Inviteme - Snow White party feature

Inviteme.com.au is the brainchild of two busy working mums Simone Norris and Amanda Edwards. Both were inspired and united by a love of beautiful things and driven by the desire to provide the kind of quality and originality they demanded for their own children – but could never find.

Inviteme is an online partyware store full of beautiful invitations, decorations and supplies for any occasion ~ birthdays of all ages, christenings, kitchen teas and more. So if you are looking for something but can't seem to find it then hop on over to the Inviteme online shop.

I wanted to share a gorgeous Snow White party these ladies threw for Simone's daughter Tessa who was a little Snow White "obsessed". Apparently Tessa wore her Snow White dress-up costume for six months straight, with the only washing opportunity arising after she’d gone to bed. She has worn three separate costumes into the ground and regularly points at pictures of Snow White in books crying out ‘Look, that’s me!” So a Snow White party theme was the only option to cure Tessa's obsession.

I think both ladies did a wonderful job bringing Snow White to life. I adore the gorgeous invite you can see above, simple and not overly "cutesy". How cute are those drinks labelled "Poison Potion", it even looks like poison, love it!

Some of the food included Fruits of the forest – fresh fruit including grapes, strawberries, and blueberries. Small bowls of lollies labelled ‘Ravishing Raspberries’ for jube raspberries; white jelly beans are ‘Snow White Drops’; Candy apple lollypops are ‘Candy Apples’; ‘Strawberries & Cream’ and adorable label toffee apples ‘Pick your poison apple’. Very clever indeed.

Love the take home favour boxes with Snow White tags, they look adorable.

I love this Miniature Snow White dolly varden birthday cake by Cakes of our lives. They also made the super lovely Cupcakes you can see above and the apple-shaped cookies on a stick and love-heart biscuits below.

Fun and frivolity, princess style, here are some of the activities that were done at the party

- Colouring in: To help our guests get in the party mood, we set up textas and pencils and had our guests start some colouring in.
- Pin the jewel on the crown: Draw up a stylised crown containing a large jewel. Attach the crown to a wall and give each guest a jewel. Write each guest’s name on their jewel and put some blue-tack on the back. Blindfold them, give them a couple of royal spins and tell them to stick the jewel on the crown.
- Treasure hunt: A winner every time, tell guests the Royal Family has lost their treasure and needs help finding it. Hide jewels, crowns, chocolate gold coins and other knick-knacks around the garden and ask everyone to return the lost items to the ‘treasure chest’ in the centre of the yard. Once everything has been found, let the royal gathering choose an item from the chest. The remaining items can act as prizes for other games.
- Pass the poison apple: A spin on ‘pass the parcel’, hand an apple around a group sitting in a circle and every time the music stops the person left holding the apple is removed from the game. Make them feel better about going out by inviting them to pick a prize from the treasure chest.

VENDORS

Cakes of Our Lives
Miniature Snow White dolly varden birthday cake
Cupcakes, apple-shaped cookies on a stick and love-heart biscuits

Details Details
Tins and black and white ribbon for take-home gifts
Green candy-striped straws

Cakes Around Town
White tin cake stands and lace-detailed cupcake wrappers

Styling, invites and party paperwork by INVITEME

You can find Inviteme's shop HERE or go to their BLOG or FACEBBOOK page to like them

Well done ladies, gorgeous party styling xxx

Hollywood cake and Topsy turvy leopard cake

Another busy week has flown by! First a photo shoot with the lovely Lilian from Lily Chic Events last Sunday, can't wait to share those pics with you all, it looked AMAZING!

Then it was busy creating the above topsy turvy leopard print cake for my friends daughter who turns 16 this weekend. Everything on the cake is edible, cake is choc mud covered in choc ganache and then covered in white choc fondant. First time I've made a topsy turvy cake and first time I've had to paint a leopard print :-) Making (carving) the cake kinda freaked me out a little but the "painting" of the leopard print was very easy. I used edible brown colouring paste mixed with vodka for the leopard print pattern.

Another cake I was working on is this film reel cake for a Hollywood 40th birthday bash. I am so pleased how this turned out, I saw an example at Cakes Crazy during my google image search and tried to recreate it for this birthday, I think I came pretty close. The reels are 2 x vanilla cakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting and 1 x red velvet cake also filled with vanilla bean buttercream and covered in white choc ganache. All cakes then covered in fondant and edible wafer paper (the photos). Once again everything is edible, except the top cake's silver spoke, it threatened to crack and break so I had to pop it on a cardboard cakeboard for support before placing it on top of the cake. The other silver spokes are 100% edible, made from modelling past (with some tylos powder) and edible silver lustre dust. Clapper board is black fondant and chocolate with edible "chalk" writing. Not an overly difficult cake to make just very time consuming and you have to be very accurate. Close enough is not good enough if you are going to attempt this cake. The hardest part in making this cake is the stacking part, I tried to work out how to stack it without the edible spokes breaking and cracking on the bottom two cakes. In the end I used a "floating" stack technique used for wedding cakes where the cake maker usually assembles the cakes at the venue. I found this the safest option as well as making the transportation of the cakes easier and less heavy (this baby weighs a tonne!!).

A MASSIVE thank you to Little Big Company for doing the graphics for the film reel cake, without their help the images would not have looked so real and professional.

Spring birdy Christening cupcakes and cake

THREE weeks till SPRING!!!!! Yay, can you tell I can't wait lol :-))


So what is more perfect than a gorgeous spring Christening cake like the one I've just completed. Oh how I loved making this cake and cupcake set, this was so much fun. The theme is birds (well derrr lol) with a vintage, whimsical and Spring touch. I am so happy how this cake set turned out, it is exactly how I imagined it in my head.

Here is one of the bird fondant toppers I made, a bit different from the usual ones I made as I thought I needed to update my collection of designs. LOVE this colour!

Ah, the tweety cake topper. It's a mix of designs I've made in the past, part "A little Sweetness", and part "Debbie Brown" , isn't it cute?

The top tier is a 6' inch x 3 white mudcakes stacked, covered in white choc ganache and covered in pale pink fondant. The design is my own, the brief was dainty, bespoke, delicate with flowers and butteflies. I used Darla Rose fabric on the cupcake tower supports as the Christening favours were made from the same type of fabric.

A mix of cupcake toppers, some birds are hand painted, some used custom transfer sheets, and some were embossed. I also made some roses, blossoms and delicate butterflies. Cupcakes were lemon with lemon zest buttercream, raspberry with raspberry compote frosting and caramel with caramel-toffee buttercream. Yummmm!!!!!!

For the cupcake tower tutorial please see below :-))

Cupcake tower tutorial

I get asked many times how I make my custom cupcake towers so decided to do a mini tutorial for you. Here it is :-))


Step 1: Gather your equipment, you will need


- Masonite cakeboards (I usually have the sizes 6" inches for the top tier where the cake sits on top, 8" inches for the 2nd tier, 10" inches for the 3rd tier and 12"inches for the bottom tier.)

- 4 x dummy cakes (foam dummies) (mine are usually 5" inches for the top, 6" inches for the 2nd tier support, 8" inches for the 3rd tier support and 10" inches for the bottom tier)

- Scissors

- Pencil

- Fabric

- Glue (I use glue stick and craft glue

- Tape measure

- Trim/ribbon for each board


Step 2: Iron your cakeboard fabric (mine is white) and take your 1st board and trace onto the back of the fabric lightly using a pencil. Cut around the traced line leaving about 1 inch gap (see step 2 photo)

Step 3: Using your scissors cut about 1inch slits right around your fabric circle till it looks like the photo in Step 3. This is to make it easier for you to glue the fabric around the circular shaped board without the fabric pukering up. Lay your cakeboard shiny side down onto the back of your fabric lining it up with your traced pencil lines. Glue the slitted fabric using your craft glue to the cakeboard, gently pull the fabric tight as you keep gluing it around but take care not to move the board out of the traced pencil line or your fabric will be glued unevenly to the board. I find if you start on one end of the board, then move to the opposite side, glueing as you go will prevent the board from slipping.

Step 4: Iron your next piece of fabric to be used around the dummies. Using your measuring tape, measure the circumfrence of the foam dummy making sure you add an extra 1 inch so the fabric overlaps when you wrap it around the dummy. Now measure the hight adding about 1/2 an inch to both top and bottom. Transfer the measurements onto the BACK of your patterned fabric with a pencil making sure its accurate. I draw some light lines with my pencil as a guide before cutting my fabric (see Step 4 photo). Cut out your fabric and iron it flat again.


Step 5: Now iron your fabric, 1/2 an inch in from the top and bottom creating a ironed seam on both top and bottom.

Step 6: Using your glue stick, cover the surface of the foam dummy (don't use very strong glue for this or it will MELT your foam) Now place one end of the fabric on your foam dummy and gently wrap the fabric around the dummy. Smooth the fabric out but don't tug too hard or you'll warp the fabric too much causing lots of puckering and wrinkeling.

Step 7: using your liquid craft glue, stick the dummy cake to the bottom of your covered cake board (obviously the NOT on the fabric side, but on the masoniteboard side lol) Pop a heavy book on top and leave overnight to dry.

Step 8: Using your glue stick smear some glue around the edge of your cakeboard, now glue on some trim or ribbon. I find trim is better as it does not stain like ribbon does from the glue.

Repeat the above process with each cakeboard you want to be part of your tower. The finished product can be viewed in action above for the Spring birdy Christening cupcake tower.

Paris in winter lunch

It is with great excitement that I can reveal Anya's "Paris in winter" party held last weekend.

Thank you to the wonderful Amy Atlas and her team for featuring my party today, I am beyond thrilled and happy :-)))

I love Paris in the spring time

I love Paris in the fall

I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles………………….

and so a theme was decided upon for my daughter’s 11th birthday party.

My daughter Anya ADORES & LOVES France, especially Paris and the Eiffel tower and begged me for a Paris party this year. Since this theme has already been done to death I wanted to give her party a funky and modern twist without blowing the budget sky high. Lets face it, if this is going to cost me hundreds of dollars to create I might as well save up a little more to buy a ticket and visit the actual Paris. A lot of the elements for this party was homemade and we tried to incorporate quite a few wintery touches since its very cold down here in Melbourne, Australia.



We started with gorgeous invites created by Jennifer Birkhead Design and to make it more fun for the guests Anya and I made envelopes from colour copied Paris street maps topped with Par Avion (free from the post office) and Eiffel tower stamps (free download from Google images). Jennifer also created all the cookie and dessert table tags to match.



Since our Paris theme involved the actual French colours (funny how nobody has done a Paris party in French colours before) I ordered some inexpensive French flag bunting from Ebay and various French ribbons and paper mini flags to be used on the dessert table. I also knitted a blue, white and red square flag garland to hang from the fireplace to emphasise the winter theme. I didn’t want to go out and spend extra money on vessels and platters for the table so instead I bought some styrofoam square cake dummies and wrapped them in white wool before crafting the two main cupcake and pop stands you can see on the table. I also used empty, clean chickpea cans to hold my cookies and macarons and once again wrapped the tins in white wool to dress them up. I even used chickpea cans and empty juice bottles as vases as centerpieces for my dessert table and lunch table which I covered in fake fur (the cans stuck on candleholders) and red wool (the bottles on the main table). The background is a Parisian wall decal which can be (and was) easy to remove.

Mademoiselle Anya unwrapping one of her tres chic pressies all decked out in her Parisian finery (clothes from Pumpkin Patch's Paris range)

Close up of the Eiffel tower and snow cookies all displayed in wool covered chicpea cans!

The Pièce de résistance was the Eiffel tower cake made from double chocolate sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and covered in fondant, yummmmm. Everything on the cake was edible (except the ribbon, flag and feathers).

Vanilla and coconut "snow" cupcakes and edible choc Eiffel pops. All displayed on my handmade cupcake & pop stand.

Some of the food we had for lunch was French pancakes, croissants with ham and mini bread rolls (Petit pain) with cheese. The dessert table had mini white hot chocolates with marshmallow moustache stirrers (the girls loved these!), a cheese (fromage) platter, raspberry macarons on sticks, Eiffel tower snow cookies, vanilla and coconut snow cupcakes and Eiffel tower pops. Guests were inspired by Edith Piaf singing French songs on the CD player in the background while playing games such as “name that Paris landmark”, “Paris bingo”, “find the moustache” and painting their nails in French coloured nail polish.

Can't have a French lunch without French raspberry and vanilla macarons! These macaron pops were for the children.

I loved how the living and diningroom looked after it was decorated, it looked like a French cafe overlooking a window with the Eiffel tower in the distance. Tres Bien!

For the main lunch the girls had these mini French pancakes.

Vanilla & coconut "snow" cupcakes were a hit at the dessert table.

I scored some lovely striped plates from Bed, Bath & table for only a mere $3 each, Le BARGAIN!

What is a Parisian lunch without flowers I say........ bought these lovely red carnations and silver leaf filler from Camberwell flower market and just added some feathers. I added these blooms to my fake fur covered can vases and stuck them to my candle holders for "drama".

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles.........found this gorgeous ruffle umbrella at my friend Lil's shop from Lily Chic Events and had to have it!! Isn't it just devine? Oo-la-la!!

Mini hot white chocolate drinks in mini cafe cups (I embelished each cup with a French phrase) with marshmallow & moustache stirrers/swizzle sticks. The guests loved these the most!

For the guests to take home they each received a mini wool felted postman’s satchel with poppy brooch containing an Eiffel tower cookie, a notebook bought from the dollar shop then covered in Paris street map paper, a stripy pen, Eiffel tower necklace and vintage airmail letter paper and envelopes (downloaded and printed for free) from Linda at Tortagialla.

My daughter loves to write letters so the free printable letter set was especially appreciated by her.

Eiffel tower snow sugar cookie with edible Eiffel tower image.

One of the favourite items on the dessert table was the cheese platter!

Forget napkin rings, just wrap some wool around your wooden cutlery, add a cute wool felted brooch with ribbon and viola, you've gone from cheap to chic!

Close up of the raspberry & vanilla macarons I made, these were for the parents that stayed for coffee.

It was only a small lunch of 6 guests who sat at the main table, this kept the lunch intimate and manageable.

Even my youngest daughter Liandra got into the swing of things.

See the red bottle? I used two empty juice bottles, wrapped them in red wool to jazz them up a bit and used them both as vasses on my main table. How easy and cheap is that!!

Don't forget to join me on FACEBOOK and tell me what you think :-)) or you are welcome to leave a comment here if you wish.

xxxx

Leoni

Lala bird cake, cookies and pops

This weekend I was busy completing this cute cake, cookie and pop set inspired by Alannah Rose's lala bird stationary. The cake was made from 3 x stacked chocolate mudcakes and filled with chocolate buttercream, then covered in white choc fondant. The bird topper is also made from cake which has been covered in milk chocolate before being covered in red vanilla Satin ice.

With the leftover mudcake I made these matching bird pops, aren't they cute? I love birds!

Here are the matching bird sugar cookies.....

Now for some exciting news, dessert Queen and styling Guru Amy Atlas is considering coming to Australia!!!! You all know how much I LOVE Amy Atlas and how much she has inspired my dessert tables. In fact, it is almost a year ago to the day that I created my very first dessert table that was heavily inspired by Amy!! I would LOVE to meet Amy, so if she's also your hero and you would love for her to visit us, please click HERE to register for Amy's mailing list. Don't forget to fill out the "How Did You Hear About Us” section and selecting the country “Australia". Lets make Amy's inbox go into meltdown ;-))

Ice cream shaped cake

A few days ago I was asked to create a cake to exactly match a stationary design for a 40th birthday, this is what I created. Although a fairly simple cake to make it still was tricky to try and make the cake look like the sketched ice cream. This particular cake was a double chocolate sponge (not a cake I recommend for carving!) filled with Choc fudge frosting. The cake consisted of 4 x 8' inch square cakes, stacked then carved using a cardboard template I created.

It was quite large in the end, as you can see it sitting on a 14" square cakeboard covered in fondant.