Sweet Valentine's Giveway

Win a Valentine's Bundle from yours truly... my way of thank you for all your lovely comments & inspiration.

I've purchased all the items in this giveaway, this is not a sponsored contest. The bundle includes Heart Sparklers & bakers twine that I found on Jilly Bean Kids, a cupcake corer, heart plate, heart sprinkles and one of my favorite books, 1 Mix, 100 Cakes. 

The contest will close Wednesday, February 1st at 5:00 p.m. PST.   Drawing will be picked by  Random.org number generator & annouced at that time.

It's easy to Enter:

1. Enter a comment at the bottom of this post telling me why you would
    like to win

2. Click on the Facebook link here to share Sweet Creations by
    Stephanie's page.  Leave a comment on there letting me know
    that you've done so.
                                                                

Good luck!

Stephanie

Sweet Baby Owls

My last few blog posts were lacking, I know & I'm sorry for that.  You remember this post where I mentioned our family was waiting for a little special boy to be born...well my nephew was born Friday, the 13th of January & we are in ♥ with him.  He and his parents live an hour south of us but I've been to see him several times (what? why mail his birth annoucements, hand delivery is so much better) in the last 2 weeks and I've been walking around in a happiness daze and not paying attention to my  blog...but I'm backkkkkkkk and ready to blog.   Lots of fun things to share with you, a few tutorials, cookies, cakes, cupcakes and coming up quickly... Valentine's Day!

Auntie & Sal ♥

13 hours old

So far it's been a year of babies, baby shower last week and another this week.  Last week was jungle theme and this week Owl theme.    The party decor to Welcome Kami's was this:

So cute!  I think this cake is one of my favorites that I've made in the last year or so

The owls have such character & we're so fun to create

I cut lines into the wings then painted on diluted food dye in the cracks

Letters cut with Cricut Cake Mini & Wilton Sugar Sheets

Hello Kitty Cookies

My sister emailed me this week asking if I had time to make a dozen Hello Kitty "Get Well" cookies for her cousin-in-law that was having surgery & allergic to flowers...how could I say no?

She wanted them to look like these from The Art of the Cookie.   

 I wish I had a Kopykake to make cookies easier but I don't, so I'll show you how I make mine with a template. 

You will need:

cookie, flooded & dry

sharp object (I found a roasting pin works best or a Booboo stick)

template cut out of your design

Royal icing in white, yellow & black (optional)

Black Americolor marker (optional)

I started by poking a hole in the middle of the cookie

so I could center my template

Center

Center your template

Using a sharp object gently trace the template

so it leaves a scratch on your cookie. If you poke a hole don't worry, icing will

fill it in and cover it.

see the light marks?

Outline your cookie with icing

Let it sit for about 10 minutes

Flood your cookie

I cheated and made bows with left over royal icing

so I dropped them right on the wet icing

Hello Kitty's bow

Drop 2 black pearls for eyes or pipe with black royal icing

Pipe a yellow nose

Once it's dry use an americolor marker and draw

whiskers on the kitty

Jungle baby shower

Welcome Connor! 

Coordinating Fondant pearls

Giraffe print tutorial here

Tutorial: Giraffe Cupcake Toppers

For Giraffe toppers you will need:

yellow fondant

brown fondant

scissors or knife

rolling pin with 1/8" bands

circle cutter (whatever diameter you wish to use)

 Roll the brown to 1/8" thick

Cut it up in random pieces. Try not to disturb the pieces.

Cover it with syran wrap while rolling the yellow

Roll the yellow fondant to 1/8" thick

lay out the brown pieces on top of the yellow and roll bottom to top, then left to right.  If you look close at the bottom half, you will see I got some of my pieces too close together.

Cut with your circle cutter or whatever shape you wish to use

and there you have it...a Giraffe cupcake topper that

looks just like Michael, the newest addition at our local zoo

photo from Edhat.com

Ninjago...Ninja what?

My friend, Karrine texted me asking if I'd make her son a few cupcakes for his Birthday.  I asked her what theme and she said "Ninjago & blue is his favorite color".  I told her "Sure, but what's Ninjago?"  Little did I know he was a Lego figure. 

I had never heard of him... but with a quick google search I figured it out and got to work

Happy 7th Birthday Ebin!  Hope you had fun with your friends at Golf N' Stuff!

Trains

Jake thought his train cake was pretty neat.  I'm surprised his little fingers didn't find their way into the cake before the party.   I added a little green & grey but  really tried to stick to the invitation & party good colors - red & blue.   All the party favors she made were so cute...train whistles, conductor hats, bandanas & bubbles.   Everything tied together perfectly!   

Laura used invites from here: Train Invitations

photo courtesy of http://www.paperstyleco.com/

Letters cut with my Cricut Cake Mini and Sugar Sheets from Wilton

We had to make a custom box to transport this to the party

the board I cut was 20" x 15"

Choo Choo

and Cookies!!

Happy 1st Birthday Nathan

&

Happy 3rd Birthday Jake!

Tutorial: Shell Cookie

Sometimes the things that look the hardest to do, aren't so hard afterall.   The shell cookie takes about a minute to complete, that's how easy it is. 

With 20 second icing, pipe lines across the cookie

Take a toothpick and drag it from the top down to

the bottom center. Wipe your toothpick clean on a napkin

Continue until the entire cookie has scallops across

fill the bottom in with the color of your choice

Dollars, Starfish & Shells..Oh MY

Living in SoCal has it's perks.. sure it may be pricey to live a few miles from the Pacific Ocean but

temps in the high 70-low 80's in January - a definite PERK! 

We've been having great weather, beach weather the entire 1st week of January and is continuing this week.

I saw these by Cookie Artisan and was intrigued to try them myself.   Love how they came out, I will be sharing these with my hairdresser this week since she is a BEACH-lover!

Sand Dollar - couldn't find a sand dollar cutter so I used a 

 circle cutter w/ knife to make 5 indentions around the

outside prior to baking

After you fill, let them sit about 30 minutes, then pipe the center "flower"

Flood with lines across, then while still wet, drag a toothpick from the top down to the bottom center

to create the scallop effect.

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine as much as I am!!