Thursday, December 22, 2011

Featured on Amy Atlas! Gingerbread 2011

We're delighted to have our annual gingerbread house decorating party featured on the Amy Atlas blog this morning!


We'll have the full post with tons of pictures and all the details tomorrow!

In the meantime, do you remember last year's Swedish themed gingerbread house decorating party?


And the Sugar Plum Fairy birthday party, where all the kids decorated gingerbread houses as an activity?



Feel free to browse those to get your gingerbread fix until the full post of this year's party tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Recipe: How to Make Marzipan (and Marzipan Pyramids)

Looking for the Marzipan pyramids tutorial?  The whole blog, along with this post, have moved to Tikkido.com!  Head over there for all the photos and details.



Friday, December 2, 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Friday, November 18, 2011

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

DIY Project: How to Make Toadstool Colored Pencils

Looking for the tutorial on how to make these charming toadstool colored pencil favors?  The DIY has moved (along with all the other content on the blog) to its new home at Tikkido.  Here's the direct link.


Friday, October 28, 2011

DIY Project: Toadstool Stools

Painting circles is hard.  At least circles that look like actual circles, not the lumpy freehand amoebas that look more like my two-year-old's drawing efforts.  When I decided to paint unfinished wooden stools to resemble classic red and white toadstools, I knew I needed a crutch to get those circles just right.


I bought the unfinished footstools from my local Michael's and Joann Fabrics, strategically buying them one at a time with my 50% off coupon one week.


Then a coat of primer, and I was ready for the design.   To get those perfect circles, I simply traced around round cookie cutters with a pencil.


A jar or a glass would work equally well.  After that, all you need is a little red and white paint and you'll have a whimsical toadstool stool, a pint sized seat just the right size to go around a coffee table, and utterly adorable in a child's bedroom after the party.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

DIY Project: How to Make your Own Custom Glass Plates

Looking for the customized glass plates tutorial?  It's moved to our new home on the web at Tikkido.com!  Here's the link to the full tutorial and all the pictures.


Friday, October 21, 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

Real Parties: A Fall Gnome Birthday Party

Are you looking for the Gnome birthday party?  The blog has moved!  This post is now available at Tikkido.com.  And check out all the new content while you're there!



Featured on the Amy Atlas Blog! A Sweet Fall Gnome Birthday

What a great delight and honor to be featured on the Amy Atlas blog today!  I had so much fun designing this Gnome party for my friend's daughter.


Come back tomorrow for all the details--and later this week, of course, many tutorials!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sneak Party Peek

I'm furiously working on the last-minute details for my daughter's 8th birthday this Saturday, but I have a ton of exciting stuff coming up!  Here's a little sneak peek at the invitation:



Can you guess what the theme is this year?

Friday, October 7, 2011

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

DIY Project: How to Make Glitter Playdough

Looking for this?  The blog has moved to Tikkido.com!  Find the full tutorial over there, and join us for lots of creative new content.



Friday, September 16, 2011

Pottery Barn Kids Star Wars Event Tomorrow!

I've been invited to style an event for Pottery Barn Kids to help launch their Star Wars line for the holidays--what fun!  Here's a little sneak peek for you.



Planet and Shooting Star Cookies

I have a lot of work to do before the event tomorrow, but it's starting to come together.

If you're in the Phoenix area, come by the Chandler Fashion Center mall and join me at Pottery Barn Kids for a great sale, lots of Star Wars fun, and me!  You'll be able to pick me out of the crowd easily--I'm the one with the hot pink hair.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Pantone Color Report for Spring 2012

The Pantone color report for Spring 2012 is out!  I love these looks ahead at color and fashion trends.



Don't you think Swarovski's brand new color, Denim blue, would look marvelous with the Sodalite Blue?


I'm always happy to see pink in the forecast.  Hey, the Cabaret matches my hair color really well.  I'm a trendsetter!


And Swarovski's new Crystal Pink Color would look fabulous with the beachy blues and tans.


Are you planning a wedding or event with any of these colors?

Friday, September 2, 2011

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

How to Make a Paper Flower Backdrop: Let's Finish It!

And here we are, at the final part of our How to Make a Giant Paper Flower Backdrop tutorial.  In case you missed it, learn how to make all the other flowers for this backdrop in Part One and Part Two.

Paper Flower Dessert Table Backdrop

Today we'll learn how to make the last flower, what I call the Rolled Cone Flower.  As before, you'll need more of that roll of paper, scissors, and a glue gun.  Tape is handy for this one, too, but not necessary.

This is what I mean by Rolled Cone Flower:

These are incredibly easy, and you can make them very large.  This is good for two reasons.  First, because the large scale is dramatic.  Second, the larger your flowers are, the fewer you have to make!

First, cut your petals.  They should look like slightly tapered U shapes (narrower at the top of the U).  But don't knock yourself out worrying about getting it just right.  Rhatever you cut will be just fine.  Really.


Roll each petal into a cone, and secure with tape or hot glue.  Tape is faster, but the glue gun works just as well.

Arrange the cones so that they form a circle, with the points meeting in the middle.  I usually used six for each flower, but it really depends on the size of your petals.  Use as many as you need.  Glue together using the glue gun.


Make a fringe flower center, if desired, and glue to the center of the flower.

The only other element on the backdrop were the leaves.  These were insanely simple to make, and were great filler.  I used a lot of leaves.


The instructions for these are pretty darn obvious.  Cut out leaf shape.  Fold in half to give some dimension.  Voila, leaves!


You've done the grunt work--now let's see it all come together into a thing of beauty.  To make the paper flower backdrop, you'll need:

  • your trusty glue gun
  • your mountains of paper flowers
  • a 4 x 8 sheet of foam insulation sheeting from your local Lowes or Home Depot

The foam insulating sheet is lightweight, easily can be cut to whatever size or shape you want, and is very inexpensive.  I think I paid about $6.50 for mine.

Now all you need to do is use your glue gun and start sticking on those flowers!


Use the leaves to fill in the cracks between the flowers.  A little bit of the Styrofoam will still be visible, but when you're doing a white-on-white background like this, it just looks like part of the design.  If you were to do this project in a different color (I'd love to try it with wrapping paper!) I'd paint or cover the Styrofoam first.

I hope you've enjoyed learning how I made the backdrop for the Secret Garden baby shower.  I can imagine a ton of other applications for this type of project.  The most incredible photobooth backdrop ever?  cover cardboard columns and arches to make an insanely beautiful focal point for a wedding ceremony?  Me, I'm planning to re-use the backdrop as an art piece in my bedroom, whenever I get around to re-painting the awful purple sponge painting left behind by the previous owners.