Sunday Sweets and Sunshine

If you haven't noticed, I like alliteration. 25% because I'm OCD and I like things to match. 75% because I'm not creative enough to come up with other witty titles.

In weather news, THE SUN SHONE IN THE SKY THIS WEEKEND. Seriously. If you live in the Atlanta area, before Friday, when was the last time you saw the sun? I'm a fan of rainy days, but there have been far too many of those this summer.

Continuing with the weather topic, I could not be more excited for fall. Pumpkin desserts are calling my name, and college football is SIX DAYS AWAY. I think this week may just be the slowest one I've had in a while. Can you say Go Dawgs?

Onto the cakes. My 21st birthday is coming up in October. I feel like I just turned 16 and got my driver's license. It is SO hard to believe that was almost 5 years ago. Speaking of which, here's a cake I did for a Sweet 16 this weekend. How fun is her masquerade theme?!

Apparently Minecraft is the game of choice for boys these days. I thought (um...think) Mario was (um...is) the jam, but apparently I am completely behind the times. I also didn't know what Yo Gabba Gabba was when I got an order for cupcakes. I need a child assistant to educate me on all the new fads. Anyway, here's the Minecraft cake...

The next cupcakes are some of my favorites from the past couple of weeks. I did baby shower cupcakes, and the theme of the baby's nursery was Noah's Ark. How kind do those animals look? I have a feeling the alligators on the ark probably had more teeth than my innocent little fondant alligators, but for nursery purposes, I like this kind better.

Where my chocoholics at?! THIS CAKE IS FOR YOU. I REPEAT. THIS CAKE IS FOR YOU. Chocolate cake. Chocolate chips in the chocolate cake. Chocolate icing. Chocolate shavings on top. I practically entered a chocolate coma just looking at the thing. Just kidding, I am chocolate's #1 fan. Picture a 13 year old girl at a One Direction concert. No. Picture a 13 year old girl at a One Direction meet and greet. THAT IS ME when it comes to chocolate.

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Let's pray for more sunshine and cool weather!

Summer in Review

Gosh, time just gets away from you, doesn't it?

I cannot believe how long it has been and how much has happened since I've last blogged.

For all four of you who care what I've been up to, here you go...

I wrote a little bit about my summer job as a counselor at Camp All American in my last post. If you didn't read it, go check it out. There's a link in that post to the CAA website. If you live anywhere near the Johns Creek area, I HIGHLY recommend you send your kids there during the summer. The kids have SO much fun, and the Gospel is so intricately interwoven into everything we do at camp. I think I can speak for every other counselor when I say that each and every one of us love Jesus, love our job, and love the kids. At the start of the summer, I did expect God to work through me in the lives of the kids, but I didn't realize how much God would change MY heart through camp. I am so thankful for the work He did this summer, and I know I will be seeing fruit because of it for months and even years to come. Not to mention, I met some seriously awesome sisters and lifelong friends. God is good!

Camp ended last week, and since then, I have been spending as much time as possible with friends before they all head back to their respective schools. Why does that day have to come?! Can't we just all stay together, not work, and have fun forever? We went to the lake together last weekend, and I can't even explain the joy that weekend brought me. Jesus has seriously blessed me with these friends!

School starts in a couple of weeks, and as much as I am dreading the studying, presentations, and sometimes painfully boring lectures, I am excited to get back into the swing of things.

As for the blog, I've probably said this before, but I REALLY want to get better about updating. Not only with pictures of cakes, but with recipes. STAY TUNED.

Now, let them eat cake.

Until next time...

New Seasons

School has been out for me for a little less than a month, and I have had one heck of a month. I've spent LOTS of time with friends who are home from various colleges, baked numerous graduation cakes, and simply rested as much as possible. One of my favorite parts of the month of May was the camping trip I took to Cloudland Canyon with some of my absolute FAVORITE people.

However, seasons come and seasons go, and my season of rest and relaxation has unfortunately had to come to an end for a while.

I started my summer job as a camp counselor at Camp All American last week, and what an experience it has been so far. If you've never heard of CAA, I highly recommend looking into it! It is an outreach of Perimeter Church in Johns Creek, GA. The heartbeat of the camp is 100% Jesus. It's unreal how much The Lord has already been moving in the lives of the kids, parents, and even staff over the past two weeks. In my opinion, children's ministry is one of the most important areas a church can focus on. These kids just soak in almost everything you tell them- especially when it's paired with summer, friends, and lots of fun in the sun. Camp is the perfect environment for introducing children, many of whom don't attend church anywhere, to the love of Jesus, and I LOVE being a part of it!

For those of you who have asked, here's what a typical day looks like for me: I have a group of eight 3rd-5th grade girls that I am in charge of for the week. Camp takes place at the church. My group and I travel around the church campus to different activities including assembly, pool, tennis, human foosball, capture the flag, Bible time, etc. during the day. My goal each day is to love on the girls and show them Jesus with my words and actions. 

SO, because camp is so time consuming, the amount of orders I'm able to take this summer is pretty limited. I do have a few weeks off here and there, so if you want to place an order, feel free to shoot me a message or give me a call and I will let you know if I'm free or not! Here's a recap of what the month of May has looked like for me in terms of cakes.

Rainy Days and Sunshine Blessings

I originally wrote this post earlier in the day, and the three day rain streak was still going. However, I didn't post it right away, and since then, we've been blessed to see a bit of sunshine. My friend Mari and I are puppy sitting for one of our best friends this week, and we were joking about how we thought the Lord sent the sunshine for us personally. The puppy, Wimberley, is the cutest thing in the world, but she has SO MUCH ENERGY. The rain was keeping us cooped up inside, and we were all about to go crazy. It was so nice to get outside and run around a little with Wimbo. She's napping now for the first time all day, so we are both taking this chance to rest and fully enjoy the quiet. 

Onto the cakes. 

Both of these cakes were SUPER fun for me to make. I loved putting all of the detail into Barbie's dress, I love the little girl I made it for, and I loved the color choices of the birthday girl! 

As for the Mario cake, I was so excited to get started on that one. Super Mario has and always will be my absolute favorite video game. My brother and I played (and do play...what?) it ALL the time growing up. So when I was asked to make this cake, I immediately starting drawing out what I would do. I tried to incorporate as many elements of the game as I could without it looking too busy. All of the decorations on the cake (including Mario and Luigi) were made out of fondant and gumpaste.

Super Mario Brothers Cake 

Barbie Cake 

Playing Catch-Up

I'm sitting at my kitchen table right now waiting on a cake to come out of the oven, so I figured, what better time than now to update the blog I rarely keep up with?

I have had the BUSIEST week in terms of orders. I won't go into detail on each and every one of them, but let's talk numbers. By this coming Monday, I will have made, decorated, and delivered 451 cupcakes, 2 cakes, and 40 cupcakes in a jar in the preceding week. In one week! Not to mention I took two finals this morning and I have another one coming up on Tuesday.

Now, I don't say all of this to complain or brag about all of my orders. I say it because I'm explaining (or making an excuse for) how behind I am on my blog posts. But let's be honest, I'm always behind. Moving on.

Here are some of the projects I've been working on.

Peace sign and heart cookies as a party favor 

Lingerie cake and cupcakes for a bachelorette party 

Art themed cake for a birthday party

Nautical themed cupcakes for a birthday party

Gender reveal cupcakes for (you guessed it) a gender reveal party

It's a BOY!