My sweet little Ally is now a Kindergarten graduate. I can hardly stand to think of her being away from me next year in full day first grade. I had a hard enough time sending her to kindergarten 5 days a week!
But what an exciting year she had. I can’t believe how much she has learned in just 9 short months. She learned to read, write, spell, add and subtract, and most important, learned even more about Jesus. Every week at Northshore Christian Academy she was given a new bead to add to her “bible necklace” if she had memorized the weekly bible verse. Her little necklace is filled with colorful beads! We are so proud of our girl, she is truly one of the sweetest, most caring little girls you’ll ever meet.
To celebrate her accomplishments we threw her a pink ombre themed graduation party. All things pink! My incredibly talented photographer friend Kaylee of Kaylee Eylander Photography captured all the details of the day, from the grad hat cookies, diploma topped cupcakes, to the inside of a pink ombre ruffle cake. We snacked on diploma tortilla wraps tied in pink bows and sipped pink lemonade, while the kids filled their goodie bags with as much pink candy as their pink polka dot bags would hold.
Guests were sent home with pink ombre cakes in a jar, topped with paper grad hats complete with yarn tassels! And Ally didn’t leave the party empty handed, we gave her a new iPod engraved with her graduation year. 2024. Eek. I can’t even fatham that.
Congratulations Ally James! We are so proud of you!
Can’t believe a whole year has already passed since Simone’s 1st Birthday at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel. Sweet Simone is now 2, and as darling as ever.
We celebrated her 2nd birthday with all things pink and purple. From the ruffled ombre’ pink and purple cake, purple sugared cake pops, to #2 polka dotted sugar cookies, guests enjoyed the party on a sugar high.
Thank you Bill and Scout for including me in such a special event! Simone is one lucky little girl to be surrounded with so much love.
Photos: Frances Iacuzzi Photography & Jenny Keller
I absolutely loved being a part of Jen and Dave’s nautical wedding aboard one of Seattle’s Argosy Cruise ships. The space and time to set up was very minimal so we decided to do dessert centerpieces rather than a full dessert station. I had navy blue and white seersucker runners made for each table, placed under white milk glass cake plates, adorned with nautical themed treats. Navy blue and white anchor sugar cookies, sparkly cake lollipops tied with rope, and cupcakes topped with white chocolate seashells greeted each guest at their table.
Dessert centerpieces can be a great way to cut down on wedding expenses, and your guests love having the desserts right in front of them!
Last month I created a hawaiian themed table for a couple who escaped the rain to get married in Hawaii. They threw a fun reception here at the Everett Golf and Country Club, who were fabulous to work with. Most venues have so many restrictions on hanging, displaying, etc. They were fine with anything. Love that!
My sweet daughter Ally turned six last month. I say it every year, but I can’t believe she’s already another year older. Time really does fly. To celebrate her special day, we threw a Mary Poppins Tea Party at the Woodland Park Zoo Vintage Carousel.
Seattle was taken by snowstorm the entire week before her party, literally dumping snow night after night. Each morning I’d wake up hoping the snow was gone, but nope, it’d still there. The day before the party I decided I just had to go for it and pray the weatherman was really going to be right when he said it would melt by Saturday.
Lo and behold the weatherman was right for a change! The snow was melted, and Jesus even granted us a few rays of sunshine as we unpacked the car and loaded the party into the zoo. As I’m sure most of you have party people have experienced, most venues don’t allow much time for set up. The Woodland Park Zoo was one of them. It was almost a deal breaker when I recieved the zoo contract reading that you are given a half hour to set up. Yikes! So with only 30 minutes to decorate the room and tea party table, my girlfriend Nazra and I had to move fast! (Thank you Naz!)
I hadn’t planned on doing a dessert table for such a small party, but I couldn’t help it, it’s what I do. Instead of a giant cake like I’ve done in the past for my children’s birthdays, I made Ally six small cakes in different colors and textures. This was really fun to do. Of course 15 people couldn’t eat six cakes, so guests were sent home with bakery boxes filled with treats and cake! Out of all the fun desserts, my favorite had to be the spoonful of sugar cake pops!
My friend Elaine, seamstress extraordinaire, made Ally a Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday dress to wear to her party. I am literally in awe every time I ask Elaine to sew something because not only does she do it, she does it beyond my wildest dreams. I emailed her a photo, not a pattern, not instructions, nothing but a simple photo from the internet of Mary Poppin’s dress. She whipped the dress up without a hinge and little Ally looked practically perfect as Mary Poppins.
The little girls absolutely loved the party. They sipped apple juice “tea”, nibbled on way too much sugar, played musical chairs to Mary Poppins songs, balanced tea cups on their heads, rode the carousel, and fed the penguins. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect party. And to top it off, my girlfriend Molly of Molly Vaden Photography captured every detail and smile of the day.
It was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
This month I was more than honored to be featured in three amazing wedding magazines!
Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom. This article featured 5 cakes, all different styles and textures. I created two cakes, a fondant covered cake with cascading gum paste petals, and also my signature buttercream rose cake. Both cakes were gorgeous, but the buttercream rose takes the cake! So lush and fluffy, it’s going to be a popular choice this season!
Seattle Bride Their article was on cake pops and other mini desserts such as pie pops, donut pops, brownie pops, etc. They used the dessert table photo from our Burlap and Lace wedding last September. Thanks for the great shout out Seattle Bride!
Wedding Nouveau wrote an incredibly flattering article featuring the entire Burlap and Lace Wedding we did. They covered all the design elements from the fabrics used to the dessert table. That wedding will always be of my favorites, so it felt great to have it featured in such a gorgeous magazine!
So fun going to the grocery store and seeing my work down the magazine aisle!
A week after I flew down to do Simone’s 1st Birthday, it was time to celebrate Stella’s 3rd Birthday, Hello Kitty style! To be honest, I’ve never been much of a Hello Kitty fan. In fact when Tori first told me the theme I cringed a little. Character parties are not my favorite. One, because you don’t want your event to look like you robbed your local party store, and two, because it’s hard to nail a licensed character in buttercream! But hey, I’m always up for a challenge.
To keep the dessert table looking Hello Kitty AND chic at the same time, I created Hello Kitty’s Bake Shop. Lucky for me, I happen to know the most incredibly talented seamstress who was able to whip up an adorable pink and white striped awning, to mimic an old fashioned bakery. I added Hello Kitty’s signature bow to many of the desserts including the white ruffle cake, coconut topped cupcakes, banana bread bites, and even attached mini bows to the dessert name tags. Gorgeous white milk glass cake plates and compotes were used to display all of the bake shop goodies. Suddenly, as I finished dessert after dessert, little miss Hello Kitty started growing on me. And after I conquered her signature face in a cake pop and sugar cookie, I decided I kinda liked her!
By the time the awning was hung, the cake plates were placed, and each dessert was set up and ready for the party, I realized Hello Kitty might be cute after all. Not just cute, She was adorable!
As pleased as I was with how the dessert table turned out, the best part of this birthday was that I had my daughter Ally with me! Tori had invited my family to come, but I decided to make it a special trip with just Ally and I. She was such a good girl while I was working, making friends with Liam and Stella, and enjoying all Tori and Dean’s animals. When it was finally party time, she jumped in the bouncy house, was given a manicure and feather extensions, had Cinderella painted on her arm, and ate way too much sugar. And as if the party wasn’t enough excitement, afterwards we headed to The Grove in LA to shop and dine at American Girl.
Thanks Tori and my favorite little Stella McDermott for inviting me to make all the sweets at your 3rd birthday party!! Hugs!
