Out of the woods

Last night's woodland-themed first birthday party for Magpie was a success--simple, small and a little bit silly. The kids looked adorable in their elf hats and were great sports about wearing them for a photo (I want to get some parental permission before I post those pictures here). 

I hung the "hip hip hooray" banner I'd made for Bo's birthday this summer.

The cake saga ended with a fun and easy solution. After our oven broke, I gave up trying to do anything too complicated. I ordered two round cakes from a grocery store bakery, asked them to frost them very simply with light pink, and then I fondanted them up the night before the party. 

I'd never even eaten fondant before, let alone work with it (I understand it's all the rage at weddings today, but when most of my friends and I got married fondant was still something only to be enjoyed on the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings). 

I followed the simplest recipe ever, found here, but it's not even as complicated as that write up makes it seem. Just put a cup of mini marshmallows plus 1 tablespoon of water in a bowl and microwave it for 20-30 seconds. Stir it up with a spoon. Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar. Stir until you have a gummy paste. Pull off a blob of it, add a bit of food coloring and work it in. It helps to grease your hands with a little bit of shortening, and feel free to add more powdered sugar if the fondant gets to moist. Then make whatever shape you want. 

I'm sure there are fondant purists who would cringe at a recipe that calls for marshmallows, but from what I hear real fondant tastes terrible and what I made wasn't bad at all (it tastes like super sweet marshmallows, as you can imagine). 

I can't take any credit for the look of the owl cake. I found these photos on Flickr of a cake made by a real baker and just did my best to come within a mile of the cuteness she achieved. Take a look at her other stuff while you're there. A.dor.a.ble.

I was just dinking around with the "B" cake. Doesn't exactly have a woodland theme. (FYI--Magpie's real first name starts with B.)

Anyhow, we have a hiatus on birthdays for a while (minus a couple of gifts that need to be made, including a Waldorf doll I might attempt for a little girl this weekend). You know what that means ... crafty Christmas is up next! Oh, boy. 

I'm thinking of making it a 100 percent handmade Christmas this year. To me, that means that all the gifts we give will either be made by ourselves or purchased by a local artisan or on Etsy. Anyone else attempting this too (or am I the only crack head on the block?)? Wish me luck. I'm probably a few months behind already, so we'll see.

Comments

[LuAnn]

Give yourself a big high five Mom. The minute my oven stopped working the panic would have set in and I would never have been able to pull off that cake. Great job!

[LuAnn]

Give yourself a big high five Mom. The minute my oven stopped working the panic would have set in and I would never have been able to pull off that cake. Great job!

[Nis]

Awesome job Mimi! I can't believe that you made those cakes... um, yeah, I'm the girl that is either on the phone to the bakery or is on the phone to Bama (gramma) making my custom order. Your kids are going to love your craftiness forever. I can't wait to see the photo of all the kids in the elf hats! :) Yay for Magpie's 1st birthday! xoxo

[Megan]

Thanks, guys. The cake seriously was so easy. I think fondant would be a fun thing for kids to work with, actually. You could have a little play date where the kids make little cupcake toppers or something. It's like edible playdough. My girls are too young (Bo would just eat it), but by age 5 or so I think it could work.
Neat blog, LuAnn. What a gorgeous design for it.

[anymommy]

Gorgeous. I hope the girls had tons of fun. And yeah, you are crazy, but it's a lovely idea.

[Megan]

I don't know how I missed your comment here, Stacey! Thanks so much. Now I need to cruise over to your blog and find out about this crazy rumor I'm hearing about you leaving us for a tropical island ...

[Cherie]

Speaking of all handmade Christmas. Looks like that is what I am doing too. Bought a few things on Etsy, making the rest. I guess I have to get serious and blog about it. How do you make time? That's what I need to make for myself!

The cake is gorgeous! I think you must have come a lot closer than a mile: )

[Megan]

Thanks so much, Cherie.
Good for you for having a handmade Christmas! I need to get going on my to-do list, starting with a Waldorf doll for Magpie.
How do I make time? I have no idea. I'm on the computer a lot anyway for work stuff, so it doesn't take much more effort to write up a post. I also pretty much stopped watching TV about a year ago, which has bought me some time during the day (although my husband would argue that I've just replaced it with the Internet, i.e., reading other people's craft blogs).