Dear Emmeline

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Easy DIY {Ruffled Birthday Cake}

Yesterday I posted some snippets from E's Fancy Nancy inspired fourth birthday porch party! In the coming days I will be sharing several DIY projects from her party and first up is this easy ruffled cake DIY.

Know how you can easily make a spectacular looking ruffled cake? How about ruffled ribbon! Oh, and some easily camouflaged toothpicks.

Let's start with the toothpicks since you'll need them ready to go before you can ruffle the cake.

Camouflaged Toothpick Supplies:

8 toothpicks
scissors
fancy confetti, buttons, or gems (that match or pair well with your chosen ruffled ribbon)
glue gun

1. Trim one end of each toothpick.

2. Hot glue confetti, beads, or gem on to the ends of each toothpick. I used 4 toothpicks with gems and 4 toothpicks with mini confetti for 4 layers of ruffles.

Ruffled Ribbon Cake Tutorial

1. Bake two 8" round cakes.

2. Ice and layer the cakes. This cake was iced with a simple vanilla buttercream. Use a generous layer of buttercream between the cakes and then ice the outside. Place in the refrigerator so the icing will harden.

3. Starting at the top of the cake wrap a layer of ruffled ribbon around the cake. Use your decorated toothpicks to secure the ribbon at the back and front of the cake. Trim the ribbon so that it overlaps by about 1 inch.

A gem toothpick secures the overlapping ribbon ends.

A tiny confetti toothpick secures the ribbon in the back and can barely be seen!

4. Secure a second round of ribbon below the first. The ribbon I used was very easy to poke the toothpicks through. If the ribbon you choose is not as easily punctured I would suggest measuring and pre-punching holes in the ribbon before wrapping it around the cake.

5. Continue adding layers of ribbon until you reach the bottom of the cake. My ribbon was a perfect fit but this might not always be the case depending on the width of your cake and ribbon. I used ribbon approximately an inch wide. Feel free to push the ribbon layers closer together if you need more than 4 layers. Keep in mind you will need 2 more toothpicks for each additional layer.

Simple and gorgeous! Just like stunning ruffled cakes from a high end bakery!

Just remember that after the candles are blown out you will need to unwrap the ruffles before you cut slices to eat.

Note: I did not wash the ribbon before wrapping this cake but I would recommend for health and safety reasons washing the ribbon before using it on your cake.

Shared with:

Home Stories A2Z- Tutorials and Tips

Cherished Bliss- Craft & Tell

Skip to my Lou- Made by You Mondays

Alderberry Hill- Make the Scene Monday

Uncommon Designs- Monday Funday
Lolly Jane- The Scoop

Not JUST A Housewife- Show Me What Ya Got

Elizabeth & Co.- Be Inspired

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia- Tuesday's Treasures

Coastal Charm- Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Today's Creative Blog- Get Your Craft On

Saturday, June 15, 2013

A Fancy Birthday with Gevalia Kaffe

Summer officially begins at our house with a celebration of another year with our little girl.

We celebrated her fourth birthday with a fancy mother-daughter porch party!

A bit of rain was not going to put a damper on this special day.

Ruffles and lace.

Lavender and pink.

Parlor chairs, mirrored trays, French macarons.

Beads, baubles, and ribbon.

All inspired by one of her favorite book series, Fancy Nancy.

The mothers and daughters showed up in their frilly and fancy outfits

and the girls got to take a few minutes to pose for photos.

The girls celebrated with sweets, squeals, high spirits and a few crafty projects

while the moms were able to gather together, converse, and relax.

The little ladies enjoyed sitting together at the fancy table eating and sipping their party drinks with colorful paper straws while their mommas were treated to Gevalia Kaffe served in pretty china teacups.

Gevalia, a smooth never bitter coffee is produced in Sweden through traditional cast-iron roasting.

Many flavors and roasts are available. Many of which can be found at Safeway.

The Traditional and Vanilla Roasts were our picks to pair with the sweet party desserts.

Of course we also served a variety of sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, and cheese and crackers along with all of the tasty sweets!

Happy birthday to my dear, sweet, sassy, fancy girl

and thank you to Gevalia and Safeway for helping us host a celebration

I hope shows her how much we love her and how blessed we are that she is in our lives!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Shared with:

Home Stories A2Z- Tutorials and Tips

Cherished Bliss- Craft & Tell

Skip to my Lou- Made by You Mondays

Alderberry Hill- Make the Scene Monday

Uncommon Designs- Monday Funday
Lolly Jane- The Scoop

Not JUST A Housewife- Show Me What Ya Got

Elizabeth & Co.- Be Inspired

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia- Tuesday's Treasures

Coastal Charm- Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Today's Creative Blog- Get Your Craft On

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

a refinished wedding present

I mentioned we spent the Friday of our anniversary weekend at my cousin's wedding. Similar to the nesting tables I made for my friend Kristin's wedding I decided to customize a piece for my cousin's new home as well.

This little end table started a bit rough around the edges.

It was painted with two coats of Paris Grey Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and lightly distressed to highlight the imperfections and give it an authentically worn look. On the top I transferred the text and used a Sharpie to add Est. 2013.

To transfer the text simply type and size your text and print as usual. Rub pencil (or chalk if your furniture is a darker color) on the back of the paper (where the text is). Center the text on your furniture and use a pencil to trace the outline of the text. When you remove the paper you will be left with a penciled outline of your text which you can color in with a Sharpie or paint. Sharpies work very well for tiny and detailed images or text like this bookcase. I used wipe on poly to seal the piece and it did not smudge the text at all!