Canadian Nickel Cake

Last year my dad asked me to make a couple of cakes for the Regina Coin Show. They were so impressed with them that they asked if I would make a cake to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Regina Coin Club. They wanted a nickel with the years 1953-2013 on it. I checked back with them about a month ago and the cake was still a go.

Truth be told I was a little nervous about this cake. I wasn't sure if I could get it silver enough, or if I could make the beaver look like a beaver. The good thing about making coin cakes is that it says right there what it is - "5 cents" - so there is no mistaking the beaver is actually a beaver, regardless of how it looks. Unless, or course, you don't know what a Canadian nickel looks likes - then there could be confusion!

I guess I shouldn't have worried because the cake turned out very well. The beaver definitely looks like a beaver! And once I sprayed it with the silver food colouring the lines showed up better then I thought they would.

I met my mom half way to Regina and she delivered the cake for me. It sounds like they were quite pleased with it!


Update: The Regina Coin Club sent pictures from their 60th Anniversary party to Coin News and so my cake will be in the next issue - Dec 31/13!

Organizing

Our laundry room doubles as a storage room. When we first moved in we put a bookshelf in there for canned food, cake pans, the small kitchen appliances and, well, all sorts of stuff. The entertainment stand soon joined the bookshelf and in it we (and by we I really mean me) piled quilt batting, Christmas decorations, gift bags ... basically all sorts of more stuff. And those shelves were surrounded by totes of fabric and baseball cards and childhood keepsakes, which stuff was also piled on. I didn't take a before picture, so you will have to believe when I say it was getting out of hand.

Last month we decided enough was enough. We simply had to reorganize and make better use of our limited space. I emptied the entire room in to the rest of the basement and cleaned it. During that process I discovered the washing machine was leaking oil; luckily it wasn't too expensive to fix. We then moved in a extra fridge we had and removed an old fridge that was set up in the under-the-stairs-storage room and started to build shelves.

We kind of planned as we went, and it turned out very well!

Then came the fun job of putting everything back. I moved things back and forth between storage rooms, made a garbage pile and a garage sale pile. The rest of the basement still needs to be cleaned up and organized, but the storage rooms are amazing!

Now the rest of the basement is a bit of a disaster but with a little more cleaning and a little more organizing it will be just as clean!

Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en has come and gone for another year. The last couple years I haven't made any costumes. I found some good deals at a garage sale, and so the boys wore those. This year the boys wanted to be Captain America and a Ninja Turtle. I decided it would just be easier to buy those costumes!

I didn't have anything for my little girl, so I made her an angel costume using Simplicity pattern 2835. Since our fabric store is unfortunately closing out I was unable to get the fleece I needed, so I ended up buying a fleece blanket from the Bargain Stop and used that! I bought a skirt from the dollar store, since I didn't have any netting, as well as a halo. I made her wings out of foam and glued glitter on them, which may have not been the best idea! While it looked cute, there is now glitter all over her car seat! I think she will be sparkling for a few days!

She didn't like her halo very much, so we replaced it with a pretty white toque. She didn't like that either, but I kept putting it back on! It was a very nice evening for trick or treating, but it did cool off. At least there wasn't snow like last year.

Here are a few costumes I made for previous Hallowe'en's...

Pandas are my favourite! Simplicity pattern 2783.

Performing monkey! I really like this costume. Both of my boys wore it. Simplicity pattern 3594.

And a baby knight in shining armour! Both my boys wore this one as well. Simplicity pattern 2835.