Archive for the ‘Cupcake Toppers’ Category

I am a huge follower of Groopdealz. I buy WAY too much stuff from their site. I decided to contact them and see if they’d be interested in selling one of my collections. They politely agreed so I threw together just a little Valentine’s Day printable collection. Three days and a big mess later, I finally had my collection done. Since I threw this together so last minute (I’m really not a planner), I had to use some local vendors. In addition, as you may know, I am also pregnant and didn’t feel like making everything so I ended up buying a few items that I would have normally made. Normally I try and do everything, but this pregnancy I am listening to my body a lot more and cutting myself some slack- even if that means buying cookies, instead of making them!

I’m totally in love with the ombre look and chevron stripes and wanted to create a collection that was both sweet and stylish all at the same time. I’m really into pink and teal right now (I’m using the same colors for my gender reveal party next month) and thought those would be the perfect Valentine’s Day colors to focus on! Once I have an idea, the pieces usually start to fall into place.

I wanted a very sweet, yet simple display-nothing too over the top. I put up my backdrop stand which I created for Skyler’s Lego Party last year. If you’d like to make your own, here are the instructions. Then I grabbed my drapes from upstairs and hung them to create a soft flowing backdrop. I went to my local hardware store, which shall remain nameless, since I “lifted” 50 or so paint swatches and don’t want to incriminate myself any further. I was inspired by a DIY Paint Swatch Ombre Chandelier that I had seen on pinterest. My plan was to create heart shaped ombre garland which I attached on top of the drapes and was ready to go.

For the table itself, I always start with my fabulous tablevogue table cloth. Then I used my white dish ware and a white picture frame from Goodwill that my husband painted for me. It was the perfect centerpiece. The menu consisted of candy, cupcake cakes, powdered donuts, cookies, and milk- everything sweet just the way I like it.

I had a ton of fun creating candy necklace charms. I thought this would make a fun Valentine’s Day gift. I took my Fiskers Scalloped Heart Shaped Punch and punched out little tags. Then I used my eyelet punch and put an eyelet into the heart and used wire to attach the charm to the candy necklace. Super simple, yet adorable.

My printable collection includes everything you see here (except the invitations, which are available in my shop) and more.You can buy it for the next 48 hours for 55% off at Groopdealz.com!!

11″ x 17″ Placemats, one in each color (2 total) 4″ x 6″ Mini Signs (4 designs) 4.25″ x 4″ Fold over bag toppers (one page of each color) 4″ x 3″ Place cards/Food labels (when folded 3″ x 2″)- blank (one page of each color) 3″ long Gift Tags (9 designs, one page of each color) 2″ Cupcake Toppers/Party Circles (4 designs, 12 per sheet) 3″ x 3.5″ Happy Valentine’s Day Bag Labels/Tags Double-sided fill in Valentine Drink/Straw flags (4 designs, 16 per page) Water bottle labels (4 designs, one page of each color) Candy Bar Wrapper (2 designs) Candy Necklace Charms (6 designs, 3 of each color)

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VENDOR CREDITS

Printables, Styling, and Photography: Modern Moments Designs Chevron Bags, Straws, and Rock Candy : Fancy That White Footed Round Bowl, Cupcake Liners: Shop Sweet Lulu Table Cloth: tablevogue Cookies: Beaverton Bakery Cakepops: Modern Moments Designs, inspired by Sweet Lauren Cakes Mini White Frames: Ikea Heart Shaped Plates: Target

Are you ready for Part 2 of Jackson’s awesome Rock Star Birthday Party?? I know, you’ve been dying to see the rest of the photos and to get every last detail, right? I won’t keep you waiting any longer.

{DIY FAUX DRUM SET} I wanted to include some other “rock” elements in the party! I first saw this DIY Drum Set on Oh Dee Doh. I thought it was such cool way to add a bit of height and functionality to the Dessert Table. For the “Faux” Drum Set, I sent my hubby to Ace Hardware to pick up some empty paint cans. I had originally thought about painting them, but I love the look of the shinny metallic metal. The large bucket in the middle was white and we (my husband does all the spray painting because I tend to be a little wild and untrustworthy with spray paint) painted that to match. Then I cut out some nautical rock stars with my vinyl cutter and used them to embellish the buckets.

{DIY CUSTOM GUITAR PICKS} These have to be one of my favorite elements from the party! I looked into having custom guitar picks made, but it was way out of my budget. My husband mentioned he had heard about a “guitar pick punch” and I knew I had to track it down. To my surprise and delight, I found a Pick Punch and all the supplies at a really reasonable price. I printed out photos and other designs that matched the theme on full sheet label stock. I trimmed the sheet into strips (I could fit two rows across) and applied the full sheet label stock to the pick plastic. Then I used the pick punch, just like you would a paper punch, and punched out each pick! I loved each and every one. Now if you were really going to strum with them, the label stock may not hold up, but because I was just decorating with them they were perfect! These were scattered throughout the party! We used them almost like confetti! We also taped them to the front of the acrylic serving trays to add a touch of color and detail.

{DETAILED DESSERT TABLE} The Dessert Table is always the focal point and “wow” factor at my parties. I love creating dessert tables that are a bit out of the ordinary! First, I always start off with my Table Vogue table cloth. It’s my “staple” for any party! It provides a nice clean slate to build from. I love it so much and I am considering buying the red one. Next, I used shiny stars in pink, teal, and black that I purchased at The Lippman Co. and scattered them across the table to add some color and visual elements.

I placed two of my acrylic serving trays that were featured in my wine club party and Lincoln’s Circa 1980’s Surprise Birthday party in the center of the table. I simply flipped them over and they became the perfect riser. Next, I staggered my “Faux” Drum Set on top. Inside the drum buckets, I placed Rockin’ Rubber Ducks, Good N’ Plenties, Pop Rocks, Grapefruit Slices, and bags of Cotton Candy. I also scattered cupcakes across the acrylic trays. In a glass vase filled with Good N’ Plenties, I added the black and white stripe candy bags with a metal candy scoop. On the bags which I purchase from Shop Sweet Lu Lu, I created a label that read “Swag Bag, candy for the soul.” Can I just say I wanted to purchase everything in Shop Sweet Lu Lu’s shop? Jessie, from Shop Sweet Lu Lu was incredible to work with. She was so helpful and had a ton of ideas that really made this party special! Thanks Jessie.

{SUGAR ROCKS} The only thing Jackson asked for was a guitar cake. I had already ordered the super cute guitar cupcake toppers from Two Sugar Babies. Charynn is amazing to work with too! She is always willing to work with me on custom designs that match my parties. It totally takes the stress out of decorating cupcakes the morning of the big event! Just bake, frost, and apply! It’s as easy as that! Now back to Jackson’s Guitar Cake request. . . I called my Aunt Honey with Cakes by Taste of Honey and she came through for me. She made this epic guitar cake complete with guitar strings. It was awesome! Jackson loved it and that’s what really matters, right?

I’ve been blog stalking Bakerella for a long while now. I even got her amazing Cake Pop Cookbook for Christmas from my darling Mother-in-law. Believe it or not, I haven’t included cake pops in any of my parties until now. I experimented with making guitars, but they looked too phallic for a kids party. I decided to make stars instead. My Mom and Sister were nice enough to draw stripes on them with an edible food marker. My Dad made me two wooden Cake Pop Stands too. My parties are family affairs. All hands on deck. I take/steal/borrow all the help I can get.

A party isn’t complete without cookies. Well this party was definitely complete because we had two different kinds of cookies. Renee from Bee’s Knees Creative made the PERFECT cookies. They seriously matched everything perfectly! They were almost too pretty to eat, so I just closed my eyes and took a huge bite. Hahaha! The other cookies I made. My dear friend Jennifer just started Frost Edible Designs. She printed these edible frosting sheets for me. I was her first customer! I made shortbread cookies and used Marian from Sweetopia’s Royal Icing Recipe. I added some disco dust, maybe a tab too much. Is that possible? Whatever! They were sparkly and I liked them!

Candy is a key element to any great dessert table. I love candy! I tried to use pink, black, and white candy throughout. I created custom candy wrappers for nerds, chocolate bars, and push up pops. This was the first time I’ve covered candy with custom wrappers. It was so simple and easy to do, but made a huge impact. Definitely worth the time and effort. I created labels for the cotton candy too. They came in these ugly pastic bear containers, so we repackaged them and added a label.

The black bread boxes housed the majority of the candy! These were so cool and really fit with the party theme. They also made the perfect storage and made transporting all of these items to the party really convenient. Can you believe I got them on clearance at Target for $10 each? A total steal if you ask me! Inside one of the boxes I had the nerds, pushup pops, and chocolate bars. Inside the other one, we took gum balls in pink, black, white, and teal and layered them in clear plastic tubes (also purchased from Shop Sweet Lu Lu). I used Washi Tape (also from Shop Sweet Lu Lu, do you see pattern here?) to tape of the ends for two reasons. 1. I thought it looked really cool 2. I didn’t want gum balls to go flying all over the place if the kids started shaking them. Can I just add that one of my clients was kind enough to send those gum balls to me? She knew I was throwing a party for Jackson and I couldn’t find them locally so she sent them to me! Thank you so much Jennifer!

{ROCKSTARS NEED DRINKS TOO} One of our local grocery stores was going out of business and had discounted the entire store. I happened to see Jones Soda bottles and knew I had to include them in the party. I designed three different custom labels for the party using Jackson’s awesome photos. It wasn’t until I was done designing the labels that I realized you can get Personalized Labels direct from Jones Soda. I printed all of my labels for a lot cheaper. We attached black & white or pink & white stripy straws to the sides of all the bottles again with the Washi Tape . I also bring water for the adults too. This time I designed a label that read “This Water is Mine” and left a place for people to write in their names. That way people could keep track of them easier!

{PARTY FAVORS} The black and white polka dot gable boxes were full of fun party favors! We had blow up microphones, blow up guitars, tattoos, rockin’ silly bands, and guitar stickers. Additional favors were scattered throughout the party like the shutter shade glasses, rockin’ rubber ducks, and of course all the candy!

{SPECIAL THANK YOUS} I’d like to give a special thank you to my hubby for putting up with all of my shenanigans! He always pitches in to help out each and every time. Thank you to my partner in crime, Laura. She doesn’t even have any kids of her own, but she always helps me get ready for each party and provides me with amazing ideas! Thank you to my sisters for dealing with my craziness while we are setting up! I am type A and a total bossy older sister. Thank you so much! Elise, thank you for coming and helping out. We couldn’t have done it without you! Court– thanks again for the amazing photos that you took! They really were the catalyst for all of my party ideas! Ry– Thanks for slumin’ it and taking a few photos with my camera! Can’t wait to see how the photos turned out from your “real” camera. Thanks to Jenn too for providing us with Hostess Blog. It’s a constant source of inspiration and a platform to showcase amazing parties!

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VENDOR CREDITS

-Birthday Invitations, Return Address Label Wraps, Water Bottle Labels, Place Cards, Candy Labels, “Backstage Passes,” Posters, Soda Bottle Labels, Candy Bar Wrapper, Sucker Wrapper, Nerds Wrapper, T-shirts, Shortbread Cookies & Design, Cake Pops : Modern Moments Designs -Stripy Straws, Clear Tubes (gum balls were featured inside), Japanese Tape, 36″ balloons, polka dot balloons, polka dot gable boxes, Divine Twine, Striped bags: Shop Sweet Lu Lu -Black Bread Boxes: Target -Guitar, Music Notes, & Nautical Star Cookies: Bee’s Knees Creative -Edible Cookie Designs: Frost – Guitar Cake: Cakes by Taste of Honey (cakebyhoney@comcast.net in the Portland & Vancouver Area) -Guitar Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Two Sugar Babies -Rubber Ducks, Blow up Guitars, Paper Plates, Napkins, Stickers, Tattoos, Glasses: Oriental Trading Company -Stars, Blow Up Microphones, Birthday Candle, Nerds: The Lippman Co. -Venue: Sound Roots -Pick Punch (I used this to create the custom pics): Pick Punch -Photographs of Jackson (used on invite and all printables & photos of invitation): Courtney Jade Photography *Party Photographs were taken by Me, my hubby Lincoln, and the best photos were taken by my talented brother-in-law, Ryan Wilcox with You Look Nice Today Photography

So, as you may or may not know, I LOVE CUPCAKES!!! I love anything cupcake! I love the little cupcake liners, cloths with cupcakes on them, my adorable cupcake timer, cupcake dish towels, and the list goes on.

I don’t normally “re-post” items I see on the blogosphere, but these were just too pretty not to repost. I first saw this amazing post from Sweetopia, one of my favorite blogs. I immediately, read the post and made it my mission to stalk CakeJournal. She had me hooked from the word “cake.” If you love to bake, enjoy tutorials, or just want to look at some pretty pictures, go check out her site.

This picture makes me feel like I am in heaven!! Someone please pinch me!! Seeing cupcakes in any form make me so happy . If only someone could make/buy me a cake just like this for my birthday. . . I would LOVE them forever!!!!!

Enjoy all of these amazing photos. All photos are compliments of CakeJournal. Also, make sure you “like” CakeJournal on facebook too! While you are add it, you MUST “like” Sweetopia on facebook too. I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

Oh, I am still drooling over these amazing cakes!!!

Thanks for sharing Sweetopia and CakeJournal! I

Today my little boy is SIX! I can’t even believe it. He didn’t even weight six pounds when we brought him home from the hospital on Christmas day. He was the best Christmas present ever! I don’t think anything could top his arrival!!!

Since this month is so busy and his birthday is SO CLOSE to Christmas, we celebrated his birthday last weekend. That’s right, if you are keeping track, we celebrated two of our three boys’ birthdays in just two weeks time. I’m a bit burnt out! Thankfully, I started the planning process months ago. But I must confess that the actual execution was a little delayed! Oh well, it all got done.

I went with a classic, primary color Lego theme. Skyler LOVES Legos. I must admit that I am not very fond of them though because I usually find them all over my house. I mean all over. In the couch, under the rug, on the floor, everywhere! If you’ve ever stepped on a Lego, you are probably not a fan either. Plus, we have a little one crawling around who puts everything, and I mean everything in his mouth. Try being on constant Lego patrol!

Regardless of my loathing for Legos, Skyler loves them. He will sit for hours and build them. It’s amazing to me. He follows the instructions and builds amazing cars, planes, and anything else with wheels. He also “free” builds and just comes up with his own items. I’m always amazed by his creativity! I found the PERFECT centerpiece for the dessert table. It’s both functional and the PERFECT decor for the theme. It is a Lego Storage Head. It sorts the Legos by size and store them. I’m already liking Legos a bit more now!

We had Skyler’s party at Sky High Sports, an indoor trampoline place. Did I mention, that is where I broke my arm? I obviously don’t think the place is unsafe or I wouldn’t have had Skyler’s party there. In fact, I didn’t even break my arm on the trampoline. It wasn’t until I was coming off the trampoline, tripped and landed on the platform, that I hurt myself. I was forbidden to jump at the party. My husband didn’t want to suffer through another 4+ weeks with a handicap wife. Who could blame him? I obliged!

The kids spent the first hour playing, the second hour was spent in the party room. I had planned on creating a PVC backdrop for Emerson’s party, but never got it. Thankfully, with the extra two weeks, I was able to finish it and use it at Skyler’s party. I always think my parties are missing a backdrop. For this party, I kept it simple, but I have a ton of ideas for the next parties I throw. If you’d like to build your own backdrop, here are the instructions I followed. It was super easy (because Lincoln was the one who physically built it! I’m sure you could handle it or talk your hubby into helping you out). It was really reasonable too. All the PVC piping was less than $15. I purchased a queen size sheet for the “fabric” portion on the backdrop.

I used my amazing table cloth that I purchased from TableVogue. I also used the same table cloth at Emerson’s party! It is so functional. I can hide all of my party stuff under the table and out of the way so no one can see how much of a mess I am. It’s machine washable too! Definitely a must buy! Did I mention if fits on the Costco utility/buffet tables?

We (again, when I say “we”, I mean Lincoln. He no longer trusts me with spray paint in the garage) spray painted bubble wrap green to resemble a Lego building board. I got the idea from the adorable Lego party that Katena threw. I saw her post on Stylish Children Parties. She had some great ideas that I borrowed.

I found these super cute Lego cake pops on Bakerella. It was a guest post from Amy of Living Locurto. My sister Jamie and my amazing friend Laura were nice enough to make these for me. I think they did an amazing job. What do you think?

We ended up making the marshmallow version. I used mini chocolate chips for the eyes and black licorice ropes for the mouth.

Skyler requested banana cupcakes and I made funfetti to please the rest of the group. Since I was still one arm down before the party, I had Charynn from TwoSugarBabies create Lego fondant cupcake toppers. I must say, I LOVE the taste of fondant. I know, I am weird, but I think it tastes amazing. I was super happy to eat these adorable Lego toppers. She did an amazing job on them! She was a pleasure to work with too.

I also purchased white popcorn boxes and just embellished them with a matching label. These were the perfect size and looked adorable on the table. I followed the recipe I saw on Rookie Cookie, but instead of the toffee bits, I substituted mini m & m’s. It was so quick and easy to make and was a real crowd pleaser.

Candy is my favorite food group. It’s a food group, right? What? Corn syrup and sugar are not a food group? Well, they are in my book. No dessert table is complete without a little candy. I bought the holiday peanut butter m & m’s and picked out the brown and orange ones since they didn’t match the party colors. They looked really fun and the kids loved them. I also made. Yes, that’s right, I made Lego Minifigures Gummies. I bought the candy mold at the Lego store. It’s silacone and super easy to use. I followed this gummie recipe and made Lego Gummies in Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow. I was really happy with how they turned out.

To go along with the theme, I bought Lego candies that actually snap together, Lego Minifig crayons, and Lego Minifig soaps. I made sure to label all of them so that the kids didn’t eat the wrong items. I know the soap smelled amazing, but I doubt it tastes good. Didn’t want anyone to eat something by mistake. I also purchased several of the Fun Party Favor Lego Packs from Amazon. There are 8 in a box, 4 each of planes and cars. The kids really seemed to like these.

I’d love to know your thoughts! I know all the kids had a great time!!!

Happy Birthday Skyler! We love and adore you! Even though it’s hard for me to see you grow up, I love every step of it and I’m so happy to be your Mommy!

I’m taking some time off of party planning. No more parties for me until February! Yay! Jack is having a “rock star” birthday party! It’s completely fitting for Jackson!

**I’d like to give a special thank you to all of my friends and family who helped me with this party. I seriously feel like I have a “team” of people who help me get ready for each party. With three little kids I need all hands on deck. Lincoln, thank you for being an amazing husband and putting up with me through the month of December. I know it’s a crazy time. Thank you for all of your help! Laura, thank you for your constant inspiration, support, and endless help! I owe you, but I have a feeling that I will be repaying you tenfold this summer. Jamie, thank you for always be there for me and willing to pitch in when and wherever I need you! You’re a wonderful sister and I am going to owe you many help with your children’s future parties (when you have children, that is). Kellie and Elise, thank you so much for coming and helping set up! We couldn’t have gotten everything set up in that short of time without you! I really, really appreciate it!!!**

Vendor List: All paper products (Invite, placecards, labels, etc.): Modern Moments Designs Table Cloth: TableVogue Backdrop Instructions: DIY Green Screens and Backdrops I probably spend $14 or so on the frame. CHEAP!!! Caramel Corn Recipe: Rookie Cookie Lego Cupcake Toppers: Two Sugar Babies Lego MiniFig Crayons: Polkadotty Lego Minfig Soaps: BrokenRoadFarm Lego Fun Party Favors: Lego Fun Favor Pack Lego Storage Head: Lego Storage Head I purchased our at Toys R Us, but I don’t see it on their website. It was around $30. Lego Silicone Mold: Minifigure Ice Cube Mold