How cool is this?

My friend (and fellow boot-camper) does the most amazing photo artwork using letter. She is doing a giveaway on real moms real reviews. Check it out here

I feel like I am getting in a hair style rut again with my girls, sooo that meant it was time to do a little blog hopping looking for new ideas. Here are few of the ones I want to try:

Loopy DO

Standard Bow

Two for One

Cross Messy Bun (done this one before and liked it)

Double Twist

And the following posts from It's a Girl Thing (I coudn't figure out to link theses so since this just for my info to help me remember which ones I wanted to try and not have to go searching all over blogs, this works, right?)

September 4, 2009

June 29, 2009

June 26, 2009

June 16, 2009

Feb 3, 2009

May 8, 2009 (minus the tiara)

And that one that I was looking for that started this whole search: February 22, 2010!

Marshmallo Fondant Barney the Dinosaur Cake

This is my first attempt at fondant and I think it went pretty well. Since my daughter ONLY wanted a Barney cake I had to try to figure out a way to make one all on my own (I tried to get her to go for Elmo or Dora or ANYTHING else that has been popular in this Millennium so I would be able to buy something to use for the cake, but it HAD to be Barney). I used this recipe of off all recipes.com and also got tips off of the cake stylist and whats cooking America. After I made it and kneaded it, I put it in a plastic bag and put in the fridge until I was ready to use it later that day. I started with a cooled 13x9 cake that I leveled and then frosted with white frosting (from a can) and then put in the freezer to help it set and prevent crumbs (it was a chocolate cake...that is what she wanted). After freezing, I frosted it again to make smooth (I dipped the knife in a cup of milk while frosting which helped smooth it out). Then I tinted the fondant (which ended up with a entire bottle of red food coloring on the carpet, but that is a whole 'nother story) and then rolled it out. I used a picture of Barney that I printed off of a coloring page website and enlarged it and cut it out and used it as guide to cut out the fondant (be careful to not let the paper stick to the fondant). It was a little bit difficult to get it to transfer onto the cake (I finally just rolled out the fondant onto tip foil sprayed with Pam and then turned it upside and tried to get it off onto the cake...I am not sure if this is a very "proper" fondant technique but it worked!) Then I just cut another piece of green fondant for his stomach and rolled small yellow fondant balls for his toenails. I did decorate the other parts of barney with regular black icing from a can. I also cut out circles from the leftover fondant to decorate it and my older two children rolled out some small fondant balls to put around the bottom. In the end, it was a hit!