Cash's Crab Shack 1st Birthday

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was filled with lots of baking and finally getting the chance to go through some of my favorite pictures from one adorable birthday party I recently had the pleasure of working on. I got an email from Brandi, the mom of the birthday boy shortly after she saw the party I did for my little guys Mustache & Bow Tie theme 1st birthday bash on The TomKat Studio in May. Brandi gave me so many sweet compliments on Sam's party and asked if I would be willing to help with a dessert table for her little guy Cash's upcoming 1st birthday since what do you know we live in the same city! Of course I immediately responded with a big YES and through many emails back and forth we coordinated the sweets I would make with the party printables and designs she had planned for his special day. I was super excited when I found out the theme was all about crabs! I have been dying to work on a crab themed party and this was the perfect opportunity, 1st birthdays are just soooo much fun!

Brandi had purchased the Preppy Crab party printable package from Dimple Prints. Super cute right! I love the red and blue colors with the polka dots and stripe patterns. Brandi really used the printables as her inspiration to carry the design throughout all the party decorations. She really went all out on every single detail from the ADORABLE hand painted sign in the front yard, the favor table with sand pails for all the kids, crab coloring pages, and assorted candy cans on all the tables. You can definitely tell this little boy is loved so much by his mama! She did such an amazing job with all the decorations and I was so honored to be asked to help with the sweets. She requested some cookies, cupcakes and an aqua ombre cake with a crab topper!

I hope you all get some inspiration from this Crab Shack themed 1st birthday party. Enjoy!

Crab Shack 1st Birthday - {Sneak Peak}

Sneak Peak of one of the most adorable 1st birthday parties - Crab Shack theme! I had so much fun collaborating with the mom of the birthday boy to come up with the perfect red and blue crabby sweet's for little Cash's special day! More pictures and details to come soon, but for now enjoy this tiny peak into what just might be my new favorite party theme!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Chocolate Chips...a baking essential that you must always have on hand, am I right? Let me just warn you now that chocolate chips in cupcakes are just as addicting as chocolate chips in cookies! You can never eat just one, or two. I recently whipped up a batch of these Chocolate Chip Cupcakes for my June feature on The Cake Blog and I must say, they were a huge hit with my family (check out photos below), friends and neighbors. All you really need to do is take a basic white cake recipe and jazz it up with some chips in the batter and a few more sprinkled on top of vanilla buttercream and you've got one amazing cupcake! It was hard to stop after eating 3 in a row, but I had to save some for others!

This cupcake recipe should definitely be on the top of your summer baking, or cupcake list! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Here are a few behind the scenes photos with Sam and his little curious eyes and hands entering the cupcake scene! I LOVE all of these expressions I captured in just a few seconds.

I think he was saying "mmmm" in this photos....look at those cheeks!

I can't get enough of those big blue eyes!

I love that little wisp of hair peeking out behind his ears. His hair is definitely starting to curl a little in the back. Daddy thinks it's time for the first haircut, but I'm trying to hold out a little bit longer!

I hope you enjoyed a few snapshots of my little guy! I can't believe he is 14.5 months old already!

Polka Dot & Chevron - Pink & White Baby Shower Sweets

 

So it has officially been FOREVER since I have last posted! Let's just say the month of May was pretty hectic in my house. Traveling for work, weekend trips, the AC was out = too hot to bake, Sam got sick...so exhaustion set in and baking and blogging took the back seat for a little while! But I'm back today with some fun baby shower sweets I've been super excited to share with you! 

 

I recently did some cookies and a cake for a pink & white baby shower theme. I always love this color combo! I think onesie cookies are my all time favorites to decorate for some reason! They are just the sweetest little cookie and I've probably made close to a 1000 of them in the lifetime of this blog (here, here, here, here) so they are pretty easy to decorate by now. I always love the way they look in bags with coordinating ribbons! Such sweet favors for party guests.

When it came to the cake for this shower I wanted to incorporate the theme from the invitation which had both polka dots and chevron patterns. I've seen a bunch of amazing chevron cakes recently, but unfortunately my cake decorating skills are no where near the skill level of those amazing decorators so I opted for a more fun, playful, diy version to incorporate the chevron by using some cupcake liners I had on hand left over from when I made these Champagne & Raspberry Cupcakes.

I found a tutorial online from Icing Designs that was so super simple and produced beautiful results in no time. I will definitely be using this cupcake liner flower in the future!

I love the combo of the dark pink chevron and pale pink and white polka dot liners.

So what do you all think of the cupcake liner flowers...pretty cool right? I love the simplicity of this plain white cake with the wow factor of the flower liners on top!

I hope you were inspired by these pink and white baby shower sweets!

Creamsicle Cupcakes

Whether we want to admit it or not, this year is just zipping right on by and summer is just around the corner. Living in the south we definitely get a head start on the warmer temps which I love! Although it hasn't gotten too hot just yet, the ice cream man has already been cruising through our neighborhood for well over a month now leaving me to think only about popsicles every time I hear his musical truck!

I'm sure you've all had a creamsicle at least once in your life right? Well today I'm taking this popular orange cream filled popsicle and transforming it into a cupcake! The recipe for these Creamsicle Cupcakes and step-by-step photos for assembly are over at The Cake Blog. These cupcakes are bursting with orange and citrus flavors and are definitely a must try this summer!

I found this adorable orange polka dot and stripe decorative tape at Michael's and made these cupcake toppers in just a few minutes using some toothpicks! Such a quick, easy and cheap way to add a little something special.

Hope you enjoy this recipe! And for all you moms out there I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Funfetti Cupcakes

Happy Friday Fun Day! This cupcake recipe can be summed up in one word...FUN! Combining my obsession of 2 things...sprinkles + cupcake liners I've come up with a Funfetti recipe that I've been wanting to make for a long time now! I love how this recipe turned out for so many reasons. It's loaded with sprinkles inside and out, it's bursting with color and it's absolutely scrumptious! More fun photos and the recipe for these happy little cakes can be found on The Cake Blog! I hope you've got lots of sprinkles on hand because this is one recipe you will want to try this weekend!

Aren't these stripe & polka dot forks adorable! Luckily I had a few left over from Sam's 1st Birthday Bash! I got them from Sucre Shop, it's only the cutest place to shop for hand painted wooden utensils! Seriously you need to go check them out now! They've got tons of amazing patterns in bright colors I really would like to order one of everything!  But I contained myself and only ordered 4 things just a few minutes ago...more forks, spoons, popsicle sticks and mini wooden scoops! Let's just say when that package arrives it's going to be one fun mail day!

I hope you will give this recipe a try, it's definitely on the top of my list for all time favorite cupcake!

Sam's 1st Birthday - Tie/Bow Tie and Mustache Bash

I am so excited to finally be able to share with you all the details of Sam's 1st Birthday Party! We had such a fun day celebrating with family and friends. Our little guy sure is loved by so many people! Obviously if you've been on the blog recently then you know I've been showing you sneak peaks of the Tie/Bow tie & Mustache theme and today is the big reveal of how all the elements tied together to create one adorable birthday bash! I apologize in advance for the photo overload, but there were just too many to choose from and I had a hard time narrowing them down. So below are a few (ok "a lot") of my favorites from Sam's special day. So let's get started with the main attraction...the dessert table! I wanted the focal point of the table to be all about Sam, so we used the same DIY chalkboard from his invitation photo shoot and customized it with his name and a #1 tie! (Sam's daddy is the chalkboard artist in our house!) The backdrop for the table was created using the wood planks that I feature in a lot of my blog photos and then embellished with 3 hanging garlands of ties/bow ties, polka dots and mustaches. Paper medallions and balloons were used to create some bold pops of color to finish off the look. Mustache brownies, tie/bow tie cookies and cupcakes with mustache and fabric bow tie toppers were served for all the guests to enjoy. Flanking all the sweets were a larger chocolate polka dot cake (inspired by this fabric) and Sam's smash cake. The cutest polka dot & stripe forks I have ever seen were from SucreShop. Adjacent from the dessert table was the favor/photo station. Pictures were displayed from an old vintage window I found at a local antique shop of Sam from birth to one. Candy was displayed in apothecary jars for guests to "fill their stache" in favor bags as they left. Sam's party invitation and his first finger painting masterpiece were displayed as guests entered the party. I stole this idea from my friend Jamie. She had her son Jonah do this for his first birthday and it was absolutely adorable! I must say Sam has some great artistic ability! Carrying on the tie/bow tie, polka dot and mustache theme from the dessert table, 3 more garlands were hung from this old 8 pane window that hangs above our couch. (Thanks Auntie Em for perfecting all the garland assembly!) Lemonade was served in mason jars with mustache stripey straws! Our dining room table was decorated with a lime green burlap runner and yellow ribbon and sprinkled with mustache and circle confetti. Simple spring flowers were placed in antique blue mason jars. I found the idea for this #1 photo collage on Pinterest and immediately wanted to make this part of Sam's party decorations. Since we had his big celebration at the end of his birthday week, I decided to make the #1 out of photos taken only from his birthday week. If you look closely you can see him enjoying his mini cupcake from his birthday morning, playing in his crab sand box that we bought him for his present and driving around in his new cozy truck from Grammie. (Thanks Auntie Em & Gpaw for putting this together at the last minute!) Sam's party was over Easter weekend so we decided to have an egg hunt for a fun activity with all the kids.  How cute are these mustache eggs I found online at Oriental Trading! All the outdoor tables were decorated with mustache and circle confetti and flower pots wrapped with bow ties and filled with Easter eggs. Our backyard was transformed into a little play land with a parachute and balls (Thanks Jennifer for letting us borrow this from miss Cora!) and Sam's new crab sand box and slide. The kids had a blast! We also created a photo booth area with props for the guests to have fun and be a little silly carrying out the mustache and bow tie theme! Seth & Renie started off the photo booth fun! Miss Jennifer & Sam's girlfriend Cora Our friend's the Sasser's Sisters! Me & Auntie Em being silly...Sam is all serious in this shot! I love our little family of 3! And the moment I'm sure you've all been waiting for...the smash cake! Let's just say my little guy loves him some cake and icing! He had a blast digging right in and flinging icing all over his forehead and hair! I even ended up with a streak of yellow icing in my hair somehow. I just love all of these pictures my sister was able to capture, his facial expressions are priceless! Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Sam from the party showing off his absolutely adorable tie onesie from Chic Couture Boutique! My dad founds this mustache pacifier at Cracker Barrel the morning of the party! I must say it finishes off his outfit and ties in with the party theme quite nicely! Check out that yellow icing in his hair! Absolutely love this facial expression, he has definitely been smiling and laughing! I love this little guy so much! Look at that little face! It was a perfect day and so many memories were created with our little guy! I hope you enjoyed a look into Sam's Tie/Bowtie & Mustache 1st Birthday Bash! Sources: twine/mini wood clothespins/paper medallions - The TomKat Studio Shop tie onesie - Chic Couture Boutique polka dot & stripe wooden spoons - Sucre Shop Mustache Easter Eggs - Oriental Trading ties & bow ties/cake pedestals/colored Easter eggs - Target invitation - Shutterfly age blocks - Montana Vintage Greens vintage wood photo frame - Coastal Charm lollipops/polka dot favor bags/balloons - Party City stripe straws/chevron bags - Michael's garlands/cupcake toppers/#1 photo collage - DIY chalkboard frame/ombre dresser/8 pane antique window - DIY compliments of Sam's daddy! cakes/cupcakes/brownies/cookies - Crave. Indulge. Satisfy. photography - Crave. Indulge. Satisfy. & Auntie Em