Time for a catch up

Its been awhile since I have posted anything.  Things have been a little bit crazy as of late.  Between having a ton of family visiting, sick kiddies, a broken dishwasher(I have been doing alot of dishes!) and starting part time work for the first time in nearly four years, cakes have been put on the back burner.

I have loved the new challenge of work and will guiltily admit that the 12 hours away from my children a week is somewhat bliss.  It could have something to do with the fact that I have the sexiest boss ever or the 12 hours of order I feel when most of the time I am terribly disordered. Sometimes I don't think that its the kids I need a break from, but me to get my head into gear a bit better.

Last week I did get to make some cake pops for a friend which I loved making and to top it off the party was in the country with lots of animals! My kids loved it.  My daughter said it was the best party ever.

I will admit that I have tried a few other hobbies to fulfill my need to be creative while cakes have been missing.  My husband thinks that I am turning into a little old lady and laughs at me while I am sitting on the couch crocheting little booties.  Personally I think I am just practicing to be a nana so that by the time I am one I will be the BEST nana ever. Sadly my own Grandma jokingly asked me to teach her to crochet.  I really do enjoy it though and was pretty happy with my first attempts.

Nothing quite beats cakes though.  I was feeling particularly out of sorts this week and sat down last night to work on a cupcake project for my daughters kindy.  While I worked, everything just fell off my shoulders and I felt refreshed again.  Sometimes a girl just needs to get her cake on.  For my daughters kindy I helped 24 2-4 year olds decorate these cupcakes.  They are learning about flowers at the moment so it was perfect!   They did such a great job!  Happy spring!

60th birthday cake

This cake was a special cake for a a friends father of mine.  There are specific elements in this cake that represent him. I was very pleased with how it all came together.

70th birthday cake

This is a cake I made a few weeks back for a special ladies 70th birthday.  It was chocolate cake iced in chocolate butter cream and covered in fondant.

Under Construction

Its been a few weeks since I have done any cake making so my friends sons 3 year old birthday party was a welcome chance to get my creative juices going again.  We had a fabulous day spending it with special friends, at long last outside and out of the rain!  This winter has been a rough one and I know my friends and I are looking forward to warm days, sunshine and bug free kids!

Skiier cake topper

More and more I realize how much I love the sculpting side of cakes.  This weeks skiier cake topper I enjoyed immensely.  I tend to go into a zone and everything slows down around me as I lose myself in my work.  

  

Stilettos

Last night I contributed a spot prize for a girls evening at our church.  Initially I was going to make cupcake bouquets but several months ago a friend of mine sent me a link to cupcakes that looked like shoes.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to make them!

If I was crazy rich I would probably own a lot of shoes.  I love my feet and how they look in shoes!  I think as women we have to have one favorite part of ourselves because we are certainly hard on ourselves on so many other levels.  Because I love shoes, I loved making these cupcakes!

I ended up doing two separate spot prizes because of how I presented the cupcakes.  Each cupcake is completely edible.  I did a cupcake for the toe, a biscuit for the sole and a licorice log for the heel.  For the little bags I made them out of two cupcakes.  Cupcakes are a chocolate mud.

Mainly Music Birthday

Each week I take my son to a music session that is put on by a group called Mainly Music.  It is a fantastic effort put on by several volunteers who each week put together songs for mums and their children as well as a great morning tea and play time. Mainly Music runs all over the country so visit this website if you wish to find one locally near you:  http://www.mainlymusic.org.nz/

The particular Mainly Music I go to was hosting its 15th year running this week so to celebrate they held a birthday party for the two sessions.  I was asked to make the cakes and was more than honored to do so.  I made a cake for each session but was able to re-use most of the decorations.  It was a great time singing all our favorite songs and catching up with familiar faces.