{The Pink Week} Delicate Rose Cupcakes

Don't you think these cupcakes would be perfect for Mothers' Day? They are delicate and feminine, and of course delicious!

Cupcakes like these are not difficult to achieve. You just need a good recipe, the right piping nozzle and a little technique to make the sugarpaste roses.

Recipe
My favourite "grown-up" cake recipe is chocolate mud cake. It works equally well for cakes and cupcakes. I use this recipe. Remember to adapt the baking time for cupcakes, 20-25 minutes.
For the frosting, I have been using Glorious Treat's recipe for the past year, with great success. Find her delicious cream cheese frosting recipe here.

Piping
You need a closed star tip like the Wilton 2D to achieve this beautiful swirl.
Again, I refer you to Glorious Treat, she has a great tutorial on her blog and even a video.

Decorating
For the fondant decorations you will need:
White fondant (sugarpaste)
Food paste colouring (I used dusky rose and green)
A freezer bag (ziploc bag)
Some icing sugar
A rolling pin
A leaf rose cutter

For the roses:
Colour some sugarpaste pink.
Sift some icing sugar in a freezer bag.
Follow this technique to make the rose petals (I use a ziploc bag here but any plastic bag will do).
Assemble the rose petals as you go, they will stick easily when "fresh".
Leave the roses to dry.
Don't be put off, this is really easy. And once you master this technique you can create magnificent roses.

For the leaves:
Colour some sugarpaste green.
Roll with a rolling pin and use a rose leaf cutter to cut out a small leaf.
Leave to dry.

Pipe the swirls of Cream Cheese Frosting and press in a leaf at the top and then a rose.

Voila ! Your guests will be amazed at your talent !
How about presenting it in a tea cup for an elegant high tea feel ?

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{The pink week} is on !

This week I am trying something different and I hope you will find it fun !

I don't consider myself a very girlie-girl, I don't do hair and make-up, and with 3 young children, I wear trainers more than I do heels!!! BUT for some reason I love pink! Especially soft dusky pink...
So this week, I am seeing life in pink !

Everyday I will be posting a different project, but I should warn you here, this week is all about cakes and treats! So don't worry about your waistline and come back for second helpings !

See you tomorrow for my first taste of pink !





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{Craft} Party decorations on a budget

Decorations for a party can be quite expensive, especially if you consider how many you need for the house to look good. However when you are organising a Birthday Party for your children, you might be working on a tight budget.

Well then I have some good news! You don't need to spend a fortune for your house or the party venue to look amazing. You can actually do some pretty nice decorations yourself using cheap and versatile materials.

Yarn
Yarn is cheap, comes in a vast array of colours and textures and do you realise how much you can achieve with a single ball ?
I managed to create a wreath, some small wool pompom and several big yarn chandelier out of ONE ball in preparation for the Ballerina party. Honestly, I don't thing you'll find a better value product to work with!

Ballerina Wreath (more on this really soon)

Yarn Chandelier tutorial from HWTM

Tissue paper pompom
There is a reason why they are so popular. Or more accurately, several reasons: they are pretty, can be made in any colour or colour combination you can think of, and are super quick to make.  You will need at least 8 sheets per pom so I would recommend buying packs of tissue paper.
Be careful when working with tissue paper as it rips easily.

The pom I made for Noemie's Pirate party

Tissue paper Pom-Poms Tutorial by Martha Stewart

Crepe Paper
Again, a very versatile material which comes in so many colours. Preferably buy rolls of streamers as they are ready to use.
You can just hang them from the ceiling, or be more creative and create rosettes or even paper flowers.

How to make a perfect Crepe Paper rosette

Paper Flower ball as used for decorating my Valentine's Day table

Plain Paper
Don't forget the most obvious material of all: paper !
For the Rainbow party I used light cardstock to create a birthday banner and normal paper to make fan flowers and garlands.

Find a how-to for the fan flowers at Martha Stewart.
For the garlands, I simply sewed together circles of papers in different colours and sizes.

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{Party favors} Gruffalo decorated cream eggs !

Remember the animal decorated cream eggs I made for Easter ? Well as I was researching designs, I came across this one from Casa Costello of a Gruffalo and I immediatly thought it was fantastic ! What better favor could you receive at a Gruffalo Birthday party ? I am nearly tempted to throw a party just to make more of these "cuties" !

I used the same method as with the duck. You can find the tutorial here. For the teeth and claws I used fondant/sugarpaste so it was really white but the head, arms and paws are marzipan I coloured in brown with paste colours.

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{Craft} Keepsake wood blocks

You might wonder what got into me today ??! Why would I frame those two tiny flowers ?
Well I will tell you that from the moment they were pick up these 2 flowers stopped being ordinary...
I could also say that I have had these flowers in my bag for the last 18 months, regularly wondering how I could display them...
Any guess ?

The sight of them brings me a lot of joy for they were the first flowers my daughter Chloe intentionally picked for me ! So you see, for me they are far from ordinary.

I have been wondering for some time how to display such tiny flowers...?
I wanted something small and rustic but expressing love and care at the same time.
So I came up with this weathered wooden block with 3D paper hearts. The inspiration for the 3D paper hearts came from the lovely artwork of Sweet Dimple I featured last week.

Here is a quick how to:

Use Mod Podge or similar to glue the flowers and the hearts to a smooth (sanded) wooden block.
Apply 2 coats of glue/varnish on top of the flowers and over the bottom hearts to secure and protect.

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{Recipe} My favourite sugar cookie recipe

{Ingredients}
 200g soft butter

200g catser sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

400g plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

{Instructions}

Cream the soft butter, sugar and vanilla extract in an electric mixer (paddle attachment) until well mixed. Stop when it just starts to look creamy. If the dough is overwork, the cookies will tend to spread during baking.

Beat in the egg until well combined.

Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough forms.

Roll and use cookie cutters to create shapes.

Place the shapes on a tray lined with baking paper and chill for about 30 minutes.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on size.

The cookies should just start to look golden brown at the edges and should spring back up when pressed gently.

Recipe adapted from Cake Chic by Peggy Porschen

 

Tea Bag Cookies

And if you would like to try a different flavour, you can click here for a delicious lemon version of this recipe.

Baking supplies: The difference in names between U.K. English and U.S. English

Afer several comments regarding the name of some baking supplies, I have decided to write this post and I hope it will be helpful !

Here are the main differences in name between U.K. and U.S. English for common baking ingredients:

For weight and oven temperature conversions I just use google, there are many online converters.

Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you would like to know the equivalence of baking other ingredients.

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{Craft} Chandelier Features

Today I am featuring two DIY projects for creating extra cute chandeliers. Which one do you prefer ?

Elegant Paint swatch chandelier by Hey Gorgeous

Totally gorgeous Butterfly chandelier by Megity's Handmade

{Craft} Melted Crayon Canvas Feature

These are everywhere. I have seen this projects on so many blog, and I am totally in love ! I can definitely imagine one of these colourful canvas in my craftroom!!!
By the way, if anyone knows of a place/website to get a large box of Crayola crayons on offer in the UK, please, let me know!
For the frame, I will try my local pound shop as they sell relatively inexpensive large art canvas.

I like this one from Whatever because it only has the "happy" colours, no brown or black...

{Craft} 3D Art Feature

Today I am featuring these beautiful 3D art projects from Sweet Dimple. I quite simply adore anything on display there ! Buttons, paper and cuteness !!! what else can I ask for ?
Here are a few of my favourites:

I am finding it very hard to decide on what I would most like to do, but I think I might try something for my kitchen as I love the 3D fruits....

{Craft} Baby Stat Subway Art Feature

This week I will be sharing some great inspiration I found on blogs and pinterest. There are so many brilliant ideas, and more importantly very talented people, that I have decided to feature some of my favourite, recently discovered, projects. They are the inspiration behind the crafts I am "working" on at the moment.

First of is this project featured last week on I Heart Naptime's Sundae Scoop top 20. It is from The Winthrop Chronicles.
I really like subway art, so this baby stat subway art got me all excited ! What a gorgeous way to keep a memory of all those important numbers.
I saw this on saturday night and literally spent the following 2 hours creating baby stats for our 3 children !

And in case you're wondering, there is also a tutorial for the gorgeous decorated letters here !

{MAD Blog Awards} Last days to nominate That Cute Little Cake !

It is the last week of the nominations for the MAD Blog Awards 2012.
Thank you so much to all who have already nominated my blog, it means the world to me !
And if you haven't got round to doing it yet, you still have a few days to do so here. You may nominate me for Blog of the year, Best Craft Blog, or Best food blog, or even better for all 3 ! There is also a "Most Inspiring" category which kind of fits in with the blog too since I haven't found another U.K. party blog yet !
Thank you so much for your support !
The MAD (Mum and Dad Blog) Awards are the UK’s biggest and most exciting awards for parent blogs.

Please vote for me here ! It only takes a minute.
Thank you so much.

Virginie




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Romain is 1 !

Well that's it, my baby boy is officially one... I cannot believe he is a year old already !
Here are a few pictures of our little family shoot with edible props !
We had a lot of fun but had to be quick with the pictures since the children started eating the cookies straight away !
Enjoy the pictures and meet our children !

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Bloom Link Party

{Cookies} How about some edible photo booth props !

Hi, as you know from yesterday's post, I love photo booths and I find the props a really nice way to have fun with your guests.

Earlier this week, I was struggling to decide on a cake for Romain's Birthday. A cake was going to be far too big for the five of us and we were not too keen on more cupcakes since we baked loads for Easter...
And then I had an idea: why not make photo booth props and speech bubble COOKIES ! That way we could have fun taking pictures and then just eat them !

Well, what do you think of them ???
The speech bubbles were really fun to make and you can draw or write what you want on them with edible markers.
I decorated the cookies first and then made a cookie-pop by fixing the cookie on a lollipop stick with royal icing (leave to dry for several hours, preferably overnight).

Come back tomorrow for the pictures of our little family photo shoot !
Have a great week end.



 Linky Parties
Bloom Link Party

{Party Inspiration} Photo Booth

Well there are everywhere ! The latest trend in the party world seems to be the photo booth, complete with custom props to suit your party theme. And I am no different to anyone else, I LOVE THEM !
I think they allow you to create such a cute and individual record of your party.

Here are a few of my favourite shoots and props:

I love the printable props sold by Paper&Cake, especially the Wild West ones. How cute are these ?

Totally Love this Super Hero Party Photo booth from Anders Ruff

Pirate props from an amazing pirate party styled by Rubyju

Fun Free printable Photo booth props and tutorial from Oh Happy Day

{Cake} Banded Sand Snake Cake

A little while ago I was asked to create a cake for a little boy's fifth birthday. He loves the TV show Deadly 60 and so he required one of his favourite "deadly" animals: a banded sand snake (well I add to Google it because I had NEVER heard of that snake before !!!!)

Here is what I came up with. It is a chocolate madeira cake with chocolate buttercream. I covered the board with royal icing and sprinkled some brown sugar on top to try and get the impression of sand.

By the way, you can see what the real thing looks like here

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{Craft} 1st Birthday paper Party Hat

The Birthday Hat for Romain is ready !

I used a large sheet of scrapbook paper and this template from First Palette to make the hat.
I added some white ric rac at the bottom and hot glued a small pompom at the top.
I then glued the crepe paper rosette I shared with you yesterday slightly on the side.

Voila !
Do you like it ?



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Bloom Linky party

{Craft} How to make a perfect crepe paper rosette

Later this week my little baby boy will be one and so we have started getting ready for this important family milestone.
Since no family lives close by (they're not even in the same country !) we won't be having a big party, just an intimate celebration next week end. Romain will get his first cake and he will have to wear a Birthday hat for the pictures !!! This should be interesting since he hates wearing hats !

Anyway, I decided to make him a paper birthday hat with a rosette, but once I started on the rosette, I realized it was not at all easy to get a perfect one. I though you just had to hot glue a strip of crepe paper on a paper circle but my attempts produced terrible rosettes. They were misshaped, not consistent... There had to be a way !

Look at them ! Awful !!!

And then I found this tutorial from Gabriela Delworth and thanks to it I produced the perfect rosette I have aiming for ! The trick is to sew the paper as you would to make a fabric rosette. It is very quick and anybody can do it, you don't have to be a master at sewing (i certainly am not !)

And the great thing about these is the volume you get from using 3 layers of paper, they look fantastic !

I then simply hot glued a circle of scrapbook paper to cover the centre of the rosette and added a number one in a different paper. I also embossed (embossing is my new addiction) the 1 to make it shine but you can't really see this on the picture.