Baby Easter Party!

Today, Lily had all of her baby friends over for an Easter party!! :) We all met at a group when the babies were about 2-4 months old. They're all born between November and January and all girls. Crazy weird! So my mom suggested this idea and I'm so glad she did and helped me shop. Thanks Mom! Here are the decorations:

I also put garlands in the the hide and seek room, a few ribbons around and a chick with eggs cut out. I made the garland and will never touch tissue balls again. Those things are the biggest pains, EVER! They do look cool though!

So for food, I saw some ideas on pinterest. The silverware carrot idea was from there as well as the bread bunny! Way too cute. I made everyone's favorite, peanut butter filled chocolate cupcakes and put little chocolate eggs on top. I dyed the frosting green and used a star tip to look like grass. I think the food labels are a super cute touch and easy for sure.

For 'goody bag's, I used beach buckets(dollar store) (mom's idea), so that they can re-use them again. But me, being me, bedazzled them with their names! Inside I put a little bit of grass (dollar store), bubbles (dollar store), crayons (dollar store), an egg tambourine (iparty), a pinwheel (dollar store) and a little stuffed animal (dollar store) for the top. I also made a little bucket for the mom's because they deserve a treat, too!

And last but not least, the activities! Now these babies are between 14 and 16 months, so over planning can be tiring and wasted efforts for a party planner. If you plan too much, you'll lose their interest and they probably won't do it all. Most of a baby party will be just playing and down time. So I stuck with one main activity and a mellow activity. We of course did an egg hunt, which the girls were amazing at! I bought these cute glittery paper bags with bunnies from Iparty for 30 cents a piece and used those for egg hunting. We did it in the living room because it was too cold outside, still snow on the ground. YUCK. I filled the eggs with baby puffs and yogurt drops. 

The girls checking out their loot

The egg hunt was first. I felt that while the girls were pumped up to see each other, they'd have the most energy and focus now. Next was lunch, landing right around noon, where we started at eleven. Finally, I set up an Easter themed sensory tub. This was nice because the girls could freely play (and destroy) and also play with other toys without being told to do something specific. You can only ask so much of a baby before they just want to do their own thing, you know? So in the tub I got three or four bags of Easter grass (dollar store), and also added bunny tails, which were last season's snowballs, but this seasons bunny tails! They're like sparkly, large cotton balls. I also put in a chirping chick and hopping bunny from the dollar store, and some rubber ducks that Lil already had, and some empty eggs. The girls loved it and happily threw the grass all over the living room!

So that concluded our party! We had so much fun and I think it was a great success! The idea of one big activity, food and a mellow activity is definitely the way to go with multiple babies. Also, I feel that parties are a lot nicer when you offer healthy food. I chose whole wheat organic pasta to serve because it's a healthy option for babies, alongside the side dish, that mothers can be comfortable with. Nothing is more awkward when you don't want to feed your baby someone's unhealthy food. The adults could have the finger sandwiches and everyone was satisfied and raving. Lily had so much fun with her friends, and we can't wait till we all get together again. This is the friends from last year (the first time we got together), to this year! Almost exactly a year later. Crazy how fast time flies with babies!

Do you guys know any fun activities for babies? What are you favorite Easter traditions with a little one? Thanks for reading :)

-Becca

DIY Age Cake Topper

Hello! My feet are KILLING me cause I've been in the kitchen aaaaaaaaalllll day. A batch of cupcakes (2 flavors), and two cakes! Woo! Got a lot done, fixed some mishaps and am ready to show how I made my Cake topper from last posts cake, and one of my new cakes.
So here's the finished product on the cake:

So cute huh?! Perfect way to bedazzle a cake! This cake is Adam's great grandmother's, Lily's great great grandmother's! She was a St Patrick's Day baby and named Patricia in honor. She wants strictly St. Patrick's Day theme every birthday. Can't wait to present it tomorrow! Although it's kinda of funny.. I'm so proud of my work till it comes time for the "client" to get the cake. I get so nervous! I feel like a dog with my tail between my legs or something. Weird. OK!

Materials: 

I also used a hot glue gun! Oops! 

I find using my finger to spread the glue gets it totally all over so there are no empty spots. Then the best part:  Glitter!

Now, I do like three or so glitter sessions so that I get every part of the wooden number. 

Once the front and top dries, I move on to the back and bottom. Then last the middle. After this, I modpodged EVERY spot on the number. Be very sure to absolutely cover it. As much fun as glitter is, you truly don't want to eat it or have it rain on your cake. Then lastly, I hot glued it to my skewer, wooden pole thing. I bought a set of them at Michaels. The numbers took me FOREVER to find, and I traveled long and far to find them at the perfect size for cakes at AC Moore. I trimmed the skewer by holding it next to the finished cake and just snapped them. I filed the ends with a clean, new nail file to make sure there are no little splinters in my cake. 

You can do this with glitter, scrap book paper or anything your heart desires. If you check out my last blog, you'll notice I did a polka dot pattern on my 18 topper. I feel like it gives it more of a birthday feel where I don't usually actually write out happy birthday on my cakes anymore. Here are the rest of the pictures!

I am so proud of my guy's little beer! I hollowed out a pen and sawed it into a small round. Stuffed it with fondant, put a bit of frosting on top and added sugar pearls for bubbles! How awesome! The pot of gold is of course dusted with gold pearl dust. My leprechaun is full of tooth picks and built around a fat boba straw (which I also use for stacking my cakes). I used chocolate gold coins on the outside, too, and pasted those with frosting because they were so heavy! I think she's going to love it! Here's the other cake I made today: 

Things I learned this time around:

Don't even open the fondant till you're going to use it. (I tried to dye it ahead of time to save time.. nope. Don't do it, just wait and you'll get the desired consistency)

If you're coloring with food coloring (like the leprechaun's face or the star's faces) don't do it till it's already on the cake. 

Put moisturizing soap next to your sink. I washed my hands about 6,000 times today and are so dry from plain soap. Ouch! 

If you're building a sculpture that you want to stand, or sit on the cake, build around something that will hold it up. I learned this actually from the Harry Potter cake. "Impaling" your fondant will make it smush and bend a way that ruins your shape or creature.

Have a good playlist on hand. Tay Swift has stuck with me strong in all of my baking! 

So I hope you use this tutorial or enjoyed reading it anyway! Lily had a great day with her grandma. I had warned my mom much in advance that I'd needed her allllll day and I did. I was in the kitchen 10-6! I really hope everyone loves them because I know I'm going to wake up nervous as ever tomorrow morning. My next post will probably be of Lily's first party she's throwing. She's having four baby friends over for a one year old egg hunt! Should be lots of fun :)

Night!

Becca

DIY Cupcake Toppers

Hello!

So tonight was like one of the best nights ever for a few reasons!! 1. I got a special package from my beautiful cousin whose wedding is in December asking to be a bridesmaid!!!!!!!!!! I've never been a bridesmaid and am so beyond excited! It means so incredibly much to me and I am about to go pinterest crazy!!! I'm so happy for her and so touched that she wants me to be in her wedding! EEEEEEK!!! :)
2. I got to spend time with my best friend! This is unusual because she is a world traveler, volunteering in Africa, family in Lebanon, etc. She's off to Florida next and had to say goodbye again! Stinks, but I had a really good night with her and am super happy to spend time with her!
3. I'm totally weaning Lily and she fell asleep after only 15-20 minutes of tears tonight instead of last night which was 45 min-1 hr! Woo hoo!
4. I finished my cupcake toppers for this weekend's birthday festivities that is this weekends job and am almost done with a topper that's also due! Yay!

ANYWAYS! I just wanted to stress before I start my tutorial that I don't think I'm a pro or anything and don't want people to think that I think I'm all that... my point in writing is that I'm just starting out and figuring out as I go. If you have a better idea or more tips, feel free to comment and give me more ideas! I'm just sharing what I learn in hopes to inspire others :) No where near an expert and don't want to come off that way. So here are the toppers, the party is Dora the Explorer.

Now I will use pictures to show you how I made these through Microsoft word!!
Materials:
A computer and a printer (paper, too)
Scrapbook Paper
Lollipop Sticks
Hot Glue Gun
Ribbon (optional)

So first, I went on the Google and searched Dora the Explorer. I found an image with a white background and pasted to Microsoft Word. If you're having trouble finding an image literally search "with white background" or "portrait" after the characters name. Next, I shrunk the picture to the top corner of the page. Now, I've screen shotted the next few:

So! How easy?! Next, I looked up more images I'd like to use, and did words like Happy Birthday, and 2 and such etc. After this, I printed them out and picked out scrapbook paper that went with my color scheme.   Thanks Sierra for letting me look through! Next, I free handed a flower-ish bump-ish border and cut them out!

(Sorry it's blurry! Using cell pictures with a baby pulling at my leg!!) And then cut!!!

Now, I took out my lollipop sticks and hot glued my little creation to it's stick. I also tied a mini bow and hot glued that as well. I thought tying the bow ahead of time instead of tying it around the stick would prevent slippage and allow you the perfect bow! I trimmed the bottom of the ribbon to size and got this! My ribbon, by the way, was 4 rolls for a 1$, saw it on sale on my Michael's App! You HAVE to get that bad boy, so useful!

I am so sorry I rotated my pictures like a million times and they are still sideways! UGH! But back to toppers- I think they're perfect for customizing your own! If you're really good, you could paste picture's of birthday boy/girls face and you can write what ever and do whatever pattern. I think they're a really awesome touch of extra effort that can go a mile. They sell these on Etsy and are now selling them in stores, but hey, you can personalize them yourself and save money. Hope you enjoyed, will post pictures of the cupcakes topped Later! Also, almost done with my DIY cake topper. Will post ASAP. Thank you sososo much for reading :) Night!

-Becca

18th Birthday Cake

Hello! Writing in the midst of a huge storm... yes again! My mom, Lil and I just got back from toys r us, though, and she got a new stroller to push her babies around in. She's very pleased! Any who, I made my best friend's little sister's 18th birthday cake and am pretty happy with how it came out! It's vanilla on vanilla, but I dyed the frosting pink to look pretty. I used Duff Goldman fondant, but was a teeny bit disappointed because the color was definitely not the shade on the tub. Oh well! My DIY cake topper turned out not matching in shade because the fondant wasn't the right shade. Nevertheless, it's still glittery and pretty. Here it is!

Quick suggestion- when doing things polka dotted, like the name , I put the polka dots on the fondant BEFORE cutting out, therefore, I can get the effect better with some going off the edge. Also, I always use shimmer dust (or pearl dust) where I can. I found it much better to literally put a little in my hand and blow it onto to the cake like fairy dust. It settles over the cake is such a pretty way and never clumps. I'll be delivering tomorrow and really hope she likes it! Happy 18th Brittany! You're finally legal :) 

Night! -Becca