Pippi Longstocking topsy turvy cake

Okay, you already saw this bit. It's the top - or topper - of the Pippi cake I made. And yes, it is Pippi sleeping.

May I draw your attention to the fact that her shoes rest on her pillow instead of her head - as this is the way Pippi always sleeps!

Sorry, but I so loved that detail.

Now this is the whole cake. It is very topsy turvy ... I was very scared that it might fall apart over night!

I wanted the cake to be really colorful! So I ended up making each layer a different color and just using cut out fondant-circles and small candies to decorate it. Little bear loved the candies the most! I really loved the tiny balls that I did but they took forever!

So as I ran out of time I ended up not doing that for the biggest layer and instead just put down a string of fondant ... Which is not half as cute but way quicker.

Oh, well ... I am not too proud of this one. But after I had made it I could not bear to toss it ...

And as I knew that little bear is rather forgiving ... I put it on the cake. 

It was the first thing to be aten!

Poor little thing!

I hope - given that you know it's a Pippi cake and you know Pippi - that you can tell that it is a little monkey.

You can probably not tell from the photos - but this is not a full blown cake. It is rather a mini-version of a topsy turvy cake.

I used a jumbo muffin as the smalles tier, a tiny miniature round cake as the middle tier and a cake that is half the size of a regular one as the biggest tier.

I had read the tutorial on how to do a topsy turvy cake on Sew Can Do and found it really helpful. I especially loved the tip about using ganache instead of icing. It worked beautifully. I used this ganach recipe and it was GREAT!

I have tried to make ganache before and it had not worked out. I can not believe how easy it actually is!

As the individual layers were really small I figured I would just stick them together. No cake boards in between. The fun thing was as there were no cake boards in between the layers I could slice a huge piece of cake! From top to bottom! Look:

Sorry, I know that picture is not very good. 

But I really wanted to show you the inside ... and unfortunately hosting a party with a bunch of kids and having to take care of a little under one year old does not allow for much time to take photos! :-(

 I simply just wrapped each layer in fondant - totally messed up the first one I did which was the smallest tier :-( - and stuck them together. It worked!!! I was afraid it might slide apart over night. But everything was still were it was supposed to be in the morning!

Even Pippi was still asleep. ;-)

Post of the whole party following soon ...

Sneak peak ...

I can not write alot right now ... need to go to sleep. But at least wanted to tell you guys that the Pippi party went great and my daughter had an awesome day. 

Shortly before I was so so so nervous! 

Weird isn't it. I mean they are only kids! What are they gonna do? 

I was still nervous ... But all in all it went quite well and I actually quite enjoyed the party! 

And here is a sneak peak ... more photos in the next couple of days. 

Can you guess what that is?

Pippi Longstocking party invitations

I was wrecking my brain how I could make some cute invitations with my daughter for her Pippi Longstocking party. I did not want to spend much money on it and not too much time. It should preferably be easy enough to get my daughter involved as well. But I simply could not get myself to send out some regular cards.

At the end we made some shoes - as Pippi wears HUGE shoes (to have enough room to wiggle her toes) - with stockings. 

And I am actually quite pleased with how they turned out - even if it does not say "Pippi Longstocking" right away when you see them. They are cute and different. And my daughter loved them!

In order to read the invitation you have to undo the shoes laces and read what is written on the stocking. When it is closed - like in the photo above - you can only read "Einladung", which means "Invitation".

Of course my daughter helped writing ... ;-)

We made black shoes and brown shoes.

And here is the tutorial - in case you want to make some, too. They are really easy to make!

What you need:

-black or brown construction paper

-paper for the stockings (I just used colored printer paper)

-pens in desired colors

-some ribbon, yarn, or thread to use as shoe laces

-hole punch

-scissors

1. Download the template or make your own. You need a pattern for a shoe and a stocking.

(If you use my pattern - I made it such a size that you can make two invites out of an A4 sheet of paper. You just have to fold the paper lengthwise. Sorry for the people using letter-size. But is should be easily adaptable by just printing it slightly smaller or larger.)

2. Fold your paper and transfer your shoe template on the paper. The fold of the paper should be at the back side of the shoe (so that you can untie the laces lateron and open the shoe up).

When you have it cut out you should be able to open it up like this:

3. With the hole punch put three or more holes in the shoe where your laces are supposed to go.

4. Cut out the stocking. Use colored paper. You can add stripes if you want to.

Make sure that the stocking fits into the shoe!

5. Now you can write your message on the stocking. We wrote "invitation" at the top - so you could still read that when the shoe-card was closed. 

My daughter drew some colorful stripes unterneath.

Under the stripes I wrote the actual invitation with all the necessary information like where and when the party is.

6. Now you just have to add your "shoe laces" and tie your shoes up.

DONE!

Pippi Longstocking smock

I finally managed to finish the Pippi Longstocking smock I was working on. My daughter likes it ... and I am quite happy about how it turned out.

 That is the front. I wanted to use a yellow fabric and the only thing that I had was some corduroy. My daughter chose the fabric for the left pocket. I thought the green fabric would look fun with it. Thought mis-matched pockets are a MUST for a Pippi smock.

This is the back. I was not sure what a lining to use ... and ended up using a striped fabric.

What do you think?

Edited:
I do not remember anymore which pattern I used. I think I used more than one and kinda put them together and hubby helped me by making it bigger (on the computer). If you would like to make your own smock here are links to free patterns:


Instructions and pattern on the German website Eltern
Here is the direct link to the pattern from this site - you will have to resize the drawing.

Another German page with instructions and a pattern for a Pippi Longstocking smock
Direct link to just the pattern


A German blog "Wer hat die Schere"
Direct link to the pattern

And FINALLY an English post with pattern for a smock :-)

I am sorry for all the German sites, but figured maybe the patterns are still helpful.

I am linking this to some great link-up parties you can find on the right side of my blog. Go and visit them for some inspiration!