Cars Cake Tutorial

A lot of people have sent me questions about the construction cake I posted a few months ago.  This weekend I made a similar cake so I figured I'd turn it into a mini tutorial which may help.  

DISCLAIMER!!!!  

I am not a cake decorator.  I'm just a mom who likes to try to make cool cakes for my kiddos and their friends.  My way may not be the RIGHT way but it's the way that works for me.  Hopefully you can take some of the ideas here and tweak them to work for you. 

You can totally make this cake!  It's pretty simple!

This is the tip I used...the "grass tip".

I taped several pieces of paper together and drew my number.  Then I cut it out to use as a guide.

I used regular copy paper with a free google image printed on it.  I have also used caution tape, wrapping paper, and decorative paper in the past.  I just taped it to the cake board.

Next I did a quick crumb coat in light green.  I would have made the green even darker but I ran out of food coloring and had to make another trip to the store.  If you use white to crumb coat, the white will show through your grass.  I recommend using green underneath.  I also didn't bother smoothing out my crumb coat this time, since it was going to be piped over.  

I placed my number 6 right on top of the crumb coat and traced around it with a toothpick.  That gave me a guide for making my road.

I used canned chocolate frosting to frost the road. 

I also crushed Oreos in my food processor and mixed melted butter with it to use as my road.  Then I began adding the Oreo road on top of the chocolate frosting.

I used a small spoon to scoop the road on and a small cake decorating spatula on the edges.  The spatula acted as a barrier as I used the spoon back to push the Oreos around and flatten it out.  Here is a close up of the Oreo/butter mixture.  It goes on fairly wet and hardens like a pie crust.   Plus it tastes really good too!

This is what the road looked like when it was finished.  

The next part was adding the grass.  I began on all four sides and filled in the top last. 

I like to point the grass in different directions so it looks more natural and not striped. 

If your hand is killing you from all of the piping you can add a little milk to thin your frosting a bit.  It goes pretty quickly if you have the right consistency.  I transported the cake like this and added the birthday boy's decor at his house.

Here is the finished product.  I added a banner, some flags and of course...CARS!

The birthday boy totally loved it!

If you wanted to turn this into a construction cake, you would just add chocolate frosting instead of grass.  And add construction vehicles and tire tracks too.  

Overall it's a really simple cake to make.  And the kids go nuts for it!  Hopefully this answers some of the questions and inspires you to make your own!

Now I'm a Florist???

My daughter's school was hosting a Father-Daughter Dance and my girl was beyond exited to go on a real date with her daddy.  We wanted to make it special for her so we thought a corsage was just the thing she needed.  Little did I know, corsages are expensive!  I mean, really expensive...Like $45!

  

Since buying one was out of the question, I went to my local Albertsons and bought some flowers; 3 bunches for $12.  I chose baby roses, Baby Carnations & Baby's Breath.  All appropriate for my sweet six year old.  And all the right size for her tiny wrist. 

Albertsons was super awesome and gave me the little elastic wrist bands (made of sparkly hot pink sequins) for free!  JoAnn's also sells them for just a few dollars.  The only other things I purchased were a pack of floral wire ($2) and a spool of ribbon ($2). 

Here's what I did...

I found some tulle in my scrap fabric and cut an 8 inch square.  I folded it into fourths and rounded it so that when I opened it back up it was a circle.  I pinched the center and made a stem at the bottom.  Then I put some hot glue on the stem to hold the shape.  After it was dry, I cut off the excess stem and glued the tulle circle to the wrist band to use as my base.  You could easily skip this step if you didn't already have the fabric.

Next I took my ribbon and looped it back and forth until I had 4 to 5 loops on each side.  I used a piece of floral wire to secure the middle.  Then I glued it on top of the tulle (on the wrist band).  

I cut the flowers at the base and began hot gluing them on top of the ribbon and tulle.  I started with 2 of the Carnations since they were biggest.  Then I used the baby roses to cover the Carnation's stems.  I continued to add flowers until it looked full.  The final touch was adding the Baby's Breath.  I stuck small pieces in between the other flowers to fill in any holes.  

We even had enough flowers left over to add to her hair.

She loved it and I know it made her feel really special.  

I actually made a total of 3 corsages.  One for my girl and 2 for her BFFs.  

They all turned out a little different.

All 3 girls loved them.

I ended up with enough flowers to make 3 corsages and still have a vase of flowers left over for her daddy to give her.  We want her to know that if a boy wants to take her on a date, he'd better show up with flowers and he'd better be a gentleman!  She was so happy her daddy made their date so special and she has no clue that her mommy made the corsage!  

Not bad for a total of $15!   

It's a Jungle Out There!

My brother & sister-in-law threw an adorable safari themed party this weekend.  I know it wasn't my party, but it was so cute I had to share it here.  I have no idea what their budget was but I'm certain you can pick and choose some of their ideas to include at your own safari party.  

Here's a brief recap..

Upon arrival kids were able to choose an animal hat and bracelet (so it's already a hit in my kids' eyes).  My mom & I were recruited to paint animal faces on all of the kids.  Next, the kids went on an animal hunt and tried to spot beanie animals hidden in the bushes.  The grand finale was having a lizard man arrive with tons of creatures which the kids were able to hold!  They saw snakes, lizards, tortoises,  tarantulas, and a 40 pound Albino Python!  It was seriously fun!  They served lunch, cake, and opened presents.   Before leaving the kids were allowed to choose one of the hidden animals as a party favor (my kids were thrilled about that).  They also had the most amazing safari candy apples, that my friend Holly made.  You are going to flip when you see the them!  It was a really well thought out, exciting and fun party that my kids loved...and the adults had a great time too.  

I snapped a few shots on my phone...check them out.

This is the cake I made.  I thought it needed some sass for my niece so I added the turquoise.  Hot pink would have been cute too.

My little one let me make him a cheetah!  He didn't care that it wasn't perfect.

The kids wanted all kinds of animal faces; tigers, cheetahs, pandas, zebras, monkeys, butterflies, etc.  My mom and I just did the best we could and the kids totally loved it.

Here is my sweet little girl holding a sweet little tarantula.  She wants one as a pet now.

The kids were totally into the animals.  They weren't afraid at all.  They wanted to touch and hold everything!  

Meet Fluffy...a 40 pound Albino Python.  She was a big hit!

A baby Albino Python.

What a great experience for them!

Can you believe these apples?  Beautiful and delicious!  My favorite kind of favor!

Lucky for me I have 3 kids.  Which means I got to bring home 3 of these awesome apples. 

 I might share with the kids...haven't decided yet.

There were so many cute ideas at this party I had to share with you!  Birthday season is over at my house.  Going to a party like this really gets my creative juices flowing.  I almost wish I had another kid so I could do another party...

I said ALMOST! 

Indiana Jones Party

My friend's kiddo had an Indiana Jones birthday party.  I made an Ark of the Covenant cake and my friend made an amazing party table!  Check out her snake sandwich!  Impressive!

The party was SO fun! They had a mummy wrap game, a balance game where kids tried not to fall in the snake pit and kids even got to squish their hands around in "eyeball soup", "snake guts", and "monkey brains" while searching for their prizes.  My friend is one rockin' mom!

Star Wars Training Academy

Well we survived birthday season!  Cash loved his party and I finally have the chance to post the photos.  Check it out...

 www.etsy.com/shop/APartyStudio

If you need printables you definitely need to check out A Party Studio.   She has amazing products and the best customer service ever!

Light Saber Pretzels

(Please ignore my ugly food labels.  I misplaced my cute custom printables the night before the party so I had to scramble to get these done at the last minute.  The others were way cuter, but these did the job.)

Desserts, Appetizers & Guest Book

My birthday boy!

We did an obstacle course and made a Yoda & R2D2 craft from felt.

Here are a few of the finished crafts.  I had all of the pieces cut out and placed in envelopes.  The kids glued the pieces on to a sparkly foam board and took them home.

These robes were made from pillow cases!  A pack of 2 cost $3 at Big Lots.  It's a NO SEW project too!  Just cut up the front for an opening and cut arm holes on the sides.  Tear some muslin for the belt and you've got a Jedi robe for $1.50 - ish!

This is my attempt at Princess Leia hair.

My little one.

The kids went nuts with their light sabers!  We also played a game where they had to keep balloons in the air by hitting them with the light sabers.

The kids took the whole thing very seriously. 

My son actually participated in the Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland.  Since I have it on video I was able to teach the kids the same choreography.  We played the theme song to Star Wars while they practiced their sequence.

It was a simple sequence of about 6 moves.  Strike the left arm, then the right arm, left leg, duck, left leg again.  Then finish with a strike to the head. We practiced over and over while the music played.

Then the music changed to The Imperial March 

(thank goodness for itunes!) and Darth Vader appeared!

Here he is making his entrance.

The kids didn't care that he was wearing the same clothes as Cash's dad, or that he had on a graduation robe.  To them...he was the REAL Darth Vader! 

Every Padawan fought Darth Vader.  I stood nearby help the kids remember the sequence.  It was beyond adorable watching each kiddo fight him.

I did have to plan ahead and ask my friends to use my camera and video camera to capture this part of the party since my husband and I were both involved in this part.

They ducked at the right time.

Did I mention it was adorable?

Each kid seriously believed he or she was a REAL Jedi.

In the end, the kids finished him off.  The kids earned a certificate stating that they completed the Jedi Training Academy and that they are official Jedi Knights.  Some of the grown ups might have had a go at Darth Vader too. 

After the festivities outside we went in the house and sang Happy Birthday.  Then we enjoyed cake, ice cream and presents.  

This party was a lot of fun and it was really inexpensive.  It took time and energy, but the best parties (the ones made with love) always do.  My son absolutely thinks he had the best party in the whole world.  I think that's pretty awesome.  After all... I think I have the best kids in the whole wide world and this is my way of showing them.