Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary, Ron & Connie!

Ron and Connie Scheuchzer (pronounced shoit-zer) are members of our Deeper group (a Bible study/small group) that we lead on Sunday evenings. 

 

When we learned that their 50th wedding anniversary was coming up and they didn't have any plans, well, we kicked into high gear and made sure they were able to celebrate with a little party.

I had fun making a golden cake for their golden wedding anniversary.  It was a lot of fun working with a spray food coloring for this project. 

Ron and Connie were pleasantly surprised!

We were glad to celebrate with them!

Lydia's Birthday Party with Friends

To coincide with Lydia's current passion - "old-timey things" - Lydia and I handmade her invitations. 

 Lydia distressed the paper, I wrote in calligraphy, and then she sealed every invitation with a wax seal.  Then she hand delivered the invitations. 

 Quite the elegant touch.

 

Lydia requested a "Captain Swan" cake for her birthday.  (This is a mashup between Captain Hook and Emma Swan from the "Once Upon a Time" series she loves right now.)

 I used the reverse buttercream transfer method again and I think the cake turned out pretty cute.  Lydia was pleased, and that's what matters!

 

 Finally, it was time for all of the guests to arrive.  Maddie, Lydia, Hope, and Lauren were ready to party and ready to shop!

 Because the thing Lydia wanted for her "party" was to go to the mall with her friends.  So, we outfitted the girls with a few "Hamiltons" ($10 bills) and we set out for the mall. 

 I swear, as the girls get older, these birthday parties just get easier and easier!

 

 After the mall, we came back to the house for cake and presents.  Everyone spent the night and the girls had a great time. 

Easy-peasy, and my girl is happy!

Shelley's Baby Shower

 Last night, we had Shelley's baby shower.  Yes, my friend, Shelley, found out, quite unexpectedly, that they are having baby #5 in February.  With their youngest being nine years old, and their oldest joining the Navy, they no longer have their baby things.  So, yea for a baby shower!

 

Shelley's mom was in town, so we scheduled the shower so she could be there.  Since it's a fall baby shower, we went with a "lil' pumpkin" theme.  One of Shelley's friends and I coordinated on the party.  She hosted, and I made the cake and brought a couple of games.

We had the dirty diaper came (Guess that Mess), where each dirty diaper is a different candy bar...

 And then Shelley's friend Amanda set out diapers and sharpies for everyone to write fun things on the diapers to keep Bryan and Shelley laughing on those sleepless nights. 

 We played the Baby ABC game, and kept writing on diapers.  =)

 Shelley got so many great things that she really needed for the baby. 

 Lydia made this little "snugly" for the baby.  She did such a great job.  This is one of her first crochet creations. 

And I made a couple of hats and a blanket.

 

I have a ton of other photos of Shelley opening presents, but you get the picture. =)

Can't wait to meet Shelley's baby boy!

Lydia's Teen Beach Movie Birthday Party

Well, the big day finally arrived!!  Time to celebrate Lydia's birthday - Teen Beach Movie style!!!

We decorated the house with surfboards, posters, flip flops and beach balls. And we prepped the cake, the snacks, and the games.

The kids played Lingo Bingo while they watched the movie.  And we took frequent breaks from the movie to do some fun things outside...like this mermaid stand-up.  They had one in the movie, so we had to have one for the party!  How fun!!

Cassidy and Lauren

Neve and Rebekah

Paige and Becca Hill

Phoebe and Emma

We also had a fun water balloon toss.  Becca and Cassidy won the first round.  Phoebe and Paige won the second round.

We found a giant flip flop pinata!  It held TONS of candy!!

After a little more of the movie, we did cake and presents.

We opted for an edible cake topper this year.  It was so cute and so easy!  I just love it!!  Lydia really liked it too.  The kids all told me whose face they wanted to have on their cake.  They were hilarious!

Lydia was very gracious as she opened her birthday presents.  She got a fun PacMan toy, a Duck Dynasty mug, gift cards to iTunes, Justice, and McDonalds, a necklace, a case for her iPod, and a fashion design sketchbook.

So glad this fun group of girls could join us to celebrate our Lydia!

Brave Party Prep

First off, I know this post might be a bit of a a boring one.  But there were just so many little details that went into the prep for the party, I really just wanted to share them.  It'll give you more of a feel for how the party happened.  =)

One of the first little details about the party is that we painted Lydia's nails to match Merida's dress.  They are gold and turquoise.  She was so excited about this. 

Second, we had some fun "tapestries" posted around the house. 

The depicted various things, from Merida following the will o' wisps to a fun character board. 

We had our food table, complete with Brave party supplies, snacks, bear claw cookies, wisp cookies, and Brave fruit snacks.

Last but not least, there was the cake.  It ended up taking me a lot longer than I anticipated for some reason, even though I chose a simpler design. 

But I decided to document the process of the reverse buttercream transfer this time. 

First, you print off the image you want to use in reverse.  You do it in reverse because the bottom of the transfer is going to be on top of the cake. 

Then you cover the print out in clear was paper.  Tape it down some nothing moves.

Then you start tracing the image in icing.  But sure to put the colors in the right order, remembering that the bottom of what you're making will be the top of the cake. 

I outlined the Bear and then piped in the filling to make the entire bear black. 

Then I filled in all of Merida's hair, as well as her freckles and eyebrow. 

I piped in the skin color last, filling in over what I'd already done (freckles, eyes, etc.) 

And since this was the back of the image, it looked like this and not very pretty. 

The final touch is to cover the entire back of the image in the same color icing as the cake will be iced in.

Then you put it all in the freezer overnight.

The next day, after your cake is made and totally cool, then you pull the transfer from the freezer, flip it over onto the cake, and then peel the wax paper off in one smooth motion. 

And voila!  You've go tthe image on top of your cake.  Fill in around the image with a little bit of icing, and it looks like you drew the whole thing on there freehand! 

Oh, and you'll also have a very happy little girl!