Creative Night Out

I was lucky enough to attend the fun Girls Night Out with all of our Arizona party girls! 

all the cute decorations we created by sweet Kendra of Me & My Insanity with all the photography provided by Sierra Studios Photography 

we had wonderful food from Sweet Cakes in Mesa, with even better company!  I sat with Kim & Toni from TomKat Studio (who both are super fun & Toni is hilarious by the way) & Destiny from A Place for Us, (who is wonderfully sweet).   I had so much fun sitting with them & enjoying a little girl talk!

CNO had the most wonderful favor boxes for all the girls

& the yummiest mini cakes were provided by Baked by Joanna

& everyone had a wonderful time in the photo booth



It was a great night!  A big thank you to all for putting together such a fun evening!

(photos by Sierra Studios Photography)

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Creative Night Out

Sprinkles & Stripes

Remember the pretzel flag I made for Memorial Day earlier this year?  My 9 year old Evan asked, "Mom could we could make a flag like the pretzel flag but with marshmallows?"  Now please remember, I am NOT a professional/expert, I am a amateur baker at best & a mom who loves to play in the kitchen with her kids. 



this is our group effort-you can easily tell who put the sprinkles on what marshmallows

but what you can't see, is that they were made with smiles, laughter & love.  And those are the best ingredients in our family kitchen. 

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Sprinkles & Stripes

Marshmallow Letters

Did I mention that is HOT here in Phoenix?  I am avoiding turning on the oven at all costs but need projects to keep my kids from driving me crazy busy.  Have you seen the Stacker Marshmallows that are flat & rectangular & perfect for S'mores (seriously why didn't someone come up with this before)?

Do you know how easy they are to cut with scissors?

And how messy fun they are to dip & sprinkle?  My kids have managed to cover the entire kitchen floor in red, white & blue sprinkles.



We placed them in the refrigerator to set up before we packaged them with ribbon & Fourth of July tags from my favorite girls at TomKat Studio

 We placed them in cute star buckets & are now ready to deliver to our friends!

Tomorrow we are making marshmallow flags (which is my 9 year olds idea) we'll let you know how they turn out! :)

Linked to Somewhat Simple, Skip to My Lou , Tip Junkie , Todays Creative Blog & Sunday Showcase.

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Marshmallow Letters

United Shakes of America

Summer is definitely here in Phoenix!  Our high today is 114 degrees & it is ridiculously HOT!  To help try to keep cool, my boys & I make home made ice cream a couple times of week.  Last week, we made home made chocolate chip cookie sandwiches with vanilla ice cream & toffee sprinkles.  This week, we made red, white, & blue mini milkshakes in honor of Independence Day.  My oldest, Jake, dubbed our creation "The United Shakes of America".



To make, start with a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream & divide into 3 equal parts. Place the 1/3 of the plain vanilla back into the freezer.  Mix up 1/3 of vanilla with red & the remaining 1/3 with blue gel color in separate containers.  Fill your glasses 1/3 full of blue ice cream & place back in the freezer to set.  Follow with 1/3 white & 1/3 red, allowing each layer to set in between.

We topped ours with whipped cream & few sprinkles! YUM!  Summer is starting to look a little cooler!

(Linked to Somewhat Simple, Skip to My Lou , Tip Junkie , Todays Creative Blog & Sunday Showcase) 

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United Shakes of America

Harry Potter Cupcakes

My boys & I have been re-watching all the Harry Potter movies this summer in anticipation for the final  movie on July 15th.  They are trying to talk me into the midnight showing but regardless of when we go, I would like to do a little something to celebrate the ending of this wonderful series. I am living somewhat vicariously through Denise from Little Ant Design, who throws the most amazing HP parties.  

I have been looking for some ideas to make our premiere night special & I found these amazing HP cupcakes from Clare's Cupcakes. 

I adore the sorting hat cupcake with his crunched up little face



I would choose the Gryffindor cupcake, of course

Does anyone have special plans for the HP premiere?

(spotted on Cupcakes Take The Cake)

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Harry Potter Cupcakes

Cars 2 Treats

Is anyone planning on seeing Cars 2 this weekend?  After seeing the movie, you might want to head over to Williams Sonoma & pick up these cute Cars 2 cakelet pans

or these Cars 2 cookie cutters



or these pancake molds (which would be great for sandwiches too)

& don't forget your apron for your little pit crew 

For all the details, click here.

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Cars 2 Treats

4th Favors

Your party guests will adore these 4th of July favors from Martha Stewart & these rocket favors would make the perfect place card for your table

 aren't these flag favors are the cutest?  They look adorable & super easy to make!



For more festive 4th ideas, visit Martha.

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4th Favors

Candyland Cake

Spotted this Candyland Cake on Cakespy & was instantly charmed with it's sweet perfection.



(photo via Cakespy)

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Candyland Cake

Americana Accessories

I was looking for a few Americana accessories for one of my sweet clients & found some cute finds on Chasing Fireflies...

like these monogrammed buckets



flag folk art

star lanterns

carnival inspired light up letters

& America pillow

Where do you find your patriotic decor & what's your favorite piece?

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Americana Accessories

Mrs. Vallone's Cooking Class

My girlfriend Mary hosted a cooking class last week for 10 lucky kids.   They made Captain Crunch Chicken (which is super yummy)

yes, that is Captain Crunch & Corn Flakes

& homemade bagels

& Bakerellas infamous cupcake hamburgers

with sugar cookie french fries

which was my boys favorite

the kids really enjoyed the class & it was a great way to spend a summer afternoon!

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Mrs. Vallone's Cooking Class

Mexican Moonshine

We had friends over this weekend for a little Mexican Moonshine fiesta...featuring azul margaritas



& Midori margaritas

I set up a Margarita bar for all of our guests

for glasses, I bought pint size mason jars & wrapped them in Mexican lace

blue for the boys, pink for us girls & dressed the tequila with a mexican tassle

Our decanter was filled with margarita mix and used Spanish glass bottles for the Midori, Blue Curacao, Pomegranate & Grand Marnier

 & hung papel picado from our ceiling for a little atmosphere

And the perfect fiesta was born!  For favors, I gave out my hubby's favorite Mexican hot sauce & hot tamales.  Everyone brought their favorite Mexican dish & my hubby made his famous salsa & ceviche!  It was a wonderful night with our friends & neighbors!

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Mexican Moonshine

Staycation

Just got home from a wonderful stay at Montelucia with my hubby...

tonight I am so excited for creative night out with all my favorite party girls, tomorrow is our margarita fiesta, & Sunday is our father's day celebration!   What are your plans this weekend?

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Staycation

Toy Storage

I adore these storage cabinets from Tulp Kids.  Absolutely darling & perfect for my clients playroom. 



You can find them here.

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Toy Storage

Gift tags

Sorry for the lack of posts this week-it has been crazy busy for me & with the kids out of school, just can't seem to get settled into a new routine.  Tomorrow is my nephew's 2nd birthday & I made this tag for his present wrapped in cute monkey paper.  I am not big on cards for kids, they're expensive and usually just get thrown away.  I always like to coordinate the tags with the wrapping for a thoughtful & personal touch.



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Gift tags

Tie one on

LOVING these FREE tie printables for Father's Day from Shindig Parties To Go

For your free download, go here.

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Tie one on

Summer MM style

Guess what I got in the mail today?  Thank you MM for your gorgeous summer eye candy.  And, sorry no, you can not borrow my copy but you can get your own here. 

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Summer MM style

Coach & team gifts

 If any of you have kids in sports, you are all too familiar with team parties at the end of the season.  My youngest is in sports year round & we have several parties a year. At the party, I like to give Evan's team mates a little something to say thanks for a great season.  This year, I stole borrowed this idea from the girls at eighteen25 who made cute Skor'd cards for Coach gifts.  My version is below:

    

Our card said "I Skor'd BIG getting you for a team mate!  Thanks for a great season!"

:

I also like to do something for the coach as well.  I had all the boys/parents sign a card

& collected for a team gift to say thank you for all of his hard work that season! I bought gift certificates for dinner & a movie

& wrapped everything up basketball style!

The end to another great season & the next has already begun....

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Coach & team gifts