Tiny Treats

These adorable treats below are miniature and edible cakes we made. We got the idea from the American Girl publishing book, Tiny Treats. Step by step tutorial below... First, take two sandwich cookies (think Oreo) and put a layer of whipped frosting between them. Second, frost all the way around the cookie. Third, add any extra embellishments (more frosting, sprinkles, etc.) Fourth, let them sit overnight (or for several hours at least). The moisture from the frosting makes the cookies soft. Fifth, bite into and enjoy!

Woodworking Part II

Last spring when my daughter and I first got into making things for her 18" dolls, I was looking for storage solutions for her doll clothes and other items. I saw several handmade cabinets, and I decided to ask my dad if he would like to take on a new woodworking project. He said yes. He sent me pictures of what he was working on. You can see his inspiration photo in the lower right-hand corner of the photo below.


Another angle.


The finished, but unpainted version...


Going back and painting doors and drawers.


When we took our family vacation, my dad and I worked many mornings on a second armoire for my niece. We didn't finish it, but we got pretty far (a little further than the second picture). In it he helped me work on my skills with the scroll saw and taught me how to safely use a table saw.

I haven't had a chance to put any of my skills into use yet, but I'm hoping once my little craft room is done, I will be able to move things out of the garage and create a space there I can work as well.

This is a picture of the completed armoire he made for my daughter. Here it is with her 18" Target Our Generation doll inside. It gets daily use now!

Craft Room Update

My walls are painted and the floor is going in!  I chose an engineered bamboo floor.  It's engineered because it is going on a basement floor.  I chose bamboo because it is a sustainable hardwood.  I also really love the color!

More pictures when it is finished!

Craft Room Progress

I've been looking through my pictures, but they are a little disorganized since my video camera that also takes photos was date stamping everything in the wrong month and year. In any case, here is a picture of the upcoming craft room. This is the earliest picture I can find. To the right is a bank of closets. Sadly only one of them will be a craft closet--the rest will be devoted to kids clothing and other storage.

All those boxes? Crafting supplies I've not been able to get at for some time now. The mattress the baby will use was also in there. This room is pre-insulation.

Below you can see the insulation is up and we're ready to pass electrical and duct work inspections.


Now the drywall is up and they've begun to mud and tape.


Another view of the closets.

Looking into the craft room from the outside. We opted for double french doors to provide as much natural light in this room as possible. Sadly I've only got the one small window and it sits next to the steps from the sliding glass door upstairs--so we can't make it bigger without affecting the patio.

We started priming the walls in the basement. My sweet daughter tried painting the wall below. I had paint swatches up (which fell down) and she was painting all around them.

That's her Dora knee pad we picked up at Home Depot. She wanted to get into the garden with me. We found it helps knees when doing low cut-in painting.