It's mid year and she's ONE!

We've reached the half way point of 2017. Is it just me, or is time passing especially fast this decade? Feels like the older you get, the faster everything happens, and the time to get anything done gets lesser. I think it's especially so when you have children, and I have 3!

We recently celebrated my little girl's 1st birthday. It's one of those milestones that parents look longingly toward, yet as it passes, the reality hits home that your little baby is almost baby no more. I feel it more so with my No.3, maybe because I know she's my last baby and I don't want her to grow up too fast!

For her birthday, I knew I would have to whip out my tools that's been in storage and make something very special. Although I've been baking but it's been a while since I crafted with fondant and I know that for her first birthday, I would need to create something that will make her light up. One of her favourite tunes and animation from YouTube's Super Simple Songs is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". The owl and star are that main characters. I think this amazing YouTube channel is a rite of passage for any parent and child in the age of the iPad. I've used it with my two elder boys, and now 7 years later, it's still the gold standard in children's song and cartoon animation!



I've actually made this cake once some years back for a friend's son. I think I could even pull out a picture of that cake from my Facebook page - see picture. Looking back, I actually see a couple of changes in cake trends. Those were the days when fondant was all the rage. I had ordered buckets of fondant 5kg at a time at the height of its popularity. A fondant covered cake was a show stopper at any party. But trends come and go...now you see most cakes are covered in a smooth buttercream or glazed elegantly with chocolate ganache, while fondant only gets a spotlight as a design element or a character topper.

My Star is ONE

Here's my sweetie's Twinkle Star Birthday Cake! What made it really special was how everyone sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as well and it made her beamed like a little star. Made my heart swell :) Happy Birthday Miss Julianne! Now, please take your time to reach 2 years old.

Look Whoo Turned One

My little niece Clare, who is also my defacto No.3, celebrated her first birthday recently! I'm constantly amazed at how quickly time flies when you're minding children. You go from swaddling them to chasing after the pitter patter of their little feet in a span of 12 months. And being contented with cute gurgles to encouraging them to say their first words in just 6 months. Well with Clare, her first word turned out to be "bird", with big eyes gazing to the sky too!

She also happens to love a little youtube video of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star featuring an adorable owl. So naturally, when it came to picking a theme for her first birthday, birds were a natural choice and the owl was the main character.

My sister, the actual creative and artistic one in the family (it's just that she doesn't bake), made great efforts in creating the party favours and a dessert table for the celebration. She had little owl motifs on the invitation, party wares, goodie bags and even the ballons. Of course, I provided the cake for the occasion.

Check out the invitation!

Call me bias but she is the cutest little girl ever! And all the inspiration I need for the cake.

Happy 1st Birthday Clare

Here's what the rest of the party looked like...

'Thank You' tags hanging from balloons

Party wares with a hoot

Specially printed labels for all the goodies

All for one very special little girl

Owls are known as symbols of wisdom, here's wishing my little No.3 a year old, a year wiser!