Saturday 23 June 2012

Monday 4 June 2012

Sara's baby shower

Created this beautiful diaper cake myself  for my friend Sara that everyone loved so i thought i would let you know how to make it.

Diaper Cake-two-tier


Step one:

Purchase the items

You will need:
-2 fleece blankets(pick the color for your appropriate shower theme event)
-36 new -born diapers(60 diapers depending on how many tiers you want to create)
-2-4 thin elastic bands(did not use hot glue as the mum to be can use the nappies and blankets)
-baby items(toys, baby dummy, baby bottles etc)
-ribbons(choose beautiful ribbons for decor)
-a cardboard or plastic or glass cake platter- to put the diaper cake on.
-decorations(your choise: silk flowers, stuffed animal toys,baby towels,face washes,dummies etc)

Step 2:

For the first tier, you will need about 26 newborn nappies(diapers).
Start by unfolding the first nappy and then roll it up tight, starting from the front of the nappy to the back. The tighter the better.
Place a rubber band around the centre after you roll each diaper up to hold it up right. These are the inner diapers for the cake.

Take the cake platter and place the baby bottle or large bottle of baby lotion in the centre. Then place about 5-6 nappies around the bottle and put a rubberband around the entire ring of diapers.
Next, form a 2nd ring with the 10 remaining nappies by placing them around the 1st ring of nappies. Complete it by placing a large rubber band around the ring.

Now for the final ring of nappies for the 1st tier: take the next 14 nappies, unfold eack one and roll them tight, like before, but instead of a rubber band around tie a thin1/4 inch piece of ribbon around the middle aroumd each one. Then place them around the second ring to form a 3rd ring. Now take a large wide ribbon and tie it around the entire tier to hold them all together in a circle shape.

Step 3

The second tier is made much the same way, only instead of three rings, you only make 2 rings of nappies.Just like the first tier, the inside ring will need about 5-6 nappies. Part of the baby bottle will be sticking out of the 1st tier so place your 5-6 nappies around it to form the first ring of the 2nd tier. The second tier will need about ten nappies. Place a ribbon around each one of those 2nd ring nappies and hold them all together in a circle with the 1/2 to 1 inch wide ribbon, just like before.

You can either put blankets and baby wraps around the nappy cake tiers or leave the nappy exposed by just adding ribbon around and decorate the cake with what you desire.

And Voila!

You're done and it's a masterpiece! Your baby shower diaper cake is sure to receive plenty of oohs and aahs. Here's another look at the nappy cake I have desined. What I love about these nappy cakes is that you can add anything you wish and the mother to be is sure to use everything in it and you do not have to use the hot glue gun to stack the items together.



I have added a few books for the baby on the top tier as sara wanted books for the baby shower but you can add a stuffed toy, really, anything you like, depending on the  baby shower theme.


I have baked some lovely cupcake for Sara as well and customised the cupcake toppers myself. They looked great. Take a look:



Sara's baby will be spoilt rotten with all the beautiful presents that she had received.



with beautiful decorations:







Saturday 26 May 2012

A parisian affair


A parisian affair-Shania's surprise 10th birthday party


A Parisian soiree that amazed the guests upon their arrival at the Chateau Ashton. I wanted that Ooh, la la appearance so I arranged a beautiful table with the “welcome sign” and a barbie sketch by Robert nest with a lush peony flower arrangement next to the frame.

 I wanted the ranunculus, anemones and the peony flowers to resemble a Parisian gardens of the Champs-Elysees but they were out of season so I settled for a small silk violet peony bouquet.
The paperie decorations were designed by beautiful Donna @deezeedesigns.com.au who personalised the party labels for my beautiful niece. Here’s a close look up at the welcoming sign:


Cake: I worked with Mary from Amarantos Cakes in Melbourne, from the initial sketch of the cake as I wanted a pink barbie girl in a baby pink color with black lace on the front of the dress. I was amazed with the intricate detail that Mary did on the black lace on the cake. Thank you so much Mary, you’re incredible.


A vintage dresser corsage centre piece gave that paris fashion look set the scene for a very sassy and chic look. Take a look:










A princess table was set for the girls as the dessert buffet table as well that the girls loved.










The cupcakes that I had baked the night before and almost forgot to add the icing sugar to the whipped cream as my kids were chasing each other around the kitchen table. Licking the cupcake mixture from the mixing bowl was the only thing that settled them down. I had purchased a great icing wilton piping bag with the star nozzle and kept practising at decorating the spare cupcake until I got the perfect rose swirl: My son Blake and nephew loved the cupcakes:


I placed a peony silk flower on top of the white linen napkin that gave the table a glamorous and whimsical look.

The peony silk flower which are one of my favorite flowers gave a beautiful presentation to the guest table.





The parisian banner that I put together after I cut and pasted the paris labels from Donna.




Created this beautiful tulle chandelier that I placed with the birthday banner and placed a pink flower corsage on and attached two purple butterflies on it to hang. Decorated the room with two more tulle chandeliers:




A pink mini cupcake stand that looked so pretty:



the apothecary dessert jars:



Peppermint refreshing lollies were very popular and the guests grabbed a bag and took some home.


Tara at tskdesignboutique.com designed this gorgeous dessert buffet sign for the dessert table
which i had to have. My niece loved it and took it home with her:



I found these cute paris-poodle favor boxes on ebay and gave each princess received a box and filled then with butterfly hair clips which they absolutely adored.




The guest drinks were decorated with the "beau coup" french theme and the mums loved them.


 
  The guests took home a mini violet bucket with a chocolate wrapped in cellophane and the beautiful paris "merci"tags that were attached.


  













Wednesday 21 September 2011

My brightful baby shower

Its the  most exiting milestone in a woman's life when she finds out that she is expeting a little miracle. I could not not contain my excitment that I was going to have a baby girl after having baby boy Blake.
I planned my own baby shower which i have found to be exiting. I love planning and it turned out great. Here are some pictures:

 
With a fairy theme in mind I have placed a fairy statue as a centre piece and created some paper tissue pom poms and I have scattered starts and the rocking horse confetti onto the table. I had a  The guest loved the decorations.
woodland fairy

Filled up some take away boxes with favorite chocolates as a party faor for the guests.
table decor for the baby shower, final touch

the baby gifts

The baby gift bags that I had received from my guest who spoiled me with beautiful baby clothes and baby necesities.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Lillian's christening day

My daughter Lillian's  Christening Day

One of the most exciting events that I had planned and I could not wait to share it with you. Keeping in mind that christening is one of the most important moments in our religious lives to celebrate with our family and friends, I had embarked on my first task of chosing and ordering the invitations.
I had started using the google search engine and I had found a floral pattern christening invitation that I had found on a great website: zazzle.com. I had typed my details on the floral template on the 28th February 2011 and I had received the invitations on the 15th Marh 2011. So I had sufficient time to send them one month before the event.
 I was over the moon when there was a knock on the door and the post lady had finally delivered the box with the invitations.
The Christening Candle
One of the christening items symbolising purity and light was the candle. I had personalized the candle:
 
 Susan at susanspersonalized candles.com did an amazing job at attaching Lillian's photo and added the christening details.
The christening gown that I had purchased from:
 cutieclothes.com that was made in USA.

 
 and the back of the gown:
 
 Here's Lilly in her christening gown:


 She was so adorable and it was difficult to keep her still for the photo shot.
The Christening Cake
Andrea Apos @ cake-a-lishious(please check her website) has created the most beautiful christening cake with an angel on the top tier and butterflies  and golden ribbons around the cake tiers. Lillian's name was spelled out onto the marzipan cubes that were decorated with white butterflies. Thank you Andrea for creating such a master piece. You should be given an award for your work and i don't doubt that one day you will.

 The pink tier had the marble flavour and the top white tier was a strawberry flavour. The guests absolutely loved the cake. There was no cake spared.
I also created a dessert buffet for the christening party


 I have dipped some white and pink marshmallows in white chocolate put placed a lillipop stick through them and sprinkled hundreds and thousands on them. The kids absolutely loved them.
 Decorated the tables with a purple organza table runner, white napkins with light purple ribbon around them, gum seeds,and fairy sprinkles on the table.



Bouquets of white and pink flowers with pink candles for table decor.

 For the children little I managed to purchase little angels from mimosadesigns, the world's best cold porelain baby favours. The children loved them as well as the grown ups. Here is a picture..

 Both my sister Terezia and my sister-in-law Leeanne gave me a hand to put wrap some marshmellows in the organza bags and put a pink ribbon around the angels. They were a success.
 As for the older guests as a token of my appreciation for their presence and gifts i had presented them with a mini box of chocolates that had a baby bassinette laser cut design on one side of the box in lavender colour. I had placed a mini charm silver cross on the lavender ribbon and placed the ribbon around the box finishing with a bow. I had purhased the mini boxes and the charm crosses from beau-coup.com who have a wide range of favour boxes for all occasions. Check the this favour box below. Aren't they pretty?

 
Anticipating that more people are going to leave a monetary gift I had purchased a baby carriage-vintage decorated with pink ribbon with pink satin roses from mimosa designs. It was my centrepiece on the table and the guests loved it. They had placed all the christening cards in it. It was lovely. Take a look:
 
I had taken out my wedding cake knife and cake pallete and I thought that the four of us should cut the cake together.
Here are the christening cards:
 

 I've pulled out the wedding cake knife and pallete and used it to cut the christening cake together with my husband, son and daughter. I've placed a lilac ribbon around the cuttlery as well.

 I absolutely love to read birthday cards, any cards given on any occasion so i thought a guest signing book would be something that Lillian would treasure and she would read the guests wishes and words of wisdom when she would be older. I had purchased a guest signing book and I had attached a pink baby corsage on the hard cover of the book and it looked great for the christening event:

 
As table decorations I had scattered white and purple fairies onto the table and had lilltle round lilac glass bowls with mini scented candles inside and placed eucalyptus gum seeds all over the table.

 The christening event was a success celebrated with family and friends.