A pretty vintage birthday

With all the excitement of Christmas I did not get the chance to share with you a very special birthday party I held for my dear Mum. On 30 November it was her 80th birthday and I managed to pull off a surprise family birthday party. All 13 of our direct family was able to come together to celebrate. It really was a super evening and  my Mum still reminisces about the fun time we all had. We had a proper party tea with jelly and ice cream and even played party games.

I wanted to share with you the cake I made Mum and here it is.

I bought ivory flower paste (a special type of sugar paste which can be rolled very thin and dries very hard) and made the orchids with flower cutters as well as hand cut flowers and leaves.

 I then wired all the parts of the orchids together

I also used the colouring skills I have learnt with my card making to colour the flowers to make them much more realistic than I could in the past.

 I added a final depth of colour by using some gold petal dust. I had to wire all the leaves together together with some ribbons to make the posy.

Once I had finished the posy I made up a sugar paste plaque which I decorated quite simply. I made a hole for the flower pick which held the posy and also 3 candle holders.

and here is the completed plaque on the cake.

 I had also found a photo of my Mum as an 18 month old which I decided would be perfect for making  special wrapping paper for the pass the parcel, little prizes and for some unique party bags.

 Just look at my Mum at the seaside in 1934 with her little bucket for making her sandcastles.

I made up a bag template using A4 paper. I hand stamped the paper with stamps from my Lili of the Valley Pretty Vintage set of stamps I won last summer. These ones are from set 47 Background bits, Old Romance.

 I scored to make the folds

 I had a little production line going.....

I made sets of tags using my Mum's photo

 and this gorgeous set from Nicecrane which is in his store here

My Mum loves fairies and this set was just perfect for the job. I printed a large and a small image together with one of my Mum's photos

I cut the fairy tags with my Sizzix tags set and my Mum's photo with my Marianne tag die and threaded them with ivory and gold ribbon. This matched the ribbon in the cake.I punched a hole through the tops of the bags and threaded the ribbon through and tied them with a bow.

I decided to put some "vintage" things inside which have been around since the 1930s; Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate bars, Lindt chocolate, ice gems and a little personal gift for each person.

As Daisy was so tiny I decided that rather than a party bag she would have a little book.

which I made some wrapping paper for and added a tag and ribbon just like the party bags.
We had such a fun party, all the cake got eaten and everyone went home smiling with a party bag.

 Happy times.

I would like to enter my handmade floral cake decoration into the following challenges;

Allsorts Free and Easy
A little Bit Crafty celebrate
A heck of a challenge New my new is the Orchid cutters I bought to make the orchid flowers


I would  like to enter my party bags into these challenges.

Lili of the valley anything but a card
Emerald Faeries Things with wings the fairies on my tags are winged as are the butterflies on the papers
Natalie and Amy One for the Girls
Ali Craft Anything goes
Party Time Tuesdays Party
Pan Pastel UK anything goes
A gem of a challenge New My new is the Sizzix scalloped tag die which I bought especially for making the party bag tags, it's brilliant as there are 3 different sizes on the single die.
Totally Gorjuss ribbon I used about 4 metres of ribbon making these bags!
Polkadoodles anything goes
Pile it on just because
Stamping sensations ribbons buttons or bows
Simon Says Stamp New my new is the sizzix tag die..it's brilliant.
Loves rubberstamps new year resolution I would also like to try to make things other than cards!
Make it Monday Linky party #173


One very special photo taken at my Mum's party was of 4 generations of girls; My Mum, me, my daughter and my granddaughter Daisy. I think our faces show the delight of all sharing such a special time.

Daisy is growing fast and is 8 weeks old tomorrow . Here she is a few days ago..such a happy sweetheart.

I hope everyone is faring OK in the awful weather we are experiencing both here and abroad, it really seems to be quite extreme this year. It is so difficult to even get out for a walk between the torrential rain showers. My walk to work has turned into a battle with the elements. The only good thing is that the days are certainly getting lighter now. Spring does seem a long way away still but we will get there. Today we took all our decorations down and the house looks so bare. Christmas really is over for another year but not to worry as there are only 354 days until the next ;0)

Have a great week ahead and take care,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x