Princess Birthday Party

My princess turned 3 last weekend. Yes, she was a Christmas Eve baby. Today we threw her a party that was just what she wanted... a PINK princess party. Although it's a busy time of the year and not many friends are around, we managed to have a great time.

The birthday girl... enjoying her PINK cake while wearing her "Tiana" dress.

The table... more on the cake below. Unfortunately, I didn't get a close-up picture of the other food: peanut butter & jelly sandwiches cut out into crowns, and fruit & marshmallow kebobs.

The chairs... thanks to a Pinterest find from The Crafting Chicks.

Plates, napkins, milk jars and treat bags, all ready for guests!

And the cake! I had so much fun making this, and it was super easy. I got inspiration from Glorious Treats. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the frosting goes from light pink to darker pink, to really dark pink at the bottom. And check out the inside...

I used 2 french vanilla cake mixes, measuring out half of each into separate bowls. Then I added a little bit of pink food coloring into one, more into the second, even more into the third, and left the last one plain.

After letting each layer cool, I stacked them up, using a thin layer of white buttercream between each layer.

Then I added a thin layer around the entire cake to create a base for the flowers.

Then I tinted the buttercream the same way as I did the cake mixes and started swirling away! A tiara was an easy decoration, then I wrapped tulle around the base and added a few fake roses. 3 candles later, I was done!

Happy birthday to my beautiful 3-year-old Princess Olivia.