A Girly-Girly Birthday Cake

Yes, that's what my daughter asked for, a "girly-girly" cake. Not that she could even tell me what all that entailed. So Vince and I had to come up with something to fit the bill. I think we hit a home run with this.

We decided to do a *girly-girly* version of the rainbow cake. Remember that one? So pretty! But this time we went with *girly* colors.

First I whipped up a yellow cake mix. A white one might have worked better color-wise, but I was working with what was in the pantry, y'all.

Next, I divided the batter evenly into four bowls (the predetermined number of colors we chose) and began to color the batter. Our colors were yellow, pink, purple and blue (yes, that's blue even though it looks sort of green here). Gel colors would work the best, but I had to work with old school food coloring this time around. Again, working with that I had:)

Then I divided the batter into two (greased and floured) 9" cake pans. I placed a 1/4 cup scoop in each batter bowl and then began with pan #1. I started with a scoop of blue, then a scoop of purple, next a scoop of pink and finally a scoop of yellow. Just dump the scoop right in the center of the pan, subsequently dumping the next color right on top of the last. I reversed the color pattern in pan #2 and then repeated the steps with each pan until the batter was evenly dispersed and all gone. Before you put the pans in the oven just give them a little tap on the countertop to spread the batter in the pan evenly. Bake as directed on the box.

Then clean up the inevitable mess. But isn't it a pretty mess?

When the cake is done, turn the layers out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Next I made a homemade batch of vanilla buttercream frosting~I doubled this recipe. There was plenty to put the cake together and a little extra for a few licks. (Sorry, I didn't get a photo of this step, but it's simply icing a layer cake).

For the finishing touches, Vince whipped up some icing to match the colors inside the cake. Because we needed icing quickly we used the store-bought kind that comes in a bag with a tip. Since my icing tips and bags are currently in storage this was the least expensive way. And the frosting isn't bad (I'm not usually a fan of canned frosting).

The result was so cute!! The Princess LOVED it~and so did everyone else!!

There's just something incredibly fun about cutting into a cake that looks like this on the inside!

Of course, it's even more fun to eat it:)

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

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