The world is her oyster

We've had another birthday party. A month ago, our two-year-old became our three-year-old, and it was time for her first birthday party where friends are invited. As usual I made a birthday party inspired by her wishes (two, if you count the family gathering which followed the next day). And as usual, nowadays, it's taken me a while to find time to post some inspirational photos here... But oh well, maybe I'll make it a new years resolution to post more stuff on the blog ;) 

Our sweet three-year-old is the kind of person who knows the world is her oyster. She takes what she wants, what she needs, and what her big sister has (simply because big sister has it). She snuggles up to me early in the morning, fills the toilet with all the paper on the loo-roll, smears the windows with lip-gloss and anything else she feels like doing, and there's seldom a trace of remorse to find. She says a heartfelt sorry, before she goes on to find something else to do that's not allowed. It's not mischief or ill intent that drives her, but that impressive confidence she has that she can explore anything and indulge any curiosity, and somehow everything will work out for the best... 

For her birthday, she wanted a Lillifee-theme. Then she wanted Hello Kitty. Then a cat-birthday. In the end I suggested to have a touch of farmyard-fun, and she went with it, luckily. And it really was fun!

I made a chocolate-cake with creamy chocolate cream, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and vanilla cupcakes with green vanilla frosting. The animal heads are made of marzipan and sugar paste, the butterflies and flowers are left from the Dr. Oetker-stuff I used on the rainbow cake for the five-year-old's fifth birthday :) The writing gel had kind of separated, so not too impressed with the writing myself...

The farmyard creatures were a big hit with the kids (they were 1,5 to 5,5 years old)

The usual bounty of veggies and fruit. I completely forgot to take pictures of the pizza rolls and cheese muffins... But they sure tasted quite nice, if I may say so B-)

These cute serviettes my mother in law gave me last year, were the inspiration for asking the birthday girl if farmyard-theme was the stuff :3

Some autumnal decor...

...and some pink in honour of the birthday girl, of course...

Inspired by the pirate party, I made a cosy cavern. Of course, this one had more of the cosiness factor and less of the villainy gloom... I even scattered some dried autumn leaves on top

We put a friendly film on inside, once the kids wanted a break from the eating and playing

There's no point in planning too many activities for a three-year-old and her (mostly somewhat younger) friends, but putting the tail on the pig was just the ticket - my kids love this activity, which is why I've made several versions of it over the last year or two... I attached some cheap paper on a canvas (so I can still use the canvas later), and lined up a mommy pig and her cute piglet (and butterfly and grass...). Then I let the girls help me paint it, prior to the party - they are so proud and happy when they get to use my paint and brushes (and my stuff in general), so I let them borrow it or help me relatively often :)

I used one of the pirate-bandanas as blind fold - can you glimpse Emma's grin?

After a long and exiting day it was nice with a big hug from big sister. Check out the somewhat baggy pink dress on the birthday girl - I bought it big with the intention that the eldest would have it this year, and maybe next, but once Emma saw it, she was very eager to wear it. Big sister didn't mind. She prefers blue :)

Enjoy the rest of November :)

Ahoy there!

Aaaand there I've waited a whole month between two posts again. All plans of being a bit more of a regular blogger (like I was the first months), tossed over board. So what do I do when I'm too busy for blogging, so preoccupied I barely get time to do a smidgeon of all the things I want to do, new job, children, writing a book and other important things shouting for my attention? I throw a pirate party! Was it someone's birthday, you ask? No! This was just for fun! Because I can! And who attended? My children, of course, my husband, some of our friends, with their children, who happen to be our children's friends. Not too many, just enough to have some fun :) Here's what we did!

For a good feast I wanted a proper pirate buffé that goes well with the wee sailors as well as the ramshackled older ones...

...some nice seashell-like pasta...

...squid-wieners... 

...fish-snacks - obligatory for a nautical-themed party...

...a little decor...

...pirate juice - there was question of possibility of rum in the coffee, but alas, that was a bit too authentic for a family party xD
 

I bought a flag! Huzzah!

A pirate cave for the kids - it may not look much from the outside, but...

...when the inside is lit up like this...

...a guest bed and some miniature chairs are installed, soft cushions and toys included...

...and an old television and a playstation 2 put in place as a pirate cinema - it makes a very useful den for little pirates who have just searched for and found little sweetie-bags (or mermaid-treasures, as they were dubbed) and are in need of a safe place to gore on their loot.

The black, sleeveless jacket on my youngest child is a creation made of an inexpensive vest from Lindex, cut open in the middle, gold buttons and gold hoops, gold lace and gold shoulder-decor added :) A very easy way to make a nice pirate costume without using a lot of money. Black tights and white jumpers completes the look (and bandana and eye-patch, but they're missing here...). My oldest child seem to have discarded her vest in this picture; her's is exactly the same. The inflatable palm-tree is really a cheesy drink-cooler, but we used it as a basket to throw balls in :3 and as a prop...

Put-the-parrot-on-the-pirate... This was my oldest daughter's idea. Clever little villain... Here my youngest has her bandana back on, and we used it as a blind fold. The fabric of the bandana is so nice and soft and shiny... With gold lace... *swoon*
 

I had to make a pirate cake. It's been a whole month, I needed some baking action o.O

A few sugar paste pirates in a crude chocolate boat, nice and tasty... One has fallen over board! The actual cake was a soft, round sheet cake (vanilla with blue food coloring), a thick layer of whipped cream and blue raspberry jelly mixed when the jelly was half stiffened, then set to cool until ready, then topped with light blue whipped cream-waves. It looked a bit freaky, but tasted yummy ;)

Here we have a few of the pirates gathered to eat the cake. Edible pirates and pieces of chocolate boat were their favorite parts, but the actual cake was quite popular too. I've cropped this picture in order to respect the privacy of my little guests.

Only three months until Christmas today, so I think there will have to be some posts with ideas for presents and such soon :)

Have an adventurous day!

Summertime and Fairy Princesses

I've been taking a break in the cake-baking department. I was going to write something about how summer has come and it's time to take it easy and spend lots of quality-time with the kids - then summer took me by surprise and now it is about halfway through in this part of the world, and over a month since the last post here. Well, let me share the last cake of spring a bit overdue. 

It was the second cake for my oldest daughter's fifth birthday - the first was a Dunderly monster cake, and on the encouragement of her two-year-old sister she chose a fairy-princess-cake as the second one. We needed a second cake since the celebration with family took place one week after the children's party - and of course I'll take any opportunity to try and make something new. I wanted to make a rainbow cake for the first time :)

To fairies relaxing among wafer flowers and sugar butterflies from Dr Oetker. Their wings are made of rice or something and are also a Dr. Oetker product :3 The rest is all handsculpted, and everything is edible (apart from candles...).

This little  girl was supposed to resemble the birthday girl, but it's not exactly a striking resemblance o.O She has a nice sprinkle of glitter on her dress, though :)

There was one more child at the party, and I made him a snail

This fairy was for my youngest daughter

Green marsipan...

...hiding a rainbow-cake with butter cream and a hint of cream cheese to make it a bit lighter. Not too shabby, if I may say so :) Each layer was mixed and cooked individually - quite time consuming, but fun result!

*munch*

Have fun in the sun :D

Dunderly

Noen barn elsker Lego. Noen elsker Disney-prinsesser. Noen vil ha biler og action-figurer, dukker og ponnier. 

Min eldste datter vil ha Dunderly. Dunderly-monstre, Dunderly-bøker, Dunderly-musikk og Dunderly-bursdag! Og det har jeg ingenting imot. Kløktige Endre Lund Eriksen. Morsomme Endre Skandfer. Flinke Anne Brændeland Hovde. Dunderly kan man lese om her: http://dunderly.no/

Vi innviterte eldstejentas venner til fest med "sette halen på Bulder", monsterball, Dunderly-musikken på høyt volum, vafler til lunsj (Dunderly-monstrenes favorittmat) og Dunderly-kake til dessert :) 

Bulder og Modika, to av yndlingsmonstrene fra dunderly

Stor langpanne med sjokolade og red velvet (som var kakebunner jeg hadde i frysa fra et tidligere prosjekt), fylt med krem, bringebærsyltetøy og bringebær.

Og så hadde lillesøsteren min bursdag for ikke så lenge siden, og når hun kom på besøk i går kveld måtte vi jo ha en kake til henne også :)

En tegneserieaktig Link fra Zelda

Red Velvet med ostekrem, en av søsters favoritter

Det måtte jo bli en Zelda-inspirert kake, med typen tre og blomster som er i "a link to the past", og en helt som tar seg en pust i bakken med ocarinaen i fanger :3

Nyt søndag og forsommer :)

Happy Easter to You...

...Happy Birthday to Me! As I leave my twenties behind, I look forward to an Easter holiday filled with the celebration of my birthday and the salvation of mankind. I'm not so sure the two are related... 

I thought I'd say happy Easter to you all and share with you my crazy Cat-Easter-Birthday-Cake :3 I asked my daughters what kind of cake I should make for when their grandparents would come around in the afternoon, and they said "pink cat cake!"... I said "what taste?" and they said "strawberry!" And here it is...

I made two sponge-cakes, and filled one with strawberry jam (the "fresh" kind you buy frozen), chopped strawberries and whipped cream, covered with bright yellow marzipan, and sprayed with pearl spray (hence the not-so-bright colour in this picture)

The making of cat-cakes...

I made three cats, same filling as the main cake, with pink marzipan and more pearl spray :) Blue writing-gel for faces, and done!

Some roses and chocolate Easter eggs in wrapped in foil to make it extra party-ish!

Purple marzipan border with soft pearls

Look at that happy family - one for each daughter and one for mommy-cat <3 I hope daddy doesn't feel left out, with no cute, pink cat representing him...

Yum...

I have to add a couple of pics of the chickens my daughters have made, with a little help from me, just to really get the Easter-theme :)

...

I got some lovely flowers today <3

Have a terrific holiday!