at least had time to shower!

 Ok, now you're ready to whip up the frosting that will bring to life this beautiful tree,

so take a close look at the door trim, and let the color mixing begin, until a perfect match is what you see.

The top lighter tone will be first and if smooth is what you seek, a hot knife is a happy perk.

It'll should be easy from here on in and of this you'll make quick work.

The bark layer goes wicked fast as you flick and frost in random fashion.

Remember here, that imperfect is good, even is perfectionism is your passion ;)

Oh, look almost done, now wasn't that fun, I'll just bet you'd do this again!

Now onto the forest enchanted, which will look like you planted, a fairy garden way out in the glen.

So bake up some cupcakes mini, to look like magick mushrooms from New Guinea, as you set the scene for little gnome house.

And should you have left over batter, well that simply won't matter, because dyed green and crumbled, it makes most excellent moss! 

Assemble the scene, on a brown tablecloth that's clean, and put your door firmly into place.

A few sugar flowers, can be artfully showered, to bring a smile to your birthday gnome's face.

Be sure to bring hats for the class, and I guarantee they'll have a blast, as they ooh and aah in stunned delight.

Now all of this has me thinking, about the dishes in the sink-and with that I'll wish you all a Good Night :)!!!

Raine's Awesome Science Project!

Raine has been working on a huge science project for school.  She was asked to choose an ecosystem and decided on coral reef.  She has been researching and compiling information on it for weeks on her own.  So far she's had to turn in a big report, build a PowerPoint on one of the animals living in her ecosystem and it's food chain and several other small projects.  Last night she came home with a frenzied look in her eyes and said we needed to build a diorama and it was due tomorrow!  Can you tell the procrastination apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)  I was so excited over the word "art project", that I completely let go of the fact that we could have worked on this all last week.  This kid loves to wait until crunch time to get things done.

We worked together to come up with a design, and then I let her run with it. She had to show three different ways that outside sources were disturbing the delicate balance of the worlds oldest ecosystem. She chose illegal dumping of toxic sludge/oil, trash in the oceans, and over fishing. She went out and gathered dried tree and bush parts and painted them in the vibrant colors of the ocean. The pink coral is borrowed from our maple tree, the bright green seaweedish looking piece was from on of out bushes, and and big pine needle cluster(hard to see in this picture) was made to look like a sea anemone. She use cut up recycled wrapping paper tube and tissue to make the toxic sludge barrels and "floated" styrofoam on the ocean ceiling along with some of that nasty coke can plastic for the trash portion. Last but not least was the fishing net over the whole project to represent over fishing. It came out so great and I am one proud mama!

Yum!

{this moment} ~Birthday Girl Surprise

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - Amanda Soule