Halloween 2009

Here's what the Petty Family Looked like for Halloween this Year!

NQ the Pirate and Momma the Hippie supporting the theme of "Free Love" with a peace sign on her unborn child.

Daddy the greaser all slicked up and slicked back with a deck of cards rolled up in his sleeve along with his pirate son.

The fantastic little pirate


Another shot of Pirate and Greaser


We hit the main street trick or treating 1st for about an hour, then we attended the ward party for probably less than 30 minutes. The kids had a blast. We went with Olivia (princess Leia), Amy (scary witch) and Travis (World Champion Boxer.) I will have to steal pictures from them later! I love this age...just over an hour was enough for EVERYONE!!

Unintended Hand Painted Cake

As the Whiting's can attest (they were the lucky, and adorably appreciative, recipients of my most recent Wedding Cake extras) I had a rather large chocolaty cake to work on last week. I went ahead and made three of the cakes the week before and safely preserved them in the freezer. The other two cakes I let Wildflour Bakery make. I refuse to make the large cakes anymore as it's far more stress than it's worth. Have you ever dropped one layer of your 14 inch cake and watch hours of work crumble to the floor? It's horrible.

The bride picked a 'clover' green colored cake with intricate little "C" and "S" swirls in chocolate for the design. So I created five cakes (2 cakes were merely extra serving slices and not to be incorporated into the final cake production. However, I'd had enough left over CLOVER fondant to cover those too.)

As I practiced my hand at doing the swirls on one of the extra cakes, I could not make a bag and cake tip do the right job!!! I tried thick chocolate frosting, I tried thinned chocolate frosting. I could not make the swirls look right!!! They squiggled, or they lopped off, or they weren't thick enough...anyway, I COULD NOT make it work!!! What to do? The wedding is tomorrow! I have spent HOURS baking, leveling, filling, stacking, frosting and fondanting cake!!! I can't let this 'design' problem thwart me now!! So, I thinned down the frosting to a nice sloppy consistency. I pulled out a new paintbrush from my craft supplies. And I PAINTED the design on. For THREE HOURS. Was it perfect? I'm going to say no, it wasn't perfect. But was it the best I could come up with? Yes. And because the paint, er, frosting was so wet, it was a really good thing I painted until 11:30 at night. Because even by morning the design was still a little sticky. I did sort of like the look of the brush strokes myself. It was a fairly unique thing, I think.

I never did hear from the bride whether she like it or not. I saw the bride for literally seconds. And I hope the florist, as he said he would, added the flowers in a pleasing way to the cake. He was not as prompt to the set up time as I was to the reception area.

Those are my frustrations: not seeing the actual finished product, and not being sure the bride approved of my hand painted technique.

The joys are that I was paid enough for the cake to have my Christmas shopping money...which is almost spent and even wrapped!!

Where do you work?

Someone asked me that last week. I said "Nowhere." Obviously this isn't true. Because today, at 11:00 o'clock in the morning, I have a cake in the oven, a loaf of bread in the bread maker, dishes done and homemade chicken noodle soup simmering on the stove. Not to mention a second load of laundry going, a grocery list started (I need NOODLES for the soup) and a husband and preschooler up, dressed, fed and started on their day. Meanwhile, I'm contemplating recipes for the two and a half gallons of choke cherries NQ and I have obtained.


Okay, I admit that I'm not ALWAYS so motivated.




Then someone asked me "What did you do in college?" I say I was a communication student. Again, they get a little glazed, so perhaps I'll start saying: Do you ever watch TV, clip a coupon, hear the radio, look at a magazine, click through a website, buy anything on sale, know about events because you read the newspaper or watched the news, have you flipped through an owners manual, did you see the Olympics?? That's what I did. And I loved it. And I will hopefully return to that sometime, when my children are older, and don't need me so much. (And when I don't need them so much...does a time like that exist? I'm sure it must. Circle of life and all that.)



Also, to go along with the "Where do you work" question: I sometimes take photo's and do pretty cakes, mostly this is for fun and for a creative outlet. Do I get ultra competitive about it, or upset if someone doesn't call me....NO! I really kind of like doing it once in a while. Once I was even writing copy for a website from home. When I had time. It was perfect, but that job is over for now.

Why do I not worry too much about my current place in creating income? Because what I love absolutely most is being at home with my little one (soon to be two.) I love to hear him sing, and watch him learn and grow and I'm so glad I can be home with my midget and share in the wonders of kidlethood with him. It's the best world to be in. Do I change a lot of stinky pants and feel some frustrations: yes. Do I get a LOT of kisses, hugs and I love yous: YES! And I know what it is that my child is exposed to during the day. I know how he is being treated, what words are being spoken to him, the kind of care he experiences, what food he is eating. I can't put a price on that kind of assurance.

Where do I work? At home.

P.S. With my scheduled c-section set tentatively for the Jan 7th, today is my 'HALF WAY done with the pregnancy' mark!!

Arts and Crafts

The Petty's (and friends of Petty's) getting their craft on!

A portrait rendering of NQ in colored pencil done by Judy Pace

NQ in the Dough! He plays for hours using a rolling pin, toothpicks, forks, spoons and best of all his squishing strength to enjoy this new craft. He loves it when mommy makes dinosaurs and fishy sculptures for him.

NQ's Water colors. Another in the list of Nathans talents. He's a fan of blue and green water color paint choices. He enjoys making "slides."

My turn at Art's and Crafts as I make Lori's 50th Birthday cake. Here are the 5o flowers representing 50 years. (I went for a monochromatic scheme. It appealed to me.)

Decades (a half a century) of flowers wrapped around the cake in turn.


Daddy being "crafty" when he parked his 4-wheeler on our front step. NQ loved the idea. Hey, at least it won't get rained on!

2 Blog or not 2 Blog

Due to Delicate demand, I'm toying with the idea of starting another blog or blogs specifically for my Cake and Photography services. They would likely be named "Cakes by Cami Jo" and "Petty Photography" respectively. Now, then, should they be combined into ONE blog so that people can see that I do both and then take a gander at ALL of my grandeur, or should I create two separate sites so as to hit the searchers target?

Please comment!

(Petty Photography Sample)

( Cakes by Cami Jo Sample)

The cake

Here's the 50th Wedding Anniversary Cake that I created a few weeks ago. You might notice it as being a Classic Cami Styled Cake. It is. I love it. Simple. Elegant. Easy.

I'm not ready for a big challenge yet, but with Shane's Birthday coming up in a week, it's probably time I stretch my creative muscles and outdo myself. Stay tuned.