la casa de G-bread

Bad news: Justin's Packer jersey did not bring home a victory yesterday. Boo.
Good news: he knows if he's watching football he's always got a child who'll watch with him.

And it's not one of the ones you'd think...

Charity loves a little snuggle time anytime

During halftime of the Packers game the James boys made some gingerbread houses.

They caved in more than once...

and were made with incredibly sticky frosting...

that was (apparantely) incredibly tasty as well...

For some, it was all about the candy cane kisses

I would like to say this year's houses were more impressive than 2009

But I will say that we had a lot of fun getting powdered sugar frosting

EVERY.WHERE.

Speaking of frosting...don't miss the Cake Boss' new show on TLC tonight (9/8c). Bakers competing with their fondant skills for a chance to work with Buddy. Well, that and $50K.

Poor Buddy tries to be all tough. But his sister? She'd make me cry. If your cake has issues, she'll tell you...and she'll tell you like it is whether you can handle it or not. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Happy Monday, All!

TT Signs of Christmas Cheer

Blogger Buddies,
I'd like you to meet another guy in my life



Know him? He's got amazing skills with flour and fondant and is known on TLC as the Cake Boss. But he's just the sweetest boss ever and....don't you just want to squeeze those Italian cheeks?! Okay...after that comment Justin may not be so kosher with my crush anymore.

But he's also the one who has nicknamed this guy my "Hoboken Hottie" so I'm thinkin he's pretty secure in the whole thing. Plus he chuckles everytime he sees Buddy's face on the screen.
What?!
Any chance the Cake Boss would come for a visit and help with the James fam birthday cakes in 2011?
Hey,  a "cake mix, canned frosting" girl can dream.

ANYways. Did you see the fun Christmas signs from yesterday? If not, scroll down and check them out to catch the vision of the tutorial to follow. You could always turn on TLC and see if Cake Boss is on to watch while you make these signs.....of course, make sure you've got some chocolate handy because you're going to want some by the end of the show. Guaranteed.

Signs of Christmas Cheer

Supplies needed:

black frames (I used cheap ones I already had, about $3-4 at time of purchase from W-mart)
assortment of scrapbook paper (already on hand)
green felt (on hand)
sparkle snowflakes ($1 for pack of 4, Target)
red sparkle letters ($3.99 on clearance at Michael's)
scissors and hot glue gun

Step 1: pop the glass out of the picture frame trace the back of the frame on the scrapbook paper to get the exact size needed.



Step 2: Cut the paper down to the needed size to fit in the frame


Step 3: use double-sided tape to attach the paper to the back of the frame. UGH. I was so frustrated my tape-runner wouldn't run so I had to pull out the tape and attach pieces individually.

Step 4: Decide on the phrases you'd like to make signs with and see what you can do with the letters given.

My goal was to make as many phrases as I could with my package of 45 pieces. If I hadn't lost a letter "a" I'd have a sign with the word "PEACE" as well.

Creativity came into play when I had to trim some letters to make new ones:

"n" became "r"

"k" became "l"
"w" became "v" for 2 different signs

etc, etc...

Trim the felt to a triangle shape for the "Merry Christmas" sign, if desired.

Step 5: Arrange letters on the papers and then secure with double-sided tape. Hot glue is needed to attach the snowflakes to the frames.

So fun. If you make one I'd love to see a picture of it !

Tomorrow is The. Day. to. Decorate. here at the James house. Exciting stuff.

Enjoy decking out your place!