Bella's 2nd Birthday

James' niece is one of the cutest little babies I have ever seen. She tries to imitate the faces I make at her, she knows where here fingers and eyes and ears are, and she loves to run to you and throw herself into your arms! I love to spoil her like she's my own!

For her first birthday, I made her this adorable pink and brown cake for her Chuckie Cheese birthday party.

Please excuse all the things in the background... a year ago I did not understand the importance of making sure I took some photos before the actual event!

This year... I made her something a little more elegant.

I loved how the colors worked together, the lighter lavender colored buttercream with the darker purple butterflies.

And I couldn't resist using my adorable little cake stands and take one out for a photo shoot by the pool. Doesn't it look like the butterfly should just take off and fly around in the lanai?

UPDATE: By the way, I had to add this adorable picture of Isabella enjoying the cupcakes :)

Face first, all in. Adorable.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Now, I'm not saying I support the team... I'm a Met's fan, born and raised. But I will say that I think this Yankees cake was pretty darn fun to make!

I haven't been able to find that perfect yellow cake recipe yet. So if anyone has some suggestions, I'd love to hear them. This one was pretty good, but I'm not going to settle here :)

Start with creaming the butter.

The batter looked really nice when it was all mixed together.

They were definitely nice and golden when they came out of the oven.

Then you have to give it a nice crumb coat.

The beginnings of the decorations. This got me really excited.

I got to use my Cricut cake cutter for the first time! I know some people thing that this is cheating, but it really is a lot of hard work. You have to use gum paste and make sure that it isn't too sticky before using the machine, otherwise it likes to clump up and won't make clear cuts.

This side of the cake I had to cut out by hand. So that makes up for using the Cricut on the other side, in my opinion. It was really rewarding to make a well-known logo out of fondant like that and have it look pretty darn close to the real thing.

Here is the finished product... but wait, you haven't gotten to see my favorite part yet...

THE TOP!

pretty believable...huh!

So here's the whole finished product!

And the delivery. I prefer to travel with my creations safely on my lap.

And here's me, the perfectionist, making sure I touch it up before the birthday boy sees it... in the back of the car!

Who Lives In a Pineapple Under the Sea?

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!

So I was asked to make Spongebob cupcakes for a little girl's birthday party recently. I was really excited about this request because I had been wanting to do three things for a while: sculpt and make shapes out of fondant, use my new exacto knife, and use my new edible ink pens!

Now I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make these photos sit horizontally, but I wanted to include them to show the process these cupcakes went through. As I cut out each step, I saw a little bit more of Spongebob and Patrick forming. This was one of the first projects I've done where I was able to plan and execute what I wanted to accomplish in a timely and organized manner. Woo hoo!

These are Spongebob's noses and mouths.

They both looked kind of creepy with just eyes!

Then all of a sudden... POOF!

They came together so quickly!

And just as quickly as I started, they were finished! Except for the black dots on Spongebob's eyes.

Sometimes Patrick looks cross-eyed, sometimes he looks angry, but he always has that goofy smile!

Spongebob pre-black dots.

Spongebob post-black dots.

I couldn't decide which one I liked more. But I obviously couldn't take it back once it was done.

I was very excited and very proud once these little cuties were finished.

These cupcakes were made for a party at Sketch and Sip. Patty Sisco, the owner is one of the most creative people I know and I am so glad I've been able to work with her on so many occasions. I could actually write a whole post on all the occasions we've worked together or worked on projects for each other. As a matter of fact, that's a wonderful idea! Mental Note. :)