Tis the Season for chocolate covered marshmallow snowmen!

We are quickly approaching the holidays! As we all know this month can be so overwhelming. It is almost a hassle to walk through the mall to buy all those gifts on your list. We have learned over the years that some of the best gifts are handmade and from your heart. I have been making homemade sweet trays for years to give to some of my favorite people on my list, including Kellie! I love finding a gorgeous platter and filling it with beautiful sweets and wrapping it up festively! I always include my chocolate covered marshmallow snowmen on the trays and they are always the first thing people comment on. They are so easy to make and are so cute! Today we are really excited to share them with you, along with the easy DIY instructions so that you can make them too! Even if you just make a few and wrap them up sweetly, they make a great little gift to give to someone you love!

These are so easy that even your kids can help! One of my twins, Maia helped me and she did such a great job...and had so much fun! Just use lollipop sticks and put three marshmallows on each stick.
After you are done setting them up you just dip them in white chocolate, shake off the excess and lay them to dry on a parchment lined cookie sheet. As they are drying, add an orange sprinkle for a carrot nose and sprinkle some edible glitter on them to give them some snowy sparkle!
After they are dry put some melted chocolate in a pipping bag and make little half moons for eyes. I like to take a tooth pick and drag some chocolate down to make eye lashes.

Then use some melted pink chocolate to create a ruffled scarf!
If you want to make a snow "man" You can cut a marshmallow in half and instead of letting the chocolate drip off, put it on the parchment paper and move it in a circular motion to create a hat brim.
You can use some melted chocolate to "glue" it on to the top of the snowman!





We hope you try these...your friends and family will love them!

TomKat Studio's Holiday Gift Guide

Kim, from the TomKat Studio has released her Holiday Gift Guide! It is filled with fabulous gift ideas for all of the people on your list! We were thrilled that Icing Designs was asked to create a page for the guide for "Girls that dream of Paris"! We had so much fun picking our gift items! There are so many amazing contributors and great ideas, it was really beautifully done...so head over and check it out!

This is Kim's daugher Kate on the cover....could she be any sweeter! Here is our page!

There are exciting gift ideas from Hostess with the Mostess, Whippy Cake, Project Nursery, Kate Landers Events and so many more!!

We thought we would share some more ideas for "Girls who dream of Paris" to add to your gift list!

We are so in love with this gorgeous Paris is for Lovers Fine are photography by Irene Suchocki!

This is a great book about food and romance and exploration! Lunch in Paris even includes recipes!

Adore this Je Tàime Pillow by Honey Pie Design!

For the movie lover...how about Marie Antoinette...oh la la!

Sugary Sweet Centerpieces

Well, the holiday season is truly upon us! We are so excited about this month because we have so many great DIY projects to share with you, a fabulous party and tons of fabulous gift ideas! Today we wanted to share with you a simple DIY that you can make with just fruit and sugar! Sugared fruit looks so gorgeous and festive; it is just perfectly frosted and a really beautiful winter centerpiece. All you need is egg whites, sugar and winter fruit! Great fruits to use include; apples, pears, grapes, plums and oranges. (You can use Wilton's meringue powder and water in place of egg whites if you plan to eat the fruit).

Just take a pastry brush to add the egg whites to the fruit.
When you add the sugar to the fruit be sure to sprinkle it on with a spoon, do not roll it in the sugar or it will get very clumpy.
When you are finished sugaring all of your fruit just lay them on a parchment lined cookie tray to dry for a few hours. When the fruit is dry you can pick it up and gently shake the excess sugar off. Then just arrange it any way you would like, on a pedestal or a bowl to display!

My Sweet and Saucy Online Shop

It has been so amazing watching the success that Melody Brandon has had with her fabulous pastry shop, My Sweet and Saucy! We had the honor of interviewing her over the summer (check it out here). She is just so sweet, humble and gracious. We were giddy with excitment when we learned that My Sweet and Saucy was opening an online shop! We are sure that you have seen the phenomoinal things that Melody and her staff create! We are always in awe not only by the beauty of thier work but by the lovely entertainig wear that they use. Well now you can get some of those hard to find gorgeous pieces to help make your next dessert table a huge success! Helloooo Christmas list!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving,

filled with happiness, health and family!

Photo credit: Elizabeth Messina (Kiss the Groom)

Donna Hay

Have you heard of Donna Hay? Well, if you haven't you are in store for a real treat! Donna is a well-know and highly celebrated Australian food editor and cookbook author. Her recipes focus on simple, natural ingredients and the photography of her work is knock your socks off beautiful! Donna Hay is the definition of a domestic diva and her new website is like a goldmine of gorgeous party and entertaining musts!

Pie in a Jar

This pie in a jar idea, by Intertwined Weddings & Events found on Green Wedding Shoes is such a fabulous and unique spin on traditional pie! How fabulous would it be to serve your Thanksgiving guests a yummy dessert like this! We think they would definitely be wowed! These are as cute to look at as we can imagine they are delicious to eat! You can find easy DIY instructions here!

All Photos by: Candice Benjamin
Here are some other great pies in a jar!

Found on Squakfox.com
Made and photographed by Jenna at EatDrinkPretty

Found on Homemade Simple

Found on Delish.com

Oh and Ceilidh here is a great pie crust recipe from Ina Garten! And the secret to a great and flaky pie crust...cold, cold water and a mix of butter and shortening.

12 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

Mini Christmas Open House

Last Weekend Kellie and I hosted an Icing Designs open house to feature our Parisian Christmas line to some of our family and friends. We just created a small dessert table with different kinds of christmas cookies for our guests to snack on. We had a great turn out and just wanted to share a few photos of the day with you.