Graduation Cakes and Life Lessons
It's amazing to me to already be able to look back and realize that it's been two weeks since life was topsy turvy and all kinds of funky wacky craziness. My girl graduated. She's the eldest, hence forth, the first to graduate. Last minute photo sessions, grad cards, post offices and stamps, dvd's, last minute client sessions, parties and Project Grad ruled around here. Life was NUTS!
I've been a little busy playing catch up to all the above, not to mention recouping from the adrenaline rush and being up ALL night long for the Project Graduation party, then doing a family reunion session AND Hannah's party the next night (all on only 3hrs of sleep!).
So, playing catch up it is. This is Hannah's cake :D We started out with a story board, gave the ideas to a precious friend of mine, Kimberly French of Abby's Cupboard, ... then changed EVERYTHING, almost haha!
When I went to Michael's to purchase the black ribbon and the charm spray topper (we were gonna hang bird charms off instead of crystals), I saw a brilliant broach and immediately knew how we should do the cake :D I then found the peacock feathers!!!! Hannah LOVES peacock feathers! I LOVE brown and turquoise.... and Peacock Green is my FAV color EVER! I texted Hannah immediately (she was working so couldn't call, akkk!). Waited, waited, waited.... and waited.... was at Michael's for over 3hrs playing with ideas and options. She loved the idea of the change but didn't respond with which option she wanted (work comes first, good girl!). Soooooo, I just decided to get it ALL and figured we'd return what we didn't use. Funny thing, she decided on the ones that were my favorites too, lol!
It turned out FABULOUS! I loved everything about it, especially how it tasted! Everyone says, "ich I hate fondant!" BUT! Kimberly's fondant is FAB-U-LOUS! The top layer, saved for my girl to take home, was Kimberly's signature Snickerdoodle flavor, the middle layer was Italian Creme and the bottom layer was Classic Chocolate. The Snickerdoodle was to die for! Words can't describe the melt in your mouth flavor, the hint ofsinna cinnamon, dreamy with the marrying of sweet but subtle fondant... scrumptious! The Italian Creme was so moist and velvety it practically melted in your mouth and who doesn't love a classic, deep chocolate cake??? Kimberly nailed the cake and fondant beautifully!
I tend to be a perfection-ista so since I had to leave so many other details to everyone else (due to the aforementioned family reunion shoot that afternoon before the party) that I REALLY wanted to do this myself. Not to mention that the cake was the "pies de resistance" of the party and I wanted it to look perfect, well.... as perfect as I could get it.
So, to keep from driving Kimberly crazy with my specific details, and to keep my family from killing me, I told them I would put all the pretties on. Kimberly knocked me over with how beautiful her fondant job was! You MUST have a fabulous base to have a fabulous cake and she knocked it out of the park!
Now, a warning about the pictures, lol! Please keep in mind that I was operating on 3hrs of sleep, had just done a two hour family reunion session in the hot sun and was high as a kite on caffeine. I got to the house and there was still so much to do in only 30mins! I slammed the cake together and desperately tried to get good pics of it. Everyone started to show up and I had to trade in my photog hat for my hostess hat. I realized later how awful the lighting was and decided that I'd take more pics at home with just the top layer. It wouldn't be the whole cake, but people would get the idea.
So, there are two versions of the cake here. The first set, the full cake at the party, and the single layer at home. From a photog standpoint, I should have turned off the incandescent lights and only used the natural light. I didn't have my 5D (mirror broke, was off getting fixed) so I had to use the Rebel. It just can't handle high ISO very well so I needed lots of light and just blanked. Due to "lack of sleep asphyxiation", the adrenaline/caffeine high AND the mad rush to grab a few pics before entertaining our guests, I just didn't process as well as I should have, wah! I am glad I decided to take more later, even if it was only of the top layer :(
So the graduation and cake part are pretty obvious.... life lesson? Take the time to breathe, slow down, think through what you're photographing and why. What do you want? A quick snapshot? Or something that you will look at and have no regrets? This is where I do have to find a balance. I do need to be mom and be able to just take snapshots of my kids and other things. Not everything has to be perfect. I shouldn't always loose myself in the quality of the shot. Sometimes I just need to take the shot and enjoy the moment.
I've been a little busy playing catch up to all the above, not to mention recouping from the adrenaline rush and being up ALL night long for the Project Graduation party, then doing a family reunion session AND Hannah's party the next night (all on only 3hrs of sleep!).
So, playing catch up it is. This is Hannah's cake :D We started out with a story board, gave the ideas to a precious friend of mine, Kimberly French of Abby's Cupboard, ... then changed EVERYTHING, almost haha!
 |
| Don't laugh at my meager attempt at a computerized drawing... I tried, lol! |
When I went to Michael's to purchase the black ribbon and the charm spray topper (we were gonna hang bird charms off instead of crystals), I saw a brilliant broach and immediately knew how we should do the cake :D I then found the peacock feathers!!!! Hannah LOVES peacock feathers! I LOVE brown and turquoise.... and Peacock Green is my FAV color EVER! I texted Hannah immediately (she was working so couldn't call, akkk!). Waited, waited, waited.... and waited.... was at Michael's for over 3hrs playing with ideas and options. She loved the idea of the change but didn't respond with which option she wanted (work comes first, good girl!). Soooooo, I just decided to get it ALL and figured we'd return what we didn't use. Funny thing, she decided on the ones that were my favorites too, lol!
It turned out FABULOUS! I loved everything about it, especially how it tasted! Everyone says, "ich I hate fondant!" BUT! Kimberly's fondant is FAB-U-LOUS! The top layer, saved for my girl to take home, was Kimberly's signature Snickerdoodle flavor, the middle layer was Italian Creme and the bottom layer was Classic Chocolate. The Snickerdoodle was to die for! Words can't describe the melt in your mouth flavor, the hint of
I tend to be a perfection-ista so since I had to leave so many other details to everyone else (due to the aforementioned family reunion shoot that afternoon before the party) that I REALLY wanted to do this myself. Not to mention that the cake was the "pies de resistance" of the party and I wanted it to look perfect, well.... as perfect as I could get it.
So, to keep from driving Kimberly crazy with my specific details, and to keep my family from killing me, I told them I would put all the pretties on. Kimberly knocked me over with how beautiful her fondant job was! You MUST have a fabulous base to have a fabulous cake and she knocked it out of the park!
Now, a warning about the pictures, lol! Please keep in mind that I was operating on 3hrs of sleep, had just done a two hour family reunion session in the hot sun and was high as a kite on caffeine. I got to the house and there was still so much to do in only 30mins! I slammed the cake together and desperately tried to get good pics of it. Everyone started to show up and I had to trade in my photog hat for my hostess hat. I realized later how awful the lighting was and decided that I'd take more pics at home with just the top layer. It wouldn't be the whole cake, but people would get the idea.
So, there are two versions of the cake here. The first set, the full cake at the party, and the single layer at home. From a photog standpoint, I should have turned off the incandescent lights and only used the natural light. I didn't have my 5D (mirror broke, was off getting fixed) so I had to use the Rebel. It just can't handle high ISO very well so I needed lots of light and just blanked. Due to "lack of sleep asphyxiation", the adrenaline/caffeine high AND the mad rush to grab a few pics before entertaining our guests, I just didn't process as well as I should have, wah! I am glad I decided to take more later, even if it was only of the top layer :(
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| LOVE Kimberly's perfect fondant work! |
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| Hannah loves this quote and design as a possible tattoo.... hmmmm, this is when letting your kids grow up can be a challenge. Have to admit, LOVE the quote though! Perfect for a grad cake :D |
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| Got the ribbon, top feathers and broaches at Michael's, and the feathers for the layers at our local party store, Partymaker's |
~*~
This is the photo session I had with the snickerdoodle cake, teehee!
What a difference natural light makes!!!
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| After doing the second set of photos, I realized I should have done an additional broach at the top on the original cake, but.... oh well |
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| This is the broach I saw that gave me goosebumps and caused us to change the entire cake design :) |
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| Absolutely adore everything about this cake! |
So the graduation and cake part are pretty obvious.... life lesson? Take the time to breathe, slow down, think through what you're photographing and why. What do you want? A quick snapshot? Or something that you will look at and have no regrets? This is where I do have to find a balance. I do need to be mom and be able to just take snapshots of my kids and other things. Not everything has to be perfect. I shouldn't always loose myself in the quality of the shot. Sometimes I just need to take the shot and enjoy the moment.
In conclusion, the perfection-ista needs to take a back seat and I need to be ok with that.
...sometimes ;)
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—
a place near Your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God. ♥ Psalm 84:3
UH-MAZING!!! Congratulations to Hannah!
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