Dessert | Kristen's Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

As promised, desserts!  

Last week my coworker celebrated her birthday and our department goes a little crazy with birthday breakfast buffets... 

The birthday girl and the breakfast spread

I never seem to be hungry for lunch on those days {it may be the delicious cheesy potatoes!}.  Kristen happens to be my cubicle buddy and both of us graduated from Chapman University.  We also happen to be 1/2 of a group our other coworkers have deemed the lunch bunch!  There happens to be three ladies at work who I adore and work just wouldn't be the same without them!  Okay, moving on from the mushy gushy stuff... Kristen loves the colors orange and teal {I found out later that her teal is more of a turquoise}!  She even claimed dibs on those colors for her wedding, so we decided to incorporate that color scheme into her birthday decorations!  

This one was a group effort and I have to thank the lunch bunch for all their help! Thank you to Lynda for providing all the paper decorations!  

All the paper flowers scattered on Kristen's desk were cut out and the flowers are from her mom

Kristen loves red velvet, so I baked about 2 dozen cupcakes and a 4" mini cake for her!  I couldn't cover the 4" mini cake with fondant and have freshly baked cupcakes, so I opted for a rustic frosting look with fondant decorations.

The cupcake wrappers were custom designed and cut by Jen.  Jen is an amazing illustrator and designer, check out here work here.  

Happy birthday to the birthday girl!  Cheers!

Next up, piping carnation flowers... 250 of them...

~Danielle

Paper | Sources I love!

You are probably asking why I haven't posted anything about cakes or desserts lately... I promise you the next one will be about desserts!  


This post is about three of my new favorite party paper/design sources!  First up, Minted.com!  A modern stationary and invitations company based out of San Francisco that brings you fantastic designs!  They have some new offerings that I may be purchasing down the line as the holidays draw near... 

Minibook albums from their wedding line. Photo courtesy of Minted.

Menu Cards. Photo courtesy of Minted.

Baby Shower and Kids Invitations. Photo courtesy of Minted.

Skinny wrap labels... I totally want to use these this Christmas! Photo courtesy of Minted.

Second up, Style Me Gorgeous!  

 


I stumbled across this blog through another blog and right away I loved everything that Sarah had to offer.  It might be that I am a little big kid, but I am always attracted to kiddie stuff {huge Disney fan ~ remember the Minnie cupcakes}!  She designs playful and whimsical mommy and children items!  And you gotta love her company name!  In the last couple months that I have been in wedding world, she came out with a "print, cut and party" line that is simply genius!!!  Finally someone who offers more than just invitations, thank yous and menus.  Here is a preview of her recent tea party line!

Photo courtesy of Style Me Gorgeous.

Photo courtesy of Style Me Gorgeous.

Photo courtesy of Style Me Gorgeous.

Here are some other printables she offers: Birdie and Elephant and Diggers and Dump Trucks.  Visit her website to view her other offerings. 

And last but not least, I saw these cute cupcake sets at Sur La Table and had to look up Meri Meri when I got home.  If you are one of those that rather purchase than cut-it-out yourself, then this is the solution for you!

Oh Baby Baby line. Photo courtesy of Meri Meri.

Aloha line. Photo courtesy of Meri Meri.

Mermaids and mermaid invites! Photo courtesy of Meri Meri.

They do more than cupcake liners and invites... full party decor!  Love!  Photo courtesy of Meri Meri.

Now go have some fun!  Happy cutting and partying!
~Danielle

Where credits are due:
Minted ~ http://www.minted.com/
Style Me Gorgeous ~ http://www.stylemegorgeous.com.au/store/pc/home.asp
Style Me Gorgeous blog ~ http://stylemegorgeous-bysarah.blogspot.com/
Meri Meri ~ http://merimeri.com/
Sur La Table colorful cupcake wrappers ~ http://www.surlatable.com/category/id/104489.do
 

Party | Little Inspirations

So I was checking my email and guess what should pop up... an email from Crate and Barrel {no surprise there} and they announced a website redesign.  I work in the creative web and print world, so these kinds of announcements excite me!  I opened up the email and the second item listed... dessert tables!!!  

Photo courtesy of Crate and Barrel

Oh how I love thee!  

Crate and Barrel's new web re-design allows you to shop by ideas {sub-category: create the look}, which I think is a fantastic move!  In today's world people are inspired by the crafty and the creative and they want to replicate that.  Here is a screen capture of the first line of product within this dessert table idea.  

Photo courtesy of Crate and Barrel

 The cake pedestal prices are not too bad surprisingly.  Some of my favorite ceramic and Mosser milk-glass cake stands average between $30-$60 a piece. 

Mosser milk cake stands

And I love these glass jars and again the price points are not too bad.  My coworker told me that TJ Maxx Home Goods and Ross are two places to keep an eye out for these jars if you are in need of a lower price point.   These jars have multiple uses beyond candy and dessert bars… 

Makes you want to go out and buy a couple of these, doesn’t it? 

This whole post was inspired by a single email that I received, it’s amazing what can inspire you and what directions it takes you in.  I’ll be picking up a couple of these jars this Halloween and I’ll make sure to post some of my ideas. 

What are your ideas?

~Danielle

Paper | Party Accents

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I am going to incorporate my other love {paper} and it's uses with desserts!  For those of you who are just visiting my blog, I have a tendency to want to make things pretty - it might be the perfectionist in me, but I love to plate and dress food up!  One of the easiest ways to dress up your desserts or even a party is by adding paper accents.  

Seeing how much I love paper, our stationary set for our wedding was very important to me!  We love ferns and it's symbolic meaning, so we ran with a fern theme.  See below for how we incorporated it into our special day

Our complete set: save the dates, invite, cupcake wrapper, menu, thank yous and welcome recipe cards.  Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photo.

Paper fern cut out and cupcake wrappers. Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photo.

Close up of the cupcake wrappers.  Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photo.

Paper mini fans, name place holders and menus.  Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photo.

Paper labels on wine bottles displaying seating assignments.  The roses on the bottles were made out of paper.  Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photo.

More nameplates and using the ferns in our flower arrangements. Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photo.

The photos make my stationary set look extra fancy, but in all honesty, these were all DIY - Do it Yourself projects {just in case you wanted to know what that stood for mom}.  You can easily create these items at home by purchasing fun paper at Michaels or Paper Source and cutting items out using scissors or dies and dies.  

We took this pic of great stationary ideas at Paper Source today!

I love the Asian themed dinner party set, especially the chopsticks holder!

I love Martha Stewart and she has some great templates available online for you to download for free and use for your next party!  Up next, some places to purchase some pre-made party stationary sets ~ I think you'll be excited, I am!

Hope you are able to dress up your next party!
~Danielle



Where credits are due:
Soul Mates Photography ~ http://www.soulmatesphoto.com/
Cupcake wrapper die ~ http://www.sizzix.com/product/1924
Florals for the cake display, Teresa Sena Designs ~ http://www.whiteorchidwedding.com/about/ohana/theresa.php
Penguin Cake Toppers, The Pink Koala on Etsy ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/thepinkkoala?ref=seller_info

Cookies | Tips & Tricks

Happy Thursday everyone!


I have a short little post for all of you!  Sugar & Meringue put together an online sugar cookie book (with the help of Bake It Pretty, Cakespy, The Constant Baker, Not So Humble Pie, and Sweetopia) for all your viewing pleasure and best of all it's FREE!  She has some great recipes in there, but the best part are her tips on how to flood and decorate sugar cookies. 




Enjoy!
~Danielle

It's been a long time

I know it's been a long time since I blogged, but hey, I was getting married {insert big smile here}.  

In a previous post I mentioned loving table displays!  You may have heard of Amy Atlas, some people see her as the Queen B of dessert tables and she really does do amazing work.  Dessert displays are just like what they sound like - a dessert buffet but in today's modern world people are dressing up their displays and matching their desserts with their party's theme. 

Zebra Patterned Dessert Bar, photo courtesy of Amy Atlas

If you know me, then you know that I'm a huge dork who gets excited about desserts and paper... yup, paper!   I used to work for a printing company and now I traffic production in an art department for a craft company.  I even have a favorite line of paper!  What is that you say, line of paper... yup line of paper.  The Curious Collection is amazing!!! {See, I'm a huge dork...}.  So, with that being said, I can honestly tell you that dessert displays are exciting because they combine two things that I love!

Over the past couple months I've been thinking up different ways to extend my future business.  I've thought about a store front, maybe a little boutique shop, maybe a cake supplies store... it's still a work in progress, but I have decided to incorporate paper and it's uses with desserts into my blog.  My company's name is Cake and Company and paper is really good company!

It's easy to take your simple homemade cupcake, like the one below and dress it up!

All it takes, is either a decorating tip or some fun with paper.  I'll be posting a few tips and DIY projects in the future so that you can also do it at home!  So keep your eyes out for future posts!  In the meantime, here a few images from our wedding.  I baked the cupcakes for our wedding tower the night before the wedding, I know I am crazy but I wanted my family to taste my treats.

Close up of our wedding cupcakes. Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photography

Our cake topper and a larger shot of our cupcake tower.  Photo courtesy of Soul Mates Photography

To tie our cupcakes into our wedding theme, I had paper printed with our fern design on it.  I then used a cupcake wrapper die to die-cut the wrappers.  For the cake on top of the cake, I decided to go with fondant covered Styrofoam cake dummies.  I didn't want to fondant a cake in Maui, because I have never worked in that type of climate before with fondant.  So, to save my bridal sanity and frustration I took the simple way out and covered the dummies in California.  Yes, I put the cake dummies in my carry-on luggage...  I then die-cut a fern flourish out of green paper (I can just see the disappointed look in Kerry Vincent's eyes) to decorate the cake.  Tyler and I are each others penguins, so I surprised him with our penguin cake toppers. 

See the use of paper with desserts is amazing!


Here is one last photo of me and Tyler from our wedding

To see more of our wedding photos, check out soulmatesphotoblog.com

 Until next time, happy baking and paper cutting!
~Danielle

Where credits are due:
Amy Atlas Events ~ http://www.amyatlas.com/
Soul Mates Photography ~ http://www.soulmatesphoto.com/
Cupcake wrapper die ~ http://www.sizzix.com/product/1924
Florals for the cake display, Teresa Sena Designs ~ http://www.whiteorchidwedding.com/about/ohana/theresa.php
Penguin Cake Toppers, The Pink Koala on Etsy ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/thepinkkoala?ref=seller_info