Amaze me August #54 - Pregnant Bella Cake Tutorial

Welcome to the 54th edition of:

<a border="0" href="http://bellabeforeandafter.blogspot.com/search/label/Amaze%20me%20August%20Challenge" target="_blank"><img src="http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad234/bellabeforeandafter/amabuttonblue.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>Today I am sharing with you another great cake decorating tutorial. This was first shared over at my good friend Ami's blog ALILILLY. 
This past week I did some things that were out of the ordinary for me, but really interesting to say the least. I spoke my mind more than usual on a few of those posts, and while I didn't get AS much of a reaction as I'd thought, it left me wondering if anyone even read it, lol. Totally go check out these posts if you get a chance, and let me know what you think!LMM  and a not so nice anonymous comment got me thinkingWIWW - The world BIGGEST photo shoot everMy Dumb and Dumber haircut :(
I hope you enjoy checking those posts out, please let me know what you think. Now enjoy this great tutorial, and then make sure to link up to the party.Thanks everyone!!

Pregnant Belly Cake Tutorial

At this point I didn't glue anything down yet. It still needed to be easily transferred to the finished cake. Once you have it on the cake , and are happy with the placement of everything, you just need to dab a little water to make everything stick, like glue. Be careful not to add too much, or else the fondant will slide. 

Also you will notice everything is really powdery at this stage. You need to keep everything dusted well, so it doesn't stick, but once you are finished assembling the cake, you can steam the fondant, or use a paintbrush to paint it with water (slightly) and this will take care of all that powder, along with making everything shine.

Do you want to see the finished cake?

It is so pretty, I really love the way it turned out.

Make sure to stop by and take a look.

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Dumb and Dumber haircut - my HEART ACHES 9/11

SCISSOR HAPPY

Help someone take the scissors away. After my shower this morning, I started cutting, before I knew it, I had given myself the DUMB and BUMBER haircut. You know the one, yup, the only thing missing was a chip in my tooth, and a wooly dog car, DANG!!!

I have no idea what got into me, I just cut, and cut, and cut, and THEN it was too late, lol. 

So after my entire family laughed at me, I got to work. I had to fix it, but HOW??? This is what I came up with, and if I do say so myself, I kinda like it, KINDA!!! 

What do you all think?

Should I STOP cutting my bangs, or do you like it too?

Last time I cut my bangs this short I was 19 years old and in cosmetology school. Ahhh, I need to gather up some old pictures with all my different hairstyles, and colors. A far cry from my boring, GREY hair today. Anyways, be honest, and tell me what you think? I'd love to hear your HONEST reaction, lol. 

Shine necklace - THE SHINE PROJECT

Earrings - Kohls (he he)

So the bottom right picture was EXACTLY what my face looked like after I cut my hair, I was seriously going to cry :(  I took some SAD pictures, and then put on some earrings, hoping I would look more like a girl, lol. It was BAD, and I can't blame my hubby and kids from freaking out. Oh boy it was not fun!

I had to pull some of the hair away from my face, I just looked like a BOX. By pinning it up in retro type curls, I think it really opened up my face, and while it was not what I had pictured when I started cutting my bangs this morning, I think I can deal with it for a while. It's different, and well, I like DIFFERENT. 

Thank goodness for jewelry, and lipstick, ha ha. 

So there you have it, my dumb and dumber haircut. 

I'm not sure that I will post anything tomorrow. I have such mixed feelings about how to express what I feel about 9/11. I'm not sure I can do it properly, so I will just say this:

My heart ACHES for ALL the people effected by that dreadful day. My heart ACHES for the children who grow up without their parents. My heart ACHES for the families who's lives are forever empty because someone they loved gave their lives in trying to help others. I WANT my heart to ACHE for the families of those men who took part in that DISGUSTING act of terrorism, and EVEN for the men themselves, BUT is it worth my effort? Will I solve anything for feeling sympathy for them? I'm not really sure, but my heart still feels something, and mostly what it feels is HATE. I can't lie and say I don't HATE what they did. I could care less what their reasons were, I don't think ANYBODY has the right to do what they did PERIOD. I feel the same way about WAR in general by the way, I just can't justify killing more people as solution to anything. (Please don't ask me what I would do if anyone ever hurt my kids though, my thought are very different then, although I wouldn't go to war with a COUNTRY you know what I mean?)

If I could wipe away ALL the war, the fighting, the HATE in this world I would. It's not healthy, it's not good, and it's NOT NECESSARY. I don't want to waste my energy on feeling like that!

WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?

Why should anyone live their lives thinking of ways to destroy another. I don't think ANYBODY'S GOD wants that. We are ALL his children, and we are ALL loved. I wish we could all just BE!!

I WILL NEVER FORGET!

I do wish the WORLD could MOVE on to a BETTER tomorrow!

I feel very sad that this may never happen as long as we can't accept each other, and love one another just the way we are. We should all join forces, to make this WORLD a better place.

Hate can never END, as long as someone feels justified in getting back at the other person. It's a vicious circle that is never ending. 

An eye for an eye mentality can only end when the whole world is left with only one eye!! 

Think about that, next time. (Unless someone hurts your child of course, then it's no mercy)

Just saying, I'm not perfect yet, and I could seriously HURT (very badly, with my own hands) anybody who hurts a child, especially MY child. There is no place in the world to hide from a mothers wrath if you hurt their baby!! Ok, now that you are all totally FREAKED out by me, I'll be going. So the moral of the story is, DON'T hurt CHILDREN, and PEOPLE in general. You hear me, don't do it!! 

Now you know why I didn't want to write anything tomorrow :( 

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WIWW - BIGGEST photo shoot EVER - NO YOGA PANTS

This weeks WIWW post is dedicated to a pretty cool friend. A guy I met on twitter, after reading a post on my friend Tara's blog, Taradara. Actually though I'd been loving on him for a while now, without ever knowing how awesome he actually was. I just knew I LOVED his books, and he was incredibly talented, crafty, and awesome. His name is Mark Montano, and he writes BIG ASS BOOKS, which are ASS kicking good. Trust me, you will never be bored again, just get your hands on one of his books, and you will have tons of inspiration, oh and follow him along on facebook too, he is just incredible. 

This ones for you Mark!

NO YOGA PANTS

He practically banned me from wearing them, unless I go to the gym. Thank you for your wonderful advice, hopefully I get a stamp of approval on my attempt at getting dressed :)

I took like a million pictures today, since I can't imagine doing this on a regular basis, I just got a bunch done today, plus I had to take pics for my upcoming giveaways, and reviews. The weather was PERFECT, overcast, grey skies, cool breeze. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It took my about an hour to take all these pictures, and it was SUPER fun, I must admit :)

Entire outfit - KOHLS

Belt Buckle - MARK MONTANO ETSY

Belt - my moms old hideous gold looking thing, that somehow works with the buckle :)

Bracelets - BELSI COLLECTION

Owl Necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED

Owl Necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED

Rosette Bobby Pins - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS
Necklace - THE TESSY TREE

Rosette Bobby Pins - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

Necklace - THE TESSY TREE

Rosette Bobby Pins - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

Necklace - THE TESSY TREE

Bracelet - Mine (old, and can't remember where it's from)

Rosette Bobby Pins - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

Necklace - THE TESSY TREE

Outfit - KOHLS
Shirt - THRIFT STORE
Headband - LUXE BOULEVARD
Necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED

Headband - LUXE BOULEVARD

Necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED

Entire outfit - KOHLS
Headband - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS
Black necklace - Mine (Avon)
Pearl Bird Branch necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED
 

Headband - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

Pearl Bird Branch necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED

Birds Nest necklace - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS
Earrings - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

Headband - LUXE BOULEVARD

Sweater - KOHLS

Heels - KHOLS
Disclaimer - I wore these heels for about an hour while taking all these pictures, so I could look cuter, but my feet were about to FALL off, and these aren't even high heels. So I don't want to make you all think that I ACTUALLY wear heels, because I don't. If there is such a thing as a COMFY heel, PLEASE oh PLEASE let me know, otherwise I am stuck with flip flops, sandals, boots (no heel), and other such shoes. It sucks, but it is what it is, and I WILL not kill myself trying to wear a cute pair of heels just too look good. Even though I did for these pictures, but that was a mistake, lol.
Please forgive me!!

Jacket - TARGET ( I know, you almost died of shock )

Jacket - TARGET ( I know, you almost died of shock )

Headband - LUXE BOULEVARD

Necklace - FABULOUSLY FLAWED

Earrings - AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

That was officially the LONGEST WIWW post right?

I hope you liked it, and in case you've missed my other posts, you might want to see how lame I can be, by checking them out. PAST WIWW, I am TRYING to get better at posing, but as you can see, I stuck to the SAME boring poses in all these pictures, I couldn't help it, I just don't know what to do :)

Hopefully I've improved just a little though, and this time I was my own photographer, which was kinda weird, but really great at the same time, he he. Location was my moms house, thanks MOM.

Thanks to all my wonderful awesome friends, WHO by the way are also my incredible sponsors too. It was so much fun accessorizing with all the fantastic goodies you've sent me. I love them all!!

MARK MONTANO ETSY

LUXE BOULEVARD

FABULOUSLY FLAWED

AGAPE LOVE DESIGNS

 THE TESSY TREE

  BELSI COLLECTION

I can't wait to kick off another round of GIVEAWAYS, where you can win something from EACH and EVERY one of these amazing shops, and much more. (Just take a peak in my right hand sidebar, for ALL the amazing giveaways coming soon)

Linking to these awesome parties. Go get your groove on, join the fun!

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LMM and a not so nice anonymous comment got me thinking.....

So while checking my facebook feed this morning, I read a little update about a post LMM did on a farmers market dinner. Oh and a anonymous not so nice comment left by someone. It got me thinking. Here's what I think about it all, and a little confession from me to you.  First of all let me say that the post the comment was left on, was NOTHING but real. I personally love reading Ashley's blog, and while we may differ in SO many ways, we are totally the SAME in so many as well. To list all those would take forever, but the MAIN thing I can relate too is all her honest, goofy, silly, confessions of being a mother. I love her writing style, and the way she puts her words on paper (blog). I love the way she captures little moments in little W's life, and writes him letters. I love that she is ALWAYS poking fun at herself. 
It is so easy to look at her beautiful smile, and wonderful pictures, and think she has it all. Too think that she is perfect, and always looks amazing. While she may have MAD photography skills, and is just naturally adorable with her incredible smile, I never once look at her, and think she tries to hard. Or is somehow showing us a side of her that is less than who she is. 
I know that blogging, can often make you want to share the more enjoyable, wonderful, lovely sides of your life. Nobody really wants to hear about how depressed you are, or constantly read negative posts on a regular basis. However when bloggers share these sides of their life, and are open about struggles that they encounter, readers are incredibly supportive, and can often relate. 
The same way we don't want to share nasty pictures with friends and family, we don't purposely look to share crappy pictures on our blogs either. Some of us may have better cameras, but no matter what, we all try to post the best picture possible, RIGHT? So why is it so wrong that Ashley posted incredible pictures, of an incredible dinner she hosted with her friends. She worked hard at it, and she wanted to share it. Yes, blogging had something to do with it. Yes, I'm sure she was excited to share the dinner with her readers. Yes, I'm sure she would have preferred to have everything PERFECT, but instead she kept it real, and shared the good, the bad, and the UGLY. 
Just like anyone else, I had to go find this anonymous comment for myself, and see what all the fuss was about. I'm glad Ashley didn't delete it, but I'm also sad to see all the other comments after that. 
This is my confession. LMM, Ashley I heart you, I really REALLY do. However I can see in a small way how that person could have said what she said, and now let me explain. 
By no FAULT of your own, it is very easy to look at your blog, and be envious, jealous, wish to have your perfect life. EVEN knowing it is not perfect, because I DO READ your blog, lol. My brain doesn't always register the negative things, when I look at your blog, I ALWAYS see perfection, even when you are showing us your Farmer John outfit for example. You showed us how frumpy you can look, and all I saw was, DANG she looks good, I WISH I could look that good dressed like a farmer, lol. 
When you talk about your hair problems, I SEE the bald spots, BUT again, think well shoot, if thats what she looks like with bald spots, I wish I had them too, she is still 10 times more beautiful than I could ever be. I'm not saying that I have low self esteem, I really don't (seriously I don't, lol ) these are just quick thoughts that go through my brain, at the moment, and I don't think them in a bad way, because I seriously love ya girl, it's just what I have noticed with myself. I would never go say anything bad about you, because I have nothing BAD to say, I really LOVE your blog, but I CAN understand how someone might think that your blog is TOO perfect. In a weird kind of way, it IS. You are just perfect. Even when you are NOT, you just have a way to express yourself in the most PERFECT way, that it doesn't matter what you share with us, we are all like jaw dropping, and saying once again, how AWESOME you are. Well most of us anyway, clearly some people express themselves differently. 
When you got your new blog design, I must ADMIT, I was like SOOOOO jealous. I mean for real girl, your blog is awesome, AWESOME, amazingly AWESOME. I got so down on myself, I almost quite blogging, lol. Just feeling so not good enough. I know it sucks, but I also know I wasn't the only one. I'm sure MANY of us, loved your blog, but hated it too, just because it made us feel like ours sucked so bad. Again, it was NEVER like, I can't stand LMM anymore, it was just a natural feeling of wanting to have a fabulous blog too. You worked HARD, like REALLY, REALLY hard to get where you are at right now in your blog, and girl you deserve it so much. SO please don't think I have any ill feelings for you. I don't. My friend Magda said it best. She told me, she looks at MY blog for example and wishes her blog looked half as good, but instead of feeling down on herself, she just knows where to come for inspiration when she wants to redo her blog. I think that was the sweetest thing EVER, and it's so true. 
We as bloggers, are always comparing, (wether we like it or not) our blogs, our projects, ourselves to other people out there, in the blog world. I think that's natural. I think that will never change, but we do need to take a step back, and really understand what we want out of our blog. Why we read other blogs, and  why in the world we would leave comments that are hurtful to others. This by the way INCLUDES all the comments left for the anonymous commenter. While it's natural to side with Ashley, and stick up for her, I think we need to try to understand WHY that blogger felt she needed to leave such a comment. 
I shared with you how I feel sometimes reading LMM, and I can KIND of understand in a very small way what the commenter was saying, but she had a HORRIBLE way of expressing herself. Although it is very possible that all the effort in the world to understand where she was coming from, would not matter, and she would just be a negative person, it is also possible that once you got to know her, she could just be a very lonely troubled person, who looks to you (Ashley) for inspiration, and somehow feels let down, for whatever reason. Unfortunately the bigger your blog gets, the more readers expect of you, and it's just something we need to deal with as bloggers. I wish that no such comments would ever be left in the first place, but more than that, I have to admit, that the way it gets handled shows me a lot about the blogger, and other people. 
I hope that the next time any of us deal with a nasty, hurtful comment, we can take a step back, and TRY to understand where that person was coming from, and think twice before leaving nasty comments for the nasty commenter. Two wrongs have never made a right. I am not a church going person, and I can't stand hearing people get all preachy on me, and THEN go read nasty, hurtful comments they have left for someone they have no clue about, you know. I know the anonymous commenter left the nasty comment FIRST, and you felt justified in lashing back, but trust me, it's not ok.
 Not to take this to such an extreme, BUT I truly believe that our blogging community needs to be ENCOURAGING, and more sensitive, not so quick to judge. For all we know the person who left that comment, could be in REALLY dark, lonely place in her life, and today could have been the day we could have HELPED her feel better, OR pushed her to further destruction in her life. 
I sure hope that Ashley is OK, we don't REALLY know how those comments effect her. Just because she laughed it off, or made it sound like it didn't really matter, doesn't mean she didn't pull the crap out of her hair, and let it really get her down. It doesn't mean that once again, she felt like blogging just wasn't worth it anymore. She has already been going through a rough time trying to balance everything in her life, without losing focus on what REALLY matters most to her. I hope she can keep her head up high, and keep doing what she's doing, because so many of us look up to her, and just love her so much. 
I also hope that the anonymous commenter, is OK. I hope that whatever she was feeling at the time when she wrote that comment, gets resolved. I hope that she stops looking at other peoples lives (as easy as it is to do so) and compare it to her own, or WISH that she could have that too. Or maybe she could care less about having LMM life, and be truly the happiest person ever, in which case, it would make EVEN less sense why she would feel compelled to read such a blog, or leave a comment in the first place, which leaves to to believe that somewhere deep inside, SHE does long to have a happier, more perfect life. We all do, trust me, but sweety, there are better ways to get there. I hope that people can be kinder to you, even though you aren't so kind to them all the time. I hope that you don't make it a habit leaving comments like that, nothing good can come if it. Go outside, take a deep breath, and then look in the mirror. I bet you are more beautiful than you know. Show the world that beauty girl, and say kind things, even if it's REALLY hard. The harder it is, the sweeter it will be, coming out of your mouth, or in this case, showing up on a comments section. Don't be afraid to express yourself, BUT find a way to do it in a less hurtful way. If I could give you a hug, I would. Hugs are good! I hope you have a wonderful day, HONESTLY, and please don't take all those comments to heart, none of those people know you, but they do know LMM, and they were just sticking up for their friend. I bet if you came out, and tried to express yourself, everyone would be supportive of you girl. I just know they would be. 
Anyway I kind of said way too much here, and I hope that  nobody gets angry with me, BUT I had something to say, and this wouldn't all fit in a comments section, lol. 
P.s. I LOVE you all, and really think we all could learn a thing or two about being kinder, including me ALWAYS. SO lets try harder shall we? Even with something as silly as leaving comments on a blog, words are so powerful, so lets choose them wisely. Truly love one another, be kind, and be happy. You are beautiful, you are special, you are amazing. Remember that next time you long to be someone else, or have more in life. Everything can come and go, all we have is our minds, our attitudes, and the way we CHOOSE to deal with everyday life. Its not easy, it's not fair, but it is the ONLY thing we can control in our lives, so lets do the best we can with OURSELVES, since we can only change OURSELVES. Spread the love people, be true, and others will follow!!

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Amaze me August #53

Welcome to the 53rd edition of:

<a border="0" href="http://bellabeforeandafter.blogspot.com/search/label/Amaze%20me%20August%20Challenge" target="_blank"><img src="http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad234/bellabeforeandafter/amabuttonblue.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>

Sorry this is going to be a quick one. I'm so tired, and my girly is still sick. So I'm off to put them to bed, and I know the second my head hits the pillow I'll be out too. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I wish we would have had more fun, but that's how it goes sometimes, right?

Link up, have fun. I can't wait to see what you've been up to!!

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