Happy Birthday Dad!

It wasn't my dad's b-day yesterday, but rather a few weeks ago. But, because they were in AZ, we celebrated yesterday in between working on our fence!! :) My dad and mom came up for the day yesterday and we got all the rails on for the taller fence and the pergola top for the big gate. Pretty cool!! So, I made him a cake to say thanks, and to say happy birthday! I of course tried a few new techniques, not all of which worked very good...but hey, it's all learning...and it's my dad, so he didn't care! I tried a new technique to roll out the fondant and when I flipped it over to put it on the cake, it had all these tiny air bubble marks all over the fondant...but, by then it was too late because it was laying over the cake...so, I won't be doing that again!
And, I realized you NEVER want to use the generic marshmallows and powdered sugar when making marshmallow fondant. The last batch I made gave me a head ache and I knew something wasn't right. So, I read about generic powdered sugars use beet sugar not cane sugar and it can effect the quality. Well, I used the name brand stuff this time and the fondant was SOOO much better! Crazy something like that would make a difference, but it did.
I used brown sugar for the sand trap and painted the water on with blue food coloring. I had these grand plans to do thin stripes and such on the sides, but I got sooo busy the day before and was up until 11:30pm working on this, so I decide to end it and keep it simple!! :) Afterall, it was for my dad and he didn't care. I also realize I need to invest in some letter cutters...cutting out the letters from fondant are hard!! It doesn't want to cut right...
Anyhoo...there is a few tips and learning things for you!