Happy 2nd Birthday Lily!

Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet baby girl Lily (back on June 8th, sorry Lily for the late post)!  Since her birthday is in the summer and we were having her celebration outdoors, I didn't want to have a cake that would be sitting out for a couple hours and possibly melting.  So I made her another display cake for her dessert table!  Her birthday theme is an enchanted fairy garden theme and so I wanted to make a charming, simple yet elegant cake.  All the decorations are made of fondant and I used some gold pearls for accents.  This is also the first time I made a nice big peony flower, and I'm very excited with how it came out!  It's the fullest flower I've made so far and it excites me more to expand my knowledge and skills in cake decorating!  I'll also be entering this cake to the OC fair for the formal fondant decorated cake category, so wish me luck everyone!

***UPDATE:***  Lily's cake won 3rd place at the OC Fair!!  Woohoo!!

Don't be afraid to try new things and leave your comfort zone when trying to develop your craft, that's what this cake adventure is all about for me!  Without that extra push to learn, you will never improve and grow.  It's only been 2 years of being a mom to my sweet Lily pad, but I've learned that each new day as a parent is a new adventure, and you're constantly learning, growing and adapting to life.  I've watched my Lily pad grow so much in the past 2 years and she's growing into such a beautiful being, I just love her so much, she is my everything.  She inspires me everyday she is my world.  Happy 2nd birthday my precious Lily!!  Here's to many many more birthdays to come!  Also, special thanks to my friend Mieng for capturing the beautiful photos of her below! =)

OC Fair 2011

OC Fair Cupcakes 2011- Faux Cupcakes: 1st Place!
This year for the fair I initially registered to do the same amount of entries that I did last year, which was 2 cake (Formal and Theme Cake, and Faux Cupcakes), but due to lack of time and energy, I am only entering in the Faux Cupcakes category this year! That's still something! =) So I thought long and hard for a theme for my cupcakes this year and I decided to go with a crafty sewing theme. All the decorations are made out of fondant with some metallic pearls and flower stamens for the push pins in the pin cushion cupcakes. I had a lot of fun make the ball of yarn and knitted scarf, the needles for the knitting sticks are toothpicks with some fondant at the ends. I used silver luster dust to give the thimble, needle, scissors, end of the measuring tape, and some buttons the metallic look. I really wanted to focus on detail this year so I hope that showed! I added stitching onto the cupcakes with the buttons to make it look like some buttons are sewn onto the cupcakes, and i also painted black stitching onto the ribbon and peonies flower to give it a fabric/cloth effect. Special thanks to all my friends and family and everyone reading and following my blog for all your love, faith, and support!! Also, special love to my husband Khoa for always looking after my health and mental sanity! You are the best! Wish me luck on these stitchin' cakes! The OC Fair opens July 15 and ends August 14, 2011. Come out and play! These cupcakes were a big spool of fun to make, enjoy!

Sew Humorous!
- What kind of needle work is always angry? Cross stitch!
- A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see the blonde behind the wheel was knitting. Realizing she was oblivious to his flashing light and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "Pull over!" "No!" the blonde yelled back, "It's a scarf!"
- There was once a man and woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. Nothing was held back. Well, almost nothing. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the old man took down the shoebox and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted doilies and a stack of money totaling $250,000. Holy Moley! He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she started, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily." The old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were inside the box! She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doilies, but.... what about all this money? Where did it all come from?" "Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the doilies.

Results are in! I am excited and happy to tell you all that I won 1st place on these Faux Cupcakes! Yay! Thanks everyone for all your faith and encouragement, love and support!!!

OC Fair 2010

My Entries for the 2010 OC Fair Cake Decorating Categories! Come to the fair to see them in person! Wish me luck! =) Results are in! I and very happy and surprised to announce, that I placed in ALL of my entries, 3rd on both cake entries, and 1st on my cupcakes entry! Thank you everyone for always having support and faith in me! Everyone's encouragement and warm thoughts really keep me motivated and inspired to continue to create lovely edible treats! Thanks!
Formal Cake (3rd Place):
This cake is an elegant cake that can be fitting for an formal occasion such as weddings, anniversaries, etc. The cake is covered with fondant, the blue brick border and rope liner are also made from fondant, and all the branches are made of buttercream fondant to make it more malleable to the cake. The flower blossoms, orchids, roses and stephanotis are made of gumpaste. I decided to put a brick pattern on the blue ribbon around the cakes to tie in the theme with the flowers and branches, to make the cake as a whole seem more earthy. I kept most of the flowers white, with some yellow highlights, to keep it elegant, fresh, and clean.

OC Fair "The Beat Goes On" Theme Cake (3rd Place):
How do you even begin with the theme like that? Well this is the best I can come up with! All the decorations in this cake is also made of fondant. I went with a lot of musical symbols and items to best represent my vision of the theme. The bottom layer is covered with piano keys. The middle layer cake is of a drum, the core of beats, surrounded by abstract sheet music, drum sticks and musical notes (you could say the music notes jumped right out of the pages! - Khoa), the top layer is the music staff with music symbols and notes. The cake topper is of a giant note, the universal symbol for music and very significant because I feel that music brings people together. My love for music is reflected through this cake and it's a great theme for a fair as well!

Faux Cupcakes (1st Place Prize!):
After my recent vacation to Maui, I got inspired to make this under the sea themed cupcakes. At first, I had no idea what "Faux" cupcakes meant, so I just figured it meant fake cupcakes to i just assumed it was safe to do anything my creative juices can think of! All the sea creatures are made out of fondant and places on buttercream frosting that's piped on to look like water and waves in the ocean. So as you can see, i made a star fish, sea turtle, sting ray, octopus, coral, and a clam with a pink pearl! The sea has so many beautiful wonders in it that I find extremely fascinating! It was a lot of fun capturing some of the favorite things about our beautiful ocean and it's sea life.