Lemonade & Sunshine

Today I had the time, energy and sunshine needed to have an impromptu photo shoot of a new-to-me dessert I had been wanting for weeks to make. Berry Charlottes! Haven't you heard of them? A Charlotte is a French dessert made in a mold with ladyfingers filled with mousse or fruit (in this case both) and then chilled. Once chilled, you take it out of the mold for immediate serving. I've seen them served with or without ribbons but I think they just look so beautiful with a ribbon.

White chocolate mousse filling topped with blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

They are as delicious as they look!

The antique secretary desk was mine as a little girl and I love that it's still around.

A perfect afternoon treat to share with friends on a hot summer day!

Sweetest Baby Shower

I just got back from setting up a dessert bar for a baby shower at a beautiful home in Great Falls! Here are some of the pictures:

The parents-to-be are not finding out the gender so the hosts chose a green/neutral color scheme

Chocolate cake pops

I love how these cookies turned out!  Carriages, baby bottles and teddy bears wearing bibs!

Baked apple pies! My friend Meghan at The Hospitality Sweet makes these in a FRIED version. Yum.

I was so excited to make this buttercream ruffle cake

Rustic Anniversary Party

Last night my best friend and her husband celebrated their 5 year wedding anniversary by hosting a party for 75 people. I had the honor of planning the party and baking the desserts for the dessert bar. Dessert bars are so trendy and gorgeous so I was excited to take on this task! I sat down with Kristen almost 2 months ago and went over her vision for the party and afterwards put together an inspiration board which helped bring the party together and her vision to life.  Everything turned out wonderfully. 

We started the day by cutting fresh flowers from Potomac farmers market.
BEAUTIFUL zinnias.

I tied tags to each jar so guests could keep track of their glass throughout the night.

Love these barber shop striped straws.

The sliders were made by Kristen's Mother and they were absolutely delicious. Each time a new tray of sliders was brought outside, they were gone in seconds.

I love serving watermelon on kabob sticks because you don't have sticky juice dripping down your arm!

The banner I made to hang over the dessert table that my sweet friend Candace helped assemble.

I had so much fun making this cake!  The flower I used is the same type of flower Collin gave Kristen (but in white) when he proposed.

I baked for 2 straight days and ended up with a 4 layer cake, 95 mini chocolate cupcakes, 62 mini cherry pies, 2 dozen candy pretzels, 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies DIPPED in more chocolate ;), 52 cake pops, 75 lemon tarts, and 30 sugar cookies.  Wow.

I used mini green, yellow and orange tulip cupcake liners -- in Kristen's wedding the bridesmaids carried orange and yellow tulips, and wore green dresses.  I LOVE how every detail came together.

My favorite word to describe these 2 is "FUN".

I'm so happy with how the evening turned out and had the most wonderful time putting everything together.  Kristen's family was a dream to work with!

Vintage Bunting Flag

Below are a few pictures of the bunting flag I made for my little girls' birthday party. I love the different fabrics I picked up at G Street. I think the flag could be a beautiful accent to a little girls bedroom or play room.

Little Girl 1st Birthday Party!

Planning my little girls birthday party was more fun than I expected! We decided to do a vintage cupcake theme and I am thrilled with how it turned out.

The dessert table

Monogram cupcake toppers!

This is just a styrofoam cupcake tier stand that I covered with leftover fabric from the bunting flag I made.

Mini tissue pom cupcake toppers!  I saw these on etsy and of course had to use them at the party, so I figured out how to make them myself and made them in this deep fuchsia and also in light pink shown above.

Bakerella's cupcake pops had to make an appearance at this 'cupcake' party!  They were a huge hit and turned out great.

I'm very pleased with how this celebration came together.  It's really easy for me to get "off-track" or distracted from party themes because as I start shopping for supplies, I see one million things that I want to buy.  Making an inspiration board for parties helps me so much and makes such a difference in the planning process.  I made a bunting flag for the party as well that I hung from 2 maple trees -- I'll put up pictures of the flag in my next post. :)