a very berry birthday

We celebrated another birthday this weekend. When I asked my sweet Kate what kind of cake she wanted, I wasn't surprised when she said Strawberry Shortcake. She loves strawberries. 

I'll be honest, I wasn't in the mood to pull together a birthday celebration, but she had high expectations after her sisters Dora party. 

So I pulled myself together and got to work the day before her birthday. 

I made polka dot garlands.

 they are so simple to make and added a lot of fun to the room.

Strawberry bunting

Of course she needed a party hat,

and a shirt to match. 

The newest version of Strawberry Shortcake has this cute argyle-strawberry pattern we had to copy. 

She was so excited to look like Strawberry. 

The Cake:

I used my usual fondant recipe. To make my life easier, I made a double batch two weeks ago for our last party. The recipe says it will last up to two months in the fridge. Well, it didn't really work for me. The fondant was so dry. It was cracking like crazy and I was really mad. Lesson learned, make it the night before. 

I really liked the strawberry on top and the argyle. Kate watched and wanted to help with everything. I finally let her help put the polka dots on. they're not perfect but it was fun to work together. 

I was finally able to give her the dolls and clothes I've been working on all month. She loved them.  

She's been dragging her suitcase all over the house. I cringe every time I hear it bounding down the stairs. The idea was that it would stay under her bed and be pulled out when she wanted to play with the dolls. Oh well, for now I'll just enjoy that she loves them so much.

I'm so excited to show you all the stuff I've made for her dolls. I'll be posting in a couple days.

Check out THESE super cool parties I like to link to.