Becca + Sam: The Wedding Cake

I am so excited to post about this wedding cake. I absolutely love it & had so much fun creating it. With this being my most elaborate cake thus far, I must say I am pretty proud of it!

I love the simplicity, yet textural details, of the white on white design. Becca was so great to work with & aside from knowing she wanted 3 round tiers in white fondant, she pretty much left the cake design open for me to do as I pleased. I really hope she ended up liking it as much as I did. Congrats to the newlyweds & best wishes to them in starting their life together!

New! In the Esty Shop

How great is this saying?! My sisters-in-law told me they saw a saying (similar to this, I switched it up a tad) and that it reminded them of me. (What can I say? Those girls know me well!) I couldn't resist but design a poster! I initially intended for it to be for my own personal use, but hey...why not share the joy this little beauty brings!

Available now in my Etsy shop (additional color schemes coming soon!)

Event Design: Megan's 16th Birthday

Okay, so this isn't a TOTAL event design, but I've been really excited to post about this cake & cupcakes. I have been wanting a reason to make a ruffle cake and a color gradient for a while now. This cake was different from anything I've done before and had a lot of fun making it. I also really like the chevron pattern that seems to be on everything now days--and opted to use it for the coordinating cupcake wrappers.

I made the cake and cupcakes for a surprise party for my sister in law, Megan's 16th birthday. My other sister-in-law Amy put everything together and there was a great turn out. It was fun to see Megan's face when she realized what was going on after showing up at a park in town with Amy to "swing" and slowly recognizing friends of hers. Amy helped with the idea to incorporate a "flag" type theme and I think it turned out really cute, I used it on the cake banner and the cupcake toppers. Cute color pallete also, right? Amy was also behind that.

Happy birthday Megan! I hope you had a fun night and will enjoy what life has in store for you! You're at a fun age so be sure to enjoy every minute, and when you look back I hope this time in your life will bring a smile to your face! I know mine does for me.

Cake Design: 40th Birthday Party

How fun is this cake!? I will admit, I was a little intimidated when I heard what LaShana had in mind for the cake for her mom's 40th birthday party--but once I got going on it everything came together and I think the cake turned out really well!

My main concern was trying to make the pink and yellow circles look random and scattered without having a pattern to them. The challenge that factor brought to the design made it even more enjoyable to work on. The color scheme is really fun and brings a lot to the cake design itself, both give it a fun and modern twist. Thanks LaShana!

Event Design: "Cute as a Button" Twins Baby Shower

It's finally here! Photos from the "Cute as a Button" themed twin's baby shower. This was so much fun for me to work on, and I really loved the way it turned out. I think the cake was my favorite, who can resist realistic-looking fondant buttons? As mentioned before, I really loved the theme behind this shower as well as the color scheme which was carried through the invitations, cake, & cupcake designs. Check out the photos, and if you are interested in designs for an event/party of your own, I would love to hear from you!

Cherry Blossom Cake

My mom and I have had this big idea to make a cake to use as a centerpiece for every day decor for quiet a while now. After finding cake dummies (Styrofoam cut to size for use in long-term "cakes") we finally got together today to put our creative juices to work!

While the actual "cake" is Styrofoam, everything else on this pretty little thing is made from fondant and topped off with non-edible bees and a ribbon. I love the way the cherry blossoms turned out, and I love my Cake Cricut! I am excited to put this on my desk at work where I can enjoy it--hopefully it will cheer things up a bit. (I would leave it at home on my table as a centerpiece, but I have one crazy dog who has a love for frosting). *Doesn't it look cute on my homemade cake plate, seen here? *

My mom's cake turned out really cute as well, and so I wanted to post it along with mine. I am in love with her cute little bird, nest and eggs--as well as the color scheme she used!

We are hoping to make a cake for each season to display, so stay tuned for more in the future!

DIY: Cake Stand

There are hundreds of tutorials in the blogging world for do-it-yourself cake stands and while I don't have an exact blog, from the top of my head, that I got this from I did want to make it known that I saw it out there somewhere--probably even multiple places.

My intention for this pretty little cake stand is to make a "cake" (from a dummy) to set on it and place above my cubicle at work with the rest of my little cake/cupcake decor. It makes working a little more bearable to look up and see those pretty little things sitting on my shelf.

Best yet, this cost a total of $2.00 to make--given I had the "Yellow Meringue" colored spray paint from a previous project and have not yet bought the adhesive to seal the deal. (But really...we're looking at maybe $5.00-$6.00 by the time all is said and done). I took a trip to the dollar store and picked up a glass candlestick and a 9" glass plate--I'm sure you could use any size and I probably would've preferred mine a little smaller but this was all they had. I then spray painted those puppies and am soon to be sealing them together with an adhesive that works on glass. Viola!

25th Birthday: Zebra Cupcakes

It's no news to most people that I am INFATUATED with zebra print. I love, love, love it (and have for many years now--which has escalated into an impulsion to purchase anything that is zebra print, keeping in mind it must be within the boundaries of "classiness" as it can sometimes be rather tacky). There is just something with the contrast of black and white and the sweeping stripe design that thrills me.

In celebration of my 25th birthday I decided I was going to whip out some creativity, fondant, and cake cricut and treat myself, and some family, to some super cute zebra print cupcakes! And while it may be a tad vain, what more of a perfectly fitting cupcake could there be for me?!

I'm not gonna lie, this was a LOT of work. Between the flowers and the 18 zebra discs that I made--INDIVIDUALLY, mind you-- I easily spent 2+ hrs on just the decorations, but it was SO worth it!

I started by making coral-red 3D flowers using fondant, the cake cricut, and some fondant tools. I then used my all time favorite "finishing touches" of pearl sprinkles in the center and lustre dust on the flower petals. I then cut circles from black fondant, added stripes of white fondant (one by one by one by one), and cut a mini circle out of the disc for the flower to sit within.

Pretty darn cute don't you think?

Cupcakes : Spring Fever

The weather today was beautiful! The first inklings of spring always get me in the mood for cheery things--which was the inspiration behind these cupcakes. While they're simple they have that hint of "happiness" about them, which is why I love 'em.

I made the flowers and leaves out of fondant using my Cricut Cake, and I must say--I am a big fan! As much as I hated to admit it at first (because as you probably know the Cricut Cake isn't a cheap lil' toy) I was a bit underwhelmed by the results I was getting with the machine while using gumpaste (which was what Provo Craft seemed to recommend OVER using fondant). I was left with all sorts of raw & jagged edges. So, in one last desperation to make it work, I tried cutting designs from fondant, and viola! Amazing! And it cuts so much cleaner than gumpaste did!

If you're interested in some "custom" cupcakes for an event or party of your own, please let me know and we can work something out, I'd love to help!

St Patrick's Day Cupcakes 2011

At work we are having a potluck to celebrate St Patrick's Day, so OF COURSE I just had to make cupcakes! Going with the Irish origin of St Patty's day I went for (root)Beer Float cupcakes...and I'll admit, I "tested" one (gotta make sure they're edible), and it was delicious!

As usual, & because 3 is a great number to use in any sort of design/decor, I made 3 toppers containing a rootbeer mug, a polka-dotted shamrock & the cupcake flavor. I choose the brown & vanilla colors to keep with the rootbeer theme, but then added a mossy green to tie in St. Patty's Day. I didn't want to be too over bearing and have the cupcakes scream "IT'S MARCH 17TH!!", and I felt the color & image combos worked really well together to give a sense of both themes.

The cupcake stats:
Vanilla/Rootbeer Cake
Rootbeer buttercream
Dallop of whipped cream
White sprinkle pearls to represent the carbonation of rootbeer (love, love, love it)

"Super Why" Children's Birthday Cake

This is a cake I did for Robyn (who, by the way, has her own blog and business she's building, I Am A Girly Tomboy). Her son is turning one year old and she wanted a cake based on the cartoon Super Why, who her little boy adores. I had never heard of Super Why (being kid-less and all, you know?) and so after a little bit of research and some photos/samples that Robyn sent to me, I went to work on the creation of the cake using gumpaste, food coloring and my new Cake Cricut!

For those of you also unfamiliar with Super Why, here is an action figure of him.

And...here is the cake I made. While I'm not pro, it's not too shabby for a newbie.

Matt & Isabella: Wedding Cake

Okay, cut me some slack. The last two posts have been about some form of cake or another. But really, who doesn't love cake! And cake, in my opinion, can be made into a beautiful piece of art, so why not?

I was excited--okay, honestly. I was really super excited--when my mother-in-law asked me if I would mind making a wedding cake for my brother-in-law & his wife's reception here in Utah. (They were married last month in Brazil, and from the pics, it was gorgeous). Of course, having made my own wedding cake with her a few years ago, I immediately enlisted the help of my mom. (Thanks for the help mom!)

While there aren't necessarily "colors" for the open house there seemed to be a main color scheme of gray/silver, which I incorporated into the cake with the pewter-color ribbon and silver berries. I felt that these elements also really helped to make it feel like a "winter" wedding cake. You can't tell in the photo, but we also dusted some Pearl Dust onto the fondant to give it a subtle shimmer/glimmer--which reminds me a lot of the sun sparkling on snow.

We had a lot of fun making this cake and I think it turned out so well. (I hope the love birds like it!) It's clean & simple, yet has a sense of elegance.

And as a side note, I have a Cake Cricut making it's pretty little way to my house in the next week (as a graduation gift from my husband) and so there may be a few more cake-related "designs" popping up on this blog.