Icing on the Cake

Well another busy week has come to an end! We are glad the weekend has almost officially arrived. We are back with a little 'Icing on the Cake'. We love doing these posts because there is never enough time to feature all of the amazing ideas that come out of the blogisphere each week! So we love sharing our favorite posts of the week here. We are getting ready for another inspiration photo shoot next week, this time think boy! We are excited to share a new paper party collection with you...hope you love it! Happy Weekend!  

these are so darn cute, we must try them

animal crackers in my soup...these look so yummy

in ♥ with this fairly new blog
umm, get in our bellies
yum, not just for breakfast anymore
wanna see some amazing cakes, look no further
seriously hope we win this, how awesome would that be...we love kelly
we could not be more excited about this natural and organic bakery opening right down street
party hats and paper flowers, say no more
love the woman behind this blog, oh and the blog is pretty amazing too

Photo via Sprinkle Bakes

Party Palette Picks

We are introducing another new column today called, 'Party Palette Picks'. When we are planning a party, {after we come up with a theme} the first decision we make is what the color palette will be. It is, perhaps the most important detail in getting your party planning started! After you choose your colors, every thing else can fall easily into place....well sometimes! We love metallics and the way that they add a 'touch of sparkle' to any color palette. Today we are seriously crushing on this gorgeous palette {and photo} of shimmering gold with burnt orange, fuchsia and blush pink! These colors are vibrant and beautiful and the gold adds the perfect amount of glam! Party Palette inspiration can be found anywhere, but today these gorgeous florals and gold sequin table cloth are our perfect pick!

Photography: Jose Villa ♥ Floral Design: Primary Petals ♥ Full Feature: Style Me Pretty

Create & Celebrate: Easter Egg Cake Stand and A Pink Ruffle Garland Giveaway

Hi, my name is Katie and I'm absolutely thrilled to be sharing this first post with you! For the past few years, Melissa and Kellie have encouraged me to share several of my DIY projects on this beautiful blog. I am truly honored that they have asked me to contribute  a new monthly column entitled 'Create & Celebrate.' Nothing inspires me more than when I am asked to design something handmade for a special occasion, or to create party goods for a unique theme. I hope to provide a bit of inspiration to help you create memories and celebrate the sweet moments in life! So, let's get to it!

A week after Easter, I am still finding plastic eggs all over my house! Many of them seem to be missing one half or the other once they have been emptied of the treat inside. This project turns some of your extra egg inventory into a cake stand for your little ones!

  

{You will also need glue gun/glue and paint if you choose.}

1.  Glue the medium egg half onto the center of the bottom of your plate

2.  Glue the mini egg on top of the large egg half

3.  Glue the two pieces together. Be generous with the glue to fill in any gaps.

{Paint if you would like with spray paint and a non-toxic top coat.}

*We recommend using only play sweet treats with this cake stand, but it would be fun to use these as part of a centerpiece too!

Ruffle Garland Giveaway

I love incorporating handmade items into a celebration that can be used each year, played with, or even used as decor after the party. If you have seen some of my past projects it appears I might be a bit obsessed with ruffles, so I thought it would be fitting to give away a pink ruffle garland similar to those I made for Melissa's sweet girls' birthday party a few years ago. To enter, please leave a comment below telling us how you would use the garland. We will pick a winner at random on Friday. I can't wait to read your ideas!

**Please be sure to check back April 12th to see if you are the winner**

This is for one pin ruffle garland and the item will be shipped within 5 days of winning.

{Open to US and Oversea readers}

Donut Party

Well, our donut inspiration week is coming to end, but what would the end of a week be with our a party! So we have for you, a festive donut party! We truly do believe that parties should be simple, fun and carefree and that's exactly what this is! You would not believe how easily this came together, with a few store bought donuts, you can set up a donut bar in no time at all! We created a confetti garland by using two shades of pink paper and white paper. We love this look because they are almost reminiscent of donut holes, if you use your imagination, right! We took two pedestals and pilled sugary donuts on one and chocolate glazed on the other. Our cake is a simple white frosted cake with mini powdered donut holes around the bottom.  We just took a DIY donut from our donut garland and popped it on a paper straw to create a simple cake topper! Mini glass, polka dot ramekins filled with hot fudge were perfect to balance our donut skewers on. We used "dunk it" cupcake toppers and just turned them sideways and skewered a glazed donut hole on to it so they could be easily dunked in the hot fudge and popped in your mouth! Lastly, our "donut bar" letter garland hung from our pink chevron table cloth! Now, how simple is that! These ideas could be used for a birthday party, a baby shower or sprinkle or even just a fun set up for you little ones after a sleep over, who would not want to wake up to a donut bar!?!

We couldn't decide whether we liked our cake with a donut on a straw cake topper or a donut party hat cake topper...which is your favorite!?! 

A DIY Donut Garland

As you know we are on a donut kick this week, well every week really! So you've got some inspiration to start planning your party and invites to send out but now you need a DIY, right!?! Well, don't worry friends, we've got you covered! This simple donut garland should do the trick! You will not believe how easy these sprinkled 'donuts' are to make and how fast this garland comes together!

Materials
Pink and white crepe paper {or colors of your choice}
top of a ribbon spool
hot glue/tack glue
beads {that look like sprinkles, these can be found in the jewelry section of your local craft store}
skinny white ribbon
satin ribbon to string the garland one

1. Take your white crepe paper and simply wrap your ribbon spool top with it until it is covered. You may want to add a few dabs of glue here and there to secure the paper-especially at the beginning and end. 

2. Take your pink crepe paper and cut it in half length wise so that is is a skinnier piece. Put a circle of glue around the hole in the ribbon top and begin to ruffle your pink crepe paper, until you have gone all the way around. 

3. Now it is time to add those sprinkles!! Fill a mini cupcake liner with glue and use tweezers to pick up the bead, dip them in the glue then place them where you would like to on your 'pink frosting'.

4. The simplest way we found to string and hang the garland was by using a skinny piece of white ribbon, looped and glued onto the top of the back of the donut. This way you can string your satin ribbon easily through the loops. 

There you have it a perfectly delicious donut garland! 

It's A Donut Bash

We are so excited about this week, we are finally back from our mini break and ready to implement what we learned while we were away. So we thought we'd better share some love...for donuts that is! Donuts are something that make us squeal with delight! We could go on and on about why we love them, but then we thought we should build a party around them instead! So you are in for a week filled with sweet, sugary donut ideas!

1. This donut pan is great for baking up the perfect little donut treats!
2. We love theses donut dusting sugars that come in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry!
3. What donut is complete with out some chocolate, white or pink sprinkles!?!
4. A galvanized tiered stand {especially with scalloped edges} is a great way to show off your donuts!
5. Confetti garlands are not only awesome, but they look like little donut holes when they are hung on a wall!
6. These pink bakery boxes are the best way to have your guest bring home some tasty donuts to have with their coffee the next morning.
And of course no party can even start without  invitations...so send these to invite your guests to your next donut bash! ;)

Alive...

Wishing you and your family a lovely and blessed Easter Holiday....

♥ Melissa and Kellie 

Oh Hello Spring!

After an incredibly long winter, that seems to be lingering, we were so excited to see a glimpse of spring today as the daffodils were beginning to break through the ground in the garden. Beautiful blooms are always one of our favorite signs of spring...now all we need is the sunshine and a warm spring breeze. As we wait patiently for the 'real' flowers were are always inspired by paper ones. Although they don't smell as lovely as 'real' ones, using a pretty spring color palette you can make paper ones that will hold your attention until the real ones bloom. If you follow us regularly, you know that paper flowers are a favorite DIY of ours. We wanted to create something reminiscent of spring. We simply used a Styrofoam wreath and wrapped it with a  pretty green satin ribbon and formed a cluster of colorful paper flowers on the side. This wreath would make a beautiful hostess gift for Easter. Thank you for letting us share with you and we are really looking forward to next week when we start blogging full time again!

You can find our DIY to creating these lovely flowers here....

DIY Bunny Candy Poppers

Hi everyone, we are still on a mini break {but working on tons of new things behind the scenes!} We thought we would pop in a couple times this week and share some Eastery projects with you! We seriously can not believe that Easter is this week {and yes it is literally snowing here right now...where is the weather that is supposed to accompany spring!?!}
Anyways...Kellie and both have little ones, I have 5 year old twin daughters and Kellie has a 6 year old daughter {and a 12 year old too} so we still get to play Easter bunny! Its so much fun preparing baskets for the girls and so exciting to see the absolute joy on their faces when they find their Easter baskets! One item I add to my girls baskets every year are these little bunny candy poppers. Of course candy poppers are nothing new, but we thought we would share how easy they are to transform into bunnies! There is no ripping or tearing, which may take the fun out of them...hehe...but all you have to do is un-tie the ribbon and open the bunnies ears and she's filled with all kinds of Eastery goodness!

Materials

1 sheet of sparkly white felt {you can actually get 2 poppers out of one piece}

1/2 paper towel roll {or toilet paper roll} 

piece of white card stock {to cover bottom of popper}

pink festooning 

google eyes 

pink beads {you can use anything here for a nose, you could even cut out a circle from card stock}

mini pom poms 

flowers stamens {used for sugar flowers, these can be found in the baking isle of any craft store} 

pink ribbon 

1. Trace the bottom opening of the paper roll onto card stock and cut it out. Hot glue the card stock to the bottom of paper roll. {This will just keep the candy in the popper}

2. Take your paper roll and place it so that the bottom of the felt lines up with the bottom of the paper roll. {The paper roll should also be at the beginning of the felt so that you do not waste any, don't place it in the center of the felt, this way you will get 2 bunnies out of one piece} Roll the paper roll  inward just until the felt covers the entire roll {leave a little overlap} cut the felt and then hot glue the edges of the felt together covering the entire paper roll.

3. There will be a lot of left over at the top cut a slit down the center just until you reach the top of the paper roll. {These will end up being the ears}

4. Hot glue 3 of the stamens on the roll to create whiskers, glue the pink bead on top of them to create the nose and the google eyes just above the whiskers. 

5. Hot glue pink festooning around the bottom of the bunny. 

6. Turn the bunny over and hot glue a little pom pom on the bottom to create a tail.

7. Fill your bunny up with paper shreds and candy and little toys! 

8. Tie the ears together with a ribbon, if they are to close together pull them apart to create more of a "bunny ear" look. 

9. All the kiddos have to do to get their candy is untie the ears! 

A mini Break...and a Heart to Heart

Hi friends, we wanted to take a minute to let you know a little bit about what’s going on here at Icing Designs. This is a different kind of post for us, as we normally don’t talk too much about ‘ourselves’ and what’s going on behind the scenes. But we wanted to take this opportunity to let you that we are going to be making some changes to help us become a more effective blog. We are currently taking a class called Blog Boss, Blogging your Way, created by Holly Becker of Decor8. This class has in a nutshell blown our minds. It has really opened our eyes to some things that we need to work on and re-think. It is also a really exciting class, we have learned more about blogging in the last week and half then we’ve learned on our own in the last couple of years. Holly is one of the most reputable, successful bloggers around. Her teaching style is spot on, easy to understand, amazingly helpful and effective! If you are looking to take a class to better your blog, we highly recommend this one!

To give you a little more insight one of the reasons we decide to take a class is because although, we have been blogging for about 4 years now, we don’t feel like our readers are completely connected with us. When we started our blog one of the things we looked forward to the most was interacting with our readers, the way we do with our customers. We have built some fantastic relationships with our customers. We have always hoped to do the same with the readers on our blog. We want our readers/audience to get to know us a little bit better, the faces behind the blog per say. We would also really like to connect and collaborate with some other bloggers who complement our style and vice versa. 

We have to admit we have had some really overwhelming weeks. When we started this business and blog we never in a million years thought that we would ever end up on some of the blogs, websites or magazines that we have had the privilege of being in. We are stay at home moms with a passion for creativity and paper goods and just wanted something to keep us busy, so we started Icing Designs. We feel blessed beyond belief every time we get an order. There are so many phenomenal vendors that customers could be ordering from, so when they choose us to help make an occasion special we are over the moon. We always try to give our customers the most enjoyable experience they can have and we think that is why so many of our customer are repeat. But, being stay at home moms first and foremost it does make it extremely difficult to keep up with our orders, our blog, facebook, pinterest and connecting with and supporting other businesses they way we want so badly to do. So there have been many times when we have felt like, is it worth it to keep doing our blog, is anyone connecting with us, do they like what we are doing, should we just stop the blog and focus on our business? 

But the truth of the matter is we love blogging and sharing our ideas and in our hearts do not want to stop or give up. So, we are going to take just a little bit of time to re-focus our direction. We have some really fun things in mind and want to start sharing more about who Kellie and I are with you so that you can get to know us too. We really are so thankful to those of you who do follow us, we just hope you are getting something out of our blog, we can not wait to share our new ideas and posts with you. If you have been a follower of ours or your new to our blog, if you feel compelled to leave us a comment to let us know what you would like to see more or less of, please do so! That way in the time we are re-organizing we can take your thoughts into consideration, after all, this blog is for you! We will be back April 1st and will be blogging  little updates as well. We will also still be active on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram...so follow us there in the meantime! 

Thank you so much to all who read this post and to all who have been following us, we hope to make our blog more effective and more exciting for you in the coming weeks!!

♥ Melissa and Kellie

A Sweet Spring Table

As we are sure you all are, we are counting down the days until Spring! It has been a cold and snowy couple of weeks here, we really need a good dose of warm sunshine! We wanted to put together a little spring table that would be so sweet for any little girls birthday party or baby shower. We came up with some ideas that would compliment our Sweet Little Cupcake Pixie collection perfectly!

If you follow us, you know we adore paper flowers. They are so easy to make and so versatile  Large ones make the perfect backdrop for sweet tables, like the gold ones we made to use here. So we made them the center of attention, they are a great way to add color and dimension to your backdrop. We used a pink and white polka dot table cloth with a white ruffle to set our goodies on. Tall cake stands hold our pink cake pops with white non-perils. We adorned them with pink bows just to add a little bit of sweetness. Our fairy sprinkles  favors are perfect to add to the table. Although, they would act as take home favor, they are dainty and add interest to the setting. In the center, we used pink and white polka dot cups to coordinate with the table cloth. We created glittery paper flowers that we stuck onto lollipops and put into the cups. Our little tags had each child's name on them. A mini cake was adorned with our new cake crown in pink and green and set on a pink milk glass cake stand. Finally, we set yellow mini rose cupcakes under a dome with a pink bow and scattered some outside of the dome as well. 

Taking one of our collections, creating DIY projects around it and then showing how you can create a small party setting is actually something that we have wanted to do for a long time.  We are excited that this is our first post and hope it will help to inspire your next spring party! 

Styling, paper goods, desserts, DIYs: Icing Designs 

Over-sized paper flowers: Katie Pietraszak

Polka dot cups, pink cake stand: Sweet Lulu 

Tall white cake stand {with dome}: Hobby Lobby