The reality behind my cakes

People ask me all the time, how do you manage to do your cake/cupcake orders with 3 little kids at home? 

Well, here is the honest truth:

I throw mini temper tantrums in my head. The whole time.

Because creating fondant cakes and cupcakes is A LOT of work. It's time consuming, intricate work and it takes a lot of concentration and time alone to get it done. So, with that said, clearly having 2 small kids and a baby doesn't exactly lend to this kind of work. Ever.

But there is something that I just love about creating something out of nothing. There is something magical about having an image in your head and bringing it to life. So I love it. But I would never say it was easy--not in a million years--not with 3 kids, that is.

But I managed to quiet the mini temper tantrums that I was silently throwing in my head as the pressure was on, the kids were driving me bonkers, and time was ticking.

So I worked late into the night while everyone was sleeping in order to get the details of this adorable cake order done, and I thanked my parents and mother-in-law for entertaining our kids during those final hours before it was due for a woman whose sister was finally able to get pregnant. A new mama who finally, after a long road of infertility issues, was able to conceive...so the theme of the baby shower was fittingly "Worth the wait". With turtles, of course.

Adorable.

So I tirelessly rolled fondant through my fingers for hours on end to create teeny tiny turtles to sit on top of cupcakes, and created a big turtle to sit on top of the cake. And to add a little 'pretty' to the cupcake stand, I made some cherry blossom flower toppers and sprinkled edible pearls over others. 

So, yes, I love this work.

I love to be creative. I love to be detailed. I love to be able to feel like I'm being productive and like I've accomplished something.  And I always, always love the end product.

But when I got the news that the caterer who catered this particular baby shower wanted my contact information since she was hoping to use me to make desserts for her catering company, I had a moment of NNOOOOOOO WAY. How on earth would I be able to do more. But then of course, 2 seconds later I changed my mind. Because creative work like this does that to you.

Because, you see, the road to the end is never smooth sailing, it's never just quick and easy. And your fondant pieces become so precious to you since you know how fragile they are, and you know how many long nights you have spent creating them. So when I show up with my large white cupcake boxes full of hours and hours and hours of my work, I hand them over and pray that they make it safely from the customers hands to the table that they are being displayed on.

Because it's all fun and games until you drop a cupcake box.

So to the new mama who I've never even met before--congrats. Your wait is finally over.

Your first steps into the world of motherhood are almost here. And I can tell you with all honesty, it will definitely all be worth the wait.  

But speaking of which, I'm heading to bed. 

Because being a mom is absolutely exhausting. 

Erica xox

bumblebee cupcake love

Sometimes the best distractions in life are those that are sweet. 

Icing sugar covering my counter tops and rolling fondant between my fingers means that I can get lost a bit in the moment. Lost in the process, lost in the time crunch, lost in the sweet smells of creating happiness for another young mom who is about to deliver a baby boy. Someone who I don't even know. But someone who unknowingly provided me an opportunity to feel happiness for someone else who has something that I wish that I had for myself right now. A pregnant belly, cupcakes topped with cute little bees and the anticipation of a sweet little baby. 

  

So with every little bee that I created and placed atop yellow icing the other week, I felt happiness. Happiness for someone who I didn't even know. Happiness for someone since I knew that they were about to experience something so amazing...so incredible...so exhausting and hard, but so unbelievable.

A baby changes everything.  

So with bees and icing and cute little cupcake holders, I lost myself in someone else's joy...
and forgot about our own loss.

I still remember the day that Terry and I decided to tell the world that we were expecting with our pregnancy announcement. It was earlier than we would have typically made the announcement (before the standard 3 month mark), but since staffing at my school was already underway, I needed to tell my school that I wouldn't be there next year...so word got out and started to spread. And although sometimes I wonder if we should have never said anything at all...I then always come back to the fact that I'm so glad that we shared our news, our story and ultimately our loss. Because without having done so, I don't think we could have managed this on our own. So on those days when I make mistakes since I'm so distracted by my own thoughts, or when I all of a sudden become forgetful because my mind is racing or those days when I'm just not myself because I can't stop thinking about it...I'm grateful that people know. And although things like this little video announcement are still impossible for me to watch without breaking down, I find that if I distract myself enough with the rest of what life has to offer, I can pretend that our loss never even happened (not that I'd recommend denial as a proper coping method, if I was a therapist, but hey I'm not a therapist...so it works).

So we took the kids to the zoo...

and got lost in the slow movements of the giraffes, only feet away from us...

and the tigers...

and snakes.

And we all went ahead with life, as if life was as it always had been. Because in those moments, it really feels like it is.

Because sometimes it's the little things like trips to the zoo and hoola hooping in the dining room that help me to see into the future ahead...and see that regardless of all of the tough times, there is so much to still look forward to...and ultimately, life moves forward.

So here's to a great long weekend, everyone.

Go do something amazing.

Erica xo

Plants vs Zombies cupcakes...and some lessons from kids

Am I just completely out of the loop, or does anyone else not know what Plants vs. Zombies is??

I learn so much from kids.

Apparently I've been living in a hole, since I literally had no idea what this game was when I was asked to make cupcakes for a little boy's birthday this past week.

So after Googling it and figuring out what it was, and then deciding how I was going to create cupcakes based on this foreign Plants vs Zombies thing, I came up with some little cupcakes--and found out that I must be completely in the dark for not knowing what this whole Zombie thing really was.

Creepy, eh??

As I was in the middle of making each of the little characters, Jen and Jeff popped by, not knowing that I was in the middle of working on these little guys--and they immediately took one look at the toppers and got all excited...

"Hey! Plants vs. Zombies! These are so great!".

Really? You know what these are?? I asked.

"Oh yea..we play this game all the time!"

Geeze louise.

Then Terry came home a little while later and poked his head into our dining room to take a look at what I was working on..

"Hey it's a Pea Shooter!" he said. "These look so much like the real characters. I love Plants vs. Zombies".

I looked at him in disbelief. What...the heck...is a Pea Shooter???

(Apparently this is a Pea Shooter) 

I must be so out of the loop.

So I've learned a lot. This little boy who celebrated his birthday by eating a zombie head right off of his cupcake taught me that I can now confidently go back to school after Christmas without being the out-of-it teacher who doesn't know the latest and greatest in video games. These things are important people. Seriously.

And Mya? Well she learned a lot about some pretty important stuff today too. When we got together for a family birthday celebration, her wonderful second cousin gave her a detailed explanation about his Lego characters--their names, what they do, how their heads can pop off...all the good stuff that she had never been exposed to before.

So she sat there and intensely listened to every word that he said, trying to take in all of this cool information about these tiny little Lego men that she had never heard of before.

I think I know what she'll be asking for now for her 3rd birthday.

And her older cousins? Well, I'm sure that they will have plenty to teach her as well as she grows up...boy advice (only after she's 30yrs old though, of course), school advice...and all the good girly stuff.  

Happy birthday Sebastian and Grandad!

Going to go dig my head out of my dark hole now. So grateful for good ol' cupcake orders and lessons from smart kiddos.

Erica xo

Wedding cake/cupcakes...and some strawberry fields

I've been a little busy lately.

With a wedding order due this past weekend, my kitchen exploded with fondant and icing while the scent of delicious lemon cake filled every inch of my house. The troops showed up (ie. mom and dad) to entertain the kids, while I meticulously worked away at every last final detail.

People ask me all of the time how I get my cakes/cupcakes done with two little ones at home with me all day long.

And I always have the same answer for them: My family. 

They show up, help to look after our kids, pop their heads in while I'm working away and tell me that my half-made cake is beautiful (when really it's not even close to looking how I want it to look like yet--and they know it, but tell me that it's perfect anyways).

And the clean-up fairy? He shows up every single time. He goes by the name of Terry, and he magically trails my every move, making sure that I'm never left with a huge mess to clean up at the end of my many hours of work.

It would literally be impossible for me to do this without them.

What an honour it is to be a tiny little part of such a wonderful day in the lives of two people who have created a day that they will cherish forever.

Tamara, I hope that your day was everything that you wished it to be!

And the location? Holy geeze...stunning.

This is what her guests got to look out on as they enjoyed every last minute of their beautiful day.

But...can I just say...THIS GUY IS NUTS.

After putting the last cupcake on the stand and stepping back to look out at the view, we noticed this guy fishing in the middle of this FAST moving water, standing on a rock. How did he even get out there?? One slip and he would have been completely washed away with the force of the water. Unbelievable.

Anyways, regardless of the crazy man...what a view!!

Congrats Tamara!

And while my dad and I were packing up the last of the now empty cake boxes into the car, we got a call saying "We're on our way to pick strawberries--meet us there!"

So off we went.

 We got out of there just before the storm rolled in...

but we'll be back, strawberry field. We'll definitely be back.

Erica xo