Special Birthday Parties

I have been so busy the last few weeks planning parties for two very special people in my life.  

My husband Jeff turned 50 on May 25th so I wanted to do something very special for him.  He didn't want a big extravagant party, but I tried very hard to surprise him with a special surprise birthday dinner with some very special friends.  I found out a few things while trying to plan a surprise party.  1. It is ALOT of work!  I am terrible at keeping secrets.  2. My husband is nearly impossible to surprise.  It is funny how he doesn't seem to notice alot of things....until you don't want him to notice.  And 3. It is sooooo disappointing when the surprise   is discovered.  

We had an amazing dinner anyway and very much enjoyed our special friends.  This is the cake that I made for the party.

The bottom layer is 2 layers of 10 inch cakes and the top layer is 2 layers of 6 inch cake.  All of the decorations are molded from fondant other than the paper umbrella.  The sand is brown sugar and the birds are painted on with just black Wilton cake coloring.  

We also had a birthday party for our oldest daughter Meghann this last weekend.  She turned 22 on June 9th but we had a little pool party and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs on Sunday.  It was very windy but a fun day at the pool.  Meghann and her boyfriend are leaving on a vacation very soon so I thought this "Flip Flop Cake" would be nice for her birthday.

I used the 10 inch pan again to make a 2 layer cake.  And again hand molded and cut all of the decorations from fondant.  This time I used raw sugar for the sand.  Which I think I like a bit better than the brown sugar.

It is such fun to make special cakes for birthday celebrations.  I hope you enjoyed seeing these two special cakes.  

Butterfly Z fold Card

I had so much fun creating this project with the "Butterfly Set" digi stamp from Shelly's Images.  Would it be bad to say how much I love this stamp!  Ok, I am probably partial since I drew and designed the stamp.  But some stamps just have a more special place in my heart and this is definitely one of those.

The card is a z fold card that I designed to fit in an A2 size envelope.  

Image Used - Butterfly Set 

Here are the measurements...

Card Base - 12 x 5 1/2

Folded Size - 4 x 5 1/2

Envelope Size - A2 4 3/8 x 5 3/4

Score at - 2, 4, 8, 10 (mountain, valley, valley, mountain)

Side Pieces - outer 1 7/8 x 5 3/8 and inner 1 5/8 x 5 1/8

Inside Mat - outer 3 7/8 x 5 3/8 and inner 3 5/8 x 5 1/8

Image - Butterfly printed on 3 3/4 x 4 1/4 paper and then matted

Other information

the blue paper is Bazzill Sea Water

the purple paper is Bazzill Purple Sage

the patterned paper is from My Minds Eye - Bohemia collection

ribbon and gems from my stash

Copic Colors

for trellis - W1 through W9

for tall phlox flowers - R81, V12, V15, V17

for leaves - G20, G21, YG17, E35

for butterfly - Y17, R35, BV02, B000, B02, B05, W1 through 9, 0, and white pen

The Design Team at Shelly's Images have done some fabulous projects that you really should see.  Be sure to stop by the blog to take a look.  And don't forget to visit the store and grab this special image.  It is available today only at a special sale price.