Making It Official

Big, big news from The Little Yellow Kitchen! For the past 12 months I've been working on getting things in order to make sure I'm doing everything legally in the kitchen. It was actually more work and time than I had anticipated, mostly because I had classes, Ella, and zero motivation the entire first trimester of my pregnancy. Just trying to find a kitchen to work in was an enormous feat. Everywhere I looked for advice online suggested working in a church kitchen, but all of the churches I called said no due to tax issues. Eventually, a friend suggested I talk to the Youth for Christ team at The Encounter building downtown. They've been great! A lease was created, hours set, kitchen storage space cleared, and a trial run completed. After the lease went through, I contacted a gentleman with the State who checked out the kitchen and made it official. I'm thrilled to announce that The Little Yellow Kitchen is now completely licensed and insured!

What does that mean? How is it different than before I was licensed? Well, now I get to basically do whatever I want with my baking. In the state of Minnesota, it's not legal to bake and sell right out of your kitchen. People do it, just like I did, and keep things simple. However, most big venues for parties and weddings require all vendors have a license. Also, it's always a possibility that competing shops or regular people could report the home-kitchen work, which would bring on a fine. Another big aspect of licensing is that without it, a business can't advertise. I haven't done any advertising, but I do have a website, and I think that falls under the same umbrella. But now it's not an issue! No worries and freedom to move things forward. I really don't know how far I'll take this little business, but at least I have the peace of mind that I'm doing things legally and professionally.

 This week I'm moving everything into the kitchen downtown. It's not a store front, but wouldn't it be cool to have one eventually? More dreaming. This is just a licensed space where I can do all of my baking and decorating. One down side to having to bake there is that I now have to have child care during baking hours. The upside is pretty much the same. I have to have child care, which means I'll be able to work much, much faster. I'm pretty excited about the enormous stainless steel work table I'll be using. What a dream! And my kitchen at home won't be quite as cluttered with baking supplies.

What's coming up in The Kitchen? This weekend I have a small wedding reception. Then I have a couple tastings with couples who would like me to do their weddings. Tastings are one of my favorite things lately. It's so much fun to dream with brides and grooms as they plan their wedding. After the wedding this weekend, I think I have five more through September. I'll also be doing a few adorable cakes for birthday parties and, of course, plenty of cupcakes. Yum.

Be sure to check out The Little Yellow Kitchen's website for lots of photos and updates!

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Speaking of weddings, I had the enormous privilege of providing the sugar for my cousin's wedding this past weekend near Park Rapids. I've watched Elliot grow from an adorable little boy to a confident, handsome young man who will be starting medical school next month. His lovely bride, Kirsten, just received her RN degree and has already found a nursing job in the city where Elliot will be in school. Besides providing the cakes, the event was special since it also happened to be our own five year anniversary. It's fun to think that Pete was in a very similar situation with med school when we got married. July 7. It's a good day for a wedding!

Mr & Mrs

exploring before the ceremony - Maira, Ella, Malena

at a beautiful golf course

nicely done, Uncle Jake

Ella loving Cousin Megan's bouquet

Mama Bex & the girls

introducing Sammy to my grandma

four generations

fun on the dance floor - Nana Scott, Ella, Uncle Mike, Maira, Mama Bex

a photo from our own wedding 5 years ago

Introducing The Little Yellow Kitchen

Over the past couple years I've shared many baking ideas and some of my favorite recipes on this blog. I always find such joy in discovering something new and posting it here to share with those of you who might stumble across it and perhaps even try it out yourself. That is why I've chosen to officially announce the beginning of a new adventure right here on my first full day of being 30. 

I'd like to introduce you to...

The Little Yellow Kitchen first came as a fun thought when I was doing a lot of baking just after Ella was born two years ago. I wanted something fun to label my baking. Eventually, it came to me. The Little Yellow Kitchen. Why yellow? A few reasons, actually, but the main reason was that my Grandma Johnson's kitchen was yellow while I was growing up. It was a lovely place to watch Grandma prepare dinner, eat cookies and cake, listen to stories from my mom's childhood, and color in Grandma's old coloring books using crayons stored in the Whitman's Sampler chocolate box. I loved the thought of tying those memories in with my baking.

a rose cake for a tea party

Through the past two years, I've had lots of opportunities to try more recipes and experiment with designs. Just over a year ago, I designed my first cupcake and have since done multiple events of more than 200 cupcakes at a time. I've been asked to do retirement, birthday, and graduation parties, baby and wedding showers, big church events, and weddings. Six months ago I tried fondant for the first time and am now having a ball designing intricate, multi-tiered cakes.

a jungle cake for Miss Malena

As requests have become more numerous, I've been dreaming about what it might be like to start a real business. When I first had the idea, I was more than a little nervous. What about all the regulations and taxes and...expectations? If people would be paying me, that would mean I'd really have to do an outstanding job. I kept thinking about the fact that I still have three semesters of grad school and a full-time job taking care of Miss Ella and the house while trying to see my dear husband who is always incredibly busy with residency. So, after lots of nervous thinking and telling myself it just wouldn't work, I finally prayed about it. I know it should have come up earlier in the process, but my mind was too busy with the what-ifs and such.

cupcakes for my cousin's wedding

After a decent amount of prayer - and a healthy amount of questioning - I started to feel like God might be telling me it's okay to go after this. It's been confirmed in some fun ways (like people I admire telling me to go after it and "randomly" coming across scripture about artistic abilities and the like). So here I am. Announcing to you that I am officially moving ahead with The Little Yellow Kitchen. I even have a website! And my very own logo! And very soon, I'll also have business cards! I guess that makes it pretty real, doesn't it.

a hobbit cake for my brother's birthday

The one very important area that has still not come through is the kitchen. In Minnesota, it is required to be licensed by the state and to work out of a licensed kitchen in order to do any catering. At first I thought this would be easy with all the churches in the city. However, for various reasons, churches want to stay away from allowing a regular business to work out of their kitchens. Could you please pray with me on this? Everything will be absolutely official the moment I find a kitchen. I've already spoken with the gentleman who will do the licensing.

a small wedding cake for my cousin

 So for now, I am doing some small jobs for people that I know, but there will not be any major advertising until I am licensed. I can't wait until that time comes! I surely want it before Christmas. Just think of all the fun holiday cakes and pies that can be made for Christmas! I'll be searching and praying for the right kitchen.

a graduation/birthday party

 You can find more on The Little Yellow Kitchen at angelaslittleyellowkitchen.com. It's in its beginning stages, but I'll be making changes as things progress. I do hope you'll be seeing more of this lovely logo in the weeks to come!

The logo was designed by Jordan at Tin Cup Design.

Kaelyn's Wedding

My dear cousin, Kaelyn, got married last Friday in a gorgeous, traditional ceremony in Minneapolis. My dad officiated, which was very special. I'd love to write more, but it's tricky from my phone.
Photos
1: standing with the little cake I made for the couple to cut & save for their anniversary. Vanilla cake with raspberry buttercream.
5: my brother Mike with little Maira, his goddaughter

The Girly Got Hitched

My sister is married! Jenny & her HUSBAND Rob tied the knot in a small, court house ceremony yesterday afternoon & celebrated today with a big outdoor picnic. As my wedding gift, I provided the cupcakes. I'm so happy to add Rob to the crew of boys in the family. He's a great guy. Unfortunately, I didn't catch a photo of the entire family. They have two beautiful kiddos. Hailey is 3 1/2 and Wyatt is 5 months. Adorable!
As I write, I'm lying on the floor of a little hotel room in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ella & I are traveling out to Keystone, Colorado for the next 10 days. All of my posts will be from my iPhone, so I can't do much about formatting. The posts will be simple & short, but it's my goal to get something up everyday. I've tried to make
That promise in the past & it hasn't quite panned out, so we'll see what happens this time. As long as we all undertand that they'll be simple posts, I might follow through on this one. Keep checking back to see how we do!
Pictures:
1 wedding cupcakes
2 the newlyweds, Rob & Jenny
3 happily smiling with my little sister
4 the original Scott girls & baby Maira

Photo Friday: Journey of a Cupcake

It's been a busy Friday! I catered my first wedding today in Minneapolis and have another tomorrow in Bainerd. Yikes! I'll post 'after' pics soon.

A Cupcake Birthday Party

The sugar high has passed, so I think it's finally time to post a few (well, more than just a few) pictures of Miss Ella's 2nd birthday party. I spent a few days one week of my school break to make all the decorations, which turned out to be a smart move. Once the party rolled around, I was so busy with school that it would have been impossible to do any decorating at all.

Welcome to the birthday party!


Instead of balloons, we hung white paper lanterns in the big tree out front.


These paper fans welcomed guests over the front door.


We didn't spend any time at all in the living room, but this bunting was hung over the fireplace. Not sure if anyone saw it. That's okay, though! I made it from fabric, so it will now hang in Ella's room.


My favorite was the strawberry fabric.


These party hats were made from heavy scrapbook paper with ribbon sewn across the bottom.


Miss Ella had her own cupcake party hat!


The cupcake bar...


...with 3 cake flavors and 4 frosting flavors...


...and lots of sprinkles and candy toppings.


The front of the party table.



Bubbles and chalk in the back yard!





Some of our party friends.


Finally time to EAT the cupcakes! Ella had her very own jumbo cake.


Ella preferred sitting in the middle of the floor than in her chair. We went with it! She was the birthday girl, after all.


Elias was super excited about his cupcake.


Look at that creation! Amazing!


Miss Malena enjoyed her cupcake on the floor near Ella.


Mama Bex and Malena.


A wagon full of gifts!






The girl knows her style!



A big THANK YOU to everyone who was able to join us for the party! We had a great time!

*thanks to Auntie Kristin for a few of the birthday pictures*