A Lego Party

My son loves to build things, and truly enjoys Lego's so we decided to make a Lego themed party.
I found these treat sacks on PaperNook's Etsy site.  You can order from many different designs and pick the colors coordinate with your event.  We filled the sacks with Lego shaped cookies, minifigures, brick and minifigure shaped hard candy and Lego block shaped sugar candy.

I found these block candies on Amazon.  My son always buys them when we are at the beach from Candy Kitchen.  I thought we would build a bit with them, but we also included them in the favor bags.

I spotted these invitations on SIMONE Made It's Etsy shop.  She was great to work with and so quick to get them done.  I was a bit late getting this party in the works, so I ended up emailing quite a few.

We used these molds to make ice cubes and also hard candies for the treat bags.  You can purchase your own set on She's Crafty's Etsy shop.

I poured some building bricks into these glass vases I had from another party and had the kids guess how many bricks were inside.  We also played Creationary and had some Lego Ninjago battles.  We also played some pick up the Lego games with chopsticks.

I found these candles on Amazon and the number candle is from Target.

It was the beginning of the school year, so I took the easy way out and ordered cupcakes from Wegmans.  Such a relief to just pick them up after making all of those cookies!  I found the yellow cupcake wrappers at Michaels and simply dropped the cupcakes in.  (The yellow wrappers are made by Wilton.)  I was going to put some brick candy on top of each cupcake, but it was a whirlwind of a day and I forgot!

Oh, did I say cookies?  Here they are!

Lush with Roses Cake

Oh my goodness, this cake just caught my eye and I can't get over how beautiful it is.  I found it on the blog I Am Baker by Amanda.

Here is Amanda's tutorial on how to ice the cake:
http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/02/rose-cake-tutorial.html

I am already checking my icing tips to see if I have the correct one!

Even the inside of the cake is special.  Imagine showing up to a picnic with this beauty!

Looking further into her blog, I found these sweet rose cookies. You must all know by now my love of pretty cookies.  Aren't they just adorable?  My children always want the cookies at our local Wegman's with soft icing that gets a bit crunchy on the crust and I'm thinking these might be the ticket.    You can be sure I'll be testing out her recipes soon.  Thanks Amanda, for allowing me to borrow your photos and link!

Butterflies

I had so much fun making these butterfly cookies for a teacher I know.  She'll be giving them to her students.  How sweet is that?  I couldn't resist adding some edible glitter, I thought the students would get a kick out of it.  I wish I had some in every color!  You can get some for yourself at Country Kitchen SweetArt.

Autumn Cookies

Now that fall has arrived, we've been busy getting into the spirit of colorful leaves and brisk nights by baking some cookies.  The oven warms the house and the cookies smell so good.  I added some lemon to the cookie dough and it tastes wonderful.

What are you doing to cozy things up this fall?  

A Vintage Craft Party

Every since I can remember, our daughter has liked tape and scissors.  It was only natural that she wanted a craft party to celebrate her 6th birthday.  We started out with the idea that we'd put craft supplies on the table in old blue mason jars, so we used that aqua blue color and pink on invitations.  Carli at Dimpleprints found a vintage scissor images and put together this wonderful invitation.  (I've deleted the contact info and address for web privacy.)

Colored pencils, scissors, markers and paintbrushes filled the jars.  Alongside is some of Elise's original artwork.  (hmm, I think she was 3!)

I found these old fashioned striped paper straws on 62cards' Etsy shop, and added the flags to them.  Don't they look sweet in the old mason jar?  I found quite a few at a local antique shop, and I borrowed some from my mother in law.

We made "windsocks" out of embroidery hoops and crepe paper.  I found the directions in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

A Science Party

It all started with the idea for a science party. My son loves to learn new things and what boy doesn't like to watch something erupt?  We found some wonderful invitations on Etsy by  Carli of Dimpleprints.  She will put all of your information in to a file and email it to you so that you may print it at home, or at a print shop if you prefer.  Fantastic for me to get them out to all of my son's friends at the last possible minute!  (What can I say, it's the end of summer and school started on my son's birthday!  I was a bit overwhelmed to say the least!  :)

I did a search for science experiments and came up with the Steve Spangler website.  A great resource for experiments, and inexpensive ingredients.  We purchased instant snow, glow in the dark powder, a geyser tube and magic sand. 

I had my husband bend a regular round cookie cutter into an erlenmyer flask shape and made cookies.  I added pearls for bubbles and sprayed the cookies with pearlized spray.

I found beakers and erlenmeyer flasks at Scientific Equipment of Houston.  We filled the small beakers and flasks with water and food coloring.

I found plastic petri dishes at Steve Spangler Science.  We filled them with Jello and put the sprinkles in to make it look like bacteria growing in medium.

We found a local store that carries dry ice.  I filled the large beakers and cylindrical vases (found at Michaels craft store.)  I filled the vases with Aqua Gems.  They come as small spheres that swell up when water is added.  I also purchased water proof lights and put them in with the beads.  Since the vases were glass, I put plastic containers in the top of the vase with water to drop the dry ice in.  (Dry ice can shatter glass.)  It looked so cool, especially outside on the table at night.  You must be careful that the kids can not touch the dry ice as it can burn their skin.

The kids enjoyed making "tornados" out of two liter bottles and a coupler from Steve Spangler Science.

I think this was the favorite experiment of the night - Slime!  We made it with white school glue, water, food coloring and borax.  We also added some glow in the dark powder for fun.  

It was a hot night, so instead of cake we had Rita's italian ice with sparkler candles.  It was the perfect treat to cool off with.  (And allergen free for our friends with nut, egg and dairy allergies!)

We also served Izze Sparling Juice for the kids.  It's made with juice and carbonation so a bit less sugar.  It went over big, since the kids thought they were getting away with tons of soda!

Carli of Dimpleprints created the design for the favor tags.  I made them into stickers too and used them on the tops of our slime containers.  On Escapade Direct's site, I found plastic test tube and rubber stoppers.  I filled these with the snow, sand and gel beads and put them in clear bags for party favors.  (Along with some great magnets I found at 5 below,  Pop Rocks and the erlenmyer flask cookies

We also sent pictures from the party to Dimpleprints for our Thank you notes.  They turned out great, and Cole wrote his notes on the reverse side.

Wedding Cookies

I just finished these cookies for a wedding and thought I should share them with you!  They are decorated with royal icing, dragees, pearls and Disco Dust.  I found the dragees and pearls at Fancy Flours and the Disco Dust at Sunflower Sugar Art.  I spread the royal icing on and let it dry.  Then I sprayed the cookies with PME Lustre Spray in Pearl for a little sparkle.  I piped on some lines of icing and sprinkled on the Disco Dust or placed pearls and dragees on the intersections.

Cookies to Celebrate a Birthday

A good friend asked me to make cookies to celebrate his sister's 50th birthday.  I found these champagne flute cookie cutter and couldn't resist them.  I used edible pearls to make the bubbles.  Using more than one size pearl helps the illusion.  I had to incorporate some glitter too!  (Disco Dust, available here.)  I have to share a new find.  PME Lustre Spray.  (You can purchase it at Country Kitchens Sweet Art.)  One quick spray and your icing becomes pearlized and a bit sparkly, but not too much.

Since the party will be around the pool, I tried some summery colors for the rest of the cookies.  these incorporate more of a freeform icing style for the relaxed nature of hanging out poolside.

I ended up spraying all of the cookies with the PME Lustre Spray after I took this photo.  It pulled everything together with a touch of sheen.

Spring cookie

My mother in law asked me to make some cookies for a friends mom's 100 birthday party.  How amazing it that?  Imagine the things this woman has seen in her lifetime.  Since it's been so beautiful out, I was inspired by the bright green shoots that have been emerging after  long, snowy winter.

Enjoy your day and get out there and soak up some vitamin D!

Valentines for Sisters

Way back when my sister and I were in high school we started a tradition of giving each other a little something for valentines day.  (You remember the days when perhaps you didn't have a special someone for that big holiday?)

 My mom would give us each a small heart shaped box of chocolate or a few flowers.  As we got older, Karen and I would send each other a little something at college, maybe a heart shaped frame or charm.  Sometimes it was just a pretty card.  Life has gotten busy and we've sent a lot of pretty cards.  This year, the kids and I made some heart shaped cookies.  We're ready to box them up and ship them across the country.  Hopefully, in time for Valentines day.

We found something really new and exciting for decorating.  It's called Disco Dust!  Can you see in the photos, that it's like glitter for cookies?  Disco dust comes in every color in the rainbow.  I shake it onto wet icing and it stick like glue.  It looks best with just a small amount of glitter, so I iced the cookies and let the dry.  Then, I go back and draw details in with and icing pen or piping bag and add the glitter to that.  It's magical!

Happy Valentines Day to all, and don't forget to share a little love!

Stunning Cookies

A while ago, I came across these very pretty cookies on Etsy made by Amber at SweetAmbs. The detail on them is amazing, the cookies are like little works of art.

The gold icing on these Fleur de Lis cookies simply wowed me.

These Mad Tea Party cookies are so whimsical, aren't they?

These would be just perfect for an elegant tea party.

I think I may need to send these as a gift to someone special.

Look at all of the brush strokes it takes to make these flowers, almost like lace fabric.

These monogrammed cookies have such painstaking details - so special for a shower or wedding favor. Amber also had a blog where she posts about all things beautiful. Amber truly is the princess of pastry!

A Pinkalicious Party

My daughter just loves Victoria and Elizabeth Kann's book Pinkalicious. So when it was time for the fourth birthday party, this was an obvious theme.

You can visit the Cupcakes for All website for printables and party ideas. It's very pink! You can purchase the book at Barnes and Noble, one of our favorites haunts!

How easy is that, go out and buy everything Pink? I found pink Hershey's Kisses in honor of the breast cancer awareness. At Target, I found pink M&M's in support of the Susan G. Komen Brest Cancer Foundation. I picked up a bunch of pink roses and pink carnations at our local grocery store. I chose pink plates, cups and napkins at Party City.

I had these adorable little tea cups packed away in the attic, so I pulled them out, filled them with floral foam and carnations. Didn't they turn out well? My sister and I used to have cups at tea parties with our grandmother. They bring back some wonderful memories.

I found this lovely little suitcase styled box at Home Goods. They even have sterling handles! (Oh, my - I hadn't taken the wrapping off the silver for the shot! :) The organdy pouches were found at Party City. We filled them with lip glosses & nail files.

Of course, I had to make some cookies. I made these little flowers with stylized "e's" for my daughter's name and some luster dust for extra sparkle. You can find luster dust at Global Sugar Art.

A simple mint julep cup and three roses makes a beautiful centerpiece on the sweet little ice cream table and chair set. My mom and I found the table and chair set at an antique show and sale. Well, if you must know where, the Pottersville Antique Show and Sale is the place!

I had these wonderful cupcakes made at our local Wegman's to save myself some time. I think they turned out great and they were moist and delicious.

I found some pink tulle at Joanne Fabrics. I draped it around for added decoration.

We searched high and low for an all pink pinata. This one fit the bill. It was a wonderful event, with simple old fashioned games like putting the clothes pins in a bottle, and an egg race. A fun and wonderful theme that can be adapted from almost any favorite story. Happy celebrations!