Guest Spotlight: Amy's Awesome Cowgirl Party!!!

So I'm excited to present my gorgeous friend Amy's Cowgirl Party today!  Her baby girl Milli turned 1 earlier this year, and she put together a party that was SO MUCH FUN for the little ones and really beautifully and creatively done!!

When we arrived, this sign welcomed guests:

Amy's handy husband Morris cut out the wood, and to get the writing on the panels in her chosen font, Amy printed the words, mirror image, onto greaseproof paper.  She dampened the wood, then placed each word face down where she wanted it to go on the panel.  Then she transferred it onto the wood by running over it with a credit card and letting it dry!!  It sounds so do-able and looked awesome!  Morris then just attached them to the stake and into the ground it went!

As we entered the side yard, we came across these:

The sign said to please find each child's and put it on!!  The hats were for all the toddlers, the bandannas were for the bubs who were too small for the hats, and there was also a gorgeous hobby horse for each child!! 

Amy ordered the hats online, sewed the bandannas herself, and made the hobby horses.  She didn't even follow any instructions with the hobby horses - she just saw some and worked out how to do it, and she and her sister spent some time sewing them together!!  Our girls have had their hats and horses for almost 6 months now, and play with them pretty much every day - they're really nice ones, and lots of fun!  If anyone's interested to find out how Amy and her sister made these, maybe I can coax her back to tell us sometime ;)

As you kept walking around to the back, there was a tractor (Amy's Dad's), which was so much fun for the children to have turns 'driving', and for us to get pictures on!! :)  Here's Amy's little man having a ride on it :)

Most of the pictures are Amy's, but a couple are bad quality ones off my phone!... this is one of those, sorry!  But he looks so cute! :)

The backyard was full of play equipment for the children to all play on - and they all made good use of it! :)

In this next pic you can see the patch Amy sewed onto Elijah's now 'cowboy' jeans - the other back pocket was lined with tiny bunting which matched the bunting she sewed for inside - such cute details!! :)

And now to the inside..

Here's a (kind of bad quality phone photo - sorry again!) of the inside room overall - you can see the cute bunting Amy sewed under the window on the left.

Amy had bought some cute little water bottles and replaced their labels with some of her own:

The food tables looked great, and I loved all the theme food :)  

Like everything at this party, the food was in theme, AND really age appropriate for the toddlers there - I know my girls love sinking their teeth into a cob of corn, eating chicken wings with their hands, and they loved all the fruit and mini sandwiches and hot dogs!

The 'Milli's Farm' and 'Milk' boxes, Amy and Morris made, and this time Amy printed out the words and traced, then painted them onto the boxes.  She went op-shopping to pick up the baskets they used around the place, and bought the hay bales from a local sugar cane farm!  

One of my favourite things at the party were the old school milk bottles in the special milk crate:

Amy borrowed her bottles from a friend, but said you can get them on ebay.  She bought the paper straws online, and just before it was time to come inside and eat, she filled the bottles with different flavours of milk. SO perfect for the age group of the party - good for them, and the children loved them :)

Then there was the sweets table: 

A friend of Amy's made the cute little signs and labels you can see around, in the farm theme.  In the end Amy was so busy with the rest of the party prep, she got the cake, cupcakes, cake pops and cute animal biscuits from Cakes, Cups and Pops - a local lady who did a great job - they were all really delicious and SO cute!!

Each of the children had a cupcake, and I laughed so hard at Maggie's awed face when they placed one of the cupcakes with a whole icing animal topping it in front of her! :)

I think the birthday girl enjoyed hers too :)

I'd never tried cake pops before, but these were amazing!!!

Each child received an animal cookie to take home...

Amy made the 2 bright blue cakestands (!!) by getting 2 terracotta pots from Mitre 10, and glueing one on top of the other for the stand, and getting a larger terracotta plate, and glueing it on top!!  Then she spray painted them the bright blue.  They looked amazing!! :) - how creative is that?!

Even the chocolate biscuits were nicely in theme :)

Bless wagon wheels! ;)

I loved the basket of apples by the table too :)

And the party bags - the mini bunting across the bottom of the table is the same bunting Amy sewed onto Elijah's pockets :)  I love the hessian Amy had around the place, adding that country touch!

I haven't even shown you the Birthday Girl properly:

Amy sewed an 'M' onto Milli's plain white onesie, and she was a rocking cowgirl in a pettiskirt, denim jacket and her cute hairband :)

Here's the whole family:

Meanwhile, outside, each guest had their picture taken in a fun blue frame:

The children played 'pin the chick'... (Amy found this at Spotlight)

And then participated in some good, old fashioned horse racing, which - you can tell by their faces - they LOVED :)

Then topped the fun off with a horse piñata :)

Amy had put in a few little toys and sunnies as well as sweets...

And the toddlers were rocking their style :)

This party was so wonderful, because as well as there being so many cute theme touches, everything at the party was perfectly age suitable for Milli and her friends, and Elijah and the other older siblings who were invited along as well.  The food was perfect for them, the games and activities were perfect, and they all had a BALL.  And the girls have been cowgirls around the house ever since! :)

Thankyou so much for sharing, Amy!! :)

You can read more about Amy's little family on her family blog here, and we may have her back soon - Elijah's birthday is fast approaching ;)

Great Cake Decorating Technique

Favourite Cake Decorating Technique

Hi! I’m Rani from www.interruptedramblings.blogspot.com . I’m so excited to be a guest blogger on this site!

I’ve decided to share with you something fun, easy, and you can be as glamorous or as simple with it as you would like. I’m talking about cake decorating!

My all-time favourite decorating technique is using Moulding Paste. It is a form of fondant, or Plastic Icing, however this is not an icing to be spread over the entire cake. Moulding Paste is a hard-setting decoration paste that sets into any shape you make. You know those adorable bride and groom figurines on the top of wedding cakes? Moulding paste. Or those amazingly gorgeous bows and flowers that look so real you’re afraid to cut it? Moulding paste. It’s edible, easy to use, and has the texture of plasticine. You can buy it at any good cake decorating store and the price, compared to buying individual flowers and cake decorations, is very affordable.

Once you have iced your cake, whether with frosting, ganache, or fondant, the fun part begins -- The decorating!

But how?? I have three examples to show you.

Example no. 1:

I made this cute little guy for my niece’s 1^st birthday party. It was my first attempt using this technique. You can read all about it here, but for now I’ll give you the cliff’s notes version J

To create this effect I free-hand copied an image of Jess the Cat, including all of his facial features and made it large enough to fit on the tin. This became my template. I cut around the outside line of the cat and rolled out the moulding paste (black colour), set the template on top of it, and proceeded to trace and cut it out using an arrow-head cutting tool, but you can also use a sharp knife. I then rolled out the next required colour (white) and using the same paper cut-out, traced and cut the fluffy ‘mane’, followed by the green eyes, then white mouth. I added the back eyeball cut-outs, etc, and stuck them all on using egg white and a paint brush one piece at a time until the face came together. The process was very quick and simple, even I was surprised! The whiskers are just wire coloured with permanent marker, which were the best items to use to get the perfect straight stick look (liquorice did not work! ;) So simple, soooo cute. This technique can also be used with fondant for larger templates like this cat, but a firming agent powder may be required to assist in it not being too ‘floppy’. Also, you can use your own smaller templates to stand up on a cake after they have set hard, (as shown in example 3 below).

Example no. 2:

 

I made this four-tier cake for an engagement party. It was a huge project, but the individual components of it were actually very simple. It is a perfect example of simple WOW techniques that anyone can do:

1)     Cookie Cut-Outs. By rolling out moulding paste and using your run-of-the-mill cookie cutter, you can create a great looking cake. The third tier on this cake is just plain round circles, but it really makes the tier pop. Likewise when using stars, flowers, or any choice of shape, it’s just a matter of roll, cut, and place. I like to use a (new) small paintbrush and egg-white as my sticking agent. Just a dot on the back is all you need. It’s clear and will make anything stick perfectly. You don’t even have to wait for the paste to set.

2)     Flowers. There are endless varieties of sugar flowers on the market ranging from 40c all the way up to bouquets selling for $35.00+ but why not have a go yourself using flower cutters? There are small flower cutters especially for cake decorating, and all you have to do is roll, cut and place. If you want to give the effect I used on this cake, you can use your finger or a flower moulding ball tool to shape the petals to look a little more realistic. Then, just add a small ball of coloured paste in the middle and you have a perfect little flower that cost you nowhere near 40c to make!

3)     Wire. I kid you not, cake decorating shops will charge you up to $2.20 for ONE piece of wire with a love-heart or a star stuck on the end of it. Why pay that when you can make it yourself, and as many as you would like? As with the other techniques, simply roll and cut, but then cut your wire down to size (allow for extra length to stick it into the cake) gently push it into the end of your shape, and wait for it to dry. And keep in mind you can also use letters, numbers, or even balloons, like in the pic down below! It looks great, and makes a real impact for any event!

Example no. 3:

    

Cutting, drying and then sticking-in are easy ways to make numbers or letters of any shape or size. Just be sure to cut the bottom of your template extra-long (around 2cm or so) to allow for you to push the decoration into the cake to make it stand. For larger pieces, inserting wire may be required for added strength. I recommend using a sharp knife to create a slit in the cake in which to push the decoration for easy insertion.

I know that looking at a picture of a completed cake can look overwhelming, tricky, and time consuming, but I assure you these techniques are simple and definitely worth a try. When a friend of mine showed me how to put fondant on a cake for the first time, it was all I needed to let my imagination run wild with new ideas. You too might just find a hidden talent or even just a fun hobby with a pack of moulding paste!

Good luck with your future cake endeavours, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to leave a message on my blog. Happy decorating! J

Thank you so much Rani!

You can read more from Rani at Interrupted Ramblings and over at We're the Montes Family.