Pumpkin Birthday for Dean's 4th and Sadie's 1st

I had been wanting to do a fall themed party since we had Dean, and now that we had two parties to celebrate it was the easiest theme I could think of that was fitting for a girl or a boy. When I saw the trend of the black and white stripes with gold glitter and flowers, I new I had to do that to make it girly for my princess! I made backdrops out of old scrap fencing I found and cut and painted foam board for their names.

 Hayride to the "pumpkin patch", and they picked their own pumpkin, bucket, to take home! The Great Pumpkin had their little treat bags.

 They decorated their very own pumpkins to take home.

 The pumpkins were set up and ready on the kids tables with their plate and cup with napkin and straw.

 Snacks included a this puppy chow, cupcakes shaped like pumpkins, sandwiches, and pumpkin cheese ball.

We borrowed some hay bales that really topped off the look. Even made the old cable spoil a table with hay bales as seats.

 I wanted separate invites so I could have some just for Dean's friends. Didn't want to make anyone feel obligated to buy gifts for both.

 I love having pictures for their invites, even thought it is a chore to get them done in time. I love that I can send these to family and they at least get an updated picture of them once a year. :)

Here is the board I used to collect ideas in my planning process. Some I used; some I didn't.

Dino Dean turns 3!

Dino Dean's 3rd Birthday was so much fun! Dean loves his dinosaurs so what a fitting birthday party theme for this guy! He was so in love with the cake which made it all worth worth the time to make. :)

Snacks included dinosaur shaped sandwiches, snack mix, spinach dip,  sand pudding cups with green punch to drink.

We had a dino dig in the sandbox. Made bones out of plaster of paris and sand box dinosaur bone molds for them to dig up and assemble the finished product.

Sadie made an appearance at only a couple of weeks old.

We had a dino egg hunt. Once done finding them, they smashed the eggs and sprayed with vinegar to find the baby dinosaur inside.   

Here is the board I used to collect ideas in my planning process. Some I used; some I didn't.

Pre-Christmas Festivities 2013

Christmas Card 2013. Since he was a baby our preacher has said Dean reminds him of Charlie Brown. Well this year we decided to make that our Christmas Card.

We like Santa this year! We also loved the matching outfits he and his cousins got from Grammy!

Wade Family Christmas. I made a Red Velvet Cupcake wreath, didn't make it in one piece though. They kinda fell off the seat on the trip over. :) Dean had so much fun, but was sad to see everyone leave.

Bunnies and Ducks - Easter 2013

We got ducks in time for Easter this year. Dean had fun watching them grow up and releasing them into the pond. I made cupcakes for his class, and peeps for the front yard. 

 

See below for pinterest ideas on these. My mom used her cricut to cut the white wrappers and I drew on the faces. The peeps were made from foam from Micheal's craft store.  

Grandmother turns 90!

We had a little party for my Grandmother on my father's side. She turned the big 9-0! Dad says she will outlive us all!

The  cake tutorial I followed is here.

Tackle Box Cupcakes

My husband's birthday always calls for something special. Like the last two years I have created him a birthday cake designed from his momentary obsession. This summer he has been fishing more weekends than not, so it was only fitting to create for him something that had to do with fishing. That is how I decided to create the tackle box of cupcakes. Each Cookies n' Cream cupcake has a different tackle piece, and the cupcakes were placed on the shelves and inside an actual tackle box. I had to disassemble the tackle box in order to reassemble it back with each shelve having enough room for a cupcake.

Dora Cupcakes

Dustin's niece turned 2 last month, and she had a Dora party. You know what that means, CUPCAKES! These cupcakes were chocolate and pink buttercream icing on white cake. They were so cute and delicious!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Chloe

My little niece Chloe came and spent the night with her favorite Aunt and Uncle this past Friday night. She loves baking with Aunt Marley, so we baked up a new recipe for Strawberry cupcakes I have been dieing to test out.
They were a big hit with the family and my friends at work. I think these might even be better than the key lime. Below is Chloe showing off her work, right before she dumped her take-home-plate in the floor. Good thing the 5 second rule still applies! :)

New Cupcake Flavors

I have been wanting to add new flavors for folks to choose from; so, I used my friends at work and at bunco to taste test two new flavors.

The first was Cookies n Cream. They were oh so pretty!
I think they were over-cooked but they were pretty good. I might be working on this recipe though. I wanted more of a creamy cookies n cream, so there might have to be a hidden surprise added to these cupcakes!
Everyone headed straight for the cookies-n-cream, but as soon as they had their taste of the next flavor, they all new which was their favorite.
Key Lime Cupcakes! Oh so yummy! They were an instant hit. That creaminess with the crisp lime flavor was oh so delectable. This one definitely made the cut!

Cupcakes for the Fourth

On our vacation to Orange Beach, the kids and I had some fun making cupcakes while the men grilled, and the women cooked. They had fun playing with the fondant.
These colors run deep!

Pool Ball Cupcakes

Dustin's brother had a birthday recently so I wanted to make cupcakes for him! I saw this idea and had to try it! They were a big hit!

I even had to line them up like they where ready to be hit.

Gerber Daisy Cupcakes

Dustin's sister just had a birthday, and I volunteered my cupcake making efforts for the occasion. I got the cutest gerber daisy cutter, and these turned out so cute.
I liked this shot cause they it looks like art.

Chuck E. Cheese Cupcakes

My little cousin was turning 5 and he needed some cupcakes for is birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, well his mom needed them. She wanted to stick to the Chuck E. Cheese theme since he was sharing his party with another boy in his class, how sweet right? I had been seeing other cake decorators create the flat layered cupcake toppers, and wanted to give it a try. So here is what I created.
And here they are on the cupcakes I made for him! Yummy!

These were so much easier than I thought. I just created the image in photoshop, separated the colors and printed each color. I then used those as templates to cut the fondant out with a razor, and while still soft I put in the stick. If you are considering this, give your pieces a full day to set so that they will stand when you stick them into the cupcake. You don't want droopy fondant.