4th of July Celebrations! Part One...Fruit Pie Preparations...

This is the first creation that I am finally ready to unveil for the huge 4th of July spread I have in the works. Instead of trying to create a mondo display right off the bat like I did for the Spring Bake Sale collection last month, I decided I would break these new scenes into parts. Complete one phase, blog about it, and then complete the next one. I'm so excited to see how this entire setting is coming together.

Thank you all for following my meandering musings. I greatly enjoy all of your blogs too! Hope everyone is having a wonderful early summer. Warm weather totally rocks!

Fresh strawberries and cherries from the farmer's market. We're ready to bake some pies!

New miniature measuring spoons - I can't get over how small they are! And yes, they have mini number markings on them too.

These white work tables are sooooo versatile!

Rolling right along.....new tiny measuring cups add even more realism to the design.

My work table drawers are filling with more mini goodies - the juicer, ice cream scoop, and potato peeler will figure prominently in my upcoming creations.

My new favorite- a flour sifter so perfect it even has a colored knob on the side, and sifting wires inside. Whoever made this mini is a freaking GENIUS!

Spring Bake Sale in 1/12 scale

Wow! I've been AWOL for a while and recently came back here to find 22 followers - what a wonderful surprise! I'm so delighted!  And thankful you decided to follow my mini-escapades. So many of you have such wonderful work on your blogs.... I find it totally inspiring and exciting to keep up with all your new creations as well. You are all so talented.

I've been trying to get this new display finished for more than a month now, but rheumatoid arthritis flares kicked my butt in a major way. My stiff, uncooperative fingers were simply unable to manipulate the clay. Period. And the "oh-my-gosh-I've-never-been-so-tired" exhaustion kept all my creativity swirling around in my head, only. I'm just happy to finally summon enough energy today to complete most of the major components for my new spring bake shop. Those inexpensive unfinished cabinets I've been purchasing (and hoarding) from Michael's came in handy. I totally redid them to fit our doll houses, and the new staging area on my craft table.

This week I received a darling pink mini-mixer (I really dig those mini-mixers). I just had to add it to my new white work table. A teeny tiny flour sifter and measuring cup should arrive next week, so I can update the work tables with those too...still planning....and imagining....

Word to the wise, this is going to be one heck of a long, long blog - I hope you enjoy. 

A bird's eye view of the entire setup. 

Grab 'n run treats in the far left cabinet (Who doesn't have at least one free hand to grab a cookie on the way to the soccer field, or music lesson, or whatever and wherever you fancy.)
Here we have some cookies, lemon bars, and confetti-colored macaroons...yum!

Delightful donuts - a personal weakness of my ravenous sweet tooth. 

Cake cupboard - sweet!

Cupcake cuties. Pick your flavor.

My kitchen NEVER looks this neat when I'm baking. That's what's so nice about minis - small enough to keep everything in its place. 

Ta-da! The pink mixer in action!

Lemon and chocolate sheet cakes..mmmmm...

Red Velvet, Double Fudge, and Strawberry - swell summer flavors!

More chocolate - cream sandwich pies and rolls....

I "heart" pink! 

Easter Rainbows and Sunshine Mini-Cakes

The weather is finally getting warmer and I am so hooked on spring! And cakes. Lots of cakes. 

Remember the Easter Rainbow Cake a few blogs back?

The one on the left was done a few days ago in 1/12 scale miniature size. For Easter, I used pastel rainbow shades.

The cake on the right here is our full-size version that we baked last year after watching the Rainbow Cake segment on Martha Stewart.





And it was soooooo good! Our full-size cake was colored with gel colors in primary shades. But I digress, if just for a moment, from the minis....

My new little miniature red mixer arrived yesterday.....



....So I made the prep board to match.



I also made a sunshine and flowers cake....just for the fun of it...

....with honey bees, another surefire sign of spring.

Easter Foods - Prep Boards (Exquisite Imperfections)

Sort of a "part deux" to my Easter mini food post last night. It occurred to me as I securitized my preparation boards that while I'm a good cook in real life... I'm a pretty messy one too. The prep boards I worked on last night looked much too....neat. I mean, who does that??? While they’re up to their elbows deep in the task of creating extraordinary confections? Seriously? I don’t get out of the kitchen alive without some spillage on the countertop, frosting on the floor, or cake batter on the walls. (Note to self - watch those high speed kamikaze mixers.) Even Martha Stewart, the beacon of all-things-home keeping, can't be this neat.

So I "fixed" the prep boards...a little spilled frosting here, some food coloring drippage there. And flour flour everywhere! Actually, my daughters and I look like abominable snowmen (or snow 'women' to be PC - ha!) whenever we make cookies or cake. So why not - life is messy sometimes. We gotta either clean it up...or...just roll with it (Easter eggs - "roll" with it..oh..nevermind ;)

Enjoy!

There we go - who said coloring eggs encased inside a loaf of fresh baked Easter egg bread was easy?

That frosting is pretty good, and gooey.

Getting cake batter into the muffin tins without some drips, is totally impossible.

Apricot preserves - my favorite long roll - ever!