This western barbecue party made us kick up our heels and say YEEHAW!  Nikki from Tradewind Tiaras and Paula from Frog Prince Paperie have a new e-magazine called Festivities, which will launch next week. This is just a sneak peek of what’s in store. They put together this western barbecue inspired by the gold mining history of the Superstition Mountains and the legendary Lost Dutchman’s gold mine.  This extraordinary location was the perfect backdrop for their western theme! The design included use of bandana prints, red gingham, antique ball jars filled with wildflowers, and denim since Levi Strauss invented jeans so gold miners could have pants that would stand up to the rigors of mining. The menu was classic Americana including hot dogs roasted over a fire, homemade potato chips, and cole slaw. Sweet treats on the dessert table included apple pie, blueberry muffins, gold nuggets (rock candy),  snickerdoodle blondies, and cactus and boot sugar cookies. Lemonade and water kept everyone hydrated. The day ended with roasted s’mores made with homemade graham crackers and marshmallows. We think they struck gold!  Scroll down for the vendor credits.

Photography by Nikki Wills from Tikkido.

VENDOR CREDITS:

Printables: Frog Prince Paperie
Homemade Chips: Mikes Burgers and Cheesesteaks
Styling and baking: Nikki Wills of Tikkido

This dinosaur party was created by Karolina from Karo’s Fun Land for her dinosaur-lovin’ twin nephews. The color palette was inspired by Dinosaur printables that she found from Anders Ruff. Sweet treats on the dessert table included green dinosaur rice krispies, vanilla cupcakes with dinosaur toppers, dinosaur toe cereal mix, and dino-mite jello. Thirsty guests followed dinosaur footsteps which directed them to a lava juice drink station. Giant orange balloons from Shop Sweet Lulu were also by the table for the kids. This party was T-Riffic.

This Amy Atlas Moment from Seri from Little Miss Party Planner was created for her sister’s bridal shower. Seri made a “Tea for Two” theme using a pastel color palette for a soft and feminine feel. Sweet treats on the dessert table included tea bag cookies {so clever!}, macaroons, meringue, mini cupcakes, and a two-tiered ruffled cake. Family heirlooms like vintage tea cups and teapots made the shower even more meaningful. Teacups were re-purposed as vases and turned upside down to create mini cake stands. The final sweet touch of the day was the addition of silhouette pendants that Seri found at M&J Trimming. Seri hot-glued the silhouettes onto ribbon and wrapped them around the corrugated sleeves on coffee cups. A great DIY to spice up a boring plain white cup. Great job, Seri!

Photography by Robyn Harrison.

May and June are Graduation months and there are so many cute ideas in this graduation party by Cris from Crissy’s Crafts. We love how Cris gave many store bought items their pomp and circumstance by adding cupcake toppers and chocolate stars. How great are the Swiss Roll diplomas? Other sweet treats on the dessert table included star-topped cupcakes, class of 2012 push pop cupcakes, and caramel popcorn. Free graduation printables from Bird’s Party put this party at the head of its class. To send the grads off with memories from their party, Cris purchased glasses and headbands from The Dollar Store for the “You are a Star” photo booth. This party got an A+.

Scroll down for the vendor credits.

VENDOR CREDITS:

This 3rd birthday paw-ty was submitted to us by Renee from La Petite Princesse. This was not your ordinary dessert table.  In fact, Renee’s daughter was diagnosed last year as Type 1 Diabetic. This was Renee’s first attempt at creating a dessert table without a ton of sugar while maintaining all of the creativity. For lunch, kids snacked on bowtie pasta and cheese sauce creatively packaged in plastic containers with paws on the front, as well as petite hot dogs, puppy shaped ham and cheese sandwiches, puppy fries, and beef and veggie puppy pies. Sweet treats on the dessert table included sugar free white chocolate paw pops, petite size macaroons filled with sugar free white chocolate ganache, sugar free puppy butter cookies sweetened ever so slightly with a cute little royal icing puppy face, vanilla infused mascarpone cheesecake jars, and sugar free white rosewater marshmallows. To ensure the least amount of sugar, Renee made all of the desserts herself. The blue ombre cake was created using reduced sugar cream cheese frosting and reduced sugar vanilla cake batter. We love all of the fun paw prints. Great job!

Last week, we featured this party that was Burberry inspired. This morning’s featured submission is also fashion inspired. This birthday party shoot was sent to us by Monika from Stylish Party Bazzar in the UK and was inspired by the aqua blue and pink color palette in the Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 Campaign. Sweet treats on the dessert table included peaches ‘n cream biscuits, cake pops, cupcakes, and strawberry milk.  We love the chalkboard labels on the milk bottles. The use of doilies and tulips gave the table a feminine vibe. Scroll down for the vendor credits.

VENDOR CREDITS:

1. bracelet 2. china 3. flatware 4. napkins 5. butler tray 6. cake 7. chair 8. chaise 9.place card holder

Today we are studying Bamboo from our design board. Bamboo is the Chinese symbol for longevity and we can understand why. You can never tire of the designs above. We love the strength of bamboo and how it is perfectly translated into everything from furniture to jewelry. My favorite is that Banda Chaise. How do you feel about bamboo?

Photo by Johnny Miller. Courtesy of Sweet Designs: Bake It Craft It Style It.

How is it already Mother’s Day?  As a mom, I’m usually thinking of everyone else’s holidays and often forget when special occasions come up that celebrate me. I’m sure I’m not alone on this one, right? I’m curious what you all do for Mother’s Day? Do you get pampered by your kids and spouse?  Do you find yourself in the kitchen anyway baking like me with my boys above? Are you somehow still involved with the card or craft project that your kids are making for you? Do your kids and spouse take over and surprise you?  I’d love to hear what you all do.

I did get my first Mother’s Day card of the year already from my little son. Below is a peek of the inside….pretty precious, right? That’s me on the right and he’s on the left. My budding artist!

Please share what you are doing.  I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day!  xoxo

PS – If your kids are baking/crafting from my book, please share what they are making!

A couple of weeks ago, we had a Sweet Designs book signing at one of my favorite shops in New York City, Fishs Eddy.  They were kind enough to host an event the week of my book launch.  Many of my novelty items for parties and dessert tables come from Fishs Eddy.  I used many of their items in the book like their crossword puzzle glasses for my Game Night chapter and their acacia wooden trays for my Vineyard Afternoon chapter.

Both my boys and Lisa’s daughter came to set up. They were all excited to be a part of it.

Once my older son saw an “in” behind the cash register counter, he jumped behind it and took over. He was glued behind there for over an hour!

It always humbles me that people come to visit from all over for a book signing. Visitors from Saudi Arabia and London extended their trips to be at the signing.  There were visitors from Boston, Ohio, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and upstate NY. I feel very lucky to have such wonderful supporters.

It also humbles me when I meet someone and they get emotional.  It makes me feel like I am doing what I am meant to be doing…which is inspiring people. Before we knew it, many of us were emotional. It was very touching.

There were even some readers at the event who we have featured on the blog, like Niki from Brooklyn above.

Below is a picture of me and the sweet owner of Fishs Eddy.

I could not believe how many people brought gifts and cards. I guess people really did look at my blog that week because so many knew it was my birthday. It was so thoughtful of them. One pastry chef, who drove in from Boston, turned a yellow macaroon into my logo. It was brilliant. The Fishs Eddy team also had a gift. I also had some sorority sisters that I hadn’t seen in 15 years come to the event!  Kate from Cake Power and Patti of Baked Ideas came by, and you can see my husband below testing out the cupcakes!

The Fishs Eddy staff created a dessert display that was so perfect.  They had lovely pink cupcakes on their milk glass stands and a Bake It, Craft It, Style It station. I can not say enough wonderful things about their team!  Thank you to the Fishs Eddy team for loving Sweet Designs!

This woodland dessert table was sent to us by Zena-Marie from The Fabulous Mom’s Guide. If you look through the forest of desserts on the dessert table, you’ll see there are many creative sweet treats. Chocolate dipped marshmallow pops were rolled in crystallized coconut before being  planted in little pots of edible chocolate dirt. Other woodsy sweet treats included hedgehog cookies, chocolate owls, mushroom cap meringue, and rocky road chocolate logs.