I made this . . .

I love making things; my Grandad used to say that from the moment I had control of my hands, I was always making and creating something, be it a drawing, a model or my latest crafting fad. There’s something about making something yourself which really fills you with pride, you only need to take one look at your children to know that feeling. My children will ALWAYS be my proudest achievement; how could anything surpass them?

When Emma challenged me at Mellow Mummy to take part in her Meme, “I Made This,” my initial thought was my children, but then I realised that through my blog, you probably already know how proud I am of them and my involvement in bringing them into this world. So for my “I Made This”, I wanted to choose something else which I had made; I thought about all of the jewellery that I have made, but there were so many pieces to choose from I just couldn’t make the decision. Then I thought about the Cross Stitch birth samplers I made for each of my children, which hang in their bedrooms, but I am trying my hardest to keep their real names out of my blog so you wouldn’t be able to get the full feel for the pieces. So, for my post, I have chosen to share this with you . . .

Last Friday was Beanie Boy’s 2nd Birthday, and whether it was my best idea or not, I have set myself the challenge of making birthday cakes for my children, at least for their first two birthdays, until they are old enough to choose for themselves what they want. Each year, I get myself stressed out trying to decide on the cake to make; I want the cake to be something they love but also something that I am not too ashamed to (a) show to my friends and family and (b) show on my blog.

This year, for Beanie Boy’s birthday, there was only one theme that I could go with Toy Story! Beanie Boy loves all things Toy Story, although he loves Buzz Lightyear. My initial plan was to make a Buzz Lightyear birthday cake, but when I looked online for ideas, I scared myself at how amazing they were and how amateur my decorating skills were. Still, I wouldn’t be put off, so I went out and bought all the necessary ingredients. When it came to getting the coloured icing for Buzz, I thought it would be easy to just rub food colouring into fondant icing to get the colour I needed, but it didn’t go quite as planned. I tried putting the fondant icing into a bag and adding a drop of colour at a time, but being the perfectionist that I am, I didn’t like the purple and green that I made; I just couldn’t achieve the exact shade I needed, so then I had to rethink my design. I turned to Beanie Boy’s Toy Story figures for inspiration and looked again at the cake before deciding that it was just screaming out to be a UFO, so with the help of some Dr Oetker silver spray, a few silver balls, my coloured icing and Beanie Boy’s aliens I managed to create a Toy Story Alien birthday cake which Beanie Boy LOVED! (The blue plaque in front of the candle had his name on it, but I’ve blanked that out on the photograph.)

I don’t think I will be taking orders anytime soon for my cake decorating skills, but Beanie Boy was happy with his cake, and that’s what matters to me.

Why not head over to Mellow Mummy to see what others have made and feel proud of?