Strawberry Shortcake & Company

Yesterday my BFF Jilly came over to visit and to craft. I offered to show her how to make a paper bag album for her nephew who is gettin married in a couple of weeks.

Since I knew she was coming I attempted to make some kind of a cake to have with tea but it was sooooo NOT my best effort. I cheated and used a sponge mix - I keep a few on hand for unexpected events. They make great cupcakes in a hurry but for some reason they never do quite so well as a round sponge. Despite thinking I could probably put all the mix in one pan I followed the directions and divided it between two. I ended up with two very thin, not very attractive looking sponges! So how to make them look good?

When she arrived I asked Jilly to make up a batch of light and fluffy frosting for me (too much whisking and I'm still kinda sore right now). I had to smile when she declared it worked - as if it wouldn't - she thought since she'd made it that it might not work. Silly Jilly! Of course it worked - she had me beside her talking her through the whole process didn't she?

Then I set about layering up the sponges, frosting and yummy English strawberries. I grabbed a cake stand, topped it with my ever trusty 'plastic' doily (so wish I had more of these!) then the layered cake and finally gave it a generous dusting of icing sugar.

That's how you make an ugly cake beautiful! Jilly actually did the hardest part of the process but we both got to enjoy the rewards. It was YUMMY!

I spent the afternoon watching Jilly craft and enjoying her company. Today I had my eldest grandson Zacheriah's company. School is out right now so he stayed overnight. This morning he helped me by doing a few things I'm not supposed to do yet including climbing up to clear away the cobwebs. Seriously - we went on a 'cobweb' hunt in all the rooms upstairs. Every time we turned around there was another one and it's been were driving me crazy just lookin at em!

Tonight it's Kaleb's turn to stay over so he can keep me company tomorrow. He will enjoy vegging out with a movie in the afternoon so it should be a relaxing day and by then it's the weekend and Dave's home. Hopefully by next week I'll feel better and more like doing a bit of my own crafting.