Icing Designs: April 2011

A "Royal Princess" Giveaway

We are in the process of really revamping the look of our Etsy shop, organizing our designs and changing our brands look and feel a little bit! Hopefully, we will have this all completed by the end of summer. One of the designs we are re-introducing to our shop is our "Royal Princess Cake". We thought what better a time to bring it back than the week of the "Royal Wedding"! Of course we thought it would be wonderful to share our new collection with you! Just leave us a comment (here or on our facebook page) on what you will be doing for for the "Royal Wedding" tomorrow! We will choose a winner at random on Monday and you can choose from a set of petite invites, personalized note cards, cupcake flags or gift tags!

Sweet Springtime Play Date in Gloomy Weather!

This has been the gloomiest April that we can remember. It seems like it has rained almost every day this month! We are longing for the warm sunshine and blooming flowers and the little ones running around outside squealing with joy!
We really wanted to have a little springtime playdate for two of our really special friends and their little girls. We, of course, were hoping that they could do an egg hunt outside and play in the warm sun. But, it was raining so unfortunately we had to hold our "springtime" play date inside.
Before everyone came over we set up a mini sweet table for the girls to sit around and have lunch at. My twins were so excited to help hang the "spring" letter garland we made above the table and decorate it with crepe paper flowers and butterflies. We wanted the table to be dainty and sweet. We made little chocolate dipped marshmallows with pastel sprinkles and a little pink ribbon flags on the sticks, chocolate dipped oreos with a little cherry blossom piped on top, cupcakes with cherry blossoms and pink sugared butterfly cookies. We set the table with little pink plates and napkins wrapped with ribbon and flowers. The girls reluctantly ate lunch while they stared at all of the treats that were awaiting them. After they played a few games of hide n go seek, we let them decorate bunny cookies, with tinted butter cream frostings and spring sprinkles. The girls were giddy with excitment! We did a little indoor egg hunt with them, and each little girl had to find a special chicky egg! The girls all got to bring home a sweet little pink and white polka dot bag filled with treats. Our lovely friend Katie, even made the girls the most adorable bunny bags filled with playdough! We are pretty sure the girls had a fun filled day, it was so much fun to watch them play and get so giddy over all of the sweets that they got to eat!

Gorgeous Springtime Bridal Shower Shoot

We just love this gorgeous springtime bridal shower photo shoot by Events by Sarah Elizabeth! All of the beautiful spring colors just drew us in. The pinks, mint green and robin's egg blues are so eye cathcing. There are so many details to adore, like the blue mason jars on the table, the beautiful desserts, the stunning florals and those white vintage chairs! Lots of great ideas here if you are planning a spring or summer bridal shower!

Styling: Events by Sarah Elizabeth
Photographer: Jim Heine
Bakery: Emily Malloy of Le Fouet
Flowers: the lovely Peicha Chang with Falls Flowers
Paper Goods: Brad Wason with 23rd & 5th

Japanese Tea Party Inspiration

Kellie came across the sweetest little "Japanese Tea Party" in Parents Magazine last week. We both instantly fell in love with the idea, especially since Kellie's daughters are part Japanese! We may have to convince sweet Leela to have this theme for her birthday next year! The best part of this party is so much of it is DIY, which you know we love! There is so much you can do with this theme, all of the colors are so beautiful and who doesn't want an excuse to use cherry blossoms!

Perhaps one of the best DIYs of the Japanese tea party theme is this adorable kimono!
All you need is: a twin flat sheet, scissors, pink and brown acrylic paint, wine cork, 1" sponge brush, ribbon
To Make it:
1. Fold sheet in half lengthwise. Measure child from shoulder to toe; cut ends of sheet so it's that length. Trim one side so sheet's twice the width of her shoulders.
2. Lay the folded sheet flat on your work surface, and cut a slit up the center of the top layer to the fold.
3. Apply paint to the cork with the brush and make 5 dots in a flower shape on the bottom edge of the right panel of fabric. Repeat the flowers 20 to 25 times up the fold.
4. Lightly dip the tip of the brush into brown paint and dab in between the flowers to create branches. Let dry.
5. Place sheet over child's shoulders and wrap ribbon around her torso.
Pretty easy!
Even the cherry blossoms can be DIY, if you can not get real ones.
All you need is: tissue paper, scissors, hot-glue gun, branches
Make it:
1. Cut 2" squares of tissue.
2. Stack them and gather in the center
3. Hot-glue to a branch as shown
We love these little Japanese slippers!
All you need is:a sturdy brown grocery or lunch bags, pencil, scissors, sequins, glue, ribbon
Make it:
1. Have the kids trace the soles of their shoes onto the backside of a brown grocery bag and cut out.
2. Cut two 1"x6" strips of paper from the bag, and let kids decorate them with sequins, glue, and ribbon, leaving about 1½" on either end blank.
3. After the glue has dried, glue the blank ends of each strip to the bottom sole of each shoe. Let dry.
You can even wrap the gifts in a piece of fabric using furoshiki, the Japanese art of gift wrap!

We also found this gorgeous, gorgeous Japanese Tea Party on Kara's Party Ideas via Ian Macpherson photography! We are just in love with all of it...again the color palette, the beautiful outdoor setting, those sweet sushi cupcakes and cherry blossom cookies and the little projects the kids did....all just adorable!

Perfect Shabby Chic Wedding Reception

We absolutely adore Melody of My Sweet and Saucy, you may remember our interview with her here. She is so amazingly talented, everything that her and her team create is pretty much perfection on a pedestal! We are also big fans of Tori Spelling and love her new show with her husband Dean, sTORIbook weddings! When we saw this dessert table that Melody created on the show last week we were literally swooning! This has to be one of the most amazing dessert tables we have seen! First off, the hanging bird cages with cakes and florals in them are so innovative and add such an amazing element of surprise to the table! The beautiful teal blue cakes with the fondant doilies are so sweet! The mason jars with red velvet cake tie with lace and a wooden spoon and the mini cupcakes with vintage fondant flowers are just lovely! And the mini pies with the bride and groom initials, so adorable! All of the desserts were set to make a perfectly shabby chic display! The whole reception was so romantic and whimsical....all we can really say is AMAZING!