Creating Geocaches - my newest obsession

Okay, I'm a bit pre-occupied with making new geocaches lately. Just a bit.

There's a "Cache and Release" event coming up in a couple weeks and I'm wanting to release some of my own caches for others to find during this 24 hr marathon of finding new caches....

Here's what I've been doing.....


Spiders. I don't like spiders, but I do love them for Halloween decorations. In fact, I've probably got about a dozen of these in my halloween stuff. So, when I was thinking of what I could do, I thought of these spiders and thought they might make a good geocache. Inside the spider is a black bison tube.

Next cache idea, I will admit is not my own. I actually came across a blog online that had some interesting geocaching stuff. Click here for a link to his site...
This geocacher had a pdf to print out and make into a paper crane, and then you use it to solve where the actual cache is hidden.

Sorry that my paper is all creased. I made my crane, then decided I wanted a picture of it unmade, so I unfolded it all again instead of reprinting it.I love the fact that this person is willing to let others use this idea and use the pdf that they had made.
So, now that I have that, I thought "what could I do for hiding the actual cache?" I could do the usual thing and just hide a tupperware container, but that's not very fun. So, I found some vinyl and made another crane. Vinyl, so that it's waterproof and will last fairly long out in the elements.And then I placed a bison tube in the bottom of my new vinyl crane. So fun.

So, now that I've got some caches made, I'm on the look-out for some place to hide them. I think the spider one would be awesome in some long grass or in a hollowed out big log (not that it's easy to come across those, but I'm looking) I think the crane would be good in a hollow in a tree (I know, geocachers hate micros in trees, but I'm hoping the "camouflage" is creative enough for people to overlook the micro in a tree thing)

I've got another cache I'm working on too. I know, 3 at once?! I actually had some other ideas but was torn as to whether they broke "geocache hiding rules".
But, I'll wait to tell you about my other one later. It's a work in progress and one I'm excited about.

Baby Shower Cake

When my sister asked me if I would be interested in making a baby shower cake, I immediately said yes and I knew what I wanted to do.

A while ago, I had seen this cake on the Pink Cake Box website. I knew that one day, I'd love to make one like it. In fact, there's a lot of really cute cakes on that website. I think I like them all!

So, today I finally got the chance to make it...

This cake was actually a combination of a couple different cake ideas.

It turned out well. I'm very happy with it. I hope my sister and her friends enjoy it tomorrow. Thank you Heather for letting me make it for you!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday. He's 66 today.
I wish we could spend the day with him, but he's on a trip with my Mom to Australia. Lucky them. So, I had to settle for a text message to him. I hope it gets it.

But before they left, we had a party to celebrate.
My sister, Fern, made him a cake. Fern likes to make cakes as much as I do. In fact, we started decorating cakes about the same time and took our first cake decorating class together. It's kind of nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to talk about cakes with. We've even worked on a few together in the past.... which was so much fun.

Anyways, I just wanted to post a few pictures of the cake Fern made for my Dad. I thought it was a fabulous cake and one of Fern's best.

To give you an idea of just how big this cake is....

And on a piece of paper, Fern wrote "Hamburger choices....Light Black or Dark Black" Ha ha ha.
It's always been a big joke cause for some reason or other, my Dad was always in charge of cooking hamburgers and every time he would burn them to a crisp. And my Dad would always ask "do you want your burger light black or dark black??"

Well Dad, I hope you had a fantastic birthday!!

I'm thinking of you and wishing you all the best and look forward to when you and Mom come home.

Halloween Ideas

Okay, I still consider myself to be new to the whole blogging thing. And occasionally, I'll branch out and look at other people's blogs and websites. I love technology and the fact that I can sit in the comforts of my own home and learn about just about anything and everything. Anything I want to make, guaranteed there's something out there that will teach me or inspire me.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love Halloween. In fact, I think it's very safe to say that my entire family (my parents, my siblings, my children) we all love this holiday.
I'm excited that it's coming up. I already find myself drawn to the Halloween stuff in the stores... yes, I've walked though Walmart, Michaels, the dollarstores.... looking at what's out.

Anyways, where am I going with this??
Oh yes.... I came across some tutorials of some things I'd like to make this year.
Here's a look....
Jack-o-lanterns in a Jar and a Halloween Clock.

How fun!! I'm excited. I'll post pictures when I make them.

Anyone else have any fun and cool ideas for things they want to make this Halloween??? I'm always looking for something new. Please share.

Birthday Party for Abigail

Well, it's CRAZY around here. 2 birthday parties in 2 days. Yup, I think it's me who's crazy around here sometimes.

Given the fact that my girls don't like cake. Okay, let me clarify, they don't like MY cake. For some strange reason that I can not fathom, they actually prefer the store bought crap cakes, but that doesn' t count and I'm not buying a cake....
Anyways... for my girls, I'm making them ice cream cakes instead. Abigail has requested a cookies n' cream cake, while the twins have requested a reese's peanut butter cup ice cream cake. Mmmmm.... I prefer the later..... peanut butter.... yum!

Tonight we celebrated Abigail's 11th birthday.
I'm not feeling very motivated to decorate the cakes for them. So, this afternoon, I finally decided I needed to put at least SOMETHING on top, when I remembered an idea I once saw.
Here's a look at what her cake looked like....

All the curls made a very funky, fun bow. I'll have to try this again another time.

Now that Abigail is 11, parties are so much calmer. I was sitting during dinner and I was marveling at how quiet and polite all the kids were. Such a stark contrast to parties a few years ago. In fact, it's probably a stark contrast to the party we'll be having tomorrow for the twins. I foresee a very noise, crazy afternoon for their party.

Here's a couple pictures from Abigail's party. I can't believe she's 11 already. Where has all the time gone???

(sorry if this blog posting is all over the place. That's what happens when you blog at such a late hour)