Beach Cake

This one makes me smile. :) Made for an adorable little 1 year old baby girl. It took HOURS to create all the little details on this cake it was well worth it b/c it all came together perfectly. Made to match a Lilly Pulitzer beach party theme. So cute!!!!

The beach ball is her smash cake...

Brittney's Graduation Cake

This one is for our neighbors' daughter Brittney. She is graduating from West Forsyth High School w/ HONORS!!! (the light blue and gold tassels around the bottom of the top tier represent the honors tassels she'll be wearing when she walks)

Congrats Brittney. Auburn is about to get a fabulous new addition to their school! :)

60th Birthday

Made to coordinate with the party plates...

How do you do this w/ two kids??

That's the question I always get..."How do you find the time to do all these cakes w/ two children!?!" My response is always, "I don't know!!!" (and I honestly don't know! lol) But somehow it all gets done...I'll admit there are definitely times when I'm icing a cake with a baby on my hip while the other little rascal is off coloring on the walls or hanging from the chandelier, but somehow it all gets done. That said, since summer has started (meaning no preschool for Bailey and Olivia has now decided to drop her morning nap) I find myself really thinking HOW am I going to get these cakes done without losing my sanity??

For the most part my caking schedule is 5:30am-7am before the girls wake up and then 8:30pm to as long as it takes... Needless to say after working on my cakes and chasing around 2 little ones in between, I'm a tired girl.

Luckily for me I've got B signed up for 2 weeks of vacation bible school in the month of June so I should be OK for this month, but July is crazy busy w/ 2 kids, beach trips, lake trips, MY 29th BIRTHDAY! and pool time. Sooooo, I have made the executive decision to pamper myself and...

TAKE THE MONTH OF JULY OFF!!! :)

I'll still be updating my blog w/ cakes (I have to make some cakes, I can't help myself), parties and other creative stuff so there will still be some action on here. But for the most part I'm going to be enjoying my birthday month with some freedom from caking! :)

So there is my announcement...
July I'm off
...returning full force to my cakes in August. :)

Where The Wild Things Are

This one is for Bailey's preschool end of the year program/party. I can't wait to see what they have planned for all us parents!! :) Her last day of school is Friday and I'm excited to have a fun summer. (but also a little nervous on how I'll get anything done, especially caking, with this little monster home with me all day/everyday) I guess my wake up time went from 5:30 to 4:30!! It will all work out!! :)

Happy Summer to everyone!

LET THE WILD summer RUMPUS START!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taylor's 4th Birthday Farm Cake

This one is for little Taylor's 4th birthday. Taylor is a great friend of Bailey's and she is such a sweet little girl! :) Hopefully this cake will make her smile!! (shouldn't be hard b/c I can't really think of a time when I haven't seen a smile on her face!) :) :)

Happy 4th Birthday Taylor!!!!

Hunter's Graduation Cake

This one was for a great friend of ours who just graduated w/ his Master's degree. Way to go Hunter for making yourself just that much smarter than the rest of us!!! ;)

(oh and "The Art of Ice Cream" book is relevant b/c Hunter and some of his other smarty pant MBA buddies are starting up a fabulous new ice cream company.) Really YUMMY ice cream y'all!!! And its ok if I endorse them b/c its ice cream...thats not competition right? EEK!!!

Check 'em out if you get a chance!! http://www.facebook.com/#!/highroadicecream

Beach Bridal Shower Cake

This one is for a bridal shower for a couple who is having a beach wedding. I was online and saw a wedding cake design that used little adirondack chairs similar to these for toppers. We loved the cake and wanted to do a similar design, but I could not for the life of me find any miniature adirondack chairs for under $5 each (which was the budget for this cake). So I actually made these chairs myself for under $3!!! Yippee!!! (when I was a little girl I used to make furniture for my dollhouse...who knew all that practice would come in handy in my adult years) :)

A little change...

This is almost identical to a cake that I've done in the past, but a little different w/ the baby carriage topper instead of a bow so I thought I'd post it. :)

Lo Lo's Yo Gabba Gabba Smash Cake

This was for one of Olivia's boyfriends, Logan...Happy 1st Birthday big man!!!!

Love,
Your future mother in-law

A Sweet Birthday Packaging Idea

Ok, so this has nothing to do with cakes, but it does have to do with birthdays...and its a sweet idea so it goes!! :)

I came up w/ this idea as I was trying to figure out what to get my cousin for his birthday. He just turned 10 and is into so many things that I'm completely unfamiliar with (as he is a boy and I am a girl w/ two little girls...boy "toys" are uncharted territory). So I decided instead of trying to shop for him I'd just give him some money and let him figure it out! :) But I hate giving money...its just not "fun" for me. So I decided if I packaged it in a fun way I could enjoy giving just money.

So here's what I did...

I grabbed a $20 and a few pieces of candy....

Then I went into the pantry and got a can of chicken noodle soup to make for Bailey and Olivia for lunch....

Take a sec to notice the top of this can... I chose this lunch for the girls b/c yes, it has carrots so its got some nutrition, but I also chose it b/c of the type of can it was in. ;) (the top has a flip tag thingy...not sure what you call those kind of tops) Anyway...notice the top?

Ok, stay with me, I'm going somewhere w/ this!

I turned it upside down and opened the can from the bottom (instead of using the flip top lid). I used a can opener that cuts the can from the side so that the lid comes off w/ a clean edge...

Then I took a break to feed the girls...

After that, I washed out the can, dried it and stuffed it w/ candy and money. :)

Then I glued the bottom back on w/ hot glue (you can use any kind of glue...doesn't have to be hot glue).

Once the bottom was secured, I wrapped the can w/ some cardstock...

And ended up with this...

Pretty sweet huh?

I thought this was a great way to spruce up a money gift or a gift card gift. They'd make great party favor containers too!

Oh, and yes! It stumped the smarty pants 10 year old birthday boy. ;) He was very intrigued and confused on how I got the money and candy in there. Guess I just gave away my "magic" secrets!!!

Here is another one I did for Bailey's teachers on St Patrick's Day. I used a smaller can for this one and filled it with green candy. :)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Whew!!! I'm tired after this one!! ;)

Happy 1st Birthday to Mr. Blake!!!!

The shoe and hand are rice krispy treat covered w/ fondant...

The head is the only thing not edible...I used styrofoam.

The smash cake....

Bailey's 3rd Birthday Party!!!

I have been receiving a lot of response about the past couple parties I have thrown for my girls so I decided to post a few (ok a zillion, lol) pictures from Bailey's 3rd Birthday Party. We had a Disney Carnival. I had SO MUCH fun with this theme and as you can see, had A LOT of time on my hands as I started planning and preparing for this party about 5 months in advance (most importantly before Olivia was born!).

First off...Brian and I, the world's most embarrassing parents!!! LOL Gotta love the matching shirts. ;)

This was my second decorated cake I had ever made. Stayed up so late the night before w/ this bad boy! It was HUGE and a big challenge for a beginner "cakester". :)

The only real bummer of this party was that it RAINED! :( Throughout the entire planning process I had always pictured the party outside. Well, a week before the party the weather was fore casted to RAIN so I started cleaning out the garage and planning for an indoor carnival. It actually turned out really cool and maybe even better!!! :) (the glass is always full right?!)

Every carnival needs a ticket booth!!! I made this from an old box and wrapping paper tubes. So much fun! :) If you haven't noticed yet, I LOVE to craft!

The bags sat on top of the ticket booth. They were for each child to collect their prizes in from the carnival games.

I saw a carnival sign at Potterybarn Kids that I fell in love with but it was $90. OUTRAGEOUS!!! So I made my own from felt. SUPER EASY! BUUUUT, I will say I was shopping about a week after I made this sign and I found an almost identical Carnival sign at Hobby Lobby for like $8!! Go figure!!!

CARNIVAL GAMES!!!!!

I did these signs myself using a projector to project the image on the poster board. I traced it and then painted. Time consuming, but again I LOVE crafting so its right up my alley.

This was a bean bag game...throw the bean bag into Pooh's honey pot.

Random centerpiece...

Waterbottle labels I made...

I swear everything at this party was homemade! lol I got headbands from Target and spray painted them black. Then I used black foam to cut out ears and hot glued them onto the headbands, made little bows out of red and white polka dot fabric and VOILA!! Minnie and Mickey ears. (omit the bow for Mickey)

The birthday girl and her little sister had matching outfits. Little Olivia was only 6 weeks old!!! Just a little peanut.....

A menu sign I made out of posterboard...and the letters were cut out using my Cricut.

The table!!!

The centerpiece.

A birthday hat I made for B. 3 little candles on top. :) I made this from foam sheets.

LOTS AND LOTS of balloons! This was ONE COLORFUL party!!

I had to put the jumper inside, again b/c it rained. :(

Mickey Mouse came!! (Brian dressed up) He was a hit although I will say I don't think we needed him. All the kids were so busy w/ everything else they wouldn't have missed him if he weren't there. ;)

One of Bailey's FAVORITE things to do is decorate cookies so of course we had to do that!!!

I was very big into making cards last year so of course I made all the thank yous.

And last but not least, little B blowing out the candles. What a FUN party we had last year!!!!!!!

IF you're still looking after all those pictures, THANKS for checking us out!!! :)