Pretty Peacock Wedding & a *NEW* Cupcake Stand!

I am so excited about this post! Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a part of my friend, and hair stylist extraordinaire, Jackie's big day {oh and her beau, Christian's, too!! Haha!}. I always feel so honoured when friends ask me to bake their wedding treats! Their reception was at the lovely {newly renovated} Viscount Gort.

Jackie and I have been talking about and planning the wedding cupcakes for months. I love that Jackie wanted the cupcakes to be front and center, on display for everyone to enjoy all night long - no pressure to create something awesome! She also had her eye on a beautiful clear stand..... but I did not have a beautiful, clear stand...uh oh! I searched high and low for the perfect stand but kept coming up short. In the end I decided to purchase a new stand and couldn't be happier! Not only does it look amazing, it has presence. 8 tiers and 200 cupcakes later we had the perfect reception centerpiece!

Jackie chose peacock colours - teal, greens and purples - as accent colours for her decor. The real peacock feather on the side of her cutting cake perfectly tied in with the tall peacock feather table centerpieces. 

I also LOVE the black liners used to bake the cupcakes in. Because the cupcakes were two different flavours  {chocolate and cookies & cream} The black liners created a more unified look. Super classy and polished! Not to mention way more cost effective than paper cupcake wrappers :)

Congratulations Jackie and Christian!! Wishing you much happiness and joy in the years ahead! Thanks again for letting me be a part of your big day :)

** My new, beautiful stand is available to rent! It holds up to 200 cupcakes and can be down-sized to accommodate smaller numbers :) **

Little Blue Boxes are a Girl's Best Friend

A couple of weeks ago my friend Elaine had a Tiffany blue themed party to celebrate her birthday. And, of course, no Tiffany themed party would be complete without a signature blue box cake! 

Unfortunately there was only delicious red velvet cake on the inside of this box, no sparkly jewels :( I think Elaine's husband may have come to the rescue with a slightly smaller blue box gift though!

Happy Birthday Elaine!! I hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration!

Check out my baby bum!

Baby bums have to be the cutest things in the whole word. Especially when teeny babies pull their legs all the way up and they stick their bums out in that way that they do - adorable! 

I made this cake to welcome baby Aiden a couple of weeks ago...

I had seen many baby bum cake pictures on the internet and was thrilled when Tracey sent me this picture. When someone sends me a picture I always try to stay true to their vision but personalize it with my own touches. While the polka-dots in the picture are undoubtedly cute I thought that buttons would be even cuter. I was pretty pleased with the result and enjoyed every second of making this cake!

The bum was also made out of cake. Baking the cake in a small glass bowl made the perfect round shape! The legs and feet were made from marshmallow fondant. The base cake was iced in delicious buttercream icing!

 Welcome to the world Aiden and thank you Tracey for asking to make this special cake!

It's Wedding Season!!

When I think about all the summers of days gone by I undoubtedly think about weddings! Big weddings, small weddings, weddings here, weddings there, weddings everywhere!!! Weddings galore... I think one summer my record was 8 weddings... phew! I don't think there is a place in this city that I haven't been for a wedding. Between friends and family I was busy!! And then there was the summer of my own wedding a couple of years ago. Needless to say that was pretty consuming :) And now wedding craziness is all about cupcakes and cookies... I love it!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of providing sweet treats for Elyse and Sean's wedding. Their reception was at the beautiful Niakwa Country Club. Congrats you two!!

Elyse provided the hilarious cake topper and orchid flowers to complete the look!

The great thing about being a teacher is that I can devote my summers to wedding fever! If you are still looking for the perfect treats for your summer event I still have a few weekends left. Shoot me an email - I would love to chat!

An All-Inclusive Celebration

Although the weather has been unusually beautiful for this time of year on the good 'ol prairies there is just something about Spring Break that has me longing for a hot, all-inclusive getaway. I actually long for a hot, all-inclusive vacation approximately 295 days of the year, but who's counting?! Regardless, here I am, stuck in landlocked Winnipeg this week, catching up on some reading and getting the oil changed in my car... jealous? Ha!

All of this all-inclusive business makes me think about indulgence and that makes me think about the triple threat... cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Annnndddd.... a couple of weekends ago I made all 3 goodies for a double-y delicious 1st birthday celebration. An obvious, yet clever, segway if I do say so myself! See how it all comes together in my head ;)

The story of this 1st birthday celebration is a pretty cool one. My friend Kelly had her son, Makai, a year ago. Her sister was pregnant at the same time with her son, Kian. The two boys were born just days apart and so the joint birthday party madness began!

Kelly contacted me about making cupcakes, 2 cakes (one for each birthday boy) and favour cookies for the party. They had chosen a space theme and requested star cupcakes, rocketship cakes and #1 cookies. And so the all-inclusive {Sweets 'n Sprinkles style} birthday party madness began!

The cupcakes and cookies....

...and my absolute favourite cookies that I've ever made EVER!!!

Warning - I took a lot of pictures of these cookies! They were so cute and I was excited!!

Please bear with me :)

I never miss an opportunity to put a monogram {or 2} on anything!

All packed up and ready to go! How cute is this?!

A table full of cookies at the door for party goers to grab on their way out!

I am such a huge fan of the cookie party favour! Who doesn't like to get a delicious sugar cookie to take home {or eat in the car on the way home.... or maybe that's just me}?!

Check out the cupcakes I made for Kelly's baby shower when Makai was just a babe here.

For those of us "lucky" enough to stay in the 'Peg for Spring Break a triple c all-inclusive party might be just the cure for all this vacay-envy going on right now!

Just checked the weather forecast for the week...snow....awesome...

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street... and how to be a little less forgetful perhaps?!

Some days, s{tuff} happens...

{thank you Forrest Gump}

This was one of those days.

Generally, my plan is to always set up my cupcakes at the venue of the event they are for. I know that my clients appreciate it greatly but, if I'm being completely honest, it's mostly because I'm a wee bit of a control freak {or "detail oriented" as my mom so lovingly refers to it ;)}! Please note: this is in no way intended to be a slight against anyone's abilities to put some cupcakes on a stand. It's just a thing I have... its incurable. Trust me, I've tried.

Anyways, on the morning of Landon's birthday party I had a commitment that I just couldn't get out of and had to drop everything off beforehand. Of course it wasn't until I arrived that I realized my error. I hadn't taken any pictures of the cupcakes or the cake. Not.One.Single.Picture.

For a blog lovin', picture sharing kinda girl like me that is just about as close to the end of the world as it is gets.

Luckily Landon's lovely mom, Elaine, was kind enough to send me a couple of snaps she took and all was not lost. Thank you for saving the day Elaine!!

I have to say that I LOVE the cake on top of the stand and cupcakes below. It is the best of both worlds!

Aren't they cute?!

Note to self... pictures are important in this business!

One more week until Spring Break!! Hopefully my brain comes back...

Baby Blocks

This cake was made for a baby shower put on by my friend Amiee of Devoted to Decorating. Aimee is fabulous... I cannot gush about her enough! I got a glimpse of the baby shower set up when delivering the cake and everything looked great!!

I really love the challenge of a stacked cake. Hours {and I mean hours} of thought, planning and preparation happen before the first layer is even in the oven. And, even the best laid plans generally have me thinking on my toes in the eleventh hour! I think all cake decorators must like the thrill and pressure of getting that cake to its destination safely and in one piece!!

Cute little baby monkey!

The blocks were three different flavours... a great idea for stacked cakes to appeal to all guests! They were red velvet with cream cheese icing, chocolate chip with buttercream icing and vanilla with lemon icing.

Thanks again to Aimee for leting me be a part of your event!

New Year... New Blog... and a Ballerina!

Happy 2012!! 

Ya, ya, I know it is almost February and I have been a bit absent on the blogging scene these past few months.

But I have been hard at work!! Somewhere over the winter break I found myself rested and ambitious. So, what better way to pass the time than with a crash course in blog design and HTML? I found a couple of really helpful DIY blogs, purchased a digital scrapbooking kit {thank you, thank you, thank you Shawna Clingerman and Melissa Bennett of Sweet Shoppe Designs for all images used on this blog!} and was on my way! The original plan was to have my newly redesigned, fancy blog up and running before January. However...who knew {ahem} that designing your own blog would be quite the undertaking??! Well, it definitely took me awhile {and a lot of research} to get things just the way I like them! Still not everything is finished - pages really will be coming soon! It's a work in progress, much like my creations, always planning, creating, changing and planning again. So please bear with me as I tie up the loose ends on my blog. I am so excited to have a new, fun place to share my baking stories and couldn't possibly wait any longer to unveil the fruits of my {hours and hours of} labour!

Two months of being a delinquent blogger has left me with plenty to share! The perfect way to start off 2012 is with a party, a dance party! My sweetheart Hannah turned 7 {yikes!} this month and she had a big request for her dance studio birthday party.... a ballet slipper cake, of course! Hannah and I made ballet slipper cupcakes a few months back so I knew it was coming! I decided on a pink cake with white polka dots and sparkly pink ballet slippers on top. It was a success with the birthday girl and I had to laugh as she immediately dragged all of her friends over to "see her cake" the second they arrived at her party!

Hannah's cake was three layers of cake {red velvet and vanilla mixed together} with buttercream icing and covered in yummy marshmallow fondant. The perfect amount of sugary goodness for a bunch of giggly girls!

I loved making each layer a different shade of pink - a surprise for Hannah! 

Thank you pinterest for this idea!

The beautiful birthday girl with her cake and matching headband!

Happy birthday Hannah Banana... I can't wait to hear the request for #8!

congrats christina & chris!!

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of creating cupcakes for Christina and Chris' wedding. Truly, the best part of my baking adventure is meeting new people... Christina was a delight to get to know!! I love sitting down with brides and discussing all things wedding... brings me back to my own day of {super stressful!} wedded bliss. The set up for this wedding was particularly enjoyable - their reception venue was a quick 5 minute drive from my house and the hubby helped out! It is always way more fun with two {although my slight perfectionism sometimes gets in the way ;)}. I hope I wasn't too annoying!! Ha!

Christina and Chris' cupcakes were vanilla and chocolate with almond icing. Their "cutting" cake was red velvet with almond icing and fondant.

Congratulations Christina and Chris!! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your special day!

...and this is what happens when the hubby ventures into the kitchen... :s

Good thing they were extras!!

strike a pose!

This past summer...yes, back in August.... I had the extreme pleasure of being a part (well, my creations atleast!) of a fun little photo shoot put on by the wonderful Aimee of Devoted to Decorating. This was the first time we worked together on a photo shoot and it was a blast! The theme was red and purple so of course red velvet cupcakes were in order! This was the first time I have had my goodies professionally photographed and now I wish I had a better camera... haha! They look so yummy!!

A HUGE thanks to:

Photography... Christa Dawn Photography

Flowers... Norwood Florist

Linens... Bel-Ayre Rentals

gnome sweet gnome

Good morning and happy September! Where has the summer gone?! Only 2 more sleeps until school starts and I can't wait to meet my new little bunch of cuties :)

I'll start off this morning's post with some cupcakes and a cake for a one year old cutie! A few weeks ago Carson turned one and his mom, Tristan, requested these adorable gnome, toadstool and owl cupcakes. She was inspired by a pack of stickers for the theme of his birthday and I love it! I was inspired by my new favourite blog (did I mention that in my last blog?! Haha!), Fairytale Frosting, where I saw some super adorable gnome cupcakes. Tristan also requested a small owl cake for Carson to have all to himself...I can just imagine the fun he had digging into it!!

Carson's cupcakes were red velvet with green grass buttercream icing. His cake was chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!!! Chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream. Perfect for the token one-year-old-cake-all-over-the-baby photo op!!

Happy first Birthday Carson!!! I hope you enjoyed your cake :) Thanks Tristan!







...and the little owl cake for the birthday boy...