Under The Paper Stars

On Thursday, I had the distinct honor of creating a dessert table for Paper in the Park's holiday Sip and See. Susie and Kassy run the most gorgeous little paper boutique you've ever seen. Every time I go in, I barely make eye contact with the ladies since I'm continuously scanning the store for more adorable items. Even better than the fabulous things that they carry, they create THE most adorable invitations and stationary you've ever seen. All in all, they're a dream store come true. : )

The ladies asked for an all white table with touches of silver. The all white desserts included; Marshmallows that I painted with glitter dust to give shimmer, Malted milk balls (not pictured), Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (okay, so chocolate is not white, but I wanted to add an additional taste and thought the cream cheese frosting would handle the white part), Meringues, Raffaello Almond Coconut Candies, beautiful logo Sugar Cookies by Allyson Jane and Miniature White Cotton Candy. Delicious!

I worked with a vendor that happened to work with organic sugar (all white) to create these miniature cotton candy clouds. These were so adorable and unique to the event... I will definitely work with cotton candy in again!!

We are celebrating my little boy's 3rd birthday on the 15th. I'm in full swing turning our house into an Under Water Wonderland.

Enjoy the weekend!

Details of the Tea Party

I cannot tell you in words how excited I have been to gain blog followers and fans on Facebook as a result of the features on the Tea Party I put together. (23 followers is big news for little ole me!) I would like you all to think that it was nearly impossible to put together and I spent thousands getting it perfect. Neither of those things are true, however, so here are the do it yourself details!

First up, the butterfly lollipops. Did you know it's totally easy to make your own?? I had no idea either, until Jessica of Pen N Paperflowers posted a tutorial. (If ever there was a brilliant blogger/creative mind on this planet, it's Jessica of Pen N PaperFlowers.) The best part is, you don't have to scour the candy aisle looking for something to match your theme... Lollipop molds are made in hundreds (if not thousands) of shapes and sizes. I did learn a few things of my own after 3 failed attempts, so take these hints with you when you check her tutorial out... First, make sure you pile the candy up REALLY high, especially in fragile places. For the butterfly mold, it was the tips of the wings. If there isn't enough candy piled on, it will burn and turn the candy an ugly brown color.

Also, I found that by spraying a paper towel with non-stick spray and then lightly greasing the mold, I had better results than just directly spraying from the canister onto the mold. It takes only a very little amount of non-stick spray to get the lollipops to come out easily.

I won't lie. I thought the table cloth was adorable. The pink polka dots with the floral vintage fabric on top was perfect. And, I had good intentions of spending a long time sewing a nice table cloth together. But, I actually don't know how to sew and when my Mother In Law came to help me, we were unable to get the machine working. So, I simply placed the fabrics on top of the table. No cutting, no sewing. With coupons, fabric is many times just as affordable as a plastic tablecloth but with a much prettier result.

The chocolate tea cup, saucer and spoon was also a homemade detail. With another candy mold! This is also, totally easy! I did figure out another helpful little trick, though. If you just pour the chocolate into the mold, you will have air bubbles and the surface won't be smooth. I combated this by first painting on a layer of chocolate and then pouring the rest in. Yes, with a paintbrush... Just make sure your brush is high quality enough that bristles won't come off the brush and onto your mold. I'm not very crafty, so I bought edible flowers and using more chocolate, "glued" it right onto the side of the cup. Easy, peasy!

For the cupcake pedestals I followed the Executive Homemaker tutorial for making a cake plate. I cannot re-find the tutorial for the life of me! Here's basically what the tutorial says... Buy some kind of base, buy some kind of a plate and glue them both together with E6000. In my case, I bought candlesticks from Michael's and tea saucers from Goodwill. Total cost of the project, $20 including spray paint and the glue! (And that made 6 of them!) Click for an alternative and just as good tutorial, here.

The cupcake bouquet was painless considering the finished product. I cut a styrofoam ball in half, placed it inside of the tea pot, added my cupcakes on kabob skewers and filled in the empty places with hydrangea from my friend's yard.

Are you ready for the details on the tutu bench?? I bought about 10 yards of fabric, cut the tulle into  6" wide by 36" long strips and tied it directly onto the bench. Since tulle is stiff, that's all you have to do. Tie it on and it will poof out like a tutu. This would be especially cute for dressing up little girl's chairs for a princess party, or to make the birthday girl's seat extra special.
I also used a tutorial for making korker hair bows to figure out how to get ribbon to perfectly curl and then used the ribbon to tie up my lollipops. The flower pomander hanging from the tree was a find at a local model home clearance center for $5 and the white paper lantern came from the dollar store. I just glued on the butterfly to "cute" it up a bit.

So, there it is. Nothing too fancy about it and yet, it did turn out beautiful, if I do say so myself. : )

Next week I'm making my dessert table debut for a girlfriend's paper shop boutique and a week after that my little man turns 3. I hope you stick around to see the results!

Kate

Time for Tea!

When I read about Ava's Tea Party after finding the link via Pen N Paper Flowers, I knew it would be the perfect event to help launch CupKate's Event Design. A meaningful, happy day to celebrate the little spirits that we love so dearly. Using the artwork from the Ava's Tea Party website and many of the fabulous details from Pen N Paper Flowers' "Sunshine and Lemonade" party as my inspiration, below is my take on a beautiful tea at the park. You'll see many of my favorite personal touches including the Tutu Bench, cupcakes tied with ribbon, homemade chocolate tea cup, saucer and spoon as a party favor, personalized straw flags made with ribbon to remind everyone to drink with their "pinkies out", and best of all, the adorable children who celebrated with us. I hope you enjoy looking into our day as much as we enjoyed celebrating it!

Spoooky Spider Cakes

While I was out shopping last weekend I came across Crate and Barrel's Halloween collection. Very cute! I especially loved these spider cupcake holders. Adorable. But I thought there had to be a way to make these more usable for the preschool/playgroup scene... A trip to Dollar Tree, Joann Fabrics and a grand total of $1.89 later, I had 12 of them!

Much easier for small, clumsy hands to handle, right?? And all you need are black paper cups, black pipe cleaners and some cupcakes.

Recognize those cupcake toppers? They're a FREE printable from PaperGlitter! Find them, here.

I've Been Featured!

This is such a super fun day for me. Laurie of TipJunkie included me in her birthday bash this morning with a feature on Sweet Shop themed parties! Oh my gosh, do you know how great her site is?? Not only does she provide awesome information and lots of free printables, she also encourages and promotes other Moms like crazy.

So happy, so fun. : )

A Super Sweet 1st Birthday!

These are the pictures from my Daughter's 1st birthday party. I had SO much fun putting this together. It all started when I Googled "birthday party themes for girls" and found the super adorable lollipop party Kim did for her daughter at the TomKat Studio. It was so exciting to see what she was able to create! With her party as my inspiration, I was off and running.

First up was finding a cake. Back to google I went where I found this amazing cake! I did my best to re-create it at home. This was my first cake making experience ever. And I'm not a very skilled artist, so the fact that this didn't turn out totally terrible thrilled me like you wouldn't believe!

Then there was the "Candy Shop". My wonderful husband made this for me and my amazing Mother In Law custom made the table skirt and canopy. It rocked!

Next came decorating and the Birthday Girl's outfit. I ordered her little outfit on Etsy, of course.  The lollipops up the walk way were a hybrid of the lollipops TomKat made and Christmas decorations our family used when I was a kid. I won't lie, they took me approximately 75 years to make. But, I was happy when they were done!

I made the centerpieces using candy buttons and some old floral vases. The utensils were tied up with the same ribbons used throughout the party and adorned with mini lollipops. The birthday banner and all of the labels used in the party were made by a local paper shop and coordinated with her sticky sweet invitation. (I saw the wording on another blog and now can't find the source. Does anyone know who??) It says, "Oh how she's grown, no longer a baby. Sweet mixed with sassy, she's our little lady." I still get a little misty when I re-read it, I can't believe she's already one! I also made the lollipop cookies which weren't perfect, but did the job.

And, after months of planning this party I thought it was only fitting to serve a cocktail. (Mostly because by the time the party came, I needed one!) I filled glass bottles I found at HomeGoods with the "Sour Lolly" and labeled them "Candy is Dandy but Liquor is Quicker", the famous quote attributed to Ogden Nash. With a rock candy swizzle stick, the Sour Lolly was to die for.

With T-minus 10 months before my Baby Girl turns 2, I'm thinking "Sock Hop" for next year. Stay tuned!

We have lift off!

Many people have hobbies. I have a hobby too. But on the scale of devotion to your hobby, I'm caught up in a wild love affair. Children's Party Planning is it for me. Parties excite like I can't describe. It's just so fun! And, it's a limitless hobby. Your only boundaries are those that you and your budget create! What's even better? Parties create some of your life's happiest memories. Darling details, fabulous friends, lots of laughter and crave worthy cakes... Really, what isn't there to love about a party?

I can't promise that this blog will feature ONLY party planning tips and ideas, however. Because I'm a mom to two very darling children and occasionally a product, tip or recipe that serves our family might serve someone else too. And I plan on sharing.

So what I hope to create here is a daily dose of happy. I hope you will join me by sharing your finds, ideas and comments!