Dr. Seuss Cake

My daughter is rapidly approaching 2.  Seriously 23 months and some change.  Didn’t we just perfect the ultimate swaddle, conquer the squeakless door close, and master the art of stacking milk in the freezer?  Our routines change so quickly with this bundle of energy, it is tough to comprehend that we are already building choo-choos with blocks, whisking pancake batter, and talking about friends at school (okay, maybe just repeating their names at home).  I realize this is not a new phenomenon and time flies for everyone… I just wish it were a little more selective to the Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5:00 time-frame!

1. I have a daughter (this is still sinking in).
2. She will seriously be 2 in a mere number of days.
3. We celebrated, we celebrate, we will celebrate!

Oh, The Places You'll Go Door Sign

I love to decorate cakes, plan parties, and am always up for a good celebration  no matter how big or small… we celebrate Pi day.   I have to admit, however, that I was totally overwhelmed at the prospect of planning my own daughter’s first birthday party!  How would I ever pick and finalize a theme?  How would I decorate her cake?  I checked all my usual sources for inspiration: Pinterest, Hostess with the Mostess, Pizzazzerie, etc., and despite all the amazing party plans, I wasn’t convinced.

I am a sucker for inspiration.  I am a sucker for independence.  I wasn’t ready to let go of little Sammie’s nursery theme, so we stuck with, “Oh the Places She’ll Go!”

Invitation: We found an adorable invitation  in the Meghily’s Printables Etsy Store.

Decorations: I played with my Silhouette SD and found great hot air balloon shapes by SnapDragon Snippets in the Silhouette Studio. I selected several different shades of Bazzil cardstock to use for all my decorations  and outlined the cutouts with a black marker to give it more Dr. Seuss sass.   I downloaded the Doctor Soos font, for free, from dafont.com.   I created  a banner for the fireplace, hot air balloon bunting for the entryway, a door sign (re-purposing an old frame), and fun photos from Samantha’s first year hanging from helium balloons.

Dr. Seuss Cake

Cake: I had some serious trouble coming up with an idea for this cake that I felt I could actually execute!  I decided to use gum paste, fondant, and edible markers to re-create scenes from “Oh the Places You’ll Go.”  I loved the effect of the edible markers on the dried gumpaste.  I did learn that you have to wait for the gumpaste to dry completely before using the edible markers, or the colors may bleed!

First Year Photo Collage

Photo Collage: We spent the year taking monthly black and white photos of Samantha on a plain desk calendar.  We happened to have some extra wall space and found matching extra frames… all the night before her party.  With the assistance of a little Urban Chestnut, we put together this photo collage in no time.. we (the beer) *may* have miscounted our photo-to-frame-ratio… which explains the somewhat random monogram in the fourth frame!  D’oh.
Up next… la la la la… la la la la… Elmo’s World!  Let the celebration continue!

Confession of a *wannabe* party planner…
I wish I could ditch the 8:30 – 5:00 job and execute party plans everyday!

Happy 1st Birthday Samantha!