I am no longer MIA....maybe.

hello bloggy world! i am back. perhaps. =)

february is a crazy month and i realize its been sometime since i updated. my daughter turned 2 this month and i went a little nutty with her bday party, even tho it was just immediate family at a local restaurant...but for about a week and a half i was knee deep in fondant, cake, icing, cookies, paper, glue, scissors, and ribbon. and i neglected the blog, the shop, me....and the weeks following i have been just trying to get back to my shop.

for her birthday, even tho it was just family this year (last year was the big crazy party), i wanted to do something special for her and wasnt happy with just doing cake in the dining room at the house. shes 2...i can still make these things fun....not like when shes 31 and just wants to stay home and not face the fact that shes over 30 (ahem....not talking about me. no no. not at all). so for her bday i chose a Minnie Mouse theme. shes obsessed with all things cartoony now a days, but minnie mouse does hold a special place in her heart, and i figured i could do a lot of little things to tie into the theme.

i didnt want to spend a bazillion dollars on party extras and tho i found a great minnie mouse http://www.birthdayexpress.com/yexpress.com/ (http://http//www.birthdayexpress.com/Minnie-Mouse-Dinner-Plates/35953/ProductDetail.aspx) i just couldnt bring myself to order all the extras.

since we were eating at a chinese buffet, we chose one that had a private room. tho we were only 15, they were very nice about giving us half the room for our party and i had free reign on decorations. i didnt need regular plates, utensils, napkins, or cups, so i really just got the cake things. small dessert plates, small cake napkins, and forks. when i went to the party supply shop in town, they had the same minnie mouse line i had seen on the website, so i just bought those things there. then i ordered coordinating balloons, grabbed a few pink tablecloths, a matching minnie mouse happy bday banner, and called it a day. since it was a small party, i didnt have to get too much of anything, so it stayed in budget. if it was bigger, i prob would have skipped the minnie mouse plates and got plain pink ones and tied it together with just the balloons and napkins.

so to add to the decorations, i decided to make cupcakes with cupcake flags, a few centerpieces for the tables, a few things to hang on the wall, and minnie mouse thank you cards for the favors. i did everything i wanted to with the exception of the wall decorations (thank goodness i picked up the banner).

as far as baking, i really wanted to make her cake...with minnie mouse ears, 2 tiers of fondant cake, one pink with white polka dots, the other white with pink polka dots...and some cupcakes (clearly, bc what good are cupcake flags without cupcakes?)...and some cookie favors.

the first thing i did was make the minnie mouse ears out of rice krispie treats and fondant. i figured if i could do that, then i would make the cake...if i couldnt, i'd order one. i tried....

when i took the pic, it was a few days after. the black fondant faded. i was pretty proud of it. kind of sloppy....and i didnt have a #2 cutter so i had to cut it out with a knife....but i was proud. i also realized that i just didnt have the time to commit to making her cake...so i abandoned ship.

called the local supermarket and had them make a cake for her matching th theme....

it came out super cute and better than i could have done.

to make the favors, i got a heart cookie cutter (woo for 50% off since i bought it after vday at michaels) and i also used my wilton circle fondant cutter and made heart shaped and circular cookies. i attempted to flood them with pink royal icing (they came out OK...i have to work on this) and then decorated them.

for the favor tags, i used my handy-dandy cricut and cut out 3 circles for minnies ears and face. assembled her and glued her on a piece of white cardstock ($4.99 for the whole pack of white and black paper...of which i used maybe 6 pieces), attached a grosgrain pink and white polka dot bow ($2.50 for the roll), another piece at the bottom and handstamped "thank you" on the card. i think they came out uber adorable if i do say so myself.

i put the cookies in the bag, threw in some m&ms (yay for post vday candy) that were pink, red, and white and tied it with the favor tag. i think they were my fave part of the decorations.

then i made cupcake tags. i made the template on the computer, printed, cut, and glued them to toothpicks. made some cupcakes, with pink and purple icing and stuck 'em in. sweet. the flags says "Gabriella's 2nd bday. and i ended up making pink and purple iced cupcakes to match the theme colors. they were yummy. and yes, i totally cheated and used box cake mix and canned icing. shhhhhh.

for centerpieces, i got a couple terracotta pots from michaels (.89 each), painted them with watered down pink acrylic, tied a satin ribbon, added a few pink/white flowers, and then i made a flag coordinating to the cake flags.whee!  

then i made gabs a shirt ($3.50 for the tee and i had the transfers already) that matched the decorations and matching shoes (which i forgot to take a pic....black suede mary janes and i added the same bow as the ones on the favor tags). for the shirt, i designed the image in word and made it into an iron-on transfer.

i also made a little centerpiece ... a balloon holder...which housed the main set of balloons. but i dont think i got a pic. i just cut out 3 circles with the cricut, glued them together, attached a bottom piece of black paper and made it into a circle so it would stand up on its own. threw in a matching bow for good measure, and then just slipped the paper weight into the hole.

and that was that! i had so much fun....tho i definitely had to ignore the etsy shop and sleep for a few days, but in the end, i accomplished almost everything i set forth to do.

next year, i will get make the cake. tho i did make one for her actual bday....

so i guess i did alright. =)

*please ignore the AWFUL formatting...i'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing down, and apparently inserting images is not as simple as one would think. lol