Patriotic Nerd Cake

Let it be known, that on July 21, 2011, I embarked on an endeavor that secured my nerdiness.

It starts with:

1.5 recipes of white cake

1/3 of the white cake dyed blue

1 (ginormous!) recipe of strawberry cake

and some aluminum foil

Put it together....

... and what do ya get?

A Captain America Cake!!!

[it looks better from below:]

[well, sorta...]

Yeah, I did that. It's not perfect, but as a first try for that kind of thing, I must say it's pretty cool. It's even better with some whipped cream and strawberries. Or a bit of cream cheese icing. Whichever fits your tastes. ^___^

So it's pretty obvious how I did it. It's all in the aluminum! :D Just make sure to spray your pans and foil.... >_> It was messy trying to get those out. Also make sure you have sturdy zip-top bags for pouring the batter into its designated space. It was kinda hard to position the nozzle of the mixing bowl just right. When the stuff was poured, I put it in the oven for a few minutes and then took the aluminum barriers out. I think I should've taken it out right after I poured the batter, but oh well. It still came out AWESOME.

I really want to do more cakes like this one. I'll see if I can make an Avengers cake when that movie comes out. XD Making that cake was the most fun/frustrating time baking that I've had.

If I retire with enough money, I think I'll open up my own bakery. "Mamaw Mach's" I think. ^.^

Cat Card

My bro recently went to California for some music-filled summer camp. He was gone for TWO GLORIOUS WEEKS. :D But now he's back... :\ But BEFORE he came back, I made him a card:

Tada! Forgive the low quality... I am a night owl crafter. I think I did this project at 11-ish? Yeah... My best ideas come at night...

Made with:

• Cricut Quarter Note cartridge, "musically inclined" phrase
  
• Cricut Lite Meow, piano cat
  
• Cricut Going Places cartridge, airplane (I think)
• Cricut 50 States, "California"
• Cuttlebug Clockworks, front embossing
• Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls, generic gold cardstock embossing
• Cuttlebug Floral Screen, generic blue cardstock embossing
• Cuttlebug Spots and Dots, generic red cardstock embossing
• Die Cuts With a View Generation Tech music note paper, base cardstock
  

So it's a simple tri-fold shutter card, and the instructions are somewhere on teh interwebz. I honestly think that the 3FS card is the most fun to make and show off. ^_^

I also made a thank you card for the poor soul who had to house my brother:

There's another picture, but it doesn't show much else and it's even worse quality. Again, it was late/dark and I was tired. And it's a pretty straight-forward card anyway. I used my Cricut Gypsy to weld two Alabama shapes together and weld/cut out the words.
Made with:

• Cricut Cuttin' Up cartridge, "big" word
• Cricut All Mixed Up cartridge, "bama" word
• Cricut Gypsy Font cartridge, "thanks" word
  
• Die Cuts With a View Generation Tech music note paper, base cardstock
• Cuttlebug Clockworks, generic cardstock embossing

Well, that's all the crafting I've been up to in the past month. I've been really busy getting college stuff together (!!!). And I've been **gasp** cleaning my room, which includes my crafting stuff. I'm doing my best to get organized before I leave in two weeks!

Until next time. ^___^

Harry Potter!

Oh. My. Goodness.

That movie was awesome. It's just what I was hoping for. 'Tis now the official end of my childhood, and I doth bid it a sincere adieu. I've been through all the books [ before they got really big] and seen all the movies. It's been quite a journey. ^_^

BUT, as with all things, I did have a few (very miniscule) problems with it, though these are problems primarily stemming from the book itself, which the movie (unfortunately in some cases) followed quite well.

***SPOILERS*** Ha. As if. [If you seriously don't know these, then where have you been for the past couple years? I have no sympathy for you. :P]

#1.WHY DID FRED HAVE TO DIE??!?!!?! Most of the other deaths were reasonable, but Fred?! You can't kill off a twin! Unless they're evil or something. From the sound of this article, she wanted the Weasley clan to suffer a loss. But why not Arthur? I know she was all like, "I couldn't bear to kill him." or "I didn't want Harry to lose another father figure." But, I think it would've made a whole lot more sense for Arthur to die, especially when protecting one of his children. In the series, we've seen mothers being very protective of their children, but none of the dads have done anything quite similar. And since Arthur was very much a family man, it would just make sense. I was really thinking that Arthur would die protecting one of his kids (FRED, maybe?) as a way to show that wizarding dads care about their kids just as much as their mothers do. It would've been nice to see more paternal engagement and love throughout the series, but we do see that in Harry's mentors/father figures. Which brings me to my next point: yes, Harry would lose another father figure, but I think that would've strengthened the bond between the trio and between Harry and Lupin and Hagrid. See, Tonks and Lupin apparently took the place of Arthur as well. So if Arthur had died, Lupin would be right there for him. But I could also see Lupin dying, which would leave Hagrid. Now, I know he's not a "normal" wizard by any means, but again, it would make sense that the one who "rescued" him from his relative's house would be the only one left. He's always been there for Harry, ever since he was a baby. But unlike Dumbledore and Sirius (and possibly Snape), he would survive the end because he's tough like that. So yeah, (getting back to the point) I find Fred's death unnecessary and devastating.

#2. TONKS AND LUPIN DESERVED A PROPER DEATH SCENE. Okay, talk about the Couple Badass! I'm sure that they had some epicness in their last hours. And what do we get? Nuthin'. Just basically listing them off as one of the dead. The movie was slightly better, with them standing together, reaching for each other before the shield fails. The next time we see them, they're dead. D: Surely they could've shown more of the most awesome "old" couple fightin' off an army of Death Eaters! I mean, Lupin was a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher AND one of the Marauder's. I know he had some awesomeness up his werewolf-y sleeves. And Tonks, the metamorphagi, is/was an auror, the equivalent of the police for magicians. Yeah, so we've got two very awesome magicians coming to their end. And what do we get? Nothing. Absolutely nuthin'. Tonks and Lupin deserved so much better.

#3. DRACO. Just Draco. Snarky villain turned... complete wimp. Really? He chickened out of killing Dumbledore, which was totally understandable. He seemed to be all set up for a comeback, whether good or evil, to show the readers that yes, the spoiled brat in the beginning has turned into a pretty awesome guy/mini-villain. But alas, he just comes up with some half-baked scheme and falls way short. And then runs home to mommy.

So it's just those three things. And despite the disparaging tone, I really did love the book. I love the whole series. And I trust J.K. Rowling's work, her writing, her thoughts. This wonderful story was created by her, so ultimately she has the final say in the canon, and we must defer to her.

But there's always fanfiction. >:D

Two Years...

Yep. It's been two years, my dear (7) followers. I kinda forgot about this in all the fun of my last two years of high school... J/k, I'm just lazy and forgetful. But now I think I'll try to keep this up. I like the name, I like the style, I like the sense of egotism that goes along with having your feelings out there ON TEH INTERWEBZ. So I'll do my best, uploading crafts and stories and anything else I feel like posting.

ONWARD with the first new thing!

I present to you, my first digital album! ***invisible cupcakes for everyone!!!***

'Twas made with Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 by Serif. It's not completely finished. I still have some journaling left, but I was primarily testing out the software.

It's pretty awesome.

BUT, I still love doing "traditional" scrapbooks and stuff, and I'm working on one right now. It's about my senior year. :D

À bientôt!

One Hundreth Cricut Cart!!!

Apparently the Winter Woodlands cart is PC's 100th!!! Yay! PC is giving out 100 Winter Woodland carts over 5 weeks.
Here is the link to the cart info page: http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2
And here is the thread for Week 1 of this giveaway:
http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=5248058&mpage=1
Good luck to everyone!

Two "Test" Boxes

Yeah, school has been a bit of a pain..... trying to adjust to the workload and other stuff that comes along with school.
BUT, I just got the Box Templates II from Oriental Trading, and I must say that THEY ARE AWESOME!!!! I've only made two so far:
The Coffin Box:
I embossed the back and kind of distressed it.
The Milk Carton:

I'm thinking that the milk cartons will be great for parties, because the template fits on a 8-1/2" by 11" sheet of paper. You could print out a person's picture and put "MISSING CHILD" or something like that. I think that would be a cool party favor..... but maybe that's just me!

Desk Calendar Instuctions

Here's the link to download the document:
Desk Calendar Instructions
I hope all of you enjoy this!!! Please leave a comment if you download it!

Desk Calendar

Finally, I've posted my first craft on my blog!!! Here it is:

Side view:

The number and day of the week:

The months:

I bought a calendar stamp set at Hobby Lobby and used the Staz-on Jet Black ink. It's my first time at stamping, so it's not a great job. I also used my BIA for the bindings and stuff. If you want instructions or measurements, just ask/leave a comment (although it's pretty easy to figure out)...
Overall, though, I'm happy with how it turned out. It's not completely finished, though. I'm going to make a list of important dates and put it on the back so that my sister will know when birthdays/holy days of obligation/etc. are!!!