lucky number seven :: casino party sneak peek

I just received the photos from my daughter's "Lucky #7 Casino Party" we had last weekend.  It's going to take me awhile to go through them all - they are so good! The super talented Stephanie Anestis, photographer extraordinaire, has done it again - she captured the day perfectly and made the party look even better (especially considering the party took place in our basement)!

Here are a few sneak peeks...

lucky number seven invites :: casino

Today is my daughter's 7th birthday! 

Happy Birthday, Ella! You bring me joy everyday!

The theme for Ella's party this year is "Lucky #7". We are having a kids casino party... lots of kid-friendly card and dice games in our future. We are "betting" on a good time! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Here are a couple pictures of the invites. I took pictures of the process and will be doing a "scratch-off" tutorial soon.

Being her 7th birthday, we used several graphics to represent that. Notice the dice stickers on the envelope flap as well as the dice at the top of the invite; both sets equaling seven, of course!

After scratching off...

More sevens!!! 

Inside: 

elephant baby shower cake

A sweet and simple cake I made for a baby shower this past weekend. I love the color combo - pink, peach and orange. 

easter :: restaurant decorations

One of my continuing jobs is decorating a bar/restaurant for various holidays. This past weekend it was time to decorate for Easter. (If interested, you can look back at what I have done for the same place at Halloween and Christmas.)  Like at Christmas time, sticking to the neutral palette of the venue was very important to me. When I saw these nest and natural colored eggs wreaths at Joann's, I was sold. Not only did it fit the cream and browns in the space beautifully, but it also picked up some of the muted blues in the stone work of the restaurant's front facade. For the front windows, I used two wreaths back-to-back so they would be visible both inside and outside the restaurant.

Using the color palette from the wreaths as inspiration, I arranged little bouquets to embellish the lights along the bar. This decorating technique works well here because it is still prominent, yet keeps the bar clear for food and drink service. 

With a left over arrangement from the bar lights, I created a little table centerpiece by adding more eggs to a glass vase as filler. 

martini glasses and cupcakes

We recently had a fun request for serving cupcakes at an upcoming event.... Serve them in martini glasses! Fun, right!? We provided several different options for the details/embellishments. To show all the possible options at their tasting, we made a display of four different versions and the clients choose the details from each cupcake they liked. I was happy with the final presentation. (You might recognize the face topper from awhile back; it represented the option of using the honorees photo as a topper.)

cake decorating machine

No. Way. I'm rendered speechless - just had to share.

(via Mischer'Traxler via Present & Correct via Pinterest)

Check out some of the other inspirational projects via Mischer'Traxler.

birthday cake

I had a simple birthday cake order this past weekend and thought I'd share. It was for three generations - not only do they all share the same name, but they all have March birthdays. I like how the paper details bring the cake to life.