post 26 of 30: cake decorating

well the week is here, the week of our daughters 1st birthday.  i never thought that the day would come.  months of preparation are all coming together quite nicely.  i have been planning the party for what seems like an eternity.  when it is over i will not know what to do with myself during nap time, as nap time has currently been crunch time.  i started planning a long time ago because i was super excited and because i did not want to be doing everything at the last minute.  the only things left to do now are to paint this owl pitcher,

make water bottle labels,

whip up a salad, and bake!

Baking....that is where you come in to play.  This is definitely my first time attempting anything like this and I need your advice.  I found this wonderful Lemon Blueberry Cake Recipe on www.bluebirdkisses.com.  Wren is obsessed with blueberries.  That is all she would eat if I let her, so when I saw this cake recipe, I knew it was the one!

I am doing a two tier cake.  The bottom tier will be 8" round, and the top tier will be 6" round.  I will probably do three/four layers per tier and I am filling in between the layers with blueberry jam. 

Now for the design....  I have so many ideas for the design and I can not narrow it down.  The cake will be an aqua/seafoam color, and I am not opposed to an ombre effect.

here are my ideas.

( the cake topper is VERY similar to the one below) see post here.

so what do you think?  as a first timer which do you think will be the easiest?  which do you think is the prettiest?

i am also making a smash cake that will be very similar to this.