baby shower bag

i've got about 35 minutes left to kill before my final class
i have my laptop on campus, so i may as well update this now.
haa haa.
this bag was such an up and down situation.
i was going to do it, set out, got the fabric.
and then life happened.
work, megan's wedding reception, cake baking, dance portraits, music circus and kasey's bbq all in one weekend. so that made me decide i was not going to do it.
i was not going to get it done. period. end of discussion.
fast forward to friday... i decided i was going to make the bag... at 2:00pm.
i had to leave for work by three. had to search for the pattern. luckily i generally got everything cut out before i left. came home, went to the gym, and then to denny's with kasey.
now its midnight... i started pinning and sewing. 4 1/2 hours later, i was done with the bag and all i needed to do in the morning was sew the lining shut.
morning comes... i decide to do the wipe case... thing is. i lacked ribbon. insert run to beverley's crafts... good thing its a short drive down the road to get the ribbon to made the edge pretty. 12:30ish i was done... baby shower was at 1pm and ariana was picking me up for it. yes, i even had time to photograph it before wrapping it. so here are the goodies

cake. yum

lets just say the cake was a hit.
kasey's dad came in saying how everyone was "bragging" on it outside.
:)
inside is layered swiss chocolate, red velvet, & classic yellow.
in between the layers is whipped chocolate frostingoutside is classic vanilla frosting dyed 3 colors.
plus red sprinkles to make the red stripe more red.kasey's niece keira (a little over 2 yrs) even finger tested the frosting to make sure it was okay... of course she did this while telling us all what each color was, and pointed at the yellow with a bit of force. yum. yum. yum.

stressed

are you kidding me?
our stove is broken?
i have a cake to make!

finally a reason to make a cake again.

i haven't had any reasons in a long time to make a cake.
last one i made was last minute, and fell apart because i didn't let it cool in enough time
so i dumped frosting on it and called it cake.
this one, is more exciting in my opinion.
reason - one of my bestest friends that i've known since i was 13 and a freshman in high school is heading off to germany for three years with her airforce husband. she decided she wanted a going away bbq party of all her friends and family as a last hoorah before she goes.
i asked her to let me make a cake for her, and she gave me the okay. the original plan was to make a cake, and then just decorate it like a german flag. but, as the thinking got further, it will look like a german flag both inside and out. inside will be layers of chocolate, classic yellow, and red velvet cakes (i think its the right order if you're talking bottom up), filled with chocolate frosting between the layers (husband's flavor preference) outside will be striped across like a german flag in vanilla icing (kasey's flavor preference). also, as a surprise to her, i ordered some red and gold m&ms (and have been buying black ones at michaels) that say "Kasey & Don Long" on some, as well as "Germany or Bust!" on the others. she knows about the cake, but is unaware of my m&m surprise. theres a few more things i'd like to do, and hope that i can get time to whip out.
so there you have my update of cake making... i still need to get some bags going. we got into the craft fair. and technically, i have 42 more bags to make in order to reach our individual goals. plus rag quilts if i can knock some of those out... in which i hope to. gah. summer is coming to an end, school is starting up, which means i will have less time than i do now.

yum. cake.

lisa -
i found your next cake challange.
check out this blog here.
it will amaze you some of the cakes.
well, it amazed me at least :P

photo bags - the finals

so here they are, the final productions of the photo bags. Suzanne's is to the right, and Megan's is to the left. I decided once i did Suzanne's bag, which the photo was already in black and white, that i wanted to do Megan's in black and white as well. i feel it makes the photo flow better, and doesn't detract with bright colors and such. Also, once Suzanne's was done, i decided for Megan's to sew a strip of fabric across the bottom so that the photo didn't go all the way to the bottom seam. it helped allow room for the seam allowance as well, since the photo was on the very edge of the top seam, so it was really pushing it. haa haa. overall, the bags both got their respective attention at both bridal showers. Megan's got more of a verbal response and questioning, while Suzanne's was a bit more reserved. All in all, i'm happy with the outcomes, and hope you are too. I'll prob list these as an ad on etsy for the next showcase that people can order a custom photo bag. of course, the price will be more than the $28 that we are charging for other bags off the same pattern, due to the personalization of the item.
so there you have it. emily's photo bags of august 2009. lol

a sneak peak of sorts of the bags

heres a photo of megan with her yellow and gray themed bag at her bridal shower this evening. the reaction of this bag was much stronger than that of suzanne's bag. i could tell suzanne liked hers, funny because i got that "what the?" response from suzanne when she saw the picture i stole and put on the front. (which is taken as a compliment from her, because thats just her personality... lol) megan's bag got oohs and ahhs from those of all ages at the shower. from both of us younger and unmarried folk, as well as the moms/sisters of the bride that have already had their wedding days come and go. one lady asked me how i do it, but i can tell its not because she wants to make a purchase from me. from what i've seen of this lady, she's rather crafty. she gave megan a scrapbook set (album, pages, stickers) at the shower, as well as previously seen, she sewed her own daughter's wedding dress for her wedding in 2008.
see the build a bear bag? yes, that's what i used as a gift bag for not just megans, but i had another identical bag for suzannes... all the other bags in our house were christmas or birthday themed... or too small. hah.
suzanne looked amazing at her reception tonight. her dress was gorgeous, and you can tell she was extremely happy. i look rather odd in half the photos, so here is one of her and her now hubby, erick. the reception was smaller, held in the cultural hall of the loomis building, with the typical LDS round tables set up all around, with the cake in the center of the room. so funny how she was stressing out on sunday when all the older women that came by were talking about all their kids having babies recently, and she, through clenched teeth asks her mom "WHY is everyone talking about BABIES?" haa haa. next up, megan's wedding on august 21. two friends married in one month... might as well get the ball rolling of people i went to high school with getting married :P