Where I've Been and What I've Been Doing

That's right - I've been to Wonderland and back again!  We threw a Sweet Sixteen bash for my middle daughter last weekend and the theme was "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party."  So for the last month or so, we've been getting ready, by painting signs like the ones above, making tall flowers like the ones below (from pool noodles and tissue paper!),

and making goodies like the "Oreo Cookie Truffles" on the tiered stand here,

 and these Top-hat pops (marshmallows on a stick, dipped in chocolate with a cookie brim and fruit leather hat band).

I even printed signs for the sliders we served as appetizers

and we wrapped water bottles with labels that said "Drink Me."

We rented a local hall and made one long table over which we hung chinese lanterns, to resemble the scene in the Disney movie.  It all looked very colorful and festive!

I even printed "A Very Merry Unbirthday" sign on colorful paper.

The crowning touch was the two cakes we baked and decorated.  I was quite taken back by the cost of a custom cake, so Chelsea and I decided to bake our own.  We bought boxed fondant in two colors (plus a bit of white for the note on the hat) and cut out flowers with cutters in three sizes.  The hat cake is just a 9-inch layer with three 8-inch layers on top, trimmed a little to make it more hat-shaped, then frosted with green buttercream.

Chelsea and her friends all had a great time and she is a very happy teen!

But now I need a vacation!