Happy 21st Birthday Pancho!

Last week I had the pleasure of making a 21 year old boy's dream come true!  To help you understand, here's a short story.  Do you remember the pirate ship cake I made for Wacky?  Well, Pancho is Wacky's Mum's brother.  He first tasted my cake that day, and apparently fell in love - awww.  He loved it sooo much that that's all he requested for his 21st birthday.  That's gotta make ya feel good, right?  Only thing is, he lives in Wellington, which is approximately eight hours away from Auckland (if you were to drive).  No worries, Liz made sure she flew down and hand carried it just to fulfill her brother's wishes.  I must say, my cakes have been travelling on planes a lot lately.  So far, nothing majorly catastrophic to report.  Liz said that one of the loopy bows broke off, but it was hardly noticeable.  Phew!

Here are some pics for y'all to enjoy!!  Oh, and it's chocolate haven inside!!  Of course!!

Hope you enjoyed today's post guys!  Remember to share it with your family and friends! Have a wonderful Wednesday and see you back here tomorrow.

xo

Breaking Dawn

Good morning guys!  So, today I get to share with you some highlights from our Breaking Dawn event last Friday.  We booked a 40 seater Gold class theatre to ourselves at Albany Events Cinemas, and boy was that a luxurious experience!  If you really want to spoil yourself, or someone you love, then gold class is the way to go.  What made our event even more cooler is the fact that a lot of us dressed up as characters from the movie.  It was my first time to not come as Alice Cullen.  This year I came as Bella Swan, but not just any Bella Swan, the pregnant and dying-looking Bella Swan.  Here are some pics that better explain my description.  Enjoy (or be scared)!

My cousin with her red contacts, and me with my scary makeup and wig...hehe

 Of course, we had cupcakes!!  I made three for prizes.

And the winners were...

Click after the break to see a collage of pics from the night!  Enjoy!

Sebastian's birthday

Good Monday everyone!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I had one of the best weekends everrr!  Friday night we watched Breaking Dawn in Gold Class at Albany Events Cinemas.  We hired the whole 40 seater theatre to ourselves!  We even dressed up as the characters of the movie.  Fun times!  Then Saturday we had my cousin Sebastian's 11th birthday celebration.  The whole fam was there.  We ate, ate, oh and ate!!  We ate so much all day that I felt really sick by the time I got home.  I may have put on a couple of kilos from that one day!  Then the fun continued onto Sunday!  We had our first ever family indoor netball game and boy was that FA-UNN!!  We didn't really have experienced players to begin with, but by the end of that first game, everyone got the hang of it and no doubt our next game this Sunday will be even better!!  Way to go team!!  Everyone had fun and got fit along the way!

Here are some pics of Sebastian's birthday celebration for y'all to enjoy!!

Super chocolate cake I made for Seb xo

Oreo cupcakes I made for Seb xo

Ube cake made by Gaile for Seb xo

That's my kinda birthday!!  Yum-oh!!

And just when you think you're in heaven!!  To add to the sweet goodness, my Uncle Ruben made his specialty dessert - leche flan!!  And his home-made ube ice cream!!  Oh, and not to mention we also had HALO HALO!!  Thanks to my dear hubby for being our ice crusher, lol!  All I can say about all that is yummmmmmm-ohhhhhh!!!  I started with all the desserts, then eventually made my way to the mains.  Topsy-turvy is sooo the way to go!!

My halo halo with leche flan

My cousin Pearl's halo halo with home-made ube ice cream

Click after the break to see LOTS AND LOTS more pics of the birthday, along with the birthday boy himself...

Bakugan

BLAST FROM THE PAST PART 2 - DAY 5

Good morning everyone!!  Today is our final day visiting some of my 'Blast from the Past' cake creations.  So, I have saved something quite spectacular for you to look at.  This cake was my first time tackling a 3D cake, and boy do I remember how stressed I was during that time!  I had to start this cake over from the very beginning when after my first attempt at putting it all together the whole thing just split apart.  Can you imagine how frustrated and sad I was when that happened?  I was even holding the two side together, in hope that it would somehow miraculously adhere itself to one another.  That was so not the case!

I guess things like this have to happen to allow us to take a step back and assess what we did wrong and how we can prohibit that from happening again.  I felt like McGyver I tell ya!  This type of cake requires a lot of planning in terms of its foundation and construction.  It also didn't help that my cake was very moist, so it was already difficult to work with right from the start.  But, I gladly accepted the challenge of creating a sculpted cake with a very moist cake.  It was touch and go, but what I ended up with was definitely something I could be proud of.  Of course, I'm my harshest critic, so by the time I got things rolling, it was almost time to deliver the cake...which meant that I couldn't spend any time on the finishing touches, such as the wings (which looks so butchered up it's embarrassing).  Anyway, that aside, here are some pics of my cousin Sebastian's Bakugan birthday cake!  Enjoy!!

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Front view

Back view before I attached the wings

Well, that's it for this week's Blast from the Past cake creations!  Thank you for going down memory lane with me.  It 's amazing to see where I started to where I am now.  Hard work = great results!  Have a fab Friday guys!  Tonight I'm off to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1 with my fam and friends, so will share pics with ya some time next week.  We hired a whole gold class theatre to ourselves so should be fun!!

xo

Ipod birthday cake

BLAST FROM THE PAST PART 2 - DAY 4


Today I am thrilled to share with you another one of my first cakes ever made!  This one was for my cousin Criselda's 13th birthday last year.  I must say, looking back at my creations, I can't believe how much progress I've made in terms of my decorating skills.  This cake shows how new I was to this cake decorating world.  It also emphasises on how much practise I still needed to achieve good, clean work.  One year later, I'm glad to see MAJOR progress and growth!!  I'm sure if I were to get another opportunity to do this cake again, it would turn out a whole lot cleaner and cooler (now) :-)

Anyway, here are some pics for you to criticise laugh at enjoy!!

My beautiful cousin Criselda with her Ipod cake

I hope you enjoyed today's cake feature!  Come back tomorrow for the finale of this week's Blast from the Past - Part 2 Cake creations!  

xo

Race track birthday cake

BLAST FROM THE PAST PART 2 - DAY 3

Today we get to look at one of the first (and favourite) cakes I've made.  This was for my nephew Malachi's 5th birthday (last year).  Making this cake was a lot of fun. There was definitely some touch and go moments here and there, but I figured the only way I could learn or improve on something was by taking risks.  And that remains unchanged to this day :-)

Blue car (Malachi), Red car (his Dad JR), Yellow car (his Mum Kat)

I hope you enjoyed today's blast from the past cake creation!  Come back tomorrow for another treat!!

xo

Butterfly Scroll

BLAST FROM THE PAST PART 2 - DAY 2

Welcome to today's cake feature!  If you've just joined us, click here to see yesterday's cake!

This year I made my sister two cakes for her birthday (I know, lucky right?).  One for a small family gathering, and the other for another (but bigger) family gathering.  You may remember the butterfly rosette cake I shared with you here - that was actually her second birthday cake.  I don't think I've ever shared the first one with you.  It was kind of a last minute thing, but I was still pretty happy with the final outcome!  Hope ya like it!

My sister Jamie with her birthday cake

Have a lovely day guys!  See you again tomorrow for Day 3 of our Blast from the Past Part 2 week.  Can't wait!!

xo

Blast from the Past - Part 2

Remember in July how I started posting some of my past creations?  Well, I'm happy to say that it's come back for a second edition!  To refresh your minds on what cakes I shared last time, here are some links for you to click on:
1- Mid-winter Christmas
2- Spongebob
3- Bumblebee
4- Snow White
5- Twins' Story

Now, I've been going through some old photos and found some on my phone that I completely forgot about!  So, to get this party started, I will share with you a delicious Vanilla Bean Latte cake I made a few months back for my Mum's friend, Bernadette.  I didn't actually get to take any photos with my camera, but glad to have snapped a few with my phone.

What I love about this cake is that it is 'simply' decorated, which I think is a nice break from all the fondant-covered-more-complex ones I tend to make.  So, please enjoy this with a cup of coffee...

Hope you enjoyed today's post!  See you again tomorrow for more of my Blast from the Past cake creations!  Can't wait!!

xo

Bubbles bubbles bubbles!!

If you've seen Finding Nemo a million times then you'll understand today's post title.  It makes me laugh every time I say it..."bubbles bubbles bubbles"...lol.  Okay, that's enough.  Today I will NOT be sharing cakes or DIY projects, but simply my boys and their love of bubbles.  My youngest brother bought my boys this big bottle of bubbles the other week, and since then we've been going outside on days that are not wet and having loads of fun.  I've had to make up a new mix (twice now) just to keep the bubble fun going...using dishwashing liquid and water (oh yeah).  My boys love chasing the bubbles to pop them.

This is what joy looks like...

My eldest son loves pretending to be a bubble ninja...and almost slicing Lui (lol)

I love seeing the rainbow colours on them.  I don't think I'll ever get sick of it.  Bubbles are timeless fun to me.  Makes my heart go giddy-up!

I love this pic of Lui and the bubbles.  The silhouette against the blue sky is just beautiful!

Well, that is all from me today folks!  Enjoy the sunshine outside while it lasts.  Hopefully the grass is dry enough for my game of touch later...go Black Dynamites!!  (Yes, that's what our team is called).

xo

DIY Vege garden

Good morning guys!  Today I wanted to share my Uncle's home-made veges and herbs garden.  My Uncle is very much into his DIY projects.  He built an elevated box for his vege garden project.  There was a lot of research involved as part of the preparation because he wanted to be sure that what he was doing was correct - from what kind of wood to use, to what plants could be placed together...the list goes on.  But once all that was done, he got to see his little seeds grow into the most luscious leaves!  We even got to eat the spinach fresh from the garden for our eggs Benedict breakfast one time.  All I can say is nom nom!!  I really would love (to make) my own one day.  Seeing how successful his one turned out has really inspired me to attempt this project.

Here's a collage of pics for you to enjoy!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this healthy post.  See you again tomorrow for more delights!

xo

JUMP JAM 2011

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the North Island's Jump Jam Finals Competition at AUT (North Shore).  Jump Jam is a combination of dance and aerobics that many (if not all) NZ schools partake as part of their daily exercise program.  My son, Javaughn, was one of a few talented youngsters that made it in the Summerland Primary Jump Jam team this year.  As a team, they worked hard together, sacrificing many lunch times, in order to make the finals - which they did.  This is the school's first time ever to make it in, so this is HUGE for them.

Summerland competed in the novice division where there were 15 schools in the category.  Although Summerland didn't make the top five, they sure did a fantastic job and had loads of fun!  The experience definitely gave these talented girls and boys a boost to work even harder and do better next year, because now they know what to expect.  Javaughn, for the first time, got to experience what it was like to perform on stage in front of sooo many people.  He said he felt really nervous at first but once he was on stage he imagined it was just his school watching and had a blast!  Can't wait for next year!!

Here are some pics from the day.  Enjoy!!

Javaughn and his girl-friends waiting for the rest of their crew

Summerland take the stage

...and wow the crowd with their muscles :-D

...energy and fun!!

 Click after the break for more pics...

What's on the menu??

Today I am excited to share with you a little DIY project I did (a couple of weeks ago) to help get some organisation in this house of mine.  It's definitely something I had been wanting to do for quite some time now.  I have seen a few cool ideas that others have in their homes and they've all inspired me to make my own.  Here are a couple from my favourite blog-reads for you to look at...

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And here is my family's one (all labelled for the week)...

I wanted to have a Kiwiana theme, hence the pohutukawa scrapbook paper background.  I thought it would be appropriate seeing as Christmas is just around the corner, too.

And this is where it lives in our kitchen (for now anyway)

Click after the break to read more...

S'mores and fondue

A couple of nights ago we had chocolate fondue with strawberries and mini marshmallows for dessert.  We also decided to make s'mores!  It was sooo much fun and sooo yummy, so of course most definitely blog-worthy!  Here are some pics my hubby snapped that night.  Enjoy!

Oh happy days!  I hope you enjoyed this family post.  Come back tomorrow for some DIY fun!!  Enjoy this sunshiny day!

xo

Everyday I'm shuff-a-lin'

So, yesterday I was cleaning my twins' bedroom and right as I was gettin' really into it I decided to shuffle things around for a change.  After vacuuming and dusting and gathering all their toys and books, I began to move furniture around.  I must say, I'm glad I did because now their bedroom looks even cooler!  I'm sure it's going to change again in the future, but I think it will stay this way for a while.

I forgot to take a before pic (because I didn't actually plan to switch things around) but I thought I could use an old one I took when I shared their bunting and ribbon chandelier with you a while back.  What it was...

...to what it is (right now)...

I couldn't find a before pic for this side of the room, but just picture the drawers and toy basket there instead of the cot beds.  I have plans for that big blank white space above the cot beds, so stay tuned.

Click after the break to read more (and see more pics)...