The Crafty Red Rabbit

My brother's birthday is right around Thanksgiving time, so when we decided to make things easy and order our food from Copeland's, I threw my efforts into doing a birthday cake for dessert. Plus I wanted to give my new cake decorating turn table a spin. Thinking that his favorite candy was Reese's peanut butter cups (more on that later), I went for a triple layer devil's food cake with peanut butter buttercream frosting and featuring the iconic peanut butter cups in their various forms. I bought a variety pack of miniature cups, in milk, white, and dark chocolate, plus some Thin Reese's cups to get more height on the cake. I also got a mix of peanut butter and chocolate chips, chocolate jimmies, and Reese's pieces, though I didn't end up using the last. I stacked the cake layers, putting some chopped cups in between each, and kept the buttercream as thin as possible since the cake had all the added sweetness of the candy. I gave it a semi-naked cak...

My mom and I threw Caiden a party for his first birthday. It was forest-themed so we decorated with some forest animals, woodsy items like pine cones and branches, and planned the menu around camping food, including a DIY trail mix bar. We also had cupcakes decorated to look like moss (made with matcha green tea, breadcrumbs, and coconut). Smores cupcakes (chocolate cake with marshmallows and chocolate chips, topped with marshmallow frosting, a chocolate bar, and a Teddy Graham). I tried to torch the frosting to make it look like a roasted marshmallow, but it melted rather than burned. If I ever try it again, I think I would rather plop a giant marshmallow on top (cut in half) and torch that. A spice cake and chocolate pudding trifle made to look like dirt and worms. And among his gifts was a play tee pee from me. I also made a sign with his name (see that project here ) and a birthday banner to match the theme.

For Caiden's 1st birthday I was feeling extra crafty and wanted to make a sign of his name, something that would stand on its own and match the theme of the party that my mother and I were throwing. I had done something similar for my father's 50th birthday which had been golf-themed. His sign had been covered patterned paper that matched the party colors, set in fake grass, and adorned with golf tees and balls. For Caiden's sign, I got the same 3-dimensional cardboard and covered them in scrapbook paper with a dark brown background and a colorful leaf pattern. Unfortunately, I traced the last letter onto the paper backwards, and I had no more of the paper left. Rather than trying to find another pattern in my vast collection of scrapbook paper that would compliment the original choice, I left it bare and covered it with some lichen-looking stuff. It made for a nice effect. I glued the letters down to a wooden base and then covered the base with florist moss....

RJ asked me to make a diaper cake for his buddy's baby shower. The shower was Halloween themed, so I had an idea to incorporate some plastic spiders and fake cobwebs. I found some black ribbon with a cobweb design, although it was not as wide as I would have liked, so I paired it with a solid black ribbon that had some glitter in it. I also bought some purple flowers, as part of a purple, black, and green color palette. I knew I had some cool green moss and figured this would be great for a spooky vibe. And then while RJ and I happened to be out and about one day, we came across some Funko Pops. Turns out RJ's friend is an obsessive collector of Funko Pops and I happened to come across some in a series for A Nightmare Before Christmas. Now I had already done A Nightmare Before Christmas themed diaper cake for my coworker, Christopher, who is a huge fan of the movie. But being on a budget, I hand drew Jack Skellington and Sally and created a graveyard around the ca...

What kid doesn't love pizza? Continuing on the "food takes work" lessons, I told Caleb that we would be making pizza for our next food experiment. We bought ready made pizza dough from the Publix bakery and also pre-made pizza sauce. While I wanted to curb the impatient "When are we eating?" inquiries that were becoming a regular thing at family dinners, I didn't want to torture the boy by making him slave over a stove all day just to make sauce. The rest was plenty of work anyways. After disappointing him by telling him we would NOT be throwing dough up in the air and stretching it by spinning it around on our fists, I put him to work on pressing the dough into the pan. Getting it even and consistent in thickness was a little too much for his patience, but he managed to set up two crusts. A third was already in a circle shape that just had to be unfolded and set on a baking sheet. He enjoyed pricking the dough with a fork to prevent bubbles. ...

One day Caleb asked me if we could make cinnamon rolls. I not only want to teach him how to make things, but also to learn to appreciate the work that goes into making food, and to analyze and critique it. So when he asked about the cinnamon rolls, I told him we would make cinnamon rolls from scratch and also make some ready to bake ones that you buy from the store. In the interest of time, I made and proofed the dough ahead of time, but everything else I had Caleb do, from rolling the dough: To sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar: To rolling up the dough: And slicing (under very watchful eyes) and setting the slices into a buttered dish: The ready to bake rolls he popped out of the can (which he was adorably a little afraid to do) and put into the pan. While the rolls were baking we made icing for our homemade set and then topped off both when they came out of the oven. The result? Caleb liked the taste of the homemade rolls better, though...