Surprising Finds

Coca Cola Glass

Whether they are big time business like Hallmark or your local Goodwill, you would be amazed what you can find in them! And then there are the local shops owned by your own neighbors - Craft stores and consignment shops. Where ever you look you are sure to find something amazing in them and at a price that is just as amazing.

Cupcake Dish

The combination of starting a new business and the hubby between gigs makes things tight around here. Having three kids makes them suffocating at times. lol But you have to keep trudging on and astonishingly it really brings out your creativeness as well as your resourcefulness. (Like this old card box I got in clearance at Hallmark I am using as packaging for cookies!)

Snow Flake Potter

There is just something about a woman, and some men, to get that steal of a deal. When you combine it with an amazing idea that pops into your head it makes it even better. Now, couple that with knowing you just helped a local friend and/or family with their own business and it is really a triple play of awesomeness in the sport of shopping.

Now A Cookie Stand

I know, what does this have to do with cookies? Well everything. I need packaging, I need displays for cookies and cakes and cupcakes. With wallet that has more mothballs in it than money all the above comes into play.

Now, I usually will stroll down to the local Hallmark from time to time and see what I can find on their clearance racks. I tend to find just the cutest little plates there. As a matter of fact I found my favorite dish there. ^_^ Isn't it cute!!!!

Beautiful Mini Dishes

Then basically right next to it is the Art Garden Pottery shop, owned by the sweetest woman Laura Mayer. Now, they don't have a lot of dishes as it were but sometimes you will find something that will just make you go, "hey! I can use that for this!" Like this snowflake as a cookie display. ^_^ (Also, she does classes and I hope to be in there this summer being taught how to make a sign for Surreal Confections! Wouldn't that be neat?)

Cake Stands

Now, down a couple more doors is this shop - Red Door. You peak in through the glass and see so many older things. Anything from when our parents were growing up to pre 1900's and all of it just amazing. Many would skip right over figuring with the age of the products comes a high price tag. Well you would be wrong.

Red Door carries everything from vintage to new and all at beyond reasonable prices. (When was the last time you picked up an entire China Dinner setting for under $175? They have one right now and if I didn't already have my Noritake, which the hubby bought there, I would so pick this one up as well!)

China Tea Cup

And finally there is my favorite place to find stuff in town...Goodwill!!!! OMG!!!! I just adore our local shop. The girls up there are very sweet, all the money you spend there goes to a good cause and you would be amazed by what all you can find there if you look.

China Tea Cup

I have found everything from packaging to old collectible VHS Disney tapes in the original hard cover packaging. What I really love to look for is dishes for display there. I find so much and what surprises me is all the tea cups I find. Just stunning china tea cups with gold trim, platters, crystal platters and more.

For once I love pink!

And funny, these are not rare finds. I find something there every week that just makes me go "YAY!!!" I love it. I love shopping local and adore everything you can find. So, keep your eyes out and always try to look at something in a new light. You never know what you could find and even more so who you are helping with each tiny purchase. It all adds up. And what better than to help build up another persons dream while you are creating your own. ^_~

Too cute! Had to get!

If you are in the Moses Lake are, please stop by the following stores and see what gems they have to offer! Tell them Jenn of Surreal Confections sent ya!

ArtGarden Pottery - 104 West Third, Moses Lake
Red Door - 116 West Third, Moses Lake

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Quick Update

Well, thanks to a few things coming through I am now dabbling in the edible images department. I started out by ordering a few and now am printing my own. YAY! I love it!

For many it would be a quick and easy way to add zest, and for me it is as well, but more than that. Now I can take all those digital art works I create and make them even better by making them sweet!!!! Oh I cannot wait!

Birthdays are huge in the months of April and May for my family down in Albany, and not to mention mothers day. So I will be diving head deep into some fun stuff this week and shipping is down to them!

So, be on the look out! "Cherish" is just the first of many!

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I "<3" Mom. That is what we all say come Mother's Day. The one day of the year where people are pretty much forced to stop everything they are doing and do everything mom does every day, or at least that is what I think it should be. LOL You know, Mom's Day Off. (What ever that is.)


What usually ends up happening is Dad yells at the kids the last minute to go make mom a card on paper real fast or prayers that the teachers had the kids make a macaroni heart in art class. Then everyone piles in the car and heads out to dinner, which always tends to be a more crowded night than Prom and V-Day Combined. That or you hit the Brunch and well that is a disaster.

Why not this year do something else. Mom likes cookies! Yes she does! Mom loves cookies. You think she makes all those treats for you all year long? Oh forget that, she makes them so she can "taste" them to make sure they are "okay" for her family. In other words, she makes them because she wants them and then plays it off like she is making them for you. (You know, like those old Rice Krispy Treat commercials.)

Heck, I do it to! (You think a single one of these projects gets out the door without my rigorous taste test? Yup, I am guilty too!) But hey, that's okay. As long as everyone gets some, everyone wins. But boil it down, mom did the work. Why not make her, and clean it up!, some cookies for Mothers Day. They don't have to be fabulous like they just walked out of a ProBakery. Remember, mom loves macaroni hearts. Just do something cute!

I made these really fast the other night while in the middle of the Lorax cake and cookie pops with some of the left over dough and icing I had. You can get the cookie cutters I used at Wal-Mart in the Wilton Section. They are up and only like $3.00. So grab a set and make some cookies for Mommy!

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Unless....

And all that the Lorax left here in this mess was s small pile of rocks, with one word...."Unless."  - Dr. Seuss


Words that have been etched in the minds of so many over the years. How many of us sat in class as children and had The Lorax read to us? How many times did we catch the cartoon special on Saturday Mornings? And you know you teared up every last time that the Lorax lifted himself by the seat of his pants.

Well Earth Day is here and what better Mascot for a group of 1st graders than the Lorax himself? Another one couldn't be found. So, taking the spirit of the Lorax with me, along with happy thoughts of Barbaloots, Humming-Fish & Swomee-Swans and decided to create a cake for them.

Don't worry, I didn't forget our villain, The Once-Ler, but as you read the book or think back to the story, was he a villain? Or was he just like so many of us that just don't listen to reason until it is too late. Now, he sits up in his home where the grickle-grass grows and he lets other knows of the Lorax.

So, come with me, down the Street Of The Lifted Lorax and let us make some changes this Earth Day. Because "unless" someone like us cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's Not. And it is true. We all can do our part. The smallest things combined by everyone doing them can make a huge impact.

Get together with your family, your friends and classmates and get something going. And if we all do our part and things get better maybe one day we will be lucky enough to have a Truffula Tree of our very own!

P.S. We as a family support mustaches, all types. Don't discriminate! LOL

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Peter Rabbit Cake

Well here we are the day after Easter and things are still looking pretty bunny over here. You see the kids were out for Spring Break all this past week so there was no Easter Party before the weekend hit. Not gonna stop me from pulling out all the stops for a post Easter Celebration!!!

Granted I had started planning out the cake weeks before I realized that they were going to be on Spring Break but hey it worked out none the less! And better than I had actually accounted for. You see the class is starting something new in school with Spring being here - Plants and how they grow. Once I heard that I was very relieved.

Why? Simple, the cake design I had been working on for their Easter cake was Peter Rabbit & Mr. McGregor's Garden. So, we are still kind of Easter with the bunny and very "gardeny". YAY! It works!

So that was what I was up too all weekend on top of everything else for Easter Weekend. It worked out though, was up late last night, ran out of meringue powder so called it quits, got a few hours sleep and was up bright and early at the store picking up some more. Couple hours of later I was finally fully finished! Or so I thought.

I had everything together and snapping pictures before I stopped and realized I had forgotten something...Bunny Whiskers! OMG! How could I forget the Bunny Whiskers! Thankfully a black food coloring marker and some edible grass later and Peter was himself again.

Now getting close to time for me to run this cake over to the school but before I do, some details about the cake.

Cake: Combo Carrot and Pound Cake
Frosting: Almond Buttercream
Icing: Vanilla Royal
Dirt: Crush Thin Mints, Oreos, Chocolate Graham Crackers, Carrot Cake
Large Carrots: Cupcakes baked in Sugar Cones and dipped in Chocolate
Grass/Whiskers: Edible Grass

Okay, now time to run!

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Gotta Catch 'Em All

Well I know it is another post and I just made one but it is nearly midnight where I am and I am just finishing up a project long time coming. You see for weeks I have been racking my brain, as I said in the last post, over just what to do for Easter with cookies. I have been scanning blogs and websites and books galore. I have found hundreds of good ideas and that was the problem. Well that was part of the problem. There were actually several that were adding up to be just one big headache. This is just a few of them.

1. Too many good ideas, couldn't figure out which to do.
2. All were too beautiful to be given the proper attention. 
3. Just wasn't me.

So I figured I had to come up with something. Sitting and talking with the hubby it hit me - Pokemon! The poke-ball kinda looked like an egg and many of the Pokemon actually come from eggs. You gotta catch 'em all like fining all the eggs during Easter, so why not? I got to googling the net see if had been done. Nope! There were Pokemon Cookies and even Pokemon Easter Eggs but no Pokemon Easter Egg Cookies. 

Eureka! I gotta catch 'em all!!!! (Well make them in this case.)

Now, granted I did not make all 152 of the original, (Do not get in that debate with me. It will end like a bad Star Wars skit.) but I did make a decent amount and not to worry!!!! I have included some Poke-ball eggs so you can go out and catch the ones you want!

Yes, I am that big a Geek and yes I love Pokemon! There I said it PIKACHU!!!!!!!! (I was in my 20's with kids and I had a Pikachu Back Pack. There, one of my dark secrets. LOL) Now, these are all first generation Pokemon and if I am not mistaken they are all unevolved - I don't count Mewtwo since that was a remake and not an evolution. 

In all these baskets you will find the following Pokemon, some look better than others.

• Pikachu
• Psyduck
• Charmander
• Paras
• Bulbasaur
• Tenacool
• Squirtle
• Nidorina
• Meowth
• Mankey
• Clefairy
• Mew
• Jigglypuff
• Nidoran
• Mewtwo
• Ekans
• Ghastly
• Onix
• Geodude
• Diglett
• Vulpix
• Magnemite
• Seel
• Magicarp
• Ponyta
• Poke-balls

There you have it. An Easter fit for all us Pokegeeks out there!!! Go Catch 'Em All!!!!

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Contests, Cookies & China, Oh My!

Well it has been one heck of a week for Surreal Confections and the family in general. I honestly do not know where to begin. Guess I will start off with the first part of said posts title - Contests. Yup, I have recently started entering various images of Surreal Confections Treats to contests on the artists community site Deviant Art and man am I glad! Not only did the St. Patrick's Day Cupcake take runner up in the Ireland Art contest but the Boondock Saints Cookie took 1st place in the BSFC's Favorite Scene Contest. Needless to say that is making this all the more awesome. Don't get me wrong, I adore doing what I do but it is really nice to see others enjoying it as well. ^_^

Now, onto cookies! And a ton of them. You see for weeks I have been racking my brain on just what to do for Easter cookies and I have made batch after batch of cookies only to shake my head afterwards and toss the idea. Yet I could not bring myself to just toss my cookies as it were, nor the icing I made for them. So I decided to put them to good use! What better use than decorating them myself? Letting my kids do it!

So I gave them their first class in cookie decorating. Now, it wasn't a technique class as you can tell, lol. But it was a planning class. They got out my cookie cutters and matched them up with the cookies I had made. Picked the ones they wanted, traced the cutters and then went and spent an afternoon coloring and designing just what they wanted to do on their cookies. Granted I did not make up all the colors they wanted to use but thankfully I had some food coloring markers laying around I wasn't using anymore and they were able to use them.


Then came the decorating and I just have to say I think I had more fun watching them decorating their own cookies than I have ever have making my own. There is just something about watching them do something I enjoy and seeing that spark in their own eyes. It was wonderful and even though a lot came out like a big mess I don't think you could have seen more pride in my eyes than if they all took home the Noble Peace Prize. LOL

They had a blast together and one of them had so much fun in fact as I have continued to decorate cookies he has to get in on it now! About broke my heart today to tell him he couldn't decorate what I was currently working on. Little pouty lips going "pweese...." about broke me today. Thankfully once I got done this evening I have some extras and icing as well. I think that made up for it.

And now onto the China. Remember the new China pattern I posted about not too long ago? Well how could I not commemorate the occasion in cookie? Now, before I show you I need to say this...The cutters I used were mini's!!! Omg, I had no idea when I ordered them that the teapot was going to be about the size of a 50 cent piece! LOL So needless to say they were tiny and I couldn't do the detail I thought I was going to do but hey, I like them! LOL

I will say this, I think I am ready to basket weave the world after creating the lace center piece and napkin (which was the size of a nickle!). Cannot wait to see what I can do with that technique later on when I finish up another project I have going. Granted it will have to wait until after Easter. I have 2 cakes to do for Easter and at least 1 more set of cookies, hehe.

So there we are - Contests, Cookies and China! Oh My!!! (And you know you read that in Sulu's voice!) So now I will bombard you with just a ton of pictures since I don't feel like organizing them tonight. LOL

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Odd Things In The Kitchen

Okay, here I am working away and getting a test batch of royal icing together. Looking around I slowly stop as I realize something...Some of these items make no sense! At least out of context they don't. What items? These. ~points down~

Yeah, to some of us that decorate constantly they make perfect sense but you should see the looks of others when they look in my "Tackle Box" and see this is what I am using in my kitchen to make food.

So, quickly just gonna name everything and why I use it.

1. Vodka - No, not for drinking but there are some days I really want to. I use it mixed in luster dust to paint edible metallics onto food. Like you have seen with the Lego C3PO I did or even the Robot Unicorn Head. I also use it to attach sugar sheets onto dried royal icing. It dries faster and tends to run less than extracts. Also, dries with no flavor.

2. Dowel Rods - I honestly use these because I am lazy. Instead of spending time digging out my rolling pin rings or trying to get everything flat for cookie cutting, I just throw one of these on each side of my dough or fondant and roll. Makes everything perfectly even and usually the perfect thickness for cookies or fondant backings that need to dry to stand up.

3. Paint Brush - This gets used from painting with food coloring to clean up. Lot of time I get going to fast drawing lines with icing and it ends up hanging off the end of my cookie looking ragged. A damp brush over the nasty edge smooths it over quickly and with pin point precision.

4. Rubber Bands - Other than using them to fling at my kids to get them out of the kitchen while I cook I just use them to keep my icing bags closed.

5. Razor Blade - I don't think I would work without this one. Not only does it keep me safe and cookie thief's at-bay I use it for cutting the tips off disposable icing bags, rubber bands off them when I am done, popping "seals" off food colorings, cutting out sugar sheets and more. It is my all purpose tool. Some guys carry a Swiss Army Knife, I have my hot pink razor blade.

6. Toothpicks - I love these little babies. I use them to pop bubbles in icing, smooth icing on cookies that is bumpy, create texture in leaves and wood styled items, getting food coloring gel out and into the icing and my personal favorite - I stick them in the end of my tips to keep things from drying out. LOL (Got tired of washing dish clothes that were stained in food coloring.)

7. Shower Caps - This is my newest love thanks to the hubby. I put these over my icing bowls to keep things from drying out. Before I was using plastic wrap and the like. It was just such a pain to pull it off the icing, get what I need, put back on the icing and so forth. Now I use shower caps. 1 over the top of the bowl, a damp cloth on that and then another one over it. I wouldn't trust it overnight but I will say this - It is awesome during the day.

8. Tackle Box - Not pictured but I do love mine. It holds all my tips and such neatly and costs a crap ton less than the decorator boxes.

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New Design & Cake!

Well, as you can see we have a new look here on Surreal Confections. More than that, we have a new web address!!! Yay for domains! Yes, you can still find us on Blogger and yes, you can still follow us through that. We just added the domain as a quicker way for everyone to get here. ^_~

And what better way to celebrate a new look than with cake? Yes, you can have your cake and you can eat it to! What is the point of having cake you cannot eat? I mean seriously! And honestly, what better cake this time of year than Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing? Easter is quickly approaching! That bunny needs carrot...cake!

If you have seen this recipe before don't be surprised. I ripped it, and the picture, from my other blog. I made this for Fairchild Airforce Base, those stationed at Larson, last year for Baking For Our Soldiers and it was such a big hit I had to post the recipe for them. So here you are, the perfect cake for Spring!


Carrot Cake

• 4 Eggs
• 1 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 1/2 Cup White Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Teaspoon Almond Extract
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Regular Table Salt
• 2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour - For once I am saying AP instead of Cake Flour.
• 3 Cups Freshly Grated Carrots

To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and heavily grease 3 - 8inch cake pans. I swear by Pam Baking Spray! This stuff is the best for making sure nothing sticks to your pan and anyone that has ever made a carrot cakes know they like to stick more than most any other out there.

 Now, in your mixing bowl combine your eggs, oil, sugars, vanilla and almond. Mix well on medium while in a different bowl you are sifting together your flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.

 Once those are sifted together, add them to your sugar "slush" and beat until well mixed and smooth.

 Now, fold in your grated carrots. (Little tip, I prefer buying baby carrots and grating them myself with my cheese grater. It does take a bit of time and cramps the hand a bit but I find it gives a much better texture and flavor than using large carrots or pre-grated ones.)

 Now simply divide your batter into the 3 cakes pans and toss into the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and it come out clean.

 Once cooked, take out of the oven, wait roughly 1 minute, give your pan a little shake and then turn out to cool fully on a wire rack. It is best to turn these cakes out onto their racks soon out of the oven. The longer you wait, the more likely they are to stick to the pan. Carrot cake likes to cling!

 Now, what is Carrot Cake without Cream Cheese Icing and Pecans?!?! Nothing! It is nothing! LOL Anyhow, a little bonus for you, my Carrot Cake Cream Cheese Icing. (This is different from the icing I use for Red Velvet.)

Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 Cup Margarine Softened
• 16 Ounces Cream Cheese Softened
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 Lbs Confectioners Sugar
• 1 Cup Crushed Pecan Pieces

A few quick notes.... Yes, margarine, not butter. This recipe is a tad more liquidy, if that is even a word, than my usual cream cheese icing. It works well for spreading a bit easier and is a tad runny. If you prefer a stiffer opt for Salted Butter instead. And yes, that is 2 pounds of Sugar.

 Now, just cream together your margarine, cream cheese and vanilla. Once that is well mixed, add in half of your sugar and mix until well blended and smooth.

Now comes the testing part. Here you go on your own taste and more than that... local humidity and temp. The more humid area you live in, the hotter it gets the more sugar you are going to want to add to make sure this icing doesn't "melt" off your cake. Right now I am in Washington State during Spring. I used 3/4's of a 2 pound bag for this. Now in Ga during summer I might use 2 1/2 pounds. You will have to judge this part for yourself.

Once it is done and your cake is cool, just frost it, top with pecans and serve!!!!

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