Stockemer Family Fun: May 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

Claire's 3 month pictures

I just had Claire's 3 month pictures taken yesterday at JC Penney's and I am very happy with how they turned out! The intent was to just get Claire's pictures done for the milestone and also get a few of the girls together since I had Big Sister/Little Sister shirts for them and wanted to get photos of the girls wearing them before Claire outgrew hers (Melanie's is a 3T so at the rate she's growing she'll probably still be able to wear it when she's in kindergarten :P )

Well, Melanie was not down with the idea of having her picture taken with her sister - heck, we even bribed her with candy! The photographer was trying to get her to loosen up for the "sisters" pictures and was snapping a few of just Melanie, but they turned out so cute I had to get a few of them as well! And she was definitely showing off her OCD that day! The photographer wanted her to sit in a little rocking chair and Melanie had been playing with the chair and foot stool while Claire was getting her pictures taken, so Melanie carried the stool over next to the chair for her pictures. She'd get Melanie all situated for a cute shot and then quickly slide the stool away so it hopefully wouldn't be in the shot. But as soon as she moved the stool Melanie would get up and carry it back, sitting herself back in the chair and putting her feet up. What a little booger! She has the proudest look on her face in those pictures, so it really adds to the personality of it all.

Anyway, the photographer was awesome! She worked with us for over an hour, encouraging me to take Claire in the next studio that wasn't being used to nurse her if I thought that would help her hang in there. That turned out well since she ended up dozing off, resulting in some really sweet pictures. And she was so comfortable working with the girls, playing with Melanie and picking Claire up to burp her and tickle her to get her smiling, soothing Claire to sleep if she'd start to wake up and then gently removing her pacifier for the pictures. She's even encouraged us to stop by whenever we're shopping so Melanie can get used to her, resulting in better pictures in the future (hopefully). I highly recommend using her. She's at the Penney's at Towne West and her name is Stephanie. She told my mom she also does photography on her own outside the studio, she just works for LifeTouch because it provides a steady paycheck, so she'd probably be willing to do outdoor pictures as well.

Ok, so down to the business of the pictures. Same drill as last time - follow the link and enter my first and last name for the customer and tell me what you think!
https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0179108111JCP

Some Recent Creativity

I found a website with instructions on how to make different kinds of hairbows, and since I have tons of ribbon left over from the Taggie blankets I've made I decided to give some a whirl!

A skort I made for Melanie with a matching bow.
I was getting tired of bottoms not fitting her, and when I saw this fabric I knew I wanted to make something for her out of it. I found a good basic shorts pattern and, with the help of my mom, figured out how to make the adjustments to make it into a play skort.

I've got a whole stack of fabric and a head full of ideas for additional outfits for both of the girls to wear this summer, so hopefully I'll be posting pictures of those in the near future.

Here are our attempts at getting a shot of her modeling her outfit!

And just because it doesn't fit anywhere else, Melanie stealing a cookie

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Fun at the Park

Part of my plan to make it through the week while Matt is gone includes trying to do some sort of activity outside the house each day. Monday's activity was going to SC Park with my parents to play and feed the ducks. Here are the photos of our outing!

Higher Grandpa!

He had been following Melanie around on the platform and she went down the slide and ran off. The easiest way to follow her? Go down the slide himself! What a goof! (Which also happens to make him a good grandpa!)

Peek!

I like how in this picture it looks like Melanie is ignoring my dad as if to say "I will not be associated with you while you are wearing that thing on your head!"

Going to find some ducks!

Needless to say Melanie was rather tickled to get to see ducks so close.

All tuckered out!

Monday, May 18, 2009

How to Decorate a Cake

For my sister's college graduation I decorated a cake for her, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to demystify how you get a "free-hand" image (i.e. not an edible image transfer that you buy) onto a cake.

Print off the image you want on the cake and trace the image onto wax paper

Flip the wax paper over and "trace" the image with clear decorator get

With the gel side of the paper facing down, gently place the wax paper onto your smoothly frosted cake, making sure all areas of the image touch the cake to transfer the gel onto the cake to make your template.

*Note* Make sure you've allowed the frosting on your cake to form a bit of a "shell". If the frosting is still freshly spread and soft the transfer won't work since the frosting will stick to the wax paper instead of the gel sticking to the frosting. I let mine sit over night before doing the transfer and it worked out well.

Start outlining and filling in your image.

I discovered it worked best if I went over the template with either more clear gel or the lighter color (in this case yellow) before applying the black gel where needed. This way, if I goofed up with the black (which I did!) I was able to take a paring knife and gently lift the black gel off the cake without leaving a black stain on the white frosting.

Since the WuShock was such a detailed image I couldn't just trace everything like I did with the rainbow cake. Instead I was able to get the general shape and then filled in the detailing after that, so keep you image handy for reference!

Finish up your detailing, trace a message in clear gel (which was very handy on this particular cake since I didn't center the "Congratulations" very well the 1st time around, so I was able to easily "erase" it and reposition the words) and then cover it in a darker color, add a decorative rope border with colored frosting (not decorator gel) and your done!