We HEART Bonbon Balloons!

What screams celebration louder than balloons!?! We love them, they are so festive and there are so many styles and colors to choose from! We've blogged about our love of balloons before here. We also have an entire pinterest page devoted to them! But today we came across a balloon shop like no other...Bonbon Balloons! Have you heard of them!?! Based in London, they create the most unique balloons you'll ever see! They come in a variety of colors tied with the sweetest hand-crafted strings! They will even send you balloon as a gift, so that when the box is opened the balloons float up and present a personal message! We will let the photos speak for themselves. We love the confetti filled ones, what do you think...pretty amazing huh!?!

Loralee Lewis

We are constantly inspired by so many designers, stylists and party/event planners. There is truly so much talent to admire. We could spend hours just swooning over all of the beautiful parties and weddings that are seamlessly crafted detail by detail. We love to be able to feature the talent of others on our blog and we are so thrilled that we have the opportunity not only to feature, but to share an interview that we did with the phenomenally talented, Loralee Lewis! Loralee is a paper designer and event stylist, who's style is impeccable and unique with a real vintage flair. Her concentration on little details come together to create such beautiful events! It is no wonder that her work has been featured in many popular magazines and that she has Academy Award winning clients! We first heard about Loralee when our sweet and incredibly talented friend, Kate Landers, featured Loralee's work with her Nutcracker themed party and then again at Kate’s signature baby boy shower! We have really enjoyed following Loralee’s work, we know you will enjoy Loralee's story and will fall in love with her work too!

Icing: Could you tell us a little bit about how you got your start?

Loralee: I got my start by blogging back in 2007 with my sister, Annie, on the "no fuss fabulous" blog. We gained a readership, and in 2010 I posted a party invitation that I had used for my daughter on the site. Someone saw it and bought 400 invitations from me directly because she liked the look. I learned then that there was a business
opportunity here.

Icing: Where do you draw inspiration from?

Loralee: I draw inspiration from anything pretty. I love vintage images in particular because they make me laugh and are frequently so beautiful. I draw a lot of inspiration from things I see in children's magazines as well and from fashion mags (classic ones: Vogue, Marie Claire, etc.)

Icing: Who are some of the people/party planners that inspire you?

Loralee: I love the community of party planners and creators. There are almost too many to name, as all of them have inspired me at one time or another, and I frequently find as much inspiration from individuals doing a single event as I do from "the pros." I gain a lot of insight during collaborations with event stylists, and they push me to improve and push the envelope further on my product offering.

Icing: Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to help people who have not created many parties of their own that would like to give it a try?

Loralee:
A. Pre-pack the kids' menus; I don't use buffets for food. I always have everything prepped and bagged and I keep it simple (e.g. peanut butter sandwich, grapes, carrots). This makes it easy to feed them, as I frequently work with preschoolers.

B. Doing a nice party is not as hard as it seems. Plan ahead and sketch out what you want it to look like. Start with a table and decorate it. Choose a few colors and stick with them. Pretty desserts can be found anywhere and on any budget, you don't have
to go the Neiman Marcus bakery, and an otherwise "average" looking cupcake can be dressed up with a simple wrap and tag to look extraordinary.

C. Good photography is the most neglected virtue of party planners. Ask around and find a friend who has a nice camera to help with the photos. It's unfortunate how many people throw amazing events but don't have photos that capture the grandeur.

Icing: What has been one of your favorite projects to work on to date?

Loralee: A favorite project recently was an event for a television network where we did a POP theme in January and it was done in bright yellows and greens. Everyone felt like springtime while they were in attendance and we tried some new things, like using tiny vases for drinks and experimenting with Jell-O at the dessert table. Super fun!

Thank you so much Loralee for sharing your time and talent with us!

Photos: Queen Bee Birthday Party for Loralee's sweet little girl, Horse Show Party for Babekins Magazine, Kate Lander's signature baby boy shower for which Loralee created the paper party goods, Sharnel Dollar's Mary Poppins birthday party for which Loralee created paper party goods, Vintage pool party paper party goods, Loralee's Airline Baby Shower, Bebe Shower paper party goods by Loralee

{More photos from all of the events can be found on Loralee's Blog}

DIY tissue paper and fringe cupcake toppers

We are working on a really beautiful gold and creme themed baby shower that will take place this weekend. We are really excited to see how it all comes together. One of the diy projects we are working on is a creme colored tissue paper flower with a gold fringe center! We obviously love making paper flowers, and these are so easy to make and look so pretty on top of your cupcakes!

Materials:

tissue paper

gold fabric or ribbon

lollipop sticks

hot glue

scissors

hole punch

We are topping mini cupcakes, so we cut mini circles our of our tissue paper, about 2". If you are making them for regular sized cupcakes you can cut your circles larger. Just layer your tissue paper and cut out circles...don't worry about them being perfect, the more imperfect you cut cut the more shapely the flower. You are going to use about 6 circles per cupcake topper. Punch a hole in the center of the layered tissue paper.
Cut a 1" strip of your gold ribbon or fabric {we found a spool of this thick gold ribbon in the dollar bin at Jo Anne Fabrics}. Roll the ribbon and hot glue the bottom of it together. Then just cut strips taking care you don't cut all the way to the bottom, you just want to create a fringed look.
Next add a dab of hot glue to the top of your lollipop stick and slide your 6 layers of tissue paper on. {Exactly like our diy ombre flower cupcake toppers} Then add another dab of glue in the center of your flower and add your fringe piece. Immediately close the top layer of tissue around the fringe so that it attaches. Then just continue to bunch your tissue paper layer by layer.
It's that simple! Hope you will try these, they would look beautiful in any color...especially with spring approaching!!

Lael Cakes: Gilded Cakes

Oh my, we have fallen in love with Lael Cakes, a custom cakery owned by Emily Lael! Based in Brooklyn, NY, this is no ordinary cakery, this a vegan and gluten free cakery that creates the most stunning and unique cakes! As you may know, we are loving the metallic trend that is quite popular right now. So we were just smitten with the gorgeous cakes that Emily created for a spread in Utterly Engaged! We just love the gold and black and the unique techniques she uses to create cake that are almost to pretty to eat! We hope you will take the time to read this great interview Emily did and her full feature in Utterly Engaged!

photos by Jen Huang Photography

BHLDN Grand Opening Details

As promised, we wold love to share some of the details of the Grand Opening of BHLDN, Chicago with you! We had a fabulous time! We had been admiring all of BHLDNs party goods, gorgeous dresses and accessories online since they started, but it was wonderful to see everything in person! The store is so much fun with a classy bridal ambiance and a fabulous vintage flair! The lower level was filled with lovely things to outfit your bridesmaids! A winding, wooden staircase takes you up to bridal heaven, there are even literally hand-painted angel wings hanging from the ceiling! The room is filled with gorgeous headpieces, including our personal favorite, Twigs and Honey...yea Myra! Glittery shoes and sparkly, beautiful accessories are displayed in and on glass cases for all to admire! The gowns are stunning and set up in a gorgeous bridal parlor...where we had the pleasure of meeting Darcy Miller of Martha Stewart Weddings...what a thrill!! We must say, probably since we are both already married, that our favorite room at of all was the party room!! Oh my goodness, it was literally "dreamy"! There was so much to look at and we found ourselves going back in a few times. We loved the glittery garlands, the beautifully colored paper poms and fans, the milk glass cake pedestals, all of the striped straws and so much more! There were so many amazing details to help make a bride and groom's day flawless! We had a blast, if you know someone planning a wedding we definitely recommend checking out BHLDN!!