Happy Birthday Penelope!

Happy Monday, dear readers!  And a very happy birthday to my lil ladybug Penelope!  She turned the big 1 today!  However, yesterday was her big birthday bash.  I have been anticipating the day since her mama, Nancy (one of my dear friend from high school) contacted me about Penny's birthday bash.  Nancy, knowing that I love to bake, gave me permission to bake some goodies to bring to the bash.  Because Penny's cake was taken already, I had thought to just make some cupcakes to bring.  Well, then I decided I will still make a little cake...it will give me some extra practice.....WELL, one thought led to another and I ended up with this:

Dessert table!!  I know, crazy, right??  I mean, how the heck did I go from cupcakes to this??  I think this was more for the adults than the kids!  But creating a dessert table really opened my eyes to the amount of work that goes into preparing one!!  There were soooo many details to think about!  I already had all the pretty apothecary jars sitting in storage, waiting for the day they will be of use, so I didn't have to buy too many jars/plates/etc...But finally, finally, I was able to use them!  And luckily, since all the stores are preparing for Valentine's day and springtime, I was able to find some really cute ceramic ladybugs.  Although, I'd have to say, I'm amazed I didn't find very much ladybug accessories this year.  I thought with Valentine's day approaching, there would be a lot of "love bug" ladybugs around..but surprisingly, found very few!  I decided to make a few desserts that were simple and yummy.  French macarons were definitely on the menu, since I haven't made them for my dear friends since Penny was just  born!  I also decided to make vanilla popcorn balls, fortune cookies, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, rice krispy treats, cake pops, chocolate trifle, and vanilla sugar cookies.  Oh, all on top of the ladybug cupcakes and the ladybug cake, of course.

So, me, always doing waaay more than I think I can, set off to do it!  And of course, I made a little schedule for myself (which I would have stuck to, if not for husbands who try and distract you!...no worries though...punishment for distractions = wrapping all the oreo cookies in the pretty pink and silver foil I bought!).  And of course, everything took a few hours more than I thought it would!  However, I am simply amazed, myself, at how great the table looked!  In fact, I'm still patting my back!  And the cake!  Isn't it just the sweetest, cutest thing you've seen??  I just want to pinch its little cheeks!

And of course, I had to have cute signs made!  That Cricut cutter came in handy!  I also made pink and red ladybugs to place around the table...Thank you Cricut for make circles perfectly for me...you saved me a lot of valuable time!

I had a fantastic time creating this ladybug dessert table for my lil Penny!  This was definitely a labor of much, much love and what with me, getting so carried away with baking and creating all these sweets, means I love her all the more!  She's got a fantastic set of parents and I can't wait for the next endeavor!  Sorry, Nancy and Aaron...this means Penny is mine to make sweets and dessert tables for for the next 10-15 years of her life ;)

Happy reading, my dear readers!