I'll Post Soon.....

Hello everyone! I am working on some new and very exciting things. I am almost ready to start posting about them. Just give a few days and I am taking this blog in a different direction. I will still post about cakes & cookies, because they are my main squeeze, but I also have a few other loves that I can't wait to talk about. If you haven't noticed I have also changed my blog name just a bit. See you soon!

It's 4-H Fair Week!

I know, your thinking what? No picture? Nope....I have been just to busy this week. We are 4-H people. If you don't know what that means....well, I will tell you.

It means....we live at the the fair grounds for eight days straight. We eat, sleep and breath the fair.

Life as we know it ceases to exist. For one whole week (and a day) we vanish from ordinary life.
Our kids (the ones that are grown) know where to find us. That would be in.... the Cattle Barn.

Yes, with the sweet smelling, wonderful moo cows. We show cows (and a lamb). We have two wonderful children in 4-H. We have four that have gone through and finished their 10 years.

4-H is a wonderful thing. I personally believe it has made all of our children better people. It has taught them hard work and responsibility. It has also taught them that for one week a year everyone is created equal.

You can take the most popular kids in school and everyone else and mix them together at the fair and you can't tell a difference. Kids helping kids. I doesn't matter who you are, just having
the time of their lives. Fair friends for ever.

My youngest daughter is 18 (sigh), and my youngest son is 9 (sigh again). They both show cattle and sheep. So, here we go again. Another year at the fair. Ready for an awesome week, with great food, wonderful company and lots and lots of laughs! Good luck kids, mom loves you!

See you all in a week!

Wedding Cookies

I am working on wedding cookies this week. I am still trying to get the feel of decorating in buttercream. I do really like it, but it does have some quirks. I hope everyone is having a great summer! :)

Sugar (Kim) I love your work!

I have a cookie idol and her name is Sugar (Kim). I tried to attach a link to flickr, but it wouldn't let me. So I will try and type it in... http://www.flickr.com

Ok, so go to flickr and type in Sugar and it should bring up Sugar (Kim) and then check out her cookies! She is awesome and let me tell you why. She decorates her cookies with butter cream and they are gorgeous! I have struggled with royal icing since the beginning. Not that its difficult, its the hardness that I dislike. My family really hates it. So, I say why make a cookie that looks great, but tastes terrible. Then I found Sugar (Kim). This is my attempt to try her method. It worked out OK, it took a little getting used to, but I think I like it! It helps that I already make cakes. I am familiar with the tips and how to use them. But, best of all......the cookies taste AWESOME!

I know, because my family said so! I will still use royal icing occasionally on things like camouflage cookies that may not work like this. But, I believe at this moment (LOL, because we women have the right to change our minds) that this is the way I will make most of my cookies. Thank you Sugar (Kim) and please keep up your beautiful work.

Cakes, cakes & more cakes!

I think that I am finally through the graduation cakes. This week I made a cake for my nephew Luke's graduation open house. He is just an awesome guy! Luke is off to college to be a fireman.

Congrats Luke & we love you! I was also asked to make a couple of full sheet cakes for our school principal, Mrs. Sleva. She is retiring after 24 years. Thank you Mrs. Sleva for all you have done for our school. You will be missed. Best wishes on your retirement!

Baby Shower Cake and Cupcakes

Have I told you how much I LOVE gum paste?....If so, I am gonna tell ya again anyway. I love, love, love it! You can design and make pretty much make anything. It has been the turning point for me in decorating cakes and cupcakes. I was really kind of struggling to find my own style. You know, that thing that sets you apart from everyone else. When someone sees one of your creations and says " Yep, that's a Missy Craig cake!" I can't find enough time in the day to work with it. I already love it for flowers, (you can create a flower that looks as if you just picked it out of your flower garden.) Characters, details on cakes, I even use it exclusively for the lettering on my cakes. The picture above is a cake and cupcakes that I did for a baby shower for a friend. She ask me to match a cake to the napkin. This is what I came up with. The monkey and the presents are all gum paste. The cake is a white vanilla cake with butter cream frosting, covered in chocolate fondant, with fondant circles, and fondant border. Thanks for looking! I am off to mess with some more gum paste! :)

Graduation Cakes!

It has been a VERY busy week. I have been making graduation cakes! I want to say congrats to all the graduates, especially SVS Class of 2011, Diamond, and Bretta! Thanks for letting me be a part of your celebration.

Happy Birthday Cody, Love Mom

Well, my baby boy turned nine this week. It seems like yesterday that he was a baby. This year he requested a hunting cake. It had been a VERY busy week for me, so I had to make his cake in a hurry. I had to laugh when he seen it.....He said " Mom you are supposed to have the hunter's gun pointed at the deer!" I said " Code, I did that on purpose...I didn't want to offend any one at your party." He says " Mom, oh my gosh, that is what hunters do!" LOL He cracks me up! If you can't tell he is very serious about his hunting. We do have a rule in our house, that is if you kill it you must eat it.....that is all that I am going to say on that subject.

Confirmation Cakes

First Communion

My son Cody just went through his First Communion. Doesn't he look handsome! I was busy making five cakes (yikes!) and trying to get him, my self and everything ready.

It turned out to be a fantastic day! Time sure does fly....I guess he is growing up (sigh).

More Gum Paste and Another Birthday!

I have discovered gum paste...and I am having way to much fun with it! I made this little horse, cowgirl hat, horse whip and all the flowers with gum paste. I love it! I have also discovered that I have an artist in me just waiting be let out. I always thought to be an artist you had to be able to draw, paint or something like that. I guess....I am a sculptor.

Here is the cake that a friend ask me to make for her grand daughter's 9th birthday. She said that she wanted a cowgirl cake. So, this is what I came up with. I had a blast making this cake!

Happy Birthday Christina! I hope you had a great day and I hope you loved your cake!

My First Gum Paste Person.....

My friend Jessica is about to have her fourth baby. Yesterday my moms group threw a baby shower for her. I volunteered to make the cake and cupcakes. I decided that I was going to try and make my first gum paste person. OK, I have to laugh and its OK if you do too! She is way to big for my cake, she is supposed to look pregnant, and she has kankles (is that how you spell it?)

LOL. I think it turned out pretty cute....and hey I learned something right? Congrats to my friend Jessica! We hope to see that baby soon. :) I may have to do a tutorial on gum paste when I get a little better at it. It really is a lot of fun!

And......She's 18

Well tomorrow is a happy, yet sad day for me my baby girl turns 18 (sigh...where does time go?). She ask me to make a very special cake for her 18th birthday. This is what I came up with, all the things she loves; flowers, makeup, the color pink, zebra print and shoes. You can eat everything on this cake. The flowers, makeup, shoe and tag are all gum paste. The box is fondant and the bottom cake is butter cream frosting. Happy Birthday Abbie, I love you very, very much! I am blessed and proud to be your mom.

More Edible Image Cookies....the possibility's are endless.

A friend ask me to make her some edible image cookies for their school yesterday. They are the Farmers. I love my edible ink printer! The possibility's are very endless. I think that they turned out really cute! Thank you Lisa! I hope everyone enjoys them today.

An Award!

I have been honored by Dulce Dough with the Stylish Blogger Award! First, I want to say a big Thank you! I am truly honored! If you haven't seen her blog, well you need to! Here is her link:

http://dulcedough.blogspot.com/

Following the rules of the award, I have to:

1. Thank them, make a post, and put a link back to the person who gave it to me.

2. Share 7 things about my self.

3. Pass the award to 10 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact those bloggers personally and tell them about the award.

Seven things about me:

1. I love to bake (It's how I show people that I love them!)

2. I live on a cattle farm and love it!

3. I have 5 great kids and wonderful hubby!

4. I really enjoy my camera and taking lots of pictures.

5. I crochet blankets. (my kids call that my old lady hobby! LOL)

6. I love to run or walk. It relaxes me. It also helps keep the pounds off from all the baking!

7. I love to read!

Great bloggers I have recently discovered:

There are so many! How do I chose? Many have already received it, so I will try to pass it on to some who may have not.

http://cristinscookies.blogspot.com/

http://lilaloa.blogspot.com/

http://sweetapolita.com/

http://rollin-indough.blogspot.com/

http://cookbakeanddecorate.blogspot.com/

http://meandmypinkmixer.blogspot.com/2010/08/lemon-lush.html

http://www.crumblycookie.net/

http://www.paintinggrams.blogspot.com/

http://katieyoon.blogspot.com/

http://cookieartbychristina.blogspot.com/

http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/

Thank you Dogwood Realty!

Thank you Dogwood Realty for asking me to make logo cookies for you! I hope you enjoyed them!!!

Happy Birthday Fletcher!

Happy 9th Birthday Fletcher!!! I hope you had a wonderful day!!!

Curly Q Cupcakes......Ooohhhhh Yeah!

I found this recipe for Curly Q Cupcakes on the Tasty Kitchen website and I just had to try them! Chocolate and vanilla creme? Oh yeah, I'm all over that! I did make a few changes, and I will tell you when we get there.

First bake some chocolate cupcakes. You can use your favorite recipe or a box mix. That is what I used. Shhhh don't tell. As you can see my cupcakes are nothing special. My liners don't even match! LOL

Take your cupcake and a knife and remove the middle. Just like I did here.

Add your filling. You might want to taste some at this point, because its yummy!

Put your little top back on. I did chop off the point before I did this.

Now make your frosting. I used the frosting in the recipe first. This is what it will look like.

It was to semi sweet for me, so I only frosted twelve with this.

I then got the idea that I would just use some canned frosting. Yummy! I put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and melted it almost to pouring consistency. Then I added my little Curly Q.

Can you say come to mama! I am thinking a big class of cold milk! Here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it! I will be making these again! A box mix will make about 24 cupcakes, so you will have to double the filling and frosting recipes.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/curly-q-cupcakes/

Happy Birthday Avery!

I was ask to make a fun, crazy, wild birthday cake for Avery, who is 11 today. Well, this is what I came up with.....OK fine, yes I was messing around in Picnik....I love what you can do with your pictures there.

This is the actual picture of Avery's cake. I think it's fun.....and a little crazy.....and a little wild.

Happy Birthday Avery! I hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Edible Image Cookies

Every year my son's school has a teacher/staff appreciation luncheon. This year, I decided to use my edible image printer (I love my printer.....so many possibilities!) and make some really cool school logo cookies. The teachers and staff really got a kick out of these. Thank you everyone for all that you do!!! We're St. Vincent and Proud of it!

Cookie Crazie....She is Awesome!!!

The last few weeks I have been following the blog of Cookie Crazie. She is awesome. I love her blog. You need to check it out. http://cookiecrazie.blogspot.com/ She has been doing a tutorial on glaze and cookies. She is fabulous. If you make cookies and you have been using royal icing, and your not real happy with how hard it is, you should check out how she makes her cookies.

Here is a picture of some of her cookies. Thank you Cookie Crazie! Please keep doing what you do! :)