A Birthday Celebration

Good Monday Morning Everyone.

I hope you all had as good of a weekend as I did.  This weekend my youngest son turned 3 years old.  Each birthday I ask the kids what kind of a cake do you want and then run from there with their theme.  He told me he wanted a flower cake.  So not wanting to make a cake to girly I decided to combine that with one of his favorite things BUGS.  

I made this tree stump cake which was actually pretty easy to make.  I used a chocolate butter cream for the outside of the tree stump to give it a darker chocolate brown, this worked out perfect because this type of butter cream has a thicker consistency and was easy to make rough.  Makai helped me with this part we just used the back of a fork and pulled the icing until we got the look we wanted. 

For the top of the cake I used a regular butter cream icing in two colors that I piped on and then spread out with a knife.

The rest of the figures were made out of fondant, my favorite had to be the little mushrooms and the ladybugs. 

I would have to say my favorite part of making cakes is when the kids get up the next morning and the first thing they have to do is go and look at the finished cake and the excitement on their faces makes it all worth the while. 

Birthday Season In Full Effect

Ahh Birthday season in this house is fast and furious.  By the end of the third one it all feels a little bit like a whirlwind.  Well 2 out of 3 have come and gone and we had a fantastic time.  

I still can't believe that my oldest son is 8 years old.  How crazy is that!!!  It seems like it was just yesterday that our lives changed and our little family had began.  

I told Keegan you pick whatever kind of cake you want and I will make it so he decided a monster truck cake was his pick.  

 Thanks to Jessicas Cake Blog for the tips on how to create this.  

 The truck is made out of Rice Krispie and carved in the shape of a truck  

There was a point when I was making this one that I thought he might just get a tire, lol.  

This year Keegan decided he wanted to go rock climbing so we had 6 boys and one little peanut that gave it a shot and they all did such a good job. 

 This was Chase's first time climbing and this guy certainly has no fear.  Right to the top on the first go.

Even though Makai was too little to get harnessed and climb to the top he wasn't going to let that stop him.  I think he is ready for the big leagues. 

I love giving personalized water bottles for favors, it is something that the kids will use and since and isn't a throw away favor. 

My kids favorite Birthday favor is the personalized t-shirts.  For this party we used a rock climbing image and their names.

They come so far in such a short time. 

Karate Party

Another Birthday party has come and gone and my little man had a great day.  This year we decided to have his party at our local Karate studio where both of my boys attend and the kids had a blast.  

As I posted earlier we started off the event with these Karate inviations.

For me when decorating a party it is all about the details.  I love coming up with a different idea for the favor bags, something the kids can use.  This year I decided on doing up some t-shirts with a Karate guy on them and their names.  

Then sticking with the theme I put them along with a few candies into these take-out boxes. 

Of course my favorite part is the cake.  I had big plans for this cake and then reality set in and I realized that what I wanted just wasn't going to happen.  Really reality was my 3D figure falling apart three times and me throwing them in the garbage, lol. 

So I kept it a little more simple.

I used a white buttercream icing as my base and then used red fondant to make the belt.  My son is a Red belt so wanted it to be the same color. 

 I used fondant to create the ying yang symbol on the top.

 For the Shurikens I borrowed my sons real ones to trace out the gum paste with and then copied the symbols off of them.  Once they were all dried I pressed them into the cake to make them look like they were thrown at it. 

 Here is my little man doing some Karate games and wearing his new shirt.  

Another party down and another one on it's way in two weeks.  I had better get going on planning the next one.

Karate Party Invitations

For our Family March means the beginning of Birthday season. 

My son is turning 5 this year and after many discussions on what he wanted to do for his party he settled on a Karate party.  So with the location booked it was time to get the invitations made up. 

I wanted to make a gi invitation. I believe that the invitation should be the starting point of the party, it lets your guests know what the party is all about.  Plus I think they are cuter : )

I started out by using my Photoshop program to create a Gi, I put a red belt on it as it is the belt he has.  

Once that was done I added the back piece on the top. I did this by duplicating the gi and then erasing what I didn't need.  I am sure there was an easier way to do this but I wanted to make sure they matched perfectly when folded.

I used a card  stock to print them on and went to work on cutting them out.  

Next up figuring out what I want to do with the cake, this of course is my favorite part of the party.  

Going Away Party

It feels like just yesterday that my good friend broke the news to me and told me they were moving all the way across the world to Australia.  That was months ago and we said well we have lots of time left.  The time has ticked down and know we only have a few days left.  

This weekend I was honored to be able to host a going away party for their wonderful children. It was such a blast, we rented out the pool at our local hotel and the kids had a great time swimming.

I decided to go with a teal and Red Theme.  The Centerpieces had balloons and paper airplanes.

The Cake Table ~ I just love the colors

Luggage Cake ~ I used a buttercream for most of the cake and some fondant for more of the detail.  I also used edible printed images. 

Among the large amount of food we had I made these fly cookies.

I am hoping that they will have a great journey and explore and experience so much in the 4 years they will be gone.  They will be dearly missed by me and my family, but what a great excuse to do a family trip to Australia. 

Pinkalicious Party

Can I tell you how much I love doing a girly birthday cake, they come few and far between for me but I just love to do something girly.  

My Niece turned 4 and for her birthday the theme was Pinkalicious.  You can't have a Pinkalicious party without a big cupcake cake. 

This was a little bit softer icing than I usually decorate with but I think it turned out pretty good. 

My Sister In-law made these party bags for the kids finished off with Pinkalicious tags, each one of the girls got a Pinkalicious book and the boys got some boy goodies.

I love all the little details and even the water bottles got a little bit of Pinkalicious.  

This cake idea came from a website I follow My Cake School so if you want to create it you can check out her site for full details. 

Fun Halloween Food

With Halloween quickly coming closer so are the Halloween parties.  The perfect addition to any good Halloween party is some incredible and creepy Foods.  

Here are a few of my favorite picks. 

Is this not the coolest spider cake from Cookies and Cups. She gives a detailed tutorial so that you can create these oreo spiders too.

Who doesn't love Candy Corn at Halloween, check out these Candy Corn Cupcakes over at Sugar Turn Table.

Source: None via Teresa on Pinterest

I found these on Pinterest but there was no back link to who created them.  Although they were so darn cute and looked so yummy that I had to share.

It's a Barnyard Party

My little man Makai turned 2 years old this month and today was a celebration just for him.  I am a lover of parties and making them as unique and different as I can.  My husband says a little to much, lol.  But I absolutely love it.  

 I love having a cake and snack table decorated to go with my theme.  The banner and printable I purchased from stockberrystudios on Etsy (I just love Etsy)

This cake is to date on of my favorites I just love every bit of it.  I was inspired by Melissa at My Cake School.

Well you can't have a kids party without a little crafting so the kiddies all made some sheep masks with a sheep printout, cotton balls, crayons and a little creativity. 

To Darn Cute.

For Favors the kids got a box of farm animal crackers and a bandanna with a little goodie inside.  For the adults I made individual pies.

I also created this Plaque out of some wood I had laying around in the garage.  I stained and then added a vinyl sticker to it.  I had made a few of them with various farm animals on them. 

Cannot Believe my little man is already 2 years old. 

I am one happy Momma to have such an incredible son.