A little Pumpkin on his way....

I LOVE this time of year, fall weather, leaves changing color, chili and football on Sunday afternoon, Halloween, followed by my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. Who doesn't love this time of year? And with this beautiful fall season comes pumpkins. Lots and lots of recipes and ideas do with pumpkins, from carving them, pumpkin butter, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cookies to pumpkin pie and so much more!

So when our close friend Carmen told us she was expecting I was thrilled to help throw her a shower. So her sister in law and I decided to go with a pumpkin theme baby shower on October 30, to perfect, right? Well we had a blast planning and putting this together. Here are the pictures from the event!!

We carved a pumpkin and put in some beautiful fall flowers.

I also carved some mini pumpkins and put in tea lights too!

We wrapped candy pieces with baby shower sayings.

Then the cake!

Since our theme was pumpkin related, I put a little baby in a pumpkin patch.

With a few baby items to go with him.

We put the cake up high with fall candy corn in a dish.

This time I made baby shower cookies and

decorated them with fondant instead of royal icing.

We also made a pumpkin theme diaper cake!

These were a hit, a Pregatini!

sort of like a martini but without the alcohol.

Just LOVE the fall colors and how it all worked together!

And these were our favors for everyone to enjoy...

Pumpkin bread!

Congratulations to Carmen and Sean on their new bundle of joy to be!

Thank you to my friend Narja with all her help hosting the shower

and to her wonderful husband Peppie who helped make some of the food!

A little concert...

Our dear friend Peppie not only celebrated his birthday last week, but decided to throw a concert at our church, where he is the director of music, to help raise money for the Priests retirement fund. I made two simple sheet cakes for everyone to enjoy after the concert, chocolate and almond. He sang solo for the first half and then had a few of his friends join him in singing and playing for the second half.

Happy Birthday Peppie!!

For our dear friend Peppie who is an amazing friend, Godfather to our little girl and an amazing musician, today was his birthday!

Of course what do get the guy who is turning another year older?

A present....not just any present, an edible one!!

I LOVE doing present cakes!!

So simple but fun to look at and I love making bows!!

(Especially edible bows!)

Happy Birthday Pep!

A Musical Note...

These cupcake bites were for a dear friend of ours. He was hosting a party for his church choir and asked for a few treats for dessert. I made both Chocolate and Almond cupcake bites and shaped them in the shape of a music note for everyone to enjoy!

I heard they were a hit!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Most of us can say we either know someone who has had or has breast cancer or even have it ourselves. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Tons of organizations around the country donate and give to the cause and spread information about early detection to women of all ages. A close friend of mine recently found out her mother has breast cancer. She went through some initial surgery and now she is going through chemo. She has a long battle ahead of her and her daughter has been right by her side the entire time! Besides her daughter, her husband and some amazing support from her friends have also helped this family with rides to the doctor and chores around the house as well as sending food and such by. I was asked to make a few sweet treats for her daughter to give to these amazing friends for all they have done for her mother since her diagnosis.

I made a dozen of these round cookies with the pink ribbon for breast cancer on them and not pictured is a few of my red velvet cupcake bites too.

Wedding Day 10/10/10

Another fall wedding, and a perfect date to do so, 10/10/10. I was asked to make a wedding cake and favors for a wedding today. The groom is the son of my former piano teacher. The bride found me on Facebook via her fiance's page and asked me to help with a charity event last year in Rock Hill, The Chocolate Festival. Had a great time, and got to talking with the bride and she asked me to make their wedding cake as well as a few hundred cupcake bites! Yes a few hundred.

Here is the cake....

And here are the cupcake bites.
We decided to make 3 per guest, lemon, chocolate and red velvet.
3 x 150 boxes = 450 bites with a few extra left over. WOW....I have to say I've never made so many bites in such a short amount of time. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed making them, I find a sense of calm when I'm decorating and making treats and such. I do wish to say thank you to my husband and to my family for their support this week. I know our house/kitchen was turned upside down for a few days while boxes and boxes piled up and then a wedding cake on top of that. But in the end I was very happy and excited to help out such sweet dear friends of ours. And what a perfect day to get married, the weather was perfect and I'm sure the festivities afterwards with their family and friends was a blast!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. John Brandon Love!

A Purpose for Life, Supporting Kids with Cancer

It always feels good when you are able to help out an organization. Some do so by donating money, their time or in my case I was able to donate some cupcakes for a charity event. I was contacted through my mother in law's neighbor who was working on behalf of an organization called A Purpose for Life. The Martinsen family lost their 6 year old daughter, Victoria, last year to Vertebral Plana (VP) or flattening of the spine. You can ready more on their webpage.

They were having a family BBQ and charity event at the Ballantyne Corporate Park this past Friday. They contacted me and asked if I could donate any baked goods for the event.

I made a few dozen chocolate and lemon cupcakes with chocolate, vanilla and lemon buttercream.

Happy Birthday

First off, let me say I LOVE doing present cakes. What a fun and neat cake to do for any age and any person, big or small. The edible bow is so much fun to make and easy too!

Happy 13th Birthday Mary Catherine!