Sunday 24 February 2013

Birthday wishes to the USA

No I have not gone totally mad. I know it is not July 4th, American Independence Day, but it is my son's 24th Birthday today and he flew off to the States on Thursday. For the first time since he was born I will not be able to wish him a "Happy Birthday" in person. Instead for the next 10 days he is driving down the East coast of America with his golfing friend. They met when they were young lads of 9 when they joined the local golf club at the same time. They are catching up with friends who are still studying out there and also fitting in some quality golf time.

We decided to have a small pre birthday celebration on Monday and although it was not appropriate to have a birthday cake I decided that cup cakes were in order so it was time to do some more baking with Billy.
Only this time I think Billy was more interested in sleeping than helping.
I had one of those "light bulb" moments in bed when I thought that I could use the American flags and stars as the theme for my cakes.



I downloaded a "free"  image from the computer, sized it and printed several out.













I cut them out and attached them to cocktail sticks. I also printed a couple of messages which I also made into little flags.













It was then time to make my stars for the tops of the cakes. I already had some coloured fondant icing and luckily the colours that I had not opened were the red, white and blue.















I rolled the icing out quite thinly and used my set of 3 star plunge cutters to cut out lots and lots of red, white and blue shapes.









Here are the blue ones in all three sizes.
I was able to get this all out of the way last weekend. I was able to bake the cakes on the Sunday evening  so that all I had to do when I got home from work on the Monday afternoon was to quickly ice them.








So on Monday after work I made up some butter icing and piped it onto the cakes, adding the little stars and placing the flags on top.

If you remember my Baking with Billy post you will remember that I made a quick cake stand by standing a plate on a cup. Well I found 2 great glass plates in a shop recently. They are new pressed glass but they have a really vintage look and feel to them, and they only cost £7 for the pair. I was able to use these new glass plates with a cup in between to make my cake cake stand.
They sat in the middle of the party table and were enjoyed by us all. We had great fun and enjoyed all the food. 


My card today is his birthday card which I hope he remembered to pack. I will let you into a secret, Matt has always had a "thing" about giraffes and his very first soft toy was called Yellow Horsie which is actually a giraffe (no we also don't know how that one happened!). As a little boy he had all things giraffe and although he is now a grown man with his own flat and business I thought I would make something to remind him of home and of past Happy Birthdays. I looked long and hard for a giraffe stamp and eventually found a wonderful one by Teddy Bo. 




How cute is that giraffe ;0) Matt often wears a woolly hat so it is quite appropriate too. Also his favourite colour is green so I used that as my contrast colour.  There is a lot of love (and some dollars inside) packed into his card. I have used my Promarkers to colour the image. The super cute giraffe backing paper is by First Edition called Animal Antics. The gorgeous frame has been cut using my MS punch around the page punch which my Darling Daughter brought home for me from her Honeymoon last year. The sentiment is computer generated and I have cut it out using a Spellbinders die cutter. You will also spot the Memory Box bow die cut and the QuicKutz photo corner die.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Natalie and Amy Something old/new #6 The old is my backing paper and my new is the stamp (in fact most of the rest is new!)
Stamping Sensations Fur and Feather
Creative Card Crew #30 Birthday
Jelly Park Get in shape - Use different shapes on your card
Crafty Catz Dies and punches
Allsorts #195 animals
Pan Pastels Happy Birthday #8
Allsorts animals #195
Joanna Sheen Layer it up
Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 199 I have been inspired by the colours of the photo
Cutie Pie #38 pretty pastels
ABC card challenge H for Happy Birthday
My Mum's Craft Shop Love or Valentine
A+T emerald Faeries Love #40
Craft Room Challenge something for a man

Although he does not read my blog  I am sending Birthday Wishes to the USA for my Boy xxx
Can I ask my American blogging buddies to sing "Happy Birthday" at the tops of their voices and maybe, just maybe, he will hear it as he drives down the East Coast of America from Charlottesville towards Florida ;0)
Over here it really has turned freezing cold ago and there have been some flurries of snow too. He has chosen a good time to get away. 

Thanks as always for your kind visits and can extend a very warm welcome to the new followers who have recently joined me. It is great to have you here.
Keep warm and carry on crafting,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

35 comments:

  1. Happy birthday Matt!!!! :)
    Love the cup cakes Jane and his card is brilliant.
    I'm sure he's having a ball in the US!
    Bright and sunny here this morning but still chilly.
    Happy Sunday,
    V xxx

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  2. WOOOOOW!!! The cup cakes looks just soooo yummy...=) and your card is just cute cute cute!!!

    Thanks for playing along at TeddyBo this time
    Hugs Maritha

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  3. Forgot to say, love the photo of the sous chef! ;)
    V x

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  4. Wow, I could just eat one of those cupcakes. Great card. You have showcased the image perfectly. Thank you for joining us over at Crafty Catz. Hugs Nina

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  5. Your cupcakes look scrummy, Jane and a very Happy Birthday to Matt - hope he's enjoying his road trip! I hope the weather over there is a bit warmer than it is here - we've had snow/hail flurries all weekend, I thought Spring was on it's way?!
    Fab card, that giraffe is so cute and you've coloured him brilliantly! Great colour and paper choice, too, hugs, Lisa x

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  6. Hi Jane, Loved your post. HaPpY BiRtHDaY Matt!!! I will sing but I don't think he could possibly hear me, so I will send birthday wishes down the east coast. We are having snow now, I also send wishes for nice weather for Matt and his golf friends. Mighty fine cupcakes, I would have had a hard time eating just one or two for that matter. You and Billy make a wonderful baking team.
    Happy Sunday to you, xoRobin❤

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  7. mmm, cupcakes! I'm hungry now, I know I should appreciate them for the U.S. theme, but first and foremost, I just want cupcakes.

    I'm on the East Coast but I'm not sure your son is stopping by this cold dreary part of the world so I'll wave to him on his way past. Just tell him if he sees a crazy lady on the side of the road waving, it's me. :)

    Love the card, I love giraffes but I don't think I've ever seen this image before, I think I'll look for it.

    Have a great week!

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  8. Happy Birthday to your son, WOW!! your cupcakes look amazing!!

    I love your card, the image is so cute and I love the papers and fab layout

    Thank you for taking part in the Joanna Sheen Challenge
    Sue xx

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  9. adorbale card such a cute image,thanks for sharing at cupcake inspirations

    Tina
    sweetie dt

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  10. Happy Birthday to you, Matt!!! hope you're having fun traveling and golfing.

    The cupcakes looks wonderful, Jane. I love your "new" cakestand.

    Lovely card....I'm glad you could all celebrate together before the big trip.

    from snowy Northern Midwest,
    Anne
    PlumCreek22 Studio

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  11. Lovely card and cakes. You can see the love and caring that you put into both.
    I hope he enjoys his trip to the USA.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  12. Happy Birthday, Matt! And fantastic travels is US! And what a cute card you made, Jane, that's just perfect for him! And those lovely cupcakes, perfect (even WITHOUT Billy's help!) in every way. You're one wonder-lady!

    Have a wonderful new week soon, dear friend!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  13. *H*A*P*P*Y* * *B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y*!*!*!* Matt!! Do you think he heard me? LOL! You are such a wonderful mom to make those super fab cupcakes and have an early birthday for your son. The card is adorable.. as is Billy. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  14. I am sure he will treasure it Jane, its just gorgeous. Loving those cupcakes too, so beautifully decorated. Thanks for joining us at Stamping Sensations.
    Pinky

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  15. What an adorable giraffe! Great interpretation of the Cupcake Inspirations colors! Hope you will join us for our 200th challenge next week! We have lots of prizes!
    {hugs}
    Indy

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  16. Happy Birthday to your son, Jane! How great you had a celebration before he left for his fantastic trip! Your cupcakes are really wonderful like the card, too! I remembered that our Foxy's first toy was soft giraff with those rope-knot legs (dog toys) and it was the only toy she really ever played! She had perhaps 10 years till Nero finished and 'burried' it in the garden. We tried to find new one and bought many others but she never wanted an other toy.
    Sorry to hear you have cold again. We have south wind and over +20C. Yesterday we had lunch in the patio and after I was quilting there!
    Have a great week! x Teje

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  17. Very cute card, Thanks for joining us at ABC for our challenge
    Louise

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  18. Mmmmm!!!! You have a wonderful way with cakes. Happy Birthday Matt! I hope he has a wonderful trip. The giraffe card is too cute :)

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  19. Brilliant cupcakes and a gorgeous card, hope your son really enjoyed his birthday. Thanks for playing along at Teddy Bo, good luck, Colette xx

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  20. Beautiful card !
    Happy birthday to your son !
    Thanks for your participation at the Teddy Bo's challenge !
    xx

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  21. A cute fun filled card. Thank you for sharing your creation with us at Creative Card Crew.

    Hugs
    Cathy DT
    xxxxxx

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  22. That was a genius idea for your sons birthday Jane.

    And a perfect card for a theme this month at Stamping Sensations challenge, thanks so much joining in.

    B x

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  23. Great, now I'm craving cupcakes! Lol!
    Gorgeous card...love it!
    Thank you so much for joining us at Cupcake Inspirations this week! Good luck and I hope to see you back next time!
    Rene ;D

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  24. You are a bit good at this cake/bum making malarky aren't you! They look fabulous and I have no doubt they taste just as good. Hope your son had a cracking birthday and you didn't miss seeing him on the day itself too much. Bethx

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  25. That should read buN, buNNNN not bum - but you probably knew that. Bx

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  26. I'm sure your son will love him! I lvoehow you have coloured Jolly he looks so cute and the paper you ahve used is brilliant!
    Thanks for playing along with us at Teddy Bo's Anything Goes Challenge and good luck :0)
    Love Clairebears x

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  27. Oh that giraffe is just ADORABLE; what a great card!

    Thanks for joining us at Cupcake Inspirations!

    ~Michele

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  28. This is a stunning creation. Thanks so much for joining us at Craft Room Challenge and good luck with the draw. Julia xxx

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  29. Such a sweet card, and an adorable image. Thanks for joining Stamping sensations. Good Luck.
    Happy crafting
    Tracy x

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  30. So sweet Jane!
    Fabulous card, lovely image!
    Thank you for sharing your creation at Craft-Room Challenge, good luck and welcome again;-))m

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  31. Happy (belated) Birthday to Matt! Hope he has a great time visiting the east coast! Jane, that's the sweetest card and such a thoughtful "Mom" celebrating in her signature style- You deserve a party, too! :o)

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  32. A gorgeous card! Thank you for sharing your wonderful work with us at Teddy Bo's Challenge! Woo x

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  33. Lovely cakes and a gorgeous card too.
    Thank you for joining the Cutie Pies Pretty Pastels challenge and good luck x Susan x

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  34. Such a cute card! That image is just adorable. Thanks for playing along with us at Creative Card Crew!

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  35. Those cakes look scrumptious Jane & I love your card :D
    Thanks for joining us at Jellypark Friends & Good Luck!
    Hugs
    Tracey
    x

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Jane x