Damask baby shower

                                                                    

I had the privilege of helping Natalie and Rachel with Carissa's baby shower.  It was so beautiful.  Carissa's favorite design is Damask so the girls went with this for the theme.  So fun! I love pink and black together.

















 I saw this cake stand on line and had to make one myself that I could use over and over.
To make the stand: I used square cake dummies that were 14", 10" and 6". The columns are soup cans but this is not as sturdy as I would like so I'm still looking for an alternative.
We used wrapping paper to cover the edges and contact covered poster board to cover the top. Both are adhered by double sided tape. We hot glued the pink ribbon on the top and bottom of each tier. The soup cans are wrapped in black cardstock.

 My favorite part is the tutu.  Thanks Rachel for sewing this for me.  It turned out so cute.  I used straight pins to attach it.

 I made a few pinwheel cupcake toppers. I can't get enough of these after Lucy's party.

 Carissa wanted chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and pink lemonade cupcakes.  I tried the new pink lemonade cake mix and I thought it tasted pretty good.  I used the same pink lemonade recipe from Lucy's party but I think I added more so it was really tart.

 I love the pom-poms and banner!

Natalie made this and I thought it turned out so super cute.  What a fun gift to give the mom to be.  Rachel made the cute booties that are hanging in the center (they matched an adorable dress she sewed for her.)  Is there anything these girls can't do?

Happy 3rd Birthday Wyatt!

 My sweet little Wyatt is completely obsessed with trains so this was the perfect theme for his party.  It was even better watching him enjoy every little detail as it came together.  We were going to have the party at the railroad park but it decided to rain on us.  Thanks Shan for helping me set up my house last minute.

*My dear friend Rita gave me a train calendar to use as decor.  I decided to hang them from the ceiling.

Jared helped me with this fun cake.
I made a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate pudding and raspberries for the filling and cream cheese frosting.
Bridge-baked cake in quart size bowl and carved out the center and frosted with chocolate frosting.  We used the chocolate rocks that I found at Wal-Mart.
Water-blue frosting with blue colored piping gel on top.
Sand-crushed graham crackers
trees-waffle cones cut to size covered with dark green frosting.  I think I used star tip 16 to pipe it on.

 Track-this was Jared's assignment.  We used tootsie rolls. We unwrapped several, placed them in a bowl to microwave for a few seconds and then rolled them out on wax paper and used a pizza cutter to cut them out. For the rails he rolled out 2 very long strips then used my black gel food coloring to paint it.
bridge-hershey's chocolate bar and tootsie rolls under neath.
This was one of my favorite cakes to do but took a lot of time.
Oh I found the cute little train at a cake shop here in town.

 I saw this idea on line and had to copy it for the take home treats. I borrowed Shan's engine and the box car's I found at the dollar store. I used the railroad tracks from one of Wyatt's trains to set it on.

 In the caboose were red chocolate suckers.  I found the mold at the same cake shop where I found the train on the cake.

 Next to the caboose where these little train sugar cookies.  These were also fun to decorate.

 Box car #3 were chocolate covered pretzels.  I was hoping they would look like logs but I don't think anyone noticed.

 Loved this simple idea of train fruit snacks. No prep work needed. I'm sure all the moms wanted to kill me with all this sugar but they know me better than that.  No fruits and veggies on this little train. =) I did think about it but not for long, it's just too much fun working with sugar.
Chugga chugga, choo choo!

 Happy Birthday little buddy!

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any frosting?

I made these for a baby shower Lety was doing.  I tried to copy an idea on line but instead of using fondant I used black chocolate for his head. His eyes are ones I purchased on line(made from royal icing) To make these guys more boyish I added a bow tie.