Happy 2nd Birthday!!!!

My little girl is 2 and so stinking adorable. We had a low key 2nd birthday for her with cake and lunch with the grandparents. And, because she is a little too obsessed with bugs, and the movie A Bugs Life, I decided to make her a butterfly cake. She loved, loved, loved her cake and kept staring at it with the hugest, cutest smile on her face. When I finally brought it down to her level, she kept kissing it on the little candy nose. Eventually I realized that every time she kissed the nose, she sucked on it, and eventually wore the candy coating right off. It was too precious for words. Oh, and she even kept a clip in her hair for most of the morning - something she has refused to do since.

Anyway, after making Mack's aquarium cake, I became a little obsessed about what I could do with sugar glass - seriously there are so many possibilities. I decided to incorporate it into the wings of the butterfly. I made three different shades of the glass, then smashed it up a bit and "glued" the pieces together in the shape of butterfly wings, using white chocolate. I wished I had a bigger piping nozzle so the chocolate was a little smoother, but hey, considering it was my first time doing something like this - I'm still impressed with myself. I then made the body of the butterfly out of cake, and balanced each of the wings on little battery operated candle lights, so that the wings glowed. You can't really see that part too well in the pictures, but it was pretty effective.

Happy Birthday my little Munchkin!!!!!!

Souties Logo

My father has opened a little store in North Salt Lake City, where he sells British and South African speciality foods. Soon he will be adding home made traditional meat pies to his menu. I've been doing some design work for him, and this is what I did for his logo.

We have Pigtails

The Munchkins Room

I promised my friend Jen that I'd give her a tour of my house, so here goes. I'm starting with the munchkins room cause I'm going to be changing things around soon and wanted some before shots.

Here it is: I painted her walls a light yellowy green. Its such a light room - I love it!

(This is the view looking from her bed to her closet.)

(Her shelves have an assortment of gifts given to her: The elephant on the top shelf was the first thing I bought after I found out I was pregnant. I bought it at Mr. Price home store in South Africa. The African doll next to the elephant was a gift from my Aunt, and the lamb - affectionately known as Lambie (afrikaans pr. lummie) was a gift from another Aunt. Paddington was given to her by her cousin Ethan. He used to have it in his room, but outgrew it. The wire beaded sheep came from Uncle Jeremy (moo), and the Miss Dela doll doing the black power sign was from her Ouma.)

(She doesn't like the dark, so I turned this martini shaker penguin into a nighlight for her by drilling holes in the back. The fairy is mine. I have a little thing for cool looking fairies and absolutely love this one - its on loan. The little pot plant - minus the plant - was part of a flower arrangement given to me by Mack's parents after Taz's delivery. It matched the room so perfectly - now I just have to put another plant in it.)

(This is the view from her bedroom door. We bought two Moroccan lamps for her room, one stands on the window sill, the other we use as an additional nightlight. Don't mind the cord. I'm working on making that look neater etc. The red curtains are actually just fleece blankets I bought at Ikea for $3.50. They had cute scalloped edges with little holes for detailing, and so I threaded the curtain rod through the holes and voila, adorable curtains on the cheap.)

(This is a picture I made for her using an old canvas I had lying around, some poster paper and modge podge. The leaves are felt, the bugs are 3d with little wire feelers etc, and the red flowers have petals that can move in a breeze. As a baby she spent hours staring at it, and she still loves to look at it before she falls asleep. Sorry about the glare, I needed the curtains open for light.)

(This is what her bed looks like for now. The comforter is a bit heavy for her, so I'm making her a duvet cover that will compliment her room, but be more comfortable for her to sleep under. I'll post any changes I make.)

And there you have it.