Halle's Boston Tea Party - The Decorations

If you missed yesterday, I shared the details of all of the sweets that were on hand at Halle's first birthday party in B's hometown. While everything was tasty, treats alone cannot make a party. So, today I want to share with you all of the beautiful decorations that were there, mostly put together by B's Mom and his sweet cousin. They really did an incredible job and whipped up some really beautiful things - so I'll let the photos do most of the talking for me...

No detail was overlooked. A bunch of little tiny teapots were laid out inside of the house. Of course this one was my favourite! How sweet is this birthday cake teapot?

On the front door hung this sign made by B's Mom! I thought it was so adorable!

Beautiful tea cups galore! So many beauties from B's grandmother, all laid out in the kitchen. After Halle's afternoon nap (during the party of course) we came downstairs to find the ladies enjoying a little tea party at the kitchen table! It was so cute - and who could say no to gorgeous tea cups?

This wreath was just too sweet. B's Mom made it using a styrofoam wreath form, and some pink cupcake liners! So adorable, and looked extra cute hanging on their back door. It may have come home with me to be a part of her party at my parents in August as well!

She also made these little pom poms using styrofoam balls and cupcake liners. I thought hanging them from the kitchen light was a good idea, and they did look great there.

This was a flag that B's Mom purchased on clearance that was an Easter flag. Being the crafty woman that she is, she was able to transform it into Halle's very own birthday flag. Cute, right?

Of course there had to be pearls on hand as well. Halle's favourite was a necklace made with giant plastic bright pink beads. She went nuts over it!

I found this idea on Pinterest (of course) and B's Mom put together this time capsule for guests to leave notes for Halle. I plan to do the same for her party here in Toronto, and then combine all of the little notecards together and give them to her when she is older. 

Plates, forks, spoons, knives and napkins never looked so sweet. B's sweet cousin put together the poster board of Halle's monthly photos. Though I have been posting them regularly here and on Facebook, it blew me away to see all of them together like this. Makes me realize just how quickly time does fly, and how much changes in their first year.

However, my favourite part were these beautiful pieces that B's Mom put together. Using tea pots, cups and saucers, she made some incredibly gorgeous centrepieces.

Looking back on these photos, I realize how many fun little details I wasn't able to, or forgot to capture. I don't really regret it, as much as I wish I could share everything with you, since it means I spent more time enjoying the day with our munchkin and all of our wonderful guests. Plus, we have many more important photos of our little girl enjoying her day. Tomorrow I hope to share the final post on her first party, when I give you a better look at the many faces and experiences of our tiny birthday girl...

Halle's Boston Tea Party - The Sweets

Well, Halle's first party has come and gone and it was a success! Despite the cold that she caught, and keeping both B and I up the night before the big day, we all did pretty well. Of course, like any party the highlight of the whole day was the abundance of sweets that were on hand. B's Mom went all out picking up all kinds of yummy treats to make a cute little sweets table. In the end, we decided to keep it all inside in the dining room, since it was an extremely hot and humid day and there was also a bit of sprinkling happening from the skies.


Even after playing with the settings on my father's camera the white balance still wasn't very true in the pictures, but I did my best to correct that. Please forgive any strange colouring in my photos.


We used mason jars for the variety of treats, and some pretty pink platters for the sugar cookies that we made. B's Mom made the cookies, I found this recipe for royal icing and then we decorated them. We still need to practice a little more on our decorating skills...

B's sister, on the other hand, needs no practice on making candy necklaces and bracelets look fancy...

I colour sorted all of the chocolates that were on hand...

And B's Mom used the batter that was left over from Halle's smash cake to make some tiny cupcakes. They looks so cute on the stand that she used.

Speaking of smash cake - Halle's little smash cake worked out wonderfully. We followed the same process that I shared with you last Thursday, but we used a Sugar Free from the box mix and bought a cream cheese icing. B did all of the slicing for me, to make sure that it was nice and straight, and when we were done stacking the layers we used bamboo skewers in the middle of the cake to hold it together and let it sit in the fridge while we went out to dinner. When we got home I iced the edges of the cake and afterwards my Father and B's Mom alternated holding the skewers with the palms of their hand and tilting the plate that the cake was on so that I could add the sprinkles. At the end of it all, the cake looked like this (Yes, the only photos I actually got of it, were the ones of Halle attempting at eating it)

One of the things I was most excited about was the big cake that we ordered, and B's Godmother purchased for us. Both myself and B's Mom loved this cake from the moment that we spotted it on Pinterest...

{pinterest via Country Cleaver}

So, I called White's Bakery in Brockton, MA and described the cake to them. We opted for white cake, strawberry preserves between the layers and whipped cream instead of icing. After I told the girl on the phone what my picture looked like, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. So, how did they do? Well, wonderfully, really (again, my apologies for the white balance being off - how annoying, it didn't look this bad on the camera screen)...

The pink was much brighter at the bottom, and was air brushed on since we had opted for the whipped cream (which was DELICIOUS by the way). I also loved that at the top of the cake just the tips of the rosettes were slightly pink. It looks so pretty in person and had to be one of the most delicious cakes I have EVER had in my life - seriously. 


So there's the first peek of her first party. It was just so lovely and it really made all of us so happy. It really made us realize how lucky and loved we are. I'll be back tomorrow with a look at all of the pretty decorations that adorned both indoors and outdoors at B's parents home.

Fancy Friday Love

One of the nice things about visiting with family, is that while Halle gets some time with her grandparents, I get some time to myself to enjoy a coffee or tea and do whatever I please. This past week I managed to squeeze in a little bit of blog reading on those slow, lazy mornings...


Love this living room that Kirsten put together in the model home she had been working on. The blue, raspberry and yellow are so fresh and fun - don't you agree?

This ferris wheel nursery, featured on Apartment Therapy, was too fun not too share. I am in LOVE with the back wall - the mural, the wallpaper below the moulding! It's all just too sweet!

Speaking of fun - how about these watercolour cookies from One Charming Party yesterday? Aren't they fun? They could be used for so many different occasions!

What would a Fancy Friday post be without a gorgeous kitchen? I just had to include this beauty, from Atlanta Homes, that was shared on Savor Home this past week. Love the look of the kitchen, but what really got me was the ceiling! Love the shape of the balcony overhanging the kitchen space...

Sitting in a cafe like this one, found on Daily Dream Decor, would be an ideal place to blog from. Just so pretty, and add a yummy tea or coffee to the mix and a tasty treat - could you possibly beat this?

Today we are working on getting ready for Halle's first, first birthday party here tomorrow. B's Mom has pulled together so many cute crafts and details and I can't wait to share all of it with you next week. Her "Boston Tea Party" will be perfect and so much fun! What are you up to this weekend?

Tin Can Trial

Halle's first, first birthday is this Saturday and we have been busy planning and working on projects for a good chunk of this week. Though we have a bakery making Halle's birthday cake, B's Mom and I decided to tackle her smash cake ourselves. After doing some searching on pinterest, I came across the idea to make tin can cakes...

{Geek ever After via pinterest}

{via Oh Happy Day!}

So, on Tuesday while Halle was napping, we decided to try making our own cake from a can to see if it would work as Halle's smash cake for Saturday. B's Mom raided their cupboards and found a nice big can with tomatoes. We opened it up and emptied the tomatoes into another container and then washed out our can...

Even after rinsing and washing it a couple of times, it still smelt like tomatoes, so I thought instead of spraying it with something to make it non stick, that we would line the can with some parchment paper. So I traced and cut and made some parchment lining for our can...

With this being a trail cake, we opted to use an out of the box cake mix to see how things went. B's Mom had mixed it up while I was making our liner and when I was all done, we filled the can halfway up with our cake mix and popped it into a 350 degree oven to bake...

After 15 minutes in the oven, it still wasn't ready, so we decided to just leave it in there and check on it periodically to make sure it was coming along nicely. In the end it took closer to 35 minutes to bake. We just made sure it looked nice and firm and that a toothpick came out clean. Then we let it cool on a wire rack completely. 

Once it was completely cool, I was able to turn the can upside down on a plate and it slid right out - easy! 

Because it didn't bake completely flat, I had to cut the top off to get it exactly what I wanted it to look like. 

I just continued slicing off layers and used some Pillsbury icing to do a light ice between each layer. Then using an icing knife I did a quick and dirty ice of the whole cake. Nothing had to look fancy since it was just a first attempt to see how the whole thing would work out...

Not bad for our first attempt (I'll need to cut the top a little more straight next time! Whoops!). We also learned that we will fill our can a little more than half way next time, to give us a slightly larger cake. The final one will also have some pretty sprinkles on it to give it some pretty for our baby girl.


So there you have it - our attempt at a cake in a can! I can't wait to share the final smash cake and all of the other details from Halle's first party with you next week.


Have you ever tried baking a cake in a can, or tried out any other fun baking projects? Would love to hear how you have used pinterest to create your own party fun!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends and readers! I love that I get to celebrate two holiday's and countries these days! It's seriously so fun! So today, while we are off enjoying all of the festivities, I thought I'd share some pretty red, white & blue rooms with all of you...

{Coastal Living via pinterest}

{House & Home via pinterest}

{via Sarah Richardson Design}

{via house to home}

{via Better Homes and Gardens}

Happy 4th of July!

So Far...

We're still around - busy enjoying our time in Massachusetts with B's family, and of course the summer weather that we had been missing on the West coast. Here's a small peek at what we've been up to (I figured I may as well share while I have some quiet time with my coffee this morning)...

{Halle was fantastic on the flights here. The plastic cups that our drinks came in entertained her far more than any of the toys that we brought for her. As her bib would indicate, food also helped to keep her happy}

{We had some running around to do on Saturday morning, which tired Halle out. One of our stops was at Target and I found this adorable headband on clearance for $2.50. I had to snatch it up for her - isn't it sweet?}

{Since we have hot, hot weather out here, we also picked her up a little inflatable pool. She spent all of Saturday afternoon playing in it. Girl did not want to get out... just wait until she see's the big huge pool in my parent's yard...}

On Sunday (Canada Day) we took her on her very first beach trip and baby girl LOVED playing in the waves with us, even though the water was cold. No pictures of her frolicking in the waves, but lots of pictures of her enjoying everything else the day had to offer...

{A yummy lunch of Turkey and Strawberries...}

{Some people watching...}

{and building sandcastles with Daddy...}

Of course, the fun has only just begun! My parents arrive today to spend the rest of the week with us. Tomorrow will be 4th of July celebrations and Thursday we hope to spend the day exploring in Boston, showing my parents around, before party prep on Friday and Halle's party on Saturday! I plan to be back next week for sure with photos of Halle's first birthday party... and probably some photos of our July 4th celebration and Boston adventures. What are you doing to celebrate the 4th? Any of you planning any vacations this summer, near or far? I'd love to hear what you're doing to make your summer a memorable one!

The Country I Love!

Happy Canada Day to all of my fellow Canadians! I'm so sad that this Canada Day, I'm not even in the country I love... but I am pretty happy that I'm spending the day with my two favourite people (B and Halle of course), along with B's great family. I mean, this time last year Halle was still baking and we were busy painting the exterior of our little Toronto home... nothing says holiday like a pregnant lady working on a huge painting job...

Okay, now I'm just blabbering on. Let's get to the real point of this post... this wonderful country we call home! I must say I feel pretty lucky saying I have had the joy of growing up in and around the big concrete jungle of Toronto...

{via pinterest}

Spent a lovely four years living in our Nation's gorgeous capital...

{Ottawa Tourism via pinterest}

And now have the pleasure of calling beautiful British Columbia home...

{via pinterest}

We live in such a beautiful and diverse country, and I never want to take for granted how lucky we are to call Canada home. I have only scratched the surface of exploring this great big beautiful country, and I cannot wait to see much more of it with B and Halle. 

So today, though I am south of the border, I will proudly wear red & white, in honour of the country I am proud to call home...

{via pinterest}

I hope you all have a wonderful day today celebrating!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!