confetti by lexi

ease on down the road!

yesterday's sweet card inspiration reminded me that i had not yet shared the cake i made for my daughter's big eighth grade play cast party. i've done theme cakes for the last couple of eighth grade classes. a castle for beauty and the beast, dice for guys & dolls. and now, the yellow brick road to the emerald city for the wiz.

i knew it was basically the wizard of oz, but i wanted the cake to fit with their vision. i thought about creating the house on top of the witch's legs, but i was told that wasn't a big moment in the play. i didn't know much about the scenery, except that they'd created gouache paintings that were being projected as the backdrops, but i hadn't seen them. so when mignon described the painting she did of the poppy field with the emerald city in the background, i finally had my inspiration.

she said their drawings of the emerald city were like upside down test tubes - thankfully easy enough to create in edible clay. for the yellow brick road, i found a texture mat with the brick pattern which was so much easier than my original plan of trying to "draw" it myself - my dad thought i had, but i fessed up! it's hard to see in the picture, but i added a little gold shimmer powder to the road and city. and the board is covered in black glitter paper covered in cellophane for even more sparkle. the shoes were taken from a muses mardi gras bracelet - silver as they were in the play. i had very limited time to put this cake together with all that was going on that week (and forgetting some of the supplies at the cash register at michael's - yikes!), so i was very happy when mignon said i nailed it! we made it to school in time to help set up, the performance was fantastic (one of the best, says this biased mom!), and everyone else loved the cake, too. yellow on the bottom, chocolate on top. many enjoyed it at the cast party along with all of the other party food, but i heard it was really demolished at the student lock in that followed.

sweet!
:) lexi

flashback friday :: bunny twins

it's been a while since i posted a flashback friday, but i came across these cakes from last year in my photo files - perfect timing! they're actually take two of a pair of bunny cakes from a few years ago, both times for the same twins. every few years their birthday falls on or very close to easter and twin bunnies works well! i think i cut the ears a little differently the second time around, but they're pretty much the same bunnies otherwise - two small round layers for the face, shaped ears from a 9 x 13 cake cut in half, candy & pretzel features. easy and cute if you find yourself needing a cake for easter...

hippity, hoppity!!
:) lexi

original post: april 12, 2009

starlight movie night

after sharing last weekend's backyard party yesterday, i realized that i never posted the one from last year. our eleventh hour brainstorm then was to rent an inflatable movie screen and have a movie party under the stars. for the invitation i designed a drive in movie style logo on a big screen, complete with retro frame details, stars, and concessions characters - "let's all go to concessions! let's all go to concessions!" i couldn't resist! i even included a few vertical static lines. remember those?!

the invitation design also lent itself well to creating some fun signage. in addition to the welcome sign above, i created others for concessions, the game room, the restroom, enter this way, and thank you for coming. like the banners yesterday, it was an easy element that helped set the scene and personalize the party. ferris bueller's day off was our special feature that night - the kids would stop and watch parts of it here and there, but it really ended up being background noise to the seventh graders more than anything else. although the two fifth graders watched it from start to finish despite the noise and flying objects - boys will throw anything!

you can't have a movie party without popcorn and candy, right? the movie screen company also had popcorn machines available to rent, so it was fresh and hot. as always the candy was a hit. gotta love the bulk choices at sam's - the display boxes they came in were perfect for the movie theater feel. other concessions included quesidillas made to order at the grill - yum!

and last, but not least, i created a popcorn cake. this is a remake of one i've made a couple of times before. it was silly to try to come up with something new. it's such a fun design - and easy, too! i love the added touch of using real popcorn with melted marshmallow to "fill" the container and have a couple of spilled pieces. so there you have it - another take on the back yard bash! and i'm finally sharing things from the very high "to post" pile...

goodnight!
:) lexi

surprise crawfish boil

sunday was my older daughter's 14th birthday, and like almost every year, it was a soccer tournament weekend and we had to wait for her game schedule to be released before making any birthday decisions. it didn't turn out to be a very good schedule, which left her unsure about what she wanted to do, if anything. so, while she was busy being disappointed and indecisive, i secretly took it out of her control and set about planning a last minute surprise back yard bash for saturday night after her game. i knew she'd be hungry and she loves crawfish, so a crawfish boil became my theme. i created the invites as a pic to be texted and sent it off to one of her friends to circulate. then i printed a few variations of it for decorations...

to set a crawfish table, all you really need is newspaper, which was the basis of my invite design. a few full legal copies of it were the perfect addition to our crawfish table for a fun personal touch!

half page print outs cut into flags, alternating with blue cardstock flags, made for a cute banner - and another perfect personal touch. a few uncut ones taped around in different places let the birthday girl see the complete invite she'd missed. don't you love that blue and red washi tape?

a party like this definitely needed a photo booth with fun props. i added another flag banner to my set up and used elements of the invite along with the same fonts and colors to create a logo style caption for the pics. i highly recommend sparkbooth for party photo booths. i love the personalization possibilities and how easy it is to set up and use. kids (and many adults) always have fun when i bring this out!

and last, but definitely not least, i even figured out how to perform surgery on swedish fish to make candy crawfish to embellish the cake (!!), with yet another little piece of the invite, in flag form, flying above. over all, the decorations, mainly created from the invite, really pulled everything together. plus, they were easy to hide and quick to assemble, so the birthday girl was very surprised even though i did it all right under her nose - yay!!

:) lexi

nothing but net

and cake! this one is from a few weeks ago, and it's a redo. but i like to share those too. when i create a ball cake (golf, basketball, bowling), i bake the two halves of the ball in an aluminum bowl to get the shape. there are cake pans made specifically for balls now, but this has worked for me for years, and it's a little bigger than the ball mold i've seen, so i keep using it. the bottom half is yellow cake, the top, chocolate, just for the birthday boy. with two flavors, there's a little something for everyone. score!

:) lexi

chugga chugga choo choo

an animal train is coming through! this is one of several things that kept me busy over the weekend. the request: to create a train cake for a birthday boy who loves animals. i loosely copied the engine from the invitation, added other cars in the bright colors that they were using for the favor bags, and made room for animals to take a to ride. most of the details are fondant - it's hard to beat it when you need crisp lines or molded shapes. but i also threw in a few grasshopper cookies and pretzels for the wheels, and smooshed marshmallows for puffs of smoke. i was a little nervous putting it all together, especially shaping the animals, but the result was exactly what they wanted. yay!

:) lexi

feeling lucky?

roll the dice! these cakes were for the cast party of our eighth grade production of guys & dolls. the parent in charge asked for something simple to go with the gambling theme of the play, including something fun on the board. dice and poker chips came to mind immediately and were also easy to create. one yellow, one chocolate, too. gotta love that!

:) lexi

let the fun begin...

i had so much fun with this little ensemble from the weekend that it gets to jump ahead of the stack! one of my return customers wanted to throw some kind of game night party for her daughter and i showed her mignon's 9th birhtday post for some inspiration. we had turned our family room into a "mini arcade," focusing on the new dance dance revolution for the wii that we had gotten for christmas that year, and borrowing several other games. the biggest hit was scoring a claw machine for the night. it turned out to be just the inspiration my client was looking for. so after she found a place to rent a claw machine, i created a paper one for the invite. i love fun drawing jobs like this!

we carried claw bits and pieces over to the favor bag sticker and a cd sticker for the birthday girl's party mix. "game on" from the invite is changed to "game over" for the favors!

and of course, a claw machine cake was necessary. i think i duplicated the paper one pretty nicely. and judging from the birthday girl's big smile when i delivered it, she thought so too!!

game on!
:) lexi

flashback friday :: first communion

now that easter is over and people aren't searching for the peeps stickers as much (although some still are!), i can see what else visitors are looking for - and just like this time last year, communion cakes & decorations are at the top of the stats list.  i flashed back to my younger daughter's bible cake then, so this year i decided to show big sister's rainbow cross cake.  both posts are linked below, with all the details, including invitations.

happy weekend!
:) lexi

original posts: may 6, 2007 and may 3, 2009

bounce! bounce! tumble, flop!

surprise it's not just another cake!  but it's not just an invitation either - it's an invitation with a cake to match!!  the request was for a gymnastics invitaton for twins, followed by a cake for the event a couple weeks later.  the invite is an oldie but goodie, perfect for twins since there are two kids on it.  and it turned out to be great inspiration for the cake...

so many little pieces of fondant to cut out, but the end result was worth it!  the boys loved it and i heard from several attendees that it was yummy too!

:) lexi

monster cakes

my internet kept going out last night, but i'm happy to back tonight with more cake!  actually, today's post is mostly about a cupcake party activity - monster cakes.  but first, the birthday girl needed to have a candle cake, so i made a mini 6 inch round monster cake with candle hair.  sure, you could put a candle in one of the cupcakes, but if you have enough batter, a mini cake just for candles is a fun bonus!

for the cupcake activity, i prepared the cupcakes and icing, purchased a variety of fun candies, and printed some examples.  this was a halloween themed birthday, so we chose orange, purple, and green for our monster icing, which i divided into pastry bags and tied closed.  when it was time to decorate the cupcakes at the party, i snipped off the points and squeezed each guest's choice on their cupcake for them to spread and stick candy into to create faces.  kids playing with icing and candy - of course it was a hit!  and before you think you have to wait until next year to make monster cakes, maybe you should consider a monsters, inc. movie party or read go away, big green monster! by ed emberly to your child's class and create cupcakes afterwards.  you could even incorporate them into a candy themed birthday.  monsters are definitely not just for halloween!

:) lexi

skate doodles

although i didn't bake anything new this weekend, i still have several cakes to share, so here we are rolling into another week of sweet art pieces!  this one was for an eleven year old girl's skating party, but i'm sure you could tell that.  she wanted me to include a traditional skate, turquoise blue plus other bright colors, and fun details.  i immediately remembered a doodle cake i'd done before and thought doodling around a fondant skate would be just the fun look she wanted.  hearts, stars, and swirlies - all things girly!

:) lexi

flashback friday :: cake carving 101

yay!  i blogged for a whole week!!  since it's been all about cake this week (with a few more still to come!), i thought i'd flash back to "how to bake a margarita" to revisit my cake shaping process.  if you click on through, you'll see a few more pictures and a description of how i turn three 9 x 13 cakes into the margarita.  enjoy & happy weekend!

:) lexi

original post: october 18, 2007

frozen with salt!

today, i have another cake created for a pre-wedding party.  i guess fiesta would be more to the point!  this is the fourth time i've created this margarita cake and there are always a few moments while doing the crumb coat when i think it's heading for disaster, but then it all works out in the end.  my favorite details are the clear sugar sprinkles for the salted rim and the fondant lime - it's always the little touches that make the biggest impact!

:) lexi

tasty tiffany blue

a cake covered in iconic tiffany blue buttercream with a sweet white fondant bow was the request for a recent bridal shower.  not surprisingly, the hostess' gift to the bride was in a matching box - one to open, one to eat!  how perfect is that?  so perfect, in fact, that i'm doing it again in a few weeks for an engagement party!

it was also perfect for a luncheon for a group of women called the tiffany circle.  now, technically the tiffany & co. logo fits just under the bow in the center of the box, but for the luncheon we found a more visible spot in order to celebrate the group.  what's not to love about a pretty blue box?!

:) lexi

party-on-purple!

what better cake for a mani-pedi party than a bottle of nail polish in the birthday girl's favorite color?  it gives nibbling on your nails a whole new meaning!  i really hope i get to create this one again in a different color - red, pink, aqua, neon green - the possibilities are endless!!

:) lexi

hello cake!

work has been keeping me away from the blog lately - creating, baking, even a little decorating around my house.  as soon as school started back up, people started throwing more parties and needing invitations and cakes.  i've actually been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with cake order on top of cake order, which keeps me away from the computer a little more than other things.  my goal this week is to share as many of those sweet treats as i can, starting with hello kitty times two...

two little girls were having a hello kitty themed gymnastics party and wanted hello kitty cakes with a little star power!  one went for a traditional hello kitty, while the other opted for pink and purple.  i carved the hello kitty faces out of 2 layer 8 inch round cakes and iced them with homemade buttercream.  the embellishments are all candy - jelly beans for the eyes and noses, cut and stripped twizzlers for the whiskers, and gumdrops, rolled out in sugar for the stars and bows.  i heard they were a hit!

:) lexi

congratulations cake

while we're on the subject of graduation, here's a cake i made for another december graduate.  the request was for something to coordinate with the school logo, in school colors, of course.  the logo itself is circular, so a two layer round cake was perfect and simple--it's nice to take a break from the sculpted cakes from time to time!  fondant, cut using a printed cardtock template of the logo, is the best way to get nice crisp lines and a little edible shimmer dust adds just the right bit of sparkle.  every graduate needs a little cake!

:) lexi

more fun with peeps

i hope you had a nice easter!  before i leave it all behind 'til next year, i wanted to share another peeps treat that we created over the weekend for the family kids.  i saw it on the today show friday morning and thought it was the perfect new idea to try.  the cut cup creates a cracked egg for the peep to pop out of--so cute!  we packed it like a little egg basket, adding a bit of edible easter grass for another fun touch, not to mention something else to eat.  to me, the grass tastes a little like lightweight flavored styrofoam, but it was a novelty that everyone loved!  i call them peeps pops.  i managed to save one to photograph today, because i forgot to yesterday, but they looked so cute all piled up in the basket, too.

:) lexi

a blue ribbon birthday

the end of last week turned into cake-week, with two days in a row making cakes.  my kitchen was a mess of sugar, butter, and best of all cake scraps!  this one was created to look like the invitation for the party, pictured above--twin vs. twin in a field day face off!

the ribbon was fairly easy to construct, although a little tricky to ice in a few places, like where the blue ribbon meets at the circle and the ribbon cuts at the bottom.  a great plus to the cake is that it's easy to do both yellow and chocolate cake, because the top is a two layer round cake, and the bottom is cut from two square layers.  options are good--a slice of each for me, please!

in addition to the cake, i also created cup stickers and iron-on tshirt transfers.  i love those details that pull it all together!!

:) lexi