The ladybug theme is perfect for a first birthday! The customer said they were celebrating their child’s first birthday with a pink and black ladybug theme. She sent me several inspirational pictures and shared what she liked about each one. I LOVE it when I have the opportunity to base a design on many different cakes, so making this cake was a joy from the first email. This post is to share the creative process with you as much as the finished product.

The Pictures

From the birthday girl’s mom.

Picture 1: The tiny flying ladybugs on tier one that travel up to the top edge of the tier. I would also like Penelope's name spelled out (possibly in pretty cursive) on the bottom tier - it's a long name, so I'm definitely ok with the font being smaller ... her name doesn't have to take up a ton of room; just on the front.

Picture 2: This is another example of the tiny flying ladybugs that I like.

Picture 3: I envision our cake looking a lot like this one (only in a light/pale pink instead of red) with the 3 tiers, the top being a ladybug of that size that can serve as Penelope's piece at her party. I like the 2 different sized black polka dots. I also like the leaves that fold over the edge (although I feel like these leaves are a little too large - I've attached another pic of leaves I like better). I also like the #1 where it is on this cake.

Picture 4: I think this top Ladybug is cute and how it has a little bow on her hair. I also like these leaves a lot better than the larger leaves of picture 3.

Picture 5: I liked the bowed ribbon on the bottom each the tiers... maybe just a thin, black ribbon/bow look for ours? Kind of like in cake 2?