Gender Reveal Party

My friend is preggers with #3 and instead of having a traditional baby shower, I thought it would be fun to have a gender reveal party for her and her family. We BBQ’d, the kids played, and we enjoyed each other’s company without any cheesy shower games. I found a lot of fun ideas online and went with the “What will it bee?” theme instead of a pink and blue theme. I also didn’t want to make a pink or blue cake to reveal the gender and wanted a way for her two kids to be involved in the big reveal so I made a poster that, when the kids pulled on the string, unrolled to reveal that she is having a boy.

The dessert/treat table with cake, cupcakes, vanilla and chocolate oreos, and yellow and black candies

Drink station

“What will it bee?” banner

Beehive cake with marzipan bees

Everyone had to make their prediction before the big reveal.

The kids ready to pull their strings

Everyone was thrilled with the news. Congratulations Mary and David!

Hailey’s cake

I haven’t really had time for much craftiness lately. I haven’t completed a project in what seems like forever. Last night was my daughter’s 12th birthday party and I even seriously contemplated buying her a cake this year. It has been a crazy week, but I just couldn’t bring myself  to not make my own daughter’s cake. So I went the super easy route copied a cake I found here. It is a basic round cake with textured frosting, which is SO much easier to do than smooth frosting. I added the basic rolled fondant flowers and called it a day.

It did look pretty sitting on the covered cake stand.

Baby Boy Shower

A friend and I hosted a baby shower for another friend. Her gift also served as a shower decoration. I made the bib, blanket, onesie, and burp cloth. The pants and the shoes on the cake were on clearance at Target.

I didn’t have the time or energy to make edible shoes, so I compromised and used real ones. Even after many reassurances that they were clean and new, my kids were pretty concerned about the shoes getting the cake dirty. I was more concerned about the cake getting the new shoes dirty, but everything worked out just fine.

Kennady’s Birthday cake

My baby turns 4 on Tuesday but we had her party today. She couldn’t make up her mind what kind of cake she wanted. She literally changed her mind several times a day. Right up until I made it, she still couldn’t decide. Since I also had the Cardinals cake to make at the same time, I decided to just do something super easy and made this cake by piping big pink roses all over the entire thing. I hot glued some tulle into pleats in between two cake boards, plopped the cake on top and called it a day. Her party didn’t really have a theme either, we just used pinks and white to decorate so it fit perfectly.

Cardinals Baseball Cake

I made this one for a good friend’s little man. She’s such a good friend that she watched my kids all week while while I was in the Philippines with my hubby and she didn’t even complain about them once. The least I could do was make her adorable little guy a birthday cake when I got back. He loves balls of every kind and wanted a ball cake and they are big Cardinals fans from St. Louis so here is what I came up with. I used a buttercream transfer method to make the Cardinals logo because, unfortunately, I am not an artist.

Mary Poppins Cake

My twins wanted a Mary Poppins cake for their birthday. We didn’t have a party, but we just finished reading the book by P.L. Travers before their big day and they are all excited about watching the movie this weekend. I think they will be shocked at how different the movie is from the book. I have seen the movie, which I LOVE, many times but after reading the book, I was annoyed at how different the two are. I know movies are always at least a little different from the books, but I found the differences here extreme. The book had lots of fun adventures that never made it into the movie. In the book, Jane and Michael also have younger siblings who are twins, which my twins thought was pretty cool. Even though they played a very minor role, I’m sure my twins will be disappointed when there aren’t any twins in the movie. 

The silhouette I made was based on the cover of the book.

Ruffle Cake

I’ve seen ruffle cakes all over the internet lately and finally had the opportunity to make one. My oldest daughter turned 11 and I needed something quick and easy. The ruffle cake was just that. I found this tutorial on YouTube if you are interested in making one yourself. It seriously only took me about 10 minutes. My hand was sore when I was done because I had to use a stiffer frosting which meant I had to squeeze the pastry bag pretty hard to pipe the ruffles. I tried to use a thinner consistency at first, but the ruffles just melted into each other. I’m blaming the Florida humidity.
The day before, I made a pennant banner for a topper out of scrapbook paper, floral wire, and a couple of thin dowels.
She loved it!

Pink and Brown Birthday Cake

This cake is for my cousin’s girls who both have a birthday this month. It’s extra special because the older one is getting baptized tomorrow too.

Oh the Places They’ll Go!

My twins’ preschool graduation isn’t until Thursday, but I am having a minor surgery tomorrow and know that I won’t feel like baking and decorating a cake after coming out of anesthesia, so I made their cake tonight. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Dr. Seuss’ book, “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” and since it is often associated with graduations, I decided to use it for my inspiration.

I hand painted all the lettering, balloons, and the stripes on the bottom tier with food coloring. I wanted a whimsical cake and wasn’t aiming for perfection on this one and I am so happy with the way it turned out. 

Each of the kids in their class has their name on one of the balloons to show that they are “off to great places.” I am excited for my girls to be starting a new chapter in their young lives, but sad that we are closing one as well.

Congratulations Payton and Taylor! I love you and know you will do awesome in Kindergarten.

Sneak Peak

I’ve been busy getting all the prep work done for the twins’ preschool graduation cake. I just hope it turns out half as cute as I’ve been imagining.

Can you guess where I am getting my inspiration?

Tinkerbell Cake

This cake was for a friend of my twins who turned 6. She loves Tinkerbell and pink so I did light pink buttercream with a dark pink gum paste flower that Tinkerbell is sitting in. The small purple flowers and light teal leaves are all gum paste as well. I am happy with the way her name turned out because my handwriting on cakes is not always the prettiest.

Ballerina Cake

My friend asked me to make her daughter (who happens to be one of my sweet Sunbeams) a ballerina cake for her 4th birthday. The only specifics she gave was that the cake be pink. I was SO excited when she told me because I have wanted to do a ballerina cake for a long time, but my girls have never wanted one.

I used tulle and silk flowers for the tutu around the cake and hot glued it between two cake boards. I also used the silk flowers to do the bottom border around the cake. The ballerina shoes were made of gum paste. I piped a simple border around the top of the cake and added her name. Incredibly simple, but I LOVE the final result.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake

The mom who ordered this cake sent me a picture of a cake that she pretty much wanted replicated. Although I always use other cakes for inspiration, I usually put my own twist on them. I was a little nervous about having to be so precise, but I am THRILLED with the way it turned out.

 

The backside of the cake was left up to me because the picture she sent me didn’t include the back. I decided to incorporate Pluto’s dog house.

And the smash cake:

Tea Party Cake

This cake was for a little girl’s 5th birthday. She had the most adorable tea party themed party EVER! I was thrilled to be able to make the cake for such a fun event. One of the mom’s that took her daughter to the party commented to me that it was decorated nicer than her wedding. Mine too!

They wanted a very simple cake, covered in pink fondant with white accents, and they wanted a flower on it. This is how it turned out. I love the simplicity of the whole thing and I like the way the flower turned out too.

Kennady’s cake

For months, the kid insisted she wanted a Tigger and Pooh cake. But, when we went to buy party supplies all the Tigger and Pooh stuff was for 1st birthdays. I had to explain that she was a big girl now and needed to pick something different so she opted for the Littlest Pet Shop theme. I was thrilled because I really didn’t want to do a Tigger and Pooh cake and the Littlest Pet Shop stuff all had big polka dots as a background. So, for the cake, I just cut a bunch of big polka dots out of fondant and bought a few Littlest Pet Shop pets to use as toppers. So quick and easy and she loved it.

Zeik’s cake

My nephew turned 9 on Valentine's Day, but since my sister and her family were coming to visit this weekend, they decided to celebrate it with a little family party at my parents’ house yesterday. My nephew wanted a motorcycle cake. Since I knew my abilities would not allow me to make a motorcycle out of cake and actually have it look good, I went the cheater route and bought a motorcycle toy as a topper. For the cake, I did a desert scene because where he lives and rides his motorcycle is in the middle of a desert in the middle of nowhere.

Happy Birthday Zeik!

Snowflakes and Polka-dots

The sweetest little girl in my neighborhood wanted a white cake with winter blue snowflakes and polka dots. This was so simple to do but I think it turned out really cute. I used cookie cutters to cut the dots and flakes out of light blue fondant. I piped some details on the snowflakes that go around the side of the cake but left the ones on top plain because I didn’t want it to distract from the message.

Candy Land Birthday Party

My twins turn 5 this week and we had a small party at home on Friday with a few of their friends. We decided on a Candyland theme. We hand delivered the invitations which had lolli pops attached. At the party, the kids decorated gingerbread men, played the Candyland game, guessed the number of gum drops in a jar, and played musical squares. Everyone went home with a whole bunch of candy and a few other goodies, including a toothbrush and toothpaste. For the cake, I just frosted it, piped the message and some really basic decorations and added bubble gum and gum drop borders and a couple of lollipop on top.

A baptism and a baby blessing cake

A friend of mine asked me to make cakes for her oldest son’s baptism and her baby boy’s blessing. They are having them both this weekend and wanted something special to celebrate with their extended family. The baby boy’s room is done all in rockets and she wanted to keep with that theme for the baby’s cake. We decided on a CTR cake for her oldest son’s cake.