Ericka's Bridal Shower...March 3, 2013

Believe it or not my little sister just got married too! Just one month after my older sister's wedding my sweet little "Hoola-Hata-Yata" tied the knot. My older sister, Tiffany, and I flew up to Pennsylvania in March for Ericka's bridal shower. We helped her maid of honor and other bridesmaids throw a beautiful shower for her and it was a great day. With all the craziness of flying in and trying to prepare food and decorations I didn't make any cakes for this one. But her maid of honor knew someone who does cakes in the area and came up with these beauties...

They were a perfect match! We kept the coral and teal theme that Ericka is using in the wedding. We had it at Ericka and Dan's church. It was a great turnout and it was great to meet Dan's family and friends and see our family as well. I think everyone enjoyed themselves with the food, games, fellowship and fun. Ericka got a lot of great gifts that are essential when you're first starting out in your own home.
One of my favorite things was the recipe cards. We sent recipe cards in each of the invitations and when the guests arrived at the shower they all had their favorite recipes to put into a cookbook for Ericka. The other thing we did kind of as a "guest book" was we put out a jar with popsicle sticks and had people write down different date ideas so during their first year of marriage on nights when they want to go do something they can pick a date from the date jar. It was fun reading everyone's date night ideas, especially Grandma's, which was...go to bed! :) Overall, it was a beautiful day, quite chilly, but at least we were warm and cozy inside. Her wedding was May 25th! Be on the look out a cake blog for that one too!

 I love my sister!!!

The now Mr. and Mrs. Dan Newman!!!! :)

T+M=LOVE

L.O.V.E.

My beautiful sister, Tiffany, got married almost 2 weekends ago on April 27th, 2013. She and her husband Mark had an outdoor wedding at Bird Island Lake Ranch in Dade City, Florida. It was a beautiful, rustic,  shabby-chic themed wedding and it was a gorgeous day for it. The landscape was absolutely breathtaking. The trees and lighting was just perfect. It was an overall beautiful day, from the ceremony under the trees, to s'mores by the fire, dancing and a sparkling exit. Perfect, just perfect!


Now to the cakes...

My sweet sister entrusted the honor of making her wedding cake to me, which I was quite nervous about as I've never done a wedding cake. We came up with the idea to do mini-cakes for each guest then I would make a two-tier cake for them to cut. I hit a few rough patches in the actual making of the cakes. Each mini-cake had to be individually iced and decorated. I had baked the cakes all ahead of time and froze them, but the decorating was the major part. So, I iced and added ridges to the sides with an edging tool made by Wilton. Then I was going to have fondant circles cut out to decorate the outside, however after I realized I'd need about 1,400 circles I started to panic. But I remembered seeing grey pearl sprinkles at the cake supply store in Tampa. So, I rushed to Tampa and bought all the sprinkles they had. Luckily it was enough.

 I recruited my sweet Momma Bear to help me and by 3 am on Friday morning we were finally finished. After doing all the mini-cakes the tiered cake seemed easy. It was an 8" base and 6" top covered in grey fondant with white pearl sprinkles around the sides. Although it cost me some sleep it was totally worth it to give my sister exactly what she wanted for her wedding day. I'm so happy that I was able to share this special day with Tiffany and her HUSBAND Mark! 

 

Here's a few  more pictures of some fun from the evening...

Me and my sweetheart!

 Me, Stephen and Ericka...Love my siblings!

 Daddy and his 3 girls! Best Dad EVER!!!

Hope everyone has a sweet week!

Stephanie

Tiffany's Bridal Shower

Well, after a long break from cake making I'm finally back in the saddle! 

Last July (2012), Jason and I moved from our home in Franklin, Tennessee back to our hometown of Saint Petersburg, Florida. Jason got a job at Saint Petersburg Christian School, where we first met back in Kindergarten, as the IT Manager. So we packed it all up and headed south. We moved in with Jason's parents while searching for a new home and a job for me! The search for our house is a story in and of itself. But, that's another blog for another time.

Back to the cakes... back in February, along with the help of my fellow bridesmaids, I threw a bridal shower for my older sister Tiffany. 

We just had family and close friends over to my home for some homemade lasagna (courtesy of my momma) and some other Italian dishes. Here's some of us getting ready to eat!

 I didn't do a whole lot as far as cakes go for the shower, just some vanilla and marble cupcakes with purple and grey, butter cream icing and little cake toppers. 

We decorated in some of the same themes Tiffany was planning to use for the wedding. I used Mason jars wrapped with burlap and twine for the glasses, had burlap runners on the tables, hung some tissue paper flower puffs from the ceiling and even added a "LOVE" bunting made out of burlap.


 It was a great time getting to know some of Mark's family and spend time together. Tiffany got a lot of goodies to start their new lives together. Here's a few more pictures of all the family, friends and festivities from the evening. 

~The future Mr. and Mrs. Mark Raley~

Myself, Tiffany, Ericka, Mom and Mamaw

 My favorites...the Mason jar glasses

Alicia hosting one the games we played. Both of the moms won the games. It was a fun time and we all learned a little more about Tiffany and Mark.

Alicia made this adorable sign saying "Welcome to Tiffany's Bridal Shower" to put outside of my house so everyone would know where to go. So cute!

She got lots of fun goodies!!!

It was a wonderful time we were able to spend together to celebrate Tiffany and this exciting time in her life. More will be on it's way soon with another shower and two weddings to blog about! It's been a pretty busy spring already. But I love being able to be a part of this special time. 

Have a sweet week!

~Stephanie~

The greatest show on Earth...

What a fun day this past Saturday was! I went to the sweetest little 1 year old's birthday party. It was an old school circus theme. The decorations, food, and everything was so well planned. It was absolutely adorable! My part in all this was, of course, the cake! They wanted to have a "smash" cake for him to play in at his party. So, together with this little guy's Momma, we figured out a design that was very circus, but not too modern. And here's what we came up with...

Their family has a special cake and icing recipe that has been passed down through generations and they wanted this to be his first cake, which I thought was so sweet! So, I made a two-layer, six-inch cake and iced it with their special icing recipe too! Not covering the entire cake with fondant made transporting and moving the cake a little more difficult, but it worked out pretty well still. And I'm sure you see those adorable cupcakes, but I can't take credit for those! His Mom made those and they were absolutely delicious!!!

Now, I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to make the elephant. You should have seen the many tries before the final version that I attempted. I was trying to mimic one that I saw online, but a picture was all I had to go off of. In the end I think it turned out great. And to top it off I added a little bunting banner with Gavin's name on it. 

Gavin just wasn't getting into the "smash" part of this smash cake though. He poked his fingers around, but with everyone watching him made him a little shy! He was such a sweetie though. I still can't believe he's 1 already! Good job Mom & Dad!! You made it through the first year!

On a different note, I may be on a hiatus from blogging the next few weeks, well at least about cakes! My husband and I are moving back to our home state of Florida the first weekend of July. With boxes being packed and our house being shown to sell there won't be much time for cake making! I can't wait to be able to make some cakes for my friends and family in Florida. I didn't start doing cakes until I moved here to Tennessee, so it'll be exciting to bake some cakes for others down there. We're excited for this new season in our lives, but still sad to leave the family and friends we have here. Thank goodness for Facebook so we can keep in touch with each other easily! 

Hope you all have a "sweet" week!

I mustache you a question...

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails...that's what little boys are made of? Not anymore! 

Now it's bow ties and suspenders and mustaches!

Here is the cake I did last weekend for my friend Tiffany's baby shower. She is having a sweet little boy, Liam, who will be here within the month. It was such a fun day! Liam is a spoiled little boy already. So many people came out to show their love for Tiffany and her growing family. 

It was a "little man" themed shower complete with ties, mustaches, and all things any little man would want. For the cake I did a 3 layer 6 inch chocolate cake covered in white fondant. I attempted to make the chevron stripes as the background...it was my first try, so I think it came out pretty well when you consider that! I also cut out little mustaches from sugar sheets, which is the first time I've used those too. For the top of the cake I created a bunting banner in different colored chevron patterned paper with "LIAM" written across the front. It was such a fun theme to work with!

I also made cheesecake cupcakes topped with chocolate chips or strawberries. For parties it's so much easier to pass out cupcakes than to have to cut 50 slices of cake, but the cake is the fun part for decorating, so I just did both! The cheesecake was so yummy, if I do say so myself! Here's a little secret for you...it's a no-bake box cheesecake! I love that stuff!!! So easy too!

It was a great day and I'm so happy and excited for the new chapter of motherhood in my friend's life. So glad I was able to be a part of her special day! Love you Tiffany!!!

Boy oh boy!

 My most recent sewing attempt has been for my sweet friend expecting her first little one...a sweet baby boy that will be making his debut in July. Her baby shower is coming up, so I wanted to make her a little something for her little man. I'm actually writing this in May, but since I don't want her to get a sneak peek it won't be posted until after her shower in June! We're having a bow tie and mustaches shower for her, so I thought these onesies would be a great addition to the shower. It was my first try at doing an applique and it didn't turn out too bad or as my hubby says... "It has character!" Oh boy! I'll be doing the cake for her shower too, so be prepared for another post to be added shortly after this one! 

*Post shower addition*

There were quite a few ooohh's and ahh's when these guys were unwrapped, especially my last edition...the vest onesie. It was a fun day. I think this little boy is pretty well stocked up at this point. Now we just wait for him to make his debut!

Getting crafty...not just cakes today!

My sweetheart gave me a sewing machine for Christmas last year, which I absolutely LOVE! I love being able to fix my own clothes...mostly hemming my pants, since short sizes are too short, but regulars are too long! I also love being able to create one-of-a-kind gifts for people too. This gift is one that will definitely keep on giving...for quite a while too!

You may remember the birdie and button baby showers I did cakes for from my last blog. Here are some  pillow case dresses I made for their sweet baby girls. I think these were my first project that actually looked good enough for it to be a gift! What a nice surprise! haha!!! And now, one of those little girls has finally arrived! She is absolutely beautiful. It's so easy to forget how tiny babies are when they're born. Just adorable!

Here's some pictures of my other sweet friend, from her shower, who is waiting any day for her little one to arrive. It shouldn't be much longer now! She finished her last day of work with us this past Friday. Such a sad day! She will be sorely missed, but I'm so happy that she'll be able to stay home with her sweet baby girl. We just need to work out a schedule for her weekly visits to the office, so I can play with Addie Mae!

Have a great long Memorial Day weekend everyone!!!

I know I will since my whole family is coming into town. We haven't been together since Christmas. It is long over due!!! I just can't wait for Friday to come. :)