Monday, February 22, 2010

Layla's 2nd Birthday: Invitations, Birthday Onesie, Cake & Cupcakes

Our niece, Layla, turned TWO in November. She loves ladybugs and her nickname is Laylabug. I made her birthday invitations . . . ladybugs, of course! It goes without saying that I used my handy-dandy Cricut. The Doodlecharms cartridge has so many fantastic cuts on it including this wonderful little ladybug. The party information is on the ladybug's tummy -- printed from my home printer -- and included a picture of the birthday girl. And yes, they have googly-eyes! The spots are outlined with red glitter. They fit in a standard sized invitation envelope.



I also made Layla a birthday onesie featuring her favorite "critter." She loved it . . . "Aunt Jen made me ladybug shirt, Mommy!"

Once again I used my wonderful little Cricut and the Doodlecharms and Calligraphy Collection cartridges. This is the "freezer paper" method that I have discussed in previous posts. (Shortened version: cut design out of freezer paper, iron freezer paper on to the fabric, paint, dry and peel freezer paper off!) The ladybug's eyes are tiny white buttons that I stitched on and there are black grosgrain ribbon bows stitched on at both shoulders.








Dee created the most incredible cake! It was her second multi-tiered cake and it tasted as wonderful as it looked. The bottom layer was white cake with buttercream filling and covered in marshmallow fondant. The second tier is chocolate with buttercream and fondant and so is the ladybug on top. The only non-edible pieces on the cake are the ladybug's antennae.



Together we created some "too-cute-to-eat" cupcakes! They were a very large pain in the butt to make, but very cute and the kids at the party devoured them. The ladybug body is an oreo cakester dipped in red chocolate melts, the head is a mini-oreo, the antennae is piped chocolate, the ladybug's spots are black M & Ms and the rest is tinted royal icing -- Dee created the grass with a special Wilton icing tip (looks cool, doesn't it!).