Cake Decorating Class - Course 3 (Gum Paste and Fondant)

(click here for my post on course 1)

(click here for my post on course 2)

This course was my favorite so far. I love working with gum paste and fondant. 

Week 1: I learned how to make bow loops and how to assembling a bow. I also made the bases for the Mum, Rose and Carnation.

The Carnation bases

The Mum and Rose bases

You make the bases on thick spaghetti so when the flower is complete you can stick it directly into the cake. Everything is edible.  

Week 2: I learned about the basic principles of floral cake design, how to make a Calla Lily, Rosebud, Rose, Carnation, Calyxes and Leaves. I loved making the roses and carnations.

The color is actually purple but purple doesn't photograph well. I also sprinkled pearl dust on the flower. 

Week 3: I made the Daisy, Mum, eyelet & ruffle borders and the ball border. I also learned how to cover a cake with fondant which came in handy to know since I did that with Katie's birthday cake.

Katie's 3rd birthday cake.

Week 4: I brought an iced cake to class and decorated it there. This is my final cake for course three. I baked two cakes, leveled them and filled with cream cheese frosting. Then covered with fondant and put on the fondant decorations. I love how it turned out and it might just be my favorite cake so far. Well, besides Katie's birthday cake.

Katie's Princess Birthday Party

Katie turned 3 at the end of last month. We can't believe how fast the time is going by and how much she is growing. Everyday she surprises us with a new trick or a new word. She is one smart and funny girl!

We threw her a princess party with all her princess friends. She had so much fun dressing up and playing with everyone.  Click here to look at the decorations.

Birthday Princess

all the princesses

Katie's royal family. Her Daddy was the only Prince allowed.

All the girls loved playing kiss the frog. It was too funny watching these cute little girls trying to walk straight after Prince Ken spun them around 5 times. Our littlest Princess (2 years old) was helped by her two big sisters which was adorable. She only got spun once. ;)

Click here to see how I made her birthday cake.

My favorite part of watching kids open birthday presents at parties is that all the kids help unwrap them. They are so excited to show the birthday kid what they brought. Katie's party was no different, lol. She was very spoiled by her friends and family. Thanks everyone!

Disclaimer: Ken is not so great at following her around. He just holds the phone up and forgets about it. Also this is video from when she was opening up the gifts from her family.

After all her friend left she wanted to play with her new princess bubbles. It was so hot and she was so tired she only lasted about 10 minutes.

She didn't really eat during the party so I made her finish her sandwiche before she went to bed. She almost didn't make it. She was tuckered out!

For dinner we went to In-and-Out. She loves it there! How cute is she!

Her Nana gave her this bear that sings a goodnight song and the candle lights up too. She LOVES it. It was so sweet seeing her cradle the bear like a little baby. (She will be such a great big sister.)

We love our sweet girl so much!  Click here to see her birthday video.

The decorations and mini cakes

Katie had a princess themed birthday party. Thanks to Pinterest I found some great ideas to make her party fun and special. (more on that at the end of the post) I made individual cakes for everyone which turned out to be a pain in the butt. How is it that these little simple cakes were harder to make then Katie's cake? (Click here to see Katie's cake.) Originally I tried pouring the frosting over them but that didn't work. Then I tried using my big icing tip and that didn't work either so I had to use a small tip. It took forever to frost them  and they didn't stay very straight. I topped them off with a princess crown chocolate pick I had made earlier in the week. I didn't like how they turned out but the kids liked them so that is all that mattered.

I made these chocolate suckers for the gift bags. There was this princess, a carriage and a castle. I love using chocolate molds.

Here is the table I set up as the main decorations. A special thank you to my sister who made all the signs for me within a few hours while in another state! You are awesome!

And for the close ups:

I love how the cookies turned out!

AHHHHHH!!!!! (part 2)

Last week I tried to french braid Katie's hair for the first time. See my post here to see how it turned out. 

Tonight I tried for my second time and this time I DID IT!!!!! I am so excited and more importantly Katie likes it. Of course she is easy to please and likes anything I do with her hair but still, yea! Thank you to all my friends who shared their tips with me. Braiding Katie's hair wet definitely helped. I still need lots of practice but I am happy that it is at least straight. 

I sure love this sweet little girl!

AHHHHHH!!!!! (part 1)

This is my first attempt to french braid Katie's hair. And I suck at it. I am so frustrated, I am on the verge of bawling my eyes out! I feel like a failure as a mother because I can't do her hair. Crazy I know. Certainly "K" didn't pick me to be Katie's mom based on my hair skills. I know this is irrational thinking but it is how I am feeling. Katie has been asking for curls and braids lately and I want to do that for her. So this morning I watched some youtube videos and I still couldn't do it. I need a friend to come over and show me all the tricks. Until then, I will just stick to the few styles I can do. (like the picture on the bottom)

This is what I came up with after an hour and several attempts!