Welcome to the Gnome Forest: A 2nd Birthday Party

My Charlotte turned 2 years old today. She celebrated with all of her family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. at a Gnome Forest birthday party. I made cupcakes for the very first time...
with a recipe from my birthday cookbook for angel food cupcakes. After two attempts at the frosting, I deviated from the recipe and made my own cream cheese frosting with 8 oz. of cream cheese, 4 tblsp. of butter, 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar, lemon zest and 1 tsp of vanilla.

Martha helped with the red polka dot and brown cupcake wrappers.

The little gnome cupcake toppers were made from photos from this handy book. I found my copy at the local library. And while the pictures were helpful, most of the crafts are a blast back to the 80's. (I really don't feel the need to go back to that era unless I'm listening to music.) I resized the photos and printed out enough for the fronts and backs of our little gnome friend, then glued them onto toothpicks. There were more than 2 cupcakes to start the day, but this is all that remained at the end of it.

Also new, my woodsy cake stand placed upon the red-with-white-polka-dots-simulated-giant-mushroom tablecloth. Stay tuned for more crafty details...

As mothers always say, "I can't belive my baby is (insert unbelievable age here)!" In my case, it's 2. I'm afraid to blink because she'll then be 35. Happy Birthday, Charlotte. You'll always be my baby girl.