Kayla's Owl Themed 1st Birthday Party - Part 2

Continued from Kayla's Owl Themed 1st Birthday Party - Part 1:

Kayla greeting more of her guests at the front door :)

TIME TO GET DECORATING!!!

A quick demonstration from 'The Cake Lady' aka Me :)

I showed the kids how to do a swirl of icing, add some sprinkles 

& a cupcake topper before I let them loose on making their own cupcake creations!

A big thank you to the parents for overseeing your well-behaved kidlets!! 

I was certain I would be wiping up icing off our rugs afterwards, 

but they were all so keen to do such a good job on their cupcakes 

that most of the toppings stayed on the table :)

VOILA!!!!

Some of the kids with their cupcake masterpieces along with 

the two 'big kids' having a cupcake-decorating-challenge. 

Nice work boys & girls!

THE CAKE CUTTING

How I love my family of three! 

Thanks for your help on the day too Jase...all of your 'jobs' got done in the end

...aswell as the xbox playing :)

Her first taste of sweet cakey goodness.....

I'm sure I don't need to mention just how much she loved it!!

A tip for Mummies: If you're worried about your child eating uneccessary sugar, sneakily take bits of the cake away leaving a tiny bite as they're busy stuffing their face with the first taste :) I also made the cake from scratch to ensure there were no additives/preservative nasties in it, & made sure there were no added colourings in the icing by using Raspberry Frosting (recipe found here)! It's so damn delicious that you will want to start using real fruit in your icings once you try it too!!!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY

Kayla Grace!

You are more than we could have ever asked for 

& we look forward to seeing you grow from our precious baby girl,

 into a gorgeous little lady. 

We love you more than words can say, 

Love always, 

Mummy & Daddy xoxo

PRESENT TIME!

The birthday girl was due a nap so we had her friends who gave her the gifts

 to help her open them & read the card to her. 

It was so lovely to see them so excited to be helping her.

HAPPY SNAP TIME BEFORE NAP-TIME

L to R: Kayla's Great Aunty Nette & her Mimi

Thanks again for your help. We loved having you be a part of Kayla's special day xoxo

Kayla & I with our fellow 'Early Birds' Mums n Bubs!

L to R: Yvette & Piper, Myself & Kayla, Jacqui & Layla

THE MAN CAVE!

While all of the Mums n Bubs were partying inside, 

the Bigger Boys were hiding out in the man cave aka our garage :)

SAYING OUR GOOD-BYES

We had cupcakes galore so I sent the kids home with more treats!

A cupcake box full of their decorated cupcakes. 

It was a big hit!!!

Our friends daughters, Sarah & Lilly, were such a big help at the party entertaining

 the little babies.  Sarah was so excited with her cupcake creations :) 

 NAP TIME

All tuckered out after her big day of celebrations!

Kayla's Owl Themed 1st Birthday Party - Part 1

This post is a little delayed, but those who know me will understand the few months of craziness we have just experienced since our daughters birthday.

Our little girl turned the big single digit "1" on the 23rd November 2012, & we couldn't be happier with how her celebrations played out!! Thank you to all of those who travelled to celebrate it with us; my Mum & Aunty (Kayla's Mimi & Great Aunty Nette) - I love you both & thank you SO much for helping me prep for the party.  I really could not have done it all without you! Thank you to all of our friends close by who brought their little ones to share her special day, I have met so many great new Mummies since having Kayla & I am so thankful for having you by my side while we venture on this new journey of Motherhood together.  A big thank you to our family & friends far away who could not make her special day but sent many gifts & beautiful cards with lovely words for our gorgeous girl. Also a big thank you to all of our childless friends... You spoilt Kayla rotten & endured a house full of loud children on a Saturday afternoon when you could have been at the pub :) We appreciate all of the generosity & loved having each & every one of you in our lives for these special moments.

That's enough words for now :)

Here are a few images from Kayla's Owl Themed 1st Birthday Party

PRESENTS!

The birthday girl's presents from her Mummy & Daddy xo

Kayla got pretty good at tearing open the wrapping paper towards the end.

THE CAKE!!

In my opinion, one of the most important parts of a birthday party

(apart from the people to share it with) is the cake!

Handmade by me :) 

No.1 Chocolate Birthday Cake covered in Raspberry Frosting,

with fondant cherry blossom decorations & a large fondant owl cake topper

I am so happy with how it turned out!!

THE SWEETS TABLE!

NO.1 BIRTHDAY CAKE POPS! 

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but these were delicious!!

Red Velvet Cake Pops decorated with white chocolate 

& sugar sprinkles for a bit of bling :)

THE CUPCAKE DECORATING TABLE!

This was a BIG hit with the kids...both big & small :)

IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS :)

L to R: Cake pops in my homemade stand.  

Party favour bags for kids to fill as they pleased with bubblegum flavoured swizzle sticks, musk sticks, marshmallows, jelly lollies biscuits & so on. Treat jars full of fairy floss for the older kids, & jars of half/half fairy floss & yoghurt buttons for the littlies.  A close up of the Cupcake Decorating Table topped with vanilla cupcakes, sprinkles & glitter in every colour of the rainbow, & buttercream icing ready to twirl.  The centrepiece for the party...The Owl Cake Topper, overseeing all of the kids picking out their treats atop a platter of homemade pink mini meringues!

IT'S TIME TO FILL THE BAGS!

GROUP PHOTO!

Kayla & all of her Darwin buddies attempting to pose for a group photo! 

This was the best of the bunch :)

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

Our sweet little birthday girl had all of her friends to play with, 

however instead was found hanging out at the toy box amusing herself...or hiding? 

To be continued....

xoxo T

Cake Pops

I am sure you would have seen the latest craze taking over cupcakes as the number one new bite size delicious treat. Cake Pops!  I have been wanting to do a post on Cake Pops for quite a while now.  Seen as I am officially on 'holidays' I thought it's time I dedicate some 'spare time' to my blogging. Also, you may want to make some for your family & surprise them with something different on Christmas Day :)

I have attempted to make some in the past & I feel I had a reasonable amount of success with it too!

I have relied on a clip I found on You Tube by my fave blogger Bakerella, to show me the 'how to's & step-by-step' with making them the first time...until I eventually got around to purchasing her fabulous book titled 'Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats'.

Here are some pics of my first attempts :-)

I made these for my friend Kylie's Birthday (a year ago)

instead of the usual cake or cupcakes I would bring in.  

She liked them so much she refused to share them with her work collegues :-) 

Nice one Fitzy!!

These ones above are meant to be 'Mexican Themed Cake Pops'. 

Can you see the resemblance of the Mexican Flag? Please say yes ;-)

These were for our American friends 

Jay & Kristin's Mexican Themed Housewarming Party 

that they held when they arrived in Australia.

1st Birthday Cake Pops

I made these for our baby girl's 1st Birthday Party.  These were delicious!!! 

Red Velvet Cake Pops covered with white candy melts & decorations.  

I piped a '1' onto some of them & sprinkled them with sanding sugar for a 3D effect. 

I have the best time making these now that I have mastered some of the techniques required.  I must warn you though...they are very time consuming!!! 

The thing I love most about these is that they save me from throwing out any off-cuts from any sculpted cakes I make. I simply put all of the off-cuts of cake into an airtight container & pop it in the freezer.  When I have time, I have now started making the basic balls & freezing them.  This means I can use up the leftover icing & cake at the same time.  Also, when we have an occasion that comes up, all I have to do is decorate the cake pops! Decorating is the fun part!!

Tip: If you are making the cake balls & freezing them, be sure to transfer them from the freezer to the fridge a few days before you want to decorate them.  This gives them time to defrost slowly & hold their shape.

Coming up next is a post on my daughters 1st birthday party! It was so much fun!!!

xoxo T

Lessons learnt!

Well it feels like it's been one of those days where I should've stayed home...

Lessons learnt:

Don't attempt to go out to a breakfast with friends in the pouring Darwin rain when you have a 2-door car, trying to get a baby buckled in, while attempting to get your mini chihuahua out of the car because she's scared of the storm & wants to come with you...only for her to hide further under the foot pedals; then give up & get in only to have the umbrella unfold itself!

Kayla patting Midori in the middle of the storm while she 

hides in the corner of the bathroom shaking :-( 

You can see why I gave in & let her come with me to breakfast...

Next...low fuel when I'm already running late - yes this happened the other day but I refused to fill up at Woolies without a discount fuel voucher last time.

Awesome start to my Sunday but I must admit that it was made better by enjoying the lovely breaky with friends!!

Just one of the cutest kids I know...

MJ showing off his Baby-chino Choccy-mo @ breakfast :-)

MJ & Kayla playing a 'game' where Kayla drops things on the floor 

& MJ picks it up! Much more fun watching this game than playing it :-)

Then the mistake of accepting an invite to go to a fun afternoon tea with all of the Army WAGs (& what felt like an Army of children) when your baby should be napping, only to come home to a more grizzly one! Kayla did have a great time with the kidlets though, which was fun to watch.

Kayla & the Neagle Boys (Ethan & Daniel) 

playing in Lucy's Cubby House at the Afternoon Tea!

Note to all Darwin Crew:
I'm no longer available for catch ups between the hours of 10-11.30am & 3.30-4.30pm. Yes, I've become one of those parents whose life revolves around nap time...at least for the next 2 months while hubby's away & there's no one to share the grizzly baby night time moments with ;-)

Last lesson learnt...just deal with a grizzly baby through her dinner & bath time until as close to her usual bedtime as possible, instead of putting her to bed at 5pm only to now have to go wake her for dinner...hmmm...unless...surely one skipped meal can't hurt...can it? What to do....

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Ahhhh.... I feel better already just from venting!

That is all!

xoxo T

P.S By the time I finished completing this post my baby girl awoke.  Dinner was smooth sailing & now she is at my feet enjoying some playtime with my shoes while I finish up.  Let's hope bath time & back-to-bed time are just as easy.

Goodnight all...

Minus one Hobby!

So, while thinking about what to do with all of my hobbies I forgot that there was another one in the cupboard that I had waiting for my time as well...Scrapbooking!!! Crazy, isn't it! So last night with the help of my dear friend Candice, I went through a few drawers & came across my scrapbooking supplies, along with the BAGS & BAGS of things collected since Hubby & I have been travelling together! I was tempted to get cracking & start them all...but I know that I don't have the time, & with a little pep talk & reminder from Candice about my 'lack of time' situation, I have decided that is the first hobby to go!!

Here's what I have been storing...
I think I could have been close to becoming a victim of hoarding if it weren't for me meeting my wonderful Hubby & having to cull my possessions 6 times in the 11years that we've been together :-)

I'm a little excited about it being gone actually.  I bought this fantastic book on Amazon.com to help me cull my sentimental collection down.

Just the Ticket: Ticket Stub Organiser [Ring-bound]

So let's see how long it takes me to sort through it all & see how much 'stuff' I have trouble parting with!!

Wish me luck!

xoxo T

Hobby OVERLOAD!!!!!

I have finally found a few minutes to write a quick post... I know, I know... I am still needing to fill you all in on our upcoming adventure of moving to the U.S of A! It's all very exciting!! For now though... I have been thinking lately that I have too many 'hobbies'...

With my MbellishD jewellery hobby & finding time to make my jewellery, as well as fine tuning my cake decorating skills & my neglected blog 'i love the sweeter things', I am a little overloaded with hobbies... Something has to give...but which one??

I mentioned to my dear hubby the other day that maybe I need to hang up my beads & be done with MbellishD for now, & start to concentrate on other things...his reply...FINALLY! Haha.  I guess he's noticed I have too many things on the go too.  I love making my jewellery but I just don't seem to have time for it anymore...unless I stay up all hours of the night.  But for those who have partners who travel away from home alot I am sure you can understand that I choose to spend the time after our baby girl goes down, to have our own down time together.

Then there is the cake decorating! I LOVE baking & decorating my cakes.  Everyone loves cake & it's definately a wider market than jewellery... Also I think my cakes taste damn delicious & I love making things look pretty...even if Darwin heat isn't the best place for cake decorating :-)

And lastly...my newly started & newly abandoned blog! When I started this blog I had no idea what I wanted to write about, but I knew I wanted to write...strange for someone who used to gossip in English Class instead of writing... With the amount of travel that we have done & all of the fantastic opportunities that we have coming our way with our move next year, I know that this blog is one of the hobbies I want to keep.  So where does that leave me...?

I am thinking that MbellishD may need to go..... Can anyone offer any suggestions or even any tips on how I may be able to keep it all going?? Maybe I just need to stop jet setting & settle in one place for more than a month & I may find the time to keep it all up...?

I'M BACK!!!

I'm Back!

My apologies for the limited posts of late - I have had a fairly hectic past few months since my last post.

We had visitors for the Dry Season, followed by a bit of drama trying to fatten up my daughter (all sorted now), along with a very sad passing of my Pop, RIP Andy.  Andy's passing entailed a trip to Brisy to visit family for a few weeks...all this with my hubby being away, uncontactable & dealing with a soon-to-be 8mth old who doesn't like doing any one thing for more than 15mins (tiring)... Oh & did I mention we recently found out that my Hubby has recieved his next posting.... & our little family of 3 is moving to the USA in January!!!?? Breathe...

Now... all that has passed, our visitors are making their journey back home, hubby is back in Darwin & at work (although he leaves us for a short trip again tomorrow morning - sad face), & I am trying to get on top of things at home & wondering what to do with my Mbellishd Jewellery sideline when I move...Oh & I have an order of 50 cupcakes to bake for this Friday....

I think that's enough for all of you to process for now... I know it's all I have time to write about at this moment as Kayla is bored with her toys & wants her Mumma's attention again... I think I am now realising why some women choose to go back to work early... drafting is a breeze compared to being a full-time Mummy...

I wouldn't change it for the world though... xo

I promise to post again soon!

xoxo T