Aidan's 5th Birthday

Surprise!  Two posts this week!  See, didn't I tell you I'm getting back on track?  Today's post is super fun!  It's all about my lil nephew Aidan and his airplane themed party! It was super cute, Aidan had been looking forward to his birthday party since his last birthday.  The little man never really had a huge birthday bash before, so this year, my sister-in-law decided to bring it on for him.  So, every year, the kids have a themed birthday.  This year, Aidan's first themed birthday was airplanes!  Now, I have to got to admit, I'm not very good at doing boys type stuff.  I'm already not that creative in the first place, but at least with girl parties, I can make it fu-fu and pretty and it still looks decent!  However, with boys, I don't get a lot of practice (my sister-in-law has two girls...remember Brianna?)  And dear Aidan picks "airplanes."  I was kinda scared...Airplanes seem kinda hard to do..there's always more details on vehicles type themes...details that I'm not too great at!...But I got into the spirit of it and airplanes we did!  Look at that cutie pie...he's just so darn adorable, I can't say no to him! And the smile he gives you, along with his excitement and love, just makes all that hard work worth it!!  He's a charmer this one, he certainly is...I better watch out!

My first cake that isn't round or square!  This cake was actually pretty fun to make.  I found this really cute airplane mold and voila, airplane cake.  Aidan's favorite color is green and  I had first thought to buy pre-made green fondant.  But darn, fondant is so expensive and I had a few pounds of white fondant at home already, so I decided to make my own green.  I have no idea why I ever listen to myself sometimes.  I already know that I'm not that good at making colors...I noticed this whenever I make cut out cookies and have to make concentrated colored icing.  My colors are never concentrated enough!  And what happened this time?...Yup, same story.  It turned out well enough, but ahh, I'll remember for next time!  I was so proud of myself on this cake though.  And my proudest moment?  Well, that would have to be those marshmallow clouds.  I was so proud of my creativity...(yes, that's how unimaginative I usually am..so unimaginative that I'm super proud of my clouds!)  I think a lot of the kids there were curious about this cake...must have touched it a few times, wondering what it was!  Good thing people don't really eat fondant!!

The desserts table included chocolate cupcakes, marshmallow propeller pops, rice krispy treats, a yummy mixture of fruit punch, and airplane and helicopter shaped sugar cookies!  My sister-in-law had a taste of what I usually do...she piped the "sky" on these chocolate cupcakes!  Great job!!

Yep...everything was made here...even that sky stick holder thing.  Yep...me trying to be creative again!  It's an interesting project, both the marshmallow pops and the sky stick holder thing.  It's a good thing kids love marshmallows!  I found these giant marshmallows; they are like 4 times the size of regular marshmallows and decided to have a combination of giant marshmallows and regular size. 

My lil cutie.  He had a wonderful time at his birthday!  I hope he enjoyed his first big birthday party!  Wonder what his wish was?

Hope you all enjoyed this post!  Look out for more to come...it's catch up time!!

Cyndi and Chris

Happy Monday folks!  Sorry I've been away for so long...it's been a crazy August and early September!  And yes, it's been pointed out to me that there was only one post for August! Sorry, sorry!  As you know from my last post, I was away on a road trip for half of August.  It was a nice getaway, and since I've been back, I've been busy with a lot of preparations for Cyndi and Chris' September wedding.

I had met Cyndi earlier this year.  She is actually my cousin, Christina's, trainer.  Knowing that I bake, Christina passed along my information to Cyndi, who was looking for options for her September wedding.  Lo and behold, Cyndi contacted me for the gig, deciding on my vanilla chiffon cupcakes and those wedding cake cookies as her wedding favor.  We had spoken a few times about the look she was trying to achieve for her wedding.  And although Cyndi is a tough chick, she had envisioned a very delicate look for her cupcakes! She decided to go with a bunch of small blossoms for half her cupcakes.  I had made two sizes of blossoms, topping the cupcakes with about five blossoms.  On the other half of her cupcakes, she wanted a sprinkle of mini plumeria-like flowers.  Both looks implied simplicity, but let me tell you, there was plenty of work that went into creating simplicity!  Together with the cookies, I ended creating more than 2,100 flowers, individually by hand!  Those who have played around with fondant and gumpaste will know the sheer work involved!  But wait, there's more!  Every single flower had to be luster dusted and pasted with a single pearl in the middle!  All I can say is thank goodness these flowers could be made ahead of time and kept until time of use!!  Because I would be in some serious trouble if I couldn't!!  And with careful planning, I churned out a couple thousands of flowers in just a few days!

I had decided to do a whole tier of yellow flowers and a whole tier of the mini blossoms.  I think it looks a little less busy but pulls the look together.  The florist had left some extra flowers for me to use on the cupcake table.  I don't have a lot of experience with floral arrangements, but not too shabby, if I say so myself!

Amongst making thousands of flowers, I also hand made this cute sign indicating the flavor of the cupcakes.  I think it fit in well with the whole look of elegant simplicity.

Cyndi and Chris decided on bride and groom cupcakes!  The flavor of their cupcakes is chocolate mint with vanilla mint buttercream!  I hope they enjoyed their cupcakes!

Oh yeah, can't forget about those wedding cake cookie favors!  The cookies were held in a basket and upon departing the yacht, were handed out to each guest.  I thought the yellow ribbon, along with the ivory/black "thank you" tags, brought an elegant touch.  And of course, each tag was individually made and hand-stamped by yours truly...although my Cricut had a hand in cutting those circles for me! 

And the best news one could receive?  According to Christina, who attended the wedding, there were plenty of positive comments to go around on those cupcakes!  Christina, who chided me on taking more than one cupcake when I attend weddings, even ate two! And according to her, those cookies were "perfect!"  In fact, she thought they were so tasty, even the fondant strips on the cookies were good!  It really makes my heart swell with pride upon hearing such positive comments!  And to know that all my cupcakes were snatched up and enjoyed by the end of the event (even though I made more than what the cake rule says) just helps to affirm that I am indeed on the right track!

Congratulations Cyndi and Chris!!  May you two find marriage just as beautiful as the two of you are!!