MCT 3-D Wednesday: Birthday Banner Cake

As the resident baker of my friends and family, I love to try fun new ways to 'dress up' my sweet creations. I usually stick to cupcakes: they're quick to bake, easy to frost and yummy to eat! But sometimes, I feel fancy and decide to bake an actual cake.

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This cake was baked with so much love for my best friend, should-a-been-sister, former manager, college lunch mate, maid of honor, Stephanie. She turned the big 2-8 this year and we celebrated in style!

As you've probably noticed, banners are a HUGE trend nowadays. You can find them everywhere - even on baked goods! As I was baking this cake, I knew I'd put a banner on it - there was no question.

After baking and stacking my cake...

Confession time: I use boxed cake. Pretty much always. Ms. Crocker and Mr. Hines have come a long way since I was little. Their cakes are not only delicious, but save me time. I'd rather spend my time decorating than measuring ingredients. I give major kudos to you 'from-scratch' bakers, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I stand behind my boxed-creations. Can I get an 'amen'?

...so, after I baked and stacked my cake, I started frosting. I do make my own frosting, but it's so easy to make that it almost doesn't count as being 'from-scratch' (find recipe below). I knew I didn't want my frosting to be smooth. I wanted more of a homemade/vintage look to the cake. (I also didn't want to end up in tears because I couldn't smooth the frosting well enough - it's happened. *giggle*) Once my cake was frosted and the edges of the cake board were piped, I moved on to making the banner.

The banner flags were cut using My Creative Time's Build A Banner Kit. I stamped the HAPPY letters from Anyday Bingo & Crossword and used pop dots to adhere the banner pieces together. I then stamped "birthday" from the "Happy Happy Birthday" sentiment in Wow So Many Candles and hand-cut it into a trapezoid shape. The top of that shape is adhered to the bottom of the last banner flag.

I used an anywhere hole punch to poke through the top of each banner flag twice and strung linen thread through each hole. The thread is then stuck into slits in the skewers to hold the banner above the cake.

This sweet little banner made a HUGE impact on the cake and Stephanie absolutely loved it!

Pro tip: Be sure to insert your candles in front of the banner so that you don't accidentally end up with a much larger flame than anticipated. You do NOT want to light your banner ablaze!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure to stop by Emma's blog to be directed to ALL the fabulous projects for today's 3D Wednesday!

I hope you were inspired!

- Veronica

As promised... the homemade frosting recipe (you'll never use another frosting again!).

Easy Vanilla Buttercream

Makes enough frosting for 2 dozen cupcakes
Source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients
20 tablespoons (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/8 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions
Beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-low speed, scraping down sides of bowl. Add vanilla and heavy cream and beat at medium speed until fully incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high until light and fluffy.

...want chocolate frosting? Add some cocoa to the mix! *wink*

MCT 19th Edition Release Blog Hop: Sweet Treats

It's finally here! The 19th Edition is officially released over at My Creative Time today! If you've hopped here from Trell's blog, you are certainly on the right track! If not, click on over to Emma's blog to start this Hop from the beginning (you WON'T be sorry - promise!).

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Today I created a little treat holder for my "Sweet". This holder is really easy to make - only using ONE piece of card stock (plus your extra card stock for embellishing). Inside my little holder are two Andes mints (or, Andes Mountains as I call them *giggle*). I'm sure a Ghirardelli chocolate square would fit inside, too (perhaps some minor size adjustments?).

I cut my orange card stock at 4.5" x 6". I then scored at 1.75" on both ends of the long side. After centering my candies in the middle area of the scored card stock, I folded on the scored lines and taped it shut. This left me with two open ends. I taped the two open ends shut and used my paper crimper to get the wavy edge-effect. The crimping helps to keep the ends shut, too. This easy holder would be GREAT for a classroom of kids!

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Now comes the fun part! I stamped the little bat from Treats For My Sweet in Versamark randomly on the green layer. After stamping and embossing the sentiment (from the same set) on the white card stock, I used my scissors to 'rough up' the edges a bit. Most of the layers are popped up (of course!).

If you've visited my blog before, you probably recognize the awesome green striped ribbon. I use this ribbon for everything from Christmas to my wedding album to Halloween! It's so versatile! It was found at Hobby Lobby a while ago and I'm always sure to stock up on it when I find it on the shelves (...and my Mom stocks up for me, too! Thanks, Mom!).


***BLOG HOP GIVEWAY ALERT***

For our Blog Hop giveaway, there will be 2 winners chosen from ALL the comments combined!

1st Prize: Guest Design spot for the September My Creative Time Release

2nd Prize: $50 worth of My Creative Time product - YOUR CHOICE!

How to enter to win: Just leave a comment here along with the rest of the design team's blogs AND also leave a way for us to contact you!  Emma will use random.org to pick the lucky winners!  The more blogs you comment on, the more chances to win! The deadline is Sunday, August 19th at midnight! EASY PEASY!!! GOOD LUCK!

Thanks so much for hopping with the My Creative Time Design Team today. I'm your last stop.

I hope you were inspired!

- Veronica

MCT 19th Edition Sneak Peek: Angel Word

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At the end of each year, my Bible study girls and I each choose an "Angel Word" to start the new year. The Angel Word is meant to be something that we think about for the coming year and apply to our lives. It's become a great tradition that we all look forward to.

My word for 2012 is Flexibility and it's AMAZING how much this word has come to play in my life. I chose my word (remember, this is by random draw) in mid-December and started my weight-loss/healthy living journey in January. I had no idea in December that I would be choosing to live a healthier lifestyle very soon. I've become flexible in my food choices and physically flexible as well! I've also decided to 'live my life as a blessing to others" and be flexible with my schedule so that I can be more available to help my friends and family.

Usually, we just pick words out of a bowl. We get to see our words as we choose them and then share our words with the group. I thought it would be nice to have a special way to receive our words and open them all together.

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For my project, I used the new My Creative Time 3x3 Fancy Envelope Die. After cutting my envelope in gold card stock, I stamped the champagne glass from Keepin' It Classy twice and embossed it in clear - just so it stands out a little on the gold card stock. I created a 'belly band' using white card stock and popped up a silver layer with the "Happy New Year" sentiment from the new Card Sentiments set. I embossed the sentiment in white.

After adding my belly band, I stickled little champagne bubbles above the glasses and a bit onto the belly band. I printed the Angel Word using the Print Clearly and Affair fonts.


Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!

With all of our Sneak Peek weeks, Emma likes to do some FUN giveaways!

***All you have to do is leave comments on our blogs! You do NOT have to comment on every blog, BUT if you do, you will just have more chances to win!

***SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on My Creative Time's Facebook page that you did so! OR you can just tag MCT in your post!

Emma will randomly pick & announce all winners on Friday, August 17th during the blog hop release happening @ 12:01am PST in her video! GOOD LUCK!

Log onto to your Facebook now & let start spreading word!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'll be back again later this week for another Sneak Peek!

I hope you were inspired!

- Veronica

MCT 19th Edition Sneak Peek: Tree-mendous Wishes!

This week, Emma and the My Creative Time Design Team are celebrating the upcoming 19th Edition Release with great Sneak Peeks!

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Today, I'm showcasing It's A Magical Season. I've seen beautiful ribbon trees in retail stores during the holiday season and wanted to try one of my own - on a much smaller scale.

The tree itself is only about four inches tall. Its 'pot' is the little bucket that they serve the desserts in at Logan's Roadhouse (I knew I kept those little pails for a reason...). Since I didn't have any Styrofoam trees in the right size, I simply cut a triangle out of card stock, wrapped it into a cone shape and used sticky tape to secure it.

Each little piece of ribbon was cut at about two inches long and hot glued into a little tab. I then used my hot glue gun to adhere each tab individually to the tree. After I finished attaching the ribbon tabs, I topped the tree with a big green bow.

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The "Tree-mendous Wishes" sentiment from It's A Magical Season was stamped onto the largest tag die from Teeny Tag Greetings.


Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!

With all of our Sneak Peek weeks, Emma likes to do some FUN giveaways!

***All you have to do is leave comments on our blogs! You do NOT have to comment on every blog, BUT if you do, you will just have more chances to win!

***SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on My Creative Time's Facebook page that you did so! OR you can just tag MCT in your post!

Emma will randomly pick & announce all winners on Friday, August 17th during the blog hop release happening @ 12:01am PST in her video! GOOD LUCK!

Log onto to your Facebook now & let start spreading word!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'll be back again later this week for another Sneak Peek!

I hope you were inspired!

- Veronica