Lemon Blueberry Rainbow Cake

So last year, on the last day of school, I made The Rainbow Cake. And then my kids and my husband and I all decided that Rainbow Cake should be a new Last Day of School tradition.

The end of this school year was amazingly busy. School was busy, my craft kit business was busy, we were all busy busy busy.

And then the last day of school came. And went. And no Rainbow Cake magically appeared.

Fail.

But! We're an easy-going tradition kind of family. And since we had planned on a day of camping this weekend, we decided to Rainbow Cake It Up.

Rainbow Cake is made with yellow cake mix. I used it for last year's Last Day of School Cake,

and Peyton's Birthday Cake,



and Ella's Birthday Cake.



You know what? I don't love yellow cake mix. And since I'm the one making all these dang cakes all over the place, I think I can make a decision every once in a while.

I'm a'gonna make a lemon cake! And blueberries were on sale, so... why not? But when I say lemon cake, don't be thinking that I'm making it from scratch - forget it - this kind of cake takes enough time as it is - I'm box-caking it all the way.

Also, and I've mentioned this before, two tubs of frosting is not enough. I'm okay with that. I could use three, but really! Three tubs of frosting? It might make my cake look awesome, but that is a lot of freakin' frosting. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to use two and call my cake "rustic" instead. 

Why, yes, that is a fire pit in the background. Why, no, I don't think this is an acceptable dessert for camping. For the record, I've never brought a cake camping before, but just this once, I think it's okay.

So here's what I did, I followed the regular directions that you can find here, except, of course, I used lemon cake mix and frosting.

I don't use food coloring drops, I use food coloring gel, but imagine adding one drop of blue to one layer, then two drops to the next layer, then three... you get the idea. Except they're not really drops, because it's gel, so... one glop, then two glops, then three... Totally sexy. Glop.

Fire pit in the background!

Did you notice how nicely the original Rainbow Cake and this Lemon Blueberry Cake is sliced? I mean, compared to the crazy-Birthday-Party-oh-my-Lord-feed-the-hungry-masses-of-party-children-before-they-attack-Cakes. 

I'm only totally afraid of my children some of the time.

Anyway, after I had come up with the idea of the lemon blueberry rainbow cake, and before I actually made it, I pinterested (as that should totally be a verb by now) blue rainbow cake to see if anyone had done something similar. If you want to see something REALLY beautiful, go see what I found. Aim for that one, end up with this one...

be happy.

It was delicious! Tradition crisis averted.

Father's Day Frame 2012

It's Father's Day Frames Time!

We've done these for 4 years in a row! You can see the other years AND the How To here and here.

I really, really recommend this craft. It doesn't take all that much time, or effort, or money. It's super personal and my kids love making them every year.

I think they mostly love it because I leave all the major decision making up to them.

I drag a bunch of photos from the current year into a folder (about 15-20 per kid). Then I let them each choose 10. Not all pictures will work because of the placement of people in the picture and the shapes of the letters, so 10 seems to give us enough good options. BOTH kids wanted to keep all their leftover pictures. I'm telling you, they love this stuff!

This time, Ella decided that she didn't want any black lines of the letters showing. When we cut the letters without the black lines, we had a little bit of extra space inside the letters. So she decided to pack two pictures into each of the D's. I love it! They look really cute! She also decided to back each letter with colored paper, just like she did last year.

Check out the bottom of the second D - Happy F-Day. "It stands for Father's Day!" she told me. Obviously.

Although... when I see Happy F-Day, it's possible I think something else. AM I THE ONLY ONE?



Peyton wanted the black lines of the letters showing, but he liked Ella's two-photo idea, too, so he did some of that. He did not want colored paper on the back, just like last year, so I backed the letters with some light cardboard to give them more stability. It's funny, I didn't even show them last year's frames, but they both still picked the same backing as they did last year. I wonder if they remember, or if it's just their personal aesthetics coming through? It's adorable either way.

Check out the Y - To: James. You know he did that just because this is really important to him and he wanted to be very serious and proper. So sweet. Oh, and the third D. He wrote Peyton J W Jr. He's not a junior, obviously, his dad's name is James. I guess because he is his father's son? I didn't want to call him on it because he was just so proud.

I just LOVE these! Simple traditions are the best!

Happy Father's Day!

My Memories Suite Giveaway!

I do love a giveaway!

So, MyMemories contacted me and they offered a free copy of their MyMemories Suite Scrapbook Software to me and one of my readers. For free! You know how I love the Free.

Plus they provided a Share the Memories code (STMMMS21147) that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software, if you don’t win, and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!

Ummm... Yes, please!

This is how much I know about digital scrapbooking: Zero point zero zero. Even with all that lack of knowledge, their program was really easy to use. And there are a ton of options - layouts, background papers, texts, calendars, and on and on....

I was playing around with the software and look what I made! I can make stuff! Digital stuff!

Adorable, right?

Do you see those two pictures of me? My friend Laura Schmidt took them while I was trying to be my own little craft fair at a local carnival. She's a wonderful photographer and a really, really sweet person. You can go see more of her beautiful work here. 


Back to the giveaway! Would you like a chance to win? 

Here are the Fancy Rules:

* Make sure to leave separate comment for each entry; otherwise it won't count! DANG! 

* In your comment, please include an email address if it is not visible in your profile so I can reach you.

* The giveaway ends on Friday, June 22 at 11:59 pm CST. One winner will be selected using random.org. Or maybe I'll write all the entries on pieces of paper and throw them up in the air. The one my dog eats last wins. Nah. I'll probably stick with random.org.

* The winner has 48 hours to answer my email or new winner will be drawn. 

Here’s How to Enter:

* Mandatory Entry:

- Visit mymemories.com and let me know in a comment which digital scrapbooking kit or template is your favorite.

* Additional Extra Entries:

- 1 Extra Entry each - Follow My Memories on:

Their Blog - http://blog.mymemories.com/

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MyMemoriesFans

Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

- 1 Extra Entry each - Follow my blog or sign up for email updates.

- 1 Extra Entry - Add me to your blogroll because I want to be popular. 

- 1 Extra Entry - Visit Smart-Bottom Kids and tell me which craft kit is your favorite.

Please make sure that each entry is its own comment!

GOOD LUCK!

Patriotic Stars Banner Craft Kit

It's new craft kit time! Happy red, white, and blue! It's a Patriotic Stars Banner Craft Kit!

Perfect for 4th of July decorating, parties, family reunions... go ahead... have everyone in your family make a star... you happy little American family, you!



Here's what you get!

12 large stars - 6 red and 6 blue. You and your kid will cut them out - don't worry! They're preprinted. And it's great scissor practice!

Red, white, and blue!... and burlap! (I love the burlap!).... solid and patterned!... medium and small paper stars. So you can layer colors and patterns to your heart's content. Oh, you'll be cutting those stars out, too. Hey! Don't be whiny. A little star cutting never hurt anyone. Except me. It would probably hurt me if I had to cut out all the stars from the millions of Star Banner Kits I'm planning on selling. I have big dreams. BIG DREAMS!

Sparkly rhinestones and shiny sequins and sweet buttons...oh! and stickers, too! 

Seriously. How cute is that little red heart button? SO CUTE! Dude. This banner is all rockin' the Americana Sweetness. 

7 feet of jute - twice! - so you can double up your banner. It's extra fancy that way. And lots of colorful decorative ribbon...

Love it!

All packaged up like so...

Cute! Cute!

Ella and Peyton wanted to make one before I even finished creating the kit. Holy Crafting Pride, Batman! I love those kids!

Ella's is the red, Peyton's is the blue.

Ella broke all the rules. Trouble maker. You see that eyeball? Yeah. You won't be getting that in your kit. But she made up for all the troublemaking with what she wrote on her star...

Family. With a heart. By Ella.

Lordy. That's sweet.

Eyeball.

Happy 4th of July!