Post #1: Who the hell are you?

Hello! I am a perfectionist. Just had to get that out of the way first! According to Wikipedia, I am a "Normal perfectionist...one who derives a very real sense of pleasure from the labours of a painstaking effort", as opposed to a Neurotic perfectionist with OCD issues (although my friends and family may have a different opinion!)

I have always been crafty, I get that from my Grandmother. I remember her drawing iodine bunnies on my scrapes and bumps, (long before Band-aids had celebrity endorsement by Barbie or Spiderman).  She taught me how to draw bunnies, how to sew and crochet, and I'm pretty sure any cooking talent I have came from her. I have tried out most crafts with varying degrees of success, but my favorite ways to spend time are making papercrafts and decorating cakes.

I have discovered that I need to create. As a working mom to young kids, I never had much time for crafts and I felt like I was losing a part of myself, like something was missing. But now that my family is a little more self-sufficient, I have converted our spare room into my own crafting space for sewing, scrapbooking and cardmaking, and am much more content!  Many people would think "What a waste of time!", and some days maybe it is, but my favorite quote is by John Lennon..."Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."  For me, crafting is my therapy, my "me" time, my time to meditate. I can go to that place where creativity drowns out stress.  I can enjoy wasting some time.  Oh sure I have those days where nothing seems to look right (Hello! perfectionist here, remember? Sometimes I swear I am just torturing myself.), so then I just organize my stash of supplies. Did I mention I have a wee bit of an organization compulsion? (I get this from my mother!) Oh, and also a tiny bit of a gotta-have-that-latest-tool compulsion (which I get from my father!)

I fell into the cake thing by accident, I was trying to be SuperMom and make the best birthday cake e-ver! As I googled cake images to copy I thought to myself "How hard can that be?" First mistake. Then I googled cake decorating techniques, and watched some pros on youtube. Now I'm blogging....

Much of my inspiration has come from the blogs of other, much more talented people than myself. My intentions with this blog are to challenge myself, to polish my skills, to share, and maybe inspire someone else in the same way. So, if you like ink and icing too, I hope you enjoy my blog and please leave comments!
 
I'll be adding more photos in the weeks to come, but for now here's a taste of what I like to do.....
 
 
I made this altered chocolate box for my niece. It was supposed to be a gift box to hold a collectible bear figurine that I give her every year, but it turned into a keepsake box that matches her room. I used CTMH Daydream papers, cut to fit, with a good coat of ModPodge to coat it all.  Her name is heat embossed in white daisy, and the tags were cut on my cricut. Adhered and added more ModPodge!  Then I punched holes in the lid and knotted some ribbon from the inside to create the handle. Chloe loved it!

 
This is a scratch carrot cake with cream cheese icing, royal icing daisies, and ladybugs made of skittles. A coworker asked me to make a birthday cake for a party they were throwing for her mother-in-law. She liked flowers and ladybugs, so this is what I came up with. The party was yesterday, so I haven't heard how she liked it yet...I really hope she liked the cake, I think a cake should taste better than it looks!

Here is a close-up of the ladybugs, aren't they cute! I raided the leftover halloween candy and found some skittles, saved the red ones and ate the rest!  I used black food coloring and a teeny tiny paintbrush.

I'd love to hear any comments!