Booga Bean's 1st Birthday

So, more of the fun I've been up to.

Remember this lil' guy?

Well, he turned 1-year old last month.  Yep he's now become the cutest toddler ever and no longer the cutest infant ever.  And, oh what a toddler he is.  We couldn't wait for him to start walking.  How soon we'd forgotten what it's like to have a miniature man roaming the house getting into any and everything.  I was promptly reminded though, a couple weeks ago, when I heard my floor lamp crash to pieces on the living room coffee table.  Yep, mini man pulled it down on one of his grand adventures discovering the house on his own.

Last month, we celebrated his birthday at the park with a small barbecue with the family.  It was a baby jungle animal theme party and I had all these grand ideas for it, including going to the zoo in the park and visiting the amusement and fairytale theme parks there.  As always, all my ideas got way ahead of me and the time I actually had to do them in.  We didn't make it to the zoo, the amusement or the the theme parks.  But, I was more them determined to put together my very first dessert table and make the party decorations on my own.  I think I scored there.  Check it out.

I was really thrilled with how this all ended up coming together.  Pretty much everything I envisioned and I think not too bad for it being my first dessert table.  As much as I love the table though, my absolute favorite part of this picture is the little kiddies playing in the background. 

Goodies included:  Cupcakes, Decorated Sugar Cookies, Brownie Pops, and Caramel Corn, all made by me.  And in the candy jars: Gummi Bears, Animal Crackers, Lollipops, Licorice and Orange Cream Taffy.

 

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Goodie bags to fill with treats

Brownie Pops.  I didn't get to actually taste any of these but I heard they were pretty tasty.

Mini Candy Buffet

Caramel Corn Cones

Yum!  :-)

So I had the mini cake/cupcake tower topper all cute and on it's way to the park.  We're almost there when I (and several other drivers) had to swerve, brake, and then yell (okay, maybe that was just me yelling ;-)) to avoid hitting a little black dog, lost and darting in and out of traffic.  When I hit my brakes, the cake stand flew off the seat and right on top of the cake leaving the nice little gash you see on the left side.  Although I hope the little doggie made it home safely, I was none too happy with him in that moment. Ugh!

Love the cute little figures I picked up at the baking supply store. 

And here's a picture of me and my adorable lil' niece at the party.  I think she had a great time.  She even made a new friend, young Resputia meeting young Norbit style. LOL!!!!!!! (You had to be there.  ;-)) 

Say "CHEESE!"

And finally, one of my favorite pics of the Birthday Boy from that day.  He was on his third change of clothes in less that a couple hours after we got there.  So here he is, in his diaper and tee in the middle of the celebration, playing with his big cousin.  Hey!  What kind of party is it anyway if you can't walk around in your undies, right?  LOL!!

Fun times.....

Happy Birthday Booga Beans!

What I've Been Up To

It's been a while.  I've been baking. I promise! 


Here's some of the projects I've been up to.  Love, love, love how these turned out.

Safari Theme Baby Shower Cake and Cupcakes


These were for a baby boy shower with a safari animal theme a couple weekends ago.  I had way too much fun with this one and fun at the shower as well!  I think I ate enough tasty food there that I shouldn't have had to eat for another 3 days after.  Yes, that is a soaking wet patio you see in the background.  The first weekend in June.  Really.  In sunny California. 


The cake (and cupcakes) were chocolate and vanilla marble cake with cream cheese frosting and vanilla/chocolate buttercream fondant.



I also did cookie favors to match.  Elephants, Giraffes and Rhinoceros silhouettes.  Love the way the raffia looks tied around the bags at the top.  So glad the hostess requested the raffia.  I think it gives the packaging a whole different (better) look than my usual ribbon tied at the top.  Especially with the shower theme. 



Butter cookies covered in fondant.  Some with royal icing zebra stripes.



Check out the adorable diaper cake made by the hostess.  I don't think I've ever seen one cute as this one.  The hostess also requested four cookies to match the baby's name on the diaper cake.  I wish I'd gotten a better picture of them but, did I mention the adorable diaper cake already?  Cute right?  :-) 





So stinkin' CUTE!



Congrats New Mommy-to-Be and welcome to the world Baby K!

Cheetah Bowling and Citrus Slices Birthdays

Letter N's and bowling pins with cheetah print bowling ball party favors for one of my very best friend's daughter's 24th birthday.

This was my first try at cheetah print on cookies with royal icing.  Natasha loves cheetah print.  Loves it.  Three years ago, when I first began cookie and cake decorating, I made the birthday girl's 21st birthday cake.  That too was hot pink and had cheetah spots.  The cookies are my favorite and were the easiest to make (probably due more to experience than anything) of the cake and cookies but had I known then what I know now, who knows if I'd still like them more.

I also made a batch of Brownie Pops and a personal box of cookie favors for the birthday girl.  The ribbon bow around the front of the Brownie Pop box is also a headband.  I finally found a use (with the help of the book and magazine section at JoAnn) for all that extra ribbon I have stashed away and leftover from various craft projects.  Hopefully I'll have some super cute new hair accessories to share with you soon.

Citrus Slices Cookies and Brownie Pops for another Bestie's Mom's birthday. 

Another headband.  :-)

Love these little boxes with the citrus slices on them that I found at Target's Dollar Spot.  When I saw them, aside from them instantly inspiring a cookie design, I knew they'd make perfect cookie holders!  I'm not sure of the dimensions but they just seem like they would hold just the right amount of any type of goodies don't they?

These cookies were made using my usual sugar cookie recipe.  Next time, I would definitely add some type of citrus zest and flavoring to the dough. 

Happy Birthday Natasha and Mom L!  I hope you enjoyed your goodies.



More posts of all the fun I've been having are on the way!

The Sweetest Cookies Ever

So here they are you guys.  Those sweet 1st birthday cookies from weeks ago.  I enjoyed making these for my baby boy's "daycaremate" so much!  I took countless pictures and for the life of me I can't figure out what's taken so long for me to post them.  Oh, that's right.......LIFE!  LOL.  :-)

Of course when these got to little Eden they were individually wrapped and gift boxed. 
I didn't remember to take pics of them that way though.

For half the cookies, I used the recipe posted here by Sweet SugarBelle and from the Sugarbakers' Cookie Cutter Cookbook.  They really were pretty tasty and a nice change from the sugar/butter cookie recipe I usually use. 

 

The cupcakes are my favorites.



It seems the camera catches the disco dust a little better with the flash on.
Hope you can see the little bit of shimmer here.




I love the way the yellow royal icing color turned out for this batch. 
It just seems to brighten the entire set up even more.


And here is my inspiration for the cookie designs.  Stickers and papers from Doodlebug.  So cute!!!!!!  I just love them!  If time were on my side I would have made a birthday card to match but it just didn't work out that way.  Sorry Eden.

 

 

I just love these cookies and I'm so glad to finally be back posting here! 

Frosting for the Cause

I'm guest posting today at Frosting for the Cause!  Frosting for the Cause is a 365 online baking project to raise awareness of cancers affecting women and donate to cancer research.  Head on over to Frosting for the Cause to see how to make these yummies.  While you're there, why not sign up to do your own guest post and Frost for the Cause too?

 

I miss my Blog................

I don't know how long it's been since I've posted here.  I miss my blog.  Life, as always, has just gotten in the way.  I promise I'll be back soon.  Not that life will be out of the way but, I need to get back to my own little something I have in this blog here.  I'll be back.  SOON!  

Happy Sunday everyone!   

Candy Land Cuppies

So I faked.  That chilled dough from last week, I baked, iced, and decorated the cookies.  No pictures.  Those Martha Stewart Living Chewy Chocolate Chunk-Cherry cookies, they were baked and tasted so good (especially the next day) but, no pictures.  I guess I kinda did myself a small favor.  I'm currently working on getting all my baking photos from 2008 until now into one place.  Pictures from last week's goodies would have just been more to add to the task but I do kinda wish I'd taken at least one.

Anyway, as I was going through pictures to organize, I came across these of the crazy Candy Land cupcake project I worked on for no apparent reason.  I can't even remember what inspired the idea but it was a lot of fun.  This one I was able to take my time with since I was doing it just for fun.  No deadline or delivery date to meet.  I think it took a full week of my spare time after work and on the weekends to work out and let all the fondant/gum paste decorations dry before putting them on the cupcakes.  So many colors and different pieces to recreate.  Enjoy!  I did!



I love how all the colors looked once these were together. 





Don't know what happened with all the cracking in the icing.



Of all the pieces I made for this set, my favorites were the chocolate and peanut pieces, and they were fairly easy to make too! 

I'm so glad for the workweek to be over and ready to start the weekend.  I have some baking and decorating planned (after a few Saturday errands) and can't wait!  I want to make a set for a first birthday girl and am trying to think of something cute and creative.  I've been on the sweets kick lately so it will likely be something along those lines.  Excited about what I might be able to come up with though.  I'll be back with photos (as long as I don't forget again :-)).

Try to stay warm.  I plan to right next to my oven. 

Cool Blog and Giveaway

Hey ya'll!  Check out this cool Blog and Party Supply Giveaway from Bird's Party Blog and Smidge and Pinch.

Happy Friday (and three-day weekend for some!  Wa hoo!  =))