Still, I try. :)
I saw the cutest pencil cake in an old copy of Family Fun magazine that I'd been saving.
I was knee-deep in making the cake when I realized, I only had enough butter for half of what the recipe called for. Just my luck. So, here is my version of the "mini" pencil cake.

If you'd like to see how it's supposed to look, check out the recipe here :)
(I made homemade brownies as opposed to store bought and they did not crumble.)
I also made homemade chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies and came up with these little treat baggies for the kids:

Just shape pipecleaners into letters (initials) and tie off with curly ribbon. Make another knot and slip a crayon through. Yepp, creativity as opposed to frosting a cake is definitely more my speed!