concept to cake

i was so excited when lizzy asked me to make her cupcakes and cake for her daughter's 1st birthday! she didn't have a specific theme in mind, but anelise (birthday girl) loves giraffes, butterflies and flowers. since i love all those things too i wanted to included each one! it didn't take long for me to sketch out an idea for lizzy's final approval - see below.

and here is how they turned out!

the doc will see you now

here are some cupcakes i did for one of my dear friends lindsey. she thought it would be fun to bring in some cupcakes to her doc's office - which i thought was a terrific idea and fun opportunity for me to try something new.

it is always so nice to appreciate people, so just let me know if you want to send a sweet thank you!

candy creation - something fishy

here is a step by step so you can make your own tootsie pop fish!

i always have a variety of fondant colors left over from other projects so i figured this would be a great opportunity to use them! have fun with the colors! you will also need some type of lollipops, i prefer tootsie pops because of their shape.

for the body of the fish i used wilton's 12 round frosting tip as my cutout. roll out the color of choice and cut out lots of circles.

now cut the circles in half.

you will also want to make your fins - three small triangles, lips - start with a small ball and then flatten and fold in half, eyes - two very small balls and tail - start with a rectangle and shape until you feel you have a tail shape.

before you work on the body i suggest attaching the tail, top fin, eyes, and lips. use just a small amount of water to make them stick.

now you can start working on the body with your scales. simply place the half circles on the lollipop in columns. you can make them close together or spread them out a bit - you could even use multiple colors - do what you think looks right!

then attach your side fins - use the scales as a marker to match them up on each side.

i used blue sugar to decorate the icing and create a water look. you could also use food coloring and make the icing blue. i hope you enjoy this fun project!

catch you later!

b.n.o

last night was our second bloggers night out - can you guess which charlotte restaurant we went to?

thank you lindsey for the awesome picture!

this is only our second official gathering and it turned into 3 hours of big ideas! we have so many exciting plans for the upcoming months so stay tuned. 

of course i brought cupcakes and decided to experiment with a new "summer" flavor - so i found a key lime cupcake recipe on bon appetit. the ladies seemed to like them, but i may need to try and tweak it a bit. if you want to try it out, the recipe can be found here. note, for the icing i did my standard cream cheese buttercream and added lime juice instead of vanilla (just kept adding until i liked the flavor).

so did you guess the restaurant? we went to one of my favorite restaurants in charlotte, cowfish! here are my cow and fish cupcakes to celebrate great new friends and lots of big ideas.

huge thank you to colleen from two delighted for all the fantastic pictures!

west coast inspiration

one of the many reasons i love to travel is exploring new places beyond the tourist attractions and famous landmarks. the hidden treasures are always so beautiful! dave and i were lucky enough to have this very opportunity while traveling out west for a wedding. destination temecula california. where we stayed in the most amazing house in the hills. it was beautiful - and even with all the celebrating - so peaceful!

this is where i spent my saturday, can't complain!

for the wedding we were in a tropical paradise surrounded by exotic flowers and a waterfall as the backdrop to the ceremony. no matter how you like to express your creative side, inspiration can be found everywhere! and to top it off at the reception they served cupcakes! love it!

a smashing friday

now that many of my friends are having little ones i am learning all about the baby trends. this information will definitely be helpful one day, but for this friday i want to focus on the sweet stuff!

have you heard of a smash cake? this is a relatively new concept to me. the idea is just as it sounds - make a cake - small version - for the birthday boy or girl to dig into, no fork or spoon needed. typically it is for the first couple of years, but if you think about it we have a similar tradition with wedding cake for those that opt into the "face smash" method.

now if you have ever had the chance to watch this fun activity it is pretty hysterical - the kids look so confused at first, "you want me to use my hands, really?!" (if they could talk of course) - and then it hits them and let the fun begin. icing and cake everywhere and nothing but smiles. plus the occasional older sibling or party guest who tries to sneak a hand into the cake to join the fun. simply fantastic, loving the smash cake!

link

link

and check out this awesome smash cake my dear friend from charlotte made for her son owen! she has an amazing talent for theme parties, check out everything that she did on the Wanna-be Southern Belle's blog!

here is a smash cake i made for harper's birthday - this was such a fun project and i can't wait to make another one!

have a great weekend!

sneak peak

i was so lucky to get asked to make cupcakes and a smash cake for ms. harper's first birthday party! more details to come, but for now here is a sneak peak...can you guess the theme?

bringing it back with bean town

hello friends! i am back from my "spring break" from blogging. i am jumping right back in with some window shopping from boston. a couple of weeks ago i had a very short trip to boston. it was a very busy two days, but i was able to snap some pictures on my walk to the event site early in the morning. unfortunately nothing was open yet, but these are all on my list to taste test next time i am in town.

cutest chocolate shop ever!

love the brick buildings - perfect spot to enjoy a cupcake and people watch

do you see that sign...no sugar, no carbs, no fat...no way! really wanted to test these out and see if they were good!

i love a good crepe! my mom use to make me crepes for breakfast - and since i was picky basically just a crepe with powdered sugar - and they were amazing. i would have loved to give this spot a try, but i am sure they aren't as good as my moms!

i did get a chance to get my sweet fix - one of my best friends from college, ali,  lives in boston and joined me for dinner. it was a night of delicious sushi, catching up, and lava cake. the cake was amazing but the real treat was catching up with ali!

note: for some silly reason we never took a picture together, but i did get a few pics during dinner of the lava cake

before

you can say we liked it!

all of these pictures are from my favorite street in boston, newbury street. growing up, my mom and i would take day trips to boston with one mission - newbury street. it was always a day full of shopping, eating and the best quality time together. i love going back and seeing what has stayed the same and what has changed. even when everything is closed this street is just beautiful to walk down and window shop!