Tomorrow we are all going to the CHA Craft Super Show at the 

Anaheim Convention Center.

We are so excited to buy, make,

and be inspired. 

There will be something there for all of us...sewing, knitting, cake decorating, stationary making, scrapbooking, and so much more!

We will be back to show you all the fun things we get to see and make!

Happy Birthday Emi!!!

This weekend I made a Tinkerbell cake for Emily MacHarg, the sweetest little girl in the world! I have known Emily since she was 8 weeks old and today she turned 3. I cannot believe how time flies!! I had so much fun making this cake for her and celebrating her birthday with friends.  I babysit for Emily and her brother Connor (whose birthday cake can be seen here) along with many of their family friends. I love the MacHarg's so much! They have become like family to me over these last few years and I am so thankful for them! 

Hope you enjoy the cake!!

I am really not very good at this whole blogging thing, but you should check out my sister Mindy's blog here because she is an excellent blogger :)

Christmas Presents

This year, I decided to make some of my Christmas presents.

A shirt for Kim

I did not actually make the whole shirt.  I just added the gold around the neck and made a flower pin to attach to it.

I also made a shirt for Kristina.

The only picture I have with her in the shirt is super blurry.  But, this is the shirt.

So, I have to admit that the little patch in the corner of the bottom of the shirt was not in my original plan. This came as a result of  a burning candle next to my sewing machine, which caused the shirt to burn, which caused a dark brown spot, which caused me to scrub the spot, which caused a hole. So, now there is lace there instead.  But I am glad that happened...because I like it!

I knit Amy some arm warmers.

I also made Amy some towels, but I didn't get any pictures of those.  They were probably my favorite of the things I made, so  I will have Amy take a picture of them for me.

Kim and I started a cake decorating class tonight.  It was really fun, and we met some really nice people.  We are excited about what we are going to learn. 

Wait until you see the Tinkerbell cake Kim made. It's INCREDIBLE! She should be posting it tonight or tomorrow.

Here it is!!

         

     

      

These aren't the best pictures but I will post ones from the party another day. 

Sports Cupcakes!

Here's a little preview of the cupcakes for this weekend :)

Come back soon to see the sports cake that goes with these cupcakes and the Tinkerbell cake!

This week I am taking on two cakes and fifty cupcakes. One cake is a sports themed cake along with sports cupcakes and the other cake is a Tinkerbell cake. I am a little nervous to make two cakes in one week, so I am starting early :). Check back next week for pictures of my cakes!

Baby Shower Cake

This last weekend I made a cake for my friend Jahana's baby shower. The cake is a white almond sour cream cake with a strawberry filling. For this cake I decided to try and make my own marshmallow fondant because the store bought kind does not taste very good. Although I like working with the store bought fondant better, the taste of of the marshmallow fondant made it worth it. I spent the entire weekend baking and babysitting and ended up not having enough time to make the favors for the shower. Mindy came to my rescue and did a wonderful job on the favors.

Thank you to everyone who helped me last weekend! My mom spent over an hour cleaning the kitchen while my dad and I delivered the cake. Thank you for all your help!

Pretzels

I made these for a baby shower last weekend.  They were delicious!

Wait until you see the cake Kim made for the shower.

It is UNBELIEVABLE!

Christmas Time!

We made Christmas trees for our room this week.

We used fancy scissors, ribbon and bows, and scraps of wrapping paper.

Usually I do snowmen, so this was something new.  I like it.

Now our room feels festive.

Halloween Treats

Made by Kim

Happy Birthday Chris!! :)

Today was my boyfriend Chris' birthday, so of course I had to make him a cake. Chris is obsessed with diving so I decided to make him an ocean cake.

We went to dinner with Chris' family at an Italian restaurant in Seal Beach and had the cake for dessert :)

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Fall Crafts

I am working on some fall crafts at the moment. This is the first of 3 pillows that I plan on making. As promised, you can see some yo-yo's in action on this pillow. You can also see another fun yo-yo here on my sweater and here on my skirt. There will be plenty more coming your way soon. Us Caramel Cup girls are working on some fun yo-yo projects. And, stay tuned for the next fall craft.

Happy Birthday Connor!

Last week my little buddy Connor turned 5 years old and I was asked to make his birthday cake! I have been Connor's babysitter for a few years now and love his family dearly. Connor wanted his birthday party to be a Backyardigans theme so I decided to make all of the characters from the show out of fondant and gumpaste. This was my first time making any type of characters and I had SO MUCH FUN making them! So thank you Heather and Connor for letting me be a part of your special day!

Here it is!

And so Caramel Cup, please do not be disappointed anymore... I have finally completed my first post. (now if you could only get the other girls to do the same we might be able to get people to actually read it besides ourselves.)

Dear Caramel Cup Girls, (that would be Mindy, Amy, Kristina, and Kim)

I am very disappointed in your blogging as of late. You have not posted anything here in a long time, and poor little me, your beloved blog, is being neglected. So, please give me some attention. I know you all have things you could post. Kim, what happened to Swenson Sweet of the Week? I was so excited to see all the deliciously yummy things you had in store for me. And Kristina, I know that you have made a headboard and a bench, and all kinds of graphic design stuff that you could post. Amy, please! You just got back from Europe where you took amazing pictures. Those are definitely worthy of this blog. And what about the most adorable shoes ever that you created using yo-yo's. And Mindy, I know you go home every day with all kinds of ideas of things to create. Now will you please just finish your projects so that you can post them? I would REALLY appreciate a little more committment from all of you. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Your Blog
Caramel Cup

Yo-Yo's

That's what Grandma calls them.

I am working on a lot of them right now. I am making some to be clips for your hair, some to be pins for your clothes, and some to just be embellishments for anything you want. I'll post more of them in action later on. I have worn a couple of them already and love them!

We now have an endless supply of buttons thanks to this beautiful lady.

Grandma on her 80th birthday...isn't she lovely!

Please pray for her this week. She just had a hip replacement today. The surgery went well, but she will be in the hospital recovering this week. Pray that she will get well soon so that she can get home to Grandpa, who misses her terribly.

New Blog! (well kind of)

Okay, I have started my own blog again...well really I'm just starting to write on my old blog again. I still have to play with it a bit, but it will do for now. I did my first post on it this morning. So, here it is. Enjoy!

A Goal

Yesterday Nick left for here

the Charley River in Alaska.

He flew up to Fairbanks yesterday, and tomorrow morning he takes a plane (a very small one, which I am NOT happy about)into the middle of nowhere. They will drop him off, along with 3 of his friends, and they will float down this river back into civilization. Along the way, the plan is to hunt for caribou. So, Nick is planning on buying a cooler and bringing home some meat! The scene will probably look a lot like this:

Made by the talented Kim Swenson!

Because he will be in the middle of nowhere, I will be unable to even speak to my husband for the next ten days. We have never gone this long without talking or emailing or some kind of communication. (Nick did take a month long trip to Patagonia right after we got engaged, but we were able to have a few phone conversations during that time and could at least email each other.) So, to make the time go by faster, I have made it a goal to post something on the blog everyday. It will help me not to miss this face too much.

This picture makes me laugh a lot :)

Also, I have decided to start posting on my own blog again. I need to play with it a little bit before I post anything, but I will give the link to it soon. So, each day I will post either on this blog (if it is something creative) or my other blog (if it is something really cool, but not necessarily creative). I hope they will be enjoyed by at least a few people.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Moving and Our First Barbeque!!

We have been really busy with our big move, which has shown in my absence from blogging. So, we have said good-bye to our apartment. It is where we spent the first 3 years of our marriage, and all in all, we were very happy there.

We packed up the apartment and loaded it all up into a u-haul to go to our new home.

Which we had to clean....a lot.

Then we had our first barbeque!

Home Sweet Home

Dave & Christy's Wedding!

Our cousin Dave and his beautiful bride Christy were married July 18th in Lake Forest, CA.

All of us at the ceremony

The Reception

Kristina and me with the Baker boys.
Christy took advantage of Dave's bald head when she smashed the cake in his face!

And of course there was dancing!

Uncle Ron gave Mindy a run for her self proclaimed "best dancer" title!

Here's a taste:

Mom & Dad, Cousins

Sisters (minus Aunt Vickie), Me and Uncle Ron

Kim caught the bouquet and my dad yelled "give it back!"

We had so much fun with all of our Family!