Pink Alligators, Purple Leopard and Blue Turtles

My oh my was I ever overwhelmed this week!  Mostly because it was the last week of school, which meant fun parties, graduations and other ceremonies to attend.  But add several cakes in the mix and I am officially swamped!

In addition to my son's Tae Kwon Do cake, I had some other orders to take care of.  One for a friend of mine, and then two other high labor orders from some very, very good clients.

Last year, Audra ordered the Over The Top birthday cake http://butterflysweets.blogspot.com/2008/05/over-top-birthday.html for her beautiful 1 year old daughter.  This was an extremely lucrative design, because I am constantly getting requests to replicate it.  This year, she ordered from me again to help her celebrate Brynlie's 2nd birthday.  

She had decided on an accessories theme-purses, shoes, cell phones and the like.  We both did research and finally decided on a design first done by Cakes By Ashley.  We tweaked it a little bit and added the purple leopard print to the middle tier and turquoise as an accent color.  

The accessories are all gumpaste and hand painted.  The leopard print is also hand painted, and I was so excited to get to do this.  I normally will dilute food coloring with some kind of clear alcohol (vodka for example) to paint with, but this time painted with straight good coloring and a tiny brush, to make sure the color was strong enough.  Audra also ordered 3 dozen cookies from me, but I did not get a good photograph of them.

I hope you had a great 2nd birthday Brynlie!

There is a great family who has ordered several cakes from me in the past year.  They are the sweetest, nicest people and I loved working with them!  This year, Eleshia ordered three cakes

 from me and some cookies.  

One of her friends is expecting a baby boy, and is very excited about the turtle bedding she has picked out for the nursery.  Being as enamored with the Pink Cake Box as I am, she decided on a cake like this one-blue and chocolate brown-with the pretty pregnant lady made from fondant on the top.  And to compliment the cute turtles, I made these turtle sugar cookies!  It is all so cute together.  Thank you so much, Eleshia!  See you again in a couple of weeks!

Last but not least, I also made this Pink Alligator cake.  Once upon a time, my husband and I were very good friends with another couple, Sam and Kate.  Our two husbands have known each other since the 8th grade, and then I came into the picture in high school, then the three of us went to the same college.  On the night of our rehearsal dinner, we met Sam's new girlfriend, Kate.  We were very close friends for years but with school, jobs and babies, our weekly get togethers have dwindled down to about once per year. :( 

Kate sent over an email about a week before their daughter Emma's party, asking me to make her birthday cake.  I was already a little overwhelmed with all of the end of year festivities, but I have a soft spot for Emma and worked her in.  Emma wanted a pink alligator party, and Kate picked out a repeat cake of mine-the Girlie First Birthday Cake.  But to add a funny touch, I put on the adorable little pink alligator onto the front of it.  Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma!