Princess Paper Party Goods ...

If your little girls is dreaming of a princess party...Icing Designs would love to help her party dreams come true! Here is a sampling of our "princess" paper party goods to help create the perfect fairytale for your sweet little girl!

Princess Dreams...

We are dedicating this week to all things princess! What little girl doesn't dream of enchanting castles, magical glass slippers, glittering tiaras and big tulle dresses!?! Here are some images to inspire the little princess in you!


images via: tumblr, pinterest, melodysletters.tumblr.com, flickr, butterflyprincesscostume.org, whimsywonder.tumblr.com

We scream for ice cream!

Who does not love ice cream...really have you ever met someone who doesn't!?! It is literally the perfect summer treat...sweet, cold and a perfect blank canvas for luscious toppings but still amazingly delicious on its own! It can be served for pretty much any occasion from a birthday celebration to a wedding reception and can even be a scene stealer in a photo shoot! So lets all dream of ice cream and for all of us here in the Chicagoland area maybe some warm weather to go with it!

photo credits: etsy.com/shop/BeachHouseLiving, tumblr, flickr, buttersugarflour.com, Megan W Photography, twigandthistle.com, delectabledeliciousness.blogspot.com, fairycandles.tumblr.com, nicolehilleblogspot.com, daisypinkcupcake.blogspot.com

Celebrate the Hand-Made Way with a Potter and Butler Giveaway!

Emily and and Carrie are the very talented and very sweet ladies behind Potter and Butler! They are "makers of handmade goods for authentically merry celebrations"! We discovered Potter and Butler just shortly after they opened their Etsy shop and fell in love immediately! The story behind how "Potter and Butler" got its name is such a great story! It is a tribute to Emily and Carrie's great-grandmothers, Etta Potter and Mirium Butler, two women who never knew each other but shared an inspiring set of characteristics...they were independent, strong, free thinking, hard working, artsy, talented, bird-lovin’, caring about the greater good, resourceful, and stylish (in their own right ) ladies – who could make anything, and more often than not – did make everything – by hand! Emily and Carrie are inspired by fond memories and beauty in even the smallest details, both in life and celebration.

We take such delight in "hand-made celebrations" and Emily and Carrie truly bring those words to life! Their products just put a smile on your face, they are charming and joyous and truly add such a special touch to your celebration! We think these ladies are just the sweetest and have such an amazing story to share...you can see it in the details of their amazing work and we are thrilled to be offering a very "merry" giveaway from them today! They are generously offering a set of 12 Peppy Toppers and a set of 12 coordinating Fabric Flag Cupcake Toppers! You will absolutely love these and your cupcakes will be very happy!!!

To enter become a fan of Potter and Butler's Facebook Page and show them some love...tell them Icing Designs sent you and leave us a comment letting us know what you would use these gorgeous cupcake toppers for if you were the winner! Good Luck...we will be announcing a winner next Wednesday!!

Here are some other lovely products from Potter and Butler's Shop!

Visit Potter and Butler's blog for some beautiful inpsiration too!

Strawberry Fields...

Who can resist the sweetness of strawberries in the summer!?! We just love the thought of a relaxed summer afternoon strawberry themed wedding...simple and charming, what more could you ask for!

photo credits (left to right): pinterest, theknot.com, tumblr,elizabethannedesigns.com, lateliervi.blogspot.com, marthastewartweddings.com, userealbutter.com, flickr

Going to the Chapel...

We are taking a week off...I'm traveling to the East Coast for my cousin's wedding and Kellie is going to be spending some quality time with her sweet family as her girls finish up the school year! We will see you back here Monday, May 23rd~ Have a great week! xoxo...Melissa and Kellie
photo via Jose Villa

Chicago SWEEThearts

We are really excited about this post! This photos shoot was brought to our attention by a friend of Kellie’s husband...Kellie immediately shared it with me and we knew we had to share it with you! Ashley and her fiancé Sunil, had their engagement photos taken with the very talented, Chicago based photographer, Danielle Aquiline! When we saw the photos we fell in love , especially since they were in our city....Chicago!

We really love the story behind how this whole photo shoot came to life! Danielle found this fabulous gum drop necklace on Etsy and used it as her inspiration to create a fun, whimsical candy filled engagement photo shoot! Sunil loves Sweet Mandy B’s Bakery, downtown Chicago, so with the candy and cupcake filled theme it was the perfect place to shoot the photos and the perfect backdrop! We just love all of the creative shots...especially the nerds candy falling from the sky...what perfectly sweet confetti!

Aren’t these photos fantastic! It looks like they had such a fun filled, colorful, sweet day!! Best wishes for a beautiful wedding day Ashley and Sunil and a huge thank you to Danielle for letting us share these fabulous photos!

this photo shoot can also be seen on Aisle Candy!

Cancer Benefit Menus and Cards

Standing up to cancer is very near and dear to our hearts! We created our "Find A Cure" line of paper goods to support breast cancer. We recently had the pleasure of working with our sweet friend Wilmara, from Madly Stylish Events, on paper menus and tent cards for a benefit that she styled! We were excited to see that DC Cupcakes was also a part of this special event. We can't wait to see more photos soon, but here are a few of things that we were able to create for the benefit.

La fête d'azur...A Blue Celebration with an Ocean Twist

We absolutely adore Mandy from A La Parisienne! You may remember when we featured her and her shop here. Mandy created the sweetest party for her darling little girl, Amelia! Mandy modeled Amelia's party colors palette after Rachel Ashwell's Turquoise Party Theme in her book, Sumptuous Settings and Other Lovely Things. The party was given an ocean twist and filled with fanciful sea creatures. We just love the incredibly creative paint swatch invitations!

How adorable is little miss Amelia in her satin aqua blue bubble dress made by Mandy's mom! Mandy also created an aqua blue fascinator to pin on the dress fashioned with an aqua feather, turquoise dotted chiffon and topped with a vintage aqua millinery flower...so beautiful!
The shades of blue with the white are so lovely. We love the way the balloons look hanging from the white net canopy!
The vintage aqua sheet and the crepe paper 3 hanging in the vintage white frame create such a beautiful focal point for the food table! Mandy also made a garland with sea creatures and labeled each one in French!

Mandy made flowers with died coffee filters that she bundled into little florettes. These florettes were nestled into a basket lined in rich teal tissue paper.

The centerpiece on Amelia's sweet little birthday table was made with a vintage aqua planter, sand, seashells, sand dollars, and a sweet box covered in French script paper created by Noel from Fanciful Designs!
A vintage trunk held Amelia's birthday gifts!
A homemade birthday cake was made and decorated with pale aqua icing and white chocolate sea creatures!
Thank you so much for sharing these photos with us Mandy and a very Happy 3rd Birthday Sweet Amelia!

Princess Ribbon Wands

We are helping our friend Meredith from Bloom Photography with a princess party for her sweet little girl, Molly...who is turning 3 in a couple of weeks! Meredith wanted to make a few special things for the little girls to have that would make them feel like princesses! So one of the things we made were ribbon wands, although they are so incredibly simple to make they are so colorful and magical for the little ones to wave around! Meredith even suggested that they would make a great centerpiece in the middle of the table in a beautiful vase! All you need is ribbon, extra long lolli sticks (made by Wilton and can be bought at most any craft store), scissors and a glue gun!

You can use as many pieces of ribbon and colors of ribbon as you want. We choose to us 4 pieces of ribbon on each stick. We bought a light pink satin, a sheer white, a semi sheer dark pink and a roll of white tulle that we cut into skinny pieces. Just divide the ribbon into color piles. Decide how you want to put the ribbon together. We layered the light pink first, white, dark pink and finally the tulle.
Layer the pieces so you can see the top of all of them, take your glue gun and start at the tulle and glue up to the light pink. Then just take your lolli stick and roll it toward the tulle until the ribbon is all securely glued together on the stick.

You can trim the ribbon so that it hangs slightly below the end of the stick. We just added a little bow with a gem in the center to the birthday girl's wand to make it extra special!

We were inspired to make these by a photo we saw on pinterest.