Cakes, Cakes, Cakes!

My passion is planning and styling, but I also do alot of baking for my parties as well. I don't LOVE baking, but I do enjoy it. I've made a few cakes for some recent parties that I wanted to share with you. I find cake making to be somewhat stressful. The littlest thing can go wrong and you are just "off" for the rest of the cake. Luckily, I haven't had too many of these moments. I did however recently make a cake and it was a little slanted which drove me INSANE! Once it's all put together and decorated you can't go back and fix it! {I just wish people wouldn't look at it from the side.. I know, unlikely.} I do love the outcome of the cakes once they are all decorated. They can make a dessert table/birthday party!

This Mickey Mouse cake was one of the first I ever made! Like my Fondant Characters? Ha, JK- I WISH! I totally cheated and bought a couple characters from the Disney Store to put around the cake. I think they looked so cute though! It's also an easy way for people to buy store bought cakes that are inexpensive and use your child's favorite character figure, race car, or truck on top. I covered this cake in fondant, and cut out fondant to make it looks like Mickey's House on the show. I added some grass and "Gwen" fondant circles to finish it off.

This Peace cake is the one that I had trouble with the slanting. I was so bummed. This cake was made for my daughters BFF {so they call each other} She is over my house often and sees me baking a lot. She asked me if I would make her cake for her birthday. Of Course I said yes!! I made the fondant peace signs and fondant flowers. I added some candy lettering and gumballs around the cake.

This cake is one of my favorites! I just love how it turned out. Blues clues is such a popular show still, and so may kids love it! I baked the entire cake Blue inside. The kids LOVED it. I made a bunch of fondant characters and a fondant house. I added clouds and grass to the cake.

For this barnyard cake and cupcakes, I made a simple "smash cake" and made a sheep laying on top made out of mini marshmallows. I think the sheep looks so adorable! I surrounded the cake with cupcakes adorned with cupcake toppers. I love how they look together!

This was my first Blues Cakes. So by the time I made the second one, I knew what I wanted to fix. The cake was meant to be a little more girly than the traditional colors. Don't look at my Blue. I know, I know the colors are opposite! But overall I still think it turned out really cute! The birthday girl loved it which is the most important part!!

I hope you enjoyed a looked into my cake baking world! :)

Building a Shop!

I'm in the process of creating some "Parties in a Box" along with some other items for my shop! My goal is to focus on parties that will be shipped right to you with no need to lift a finger! I want to have everything ready for you to put on the party table and enjoy! I'm even going to offer favors in the boxes to make it that much easier for you! There will be paper goods, cupcake toppers, banners, invitations, thank you cards, favors and much more! Here's a little sneak peak a few items I started to create! I hope you like!

Lots more to come in the near future!!!

July 4th Get Together

I recently had a very small get together, but just because it was small didn't mean I couldn't make it special! Even if you are only having a few people over, you can still throw together a great setting! The first thing I set out to do was gather items from my house. It's amazing what you can find for decorations when you look around. I pulled things from my living room, dinning room, kids room, and even broke out the Christmas box for a few red items. Once I found my decorations, I spent some time putting together the printable collection I purchased from Shindig Parties to go for $9! Now that's a deal :) I also picked up some lanterns and a few items from my local Target.

I set everything up in my backyard on the lawn. I had an adult table that I kept more sophisticated, and then I had a kids table that was playful and fun! I set up the adult table right beneath a tree in my yard. I hung a bunch of lanterns and paper daisies above the table. I used red charger plates, white dinner plates, and then a flag printed bowl. I had some beautiful hydrangeas on the table as well. For the seating, I used my grandmothers deacon bench for one side and stools for the other.

The kids table, I used a red table from Ikea, milk bottles with soda, and red plates. The table was also coordinated with the printable collection.

For the food table, I created it for both the adults & kids. Food on the table was Pulled Pork, Corn on the cob, cucumber salad, mini spoons filled with mac n cheese, pasta salad, hot dogs, potato chips, corn bread, parfaits, and cupcakes!

I hope you found some inspiration!

Credits:

Styling & Photography: Live Smile Celebrate

Printables: Shindig Parties

Cupcakes: Cupcake Charlies
Paper Daisies: Polka Dot Market
White & Blue Lanterns: Christmas Tree Shop
Flag Bowls: Target

{Free Printables} Summer Goodie Bags

Now that schools are doing away with baked goods because of all the allergies kids have, it's tough to figure out what to send in for year-end goodie bags. I could do candy, but first graders don't need any more sugar to keep them active. Then I thought Bubbles, but those are good for preschool and kindergartners.

I saw a big bucket of Chalk the other day while shopping and I thought- Perfect! Fun activity for kids to play with outside, and it doesn't break the bank. I picked up a couple buckets, enough for each kid to receive 3 pieces of chalk.

I then created some printables to go tie around the bags. If you are interested in receiving these printables, send me an email at livesmilecelebrate@gmail.com. I will send them for FREE :)

Happy Summer!!

Blue and White Anniversary Party

I was a part in planning a surprise 25th Anniversary party this past weekend. I was asked to create a Blue & White table for the couple because those were their wedding colors.

Unfortunately the weather was not so cooperative. It rained all day long! I was trying so hard to keep my tissue paper flowers from getting wet while transporting them from the car to their house. Luckily, they held up pretty well! I combined all the flowers over the table. They looked so pretty together!

I spray painted the "W" blue and set it on top of the cupcake tower to represent their last name. I made a bunch of cupcakes and added some toppers to them.

There was also chocolate covered oreos, rock candy, hershey kisses, chocolate covered pretzels, hard candy, and peppermint patty pieces.

I also had a banner across the table which had pictures of the couple and family through the years.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! It was a pleasure being part of such a special milestone day!

Summer Camp Out

With Summer here, I can't stop thinking about camping out! {mind you I'm not much of a camper, but there are lot of parts I do enjoy.} I've put together some inspiration for a kids camp out party. I'm going to host a night with my kids and their friends with this theme. I think it's so much fun for them! The party can be done on an inexpensive budget which I think it's why I love it so much.

Fresh Chick Design Studio has created the cutest Campin' Out Party printables

Here are some inexpensive ideas I've thought about:

*Borrow a tent from a friend/neighbor. (Weather the kids decide to sleep outside or not, it will set the tone for the entire party!)

*Every campout party NEEDS S'Mores!

I have fond memories of making these while growing up! Having a camp out fire outside to roast marshmallows is a great activity for the night. Have the kids walk around your yard to find sticks to roast their marshmallows. Buy a few supplies from your local grocery store and S'More away!

* Have a picnic. Set up an old sheet and sit around to enjoy some camp out foods. BBQ foods, and trail mix are inexpensive foods that are easy.

*Flashlights & Stories. Buy a few inexpensive flashlights and sit around the campfire and have the kids tell some stories. If you don't have a campfire, sit outside the tent on your set- It will work just as well!

I hope you are inspired to host your own "Camp Out' party!