More words

I realize that the Harry Potter books were written for a much younger audience, but when the first book came out and I bought it for my then six year old son, it was our bedtime story each night and we became hooked. My boy was a slender, dark-haired boy with wire rimmed glasses. His friends used to teasingly call him "Harry". This week's words are dedicated to him. At 18, he doesn't always make the best choices. A reminder of the amazingly smart, talented kid within is probably in order. My adorable little "Harry" is all grown up and fighting with far more difficult monsters than the story version ever had to face. But like Dumbledore said, "Love. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves it own mark."

Words for the Week

About two months ago I purchased some chalkboard stickers to place on the front of our refrigerator. I thought it would be a handy place to keep an updated grocery list, write morning messages to my kids since I leave for work before they get up, and a place for important messages.

As the weeks went by, I began writing wonderfully uplifting quotes. Then I turned to my favorite source of inspiration, Pinterest, and began pinning hundreds of chalkboard art to inspire my messaging. These have turned into weekly words of wisdom that get put on the main chalkboard each Saturday. 

It wasn't until my aunt visited that she made me see that these scribbles of inspiration were works of art and couldn't believe I was just erasing them each week. So I've promised to take a picture of each one I create before I erase it and share it. I'll keep them posted here on my blog for anyone who is interested in seeing them. It's like I told her, "Murals get painted over, chalk gets erased, face paint is washed off, but that's what makes it so precious. Like us, we are God's art in living form, only here for a little while, and precious in our temporary existence." I hope you enjoy them.

Father's Day is tomorrow. I've been so excited to give my husband his gifts! I'm usually a slacker on these types of holidays, but not this year! Anyway, here's this weeks chalkboard.

Dance Recitals - Oh My!

Who knew dance recitals could be so intense?!?!

We've always been a soccer kind of family, so when my daughter wanted to take dance this year, I thought it would be best if we began during the spring season. HA! Well, the joke was on me. There is no spring season with dance. It's a year-long commitment. But the dance studio assured me that the girls would do just fine and we ordered the recital costumes right then and there. (That was one expensive day but now it was so worth it!)

For the last five months, the girls have been practicing their little toes off! Jillian is constantly spinning, twirling and leaping through the house (and driving us all a bit crazy!) and Gigi tries to out-do her sister. Needless to say, we were all anxious for the recital to be here.

Last night, they performed their hearts out and glowed with pleasure for the rest of the evening. The footage is not the best since it was crowded and I happened to be stuck behind a rather tall gentleman. But they did wonderful.

Here is Jillian's performance:

Here is Gigi's performance:

Gigi so proud of her medal.

More Cakes

I have been negligent in my posting pictures lately. To make up for my lack of uploads, here are pictures of cakes I've made in the past but have never posted.

First up, the infamous ELVIS cake from Jillian's 11th birthday. It was an Elvis Luau party with a dozen girls all playing, splashing and giggling! So much fun!

This cake I made for Jillian's best friend growing up. Kara was turning 15 and was totally into tye-dye and peace signs. I had ordered chocolate peace sign molds, but they didn't come in time, so I had to wing it with a hand-made ones. They didn't turn out too badly, but didn't have the crisp edges. The cake was pillowed with tye-dyed fondant.

Genevieve's best friend, Kayden's 2nd birthday cake was a group effort. It took three of us working on the fondant to finish this cake in time for her Ne-How Kai Lan birthday, but it turned out really well.

More posts to come. Let me know what kinds of creativity you've been busy with lately! ~ Aleshia

Wedding Cakes

For years, I've tried my hand at creating fun and fabulous cakes. I've dabbled with buttercreams, fancied myself with fondants, and even given gumpaste a go. So when a friend of mine asked me to do a winter wedding cake for a co-worker, I was certain it was something I could handle. The cake was a red velvet inside with a cream cheese frosting and was the best tasting red velvet I've ever tried. White chocolate snow flakes decorated the top and around the sides. The groom's cake was chocolate with vanilla buttercream. He was a musician, so musical notes was an easy request. I think it turned out just lovely and the bride and groom were thrilled. A happy day with a happy ending.

Busy Life

A while back, I saw an amazing coat rack on Pinterest and asked my extremely handy husband to craft me a gorgeous piece of wood for me to hand-letter these words onto it for a coat rack. We worked together on this for a few days and the finished product was amazing. The letters have a gold shadow painted on them and it looks even more amazing in real life than in photos.

I've got loads of stuff we've been busy with and am working hard to get it all uploaded to this blog a.s.a.p. Let me know what you think! ~ Aleshia