June 30, 2011
The Fourth of July for me is always about family…and celebrating this amazing country I live in! We sit by the pool, barbeque, and watch the kids as they run through the sprinklers barefoot with their cousins. It is pretty casual and the perfect getaway during a very busy season. Of course, there is always blueberry pie! What are you doing for the Fourth? Do you like a casual get together or do you go…
June 29, 2011
I gave a sneak peek last week of the incredible Michaels event I was part of a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s time to fill you in on this amazing trip. Since this event was chock filled with inspiration, information and fun, I’m stretching the posts out into a couple of posts so you can enjoy every part of it. A little background…Michaels formed a Creative Crew of 10 gals (see below for links…
June 28, 2011
We had to share with you this dessert table that was styled by Coby from The Lemony Cupcake in Australia. How gorgeous is this? Coby designed this table for a little girl’s first birthday. Her client wanted a “Hairy MacLary/Farm Party” theme. Coby, who grew up in Brisbane, got her inspiration from her home town and the many weekends she spent on her parent’s property. We love the apple berry buckets and the soft red…
June 27, 2011
We fell in love with this pretty peach and raspberry scalloped guest dessert feature that was sent to us by Chelsea Arnold of Eye Candy Events in Australia. We featured her beautiful Sip ‘n See table when her daughter Thalia was born. This table was created for Thalia’s Christening. We love all of the scalloped touches on the table. Chelsea told us she was inspired by the scalloped boxes on the Valentine’s Day table we…
June 24, 2011
Last week, we featured some tie cookies from Bees Knees Creative for our Father’s Day Roundup. Today we are featuring the party that those adorable tie cookies came from. Kara from Kara’s Party Ideas sent us these pictures of the table she created for her son’s baby blessing. Kara had this party at her home which can be a challenge. She used a vintage refurbished dresser for the sweets table and a hutch for the…
June 24, 2011
We’re just getting back into the swing of things since being in book overdrive and will soon have lots of fun behind the scenes to share. Above is a sneak peek of a really fun trip I took to Texas recently with the Michaels Executive team and some very crafty bloggers aka “The Michaels Creative Crew.” This was a very fun and informative trip and I’ll give you the full behind the scenes on that…
June 23, 2011
This morning we featured a fun Fourth of July shoot. We have received some fantastic submissions so keep checking back with us over the next week for some more fantastic Fourth of July inspiration. In the meantime, if you are preparing to throw that Fourth of July shindig, we are just in time to make your 4th even sweeter. We have a fun give-a-way for you guys today from Lauren McKinsey. We featured one of…
June 23, 2011
The resort wear season may be coming to a close in the states, but with July 4th around the corner, nautical imagery is still everywhere from clothing to housewares. A few weeks ago we featured a vintage nautical dessert table. Bird from Bird’s Party sent over this dessert table that she created to showcase her new nautical printables collection. Inspired by the French Riviera, Bird wanted to create a clean, fresh and preppy dessert table. …
June 22, 2011
This Garden Party dessert table was sent to us by Louisa Shippman of Lou Lou Events down under. Louisa created this table for a 50th birthday party. We love how the trunk of that beautiful old tree framed the dessert table. Louisa handpicked rustic desserts like honey spiced sponge, dusted truffles, and cannolis from local vendors and found lush hydrangea to complement the outdoor space. Adding a few hydrangea to the top of the sponge…
June 22, 2011
Summer is finally here in the US as of yesterday and we are loving this campout birthday party from Kristen of Mary Had a Little Party. We love the tree trunk vessels, camp-out van and bear printables, and camping grounds map incorporated into the bunting and cupcake wrappers. The neutrals and green make this a chic camp-out party and we think anyone would be a happy camper with this fun spread. Great job, Kristen!
Want…
June 21, 2011
Hello all…so sorry for not being around yesterday. We were finishing up the chapter-thon for the book and I’m sending off 342 pages of manuscript to my publisher today. It has been a true labor of love and I’m so excited to finally get it into my publisher’s hands. We have some more fun projects coming up, but we’ll get some behind the scenes, guest features, sweet talks, and more up on the blog soon.…
June 17, 2011
Photo Credits above: (1) Martha Stewart (2) Lilyshop (3) Paper Crave.
Father’s day is this Sunday so we’re sharing a Father’s Day Roundup of some terrific ideas to ensure that dad feels special. While mothers are often touted as fashion inspirations, fathers seem to get stuck with the short end of the stick. Whether it’s a grandpa sweater they wear every day in the winter, or a Halloween costume hat-turned-favorite accessory, dads seem to be…
June 16, 2011
Oh, how I love poolside parties. There is something so carefree and relaxing about them, right? One of my favorite poolside parties that we did was the party we created here for a joint mother/son birthday party a couple of years ago. So when I saw this poolside submission from Rebekah at A Blissful Nest, it immediately took me back and I wanted to get into my car and head out east.
Rebekah created this…
June 15, 2011
Today’s featured submission was sent to us by Linda of Call Me Cupcake from Sweden. I think you all know by now that we get a lot of the “dessert table in a field idea submissions” and I’m not the biggest fan usually. However, when I see something that is beautifully styled, I have to feature it.
Not only did Linda bake all the pretty desserts, but she also styled and photographed the shoot…
June 14, 2011
I love this sock monkey puppet birthday submission that we received from Heather Dalton at Chickabug. Heather’s team created all of the adorable printables for a dessert table for a little boy’s first birthday party. The table was styled by the little boy’s mother, Courtney. The kids munched on snacks like “Monkey Bread” and Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches. I love the color palette of red, chocolate brown and cream. For a while, it seemed…
June 13, 2011
Scroll down for pic of pb & j whoopie pies – my fave!
We’re at the shoot for the cover of our book today, but we have a treat for you with the second installment in our Sweet Talk series. Last month, we introduced you to Kate Sullivan. Today, it is Marisa Angebranndt of WannaHavaCookie. We’ve worked with Marisa for a few years and she is as sweet as the delicious treats she makes.
1. …
June 10, 2011
Viva Italia! Alison from Viva La Diva Events created this table to showcase a new exposed-brick filled private space. With the help of cake designer Heather Leavitt from Sweet Heather Anne, she created an Italian Tour de Force. I always talk about bringing inspiration in from surroundings. I am inspired every day living in Manhattan. I have let you into a couple of my favorite spots for inspirations here and here. For Heather, her inspiration…
June 09, 2011
Howdy. I am loving all things Texas today. I am in Dallas today having a great time with the Michael’s gang. This beautiful dessert table was sent to us by Houston photographer Lucie Easterwood and I could not wait to share it with y’all. Lucie created this table for her son’s first birthday. His room has a nautical theme so it was a no brainer for her when trying to figure out a theme…
June 08, 2011
A few weeks ago, we gave you a peek inside our team with our Design and Style Intern, Natalie. This week, we are introducing you to our amazing Recipe Tester, Jo. Jo has been on the AAE team since January and is our main tester for the book. Yes, friends and relatives have taken a crack at some of the recipes, but it is essential {and usually required by publishers} for recipes to be tested…
June 07, 2011
Celebrating all things British today, we wanted to share this featured submission that was sent to us by Jill Thomas from Modern Cupcake. Jill created this dessert table for her son’s third birthday which she had planned for April 29th. When Jill found out that Will & Kate were getting married on that date as well, she found the inspiration for this London inspired Royal Birthday Party. How great are those sugar cookies that were…