Favorite Things Party

Does the above picture look familiar? These images ring a bell? Where else have you seen women crying, men screaming, confetti, people practically convulsing, mad chaos???

Ahhhhh, the crazy guest reactions from Oprah's Favorite Things show. You're picturing it now aren't you.

If you haven't figured it out yet, Oprah's Favorite Things show was the inspiration for this little shindig I threw last night. Six of us girls met up at my parent's lake house for a night out, away from the kids and husbands with our favorite things.

We set a limit of $6. Everyone went out to find their favorite thing, under $6...buy five and bring them to share! Basically, everyone brings five of the same thing to share, and they leave with five different things. Hopefully I'm making sense?

It was SO fun!!! First of all, I love these girls so we would have been A-OK without the "things", but they certainly did put the icing on the cake. :)

I got to the lake house first so I took the time (calm before the storm) and set everything up. I wrapped boxes and put the girl's names on them. The bottoms of the boxes were open so that each girl could put their item on the table and put the box on top to cover it up. That way all the items were kept secret until it was time to reveal our favorite things! Here are all the boxes...whats under all those pretty boxes???????
Its like Christmas!!!!
(except it wasn't Jesus' birthday) We took turns revealing our favorite thing one at a time. We tried screaming and crying like Oprah's guests, but after a couple reveals we got tired so we decided to just act happy, not crazy. ;) I set out "swag bags" for everyone to put all their goodies in. And even though we are adults, and even though this wasn't really a "party", I STILL had to do party favors...because this "party" was all about favorite things AND one of my favorite things about having a party (even tho it wasn't a party) is picking out party favors!
SO THERE! (100% Justification for having party favors.)

Party favor explanation: keeping with the theme...my favorite quote (b/c smiling is my favorite), from my favorite Christmas movie, with my favorite colors (anything bright and cheery) in my new favorite frame which just happens to be from one of my favorite stores (Ikea) which is priced at my ALL TIME FAVORITE price point, a dollar! A DOLLAR for this cute frame!!!!(you couldn't hear me, but that was all said in one breath) aaaaaahhhhhhh Here is some of my loot! Lip gloss, mini bottle of perfume, lotto ticket and nail polish, bottle of wine w/ a cool insulated carrier (I smell an over budget item!!) ;) and a cute little plaque w/ a fun quote on it. :)

Not pictured in my loot is the item I gave...a sweet little initial charm and necklace from Laura Elaine Designs. I LOVE her shop and have purchased a couple other items from her. Great stuff...even better prices!!! I packaged them up in these tiny ceramic containers found at Michaels on clearance for 30 cents.

Cars Baby Shower

This little cake was made for my friend Amy who is hosting a Cars themed baby shower. My favorite part might be the "almost" finish line...a little cute dash of tounge and cheek for the mama to be. ;)

These little Cars characters were made using rice krispie treats. I had so much fun watching them come to life as I added on the edible images.

Dad turns 60!!!

My Dad turned 60 today! Happy Birthday Daddy-O!!! I'm not going to crack any jokes about you being old b/c all that does is bring up the point, if your dad is super old than that basically means you're no spring chicken yourself!? Right?!

So, this year we're focusing on how YOUNG my dad is. 60 is nothing. Its the new 16. ;) Meaning, I haven't even been born yet...that's how young I am. (don't you love how I turn HIS big day into a lesson on how young I am?!) Good grief, I'm really not normally this narcissistic. ;) must be going through a phase...heheheeh

Now, here is a picture of my dad. Why is he making that face you ask?? He just saw his cake for the first time and I think he liked it!!!! ;)

I made him a cake based on his favorite character from his favorite movie series.

Yoda meet dad, dad meet Yoda.

(Yoda is the only guy I know that genuinely makes 60 seem like a baby)

Sure, he looks a little creepy, but....

I'm proud of him...so here are a couple more pictures b/c I'm not sure the other FOUR were enough. ;)

3D Ice Cream Cone

I want an ice cream cone cake!

Pretty please, with a cherry on top....

Welllllll, since you said please...

This one might be one of my new favorites! :)

Is that a foot??

Just finished this little preggo belly cake for a mommy who apparently has a little kicker on her hands!! (requested a belly cake with a foot) lol This mama needs to have a few words with this little boy come delivery. Or perhaps he'll be a kicker for the NFL and it'll all be worth it one day. ;)

Can you see the little foot???

Cake POP Cupcakes

Well, this solves the ever present dessert dilemma.
What should we have? Cake or cake pops?

ever have that problem?


Well, the answer is found in this 2fer cupcake.

Done. Check. Move on, Quandary solved. :)

I can't think of any better cupcake topper than a cake pop. Can you?!?!?






















I made 24 of these bad boys for Bailey's Kindergarten class. Its Mrs Wilbanks' birthday...(thats her super sweet assistant teacher). I did my best to pack as much sugar into their class of 22 five and six year olds.

(can you hear my evil laugh as I sneak out of the building minutes before the sugar high craze begins)

wa ha ha ha ha

Crayon Box!

This cake is for little Jaymee who is celebrating her first birthday this weekend with a CRAYON themed birthday party! :)

The theme came from Jaymee's obsession with her big sister's crayons. Her mama says she loves to just hold them, crawl around with them and occassionally eat them. (don't we all)

Happy birthday sweet Jaymee!!!!

Can't wait to see the creations you make one day with your beloved crayons! :)

Now, if you have a little crayon lover on your hands like Jaymee a crayon party is a must! :) I had a little fun putting together a few ideas that I found online to feed the obsession!

First off...a crayon wreath. How clever! LOVE. Check it and the party out here.
Going over to the right...you've seen the idea of melting a bunch of crayons together to make a new shape right? This would make a perfect craft at the party OR a party favor if you don't want to fool with it during the festivities. Source Wouldn't the birthday girl/boy's age make a perfect mold for your crayon? :)
Top right corner...initials made out of crayons. This would make a great centerpiece for a dessert table, food table or greeting table. Source
Balloons Balloons Balloons!! Every color, every size. :)
To the right of the balloons...edible crayons!! (pretzel rods covered in chocolate melts). Free crayon cover here.
Bottom left corner...how cute is this crayon box invitation!?!?! OMG LOVE IT!! FREE printable and instructions on how to make it!!!! SOURCE
Time to hit up the Dollar Tree!!! These cute 24 inch crayon banks make great decorations and/or party favors. $1 piece. DOLLAR TREE
And right below are some adorable crayon party hats found at orientaltrading.com
And last but not least, LOVE that beautiful colorful backdrop!!! Source

Sweetheart Pops

Hi all!! Where have I been you ask?!?

Ping pong tournament with my husband...one on one...in our basement. Despite a lot of trash talking on my part and several "one last, best two out of three's" I have proved myself NOT the ping pong champion I thought I was. lol

That's right Brian, I said it, you're better than me (at ping pong).

Lets move on...

(nobody really cares about ping pong anyway...)

So, a couple of days ago I shared my tutorial for sweetheart cake pops over at the fabulous Skip To My Lou. In case you missed it over there, here it goes a second time.

These cuties are so easy to make! All you need is cake, icing, lollipop sticks, candy melts and a little heart cookie cutter (mine is about 1.5 inches).

First step, mix cake (a baked cake, not cake batter) and icing. If you have never made cake pops before you'll need to play around with the amount of icing you add to the cake. I wish I had an exact measurement, but I don't. I add my icing, little by little, until I reach the consistency of play doh (meaning you can play with it). ;)

I know mom! I'm stopping...

Ok, on to the next step...

Flatten your play doh work of art into a pancake about 3/4 of an inch thick...

and cut out your hearts...

Dip your lollipop stick into melted candy melts and then insert into the heart. (The candy melts help the cake to stay on the stick)

Now pop these suckers into the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up.

30 minutes later...

(walk upstairs from the basement after losing AGAIN at ping pong and...)

Its showtime!!!!
Add a generous dollop of shortening to your candy melts and microwave your candy in 30 second intervals until melted. (the shortening helps thin the chocolate making it easier to cover)

Once your candy and shortening is melted and mixed together its time to dip that sucker!!!






















BEAUTIFUL!!!

Now, set your heart pop on waxed paper to dry. Once dry you can eat them, gift them or just look at them (and even take a few pictures b/c you're so proud of how cute they turned out). :)

These little heart containers (they're found all over the place in the Valentines Day aisle) are the perfect size for these little treats!

Peacock Cake

My 4am project...puppy cake!

Ugh, don't you hate it when you can't sleep!?!?! This morning I woke up at 4, restless and ready to create. After about 20 minutes of "yelling" at myself to get back to sleep I gave up. I hopped out of bed, turned on the coffee maker and got to work.

So in the wee morning hours I made this cute little guy....if you're going to be up while its still dark and everyone else is sleeping its nice to have a cute little puppy dog keeping you company.

I also made a little bowl for this sweet puppy to eat her kibble out of. (kibble is Reese's Puff)

The girls about died when they saw this one. They see so many cakes coming in and out of the kitchen that the novelty has warn off. But every now and then they're impressed and this one definitely caught their eye. They wanted to eat it, really bad.

So Hannah, you better hurry over here before your cake gets gone! ;)

Happy puppy party Hannah!!!!!