Imara's Florist birthday party

Way back in January 2012 we celebrated Imara's 5th birthday party, the theme "I want to be a florist". I wasn't able to share the photo's with anyone because the party would appear in the US magazine The Party Dress Magazine (see above photo to see the article in the magazine) . Thank you The Party Dress magazine for the feature :-) I've finally had some time to share some of the pictures taken by Enraptured Photography, aren't they gorgeous? Because Imara's birthday always tends to be hot (and this year was no exception) we usually have to hold it in doors. I was lucky enough that my dad handmade the gorgeous flower cart for this party while I cut and sewed the red and white canopy.



For the cake I decided to make the bottom tier out of foam to save time and to give the cake some height. The top tier was made from chocolate cake and shaped into a watering can and topped with sugar flowers. I struggled with the cake that week since we had 35 degree + heat that whole week and my icing wanted to melt :-( I am still very happy with how it all turned out in the end. The whole entire design and theme was based on the party paperware from WH Hostess, I purchased the entire party package from invite, to tags to thank you tags and water labels.

Since I did not have a very big budget I purchased the flowers from Aldi the day before th party and popped them in watering can "vases". Take home treats were flower cookies, choc bars, lolly pops and jelly beans in mini watering cans.

April and May cakes

It's been another busy month at Just call me Martha, here is some of the work I've done thus far.





I was also lucky enough to appear in the Cakes and Sugar Craft magazine by Squires where I shared my citrus cheesecake recipe.

Magic Far Away Tree party

Recently I was asked to make a gorgeous cake, cupcakes, pops and cookies for a Magic Far Away Tree birthday party styled by Little Big Company for Lou's daughter Clementine. I can finally share with you the gorgeous photo's that were taken by the very talented Lee Bird Photography.



The party was also featured in the Australian magazine Shop 4 Kids, page 164 and 165

This is the  massive cake I had to make, the bottom 3 tiers are foam while the top 2 are cake as we wanted the cake to be BIG without feeding a million people :-) Backdrop by Love JK.

Styling by Little Big Company . Photography by Lee Bird Photography.  Cake, pops, cupcakes and cookies by Just Call Me Martha
 Woodland Cookies by Cookies by Spoon and Fork Cookies, party paperie by Loralee Lewis, Dresses by Little Lou Lou handmade, Softies by Flowers,Frills, buttons and bows, Flowers by Velvet Lily Florist, Photography by Lee Bird Photography, Fabric bunting Little Kitten Handmade, cookie design with toadstool and fairy by Blossom Time Creations Tablecloth by Vintage Sew and Sew, Fabric Backdrop by Love JK All party glass jars, beverage dispensers, cake stands and all party products from The Little Big Company http://www.tlbc.com.au Hats by Prop Shop Boutiqe

Happy Mother's Day - Blissfully Sweet Challenge

When I was asked to create a special “Blissfully Sweet” Mother’s Day table to honour Jacki’s mum Suzanne Maree Wadey, who passed away from breast cancer 10 years ago I was very excited if not a bit nervous. The theme was relaxed, casual beachside with the main colours being shades of  teal, rustic/natural sand and white. Since my topic was “Hot Chocolate and S’mores bar” my accent colours was chocolate and burnt orange. My main inspiration came from the gorgeous printables by Style me Gorgeous, I used the colours that Sarah incorporated in my tags and used them in paint colours, ribbon, food and props to create my “bar”. I didn’t want to use a conventional table so instead I opted for a vintage “hutch” that I had in storage. I gave the hutch a lick of paint (matching my printables) and used that as my “anchor” point for the whole design.



Thinking about what to serve on my bar was both easy and difficult! Easy because it’s a bar, so I had to obviously incorporate elements such as self-serve chocolate, marshmallows, crackers etc but at the same time difficult as I didn’t have anything “pretty”to showcase like I normally do. No fancy cakes, no lovely cookies and no gorgeous cupcakes as it didn’t fit with my theme. Instead I opted to have some gorgeous eye catching flowers sprinkled with shells from Velvet Lily Florist to make my bar “pretty” and providing a focal point . I am sure you can see from the photo’s that the stunning bouquets lifted my bar from ordinary to lovely. Some of the food that was served at the bar (other than the expected self-serve ingredients needed to create a hot chocolate drink and s’mores snack) was dunking choc chip cookies, chocolate macarons, S’Mores cupcakes, S’mores Cheesecake and s’mores pops.

Lovely flowers by Velvet Lily

As a favour everyone took home either a S’mores campfire kit or Hot chocolate kit.

In loving memory of Suzanne Maree Wadey, 20.08.1948 – 22.10.2002

• a list of vendor credits with their contact details
• Printables by Style me Gorgeous info@stylemegorgeous.com.au
• Photographer by Lee Bird Photography liat@leebirdphotography.com.au
• Velvet Lily Florist velvet@interfloraflorist.com.au
• Shoppe with Lily sales@lilychicevents.com.au
• Food and styling by Just call me Martha sajena@iprimus.com.au

Happy Easter 2012

Since our friend Laura gave birth to her 2nd child Erin just after Easter last year we thought it appropriate to throw her an “Newly hatched”, Easter inspired “Meet and Greet the baby”
luncheon. Laura didn’t have a baby shower for her first child and since Erin
would be her last baby she wanted to have a small celebration to welcome and
introduce baby Erin to the family. The brief was to create a casual luncheon using
furniture we already had in the house (we repainted the tea cart in lilac to
match the theme) with vintage and unique touches, Laura also wanted to
incorporate some Easter elements without going overboard.

Together Just Call Me Martha, The Little Big Company and Lily Chick Events styled a baby hatchling luncheon, the idea came about when I saw the “watch a baby chick hatch” programme at our local Kinder. The Kinder was kind enough to lend us 3 baby chicks and their local pet bunny, this provided endless entertainment and cuddles for the smaller guests at the luncheon.

Tying in with the theme we had treats such as fake baby nests with chocolate eggs at each place setting, Oreo chick pops, Chicks on sticks (cookies) Baby chicks cake and Easter egg sugar cookies with edible vintage images (I used images found for free on google image search). The colour scheme was mauve, lilac (Laura’s favourite colour) and yellow since we wanted a unique colour palette rather than the standard pastel pink usually reserved for girls.

Love JK did a fantastic job creating custom printables and invites to match our
theme, I find this the best cost effective way to thread a theme throughout an entire party while keeping to a budget. Each guest took home a small jar of homemade Lemon Myrtle or Blackberry and Lilac jam while the children took home a knitted woolen bag with bunny badge filled with chocolate candy coated eggs.

Stylists:

Louisa and Melissa from The Little Big Company www.tlbc.com.au

Lilian from Lily Chic Events www.shoppewithlily.com.au

Leoni from Just Call Me Martha www.justcallmemarthaa.blogspot.com

Photographer:

Clair Bremner from See Be Art www.clairbremner.com

Food:

Macaroon Moments – yellow and lilac macarons

Fantasy Cakes – yellow ruffle butter cream cake

Just Call Me Martha - All other cakes, cookies, pops, cupcakes and snacks

Partyware

Love jk - all printables and invitation https://lovejk.com.au/

Penny’s Pettiskirts – Lilac pettiskirt

Ah Tissue - tissue poms

My Sweet Tashie – Felt chick cupcake toppers and felt chick cake topper

The Little Big Company – Milk bottles, cake stands, cutlery, apothecary jars and props

Shoppe With Lily – Dinner plates, compotes, perfume bottles, canisters and props

Baby Chick and pet rabbit borrowed from Kinder

Easter cookie, edible image tutorial

Step 1
Gather your equipment, you will need
1 x A4 sheet of edible wafer paper with your images (my images are free via google image search such as these from Little Grey Bungalow)

(I had mine printed at http://www.allanscakes.com.au/ but
you can also get them done online at http://www.cakesaroundtown.com.au/)
12 x freshly baked egg shaped sugar cookies
1 x egg cookie cutter
Small cup of water
Mini rolling pin
Clean new paintbrush
500 grams Orchard white fondant of Pettinice fondant
½ cup of strained and gently warmed jam
Clean pastry brush
A small cup of Cornstarch powder

Step 2
Lightly dust a clean flat surface with cornstarch and roll out your fondant till thin
and smooth using your mini rolling pin.
Using sharp scissors cut your edible sheet into 4 long strips, this will make it
easier for you to manoeuvre and cuts out wastage.

Step 3
Using your new paint brush and the clean water lightly and quickly brush some water
over the fondant surface.
Don’t make the fondant too wet or it will become too sticky.

Step 4
Make sure your hands are dry for this step.
Gently remove the edible paper from the backing paper following manufacturers
instructions and very gently place the edible image on top of the damp fondant
surface.
Very gently smooth the surface with your dry fingers, don’t be rough or you’ll
damage or smear the image.

Step 5 and 6
Using the clean egg cookie cutter dipped in some cornstarch (same cutter you used to
make your cookies with) firmly press into the fondant with edible image to cut
out the egg shape.
Set the shapes aside, do not handle them too much and be gentle.

Step 7
Using a clean pastry brush “paint” on a light film of jam onto each cookie. This will
act as “glue” to adhere the fondant to the cookie without making the cookies
soggy and brittle.
I usually use either strained raspberry jam or marmalade that I’ve gently heated
in the microwave for 10 seconds, it depends what flavour my cookies are.

Step 8
Gently lift each fondant egg with edible image attached and place on top of the jam
smeared cookie. Gently pat with your finger till the fondant is flush with the
cookie and there are no air bubbles or gaps.
Set aside to dry for 30 minutes and then place in cellophane bags tied with ribbon
to keep them fresh.

Tip: I find doing the above steps in small batches work best (do about 3 cookies at
a time), that way the fondant won’t dry out by the time you get to the last lot
of egg cookies.

Do NOT refrigerate or the images will fade and run

March cakes, a mixed lot!

One of the cakes I had to make this month is for twin boys with the theme MEXICAN. Instead of making both cakes identical I made them similar but different in colours and pattern. One cake was a white mud with vanilla and white choc buttercream filling, the other was a coconut cake with coconut buttercream.

A simple yet effective cake for a 2yr old, customer wanted something basic and not over the top for her little boy who loves trains.

21st birthday celebration for a young man, the client wanted lime green, red and navy. I custom matched the wrappers and cake stand.

Moroccan cake pops for a bridal shower, colour scheme orange, hot pink and aqua.

Matching Moroccan cupcakes.

and Moroccan cookies.

Then it was time for another ice cream party, so ice cream cookies were on the menu

and this boy version of my ice cream cake.