A Butterfly Baby Shower Cake...

I really enjoyed making the butterflies for Miss S's birthday cake this year, and shortly after I had this idea for a baby shower cake for a friend of mine.

I had seen a few images around of the "butterflies swirling around the cake" genre, and I really liked the idea.  Most attractive though was the knowledge that this cake would be fairly simple, and it was - taking about four hours all up, including the baking of the cake, making the butterflies and assembling it all together.

I baked two 16cm chocolate cakes, trimmed the domes and sandwiched them together with a good dollop of chocolate buttercream.  I then crumb-coated the cakes, chilled them down and then iced them with a top coat of the buttercream.

I tinted the fondant a dusky pink, covered the cake in it and then used a little royal icing to stick the butterflies on.

The little butterflies were made with gumpaste and an embossing cutter and were left to dry in a "v" shape using this little device I made from cardboard and tin-foil for Miss S's butterflies.  I dusted them with a little white shimmer dust once they were dry.

It was a fun, stress-free cake to make, and it went down a treat at the shower.

LM x

Baby Shower Gift...

It was one of my new year's resolutions to hand-make as many gifts as possible.  I was especially excited this week to be able to make some things for a baby girl.  In my little expat circle here (and at home too), every baby born in the last two years has been a boy, and while I relish the greys, blues and greens I have to admit I was excited to go and purchase my first ball of pink wool in two years!

All the items I have made I have patterns or links available for, and all are relatively simple.

I knitted this very simple "baby's first ball" using this free pattern.  It has a little bell inside for a bit of extra fun. You can modify the pattern to include stripes, change the colours out, use larger needles and thicker wool for a bigger ball - it's a very adaptable pattern, perfect for beginners.

If you place a bell straight into the stuffing, the stuffing will muffle the sound.  My tip is to get one of those yellow egg-shaped inners that come in a Kinder Surprise and put the bell in that.  All credit to my husband for solving that problem for me!

You might recognise this little hat from one of my previous posts.  Because the baby I will be knitting this for will be born in August, I decided to knit this one in the next size up, so it would be useful for the coming autumn/ winter.  If anyone would like the specs for the 3-6 month size, or instructions on how to knit the flower let me know and I will post them.

I was able to pour over my extensive pinkalicious stash of fabrics and choose something to applique a kimono onsie.  I settled on a simple cupcake design, and used the template from my cafe felt mats (click here for the template).  I used the needle turn method which I talk about in this post.  Also included in that post are some videos from Youtube showing how to do the needle turn method.

I hope my friend enjoys the surprise shower, and all the fun things we have planned for her.  :)