the microphone cake and cookies

For Charlotte's cake, I searched high and low for a suitable microphone-shaped baking pan, all to no avail. Then it dawned on me that I could construct the microphone shape using a jelly roll pan and a 9-inch cake pan. Two weeks before the party, I made my favorite yellow cake (I tripled the recipe), wrapped both cakes in Saran Wrap and aluminum foil and put them in the freezer until I was ready to decorate.

The day before the party, I took the cakes out of the freezer and cut them into the desired microphone shape (I used a ruler and toothpick to first trace the shape before cutting). I suggest that you do not let the cakes defrost before cutting and frosting, otherwise, you will have crumbs everywhere.

I frosted the cakes with my favorite cream cheese frosting (1 lb. softened cream cheese, 2 sticks softened butter, 1 t. vanilla, a ton of powdered sugar – about 3 cups). Wanting everything to match perfectly, I mixed the frosting colors according to the illustration I used on Charlotte's invitation. I planned on using a star tip to frost the entire cake but quickly thought otherwise when the final cake ended up measuring approximately 48 inches tall!

Struggling with what to put the cake on (I didn't exactly have a cake stand that was 4' tall!), I bought 2 pieces of white foam board, glued them together and voila, the perfect cake base for Charlotte's oversized microphone.

Using an offset spatula, I carefully spread the frosting and then used various cake decorating tips for the details. Much more time efficient and good for my overall mental health.

The finishing touches to the cake were my favorite cream cheese sugar cookies. The rest of the cookies were packaged in glassine bags for favors and the remaining ones set out on trays for treats at the party.

I ended up with quite a bit of leftover cake scraps so Amelia and I frosted a smaller cake which she then decorated herself for a pre-party celebration. A budding pastry chef in the making!

Tune in for party details tomorrow...

charlotte's 7th birthday

My oldest daughter, Charlotte, turned 7 last week. I don't know where the time has gone. I feel like it was just yesterday that Charles and I were whizzing over the Brooklyn Bridge in a taxi with our newborn baby in tow. It was the coldest day in NYC with a wind chill of -11 degrees and I thought Charles was going to have a nervous breakdown getting the car seat secured in the taxi. I am starting to sound like my mother who tells me every year on my birthday, the story of my birth (which I always love to hear)....

Charlotte is definitely maturing – no more princess parties for her. No, she was quite adamant that she wanted a "singing and dancing party." Happy to oblige, we decided upon a color scheme (pool blue with touches of poppy orange and magenta) and a theme (a microphone); I designed the invitations accordingly. Charlotte was quite pleased with the results (it's handy to have a graphic designer for a mom!).

For each of my daughter's birthdays (and even before that with our Baby Month cards), I take a photo of them holding a card with their age on it. My plan is to eventually put all the photos together and shrink them down to fit in a frame. I love the tradition and the documentation as my girls grow before my eyes.

I had a lot of party preparations, chief amongst them were my plans for Charlotte's giant microphone-shaped cake. Hence, I was grateful when Charlotte requested Krispy Kreme doughnuts to hand out to her classmates at school. I assuaged my guilt for not making something homemade by whipping up little "Happy Birthday" labels that I printed on adhesive paper and affixed to toothpicks. Tune in on Wednesday for the cake details...

owl baby shower

With the help of a few friends from Book Club, we threw an owl-themed baby shower for our friend, Jenny, and her second baby girl, Lily Jane (love the name!). Jenny is an interior designer and has the best taste around. The theme needed to be chic and modern. This owl illustration seemed the perfect choice and I decided to use it throughout the shower.

From the shower invitation...

To the wrapping (I love plain wrapping paper adorned with nice ribbon and a label – always tasteful!)...

To the owl sugar cookie favors (check out my frosting tips and techniques here and here)....

To the water bottle labels (don't worry, we recycled every single last bottle!).

I also whipped up a banner for Lily Jane which we hung on the mantel. A sweet and relatively simple shower for a sweet and definitely not-so-simple friend!

train party

I've been planning my son's 4th birthday party this week and was reminiscing of past parties. These are photos from James' 2nd birthday. What a difference 2 years makes! I miss my baby boy with chubby cheeks and long blonde hair. But 4 is a good age, too. I'm just not going to let him get any older than that!

We had a train theme for his party that inspired this invitation. He even had monogrammed "James" conductor hat from his grandma (unfortunately I don't have any photos of him wearing it!). The cupcakes were displayed on a white wire stand from Williams-Sonoma.

I made his train cake using this railway cake pan (recipe included) also from Williams-Sonoma. The individual cakes were decorated with orange piping, green candies and paper flags.

The guests played "pin-the-train-on-the-track" and had a scavenger hunt in the yard. There was also a train piñata and the kids made candy trains to take home. Sadly, I don't have photos of the favor bags, but they included wooden train whistles and number "2" cookies. Now back to planning his 4th birthday! Details to come next week...

announcing blonde designs for shutterfly.com!

Kristin and I have been working on a line of photo cards for Shutterfly since last fall. We are excited to announce that the first designs just launched today and include birth announcements and party invitations. Check out more designs here.

it's a bird, it's a plane...

My friend, Laura, just had a superhero-themed birthday party for her twin boys, Blake and Charles, who were turning 4. I offered to make my favorite sugar cookies in graphic superhero circles emblazoned with the boys' initials. I was determined to acheive super-hero worthy colors of red and blue. It literally took the entire container of my red food coloring powder to acheive the red I was after, so be prepared!

Since the cookies were going to be packaged in glassine bags, I used royal icing. I've previously discussed my frosting tips and techniques here and here.

I also designed a set of fill-in thank you notes for the boys, hopefully making the writing of the actual thank you's a bit easier on all.

chocolate devil's food cupcakes

Last week, I whipped up these delightful devil's food cupcakes in celebration of my friend's birthday. The best part was the frosting – you basically can't go wrong with chocolate ganache and this recipe was quite easy. I love how shiny the ganache looked on the cupcakes. I had a few cupcakes left over and my family devoured them!

If you would like to print similar "Happy Birthday" labels for your own cupcakes, click on the image below. I suggest printing the labels on an 8.5x11" sheet of adhesive paper and cutting on the crop marks provided. Then you affix a front and back to a toothpick – quick and celebratory results. Enjoy!

gymnastics party

My darling friend, Wende, asked me to design a gymnastics-themed invitation for her daughter, Olivia's, 6th birthday. Olivia was very clear in her color choices: hot pink and aqua (I like a girl who knows what she wants!).

I also love attention to detail and Wende didn't forget a thing. I designed foldover labels for cookies, labels for favor bags, CD labels, little flags for cupcakes, and coordinating water bottle labels.

With so many little kids, Wende was smart to buy the sport-size water bottles. It always pains me to throw away almost-full bottles of water at the end of a party. Don't worry, all the bottles were later recycled!

All the guests had a great time, flipping and tumbling and playing games. They even had the opportunity to watch an Olympic gymnast perform a few routines. Inspiration, perhaps? It was the perfect party for a very sweet 6-year old.

chalkboard label giveaway

My friend, Renee (the talented quilter), stopped by last week to give me a set of darling chalkboard labels that she made. I immediately thought of several uses for them and couldn't wait to try them out.

My daughter wears a ribbon in her hair everyday and I've had them stuffed in a drawer in my bathroom. This made for a mess each morning as I would search for the right color. Earlier this week, I put them in a clear jar and now searching for a ribbon (without making a mess) is much easier. I affixed a chalkboard label to the front and the jar looks so pretty sitting out on my daughter's dresser. My next project is reorganizing my pantry with clear bins and canisters and these labels. But that's a project for another week! Photos to come...

Renee has offered to giveaway a set of 6 chalkboard labels to one of our lucky readers. To enter, please leave a comment below by Sunday, February 21st at midnight PST. A winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday, February 22nd.

Update on 02.22.2010 by Blonde Designs

Congratulations to catherine s. who is the winner of our chalkboard label giveaway! She said: "Would love these! Perfect since you can change the label content as many times as you want (with a 3 year old, we're trying new activities with numbers and letters...what a great educational tool for labeling boxes or jars for her)..thanks for the chance to win!" Catherine, please email us at info@blonde-designs.com with your shipping information.

coco chanel birthday party

For me, birthdays are a big deal – my children's, my husband's, my friends,' etc. After all, you only get one day a year that is all yours. Last year, for a mile-stone birthday, I threw a little soiree for about 15 friends and gave away my favorite things. The year before that, my husband completely surprised me and whisked me off to Santa Barbara for the weekend.

This year, however, I was determined (sort of) to maturely ignore my birthday, being content to settle for a quiet dinner out. My friends, however, would not let my birthday go unnoticed. To my complete and utter amazement, they put together a Coco Chanel-inspired fete that even outdid me! No detail was overlooked.

It's no secret that I love desserts and my friends made every single one of my favorite desserts and then some. Carmelitas oozing with chocolate and caramel, pound cake drizzled with fresh raspberry sauce, shortbread hearts, the desserts went on and on and on...

The piece de resistance was the tower of coconut cupcakes emblazoned with my very own monogram – "ag." I love how they are just delicately edged in coconut. Tres chic and delicious!

The color scheme of the party was black and white (everyone dressed accordingly) and each guest was asked to bring a gift of "their favorite thing," costing no more than $5. Each gift was wrapped in black and white paper. I thought this was a brilliant idea – no pressure to spend a lot of money but so sweet to bring me something that they love.

Favorite things included an issue of Martha Stewart Living, Women's Health, Meyer's cleaning spray, a favorite scone mix, washcloths, a pedicure kit, Cover Girl mascara, Carmex, hand lotion, an Indian scarf, a bath sponge, a gift card to Starbucks, and lingerie tape (to prevent unsightly clothing gaps).

To finish off the evening, we munched on bags of homemade candy corn while watching "Coco Before Chanel." I highly recommend it – I love Audrey Tatou and the costumes and art direction were superb.

 Finally, each guest went home with a perfectly wrapped oversized chocolate and caramel apple with one of Coco Chanel's famous quotes. My goal for the next year is to live up to my friend's high style expectations.

Thank you to all for your kindness... I feel loved!