First of all HAPPY JULY 1st! Where in the world did June go?
Second, another one of my auctions is ending this evening… the Sally Stanley Smocking Pleater. If you want to know how to smock… it all starts with a good pleater. This is a good one…almost brand new… (I’m still keeping one!)
Sally Stanley Smocking Pleater
Well, things are selling pretty well around here. I just need more chunks of time to get things listed. I’m going to try hard this week to get LOTS more things listed! I was astounded at the Bratz dolls that sold! I was flabbergasted in fact! The winner was a lady who said she had always wanted the dolls as a child and now that she was an adult, she said she wanted to complete her childhood wish! :o) I told her I was another “adult lady” who plays with dolls too… well, actually I said I sewed for them. She was quite happy her wish came true. I told her I wished I could be there when she opened the box! :o)
SO… I didn’t get anything done toward auctions over the weekend. I spent most of my time getting the finishing touches on the baby shower… Leann, who was helping me with the shower, and I, were hoping a cake might possibly come in on Friday and then I wouldn’t have to decorate those little Fancy Cakes like I did for the last shower. It would save me a lot of time. Well, we were super blessed that TWO cakes came in, two small white buttercream frosted cakes, which would be perfect! Olivia, whom the shower was for, doesn’t know what the sex of her baby is, so I was going to just take off the red roses on both cakes and decorate one with pink flowers and the other with blue flowers… We thought that might be fun… We had pink and blue napkins and pink and blue plates and told everyone to pick the color they thought the baby was going to be. (12 pinks and 3 blues, I think!)
Anyway, as I carefully packed the cakes into my car on Friday and drove home… disaster struck… it was SO hot Friday, just the short drive back home, caused the icing to slide down the side of the cakes… I was heartbroken… BUT not defeated. I didn’t take any pictures of how they looked before I “started fixing” them, but you can see they weren’t great. I tried pulling the frosting that had slid down back up the side of the cake, but as it slid down, it pulled some of the crumbs of the cake with it so I made some new white buttercream frosting. It was the only way the cakes were going to work.
I took off the red roses too, but left the 3 green leaves… the sides were partially fixed… I kept putting one in the frig and working on the other one to keep them chilled.
Then eventually they looked like this… filling in all the mistakes and mishaps.
I discovered my piping tip for the blue roses was bent…that’s why that blue rose looked a bit cockeyed.
Here are a few pictures Sylvia took at the shower… We had a smaller group for this shower but she received cards from people who couldn’t make it today.
Well, that’s it for me today… not much about dolls, but maybe tomorrow will be!
I’ll see you then!
Blessings, Jeanne
How nice that the Bratz dolls went to a lady for whom they fulfilled a childhood dream! I’d like to be a fly on the wall when she opens that box!
Wow, what a great save on those cakes! Looks like the guess of honor was really pleased. (Yes,a bent tip can make a difference in how the decorations turn out!!)
I just realized I didn’t comment on Friday! I thought I did, but it doesn’t look like it! I wanted to say that if I have a choice between auctions and Buy it Now, I much prefer BIN, as buyer. If I see something and have my heart set on it, only to have to wait and see it go to someone else, well, that’s not pleasant! I hardly even consider auctions now. Of course, I’m not selling anything, so I don’t look at that angle.
Wow, I can’t believe that lucky lady who got all those Bratz dolls! They are not my cup of tea, but I can understand her wanting something she always wanted as a child, then getting it all in one fell swoop! Lucky her! I’m kind of doing that now, with my American Girl dolls, although they weren’t a thing back in my childhood. Not in the 40’s!! But I loved dolls and did get one every year at Christmas. It’s like Christmas everyday now!
How sweet those cakes looked after you got finished with them, Jeanne! If I remember correctly, years ago, or maybe even now, you could buy sugar cake decorations that came already made on a piece of paper that you peeled off. However, it would take a lot of those to decorate the way you did! Your guest of honor looked thrilled with the cakes!
Wow, great save on the cakes! I guess you had to put them in a cooler to take them to the shower!
I remember how much my granddaughters loved Bratz dolls. However, I thought they were awful and the girls knew if they wanted to play dolls with Sissy Granny (they named me that) they would get out the Ann Estelle dolls I gave them.
My friend’s wedding was so fabulous! I was so happy for her that I was in tears as if I were her mother, LOL! I will send a few photos to Jeanne, as I remember one or more of you asked to see them.
A really funny coincidence happened. During the party I was visiting a table where the groom was sitting. He kept looking at me and finally realized the connection. I taught his sons in fifth grade! I also had know his late first wife. This was in the early 80’s and I did not remember…I taught so many kids. So funny to have know him long before my dear friend met her husband-to-be.
We had a great time.
How nice to reconnect with a former parent of students. It seems like I’m always bumping into someone at Costco, and getting the scoop on what their kids are up to now. It’s fun, and glad for you.
Joy, when I still lived in Crystal River, FL where I taught, I had kids coming up to me all the time too. I taught 4 classes of science a day so I taught a LOT of kids every year. I would forget most of the names as they left for 6th grade, so when those came up to me out in town, I just called them Darlin’ or Sweetie and said, “Wow you must be in _____grade by now! ” I usually got it right.
Haha, I had 10 half hour classes a day teaching art my first year. And I went to four different schools. I was lucky if I headed to the right school each day. 🙂 Great idea on names. 🙂
What a wonderful save on the 🍰 🍰 ! Another of your great talents! You’re probably a candlestick maker too! You’re certainly an expert cobbler. The Bee’s Knees dress got many Likes on the RRFF Facebook page. I was as excited to win it as the lady who won all the Bratz dolls. It does raise the heart rate when an auction nears its end!
Half a year has disappeared! It does go faster every year as one ages. Have a Happy 4th of July!
What a great cake save! I probably would have thrown them in the trash in frustration. Seems like the little cake decorating may have been less trouble in the long run, but wow, the cakes sure turned out lovely. Definitely not a cake decorator here. 🙂 And what a nice shower. I had to look a couple of times seeing everyone in dresses. Around here, all I see are shorts and tennis shoes. Of course, I don’t get out much. 🙂
I finished my last sew along dress in the nick of time yesterday and then wanted to get a picture. Well, I think it was 96 outside, and hoping that the vinyl didn’t melt, I hauled out one of my girls and set her up on the bench in the shade for a photo. Fastest picture session ever I think, but she did look cute in her 4th of July outfit. Grabbed everything and quickly got back inside. And we’re in for a week of this weather with the temperature hitting the hundreds soon. Even though I carefully watered my cucumbers and zucchini three times yesterday in the heat, and being careful not to splash the leaves with water, a few still had some sunburn. Poor things. I even got the umbrella up again, but it really didn’t help much. Just way too hot for any living thing around here.
Keep cool everyone.
I just cringe when you give a weather forecast because I can see the future for the east coast. We have been above 90 for the entire month of June. No rain in 20 days. Finally got a couple of inches yesterday. We lost all the blueberries on 3 bushes. Every one of those berries was hard and sour, the birds would not touch them.
We usually don’t get any rain during the summer months and if so a rare occasion. But in your area, rain is definitely needed. Love blueberries. Sad they couldn’t take the heat.
Joy, I am sorry you are so hot there, it is in the 90’s here but we do have breeze most days. I am looking forward to seeing your doll’s dress!
Here, the norm is a few hot days and then the fog rolls in and cools us off, but has not been happening.
Don’t know if Jeanne wants to see the doll dresses or not. Don’t want to interrupt her great auction sales. She has had a lot of great things up for sale.
yes, the hot weather can destroy a cake very quickly.
I am glad you made it home.
I remember bringing a cake to a shower in Alexandria, a long drive 35 mins in hot weather, and found the biggest cooler, borrowed from a neighbor.
The cakes look incredible. The blue roses look kind of cool, funny how that happens
Happy July 1st.
So sorry about your cakes! As usual the end result was much better than the original. You just have that talent Jeanne!
Great result on those Bratz dolls as well. You just never know what buyers are looking for on eBay or why. I listed a 1994 Kirsten that I bought new several years ago. She was so perfect I could not take her out of the box and I had a spare. A buyer was looking and looking for the doll she had as an 8 year old. It was meant to be and we have become friends as she tries to recreate her childhood memories.
Wonderful save on the cakes. I know I wouldn’t have had the patience to persevere on that one. Once I tried making a clown cake for Sean’s birthday party. I had the mold and then you did the deal with the piping. I know little about cake decorating so I’m not sure what to call it but it’s when you just squeeze the frosting in small star-like things, hundreds of them, all over the cake using different colors. The picture was cute but my efforts not so much. I just couldn’t seem to get it right so I just decided to frost the cake. Problem is when I did crumbs came off the cake so it looked like the clown had freckles. In spite of what it looked like it tasted great.
Speaking of weather, here it is what it is. Not much hope for anything better in the summer. One year our temps never got over about 92. It was a great summer but never happened again. We got precious little rain from the last tropical storm so David went out to water our four o’clocks yesterday. He said he watered and watered but the ground soaked up so much he wasn’t sure he’d done any good. But they did look a lot better as the day went on, so it did help. Right now grandson Skyy is out weeding the nutgrass out of the beds which should be easy because David had watered. Skyy likes earning money and at my age I can find lots for him to do. Jaiden is coming tomorrow and wants to earn some money too but anything outside is not her bailiwick so I’m giving her the job of cleaning windows – inside. I wanted to borrow Sean’s pressure washer and get the kids to help me do the windows outside but it’s just too hot so I guess I’ll wait till it cools off and do it myself. I actually like being outside when the temps are in the 70s and the humidity is low. That actually does happen sometimes here.
I took a sabbatical from sewing this week while I was waiting for some serger thread to show up. Since I got my air threading serger, I love changing the colors of thread to match what I’m sewing. It takes me about five minutes to take off the one color and put on the other and get it threaded. With my old serger – well I pretty much just didn’t bother using it much.
I keep forgetting to mention a pattern site I found on Etsy that I love. It’s called Matthiola’s Beads. They do beading but they also do patterns for Paola Reina dolls and Paola Reina mini dolls. But I use their patterns a lot for my Little Darlings also. The ladies are in Ukraine and are so nice and I love helping them out. One thing I love about them is that while their patterns come without instructions, they have a YouTube channel with videos. Being a visual learner this works amazingly well for me. But there are times when I don’t even need instructions. Their patterns are so common sense that if you’ve sewn at all they are easy to figure out. If you get a chance, they are worth a looksee.
Love the cake clown freckles. I’m sure it was delicious as well. 🙂
I’m off to check out the Ukraine pattern people. Thanks
Jean, my younger son’s 5th birthday was held at Rainbow Springs, in FL. The cake was in a cake box and the candles were on a little ceramic train on the top. We had a wonderful time swimming and then enjoyed our lunch. When I removed the top from the cake box there was the train half falling down the cake with the frosting. The kids loved it, calling it “train wreck cake” and we have never forgotten that birthday.
I’ve heard this about weddings that the best memories are things that weren’t supposed to be. Now I can apply it to birthday parties too. I love the kids’ take on the “tragedy”.
Love the train wreck story. 🙂
Great save on the cakes Jeanne! I had the opposite problem last week. Sam’s friend wanted a car cake for her three-year olds birthday so I offered to do it. (I have a lot of the novelty cake molds). I don’t have a big kitchen in the house and there isn’t much room for my big Kenwood mixer so usually do anything like that in the kitchen in the workroom. Even with the heater going it was so cold that it was nearly impossible to get the icing out of the tube to make the stars that Barbara was talking about. I wasn’t happy with the result myself but fortunately Terri-Ann thought it was great! If I have to do another one in the depths of winter it will have to be in the house!
Here I am complaining about the high heat and poor Anne, is freezing. Completely forgot about the seasonal changes. Glad the cake came out well though. 🙂
Dear Jeanne, the cakes were supposed to exactly how you made them! All of the other “styles” on top were just holding the space until you worked your magic. And you always work magic!
Congratulations and best wishes to the Mama-to-be!