How to Make a Birthday Cake Bunting

Sometimes having your cake and eating it too just isn't enough. When your cake calls for a bit more pizazz, might I suggest a cake bunting? I've been infatuated with buntings lately, and when I saw Paula's pretty birthday cake bunting, it inspired me to make my own. Even though Alan calls them "cake finish lines," I think they are so adorable.

To make your own, you will need:

-wooden skewers
-a variety of paper or fabric
-needle and thread
-snippets of ribbon and lace

Let's get crafty!:
1) Decide on some sort of color scheme. Really simple one-color buntings can lend a modern look to your cake, while colorful ones look more playful. (Some ideas: all white or all yellow with a ribbon bow garnish at the top of each skewer.)
2) Cut out enough paper or fabric triangles for the desired length of your bunting.
3) Sew the flags together. A simple stitch (the only kind I really know, actually) will do.
4) Sew each end flag to a wooden skewer by looping around the skewer a few times with your needle and thread.
5) Create a few extra, complementary stand-alone flags out of bits of fabric and ribbon.

I keep all sorts of bits of ribbon and string and have a serious habit of recycling gift wrapping. It's nice to know that my hoarding ways actually pay off when it comes to crafting--the paper flags were made from gift bags and the lace was from a shopping bag tag.

Now I just need a cake to stick these into ;)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone! Have a happy weekend!

Birthday Inspiration

Tomorrow is my birthday! And for some odd reason, I feel particularly excited about celebrating. Alan and I are having a pasta dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, The Pastaria, and on Saturday I'm having a sundae with friends at a retro soda fountain. Here is where some of my birthday inspiration is coming from. Above, a sweet rainbow cake. Can you just imagine how long that took to make and how special the recipient must have felt upon seeing it?

Balloons!
I feel like hitting 27 makes me too old to be parading around in a birthday hat, but if someone made me a birthday crown I would totally wear it.

(Rainbow cake via Oh Happy Day! Balloon and crown images via Black*Eiffel)

Room Inspiration in Yellow, Grey and White

After seeing this, it has been decided: my future home will have a yellow, grey and white room. With a trunk! Isn't this room absolutely beautiful? I love everything about it, especially that wallpaper.

(via The Brass Petal)

Where I Came From

Once, my friend Irene told me about a pretentious San Francisco hipster that lived in an artist commune. He dressed in all black for Halloween and was a nihilist. The best part was that, as a serious artist, he only painted and drew mustaches. I love thinking about him from time to time, this boy that I've never met, sitting in his loft with high-vaulted ceilings (in my world, high-vaulted ceilings are a requisite for artist communes) creating twirled mustache images. It's just so ridiculous that I can't help but love it.

Well, I think I have finally decided on his match: my dad (except it's no match really because my dad will always be a gazillion times cooler). Today, my dad posted a link to a Youtube video he made on Facebook. The video is set to a Nazareth song called “Hair of the Dog.” And in the video is a sequence of photos he's carefully selected of dogs dressed in funny outfits. About halfway through, my dad appears holding Petrie, my sister’s dog, which is then followed by a few more pictures of Petrie modeling on the sidewalk. Though the differences between my dad and the mustache-drawer are many, the biggest one I see is that my dad has no pretentious intentions. He creates things like this because he really, truly gets a kick out of it, even if no one else can see just how hip his art might be. This may well make him the O.G. hipster.

My dears, this is my dad. And if you thought I had a quirky sense of humor...

Eat, Pray, Love Gialina

Watching Eat Pray Love on the big screen made me want to run home and re-read the book. If you're like me, you might have found that it didn't fill you up in the inspirational way that Elizabeth Gilbert's book did and, if anything, left you hungry for cheesy, carby pizzas. Since flying to Italy can get pricey, I have discovered a solution that's the next best thing: a trip to Gialina in the City.

A favorite of my friends Preethi and Birt, Gialina offers a menu of fresh salads and distinctly topped thin-crust pizzas. While not a usual fan of thin-crust, I remembered the loving way they had talked about this pizza, the way their eyes had lit up when they described it, and I decided I, too, wanted to feel its warmth and comfort. Taking Preethi's advice to order two pies (for leftovers the next day), we had an heirloom tomato, arugula, bacon and pesto pie and the Butterball which was topped with potatoes, bacon and gorgonzola. They were extraordinary. (And surprisingly filling.) The crust was perfect and the bacon was baked into the heirloom tomato pizza lending a subtle crunch. One pizza would have done the job quite nicely, but thank goodness we took Preethi's advice. The leftovers the next day were so good.