4 weeks and 4 days to go! - My Little Girl's Nursery.....so far.....

Well it seems like an eternity since I have blogged, and I think a lot of that has had to do with my incoherent brain being so undecided about what direction I wanted to go with my blog, business, life in general. I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant with baby number 2 and I could not be more excited to be getting my matching pair for my little boy Rylan who is 3 weeks off turning 3!

I have been working closely with a dear friend of mine Belinda of Petite Vintage Interiors to create an almost completely DIY nursery for little She-Ra (not her name, just what I have been calling my tummy since week 20) and I could not be more thrilled with what we have come up with. My main goal with this room was to create a beautiful girly space on as small of a budget as possible. My version of nesting is creating anything and everything for my baby, and I just wanted to have a room that I could walk into and feel a real sense of accomplishment.

Over the next little while I will post bits and pieces from She-Ra's nursery. This project has given me a little bit more clarity about what direction I want to go in with my little business; I want to create pieces for little people's spaces. It's going to be a little bit of a journey, but I think I feel a bit more comfortable with this given my growing family and busy little life.

Project #1 - The Mobile

For this one I knew I wanted to work with felt. I have attempted to make felt mobiles before, but I over complicated them and have a drawer full of cut out pieces which have never been blanket stitched into anything. I wanted something girly and cute, so what's more cute and girly than clouds and birdies. I had previously had a jungle mobile that someone had given me as a baby shower gift for Rylan, so in the interest of keeping things thrifty, I decided to upcycle.

 Here is the progression of how I got to my finished product.

After I completed the mobile, my girlfriend changed her little girl on the change table and I realised that the strings were way too long and would probably be more annoying than stimulating, so I shortened the strings, covered up the jungle sticker on the music box and here's what it looks like in action. 

x Meagan

Macaright, Macawrong, MACARON!

Oh My! I have found the piece de resistance of pastries, the absolute cream of the crop! I am sooo sooo sooo in love with MACARONS. 

My journey to the mighty macaron was not a straight forward or easy one, it involved several failed attempts for various reasons, but perseverance and focus have taken me from complete disasters to reactions from people that mostly begin with 'Oh my god!'.

One of the great things about Pinterest is that it really opens you up to so many new things you might never have come across otherwise. I noticed these macarons every now and then having been pinned here and there. I probably even pinned a few pretty coloured ones in my delicious desserts board but at that point, I hadn't eaten any. Then I fell in love with Julia the dessert queen from Masterchef 2012 and decided that desserts were for me! I started to research, and oh my goodness, what a world of macaronage I found.

I couldn't believe so many people not only were obsessed with macarons, but went to the effort of baking batch after batch, working out all the things that can go wrong and how to avoid them. The countless videos on how to mix them and the flavours, THE FLAVOURS! I had to try it, I just had to.

BATCH 1:

I decided to follow the Not So Humble Pie recipe as she had the most comprehensive how to that I had found. (Oh, I should mention we are talking french macarons here, not the italian method, I'm a purist haha). Off I went, sifted my almond meal once and made up the batch based on as much info as I had. They rose, had great feet, but looked a little grainy and the bottoms browned a lot. I knew that I hadn't protected the bottom of my macarons and naively thought that one more batch and they'd be perfect. When I think back now, I don't know what I did to make them look like they were right, and I didn't think to take notice. I kind of thought that they were most likely just hard for inexperienced bakers (not that I'm an expert or anything) but I can make a good meringue. I decided to leave it for a while.

BATCH 2 & 3:

I wanted to make piggy macarons for Rylan's farm themed 2nd birthday party. I thought that it would be a cinch since I knew what went wrong last time, I could easily make the adjustments and perfecto. I have put these batches in the same category because frankly, I made the same mistakes both time, and didn't learn anything from the one before. I don't know if it was because I had to measure my ingredients in batches because at that point I only had mini digital scales, or whether it was my oven temp, or the recipe, I was really lost. I had so much other baking to do, I couldn't waste anymore time on making macawrongs for the party, but I was determined to try again!

(not sure what happened when I imported my photos - ignore the glitches, sorry)

FRENCH TWIST:

After the party craziness finished, I couldn't help but feel like I needed to know what a good one tasted like, and looked like, in order for me to know when I get it right. I also thought there might be a small chance of asking a couple of questions to a pastry chef if I went to a french patisserie to buy some. I happened to be near a French Twist and so I decided to go and buy a few. I bought 4, and they weren't cheap, but I knew that they would be good having been made by an actual french person. Out of the 6 flavours, I tried 4; Lavender Chocolate, Lemon Lime, Cherry Ripe & Violet Crumble. I ate the citrus one first thinking it would be my least favourite, and it turned out to be the best. I absolutely adored the texture, the flavour and the whole experience of biting into every single one of them. I was more than ever determined to get these little mothers right!

BATCH 4:

Friday afternoon, I was feeling lucky. I had done a fair bit more research between going to French Twist & this point, and I had been recommended to try a recipe Tartelette. After reading a bit more, I found Brave Tart and a blog from someone else entirely who said they had tried Tartelette's recipe, but Brave Tart was more fail proof. Well that sold me, so against the recommendation from my friend I chose to make Brave Tart's recipe. Ugh. What went wrong? I DON'T KNOW! I knew my meringue was good, I knew my measurements were correct as I had just bought a digital scale. I knew my oven temp was right as I bought an oven thermometer, it had to be my macaronage - technique  that essentially folds the egg white/meringue with the almond and sugar mixture. Grrrr.....I knew I had to keep trying

BATCH 5:

It was Saturday morning and I wanted to knock out a batch by breakfast.

I decided to try Tartelette's recipe after all, I only had one friend who had ever made them successfully, so I decided it was silly to ignore her advice. I also liked this recipe better than Brave Tarts purely because it was a smaller batch, and If it didn't work, then it wasn't as much egg whites and almond meal that I had wasted. So off I went.........too runny! MACARONAGE......grrrrr

I didn't take a photo of this one.

BATCH 6:

I had commitments on Saturday morning and I had to by at Mango Hill by 10am. It was probably around 8am when I decided to do another batch. It was too annoying that I couldn't get it, I was so close I could taste it. I found an awesome video showing macaronage, it was all in french, but you can look as well here. It didn't matter that I couldn't understand him, I could see what he was doing, and I realised that I was doing it all wrong. Instead of folding & beating the air out right away, he carefully folded until all ingredients were just combined before he started folding & spreading the mixture to the outer edges of the bowl. Then he repeated the process. I have read blogs & instructionals that all said you don't have to be 'oh so careful' but you know what, I have thrown all of that to the wind, because this method, of being oh so careful has yielded me success, so I am too scared to change! That's right, SUCCESS at last! Well.........almost.

Because of the time constraints, I baked one sheet (there were 3) as soon as they were piped, so no resting time and no skin. They were flat & boring and no feet and just ugh. By the time that batch came out of the oven, I put the 2nd tray in, but I didn't have time, it probably did about 2 mins in the oven, and then I took it out, turned the oven off, bailed Rylan into the car and went to my meeting.

When I got home, I preheated the oven and I baked the 2nd sheet. They worked well considering they had already started to be cooked. They did have lopsided feet, but they weren't too bad. The 3rd sheet was well and truly dry and ready to be baked, so I popped them in (with a little bit of a defeatest attitude) and I couldn't believe that they looked like actual macarons AMAZING! I was so confident I decided to make up a batch of strawberry bubblegum ganache and I filled them & refridgerated them for later.

Well I was impressed with myself, but I had to know if they were just a fluke, or if I actually had mad skillz haha.

ALMOND MEAL:

I am at heart a cheap skate, but not only that, I don't like that the commercial almond meal is not only overpriced but has husks scattered throughout. I decided to buy some bags of raw AUSTRALIAN almonds from the fruit and veg shop. My dad told me to make sure you always buy Australian almonds because it's the only way you can guarantee they are less than a year old - scary. Anyway, 500g of raw almonds (skins on) I started my quest. I blanched them by placing them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over the top and soaking for no longer than 1 minute. Then I drained and started trying to skin them. Some skinned easily, but many didn't. I should have blanched them in batches. I reblanched what I couldn't skin & the skins came off unbelievably easy this time, but anyway, lesson learned.

Once they were skinned, I dried them out & left them on the bench to air dry some more. Then, I put the whole lot in my food processor and blitzed them for a while, then I sifted as much as possible (without forcing any through) and returned all of the larger parts back to the food processor for further blitzing. I did this 4 or 5 times in total, and it was a lengthy process, but out of 500g of Raw almonds that cost me $5.95, I got about 470g of almond meal, which was enough for me to split into 4x 110g bags ready for macaron making. This was a test run, when I do it again, I will do it with probably at least a kilo because it isn't something I want to do every other day.

To buy almond meal or even slivered or blanched almonds, you are looking at $30-$35/kilo. Home made is only about $12/kilo. If you were just doing a batch here and there, maybe it wouldn't be a problem, but I think I want to make these in bulk and sell the shit out of them, so mama did dang need her some big bags of almond meal. CHEAP.

Last note on this - I like the idea that I know where the almonds came from, I can market my macarons as being made from Australian Almonds & made with free range eggs. Those points are important to me, and i'm sure important to my future customers.

BATCH 7 & 8:

Both using Tartelette's recipe, on the same day. I made one batch pink and the other green. For the first flavour, I made Zumbo's Strawberry Bubblegum flavour with a poprocks insert, and for the second flavour, I made an experimental ganache & jelly insert from my brain using ginger, lime & chilli. They weren't hot hot, to be honest i could have amped up the heat if i wanted to. You just never know how people will react to chilli.

Both flavours were recieved very well, some younger people weren't as keen on the ginger, lime & chilli flavour as the older tasters. All in all, they went pretty well.

I still think I need more practice making the shells, I am almost maybe just a little too early on piping the  batter. Some of the batch was cracked and some had lopsided feet which indicate to me that maybe I have to fold a few more times at most, just to get the consistency right throughout.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?:

Well, my plan is now to make a couple more batches (seeing as though I have two already weighed out bags of almond meal in my pantry right now) and keep them plain, I'm not going to add any colours or flavours at all. Then I might divide them up into bags and freeze them. Then, I want to collect as many ideas as I can and just start experimenting with different ganaches & buttercreams until I get 15-20 flavours (maybe less if it seems like its going to take me years to get that many flavours) then have a tasting/market research tea party and get all my friends & macaron enthusiasts around for judgement. I'll get everyone to score based on taste, texture & look and amend what I need to and ditch any with extremely low scores.

What an exciting time ahead in my macaron journey, tune in for more macaronage as the weeks roll by.

x Meagan

Isn't it funny...

It's not that I mean to promise things & not deliver, sometimes, life & babies get in the way and there isn't much you can do about it. I know I said that there were going to be 4 entries about decorations & party crafts, and I swear, I will get there soon, it's just a matter of finding the time.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I am really trying to do with my 'business' - Sugar Blossom, and I don't know if I want to limit myself to just cake decorations & party printables. I have so many loves for different crafts and I just feel like maybe instead of making it a party business, I should just focus on a collection of different things and sell whatever I make. I don't think I'm going to get rich on this type of business, but I think that I am searching for more fulfilment than riches at this point.

I have so many ideas and pinterest has really opened my mind to even more crafts. Don't get me wrong, I love parties and all party related things, but relaxing a bit and going with the flow is where I feel I will get my real happiness.....and after all isn't that more important?

DIY Party Decorations Part 1 - Darling Decorations

I have been trying to blog properly for weeks, but after my hard drive crashed and I had to reload my photo library of over 150000 photos, it just doesn't seem to want to happen. So, in the meantime I thought it might be fun to share some of the awesome party craft items I have found while being sucked into numerous Pinterest holes that I just love finding myself in.

I am always trying to make my parties as elaborate as possible, using as little money as possible, because let's face it, we would all rather be spending money on presents & food (or bills & rent).

So here are a few awesome ideas I have found on Pinterest - feel free to follow me on Pinterest, I am always adding new pins as I find them. Each has a link that was given to me through Pinterest. As I found them all on Pinterest, I haven't had a chance to look at them all in detail. Some may not have tutorials, but the ideas are there nonetheless. All credit for these creations goes to the original posters. Please forgive me for not labelling them all individually.

Easy Peasy Garlands

These are all great ideas for super easy yet effective ways to make garlands. You could do all of the same, or a combo of a few. Great idea for excess ribbon, or just some offcuts of fabric that you cut up into strips. 

String Balls

More String Balls

These are sooo cute, I came across them recently while looking for Easter crafts. I am in love with the idea and have been brainstorming ideas of how I could make them different. I love the egg shape for Easter, but I don't actually decorate my house for Easter, although I might as Rylan gets older or if there are more children around. I thought that if you wanted a perfectly round one, you could use the water balloon and just cover half with just enough string that it will hold its shape, then do another half and then stick them together and wrap more string around the whole lot to secure it. I don't know whether this will work, but its an idea. I also thought that you could really line the outside of any bowl or container with cling wrap and do the same thing to make a bowl for a centre piece. I can't vouch for how sturdy that would be as I haven't made any myself, but if I ever do, I will post a blog about it.

Baby's Breath Poms

This is beautiful. I am not a huge baby's breath kinda person, other than wearing it in my hair at 3 years old when I was a flower girl in the 80s, but to be completely honest, I think this is the nicest display I've ever seen. I think this would be beautiful for a wedding. Doesn't look difficult and is very whimsical. 

Tissue & Tulle Flowers

Tissue Paper Flowers

I'll write about these two together, although the top includes tule, and the bottom is just tissue. I personally make tissue paper flowers for almost every party I do. They are so versatile and so easy and so cheap. You can make them hang from the roof, or you can turn them into a flower arrangement. Sooooooo cute. I love mixing the colours up, mixing up the sizes. You can jagger the edges or round them off depending on the look you want. A definite staple party decoration in my book. Not to mention that you can make them huge, and they really fill a space. 

Coloured Rice

Oh My God!!! I am so in love with this idea. I am really seriously considering making a big batch in all different colours and keeping them at hand to use whenever I want. You could use this for sooooo many things. You could scatter them instead of buying those confetti - and they will easily vacuum up for a good clean up. I wouldn't recommend scattering on an outside table because I think they are bad for birds. If you were having an indoor wedding and were allowed to throw rice, how beautiful would multicoloured rice be? Again, not for outdoors.

Other uses would be filling jars with and using as a stand for lollipops or cakepops. I'm sure there are other things you could do with them. I would love to hear your ideas!

Soda Bottle Curtain

This is soooooooooo pretty and so surprising that it is the bottom of soft drink or soda bottles! I am really impressed by this idea. There are a few tutorials floating around about tinting mason jars, and I think that if you could be bothered, you could tint this to be any colour you wanted, or multicoloured if you so desire.

Upon checking all my links to make sure they aren't just to google images, I have discovered that these are made to order, so no tutorial. Still an inspiring idea.

Paint Chip Garland

I found a list of 50 things you can do with paint chip samples recently, and to be honest, I don't know if this was one of them, but it should have been if it wasnt. I love this idea, and the best part is that paint chips are free - at least in Australia they are. This is a great way of getting lots of different coloured card without spending a lot of money. All u need is a punch & string - or if you don't have a punch, nothing stopping you from cutting them out by hand.

Glitter Lantern

This is a great idea. If you were having a fairy party, or a disco party. you could do them in any colour and they do not look difficult at all. I have a love hate relationship with glitter, I get a bit obsessive compulsive around it if I think its on me, but I love looking at it so much, sometimes I just gotta have it. Depending on how fiddly these were mess wise, they may need to be for an outside party. 

Yarn Pompom Garland

I thought these would be good for a Dr Seuss party - they are wool pompoms.

Scalloped Lanterns

Paper Scalloped Lanterns

These are really pretty. You could make them with a gradient from light to dark if you wanted, you could make them multicoloured, or two toned or three toned, ahhh, the list goes on. I am not sure how they are made, but they don't look hard, maybe a little time consuming, but if you're so inclined then go for it. You could use this technique for covering a pinata also.

Flower Garland

So pretty, even for a little girls bedroom. They look like they might be fabric, but if they are there isn't any reason you couldn't do it with paper. Like a giant necklace, gorgeous.

Please note - Unfortunately, the link in Pinterest for this one didn't go anywhere, so I don't have anyone to credit, or any instructions. If you know where this came from, PLEASE let me know - sugarblossommeagan@gmail.com and I will link it straight away.

Wax Paper Crayon Hearts

This is a great idea, and I think could be done with any shape, although because they are thin (i think) you might need to stick with basic shapes like circles or squares. Stars would look good, but would depend on if they kept their shape when hung. No reason why you couldn't turn these into a garland. I just love them. Wax paper & crayons I believe - don't quote me on that. Like I said, I haven't looked into them in detail.

Paper Butterflies

These are sooo sweet I love them. Would make a great curtain or garland. Not sure on how they are made, but how beautiful would a giant one be? They would make a good mobile for a nursery also. 

Paper Streamer Sun & Rainbows

Love love LOVE. Paper plate & streamers. Simple and sooo effective.

Flower Balloons

The Pinterest comment boasted simple to make. They are cute, as hell. I think balloons are awesome, but so often they are difficult to display in such a way that is attractive and not tacky. This is a great suggestion. I can imagine them attached to a big green stick and stuck in the ground with a cut out cardboard leaf. 

Felt Ball Garland

I have never worked with felt, but these look very cute, and would also be good in a bedroom as decoration.

Crepe Paper Garland/Streamers

This one seems a little obvious, but to be honest, I haven't thought of doing this in the last few parties that I have thrown. I remember doing these at school maybe, or for my childhood parties, but just haven't seen this idea in a while. Sooo cute, and colour coordinated would look just beautiful. All it is is crepe paper & twisting.

Ice-Cream Balloons

And finally, I had to share this as I thought it was BRILLIANT. I assume the cone is either paper or card, but such an innovative and simple idea. Whoever thought of this deserves major cudos. 

There are many many many more ideas and so I have decided to split them up into 4 different blogs. These are just decorations, so there are lighting, centre pieces and dessert table enhancements to come.

Hope you enjoy!

Banana Bread, Babies & Home Made Flower arrangements

No one is a bigger fan of my banana bread than my BFF Kelly. I have avoided that combinations of letters for such a long time, but I am so sick of saying 'my best friend'. If I just say friend then I feel like I'm lying, but saying best friend all the time sounds a little like I'm in primary school. If I say BFF I'm in high school, so if there is a 28 year olds alternative, I'm all ears. 

Anyway, the order of events went;

Kelly got engaged to Jameel (nicest guy on earth)

Meagan (me) got pregnant with Rylan

Kelly got married (to Jameel - just to be clear)

Meagan had Rylan 9lb 6, 56cm 23 September 2010, Natural with only gas

Kelly got pregnant slightly less accidentally but equally as happy to be. 

Then, on 12th March at 4:50am 2012, out popped a beautiful little girl 7lb 9, brown hair named Chloe Maree. I have spent an hour with her so far, then came down with a cold when I was due for my second visit (which was yesterday) so now I need to wait to hold my honorary neice again. WAAAAAA

Anyway, as soon as I heard the glorious news, I knew what I had to do. I immediately went to Westfield and searched for as many cute girl clothes as possible. Kelly & Jameel choose NOT to find out, so we have been in limbo buying boring neutral things for 9 months. It was on. 

I had already purchased the baby a bright blue with purple wings & horn - unicorn dragon stuffed toy. I think it had flecks of glitter through it too, so it could have gone either way, but now that I know its for a girl, I think its right. I went on to buy a hot pink wondersuit - a must, a cute little white cotton sleeveless onsey with a ruffled bum, a pink, purple & white singlet pack and a packet of girly socks. 

I went looking for flowers, you gotta have flowers when u go through that pain, and after not being able to find anything that was impressive enough for the size & price I wanted to pay, I ended up making my own. It wasn't about being 'cheap' it was about not wanting to hand my money over for something when I could make it myself for half the cost and spend more money on pretty pink things.

I did end up buying a round foil balloon from a florist to begin with, then I found a cute little white basket with pink lining from the Reject shop for about $3. Then Aldi had some beautiful cut flowers for $4.99 a bunch. There were some gorgeous tiny pink roses, but I thought it would be better for them to be as fresh as possible, so I decided to buy them the morning of despite the rush that may result. When I went back, the same roses were still there, and the new flower they got in weren't quite as nice, so I ended up buying the roses, some green flowers, and some lighter pink carnations. Then I used a flower arranging foam which I cut to size & soaked in water until it sank (that's how you know it's ready. I lined the basket with clear cellophane, and dropped the foam in. Then I just began cutting & slotting in the flowers till I was happy and all the spaces were filled. Finally I poked in the balloon and we were away!

I told Kelly that I made it, but she told me that she never would have known and that I am not supposed to tell those things, but I was proud, so what can I say.

[photos]

We are all smitten with Chloe Maree, and can't wait to watch her grow up into a beautiful little girl, bigger girl, and then woman. xxx

It's Official

I took Sugar Blossom to the Rock-A-Buy Baby Markets today to see if anyone liked my concept for custom cake toppers and party printables. I'm happy to report that it was a great experience to show my work and talk to my target audience. I didn't sell much actual product but I seemed to get some genuine interest for the future. All in all it was time well spent.

I'll be posting some how tos and recipes soon and also a catch up to show off our mothers group 1st birthday cake and my BFF Kelly's baby shower.

Now it's time to rest....ahhhhh

Rylan's Birthday Cake

Well it has been a while since I promised to post pictures of Rylan's 1st Birthday Cake. It was a cake extravaganza! Special thanks to my sister Phoebe who helped me with a few things, the sign and the cupcakes and the sun. It was a lot of fun to make all these elements, and boy was it rewarding once it was finally put together. I was really proud of myself on this cake, and it has lead me to the realization that I would like to make a go of making some money out of doing this.

Have a look at the pictures. Everything is made out of my own home made gumpaste which I have since finished and ended up buying a bunch from Sugarland to make some figures to sell. It is much easier to work with, however there is something deeply pleasurable about making things from scratch. Its much more expensive too, but it doesn't require any conditioning, where the home made stuff had to be rolled through a pasta machine over and over and needed for a REALLY long time to get it smooth and even then I had issues with cracking.

Anyway, hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Rylan's Teddy Bear's Picnic Birthday Cake:

 Here is the best I could do for a shot of the whole cake, but as you can see there are many stories within the story.

 Here you can see the froggy (made by Phoebe) with a fly on the end of his tongue and some flies buzzing above him. The turtle is peering over a bush wondering what is going on as is the cute little snail. You can also see the family of lady bugs traveling up the hill to the single apple that has fallen from the tree. The bushes are made out of fondant and were made on the day of the cak, the rest is made from home made gum paste.

 Here you can see the gorgeous sign (made by Phoebe) that really turns this cake into something really personalised and special. I'm so happy we went ahead with the sign, it wouldn't have been the same without it. You can see the stepping stones between the bunny and the turtle that were made with some black gumpaste mixed with a bit of white, but not left a bit marbled. The bunny is on his way to the party, he has a present ready to go and is having a quick fly of his kite on the way there.

 Waiting on the top of the hill is our star, teddy. He is waiting patiently for his friend to arrive to his birthday picnic. you can see he is already wearing his party hat, and there is one on the blanket waiting for bunny. His honey pot is being held firmly between his arms, but the bees are not to pleased with this and are buzzing around wondering why he has any honey at all because he's not a bee! Teddy has a picnic basket (of course) and inside is a single carrot for the bunny because he knows how much bunnies love carrots. He already has a present and a plate of cupcakes and a cup of tea, what more could a teddy want. The "1" sign was also made by phoebe as were the cupcakes.

 Here you can see the bunny flying his kite. The string is not edible. You can also see a hedgehog and a snail wondering what this kite tail is. You can also see that one cupcake has fallen down the hill.

 Here is a close up of the tree and some blue birds sitting in front of it.

Well that's it. Rylan had a little bee hive which I made intending to be a smash cake, but he wasn't very interested in eating it (go figure). Picture below.

 Here is the birthday boy, all cute and everything.

 Here is the sign and instructions for the photobooth I had set up. Also you can see hanging up are all the moustaches etc.

 Here are some candels I made using baby food jars and curling ribbon. Then I tied them to our only tree to give a bit of ambiance after dark. Unfortunately, it was a bit windy, and we didn't get to light them all, but I still think they are cute and a good idea. I made a bunch of them and put them down the main table also.

 Here is the party before people started to show up. Tissue paper bunting flags everwhere, there is a happy birthday sign to the left on the fence, and I bought a living social deal to get $50 worth of balloons for $15 so the polka dot balloons looked great. You can't see very well, but there are also tissue paper pom poms hanging from the clothes line. I also threw a bunch of balls across the back yard which kept the littlies occupied throughout the day. 

I didn't take nearly enough photos. I had some candy jars as a centre piece to my food table, but the day was so chaotic, there just wasn't enough of a chance to take too many pics. In hindsight, it would have been good to get every detail, but the day was good enough without it. 

Well I hope you like my 1st 1st birthday party. Next birthday party will be 5th for Rylan, so I won't be doing another one for a while. 

NEXT PARTY = Kelly's Baby Shower (my bestest friend). 

Also, next post will be about the joint 1st birthday party that we did with our mother's group, there is a cake for that one too. 

Stay tuned I might do that tomorrow. 

x M