Thomas the Train Cake

Jaden LOVES Thomas the Train so a natural choice for his birthday was Thomas.

I made a large sheet cake and cut it to make three layers.  The face is made from fondant formed in a flat circle around a lollipop stick.  One thing I learned is that the cake was quite heavy and Thomas to lean dangerously to one side.  He also looks like he has flat tires.  But Thomas held up long enough to make one little 2 year old very happy.

Jaden loved all the attention and having everyone sing for him.  The next day, he enjoyed nibbling on Thomas' face.  I did not let him eat all of the face though, that would have been way too much sugar!

Butterfly and Train Birthdays

One afternoon when I was reading Parents magazine I came across an article about birthdays. The article listed a website that had simple ideas for decorating cakes. Jaden's 1st birthday was coming up in a few months so I took a look at the site and found a cute idea for a train cake. Jaden's train cake came out larger than I expected, but it was reasonably easy to put together. Kit Kat bars for the traintracks, Oreos for the wheels, M&Ms for the cargo, and lots of food coloring for the frosting.

The cake was enjoyed by all, especially the birthday boy.

After some initial hesitation he dove right in and thoroughly enjoyed his cake, as evidenced by the mess on his face, and what was left on the floor. Jaden enjoyed his cake so much that he needed a bath afterwards.

When Asia's birthday came that year, I went to the same site to find a cute cake idea. Her birthday was not just any birthday, she was entering double digits! I thought her 10th birthday warranted a special cake so I looked through the site for a simple but cute cake. The butterfly cake was simply a round cake cut in half, and notched to make the wings. Then you just put the two pieces on a plate and decorate with candy to give the butterfly wings their pattern. Since cake mixes make two round cakes, Asia had two butterfly cakes for her birthday with five candles on each.

Pink Cat Curtains

When my husband and I first moved into our current house Asia and I made a trip to the hardware store to select paint colors for her room. After much deliberation Asia settled on a light shade of pink for the upper half of the walls and a dark shade of pink for the lower half (the room already had the white chair rail). Jason and Asia spent a few afternoons painting the room - all in pink! With the walls completed, all she needed were curtains for the windows. Later, when I was out shopping for fabric with my mom I saw this fabric. It was perfect for Asia's room - it has similar shades of pink and is covered with black cats. The fabric was perfect for a girl who loves both pink and cats. Previously I had found a book detailing how to sew various types of curtains and I settled on this type for their simplicity and tailored look. This type of curtain is simply two flat pieces of fabric sewn together right sides facing, turned, ironed and stapled to a 1 by 4 board. Easy! The to tie them back I sewed a fabric covered button to the point where I wanted them opened and attached a ribbon to loop around the button. Voila, cute cat curtains to go with the pink room.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Room Part 3 - Painting

The planning for Jaden's room also included the walls. I wanted to paint scenes from the book on the walls of his room. My husband and I selected a light blue for three of the walls, and dark blue for the fourth wall. The light blue walls are the "day" walls, and the dark blue is the "night" wall. My husband painted the wall color for me, and painted and installed the crown moulding. Once he was finished I took over the painting to create the various scenes. On the lower half of the walls I started by rolling on a coat of green paint, after which I sponged with various colors of green to create the the grass. On one of the day walls I painted a large sun similar to the sun in the book. On the night wall I painted the moon and the leaf with the egg from the beginning of the book.My favorite part of the painting was the large green leaf on the day wall, complete with the holes where the caterpillar ate his way through. I painted a little caterpillar on this wall similar to the very hungry caterpillar pictured in the book. I don't claim to be a fantastic painter, but I was quite happy with the results.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Room Part 2 - Sewing

When I bought the fabric panel for the fabric wall art for my son's room, I also bought coordinating fabric for other parts of his room. I wanted to make a curtain for the window and a crib skirt for his crib. For both of these projects I used a pattern from the fabric store (though I can't remember which one). For the curtain, I used the spot fabric and created a flat panel that is mounted in the window with a dowel. I used a green ribbon to tie up the panel to open the curtain. The valance has a nice tailored look achieved with a 1 by 4 board mounted to the window with L brackets. The fabric is stapled to the board across the front and sides to create a boxed look. The crib skirt I made looks just like the valance, same boxed look with the green and yellow fabric.

When a woman that my husband works with heard about our theme for Jaden's room, she went right out and got some fabric herself. With it she made a cute quilt that she gave us after Jaden was born. The quilt has two of the printed fabric panels for the front, and the back is a white fabric printed with the text "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and little caterpillars. My favorite part is the border she created with green and red circles - just like the hungry caterpillar! The quilt was a great addition to my son's room.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Room Part 1 - Wall Art

When I found out I was pregnant with my son I immediately began to dream about how to decorate his nursery. With my husband and mother-in-law in tow I visited various fabric stores looking for inspiration to decorate his nursery. I stumbled upon a fabric print of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and fell in love. It had been ages since I'd read the book but I thought it was perfect. It was bright and colorful, perfect for a child's room. The print became the inspiration for his entire room, and even inspired our family in gift giving. The Very Hungry Caterpillar seems to be very popular lately, there are so many toys and games that go along with the book as well.

So what did I create with the fabric panel? I cut it into three sections to create some fabric wall art using fabric stretcher bars. I found the fabric stretcher bars - which look just like a picture frame - at my local fabric store. You often see them near the decorator fabrics. The best part was this project required no sewing, except for the butterfly (I had to add strips of fabric to each side to make the picture big enough for the fabric stretcher bars). This project was as simple as stretching the fabric pieces over the fabric stretcher bars, and stapling them in place. I used a heavy duty staple gun with 1/4 inch staples (borrowed from my husband's toolbox). The end result were three cute "paintings" ready to hang in my son's room. Love it!