Cake Decorating Party

My oldest turned 8 in April.  

EIGHT!  

I really cannot believe that she is 8 already.  

Stop.  The.  Clock.  Please.  

Anyway, I love celebrating my girls' birthdays!  They get so excited when it's their birthday & I get so happy to make them feel extra special as they turn another year older.  Kaylee, had been talking about her birthday party since she turned seven.  Yes, she loves a good party & loves to help with the party planning too.  As her birthday got closer we told her she could have a small party at our house with a few friends.  She quickly decided that she wanted a crafty party.  A girl after my own heart!  When I asked her what crafts she wanted to do she told me cake decorating & jewelry making.  Ok then!  

Kaylee & I went to Hobby Lobby one day & shopped for everything for her party.  I think we got just about everything for her party at Hobby Lobby!  She chose some zebra print & pink invitations & we just took that theme & went with it for the whole party.  It was a lot of fun!  Since her birthday was on Easter this year & the weekend before was already booked up, we decided to do her party on the Tuesday during Spring Break.  And it worked out great!  I think the girls liked getting together during their break from school too.  It wasn't a fancy party, but it turned out well & the girls had a lot of fun which was the most important thing!  Ok, enough chatter from me, on to the party details.  And thanks to my friend, Jill, for some great cake decorating party tips!  She had just done a similar party for her daughter that was super cute.

We set everything up in the backyard:

 Luckily it was a nice warm day!  It looked pretty cute too & then it made for easy clean-up after the party.

We hung a simple banner on the fence:

We bought these plain white aprons at Hobby Lobby for the girls to decorate as their first craft & then to wear while decorating their cakes.  We even found zebra & pink iron-on letters that I ironed on with each girl's first initial:

 To decorate the aprons we had a bunch of fabric markers & then we hot glued some flowers & gems on as well.

Yes, Hobby Lobby even sells these convenient bakery boxes:

 We figured these were necessary for each girl to transport her cake home safely.

I just added a simple card stock scallop circle with their name on top of each box:

The best part about this party was that there was a lot that Kaylee could help with in preparing for it.  We had so much fun together!  The majority of the preparation could be done ahead of time too which was great.  We baked the cakes about a week before & then kept them in the freezer.  We also made the buttercream frosting a few days before & kept it in the fridge.  Then the day before her party we frosted the cakes in plain white frosting & kept them in the fridge for the next day.

Good thing we have a spare fridge in the garage:

 We made 10 little cakes & then one larger cake to eat during the party.

The morning of the party we put the frosting in the frosting bags with tips of various sizes & designs.  We also put the edible decorations (sprinkles, flowers, etc.) that Kaylee picked out into foil muffin tins.  Again, I was thinking about easy after party clean-up!

  I love the bright frosting colors she picked out:

 After the girls decorated their aprons they took a snack break (Cheez-Its, pretzels & Capri Suns) while we got out all of the cake decorating supplies.

These girls had so much fun decorating their little cakes:

 Oh yeah, I also started them off with a few simple tips for decorating a cake.  I gave each girl a paper plate too for them to use if they wanted to try out the different frosting tips before using them on their actual cakes.  But I didn't give them any direction because I wanted them to decorate their cakes however they wanted.

They really got into it:

I was a little surprised by how seriously they all took it & how much attention they paid to detail.  The cakes turned out so great! 

I took a picture of each girl with her apron on & her finished cake.  Kaylee included the photo with each girls' thank you card.

Here's Kaylee with her cake:

And my 4-1/2 year old, Aidynn, with her cake:

So being that this was a cake decorating party I wasn't sure what to do as far as serving a cake or some treat that we could put candles in & sing "Happy Birthday" to Kaylee with.  I ended up just making a cake to eat at the party since the girls were going to take their little cakes home to share with their families.

It had bright pink frosting of course, with these cool zebra print candles:

 Make a wish, birthday girl:

 The inside of the cake had a surprise too:

It was zebra print!

I have seen cakes with zebra print inside online many times & I thought it would be perfect for this zebra print party.  I just layered chocolate cake batter & white cake batter 1/4 cup at a time into my baking pans & baked them normally.  I was a little nervous about how it would look when we cut into it, but it looked so cool!  The girls loved it!

It got a little wild on our coordinating zebra print plates too:

After we had cake then my daughter opened her presents & then the girls finished the party by making beaded necklaces & bracelets.  The party was 2 hours long & it was the perfect amount of time to get everything done.  I would say this was definitely another successful party!

Happy 8th birthday, Kaylee-girl!

Baking Stuff

I love to bake!  I get that from my mom.  She loves to bake too.  The problem?  Then I end up eating it!  Ha ha ha!  I didn't actually do too much baking over the past few months just because I have been trying to eat better & if sweets are around, I will eat them.  Luckily we have many neighbors & friends who enjoy being the recipients of the baked goods.  

I made this simple bundt cake for my hubby's birthday:

 Luckily his birthday cake requires very little fuss.  He requests this chocolate chip bundt cake every year.  It is easy & it is so good!  What I also love about this bundt cake is that it's dense which makes it sturdy so it travels well too.  I can't do bundt cakes too often because they are just so heavy, but I'll make this recipe a couple times a year.  If you are in the mood for chocolate, lots & lots of rich chocolate, then this cake is the one!

Here's another pic of the apple decorated cupcakes we made for our annual back to school dinner:

 I saw this idea on Pinterest & they were so easy to decorate-red buttercream, green fruit slice cut in pieces to make leaves & a pretzel rod for a stem.  The girls loved helping with these too!

For Thanksgiving this year I made some pies:

 I'm not a big pie person, but my absolute favorite kind is the Apple Crunch pie (above right).  That's actually the only kind of pie I usually make.  So for Thanksgiving I thought I would branch out & also make a pumpkin pie & cherry pie.  Yum!

We went to my parents house for the actual Thanksgiving holiday & my mom made cupcakes with our girls:

 She had bought one of those little cupcake decorating kits & they turned out really cute!

For some sweet treats for friends during the holidays I dressed up my chocolate chip bundt cake & made them mini:

 Why are they just so cute when they are mini?  And they looked pretty with the powdered sugar "snow" & holly berries.

In January our baby turned 2!  She is SO into Monster's Inc. & Monsters University.  It is so funny!  She drags her little Mike & Sulley stuffed characters everywhere.  So it was just the natural choice for the theme for her birthday party this year.  I saw this Monsters inspired cake on Pinterest & decided to give it a try myself.

I think it turned out pretty cute:

Quinn loved it & that's all that really mattered!  Oh & it tasted pretty darn good too!

Rainbow Cake

My oldest daughter turned 7 last weekend.  Seven!  How did this happen?  How did she get to be seven years old already?  In the past few years I've started asking her what kind of cake she wants for each birthday.  I have fun attempting her requests.  Well lately she has been really into rainbows.  She is quite the artist & she draws rainbows all day.  This year she said she wanted a rainbow cake.  She also said she wanted it to have clouds, grass & a unicorn on it.  

Hmmmmm...  

Here's what I came up with & it turned out really cute:

I decided to just frost it in a light blue color to represent the sky.  Then I used the grass tip (ok, I can't remember what it's called exactly, but it's that frosting tip that has all of the little holes in it so it looks like grass when the frosting comes out) to make some bright green grass around the bottom of the cake. Then I just used my round tips to make the rainbow stripes & the clouds.

To give her the unicorn she wanted I just put a small My Little Pony unicorn on the top of the cake.  And 7 bright pink candles, of course:

Make a wish Kaylee-girl:

For the inside I did this:

If a rainbow cake is what she wanted, then that is definitely what she got!  If you are on Pinterest, then you have seen this idea for a rainbow layer cake I am sure.  I decided to try it out for this cake & it was super cute!  And easy!  Vanilla cake batter, divide into 6 equal parts, tint each part with a different rainbow color, bake, level, layer-done!

And it was so yummy too, we hardly had any left after her celebration:

Happy birthday to my beautiful girl!

(7!)

You Are Special Plate {Tutorial}

Hello blog friends!  Yes, I am still here, just busy, busy, busy!  I am finally managing to put a blog post together today.  Not just a blog post either, but a little tutorial.  Yipee!  Now I can't take credit for this project, my good friend, Anya, showed me how to do this a few years ago.  

Today I am going to show you how to make your very own "You Are Special" or "Happy Birthday" or whatever you want plate!  Did you have a "You Are Special" plate growing up?  We did.  It isn't the usual red one that I've seen but is a metal charger that you actually put underneath the plate you're eating on.  After years & years of use, however, it isn't looking so pretty anymore.  And when I searched these plates online I was so surprised about how expensive they are!  So, time to make my own!  Plus, we had a Super Saturday a few weeks ago at church (basically a day of crafting) that I was helping out with & we decided to make these plates there too.  

Here are the plates I made:

Want to make your own?

Here's what you need:

Plates 

(I got both of the plates above at IKEA for only $3.99 each.  Since we were doing this project for our Super Saturday at church I bought white plates, but you can always use different colored plates as well & they turn out super cute.  Just make sure whatever plates you buy are oven safe.)

Ceramic Marker

(I bought the Pebeo Porcelaine 150 marker.  There may be other types of ceramic markers as well, but this is the type I had used before.  I bought mine at MarkerSupply.com for $3.69 each.  You may be able to find them in your local craft store or at a ceramics store too.  For my samples I just used the black marker, but they have other colors as well which are really fun.)

Stamps

Ink Pad (water based)

Step 1:

Now if you like you own handwriting you can just simply skip this step & use the ceramic marker right away.  I am not crazy about my own handwriting, so I like to stamp on the plates first & then trace it with the ceramic marker.  So, using your ink pad, stamp out what you want your plate to say with the stamps.  You can also stamp any images you want too.  The great thing about doing this first is that you can see what your plate will look like before you use the ceramic marker.  Also, if you make a mistake or want to change something just simply use a tissue or a baby wipe to wipe off the ink & start again.  I use a lighter colored ink pad so that I can see what to trace, but it won't show up under the ceramic marker.

Step 2:

Trace over what you have stamped with the ceramic marker.  If you make a mistake you have a couple of minutes before the marker gets tacky so you can use a baby wipe or a wet cloth to wipe it off & start over.  After a couple of minutes, though, it's not so easy to wipe off.

Step 3:

Let your finished plate dry for 24 hours.

Step 4:

Bake your plate in a 300 degree oven for 35 minutes.  This sets the marker.  Now you can use your plate!  You can even put it in the dishwasher & it holds up just fine!

These really are so, so easy!  And there are so many ways you can make these & get creative with them.  You could also make a "Cookies for Santa" plate, monogrammed plates or decorate them for any holiday.  These make great gifts too!  

Now after we made these at our Super Saturday at church a couple of weeks ago my friend showed me on Pinterest a plate like this where the person used a Sharpie marker & baked it too.  I'm sorry I don't have the link for it.  I haven't tried it that way, but you could always give the Sharpie a shot & see how it goes.

If you want to see some of the plates I made in the past, click here.

Movie Night Birthday Party

We've decided that we aren't going to do big birthday parties for our girls every year.  There's just no way we can afford it, plus they are a lot of work for this busy mom!  But, of course, we love to celebrate birthdays!  And Kaylee really wanted to do a little something with her friends this year for her birthday.  So we decided to do a movie night birthday party!  I figured that was easy enough-play a movie, provide some treats, birthday fun!  Well, if you have followed my blog for a while now you know that I can get carried away.  There must be some kind of support group for this kind of problem!  {smile}  I just can't help myself!

The week before the movie night I started looking around on Pinterest & came across all sorts of cute, simple ideas for our party.  And, hence, got a little carried away...

I made a party invitation in the digital design program I always use which is My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!  I love how it turned out & I just printed them out in 5"x7" size at Costco:

Then I used my Silhouette machine to print & cut out some "Admit One" tickets.  We wrote each girls' name on the ticket & simply stapled it to the invitation & then dropped them off to our friends' houses:

I made a movie poster & clipped it on our easel at the entrance to our "movie theater."  My daughter had picked Tangled to watch that night so I printed out a picture of the movie cover off the Internet & glued it on there:

I attempted to make a "theater" feeling in our family room by draping our TV cabinet in red plastic tablecloths:

So you could see through the plastic tablecloths a little, but it was a really cheap idea so I wasn't going to be too picky about it!

For our movie night treats we had a concession stand, of course:

Every girl received 3 blue tickets when they arrived at the party so that they could buy some treats at the concession stand.  Each item cost 1 ticket.  I made a "concession stand" poster to show some of the goodies they could "buy" & also to be a decoration:

We had popcorn:

 (I found the little cardboard popcorn boxes at Target.)

We had candy:

 (I saw this idea on Pinterest of putting the movie candy in these little containers.  I just printed out some decorative circles, punched them out & then wrote the names of the candy on them to attach on the lids.  My husband thought I was crazy for doing this because he said most of our party guests can't read yet anyway, but I thought it was such a cute idea!  And I like how I could make the perfect kid-sized portions for our movie night.)

We also had soda:

 (Caffeine free, of course!  And I love those little cans!)

I covered an empty baby formula can with some scrapbook paper & added a little "tickets" label.  Then I cut a slot into the lid so that the girls could put their tickets into the can when they "bought" something at the concession stand:

I started thinking that the likelihood of 10 little girls sitting through the entire Tangled movie wasn't good.  I decided to have at least one game ready to play to keep them entertained.  I found a great "Pin the Frying Pan on Flynn Rider" game online.  She provides a printable frying pan where all you have to do is print & cut it out, but then you have to draw your own "wanted" poster.  Luckily one of my husband's hidden talents is that he can draw really well!

So he drew the poster for our game:

The birthday girl got to go first:

And little sister, Aidynn, went last.  But you can see the frying pans in this photo:

I had also decided to bake some cupcakes so that we would have something we could stick a candle into so we could sing happy birthday to Kaylee.  I decided on these delicious hostess imitation cupcakes:

They fit with our concession stand theme, plus these are seriously some of our all-time favorite cupcakes!  And they're really easy to make too!

I also got the idea online to print out a few Tangled coloring pages to give the girls as their thank you for coming goody along with a set of inexpensive watercolors (since Rapunzel loves to paint, ya know):

I am so happy with how everything turned out.  And really, honestly, it came together quickly & was fairly inexpensive & best of all the girls had a blast!  Maybe we'll just do movie night every year for birthdays!