Caitlyn's First Birthday Cakes

Last weekend we celebrated my little girl's first birthday.  It's hard to believe that she is one already.

For her party I had been planning to do a pink and brown giraffe theme.  I mean planning since before she was even born.  A few weeks before the party I found some amazing fabric and all my plans changed.  I still incorporated the pink and brown and a few giraffes but it was more about fun colors and simple sweetness.

 Here's the cute clothespin doll I made to go on top of the cake.  I used my fun fabric to make her dress.  I debated about putting a package in her hand or a sign or a balloon but I then decided on the candle.  It's practical and cute!

The cake is two tall 6 inch layers of chocolate coconut cake with butter cream icing.  I did a ganache drip on top mostly because I love the taste but I also love the simplicity of it.  If you have been following this blog for a long time, I am sure you have noticed that I have not always been into "simplicity"...well, life has gotten full and simplicity is a must these days!  I guess I proved to myself I *could* make a fancy cake of any kind and now I am more interested in making a great tasting, beautiful cake without losing too much sleep!

This is Cait's "smash cake"  I used a round cookie cutter to make this.  I cut three rounds out of a thin flat cake and stacked them up.  This is a great option when you don't have a teeny pan. (Or when you've misplaced yours, eh-hem...)

The giraffe on top was a ready to finish wood toy at Michaels.  Can't remember what those bendy toys are called? 

Here's the little birthday baby taking a first lick...

Taking off her giraffe so she can get to business!

 There they are, the big cake and the tiny smash cake perched on the pretty sweets table.  I'll share more about that really soon!

Sweets For A Doll

This is my first sweets table!  It was so fun to create!!

 This is during the day when we were setting up.  In the evening the plastic chairs did not show:)  

Oh shoot, you hadn't noticed them?

  Well now you see them!

Curly Willow looks great on it's own but I wanted it to have a special touch. I saw something similar to this over at TomKat Studio. 

I made the huge tissue paper puffs for a baby shower  a year ago so I knew just what to do, just on a much smaller scale:) 

I gave my kids (10, 8 and 6) this job and they executed it so well!

 Chocolate Coffee Mini Cuppies

Pretty Vanilla Cuppies.  

I used two Vicoria Secret boxes for the cupcake stand.

I have a slight obsession with cake plates.  

 Sticking a candle in the teeny cute cake.  We didn't cut into it, I sent it home with the birthday girl. 

The cupcakes and candies were plenty.

Here's the birthday girl with her cake.  

I am not sure if there was anything more beautiful that these two together?

Have I ever told you how much I love birthdays???

I didn't get a shot of the cake in it's adorable stand but be sure to look closely at the pics with the whole table to admire the latest member of my cake plate collection.  

She's so pretty and I got her for $10 at Home Sense!!

Favor purses from Michael's wedding favor isle.  

We dressed them up with an adorable Poupee Girl.

The guests digging in to the sweets!

 Here are the party planners with the birthday girl.  I just wanted to point out how cute the sweets are as a photo prop!  

If you are planning to have a sweets table at your party, be sure to make use of the cuteness in a few photos!!

(after all, the photos will be there long after the sweets are scooped up, right??)

Thanks for coming over to check it out!  I hope you will feel free to ask me if you have questions.  If you are inspired to try something that you have seen, go for it!  

I want to see your finished product so please send me a pic or a link!

Seashell Cookies

Poupee Girl Party Pics are up over at Fig & Ruby.  Go check them out for an explanation of what in the world I am talking about!!

Seashells are important to Poupee Girl so it seemed fitting that we make the cookie favors seashells.  I bought little zip bags, plopped one cookie in each bag, folded cute paper over the bag and stapled.  I actually gave this job to my 6 year old...it's that easy!

I love this paper/pattern/color combo!

What Inspires Me?

Hi!  I am in the throws of preparing for my sister's "Poupee Girl Dress Up Party".  The color scheme is aqua and pink with an Asian flair.  When I came across this yesterday it took my breath away!  How can I ever begin to live up to the likes of Amy Atlas?  The girl is UNREAL!  I am not going to try to attain this level of Fantabulous-ness but I sure am gonna appreciate it...and perhaps drool a little bit...and daydream a lot...and maybe even lose a little sleep at night...

Hello Kitty Cake

 

This cake is chocolate coconut cake with fudge filling and fresh strawberry buttercream.  

Simple 8 inch rounds, a nice smooth layer of icing and a few gumballs...very easy yet super cute!

Making the top of the cake not edible meant I was able to prepare it in advance and saved me the stress of the "night before the party cake meltdown" (ask my husband, it's a real thing!!)

 

The white flower shaped layer is a wooden box that I got at Michael's. 

I painted it inside and out, made a cute Hello Kitty Spoolie to attach to the top and gave it to my little girl. 

 

And the inspiration behind this cake- Maddie Faith, my Hello Kitty lover!

If you want to see the party details, hop on over HERE.

 

A peek inside the box!

 

Cute cake toppers.

I have a baby in my life and the addition of little Caitlyn has inspired me to find ways to simplify without losing the wow factor.  I am so excited about the possibilities.  

Do you have any ideas?  

Please share!!

Hello Kitty Cake Pops

 

Okay, so I'm no Bakerella  but I am one of her biggest fans and I do like to attempt to copy her!  I got the idea for these adorable Hello Kitty Pops on her site and she is always nice enough to include gobs of gorgeous photos explaining EXACTLY what to do.  

She makes me feel like they will be "easy".

They are not easy.

Mine are not perfect.

That's okay, my 6 year old birthday girl loved them!

She was so proud to take these cuties to school.  

While Maddie was at school passing out pops, I was at home trying to create a Bakerella-esk photo shoot.

Here are the results...

Kitty with some flowers.

(decor for Maddie's party this coming weekend...stay tuned!!)

Kitty in a jar of gumballs.

(gumballs will be going on the cake this weekend:)

close up Kitty, give us your best smile!

Oh right, you don't have a mouth.

Funny that we are all okay with your anatomically incorrect face.

You are cute...mouths are overrated! 

"Hello, Kitty"

"Hello, Kitty"

Kitty friends in a jar of gumballs.

Ooh, the cuteness is more that I can bear!

Ouch.

Kitty guts.

I didn't finish this pop.  

I'm not a fan of white chocolate melting candies.

I'm making a mental note for next time about that!

Thanks for looking!

Valentine Treats

Need a cute, simple and quick last minute valentine idea?  Here is what we made at our house last night...

 

Aren't they too cute? 

My 5 year old wrote all 20 of her cards herself.  

I was so proud!

Wanna make some?

Here's the low-down...

find some do-dads for the top.

(we used what we had in the cupboard)

red hot hearts

white mini dagrees (little balls)

classic red sprinkles

melt some chocolate

We used this stuff from Michaels.

I heart Michaels

In a really big way.

Seriously, a really big way.

But anyways....

We used our mini muffin tins to keep the jumbo marshmallows from rolling around.  

We dipped the marshmallows 1/4 of the way into the chocolate and then carefully set it back in the tin.  

This is the hardest part!

 We used a little skewer to guide them into the tins without them toppling on their sides.

We topped them with the pretties as we dipped them.

The chocolate dries, so you must work diligently.

We threw them in the fridge to harden up.

This was only about a 10 minute wait.

When we took them out, they were ready to be bagged and tagged.

 We bought little zip lock style bags in a pack of 100 at the dollar store for...

you guessed it...

one dollar!

What a steal!

The cuteness possibilities are endless for the tags at the top. 

My girls wanted to write them themselves.

Must be something about my craft-nazi-ness.

Makes my kids want no help from me.

Sad but true.

We folded the cute card stock tags over the little bags and stapled them in place.

Wa-la!

80+ school treats done in one evening!

Make these!

Then come back and show me!

If you need another fabulous idea or two, check out these bad boys:

I LOVE The Idea Room.  The ideas seriously never stop!!!  

When I visit my head is spinning with new projects.

Kinda like when I set foot in Michaels.

And we all know how I feel about Michaels:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Great Tutorial On Decorating Sugar Cookies!

I have had quite a few people ask me questions about how I decorate my sugar cookies.  In my head making my own tutorial sounds like a fantastic idea.  In my reality, that is never gonna happen. I am learning that I can not do everything!! I am also in awe of the amazing resources that are out there in the blog world and I would love to share some of my favorites with you.

Enter Sweetopia
I could spend hours pouring over Marian's sweet photos and amazing creations. She is Canadian and oh so talented, creative and productive!

Marian has also made some really helpful tutorials.  On the left hand sidebar of her blog she has a button for tutorials.  How great is that?!?!?  Today I present to you her tutorial on "How To Decorate Sugar Cookies With Royal Icing"

I agree with all of her tips and this tutorial is basically exactly what I would say, had I the time and gumption to make my own tutorial:)  She mentions Antonia 74's icing recipe and this is the one that I use.  Love it.  SO GREAT!  

Just to give you a feel for what this girl can do, check out these bad boys...

Seriously?

Adorable.

They are right up my alley.

Are you convinced?  She's good, reeal good.

You can be too!

All it takes is a few helpful tips and a lot of practice!

Easy Peasy Treats!

Okay so I know I know, I just told you I was done making treats.

This is an exception.   I am allowed to make exceptions:)

I just have to share the details.

Behold- the easiest treats EVER!!

That's right, that is all it is...

*two jumbo marshmallows(I made 20 treats using one bag = $2.50)

*stuffed on a wooden skewer ($1 for 100)

*dipped in melting chocolate ($3 per bag with coupon at Michaels, I used 1 1/2 bags)

*covered in sprinkles ($4 with coupon at Michaels)

Lay on parchment paper or wax paper on a tray and let them harden in the fridge...

Wrap 'em up however you feel led to do it...

* I went with cookie bags from Michael's, tied off with curly ribbon and tagged with the kids' names.

Imagine the possibilities?  Make these your own way and send me your photos!!!

Football Cuppies

Okay, so I am not making sweets these days. 

I have two reasons; one is my cute little 8 month old..she wants me to love her every waking hour.  And I want to love her too!  Cakes can wait till Caitlyn grows bigger and does not need me so much!

The second reason is we have gone healthy around here and I think when I take baking back up I will be doing it in a much different fashion and until I perfect that, I will only dream of the possibilities!

Take this adorable idea I saw over at HWTM.  Oh my!  how cute is this for a super bowl party?  Someone please make these and send me a photo!!!