Pirates Icing Smiles Cake

I was finally able to volunteer for another Icing Smiles Cake. This one was close to my heart.  I have a neighbor who recently lost their son to cancer. Also cancer has touched my family often over the years. Although it might seem unconnected...it really made me want to create this cake for Drew and his sister Grace. I actually wanted to make a cake for my neighbor's son Colty, but he was diagnosed so close to his birthday and I had just suffered a loss myself and was unable to accomplish much of my every day commitments. I really regretted that and although I know it wasn't my fault, doing this cake was a bit of a way to honor his life. I was blessed to meet Drew and his sister and their WHOLE family. So it was extra special. They requested a Neverland Pirates theme focused on Jake and Izzy. I did a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. All decorations are fondant excepting the sail/lookout box seen in the below pictures. The mast is a wooden skewer threaded through the sail to hold it up.

This is before they picked it up:

 I found a trick online to make the map look faded by dusting it with cocoa powder. I imprinted the letters and then painted them with brown icing color mixed in vanilla. The sand is made from brown sugar (so easy and so lovely)! I used Krispy treat for the treasure chest and edible pearls for some of the treasure.
 This is a picture of the kids with their cake at the party (their lovely mom sent it to me):

Aren't they adorable!!!! I love that they dressed up for the birthday party!

Drew is in now in maintenance with his Leukemia! Please pray for this family as maintenance still means lots of testing and ups and downs. They have such a strong faith in the Lord! I am so grateful I was able to make this cake for them and was able to pray for them as I did it.

Pray for children who suffer with pediatric cancer. Stand up for them and pray for a cure. These cakes I make for Icing Smiles shine bright in my heart as my favorites. I am more blessed from making them than from any other cake I've made.

Blessings!