Penguins, Penguins!

My sis-in-law, Julie, is having a baby boy--I am so excited to be an aunt! We threw her a baby shower last weekend, and we chose a story-book theme for her as well. One of her favorite books growing up was Tacky the Penguin, so I decided to try my hand at making a penguin family. And then after browsing through tons of photos online, I decided that the cake needed an igloo as well. :) 

I made a vanilla cake with mini chips mixed in. :) The cake is iced with buttercream and topped with a blue layer of fondant. The cupcakes are chocolate with buttercream icing and sugar sprinkles.

Here is a close-up of the penguin family and igloo. I made the penguins out of gumpaste 4 days before the party so that they would dry in time. The igloo is covered in fondant--then I used a toothpick to draw in the lines and shimmer dust to make it look like sparkly snow.

And...the final display.

Congratulations Dan and Julie!!! 

Love you guys!

Twilight and Moonlight

First up....A Twilight Themed Party! I was asked to make a red velvet tiered "wedding cake" for the Grand Opening Night of the movie, Twilight. This was a really fun project to do. The crest took a good hour and a half to make, so if you are planning on doing this, allow plenty of time! :) I carved it out of fondant, and then piped on "Cullen" and the clovers with icing.

Ahh. The completed crest.

The finished product

Next, we have a Moon and Stars themed baby shower. My friend Leah showed me these cute ideas that she wanted for the cake/cupcakes, and here are the final results! The cupcakes were chocolate, and the cake is a pumpkin spice cake that was SO easy to make--not entirely from scratch--but oh so moist and delicious! Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/11/pumpkin-gingerbread-cake-with-spiced.html 

Top view

The cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant, and the large moon was made out of gumpaste.

Congratulations to Kristen and Ben and little Sam on the way!!

A "Woodland Tea" Shower

It was Lizzy's turn to have a baby shower, so the girls and I worked hard on establishing a theme that would incorporate all of Liz's favorites! Since Liz loves camping we decided on having an outdoor shower, and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect fall day. Our theme involved a tea luncheon with homemade soups and "make your own paninis" over an open fire. Thanks to Pinterest, Alicia and I made most of the decorations and had so much working on creative projects for our Liz.

Going along with the camping theme, we decided to have a "Trail Mix Bar" where each guest could fill her own  mason jar with her favorite trail mix blend. Alicia made the pretty pine cone garlands behind the table.

She also stamped these little owls (which were also used on the invitation envelopes) onto the tags.

I made these brown paper bag flowers using the tutorial on this website:
http://www.aplaceforusblog.com/2011/10/brown-paper-flowers-tutorial.html 
And they were really simple to make!

More outdoor decor

Our tea place settings

Little touches

Paninis cooking in the mountain pie makers!

Our S'more Table

Peanut Butter Smidgens (Liz's fav!!)

At our block decoration station, we used paint, mod podge, and scrapbook paper to create fun personalized blocks for Lizzy's soon-to-be little girl!

Blocks ready to be painted

The ladies adding their creative touches

A finished block

Cake time! Liz and her hubby are fascinated by owls, so I decided to do an owl cake for her. The cake was a chocolate pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting...not sure how much the fondant liked being on the cream cheese icing...but at least these owls made it for the length of the shower! :)

Look whoooo's having a baby!!

Congratulations Lizzy! We love you!