Avast ye scallywags!!

 

well shiver me timbers!!

happy national talk like a pirate day!!

 

to mark this occassion (which i was made aware of by my mom this morning... thanks mom!!), i made my little buccaneers some adorable swashbuckeling cupcakes...

enjoy you landlubbers!!!

and here is my happy little band of pirates... love these two faces!!

happy baking me heartys!!

happy 6th birthday to my amazing JACK!

i just wanted to share with you some pictures from my biggest little guy, jacks' 6th birthday... i cannot believe how quickly time has gone... it seems like only yesterday i was swaddling him in blankets at the hospital (well trying to at least... he was a wiggler who couldn't wait to stretch his legs once out of the belly)...

jack has taught me more about myself then i ever thought possible... he changed my life when he came into my arms 6 years ago... and he continues to amaze me everyday since...

happy birthday my little man... mommy loves you...

what a serious pirate, huh?
arrrggg... it's pirate jack!
here's the fondant showpiece cake i made for him... he said it was just what he wanted... tattoo, sword, map and all...



some of the birthday spread...


yummy vanilla bean cupcakes...

and here are just a few other pictures... enjoy :)

jack was so excited to get a package from daddy :)

waiting "patiently" to open his mountain of presents :)

finally... it was present time...

ben was feeling a bit blue about not being able to open the presents :(

on the phone long distance with daddy... thanks to the hubs for making this birthday even more special... love you so :)

the fierce pirate duo, the Perkins brothers!!! Jack Tucker and Benjamin Scout :)
that ol' drooling scallywag benjamin :)

aaaarrrrggggggggggg! silly pirate faces!!
happy 6th birthday jack tucker... i love you so :)

happy 25th birthday meggie!!

here's a little shout out to my little sister meggie who turned 25 this past week... awww... she's all grown up... so naturally i had to bust out a crazy fantastic cake...
so here's her cake... compliments of me :) and i must say, i captured meggie perfectly...

from her distressed jeans, her raybans, her abercrombie fashion scarf, her camera and her livestrong bracelet... and not only that... she's sitting atop a starbucks cup... just so you know, half of my sisters blood is made up of caramel macchiato...

look at that girl... what a cutie!
and here's the base of the cake... a medal in the livestrong colors... you see, my sister has run and beatsed 5 marthons already... that was a huge goal of hers... 5 marathons under the age of 25... she ran 2 in new york, 1 in boston, 1 in chicago and 1 in seattle... so proud of her!

and here are the cupcakes... i used a new recipe from booze cakes (awesome book!!), the yummy and pretty champagne cake... it was really, really good :) although i didn't add the champagne to the frosting, i just kept it a simple vanilla buttercream... and i thought they complimented each other really nicely (i'll post the recipe soon)

happy 25th birthday to my sister and best friend meggie... and as always happy baking :)

fun with fondant!

hey guys! here's a sneak peek at some of the fondant animals i've been making for a circus themed birthday party! aren't they cute... i have to say i am pretty proud of myself, and what i've been able to create... and i feel like i'm getting better and better with each animal or figure i make... so here they are... i apologize for the lousy photo quality... but i'm sure you can make out their cuteness! :) enjoy!
how about this lion... i love the way he is sitting... adorable... and below is a cute little seal... and to answer your question...yes, seals do wear hair accessories... :)

above is one adorable elephant... she was my first for this set of figures... and i just love her! :) and below are some sweet little clowns... normally clowns freak me out, but i have to say these two are just plain lovable!

until next time... happy making and a baking!

happy 5th birthday to my super boy jack!

hey everyone! i just want to share with you an awesome post...

if you couldn't tell by the title, my biggest little man just turned 5... i'm still in shock... i cannot believe he is 5 years old already... i cannot even imagine my life before he came along... i'm so proud to be his mommy...

okay okay... enough of the mushy mom stuff... and on to the cake and the party... the theme... super hero training camp... how cool is that! with the help of my awesomely talented neighbor, i had super hero capes and masks made for all the little super heros that were attending the party... but the thing was they had to earn them...

first they had to silly string the bad guy (just like spider man), they had to beat up the villain (using some over sized and over stuffed hulk hands to beat down on a bop-bag) they had to find the pieces of kryptonite that were hidden in the playground and place it safely in a lead box, and finally they had to take down the villains (my hubs and my sister boyfriend) by wrapping them in toilet paper... and then they graduated and received their capes... it was a success...




here's super ben... i'm telling you, the minute this little guy had his cape on he started to strut... it was hysterical...


here's jack with some of the kryptonite...


now for the cake...

i decided to make a dummy cake for the centerpiece, using styrofoam circles... and i covered and decorated it with fondant... the idea was to make it look like super jack was busting out of the center of the cake, and i think it looked super adorable... and made 3 dozen cupcakes, each with wither blue, red or yellow buttercream (you know, those bold superhero colors!)... and each had a star on top which was cut out from airheads (thanks mom!)
it was so windy that the candles wouldn't stay lit long enough for us to sing, so my dad (who bythe-way always has something handy) had this firecracker sparkler thing which came in super handy...

here's jack after he blew out his candles... so cute...

here's a behind the scenes glimpse at me hard at work...

and a close up of my fondant super jack! i love that face!

happy birthday jack! and happy baking everyone!

p.s. i think i said super in the post like a bagillion times :)

a couple of things i have been up to... enjoy!

hey everyone... i'm back! i know it's been a while, but i have been super busy (i think i've used this excuse before... hehe! )

so here's a quick round up of what i have been busy creating in my kitchen...

here's a elmo inspired cake for a little boy's first birthday... i was really happy with the cake (a triple layered chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and cookies and cream filling), but i wish i could have made elmo cuter... i tried giving him some texture, but then he looked goofy... i wish i could have made the elmo i envisioned... you know what i mean... i had this whole idea of how i was going to make him, but i made myself crazy trying... so here he is... not the bestest of elmo look-a-likes... but all in all the cake was cute...

here are some ohio buckeye inspired cupcakes i made for my lovely neighbor morgan... they were chocolate cupcakes, with a rich peanut butter filling topped with a vanilla caramel buttercream... topped with fondant ohio state monograms, and fondant buckeye leaves with buckeye nuts... i thought they came out super cute...

happy baking everyone!