We had a birthday party for our 2 year old daughter on Sunday afternoon.  We decided to have a picnic theme.  For a simple decoration I looked for a picnic, red and white checkered, table cloth.  I could not find one.  I did find red and white checkered cupboard liner that worked great as a runner for the counter and placemat for the table.

Lady Bug Cake
We had a lady bug cake to go alond with our other picnic food.  I used two cake mixes (It could be done with one mix, it just wouldn't be as tall.).  I poured half of the batter into two 8" round cake pans and the other half divided between two small cake pans that I have
(4" maybe) and cupcakes.  We had way too much cake! :)

Pop the cakes out of the pans to cool.  Once completely cool place one 8" cake on top of the other.  I also spread a little homemade strawberry jam on the top of the bottom cake before I placed the other cake on top.  An easy way to move your cake without breaking it is to use a flipper that you would take cookies off of your pan with.

Take your small circles and cut a quarter off one side.  These will now make the head.  Place one on top of the other, add jam if you would like.  Cut the quarter pieces that you have left for the four legs.

I used one large container of frosting for the body which I colored red and half of a normal container of chocolate for the head and legs.  Frost the cake.  Make the circles of the lady bug with chocolate chips and filled with cookie crumbs.  I also used chocolate chips for the eyes, antennas and smile!

Picnic Food
I meant to take a picture of the rest of our food but forgot, oops!  We had ants on a log, chicken salad on crescents, watermelon, chips, and pasta salad.  It was yummy!