Charlie's 1st Birthday!

Today our little Charlie turned ONE!!!

Happy Birthday Charlie Boy!!!

Bailey was dying to throw him a party so after hours of her begging and pleading (ok, maybe she asked once...or maybe the whole thing was my idea) I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea! He IS the best dog in the world after all. He deserves it!

PAW-TY on!

Its a YAPPY Birthday Party for our little King Charlie!

First up, the cake!! Ingredients consist of carrots, flour, baking soda, honey, peanut butter, vanilla and oil. Yum right?....BLECK! (recipe below)

Charlie is very proud of his name (its one of the few human words he knows) so I felt I needed to include it on the cake somehow. ;)


Dog treats as a border...easy and very appropriate!!
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Cupcakes for the humans.

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The girls were very excited about the endeavor of creating a dog cake so they helped!


Olivia helped shred carrots (she was fascinated watching me do it and just HAD to try it for herself).

Bailey added all ingredients and was in charge of stirring.

She was a little concerned with the way the cake batter looked...she is used to yummy batter and this definitely doesn't look the same! lol

The table...

It took forever for poor Charlie's buddies to arrive. He thought he was going to die of boredom!!

But about 2 minutes after this picture was taken, the other 2 stooges arrived!!!!

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Introducing, Abby the chihuahua and Jack the Westie.

After a few minutes of mad chaos as the dogs greeted each other with lots of running and kissing, trips outside to the bathroom and bickering over toys...it was time to be seated.

Charlie, the typical excited birthday boy wiggling all over the table in anticipation.

We sang happy birthday..

And then served out cake!!!

The dogs were pleased with their peanut butter/carrot cake. ;)

Then we opened presents and let the dogs fight over the squeaky toys that Charlie got for his birthday. Charlie is a notoriously terrible sharer so most of the scuffling was him trying to keep tabs on his new stuff! Something we'll need to work on in the future. ;)

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At the end of the night the guests were sent home with goodie bags consisting of Milk Bone dog treats, a squeaky toy and a yummy dog bone.

Thanks for visiting and viewing Charlies 1st birthday PAW-TY!!!

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Recipe for Dog Cake

1 cup of white flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup shredded carrots

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda together and then add all other ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Frost cake w/ whipped non fat cream cheese.

Thomas The Train Cake

Wow, this one might be my new favorite! I love the way this came together. The girl that ordered it gave me complete free reign to do whatever I wanted (Thomas themed). I couldn't decide on a 3D (which intimidated me) or a safe, but still cute 2 tier....I decided to go outside my comfort zone and go the 3D route. I'm so glad I did! :) I love the way he turned out and I really think it will please the birthday boy!!!

And I had to include a few party ideas for a Thomas inspired party.


First off, starting on the right...check out these cupcakes! Are they not to die for!?!? I don't even want to know how long it took her to make all those toppers. I think my eyes would be permanently crossed after making those! Yikes! But how cute are they!?!? And what a great way to represent all the other characters of the Thomas franchise. Check them out here. Another cupcake idea that is a little less daunting, but still super cute can be found here.

Then, going counter clockwise, check out these parties, here and here. I love the way they used little train toys and RR Crossing signs to decorate the party.

Then, what a great craft idea for your train/Thomas party! Creatology makes great wooden trains that you can paint. You can find them at Michaels for $1 a train!! Great party activity.

Next to those, check out these train straw cups! OMG. Seriously, these alone make me want to throw a Thomas the Train party!

The bottom left corner is such a cute table scape. This table came from this talented party planner.

And to wrap things up, bottom right corner shows conductor hats and bandannas...a must at any Thomas party!!!

Have fun and happy planning!

Another gender reveal cake!

Inside this pretty little cake is a pink or blue icing in between pink or blue colored cake. Tonight the expecting couple is having a party thrown for them. The excited couple (who is right now likely sitting on pins and needles) will be cutting the cake to discover what their little peanut is!!

And yes, that is a little peanut sitting in the stroller. The couple and their friends have affectionately nicknamed the baby "peanut", so it had to be included in the cake somewhere! ;)

Middle School Sweethearts

This cake was made for a rehearsal dinner for a couple who met in middle school and are now getting married!! This is the cutest story....in middle school the groom played football and the bride was a cheerleader for the same team, the Norcross Blue Devils. Thats where and when they met and now they're starting a little family. Its such a sweet love story and I had a lot of fun creating something that tells a little about their history.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake

Wow, love this theme! Love this cake! I want to have another baby just so I can have a 1st birthday w/ this theme! JUST KIDDING!! Don't love it that much! ;)

But really, how cute is this theme???

The smash cake....

And I couldn't resist planning a Very Hungry Caterpillar party! This is totally a theme I would choose if I could do my girl's first birthday all over again!!

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First off, check out these invitations!!! So clever and so CUTE! Source
And I love how the food is set up on these parties. Your menu idea is already chosen for you b/c you can just use all the food the caterpillar ate on his journey through out the book. (just don't forget to poke little holes in every piece of food like the caterpillar did in the book!!) Its all in the details!!Check these parties out. HERE and HERE
And what a cute balloon caterpillar decoration! I love it!
The decorated sugar cookies are so cute!!!
And for a party favor/activity, equip your quests with little butterfly nets. You can have a caterpillar/butterfly hunt like THIS party did. Make caterpillars out of pom poms or egg cartons cut up and painted. Or you could even have a candy/food hunt...the kids could be little caterpillars on a quest for food!!! The possibilities are endless. So much fun!
And last, but not least...check out ESTY.com ** for this adorable caterpillar photo prop to display pics of your growing caterpillar! I love it!

**Disclosure: Etsy is dangerous and very addictive!!! Consider this a warning..if you haven't explored Esty yet then you're in for an expensive treat!! ;)

Jacks Big Music Show Cake

I just finished my first Jack's Big Music Show cake!!! ;) When I received this order I had no idea who Jack or his big music show was, but after a little research I felt well acquainted w/ this group and familiar enough to replicate in cake form. ;)

First, in case you don't know who or what I'm talking about, here is picture of Jack's Big Music Show. A cute program on Nick Jr. Lots of fun to watch with your little ones!

And here is Brewer's Jacks Big Music Show cake.

Close ups of the band. ;)

To infinity and beyond!!!

These cake push pops were created for Hayden's 2nd birthday. The theme of the party is Toy Story, focusing on Buzz Lightyear and of course his rocket!!

Hayden's mommy wanted to do something out of the norm so we decided on rocket ship cake push pops! (definitely not your usual birthday "cake"!)

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And a little smash cake to hold Hayden's 2 very important candles. :)

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Need a last minute dessert idea for Thanksgiving?? Try this one!!!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes....sooooo yummy (and easy too)!!!!!

Take a box of Spice Cake Mix, add 1 CUP of canned pumpkin, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup of oil and 1 1/3 cup of water. Mix it up, bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so, let it cool and top it off w/ cream cheese icing.

It makes for one delicious, easy and quick Thanksgiving Day dessert!!!

And if you feel like getting adventurous, try topping each cupcake off w/ a "slice" of pumpkin pie. They definitely take the "quick and easy" out of this dessert, but they're so cute! :)Don't have time for those? Use these free printables to top off your cupcakes!! Found here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!!

Sienna's Sweet Shoppe

This cake is for a neighbor of ours whose ADORABLE daughter, Sienna celebrated her 1st birthday yesterday with a Sweet Shoppe party. She is such a cute little girl and I really hope this cake made her smile!!

It turned out to be a very popular cake in my house.

First, Bailey walked in from school and took one look at this cake (and I was only 1/2 way done) and said,

"That looks GREAT! I WANT THAT ONE TO BE MY BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!"

Long thinking pause...

"That is my birthday cake, right?

"Sorry sweetie. Your birthday is in April...not this weekend."

(I have to remind her every now and then that these cakes aren't for us)

Later, Olivia, my candy feen, basically said the same thing. Only using less words and a lot more action! I turned my back on her for 30 seconds (bad move). She climbed up on the counter while I was taking the trash out and took a big BITE out of one of the lollipops I had made!! Grrrrrrrr!!! Thank God I hadn't put them on the cake yet! This is the first offense that either one of my girls have had against my cakes. They're usually very well behaved around them but Liv couldn't help herself with this one!!! Guess I can't let my guard down anymore. :(

So there is one less lollipop on this cute 3 tier, but I don't think we missed out too much!!!

By the way, it was made to match this adorable Sweet Shoppe invitation. What cute invitation huh?!?!! It made for easy inspiration for this cake!

I thought a lollipop would make an appropriate smash cake...

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And here are a couple picture's of the candy buffet Amy created for her little girl's party. She made this sign herself!! Such a cute display!!!!!