Friday, May 21, 2010

Paper roses...paper roses....

Not much stamping time this week... if you could see my day planner you would understand why! In the next two weeks, we have a birthday party to throw (oldest son turns 9 tomorrow), graduation, a wedding, a send-off party for co-workers, and 4 days of all-day meetings (those meetings are at our house, and I'm not sure yet what that means for me...), homeschool to finish, and life in between! Our 10th anniversary is somewhere in the middle of all that mess... but I'm thankful to say that we were able to make reservations to get away for a few days - just DH and I - after the insanity dies down. It's nice to have that to look forward to!

These little pretties have been taking up much of my free time - yesterday I made 7 of the full size roses and 12 'buds'. These are for the upcoming campus wedding (5/31). Still waiting on wire for the stems and then we'll decide how to arrange them. The poor bride has been so busy finishing up classes and making other arrangements... so I'm just making roses while I have time and however many get done is what we have to work with. At this point I think I have 8 of each color and size - 24 full size and 24 buds. I'm basically following Tim Holtz's tutorial, except my flower base (Nestabilities Blossoms 1?) has 7 petals, and each rose is built from 4 flowers - his use only 3 - and I'm using cardstock instead of grunge paper.

Our campus graduation is 5/27, and my job is to make cakes (about 300 servings). That's 12 pans! I made 2 yesterday - it really is a shame to make the house smell so good and then not get to eat any! I'll leave you with my recipe, just for fun. This is a great one!

Carolyn's Chocolate Cake

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 c. cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp. instant coffee ( or whatever is recommended to make one cup of coffee, dissolved in 1-1/2 c. water)
1/2 c. milk

Mix all ingredients together. Beat until smooth. Bake in a 9"x13" pan at 350F for 35-40 minutes.

ETA: I'm not using frosting this time but you can. I'm just dumping on sprinkles while the cakes are still hot...I'm not a big fan of the frosting they like here (it tastes like fake margarine...), and sprinkles...well...what's not to love?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

7 comments:

  1. Lovely, Lovely Roses! You've done a great job on them - they look so real (except for the toothpicks sticking out of them : )
    I know you're ready for your getaway after all the busy-ness! Sounds like we need lots of prayer for self-control when it comes to the cake smell wafting through the house!!!

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  2. How Beautiful! Perfect for a wedding...It's going to be amazing! Please take a picture of the arrangment at the wedding & show us later!

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  3. Dina,
    Enjoy the adventure of the next two weeks. Happy Anniversary to you and your DH!! God Bless!!

    Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

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  4. Hi Dina! Your flowers are so beautiful! I also think your recipe looks beautiful! I have so many food allergies, it is hard for me to find any desserts I can eat - but this one is safe! I'm gonna have Mama make one for me! (She's the bestest!!!) I wanted to ask you, do you put any kind of frosting on this? Looks yummy...

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  5. your roses are so pretty-happy anniversary !!

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  6. Happy Anniversary Ten! Getaway crowns the busy schedule. What a treat! Meantime, roses look delightful for smart bridal flower arranging. Color is soothing; fun to work with, I hope. Trailing buds on ribbons shyly peeking from the bouquet come to mind. Have fun with all your campus wedding powerhouse of creativity and pastry chef cake decorating. Cake recipe will be tried soon. Graduations here.
    Blessings.

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  7. hi Dina,
    very pretty roses! Quick question: how much instant coffee is used in the recipe and as someone else asked, do you use a frosting for this cake? Sounds very yummy!

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