Tuesday 22 February 2011

My Birthday Boy, past and present

It is nearly time for the next celebration in our family. This time it is my son's birthday which is on Thursday. He will be 22 and I honestly don't know where those years have gone. I know he does not read my blog so I can safely talk here! He has grown from my darling baby boy into a fully grown man in what seems like a matter of  a few years. How time flies by so fast. Although he is an adult and does his own thing he is still very much a home bird and prefers to have an old fashioned birthday family tea at home rather than go out to dinner etc on the day of his actual  birthday. Obviously at the weekend it is a very different matter... he celebrates with his friends and surfaces at some point on the Sunday morning (?sometimes afternoon!) after a hard night partying! 

For many years both my children had such fun birthday parties. We have so many fond memories of them. When they were tiny we would have them at home and in later years in a tiny local hall which could hold all their schoolfriends. We chose a theme each year and for many years it was the "character of the moment". One of my most vivid memories was when Matt was approaching his 4th birthday. He loved Noddy at the time and I made Noddy serviettes, party bags etc . Now up until to now on my blog I have not confessed to another of my crafty hobbies, as these days I do not have the time to do it very much. Well I will confess now...............I also enjoy cake decorating. I have also found out recently how to scan my old photos and upload them so I thought I would share with you some of my old memories.

The year Matt wanted his Noddy themed party I thought to myself, "Now that will be nice and straight forward for the cake, I can make a Noddy plaque". However my darling boy had very different ideas. No, he wanted a Noddy figure in his car driving and he wanted everything made in fondant icing too! So I set to work making the car and Noddy followed by Skittle figures, toadstall candle holders etc and this was my creation in 1993

We have had fun looking at the photos of my old cakes. They are not very good quality photos, as digital cameras were unheard of then. You can click on them to enlarge the detail. Here are a few more which I thought I would share...

Below was his Christening cake  I made in 1989. It featured some hand made sugar flowers I made from petal icing and a piped icing crib. I also used some ribbon insertion around the sides.
By 1991 (aged 2) he was a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan and I made a cake using the train models which I bought for him and which he was then able to keep and play with. The cake was a butter iced Number 2 figure sponge.
By the time he was 5 he joined the "dinosaur" frenzy which all lads seem to go through and a blue dino cake was the order of the day, together with swampy candle holders.








As he reached his 9th birthday he had found the passion in his life, which he still has today....





Yes golf............he has actually now got a handicap pretty near to the one on the bag too!

Age 11 he owned a Game boy and then computer games became a feature in his life - he loved the old retro Pac Man game.....
And over the years many other cakes have been made and eaten. As my life got even more busier and I returned to work I stopped making fully iced cakes and just made plaques to put on top. They still look very effective and are so much quicker to make. I still always make the sponge cake with  different  flavour variations; jam with butter cream, chocolate and lemon are the favourites. In fact none of us are that fond of eating fondant icing so we used to peel a lot of it off anyway.
Last year was his 21st birthday and he had become a budding guitar player so above was the plaque I made for the occasion. It was complete with a miniature guitar which I bought and he was able to keep. It is very similar to the guitar he plays very loudly in his room now!  Here is the completed cake at the table before his family party began..
So tomorrow he hits 22...would you like to see a peek of this year's creation....


I am making the cake (lemon sponge with lemon buttercream filling; Matt's favourite) tomorrow so I can't show a photo of it completed but as you can see I have made a fondant icing  plaque of the back of a shirt of his beloved football team.....Tottenham Hotspur....or Spurs as most people call them.

So Happy Birthday to my dearest Matt, a party awaits him after work on Thursday... I can't wait...and yes there will even be some jelly and ice cream ;0)

Bye for now,

Jane x


26 comments:

  1. How many other hidden talents do you have that we don't know about Jane???
    What wonderful cakes, actually you've taken me back to my own childrens birthday parties and the many cakes!
    We too had a Thomas cake, I remember well laying the licorice railway track!! We had a Sonic the hedgehog cake and one year the cake was a wrestling ring! Such good memories, thanks for jogging them Jane.
    Your cakes are brilliant, very professional and such a lot of work putting them together.
    Happy Birthday to Matt!!!
    Vivienne x
    P.S. I know all about guitars and the noise that goes with them too!!! (boys!!! you have to love them) :)

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  2. LOL Vivienne, I think this is sort of the last craft I indulge in from time to time...I did knit big time in the past but not for many, many years!I agree that looking back really stirs happy memories and its interesting to see the "themes" over the years. Thank you for your birthday wishes for Matt, yes our noisy boys are our loveable guitar heroes are they not?! ;0)
    Jane x

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  3. Happy Birthday! Oh my goodness what creations! Cakes look amazing and delicious! Have a wonderful celebration!
    xxx Teje

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  4. Thank you Teje, we are looking forward to Thursday!
    Jane x

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  5. Each new post convinces me that you have indeed become even more talented than ever! What fun to reminisce along with you, marking the years by cakes! I remember the "Thomas" years, too!
    Happy Birthday to Matt! Enjoy! :o)

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  6. Michele you are very kind *blush*... I just love so many crafts, I wish I had even more hours in the day than I do now!! Thanks for your birthday wishes to Matt. Have a great week,
    Jane x

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  7. I wish Matt the most wonderful Birthday, and oh...22...Those were the days my friend :)

    And mine's (well NOT 22 but...) coming up too, would you please make me a cake too, dear Jane, any of those beauties you showed us would do...Please?!

    Have a wonderful week and many greetings from Finland again!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  8. Hi dear Mia, honestly if it would survive the post I would be sending you one! Thank you for your birthday wishes for Matt-yes indeed 22 seems even longer away for me-LOL!
    Have a great week, I am glad you got some sunshine today :0)
    Jane x

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  9. Wow, Jane what amazing cakes!! You are so clever to make all these, they look very professional. I especially loved the Noddy cake because of all the gorgeous toadstools round it, and I just don't know how you did the car!! The latest cake is lovely for your grown up boy! I hope he has a very happy birthday, and thanks for a really interesting post. Have a lovely week. Helen x

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  10. Thanks Helen, Noddy was my all time favourite too, it took me SO long making everything but was such a fun cake.Have a great week,
    Jane x

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  11. Hi Jane,
    Thaks for popping by my blog and leaving such lovely comments, I love your cakes they look fantastic. My cake skills extend to making the cake and doing textured icing. Oh and eating the cake too!
    Hope Matt has a fab day

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  12. Jane, wow, those cakes are works of art! I also decorated cakes for my kids, I remember ponies and such.. but only the tops of sheet cakes. I also have fun memories of my children's birthday parties with the neighborhood kids. Fun times.. congrats to your son on his birthday!

    Hugs, Teresa

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  13. Hi and welcome Scrapcat! Thanks for visiting and your kind words,
    Jane x

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  14. Hi Teresa, writing this post has brought back fond cake memories for lots of us...fun times indeed! Glad you could share them with me here,
    Jane x

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  15. Jane, what a fabulous job you have done for all those birthdays. The cakes are so special and masterpieces. You are a very talented and wonderful mom. I'm sure your son is so appreciative. Happy birthday, to your son and hope the party is a huge success and lots of fun. xoRobin❤

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  16. Oh, if only I had your skills, Jane. Those cakes are beautiful! We are coming into "birthday season" for my little girls and I'm already sweating the themes, the plans, etc. Happy Birthday to Matthew.

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  17. Robin that is such a kind comment, thank you. Boys, unlike girls tend not to talk too much but yes I know Matt has really enjoyed his parties over the years...he is a real home boy deep down and I do get an extra big hug on these occasions!The big day is nearly here :0)
    Have a great day yourself,
    Jane x

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  18. Hi Bethanie, the birthday season is in full swing here right until April! Have fun with your girls and honestly all cakes can be attemped,it's the writing which takes a bit of practice but a bought plaque will really be great too. I wonder what characters/themes your girls will choose? Have fun!
    Jane x

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  19. wow Jane they are fantastic! I love making my kiddies cakes, their little faces as they take shape are a picture :-) Goodness knows how you get your icing so lovely and smooth and that Noddy cake, well I would just love one of them for me - fantastic!

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  20. ...yes indeed they are great fun to make but as I said Noddy really took some time!I have very fond memories,it was good to scan my photos into the computer..I had forgotten how many have been made over the years..I feel another post will come out of this, it's been really enjoyable!
    Jane x

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  21. Hello Jane, what marvellous cakes and decorating!
    Thank you for your comment. I wonder if you have heard of the Tyrrell Family History Society? My aunt in Lincoln was involved in their startup and ongoing actitites.

    I like the thought of your spring sunshine. It is snowing here this midnight, swirling snowflakes in halos under the streetlights, a scene for Mr. Tumnus and his umbrella.

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  22. Hi Frances, it's great to have a fellow namesake visiting me here. This morning is a lovely chilly but sunny day...I can just picture your Mr Tumnus winter scene, hope it's not too cold for you. I think my Hb is aware of the family history side, it's always very interesting.
    Jane x

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  23. What a wonderful collection of memories, Jane! Wow, you are SO talented..to create these amazing cakes is astonishing. The Noddy cake is right out of professional cakemaster's bakery. What a lucky son to have such a loving mom create exactly what he wanted! I'm so glad you shared this with us. Happy Birthday to Matt..time sure flies and it is so good to know that he still loves being with mom and dad and family..you should be very proud (as I'm sure he is of you both!).

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  24. Hi Shirley, thank you for that lovely comment, we did indeed have a great day; family times are always precious and give us such good memories. Take care,
    Jane x

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  25. Your cakes are wonderful! I can't even imagine the hours of love that went into decorating each and every one of them!

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  26. Hi Debbie, thank you for your kind comment, yes indeed they were very much a labour of love!
    Have a great Sunday evening,
    Jane x

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