Host the Party of the Year {Giveaway!}

Sweet things to come…

Sweet Places {Miette, San Francisco}

Last fall, when my lovely friend Sharnel and I spent some time in San Francisco, we made our way over to a special sweet shop called Miette.  We stopped by on a rainy Saturday morning, and had to walk a couple blocks in a light rain, but it was definitely worth the effort.  Miette is an adorable candy shop and bakery with a beautiful vintage feel.  The shop is full of antique tables and shelves, painted beautiful pastel colors.  Their large variety of sweets are displayed in pretty jars, vintage pottery and gorgeous cake stands!  Pretty sweets and beautiful cake stands in one place… yes, I was in heaven!  The shop is not real large, but they carry a wide variety of sweets.  In addition to the candy, there is a small bakery case where cupcakes and cakes are sold.  While Sharnel and I were buying some pretty pastel malt balls, a lady next to us was buying the same ones and mentioned they were for an Easter photo shoot.  We got to chatting, and found out she is a stylist for Pottery Barn Kids… oh the dream!  If you’re ever in San Francisco, Miette would be a perfect stop for any sweet lover!  For today, you can enjoy the shop here…

Have a sweet day!

Valentine’s Marshmallow Pops

Here’s a Valentine’s treat that is super easy, and perfect to send along with your little sweeties to share with their friends.  My daughter’s love to help make these.  I’ve made them several times (and for different holidays by simply changing the sprinkles) after seeing the idea several years ago on Grace Violet.

All you need…

One bag of Strawberry Marshmallows

Chocolate

Sprinkles

Lollipop sticks

Small cellophane bags (if you want to wrap them up)

~ Directions ~

1.  Push a lollipop stick into each marshmallow.

2.  Melt some chocolate (chocolate chips are not recommended)  I usually use Ghirardelli chocolate (found in the baking aisle).  You will probably need 4-8 oz. of chocolate, depending on how many marshmallows you dip.

3.  Dip one marshmallow at a time into the chocolate.

4.  Allow excess chocolate to drip off, then sprinkle your choice of sprinkles onto the chocolate.

5.  Set the marshmallow pop (stick down) in a mug to allow the chocolate to set (you can put the mug of pops in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes)

6.  Once the chocolate is set, if desired, wrap each pop in a small cellophane bag.

7.  Share with friends =)

If you’re feeling domestic this weekend, here are a few other Valentine’s treats to try…

Chocolate Rolled Cookies

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cranberry White Chocolate Bars

Decorated Valentine’s Cookies

Easy Chocolate Mousse (from a mix)

Joy’s Ladybug Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated my “baby” Joy’s 4th birthday.  Luckily, my girls are still young enough for me to steer them to the party theme I want to do… as in (insert excited voice) “Joy, wouldn’t it be fun to have a ladybug party?”  We’ll see how much longer I’ll be able to get away with that!  =)

I spent several months before the party gathering lots of red, white and black goodies.  I decided not to try to do everything myself and ordered many of the special party touches from a variety of wonderful sources (all listed at the end of the post).

January birthday’s pretty much have to be planned as an indoor affair, but we were blessed on the party day with a sunny 65 degree day that allowed the kids to play outside as much as in (yay for California!).

The afternoon of the party was spent enjoying a light lunch, chatting (adults), playing outside (kids), doing a craft (kids), and enjoying birthday sweets while presents were opened.

I prepared a dessert table full of cute red, black and white treats (with a few pink and green touches).

The cake and cupcakes were made by me (Glorious Treats).  The cake was dressed with a personalized cookie topper and little cookie ladybugs made as a gift by my friend Callye of Sweet Sugar Belle.

I completed the sweets table with simple arrangements of red tulips.

I made chocolate cupcakes (recipe here) with vanilla cream cheese frosting (recipe here).  The ladybug toppers were also made by me (using my Cricut machine).  I accented the cupcake stand with adorable tiny ladybug cookies from Sweet Sugar Belle.

I made a personalized banner to hang above the dessert table.  The banner was made to co-ordinate with the cookies (by Sweet Sugar Belle), which were made using inspiration from the adorable personalized shirt (from Modern Frills).  Joy’s cute hair bow from My lucky hair bow.

Delicious and adorable oreo pops from Sweeties by Kim.

Cupcakes were made by me (Glorious Treats) dressed with little ribbon flags and fondant flowers and ladybugs.

Amazingly perfect cookies from Sweet Sugar Belle.

Beautiful Oreo pops from Sweeties by Kim.

French Marcarons from The Macaronner.

The party invites were from Littlebeane Boutique.  I fell in love with them many months ago, and really patterned the whole party off of them.

Party favors were clear boxes (from Clearbags.com) filled with a little notebook (Target), a ladybug shaped magnifying glass (Target), little colored pencils and a ladybug chocolate (World Market).  The boxes were finished off with matching ribbon and a personalized thank you label (from Littlebeane Boutique)

One of the party activities was a simple craft I prepared for the kids.  I found some red lunch bags (at Target), and then cut out circles of black paper for ladybug spots, and large circles cut in half for the head.  Glue on some eyes, draw antennas and a line down the center and voila… ladybug puppets!

I prepared a light lunch (with the help of a friend- thanks Tara!) consisting of Turkey croissant sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, salami pinwheel wraps, fresh vegetables with dip, fresh fruit and chips.  I dressed up the sandwiches with picks decorated with ribbon.  Above the food table I hung some adorable ladybug garlands a friend (in New Zealand) sent me several months ago.

Here’s my little cutie enjoying one of her birthday cookies.

We all had a great day celebrating the “joy” that this sweet girl brings into our lives.

~ All the details ~

Party planning, set-up and styling- Glory Albin (Glorious Treats)

Photography- Gene Chutka and Glory Albin

Cake and cupcakes- Glory Albin (Glorious Treats)

Invitations, favor labels and food labels- Littlebeane Boutique

Custom Sugar Cookies- Sweet Sugar Belle

Custom Chocolate dipped Oreo pops- Sweeties by Kim

Personalized shirt (on birthday girl)- Modern Frills

French Macarons- The Macaronner

Hair bow- My lucky hair bow