Bridal Shower Cake {Brackets & Flowers}

This weekend I had the pleasure of making a cake for a bridal shower! The cake design is based on the fun invitation. I loved the cool & bold brackets and knew I wanted to use those on the cake!

The bride's and groom's monogram will be 3 R's so we just went with the single R on top! I added a ruffly flower for some pretty contrast and because who doesn't love a ruffly flower?

The cake was a chocolate cake filled with salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream...a yummy combination!

I really loved making this fun cake!

Friday's Fabulous Five {Kids' Valentines}

Friday's FABULOUS FIVE is baaaaack! 

Happy Friday!

My kindergartner is all excited to hand out Valentine Treats this year so I've been rounding up some cute ideas! Here's FIVE fun treats for the school kid crowd...

Now at our school, sweets are not allowed so this "non sweet" Valentine from Disney's Family Fun is perfect! Plus it encourages kids to write...something the teacher will appreciate!

Another great "non-sweet" Valentine is also perfect for the boys! This fun one from The Crafting Chicks also includes the {free printable}!

But if you are looking for some sweet Valentine treats, I'm in LOVE with this fun Fortune Cookie Valentine from Martha Stewart. The cookies are felt but the treats are real!

For some cool rockin' Valentines, I love this Pop Rocks idea from A Small Snippet! She has also provided the {free} printable tag as well!

And finally, I adore this next idea that uses a picture of your child. Not only would this idea from Funky Polkadot Giraffe make a fun class Valentine, but it would be pretty cool for the grandparents as well!

So there you have FIVE FABULOUS Valentine ideas for the kids! 

I hope you have an awesome weekend!

Piggy Ballerina Milk Bottles

One of my favorite decorations for my recent Piggy Ballerina Party was the ballerina milk bottles!

Today, I'm over at Piggy Bank Parties sharing the easy tutorial on how to make these cute bottles! Head on over and check it out!

Piggy Ballerina Party

When it came time to plan my daughter's 3rd birthday, my very strong-minded baby girl was very clear about what her party theme would be...Piggy Ballerina! She LOVES all things pink and her favorite animal is a pig. How she put that together with a ballerina, I'm not quite sure...but I set out to throw her a pretty pink Piggy Ballerina party!

I worked with Piggy Bank Parties for the party printables and custom illustration and they delivered a BEAUTIFUL piggy ballerina (named Tulip) that was everything I imagined and MORE!

It began with the sweet invitation, which I embellished with some ribbon & tulle...

All the decorations were shades of pink with some yellow, gingham and of course tulle...

Each girl's place setting included a party hat (which I made), name card, utensils & straw wrapped with scrapbook paper and of course, a pink piggy!

I placed pink ceramic piggy banks throughout the party...

I used alot of printables (including this fun Keep Calm one) and ribbon to dress up our party space...

This was an afternoon party, so the food was kept to some sweet treats and snacks...

I made tutu-inspired ruffled fondant toppers with the birthday girl's initials and topped some cookies...

 I made a tulle backdrop (tutorial here) which I decorated with beautiful poms from Pom Flair. A framed initial hung in the center.

The drinks included water and strawberry soda. The soda bottles were tied with tulle...

I made ruffles to dress up the paper cups and tied some more tulle onto the paper straws...

I fell in love with an idea from Jenny of Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line for a Birthday Library. At each birthday you choose a book related to the party theme and have each guest sign it. I loved it!! I set up a table for that purpose...using a framed request and a glittery mini name banner from The Purple Pug.

I was ecstatic that I was able to find a book about a piggy ballerina!

Each girl was asked to wear a leotard and then I provided tutus...which I hung on ribbon...

Then the girls were given the sparkly treatment...

I was beyond thrilled to find non-toxic nail polish that fit the party theme PERFECTLY...

My sister-in-law painted the girls' nails...

While I gave them glitter tattoos...

Our beautiful ballerinas...

Showing off their pretty nails...

The birthday girl and her court...

After they spent some time twirling around (it's amazing how putting on a tutu makes you instantly feel like a ballerina)...they sat down to glam up their piggy banks...

Then it was cake time...(you can read more details about it on my cake post).

I served strawberry milk at my daughter's request. I knew I wanted to use the fun milk bottles, but I wanted to make them fit the party so I dressed them up! My original intent was to make something edible for the top. When that didn't go as expected, Piggy Bank Parties came to my rescue with these bottle toppers. They were even better than what I had in mind originally. How adorable is this???

I used pink gable boxes for the goody bags...

In addition to the ceramic piggy banks, I also gave each guest a stuffed piggy. How cute is this little face?

Do of Piggy Bank Parties surprised me with a sweet little printable...precious ballerina slippers!! I added some ribbon for a finishing touch and the girls loved them!

I can definitely say that my sweet baby girl had a very Happy Birthday!

Party Vendors:

Piggy Bank Parties: Printables & illustration design

The Purple Pug:  Glittery mini name banners 

Pom Flair: Poms

Abracadabra Zoo: Tutus
Love & Sugar Kisses: Cake & fondant toppers
The Sugar Diva: Straws 
Oriental Trading: Gable boxes, craft supplies
Dollar Tree: Ceramic piggy banks, stuffed piggies
Piggy Paint: Non-toxic nail polish 

Piggy Ballerina Cake

For me, all party planning begins with the cake design! So when my daughter requested a Piggy Ballerina party ('cause she's a fun silly little girl like that) I instantly knew there would be pink ruffles!

This was such a cute party theme! Of course there was no better choice to design the illustration than Piggy Bank Parties! The talented Team Driver delivered a breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL hand drawn Tulip the Ballerina Piggy! You'll see lots more of her in my party post! 

I was so excited to translate Tulip into a 3D fondant creation. What I love most about the illustration is her eyes! I knew I wanted to try and capture those blue eyes...

The finishing touch on the cake was the beautiful mini glittery name banner from The Purple Pug. It's hard to appreciate in a photo just how beautiful this hand-crafted glittery creation is. And I love that I get to save it!

The cake was strawberry, per the birthday girl's request...because she wanted all PINK! She just loved her Piggy Ballerina cake!!

I'll be sharing pictures from the party in my next post...stay tuned!