Cars 2 Cake

My little boy is obsessed with anything Cars 2 related. He likes Lightening McQueen okay, but he loves Finn McMissile. As his birthday approached, he constantly reminded me that he wanted a Cars 2 birthday party. 

Here's the cake I made for him:

I used a car forms cake pan, and chose the ones that were shaped most like Mater and Finn. I frosted Finn with blue buttercream, and left Mater as just cake, because it looked more rusty than frosting would have. I added the eyes, mouths, and wheels with more colored frosting.

The cake was just a plain vanilla cake, but I added chopped Oreos into the batter before baking. It has three layers, is frosted in cream cheese frosting and has crushed Oreos all over it- kind of looks like dirt . . .

The birthday boy loved it, and devoured Finn while sharing Mater with his big sister.

Ombre Pony Cake

My little daughter is in love with My Little Ponies. She requested a My Little Pony cake for her party, and I was excited to figure out my design and make it for her. The day before her party I made and baked the cake, and after she went to bed I made tons of frosting and decorated it. It took a while, but I love how it turned out! I only took a few pics on Instagram of the process:

pink cake batter!

lots of colorful frosting

When my little 5-year-old woke up, I was so excited to show her. She squealed when she saw all the pink, and then she saw the pony and was thrilled! It was so fun to cut into it and see the layers of pink- I love me some ombré!

This pretty much proves that I'd do anything to see my daughter smile!

P.S. I used the tutorial HERE to make the pony on top of the cake.

A Girly Birthday Mantle

Today is my first born's 5th birthday. The hubs and I stayed up late hanging streamers from her door, banners through the kitchen, blowing up lots of balloons, wrapping her chair at the table, and wrapping all of the presents. When she woke up this morning she was giddy with excitement at all of the birthday decorations. I put up her birthday mantle a few days ago so we could enjoy it a bit longer. I never tire of looking at pictures of my sweet girl through the years.

There is a picture of her as a baby and then at each of her birthdays. I added a cute birthday printable that I got from Eighteen25. 

Then I used one of my blocks to make a cute little number 5 decoration. (I have a big stack of unfinished blocks in my garage that I cut from a 2x4- they are ready for whenever I want to paint up a quick project.) I simply painted it, distressed it and used distressing ink to darken the edges, stuck a number 5 sticker on it, and finished by mod podging over everything. 

You'll notice a little pink and purple pony. My girl is such a cowgirl at heart and insisted on a My Little Pony theme, so I painted her a little pony figurine.

I also made her a cute little birthday hat out of fabric, heavy interfacing, a fabric ruffle, yarn pompom, and stretchy lace. She loves it and insisted to put it on when she woke up!

I am so looking forward to celebrating and spoiling her all day long. We are celebrating with family on the weekend, and I can't wait to make her cake!! More pictures to come.

Cowgirl Party

Anyone who knows my daughter, knows she is a cowgirl at heart. It all started with an outing to the rodeo, and since then she has been hooked. She loves horses, boots and cowgirl hats. Every time she sees a horse or a barn, she shouts out its name with excitement. So last year, as her birthday approached (okay so several months before her birthday) she told me she wanted a cowgirl birthday party. I had been throwing around party themes, but that idea topped them all, and I was so excited to get planning. With a baby due just weeks after her birthday, I wanted everything ready way in advance. We planned, made lists, bought supplies, and crafted.

I had so much fun designing the invitations. When they were finished and printed, we drove to each of her friends' homes to delivered them.

When the day arrived I put up a few simple decorations and we had lots of fun activities to do. 

As the kids arrived they got to dig through a basket filled with cowgirl/boy hats, handkerchiefs, vests, etc. and dress up as a cowboy or cowgirl.

We did a bean bag toss:

I saved a big piece of cardboard from some package we received way back when (finally justifying my oh-I'll-keep-that-because-it-may-come-in-handy-one-day hoarding mentality.) Then I sketched out some farm animals, then painted them in. Once the paint was dry, I cut out some holes and was ready to go. I made some bean bags out of scrap fabrics. Then, I just had some helpers hold up the board as the kids tossed the bean bags.

We did stick horse races:

I was originally going to make some simple stick horses then give them away as favors, but time got the best of me. Instead I borrowed some from my mother-in-law's prop filled Drama classroom.

We played pin the tail on the horse:

I used a piece of brown poster board to paint a horse on. Then I cut out tails from black poster board. Each tail was labeled with a child's name. The rest is self explanatory.

We played Pop the Pig: 

This was the kids favorite activity (except a few of the younger kids.) I blew up a ton of balloons and drew farm animal faces on them (mostly pigs.) Then on the count of 3 the kids were to see how fast we could all pop the balloons. It was loud, crazy, madness, but the kids LOVED it.

After games and presents, we sang and ate cake:

This was my first time using fondant on a cake. It made the decorating process much easier. I made one traditional cake and then lots of cupcakes.

As the parents arrived, K handed out the goodie bags:

We filled each handkerchief with some horse stickers, sheriff badge, horse tracer & pencil, and some candy, then tied it all up with some string and a "Thanks Y'all" tag I designed.

My cowgirl and her band of buckaroos had so much fun, and I had fun putting it all together to make it a special day for my sweet little girl.