Monday, May 23, 2011

Birthday Decortions - Including Cake Made With the Cricut Cake Machine


So, today is my daughter's 3rd birthday.  We had her party on Saturday and it works out that my dear, sweet friend Tracy shares the same birthday and all this birthday fun fits in perfectly with her birthday blog hop.

You'll want to see all the fun and inspirational birthday themed ideas, and be sure to wish Tracy a happy birthday - so if you're doing the hop you should have arrived from Jessica's Blog.  If you have not started the hop yet you can head on over to see Tracy - the first stop on the hop and our special birthday girl :)

Today I'd like to share the decorations I made for her party.  I will focus mainly on the cake  I made using the Cricut Cake machine

Here's a photo of the supplies I used.  Everything seemed to work just fine.  The cake was good and moist and I would buy any of these products again in a heartbeat.  These were all readily available at my local grocery store.


The first thing I had to do of course was bake the cake.  I baked it in 2 round pans that were each 9 inches.  I used some triple berry jelly in the middle to put the two layers together.


The next step was frosting the cake.  I am by no means an expert at this - but I think it came out fine.  The imperfections seem so much less noticeable later after all the decorations are added.  Someday I'll learn to fondant a cake - but not today :)


The next step was preparing the gum paste.  The mix I bought needed water and A LOT of kneading.  My arms were so sore.  I was already tired after just making the gum paste - then I had to work the color into it.  Oh my goodness.  I think that was by far the hardest part.  Here are my four colors all done and ready to be cut.


To use the Cricut Cake machine you need to roll the gum paste out onto the Cricut Cake mat.  First you spread some Crisco onto the mat with a pastry brush and then you just add the gum paste and roll it out.  I TRIED FONDANT LAST TIME AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE GUM PASTE FOR THIS MACHINE INSTEAD!!!!!!  The fondant had to be frozen after being rolled out on the mat and I still had a lot of trouble.  The gum paste cut like a dream.  Here is a picture of some cuts on the mat.


Here's a picture of a bunch of the shapes sitting and waiting to be applied to the cake.  I cut all my shapes first so that I could have them all at hand when I went to see how I wanted everything to fit on the cake.


Here's the finished cake on the party table.


Here's a close up shot of the finished cake again.


This took up pretty much the whole day before the party - but my gosh did it feel good to see it all done and see my daughter's excitement over her birthday cake.  It may have a lot more imperfections than one bought from the store - but it was made with a whole lot of love, and I did truly enjoy the process (all except the mess it left in my kitchen *LOL*)

Here are a few more quick photos of things that I made.

This little decoration went on the back of her chair at the party table.  I cut it using my new E2 machine and the Cricut American Alphabet Cartridge.  Then I blinged it up with some Stickles.


Here's a large sign.  It's hard to see much detail but the presents have a bunch of glitter on them, and the letters have some bling. 


My favorite thing at the whole party was this banner I made.  I spent hours custom making the paper doll using the Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge.  I think he came out exactly how I wanted.

Here's a shot of the whole banner.

Here's a shot of the top so you can see my special doll.  He is supposed to look like my daughter's favorite TV show character - and she chose him for her party theme.


Here's a quick shot of a couple of the banner letters.  I just alternated these 2 color combos.



Thanks for stopping by my bloggy little corner of the world today!  I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of all my party planning. I go absolutely INSANE over my children's parties.  I don't invite a ton of people or anything - but I go nuts over wanting every little detail to be just so and take great pride in making a lot of the decor myself.
Now it's time to continue the blog hopping fun and head on over to Shawn's blog for some more inspiration. 


44 comments:

DtsArt said...

YUM!! Super cute cake!

Stacy said...

Amber,
It looks like you did a great job for the party! I love everything you did. Your cake turned out really good, I love the idea of putting jelly in the center YUM!
Hugs
Stacy

KardsbyKadie said...

Amber: Super fun cake and I can only image how much everyone loved all your decorations. Thanks for sharing! Kadie (fellow CJT Design Team member)

Doris P. said...

now that's a Cricut birthday!!! LOVE all the deco's!! oops.. signed up as new follower but I think i might have been already. would love to follow you if you daily (or whenever) if you had e-mail... I'm just sayin' LOL love to keep in more touch with your projects!!
parkernana5@cox.net
http://mybugandmecreate.blogspot.com

GlendaLea said...

Yummy, My favorite kind of cake!

Erika Valdez said...

Way to go on the beautiful cake and decorations!! I am so glad to here that your baby girl had a great birthday party!!

Tanya Isis Ayala said...

super my niece loves caliou

Debbie said...

WOW, you did a great job. I too have not had any luck with fondant and plan to try gum paste for my daughters next bday (next month). I bought the already mixed gum paste and added color and it worked so maybe you can try that next time. The price is not bad with a coupon from AC Moore or Michaels. I love your cake and the decorations, Caliou turned out great! TFS.

Vera said...

What a labor of love! Everything looks great and yummy!

Amanda said...

Oh my, what a fun birthday party, and your cake looks so yummy..

Scrappy Hugs,
Amanda:0)

Carol L said...

WOW! Love the cake and all the decorations too! It looks like it was a super fun party! Have a blessed day!

HUgs, Carol L.

Paperberrycards said...

Beautiful cake, love all the colors and the decorations.
Phyllis

Alma said...

Great job!!! Love it!!

Kerry T said...

Great projects! The cake looks so yummy. Thanks for the inspiration.
Kerry

mommakcrafts.blogspot.com

Cheryl Gaffney said...

Great job on the party Amber!! I do the same thing for my son's parties! :) Handmake everything... including goody bags too!! I know... NUTS! :)

TFS, Cheryl (your fellow CJToo DT member)
CardsbyCG.blogspot.com

jen said...

Awesome job!!! TFS
hugs,jen

Anonymous said...

Mmmm..cake :)

Super cute, thanks for sharing.

Jessica
fellow CJToo Designer :)

Amanda said...

CUTE!!

amandawoodau at hotmail dot com

GiGi said...

THat cake looks so cute and YUMMY! I love all the decorations too like that cute banner! TFS!
booger1 at tds.net

Darlene said...

Just Awesome!!! TFS

Darlene'
desaucier at bellsouth dot net

Unknown said...

Amber you did an amazing job with this cake! Love the colors. All the decoration are so pretty. Looks like such a fun party. Happy Birthday to your little girl! I hope you had a fabulous days

Anonymous said...

what a nice job on the cake, love the colors. jman4@comcast.net

Sheena said...

The cake looks so Yummy! so bright and fun!! Such a fun party! TFS

Hugs, Sheena
slynne1 at gmail dot com

Ashley Nicole said...

Everything looks amazing Amber. The cake looks yummy.
Nikki
glamoroussideofscrapping at gmail dot com
www.theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com

Marlene said...

Super job! I wondered how that Cricut Cake machine worked. Thanks for the step by step....it was great. I learned something new! Happy belated birthday to your daughter, by the way.

Craftyhomemade said...

Super cute.

Indira

Chriss America Real said...

Wow! That is the first time I have ever seen the Cricut Cake Machine! You did a great job with everything!

america57@comcast.net

Heather said...

The cake looks awesome!
ra6352 (at) gmail (Dot) com

Live Love and Scrap said...

Hey Amber...GREAT job on ALL the party goodies...your cake turned out so cute!!! Happy Birthday to your baby girl!!!

hugs,
Sarah

Dakota Bear said...

It looks lke parties at your house are a lot of fun. TFS

Jodie R said...

Beautiful cake, Amber! You did an amazing job with all the decorations too. I'll bet she had a great time at her birthday and she will talk about it for months and months.

Miranda said...

Super Cute! TFS

mlenclade at g mail dot com

Janeen said...

Happy Birthday to your daughter too! You did a great job on her cake and party decorations! TFS!

lovelyinspiredcreations.blogspot.com
majelica at comcast dot net

Tracy said...

Happy Happy Happy Birthday sweet Tiffany -- I love it that we have the same birthday.......your momma is SOOOOOO creative sweet girl.
Thank you Amber for making my birthday the BEST ever! WOW! Big Hugs to you my friend!
Spencer LOVES Caillou too -- thanks for the crafty ideas. You are so super talented Amber :)
Tracy

Shawnee said...

Super yummy cake and cute decorations. :)

Shawnee
http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com

Ashley said...

That is perfect!! I love that cake!!

Ashley
ScrappinAsh at gmail dot com

Laura (tweetyb) said...

Love all the decorations! and the cake looks yummy!!

♥ Laura ♥
tweetyb@satx.rr.com
http://laurascraftsandmore.blogspot.com/

Jamie said...

Great cake, looks like a great party!

mom2fivekiddos said...

awesome job on the cake and decorations! Thanks so much for sharing! I am a new follower!

Valerie said...

Everything about the party is amazing!! All the love and care really shines through:)

Jan in Tucson said...

What did we all do before the Cricut?! Great cake!!

Shelley said...

Awesome cake Amber! Great job! Love the decor too! My daughter likes to watch Caillou too! :)

Hugs!
Shelley (your fellow CJToo DT member)
http://carleys-closet.blogspot.com
shelleymace21@gmail.com

My 3 E Scrapbooking said...

AWESOME party! I love all the fun elements and that cake looks delish! Happy Birthday Tiffany!!

abusybee - DoubleClick Connections said...

WoW! Looks like an amazingly super fun party!