Ladybugs

Saturday (June 13th) I played around and made two delightful and "oh-so-cute!" Ladybug items.

I planned to make another Baby Shower Minkie-Taggie-Lovey-Blankie-Thingy. While looking for ideas, I found this cake. I really liked the angle of the photograph and wound up creating this ADORABLE item:


One of the fun things about this applique is that all the fabric for the background and bug is super-soft Minky... except for the antenna. They are made from an old (clean) shoelace, couched down. I really appreciate the texture difference (both visual and tactile) that the shoelace creates.


In addition, the gift was for a Baby Shower. The lady hosting the shower has had a downfall of bad luck this month, and when I saw her the day before, I could see the poor gal was seriously overloaded. So, I offered to make the Party Cake. I found this website with amazing cake ideas and photos (Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com). I looked through dozens of ideas before basing my shape on this.


My whole life I've made birthday cakes. Actually, I cried on Jack's last birthday (on the phone, with my Mom, at the store) because I was BUYING him a store-bought cake. Frank was sick. I was exhausted. Still. Crying over a store-bought cake. It goes to show you HOW IMPORTANT it is to me that I make birthday cakes for my family and friends! In all my years of playing with decorating tips and looking through Wilton Year Books, somehow, I never picked up a magnificent tip.

When finishing the frosting, dip the blade in hot water, smooth frosting, wipe off excess and repeat.

I've never taken a cake decorating class, just looked at books and came up with ideas. Mostly, I want a cake that tastes amazing, and looks fun, but isn't "too much" work. I enjoyed the Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com because it was full of Non-Threatening creative ideas by the common cooks like you and I.

Still, with that one little tip (plus freezing the cake between steps), I was able to create this very nice looking cake. By the way. If you are wondering. Jack helped me with the process of creating both these items... thus the "lined up on one side and zig-zaggy on the other" spots. Jack and I made the eye whites and mouth out of taffy, warmed slightly in the microwave, and then hand shaped, like Silly Putty. Putting the decorations on was Jack's big part of this cake. :D

I would love to hear the music to go along with this fun song:

Hello Ladybug

Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1972 Schroder Music Company, renewed 2000. a.k.a. "Ladybug."

Hello ladybug, little lady, ladybug
Hello ladybug, my little friend
Eating up the crawlers that eat up my roses
Fly around ladybug, come back again.

Hello, wiggleworm, little wiggle, giggleworm
Hello, wiggleworm, my little friend
Churning up the ground so the roots can go down
Wiggle, wig, wiggleworm, come back again.

Hello buzzy bee, little buzzy, fuzzy bee
Hello buzzy bee, my little friend
Carrying the pollen that makes food and flowers grow
Buzz around, buzzy bee, come back again.

Hello ladybug, little lady ladybug
Hello ladybug, my little friend
Eating up the crawlers that eat up my roses
Fly around ladybug, come back again.

Now. One more fun Ladybug thing for you. I found this poem that reminds me of how content we all can be in our lot in life:

Happy to Be Me- a Ladybug

I'm a ladybug
nothing more
but I'm happy to be me,
so free,
with so much beauty to see...

I'm red with black spot
found in field,
meadow,
or flower pot...
on blade of grass,
tree limb
shrub or flower,
perhaps even on the Eiffel Tower!
hill or dell,
by a stream
in wood serene-

I've been to so many places
it's hard to tell...
I'm very little
but please do not belittle,
just content to be a creature of this earth,
isn't that a measure of worth?

-Marie Lawrence

I hope you're having a great weekend! This creative break was wonderful, but now it's time to hit the books again! :D