Creative Cucina

There was a time where I used the set Good Friend way too much. But that’s me–I go through phases where I become obsessed with an image and then never use it again. The bird in this set is so absolutely cute I had to force myself to put this stamp to rest and give some face time to the rest of my stamp collection.

Today, I thought it was time to bring the good bird out, but instead of going for my old standby, I chose another image from this set. The strange flower/dandelion type image caught my eye. I colored it with the Dusty Durango and Bermuda Bay marker. Stamped on Very Vanilla card stock. The sentiment is from Small Sayings, and old mini set from 2006/2007 (and one of the first orders I placed as a customer). I also inked that one up with the Dusty Durango and Bermuda Bay marker.

The image layer was matted onto a piece of Dusty Durango card stock, which was adhered to the Bermuda Bay Textured card stock base using dimensionals.

To finish off the card, I punched out some 1/4″ circles from Dusty Durango card stock using the 1/4″ Circle Punch and popped in 3 Very Vanilla Jumbo Basic 5/16″ Brads. Since the ends of the brad overhang the circles, I snipped off the ends using my Craft and Rubber Scissors–this is a great tip! Those were adhered to the card using a small glue dot.

Honestly, this is a very plain card by my standards, but for some reason it pops more than I thought it would. It would make a good project for a class or workshop because it gets customers using lots of different products and yet takes very little time.  (Markers, brads, stamps, craft & rubber scissors, dimensionals, glue dots, textured card stock, in colors)

This Lovely Flowers DSP is so beautiful if I see a scrap of it lying around I have to make something with it right away. There’s quite a bit going on here but that’s usually the way my cards end up–I never know when to stop adding things!

The card base is Melon Mambo, one of the 2009/2010 In Colors. I stamped it with En Francais background stamp in Versamark ink, then sprinkled on Clear Embossing powder and heat embossed for a subtle raised effect.

Next, I matted a piece of Lovely Flowers DSP onto Old Olive card stock and adhered it to the card base using dimensionals.

The top layer is Crushed Curry (another In Color) matted with Whisper White, which I stamped using Happy Everything and Flower Lines, a Level 3 Hostess set. The “happy” was inked with my Melon Mambo marker, “Birthday” in Old Olive, and the flowers were also inked with my in color markers, but I stamped off before stamping onto the Whisper White each time.

To finish off the card, I stapled a piece of folded Old Olive 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon to the edge of the Crushed Curry layer and adhered it to the base using dimensionals, offset slightly to the right.

Yes this was my birthday cake and YES it was GOOD! I got the recipe here (great site) but you can also find the recipe below. One word of caution–this recipe makes a HUGE 3 layer cake. Make sure you have a lot of people around to eat it! I can’t be trusted around this cake so I’m bringing hunks of it to friends and family immediately!!

Ingredients

Cake:

1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour

Frosting:

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 2-lb package powdered sugar (I used less according to my taste)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, and coconut.
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
5. Alternate adding buttermilk and dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
6. Mix until just combined, then fold in egg whites.
7. Pour evenly into the three prepared pans.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

1. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar.
2. Beat until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in chopped pecans and coconut.
4. Spread between layers, sides, and top of the cake using an offset spatula.
5. This step is optional, but I toasted some extra coconut (in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or so until lightly browned) and dressed up the sides of the cake.

I suggest storing the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve, then take it out about an hour before to allow the frosting to soften a bit.