Wants and Wishes

Taste the Rainbow birthday party

2012-02-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

Taste the Rainbow in cupcakes! We know there are a lot of Rainbow birthday parties out there so we wanted to do something a little different for our Rainbow birthday party collection. We created a taste the rainbow birthday with a different cupcake for each color in the rainbow.

We wanted the background to be simple so the cupcakes, desserts and printables would be the main focal point with fun bright colors. Each cupcake flavor was displayed on a coordinating color platter. We had them at varying heights and sizes to add some interest. For the garlands we punched out a colorful circle garland {in no particular order} and clouds with a mini taste the rainbow banner.

Blue: Cotton candy toppers! Get a bucket of cotton candy and twirl it on a sucker stick.... that's all!

Purple: Grape dum dum suckers

Pink: Strawberry cupcakes

Red: Cherry cupcakes

Orange: orange flavored frosting with a orange gumball on top

Yellow: Lemon cupcakes. Add lemon zest and lemon drop for a little decoration

Green: Key Lime Cupcakes

Other desserts we had at our Rainbow themed party was rainbow white chocolate popcorn. Toss air popcorn in melted white chocolate, then drizzle red, orange, yellow, pink, blue and green chocolate over the top. This was a huge success and very tasty!

You can't have a Taste the Rainbow collection without skittles! We divided all the layers and place it in an apothecary jar for guest to dig in throughout the night.

We also had mini cupcakes with rainbow slices in them.

Mini rainbow hershey bar wrappers

We also had small bags of jelly belly jelly beans for the goes to take. My family plays a game that we pick up a color and guess what flavor it is by the color and see if we are right! Try it at you next rainbow party!

Our collection has rectangle and circle toppers

Drink the rainbow wrappers for the water bottles. You could also gather different drinks in all the shades of the rainbow for a fun drink bar to pair with the Taste the Rainbow cupcakes you have.

For the favors we had a clear box filled with laughy taffy. They were displayed on a platter with jelly bellys

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 14

2012-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I wanted to share one more Valentine idea. Here are 2 fun ideas on how to spruce up a plain white box. You can use one of our favor toppers and flags or feathers. I braided red, white and pink twine to add a little texture and different element to the package.

I hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's Day and I will be back tomorrow with another great party I'm dying to share with you all!

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 12

2012-02-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

Day 12 is another simple packaging idea, since time is getting tight until Valentines Day. Use one of our heart tags and simply tie it around a cylinder filled with candy. I found these cute sour gummy arrows, cupids and hearts. I thought it would go perfect with our Cupid Valentines Day Collection.

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 11

2012-02-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

Today I create a little something fun with our valentine flags. Our printable flags are the one item I get asked on how to use the most. There is the typical place around a straw or tooth pick as a little flag or straw topper, but there are so many fun things you can create with the flags.

For this sweet I filled a mini glass with red hots and placed a heart ring sucker on top. For the wrap around decoration punch a small hole on each end and weave some twine through. Wrap the twine around back and tie in front to keep it in place. I didn't use any tape or anything to hold the flag in place, but you can if you find it's slipping.

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 10

2012-02-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

We have another simple {and inexpensive!} way to package a little valentine. All you need is doilies, {they can be paper or real... we used paper}, twine or small ribbon and a needle.

These literally took 2 minutes to make. Just take 2 doilies and put them back to pack and weave in and out to make a "pocket." You can use any size of doilie. You can make jumbo ones or mini ones like I have shown here.

You can weave through the inside perimeter to make a small pocket or to make a larger pocket weave around the outside of the doilie.

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 9

2012-02-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a simple idea if you are strapped for time. Get some "hugs and kisses" Attach our printables to the bottom. You can give them in a decorative bowl or a box full of them!

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 8

2012-02-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

For day 8 we have another packaging idea with our printable collection..... shot throughout the heart bag. Attach the arrow and party circle with tape or hot glue. The kids love playing with the arrows!

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 7

2012-02-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

Day 7 is a very smile way of how to dress up a store bought sucker. This packaging can be used for any type of sucker.... it would even be cute for the heart suckers you see all around at Valentines. {I use to love those when I was a kid}

1. Simply take our "heart food labels". Fold along the dotted lines as if making them into heart tent fold food labels.
2. Then with the 2 flaps folded in punch a hole with a hold puncher in the middle.
3. Cut a slit on one of the flaps (center of pushed out circle to edge of flap.
4. Place the sucker in the hole without the slit. Fold the heart around and Slide the other tab (with the slit around the sucker stick.
5. Tie with a bow and you have a sucker Valentine!

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 6

2012-02-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today I am showing you an easy way to send your love through chocolate! A chocolate candy bar to be exact. You can write your valentine note right on the wrapper or stick it inside for a delightful surprise when they eat it!

Our inspiration were the ways to receive mail, since it's coming from Cupid's Post Office. So our candy bar wrappers to look like envelopes, postcards and letters, sealed with Cupid's Post Office stamp.

My favorite one is the "letter" inspired candy bar wrapper: Top 5 Things I heart about YOU!

Our "Envelope" candy bar wrapper

Our "postcard" candy wrapper

We displayed ours in a bright red mailbox. To add a little flair we painted white hearts on the sides. I would think Cupids mailbox would be covered in hearts!

We also have these little guys... mini candy bar wrappers. Perfect candy stuffer to any valentine.

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 5

2012-02-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

This is the idea that I loved the most out of our Cupids Valentine Collection! I had was contemplating how to create a different/ new cupcake toppers and this came to me.... make a 3 dimensional pocket type cupcake toppers that you could put candy and a little note to your valentine in.

This was the end result.... and I LOVED how they turned out! It is such a fun way to give cupcakes and a valentine {all in one!}

Here is the view from above so you can see how it looks. These pockets can fit 4-5 large candies . I think they would be fun with some M&M's or conversation hearts.

How to make:

1. Get our Cupid Valentine Package here

2. Print out the heart pockets

3. Cut them out and fold along dotted line.

4. Snip off the very tip of the heart.... {this is a very small hole}

5. Place your stick, straw or whatever your using to attach the heart to into your cupcake. {I like to place the stick in first so I know where the heart will be in proportion to my cupcake}

6. Slid the heart topper on and attach with hot glue or a sticky dot at the base by the hole. You can also attach the stick to one side of the heart if you made the hole a little too big {which I did once, or maybe twice.... it was my first time}

7. Fill with your goodies and deliver !

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 4

2012-02-04T10:55:00.001-08:00

For day 4 I thought we would do a cute packaging idea for your valentine gift. You can use our party circles and heart pockets to dress up a box. This is an easy solution for someone who is in a hurry, but still wants it to look like them have put some thought and effort into it.

Our heart pocket is perfect addition to put a little love note and an element of surprise! {There are so many fun ways to use the heart pockets! They are my favorite printable in the collection..... tomorrow will be another way to use them!}

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 3

2012-02-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

Day 3 is a personal favorite..... brownies. Yum!!! We create shot throughout the heart brownies... our cupid collection would not be complete with out arrows. {We are tailing about cupid} They turned out really cute... The items in our Cupid's Valentine Collection are the arrow pieces "feathers and heart tips), flags and heart tent labels. The heart labels come blanks so you could use this as your love note on a plate of these goodies!

1. Make brownies as directed by the package... (I made mine deep in a 9x9 pan)

2. Let them cool then cut them out with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

3. Make "arrow" with a paper straw and our arrow pieces in our Cupid's Valentine Collection

4. Stick the arrow in slightly slanted and add a flag from the Cupid's Valentine Collection and your done!

They would make great gifts or a goodie to a friend. Enjoy!

Valentine Day ideas:: Day 2

2012-02-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of Valentine ideas from our Cupids Valentine Collection. The fun heart boxes are great to fill with some sweets and a love note or Valentine wishes. you could even make a Valentine advent count down with just these. Placing a treat for each day.

Our collection comes with 5 designs. These are easy to cut out and assemble. If you are placing heavy items I would suggest you using glue dots to hold the base together.... They have held up really well!

Cupid's Post Office 14 days of Valentine ideas:: Day 1

2012-02-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

Last year I showed you how I do 14 days of Valentines to some close friends and family of mine. This year I am going to show you how you can do this with our Cupids Valentine printable pack and 14 different valentines you can accomplish with our Cupid Valentine pack.

A lot of people ask me how to you use all the pieces in our printable collections. This is sometimes hard for me to answer, since there are multiple ways you can use each piece... this is what I want to show you this Valentines day! Out printable packs have endless ways to use each item. Have fun and create!

Day one is heart rice krispy treat suckers! This may sound hard, but is extremely easy! If you can make rice krispy treats you can make these! This is a cost effective way if you have a lot of valentines and something your kids can help you with!

1. Make the rice krispy treats as directed by the box.
NOTE: I added red food coloring in the marshmallow mix after it was all melted together, but before I mixed it in with the rice krispys. You can do any color. (see our green ones here)

2. Place in a deep square container (buttered). You want these a little bit thicker than normal rice krispy treats so you can make them into "suckers".

3. After they have cooled cut them int hearts or arrows or any shape your heart desires or that you have a cookie cutter for :) Sometimes it didn't cut all the way through but you can just push it through the cookie cutter. I liked to smooth out the edges with my fingers- if any mis shaping happens just form it back. (that is the beauty of this. It is totally pliable and won't show nay mistakes)

4. Place on wax paper or cookie sheet to. Stick a paper straw, tall sucker stick or popsicle stick at the base.

5. Drizzle with white chocolate and mini pink perils (this step is optional)

6. Let the white chocolate dry and place the top in a little bag with our printable or on the stick! {we use our party circles/cupcake toppers printable for this}

Valentine's Day Party- Cupid's Post Office!

2012-01-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Cupids post office! We had so much fun creating and stylizing this Valentines Day collection. This is probably hands down my favorite creation yet. It is so many unexpected elements and designs.... We wanted this collection to be interchangeable so you can use the printables in many different ways! You might remember our 14 days of Valentines from last year.... this year we are having 14 days of how to use our printable pack for your Valentine's sweets and treats!

The years theme was Cupid's Post Office! There are 2 parts to this Valentines Party. The first is the dessert table that is filled with sweet desserts that are cupid worthy and then a Valentine station.... aka Cupid's Post office, where the kids can make valentines and "deliver" them to everybody's mailboxes! All of the printables you see including the Cupids LOVE Mail sign, mailbox labels and Cupid's post office sign are included in our Valentine party pack.

For Cupid's post office we created a pink and red stripe awning to invite the kids in to sit and make their valentines. We hung light pink tulle on the sides so it was closed in and gave a softer look and strung garlands, our be mine banner, rick rack and mailboxes from the awning.

The backdrop was a hand drawn sketch of a chair rail and paneling on white butcher paper with red and white stripe wrapping paper as the "wallpaper." We added this little felt heart garland that we found at Michaels ($2). It was a great finishing touch to what I think Cupid's chair rail would look like!

We wanted a spot where the kids could come and create their valentines. They had an array of containers {boxes, paper bags, and clear bags}, candy and valentines to make, allowing them to create a special valentine for each person on their list!

For the decorations I painted a metal mailbox red and added white hearts to the sides. To give a little extra height I had a vase of red twigs. We hot glued our party circles, red glitter pom poms, and our heart pockets filled with candies and a little note/ flag to each of the guest. They had fun finding their name and to see what was in their heart pocket.

Now for the details on the dessert table.... we really pushed the "envelope" on this one. lol

My favorite item I created... well I had many favorite, but this is definitely on the top of the list... heart cupcake toppers! They are 3 dimensional heart pockets!!! Fill with candy and a little note to send some love this Valentine's Day on top of your cupcakes!

Since Cupid's Post Office was our theme, we incorporated postal items including candy bar wrappers that look like envelopes, post cards and stamps.

My favorite one is the 5 things I heart about you. You can write your top 5 things you love about your valentine or your top 5 memories... etc! Other wrappers had: Hello Valentine, Be mine Valentine and Love

We displayed the candy wrappers (there are multiple sizes included) in a mailbox as it was mail being delivered especially to you

Mini candy bar wrappers as well!

The favor toppers are square like a postage stamp and has the seal of delivered from Cupids Post Office on it.... sending Valentine wishes your way!

Also, we included hearts and arrow throughout out the collection, like our shot through the heart brownies and arrow garlands. Heart food labels that will showcase any of your Valentine desserts! Just fold at top and tape/ glue the flaps at the bottom together.

We cut heart shaped brownies {just with a heart cookie cutter} and stuck an arrow through it with a flag!

We made a arrow garland with our paper straw arrows, heart printables and tiny red glittery pom poms (also from Michaels and about $2-3) .... one of my favorite parts of the collection! We created arrows out of paper straws and the arrow points and heart "feathers" are included in our Valentine collection. These are really simple to make! It took me less then 5 minutes to create them... literally!

We had a blow of hershey kisses with our printable on them!

Red and white polka boxes with various printable tags.... again we use the heart pockets. Attach the to a x and slip a little note inside for a special valentine!

Pink lemonade was served with light pink polka dot straws with our heart toppers and flags.

Postage stamp sugar cookies

These little heart favor boxes we filled with candy and a sweet surprise! There are 5 designs included in our party pack!

We used our party circles as tags for our hot pink heart rice crispy treat "suckers" We attached them to a heart paper straw and then drizzled them in white chocolate and added tiny hot pink circle sprinkles.

Vintage Western Cowboy Birthday Party

2012-01-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

Yee Haw... Welcome to our Vintage Western Cowboy Birthday Party Collection. We have so many fun treats and desserts to make your Cowboy Birthday fun and special for your little sheriff.

We wanted to create a slight different color scheme.... with blue and brown with a little red. {You can easily add a red backdrop and make the main color red with a little blue}.

How to get the look:
Add galvanized steel containers and rusty rod iron items to create a vintage feel.
We use wood veneer candles as the base to our cake stands.
Use neutral colors for backdrop and table cloth

We made a wanted poster with our little guys picture in it. It is available in our shop as well!

Items included in our printable pack are: Happy Birthday banner in a bandana paisley print

Howdy! Chow down sign

cupcake wrappers in paisley bananda print, horse shoes with sheriff badge, red and beige plaid and cow print.

Boots decals: These can be used as favor toppers, tags, attach to a paper bag.... so many options. We used these as favor toppers. We attached a clear bag to the back and filled with candy rocks and gummy snakes {or in other words.... gummy worms} for "there's a snake in my boot" favors. The kids LOVED these!

Favor toppers: {4 designs} filled with blueberry cookies... These are one of my favorite cookies!

For the sign bases we made "wheel spokes" {The wheel print is included in our printable collection}. Just cut a cylinder foam in half. Cut the wheel in half and then glue with rubber cement onto the foam.

Since we were doing a Vintage Western Cowboy Birthday.... I wanted to add a little bit of the Wild Wild West to it. I came up with Gold Rush: panning for gold. The kids has so much fun with this!!!

We started out with the mini pie tins. Fill the tin with 5-7 chocolate gold nuggets from Hershey's. We then filled with candy rocks so they dig and find the "gold" in the rocks. This was a really fun activity for the kids.... that tasted good as well!

These were my favorite treat by far and with all the adults! I made peanut butter brownie satchels. This is what sparked the idea for the whole collection. I was making these sweets at my sister's house and thought.... this would be such a cool dessert for a cowboy collection!

We stagger the satchels on a wood board and placed cans as the base (again bring in the galvanized steel). This is an inexpensive base. What's so great is that they come in 3 different sizes that you could make tiered dessert displays.

The Drink Well....

We filled a large galvanize bucket with peanuts! You could have mini steel buckets for them to take a bucket of peanuts with their root beer.

Ready. Set. Hut. PARTY! Football Birthday Party or Super bowl Party

2012-01-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Ready. Set. Hut. It's time to PARTY! Get ready for the big game with our Football Party Pack. It is filled with fun and exciting item that would be perfect for any Super Bowl or Football Birthday! Our inspiration for our football party was the colors and patterns you see at THE BIG GAME!

Since food is such a large part of the super bowl and any birthday celebration. We had 3 different "sections" to our dessert/ food table.

The first one was the drinks.... We wanted a wide variety available. We had root beer, sodas and water.

We wanted to create a birthday party collection as if they were at the Super Bowl.... so we use roman numeral's for the number (there are 2 options for this collection: If you are wanting it for a Super Bowl you can choose to have the initial for the team your rooting for or blank..... and the number would be the # of the super bowl that year!)

The texture of leather is used through out our designs (we even have a leather pattern paper included in the party pack)

We have 2 drink wrapper size in our party pack: 1 that is 2.5" high that can be used for mini water, normal water bottles, beer bottles or root beer bottles.

We also wanted to include a size that would fit a soda can or beer can.

You couldn't celebrate a football game without a large foam finger waving in the crowds! Attach them to a striped straw or stick for rooting on your team.

Our next "section" was the sweets! I really had fun with the football treats! We created goal post cupcakes with a little football and mini foam fingers as cupcake toppers! Read on for more of our football desserts.

We dipped potato chips in chocolate and then drizzled white chocolate over them.... these were divine for those people that love salty sweet desserts.... that's ME... I love the salty sweet combo!

Chocolate Football cookies- add simple frosting across the top for the stitching for that special touch.

Fresh popcorn for all the for THE BIG GAME!

My favorite creation was the Chocolate covered Oreo "Play book".... We dipped Oreos in chocolate adding X's and O's. We placed them on our football field printable paper (available in our printable party pack) to create a "football play".

Then we added one of our Football goal toppers attach end creating a mini football field. It was a huge hit!

Our third "section" was Meats! You can't have football party with meat.

We had sliders and packages of doritos for our guest. You could also have hotdogs and a nacho bar would really fun..... having lots of different topping for them to add to their nacho cheese. This would be simple and allow to you focus on the game, socializing and watching the super bowl commercials!

Mermaid under the Sea Birthday Party

2012-01-19T00:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our Mermaid under the Sea birthday party! We were featured today on Amy Atlas! I know there are a lot of mermaid parties out there so I wanted to create something unique, fresh and modern while still being fun and bright for the little mermaids that the party was for! The printables for this mermaid party are available in our Wants and Wishes Etsy shop

My inspiration for this party was The Little Mermaid under the sea song and from my niece, as she is obsessed with mermaids from any show... especially the Blue Mermaid. She loves her mermaid outfit so much she hardly gets dressed these days.

I wanted to bring to life the ocean floor, to create an dessert table that made you feel as though you were on the ocean floor viewing into the life of a mermaid. For the decor I hung colorful seaweed and blue beads cascading down with a large starfish as the vocal point. Then glitter filled seaweed and plants with schools of fish swimming around.

I was really happy with how our banner turned out! I came up with the idea of punching small holds in the curve of the starfish to make it look as though the mini starfishes were holding up the Happy Birthday banner. It turned out adorable!

No mermaid birthday celebration is complete without bubbles.... so we created bubble wrappers that are part of our printable collection. The kids had a ton of fun with the bubbles. It kept them occupied for a long time. It really was cool to see the air filled with bubbles with the seaweed cascading down around them.

Other printable items that are included in our Mermaid Collection are favor toppers, bright colorful starfish, shells and sea creatures in multiple sizes. You can cut these out to create a runner, hang them from the ceiling, attach them as tags, favor toppers or put them on a platter as I did in the picture below.

We filled our favors with "salt water taffy". It was perfect as it brought bright colors and are yummy (and easy to find!)

The desserts turned out really well and were extremely easy to create. The "star" of the show was our Octopus Marshmallow pops we created.

These took about 10 minutes to make. First, make a 8 point star with pink chocolate on wax paper or some kind of paper that won't stick. Then dipped a regular sized marshmallows in pink chocolate and placed it on top of the "star". Lightly sprinkle fine pink sprinkles over top to add a little sparkle. Now for the finishing touches.... place candy eyes and our flags! A simple yet stunning dessert for a mermaid party!

We had our octopus mallow pops sitting on a bed of white sugar with a little cinnamon mixed into it to create a fresher "sand" look. I know a lot of people use brown sugar, but I wanted a lighter more fresh and whimsical feeling. Then we sprinkled colorful chocolate mini perils and pink sprinkles.

"Our shark infested goodie bags"... mini cheveron favor bags filled with gummy sharks.

For added embellishments we add our cupcake toppers onto the bags.

For the cake we mixed different shades of blue and applied the frosting in a swirl pattern like tousled ocean water waves. With chocolate marbleized shells and starfishes. After we marbleized them we dusted then with edible glitter dust to add a little extra sparkle to them.

Our mini cupcakes were also sprinkled with the white sugar/ cinnamon mixture with a chocolate shell. We marbleized the chocolate so it wouldn't be a solid pink or purple, to make them look more realistic.

Sand dollar snicker doodles

Tangled Birthday Party Invite

2012-01-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

By popular demand we have created a coordinating Tangled invitation to our Tangled Birthday Party Collection... well actually 3! We couldn't decide which one we liked best, so now you can choose which one you like best!

Come get tangled up in lots of fun with the Tangled Rapunzel Birthday invite! There are 2 horizontal options.... The first one has the pink and purple stripe of her dress sleeve as the background.

The second has a royal princess shield crest

You can see our Tangled Birthday party spread here.... we had so many fun treats including pineapple strand of hear twizzlers.

Neon/ Glow in the Dark Party

2012-01-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

You might remember Conner and Drew's Superhero birthday party from last year.... Well they are now a year older now and I again had the privilege to create some printables for their birthday bash! This year they wanted a neon/glow in the dark party. We came up with the theme... Get your glow on at Conner and Drew's B-day BASH!

Here are the invites we created to get all the kids excited and mark their calendar for the biggest party of the year! Available in our Etsy shop.

Multiple fun signage to lead them the right way. The party was at there local skating rink... The Skate Place!

This way to the party of the year... and boy did they mean it! This is what the kids walked into....

I love the slinks hanging from the ceiling! They had many sweets and treats, including cake & cupcakes, cookies and lots of glowastical candy.

The cake even lit up!

Cupcakes with our cupcake toppers

It's always so fun to see your designs and creation be put on cookies, cupcake and cakes! These cookies were designed after our printables

Our large party circles were were used in the candy bar and center pieces. (Included in our Neon- Glow in the dark collection)
For the beverages there were 3 choices: Refreshing water, "Conner" Crush Soda and Mountain "Drew"... and did you know that Mountain dew really glows in the dark! Awesome to have at any neon party!

Every kid got a goody bag filled with items to allow them to sparkle and glow like necklace, rings, wands, poppers and much more! They were getting their glow on!

They created glow in the dark t-shirts and had glow in the dark face painting for some fun activities and to ensure everyone glowed!

Everyone had a blast.... kids and adults alike!

Balloon false ceiling

2011-12-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

As I promised yesterday... Here is the tutorial for the balloon false ceiling. It is extremely easy and inexpensive since you don't need to use helium filled balloons- actually you can't because they will flip the wrong way.

1. Blow up all of the balloons you would like to use. I wanted a variety of colors of balloons so I used 2 different colors of purple, 3 different blues and silver. I think it turned out really well to have the mix of colors.

2. Roughly arrange the colors the way you would like them, this will help when your tying them together that you don't have all the same blues together, but a even mix of colors. (Note I used almost double the amount of silver balloons since I have different shades of blues & purple balloons).

3. Tie them together with string or curly ribbon. Don't tie them too close as they need a lithe room in between. I tie them together so you have 2 rows of balloons- one hanging on the right then one on the left.

Here is a picture with one strand hung up so you can see how full one strand can be. You can add as many strands of balloons you need to create the depth of your area.

Tomorrow I will be showing you how to make your own confetti and fun ways you can use them!

Ring in the New Year....New Years Eve Party

2011-12-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ring in the New Year with a party filled with pop, fizz and sparkles! Our printable New Years collection can be adapted to a sophisticated adult party or kid friendly affair.

The beautiful photography is by Svetlanaphoto.com She was amazing to work with!

This New Yeas Eve collection is centered around the count down of the clock. We created a false ceiling with balloon and streamers hanging down.... we will have an tutorial on this later this week. It only took about 20 minutes. The only thing that took time was blowing up the balloons.

In our collection a 36" clock is included. This really adds a fun element to the party. I added glitter glue to the numbers to add more sparkle.

Sparklers and confetti are a must to Ring in the New Year. We have sparkler tags in our printable collection.

We made homemade confetti to match our color scheme perfectly! Our tutorial will be up in a couple days. It is extremely easy and a lot cheaper! We added the confetti to the decor to add color without a big expense.

I loved these candle holders I found at Crate & Barrel. I have been wanting to use them for mini cupcake holders for a while. I added confetti and curly ribbon to the bottom.

Bubble wrappers and confetti popper wrappers are included in our Pop, Fizz, Sparkle New Years Eve collation too!

Add blueberries to your Champagne, wine or sparkling cider!

Since we had just had Christmas we wanted to make this collection easier for everyone so the food is simple and some store bought items.

We made bite size blueberry/ blackberry cheesecakes. We started with the no bake cheesecake mix and instead of putting it in a 9x12 pan we put it in mini cupcake tins with a wrapper of course! You just put a little curst in each one then add the filling in each one. Refrigerate for at least a hour. We drizzeled our homemade blueberry sauce and added a blackberry on top for height and a little dazzle.

Confetti cupcakes with editable confetti that we made out of airhead candies. Just cut little strips of airheads and curl around a pencil or sucker stick and small squares to use as confetti! Easy and only cost about .50 cents!

Mini cupcakes which are perfect bite size items for a New Years party. We drizzled blue chocolate then added peal candies and air head confetti on top!

You can't have New Years without "midnight kisses"! So we added hershey kisses with kiss toppers.

Also, we made "tic toc" mint labels for our tic tacs mints for your midnight kiss. This is my favorite item from the collection.

We made these fun sugar cookie clocks.... they looked so good on the table. We sprinkled them with white fine crystals and then piped circle dots and clock hands.

We had various candies too. Like almond joy dots, mint dots and grapefruit candies (these are a personal favorite).

Candy Oreos sticks- you can make wrappers and decorations with our patterned paper and party circles.

Santa's Milk & Cookie Workshop Dessert Table- Christmas Collection

2011-12-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

We're so excited about our featured today on Amy Atlas! Thank you Amy and her wonderful team!

We all know that Santa loves nothing more than Milk & Cookies so, we decided to create a Milk & Cookies Workshop this year for our Holiday dessert table printable collection. This is how I think Santa's dessert table would look like in the north pole.

Our Santa's got stuck down the chimney! We created these up on the house top Cinnamon Squares "Chimneys"with Santa's feet sticking out the top!

One of our favor toppers were "milk cartons". You can fill with sweets, treats and especially cookies! "Just add milk" was our tag line for these as, cookies always taste better with a little milk... Just ask Santa!

We created many different cookies for our Santa's Milk & Cookies Workshop dessert table.

First, I LOVE our "milk & cookies cupcakes". I wanted them to look like a glass of milk with a dipped cookie. I frosted the cupcakes white (for the milk) and made mini gingersnaps to top the cupcakes with. You can't forget the straw, which really helps it look like a glass of milk!

Chocolate whoppie pies decorated with sprinkles around the perimeter gives them that extra festive touch.

Sugar cookie North Pole flags (flags are part of our printable collection).

Our Santa's Workshop wouldn't be complete with gingerbread men! To create the stand for the gingerbread cookies I used a styrofoam cylinder and wrapped the perimeter with ribbon. (Note: the ribbon should be be a 1/4" higher than the styrofoam so it creates a little ledge) Then I stuck the cookies into the styrofoam and filled with red hots. (This is why you need that little rim/ledge with the ribbon to keep the candy of your choice from spilling out all over!)

For those "Naughty" guest of yours. We create peppermint cake pops covered with crush oreos. These were a really big hit!

Our printable collection includes the Santa's Milk and Cookies Banner and large signs "Milk's Favorite Cookie" & "Santa's Taste Testers".

Gingerbread Decorating Party

2011-12-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

Decorating gingerbread houses is in my top 3 of things I LOVE to do during the Christmas season (my top 2 are decorating the Christmas tree/ house and making sweets!) So it was only natural that I have a gingerbread decorating party! I made homemade gingerbread parts for the houses the night before. Each guest/ child got a platter (shown above) with the walls, roof and sides to their own gingerbread house. I filled a ramekin with cinnamon squares for their chimney if they choose to use them that way.

At each place setting there was a platter from Crate and Barrel with the gingerbread house parts. Off to the side was the round white plastic base for them to build their house on. We used our gingerbread house milk carton with a straw and one of our flag (from our gingerbread collection) for the "name card" and a gingerbread house sugar cookie from Dough Punchers boxed with a thank you for coming tag.

The table had quite the spread of sweets, treats and cupcakes for some more goodies to eat.... because we just didn't have enough sugar already!

We also had a dessert table with more goodies on it with our printables.

Our collection includes: drink wrappers, cupcake toppers, pattern papers, flags, gingerbread house template, banner, cupcake wrappers and much more!

Here is the back and side of the gingerbread house milk carton, embellished with icing details and decorations.

Our candy parfaits. Layered with red hots, strawberry puffs, peppermint candies and topped with "peppermint" sugar cookie (also by Dough Punchers) in a plastic shot glass. Then we attached one of our 2" toppers to a sucker stick for a little party pick!

Add some color to your cookies by filling the tray with candies.... we used the classic red hots candies for that pop of color!

Present Advent Calendar garland

2011-11-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

Now that Thanksgiving is over and I'm decorating my house for Christmas I designed this fun present advent calendar garland. you can purchase it here on Wants and Wishes Esty Shop. You can string it by it's self or with a garland on the mantel, or you can hang it vertical in a long narrow space. Also, you could add it to your tree and make a game out of it with your children.

There are 6 coordinating present designs with 2 types of lettering. one: with the large number and two: circle emblem with December and what day you open it.

You can fill these with treats, a trinket or a Christmas activity you can do with your kids, like make gingerbread houses, read a Christmas book, etc.

A Lego Inspired Birthday Party!

2011-11-23T23:10:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to share my Lego Birthday Party Collection and dessert table with you. It will truly inspire you! The best part is, if you are creating a Lego party for for a Lego lover, you will probably have everything thing to you need to create this except for our printable Lego party pack. Our Lego party pack will add that finishing touch to your spectacular event.

I was in the Lego store in downtown Disney with my nephew Will, pondering over which lego he was going to get, when i saw it... Lego coin banks... and a spark of genius hit me... You don't need cake stand.... make them out of lego and their fabulous products. Instantly I was excited to get working on the possibilities (which are endless since we are talking about building blocks!) I thought of tiered stands (which you see I used), individual cupcake stands and one layer platters and stands. I LOVED having the Lego banks which gave a little dimension to the cake stands instead of just all flush legos.

To create the Lego tiers I used Lego coin banks for the base and then 15" platforms. Note: if you are stacking heavy items it is best to stagger the "Legos" to create a more stable stand. I really liked the Lego banks too because they are flush on top so you can add tape or hot glue them to the platform if want to give it that extra strength. They also, have a rim around the the base, which allows it to fit perfectly and flush to the Lego platforms.... again I didn't want my cake stand to fall down!

I also, made some stands with just plain Legos. I used a half platform that you get in most lego packages. I placed my "Lego sugar cookies" on a large 20" platform to create the base.

Our Lego party pack includes: pattern papers, flags, favor toppers, cupcake toppers, thank you tags, signs, banners & garlands and much much more to ensure your party is a success!

Now for the desserts! They were as fun as the platters I put them on. I had mini figure chocolate cupcakes, Lego & mini figure sugar cookies, Mini figure cake pops, chocolate legos and goodie bags filled with sugary delights.

Mini figure cake pops with that half smile. Black is a hard color to make so I recommend buying a tube of black shinny frosting from the grocery store. You can apply the mini figure face with a toothpick. It made such a difference as you get the deep sharp black.

I love our half smile smirk mini figure head sugar cookies.

I search high and low for candies that were round without any holes and were the same colors as legos. Alas, I found them at the dollar store!

We made square cupcakes with Wilton's silicone cups. They worked amazing!!!! But what all the kids went crazy over were our mini figure mini cupcakes. As I was searching for items for the Lego party collection I came across ice cube trays in the shape of 3x2 legos and mini figures. I had great hopes these would work and they did like a charm! I attached a flag from our lego party pack with the chocolate mini figures.

I added lego bulldozers and other transportation vehicles next to the chocolate legos like they were bring and hauling them away. They added a little whimsical fun touch that was needed.

I found these little mini figure lanterns at Toy R Us and couldn't pass them up! They made the best little "cheerleaders" holding a lego sign of the birthday boy's name (they even light up) The favors were square clear boxes filled with gum balls and tied with our favor tag.

Eek, Shriek and be Scary Halloween Collection

2011-10-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Eek, Shriek and be Scary this Halloween! I'm so excited to share my Halloween Collection with you, as it is filled with fun, easy and creative DIY creations.

We had triple dipped candycorn carmel apples (that brightened up the table). These were a huge success and turned out fabulous!

Our Brownie and pretzel skeletons were a spooktacular edition. We made a pan of brownies in a square pan because we wanted them thick, cutting them into squares (don't forget to cut the edges off). Then covered them in ganache. Place a short bamboo skewer or sucker stick close to the back and pile white chocolate pretzels. Top with a marshmallow with a cute skeleton face (drawn on by editable markers) and package with our fun skeleton tag.

As we all know there are more then plenty of treats at Halloween, so we added a little no sweet treat for the kids.... Cheese balls... fun, festive and something children and adults love.

Bedazzle your snickerdoodle cookies with sprinkles! We mixed black, yellow and orange to make a custom Halloween mix and rolled it in the sprinkles instead of cinnamon and sugar before baking. Attach our tag from our Eek, Shriek and be Scary Halloween Collection. Place a stack of cookies in a cupcake liner and tie with decorative twine.

My favorite dessert piece/ game we had though was our Trick or Treat TIC TAC TOE. In our Printable collection we have 4 TIC TAC TOE card designs. We made mini apothecary jars filled with candycorns on one side and candy pumpkins on the for a complete TIC TAC TOE game. We made mini broomsticks to swipe the game after it's completed.

We created our own large patterned paper pinwheels that we hung from the ceiling with 8" centerpiece design emblems in the center.

For an easy centerpiece gather some sticks from the yard and made fun sparkling branches. We first spray painted them black. After they were dry we sprayed them again with glitter glue. Then covered them in glitter (we even made up our own concoction since we could find that perfect blend of black and purple. The finishing touch was the candycorn garlands that we glittered as well.

Glee Season Premiere... Gleek Out in Style with a Glee Party!

2011-09-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

Can't . Wait. Glee Season 3 Premiere! Are you as big of a Glee fan as I am! Tuesday can't come fast enough!!!! Well your in luck.... Throw a GLEE Party with your friends and GLEEK OUT in style! I created a pep rally bake off sale fundraiser to help GLEE raise money. This party will get all your guest excited for the Season Premiere, especially if they are true GLEE fans you will have them rolling with laughter as they remember their favorite parts. Our Glee collection is simple that any level of party planner can accomplish the look we did. Almost all of the treats are store bought, which makes this collection very doable!!! Enjoy!

First, make your self a Glee pep rally Bake sell poster. Just get some butcher paper and paint away.

I had made some pom pom out of trash bags.

No GLEE party would be complete without Slushies!!! They come in so many fun colors now!

For each character I made a dessert. For Finn I made a "better than ~~sex~~ Finn cake"!

Rachel Berry Fashion Cupcakes

Kurt's Gay shark "dolphins" Do you know who said this quote?

Quinn Fabray Bun in the Oven Cinnamon Rolls

Will Schuester's "brilliant fundraising idea" Salt Water Taffy!

Puck Oreos & Sue Sylvester "snicker"doodles

"cheerio" krispy treats

I made "rice Krispy treats with Cheerios and the turned out fabulous!

I dipped them in milk chocolate and then white chocolate topped with red sprinkles

then wrapped our cheerios wrapper around (part of the glee printable collection)

I created my own "mash up" signs: favorite songs GLEE has sung + candy/sweets

Featured on Amy Atlas + GIVEAWAY

2011-08-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I have two very exciting things to share with you today!

First, Wants and Wishes Yo ho yo ho Pirate Collection is being featured today on Amy Atlas!!!! I was so excited and could hardly wait to you and show you our Pirate Ship Table... we have a pirate ship kit available here . It was so fun and easy to assemble.

For our second exciting news today. Since we are so excited about our feature, we decided to give TWO lucky winners a $10 gift card to our Wants and Wishes Shop! All you have to do is go like us on facebook and leave a comment on which collection you like the most and what collection you wish we would create next! Then, to double your chances of winning subscribe to our blog and also leave a comment about what collection is your favorite.

Thanks and good luck!!!!

Giveaway closes on Sunday August 20th at midnight!

Tangled Rapunzel Princess Collection

2011-08-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

If you loved the new Disney movie Tangled as much as I did, I think you are really going to enjoy this Rapunzel/Princess Collection. I loved the magical scene where everyone in town lights a lantern and millions are floating in the air. That scene was my inspiration for this collection. I wanted to create that magical moment with lanterns hanging down all around the dessert table.

Our Tangled/ Rapunzel Princess Collection is made for a Royal Birthday with touches of crowns and shields for a royal birthday ball.

Assembly for the hanging lanterns are really easy. You just cut them out. Fold along the dotted lines and then either tape or glue the end tab to the other side, creating a square. I then punched a small hole on opposite corners (kiddy corner from each other). Then simply loop fishing wire through and you have a floating lantern! Hang them at different levels and depths to create a magical environment.

Here are the sweets and treats we had:
Magical Pineapple "Strands of Hair" favors with our Princess/ Rapunzel favor toppers available here

Princess Wands on our sun shield pattern paper from the Tangled/ Rapunzel Princess Collection

Pina-Colada cake with our 6" Cake Topper in our Tangled/ Princess Collection

Strawberry Cupcakes with our Tangled/ Princess Cupcake Toppers

Kiss a frog Cookie

Each guest received a sun box filled with princess goodies! The sun box template is part of the printable collection also!

5 water bottle wrappers designs are included in our Printable package.

Each Princess and Prince received a crown or princess party cone hat. We then bedazzled with jewels and glitter!

Barnyard/ Farm Invitations

2011-07-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Again sorry for disappearing again... this summer has just been crazy! These Barnyard/ Farm invites have been consuming a lot of my time this last week. Don't you just LOVE them. They make me so happy. I made them for an amazing client of mine! They are an interactive invitation. I love creating DIY interactive invitations. Here is another one that I created... pizza in a box.

There are 3 pieces to the invite:
Part 1: the front of the barn

Part 2: the doors
You print on the back side of the same piece of paper.

Part 3: the inside
This you can just cut out just the square and glue on or you can have a full back.

Vintage Airmail Plane Collection

2011-06-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long absence. This last month as been crazy filled with family events, but I am back and have so many exciting collections and treats to share you. The first one is our Vintage Airmail Plane Collection! This collection was custom made for a client and I have recently added many items to make it a complete printable collection. I'm so excited to show you all the piece.

My inspiration was all the old airmail stickers and the classic color scheme of red white and dark blue with touches of the light blue to update it.

Our Vintage Airmail Plane Collection includes these adorable tent fold favor toppers. I also, think it would be cute to package licorice with these favor toppers.

And personalized party circles that can be used as cupcake toppers, stickers, party hat emblems, napkin ring holders, tags, etc.... The possibilities are endless. Also, we have 4 different pattern paper in the collection that we made the mini airplane out of.... I loved this little detail.

I scoured the internet for a good and fun and EASY airplane to fold. We used this paper airplane. It has very easy step by step instructions to follow. I also, recommend that you print on a good quality printer paper NOT CARDSTOCK or the PrintWorks paper I suggest printing everything with!!!! It will be hard to fold and start to tear.

We made little plane and big planes out of our printable paper ad had them everywhere for the kids to play with. I think it would so cute to make an airplane garland out of them and string them with the banner... too bad I thought of it after the party.

But my favorite part that my client wanted me to design for her were mini labels to go over these metal suitcases. I just love how they turned out!!!! You can buy them at any craft stores. I got these from Roberts (I love the light blue handle that matched perfectly with the color scheme). I have seen them at Michaels, grocery stores and Hobby Lobby. Assembling these are really easy too. You can make them stickers and just place them on or print them on sticker paper or just attach them double stick tape.

You could have a suitcase at each place setting filled with sweets and treats. We placed a mini airplane in each suitcase/ luggage for them to play with. The metal luggage suitcases can get pricy so a more cost effective solution would be to get white cardboard boxes from Micheals. They are $1 (I used them here in my 14 Days of Valentines ) and make "packages" tie with a bow in the adorable red and white stripe twine.

Milk & Cookies Bar- Baked with Love: Dessert Table

2011-05-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

I am really excited to share with you the Milk & Cookies Baby Shower I designed for a client. As I have mention before that Momofuku has started a trend of unique and delicious cookies, including their Blueberry's & Cream Cookies (to die for!!!! Seriously has to be one of the best cookies I have ever had.) The full collection of printables are available here on our Etsy shop.

I wanted to create a simple, sweet, chic Milk & cookies environment while still being delicate and fresh. As this was her first and I wanted to shower her with lots of love. Baked with love became our secondary theme as we incorporated hearts into everything. We had heart "chocolate chips" in the cookie banner, a heart beat on the flags and cupcake toppers and hearts on the favors.

My favorite part was the milk glasses rimmed with dipped chocolate and sprinkled with yellow non perls sprinkles.

I love the ruffle backdrop as it makes me think of smooth white milk. This added the touch of softness the table was needing. We found this amazing pre ruffled fabric at rufflefabric.com

We made Oatmeal Cookies with craisins and mini white chocolate chips, Momofuku's Blueberry & cream Cookies, the classic cookie- chocolate chip and Cookies & Cream cupcakes.

The Milk & Cookies collection is available in 6 different color ways: pink, light blue, yellow, red, green and purple. Also, it is available as a birthday collection here.

Milk & Cookies Bar- Bake with Love: the Invitation

2011-05-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

With the up and coming trend of Momofuku's Milk Bar I wanted to create a printable baby shower collection that was simple, sweet, chic, delicate..... and delicious! This Milk & Cookies- baked with Love collection will spread the love to the mommy to be. The invitation & collection are available in 6 color ways: soft pink, baby blue, lavender, green, red & yellow in our Etsy shop.

Dinosaur Party: Dinosaur Egg Hunt Activity

2011-05-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Creating a fun party for kids always includes 2 things: the treats and the activities. Making fun sweets is sometimes the easiest part, but finding an activity that is new to the kids & something they will enjoy, is sometimes a daunting task. Look no further! We have the perfect activity that all the kids will love..... a dinosaur egg hunt.

We started with these mini watermelons or some people call them personal size watermelons. For a realistic dinosaur egg, you need it to be big (but not too large- a normal size watermelon is too large for a little kid) and heavy. These watermelons worked great.

You will be painting these watermelons so you will need cardboard or newspaper. We broke down a large box and used that cardboard (the cardboard was nice because it didn't have to worry about the watermelons sticking or tearing to paint.)

You can cover about 5 to 6 watermelons per bottle of paint. We used the Folk Art Vintage White. I really liked the color of this. It wasn't too yellow or tow gray the perfect base color for a dinosaur egg.

Start with one at a time and coat half of the watermelon and then move on tot he next. By the time you are finished (I was making 7) they will be dry and you can flip them over and coat the other side.

One coat will not be enough. As you can see in the picture above. Let the watermelon dinosaur eggs dry for 30 minutes or so before you apply the second coat.

Now that you have a nice even base coat you can start applying the "polka dots" on the dinosaur eggs. I wanted each to be a different color. We had one girl and 4 little boys so I wanted a pink or purple for her.

Now just make random dots all over the watermelon dinosaur eggs, varying the size of the polka dots. You will be able to put the dots about 3/4 and then have to let them dry for about a hour and then apply polka dots to the bottom.

Just before the kids arrive go hide them in shrubbery, rocks and dirt. You can hide them individually or have some in clumps like a nest of dinosaur eggs.

The kids LOVED finding these! It was a really fun activity for them. They also like cutting them open and eating the watermelon as snack. Some wanted to keep theirs and take them home.

Here is the birthday boy. Please forgive the chattering teeth, it was a winding day. He was so cute. He didn't want to wear his dinosaur hat outside because he didn't want to ruin it because it was so windy.

This little guy found his in the sandbox. He played with his dinosaur egg for so long. Moving from one place to the next. Putting it in baskets and wheelbarrows... anything he would find!

Dinosaur Party: molten lava volcano cakes recipe

2011-04-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for the easiest, most delicious molten lava cake ever?! I am really particular about my chocolate cakes. I have had this recipe for years (sorry I don't know the source... I have had it for 8+ years) and when I moved a couple years ago I lost my recipe! I tried multiple recipes and nothing even came close... Luckily for you (and me), I found it as I was moving.... again.

This is a cake with a pudding chocolate center you serve right out of your oven. Perfect for a little boy dinosaur party for volcano cakes or an elegant dessert with a small group of friends (obviously not with the colored chocolate on top).

This cake should be eaten warm, so you can prepare the batter in advance and preheat the oven. When you are ready to serve dessert, fill the ramekins or tins, place in oven and bake for a few minutes. There are many different ways to embellish molten lava cakes:

Cascade red and orange chocolate to create volcanos (a personal favorite)
serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream & sprinkle with cocoa powder
or serve with fresh raspberries and powder sugar (YUM!)

The brand of chocolate you use is very important, especially in this recipe. I have made this same recipe with multiple brands. Here were the results:

BEST Brands:
Giradelli's (Walmart carries this brand and most grocery stores)
Vairhona (found at Trader Joe's & high end cooking places like Williams Sonoma)

Worst:
Bakers (I would suggest not using this unless you have no other options) It's not as sweet of a chocolate and leaves a more bitter taste.

Now what you have all been waiting for... drum roll please

Ingredients:
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus a bit more for molds
2 teaspoons flour, plus a bit more for dusting molds
4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
2 large whole eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar

Makes four 4 or 5 ounce molds or ramekins

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Butter and lightly flour molds/ ramekins (tap out excess flour)
3. In top of double broiler set over simmering water, combine butter and chocolate. Heat until just melted.

4. In bowl using electric mixer (I used my kitchen aid) beat together eggs, yolks, and sugar until light and thick.

5. Add melted chocolate mixture and beat to combine. (Make sure egg mixture does not harden from heat of chocolate mixture.)

6. Quickly beat in flour until just combined. Pour batter evenly in to the molds.

7. Place filled molds on a baking sheet and bake until the sides have set but the center remain soft, NO MORE THAN 6 to 7 MINUTES!! This is the key to this dessert- it cannot be over cooked!

8. Invert each mold onto a plate, let rest 10 seconds. Unmold by lifting up one corner of the mold, the cake will fall out onto the plate. Serve Immediately.

Enjoy this delicious dessert!

Dinosaur Party: molten lava volcano cakes tutorial

2011-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have received alot of comments about the molten lava volcano cakes, so I decided to do this tutorial first! This is really simple cake with a stunning, explosive result to your party. The coordinating printable package for the RAWR Dinosaur collection is available in my shop!

You can make theses 2 ways, with just a normal chocolate cake mix or with an actual "molten lava" recipe (recipe coming tomorrow!) If you are having these in a dessert bar like I had here in the RAWR- Dinosaur Party, I would recommend making them with a chocolate cake mix because with the molten lava cake needs to be served immediately for best results.

1. You will need orange and red chocolate apeels (wafers). These are white chocolate with food coloring, some are even flavored. I got orange flavor for the orange and vanilla for the red.... just to add a hit of surprise.

2. Have your volcano cakes cooking in the oven. I used this cupcake pan that I got at Williams Sonoma years ago, but you could use a cupcake pan with no liners. Note: If you have 2 ovens, turn on your other oven to as low as it will go to heat the chocolate (around 140 degrees). If not, after your cakes are cooked- TURN OFF your oven (if not you will burn your chocolate) and stick in your chocolate to start the melting process.

3. Melt each color of chocolate in a SEPARATE bowl in the oven, it should take 8-12 minutes to melt, but check on your chocolate every couple of minutes, as each oven heats differently and stir each time. Heating on the lowest temperature of your oven melts the chocolate properly and eliminates that white coating that can appear on chocolate, usually it is around 140 degrees.

4. Place a glob of orange chocolate on the top of the mini volcano cake, letting it run down the sides.

5. Drizzle the red down the sides crossing over the cake in a X like pattern.

6. Swirl gently with a spoon on the top to combined the orange and red, this will cause more chocolate to cascade down the sides mixing the orange and red for an realistic, explosive feel.

You are finished. Let them set for just a bit so the chocolate can set and transfer to serving dish. Mine did not last long.... boy was it delicious!

Dinosaur Party: Rawr means Happy Birthday in Dinosaur

2011-04-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

I just created this REALLY fun Dinosaur collection, that any little boy would enjoy. All the kids had so much fun and loved all the little treats in the dessert table and the activities we had.

First lets start start with the paper goods!

We created a banner- RAWR means Happy Birthday in Dinosaur- RAWR Buzzy! Here are some unclose pictures of it.

We had birthday dinosaur party hats with spikes down the back for all the guests. These were a huge hit! They were so protective of them. Some didn't want to wear theirs on the dinosaur egg hunt (tutorial coming in a couple days) for fear of ruining them. They wore them all day in the house and wouldn't take them off.

We create 5 fun, unique dinosaur prints that are repeated throughout the collection, starting with our printable dinosaur party hats.

These are the favors we hand out to each of the guests as they were leaving. Cherry lava balls topped with our favor toppers.

Now for our creative desserts that were included in our dessert bar.

First, Molten Lava Volcano Cakes!

Top your cupcakes with mini dinosaur toys. I found mine in a vending machine outside my local grocery store. The large dinosaurs are Toy Story dinosaur toys.

Hot Lava Trifle

Layer crushed Oreos (for dirt- I used the Oreos with chocolate filling so there was no contrast between the cookie and filling.
gummy worms with a little patch of "dinosaur eggs" round chocolate rock candies
more crushed Oreos
Top with cherry balls for the hot lava

We had little bags of chocolate dinosaur eggs topped with our favor toppers- "If history repeats it's self, I'm so getting a dinosaur!"

linked to ABC 123

Easter Party: Bloopers

2011-04-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is enjoying this weekend with family, friends and the Easter bunny! Here are some bloopers from my Easter photoshoot.

Little Miss was so mad that she couldn't eat everything in the photoshoot. She finally found a little stool and put it right up to the edge of table. Finally she was able to reach the sweets.

So happy when she finally got some.

So upset when it was quickly taken away. Isn't the pout adorably funny!

Again trying to reach for anything she could get her hands on.

They would take turns taking a bit of the edible Easter basket. For some reason they had made up this rule that no hands were allowed in eating this delicacy.

A close second favorite picture. That little girl does not let anything stand between her and her candy.

This is my favorite picture! That little smirk with chocolate & peep dust on his cheek.... and his blue eyes!

Going, going, gone!

Here are some of our Easter Egg Dying pictures. Note to self: egg dying and chocolate eating don't mesh when your only 18 months!

This is my niece, isn't she cute! She would hold her chocolate candy.... take a bite.... get her egg out of the dye with her hands.... take another bite of her chocolate.

I love that she would get the egg out with her hands when she is holding a spoon in the other! Who needs a spoon anyway.

Easy Blooming Easter Centerpiece with a touch of chocolate

2011-04-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

Easter is just around the corner and I thought I would share one of favorite Easter centerpieces I created a couple years ago. This was such a fun arrangement because it actually sprung as the days went on. It's not to late to create one for this Easter.

1. find your container. This could be a wicker basket like I have above or a tin bucket anything would be cute. (Note: my basket is unusually large because I needed it proportional to my fake chocolate Easter bunny. This basket is about 24" wide x 18" deep. Yours does not have to be this large.)
2. If using a basket, line the inside of the basket with a garbage bag so the soil doesn't come through all the cracks and then place a coco fiber lining that is used for hanging pots (it kind of looks like a nest- you can find these all over in a garden section with the pots and flowers).
3. I did this part outside- Fill with soil and plant your greenery or flowers. Water your flowers before you bring them in and your done! Trust me this centerpiece does not require a green thumb... simple and easy!
4. Place a chocolate bunny and some easter eggs around in the "grass/flowers" and watch your Easter centerpiece bloom! It was so fun to wake up each morning and see new flower blooms each day.

Sweet Tea Time Party Collection: Invitation

2011-04-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

We have this adorable tea time invitation that coordinates with our sweet tea time printable collection. It is available in our shop. We have a birthday version and a get together with friends to sip and chat version. This invitation could be used for little girls or for a bridal shower, baby shower or a get together with the young at heart. On the invitation the "T" is also a table hold a monogrammed teapot and stacked tea cups.

birthday version

garden tea party version

This invitation can be customized in color & wording. You can purchase your tea time invitation here.

Sweet Tea Time Party Collection: Birthday or just a gathering with friends

2011-04-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

I had alot of fun creating this tea party for one special little girl. It was for an afternoon tea party with her friends, but could easily be a birthday party. (Our tea party collection includes a birthday banner, and toppers, tags and such with happy birthday on it.... so you can use it for both occasions!)

This collection could also be used as a bridal or baby shower, or for us that are young at heart and still love to gather with our closest friends and gab with each other.

The treats were spectacular! We had a donut "cake" (which goes perfectly with our "pink lemonade tea"), snickerdoodle cookies, mini cherry chip cupcakes, green apple gum balls, favors filled with taffy, and lemonheads & lemon drops to add a little zing to your "pink lemonade tea".

Garnish each tea cup with a little slice of lemon. The girls LOVED this and the lemonheads (not so much the lemon drops- they weren't sweet enough for them).

Here's whats been baking in my kitchen: mini cherry chip cupcakes

2011-04-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is what I have been baking and designing all day yesterday! Japanese mini cherry chip cupcakes. Aren't they adorable! I have to admit I love cherry chip flavor cupcakes and all things mini. So.... this was a fun day in the kitchen- sampling only the damaged ones of course.

My client needed a Japanese/Oriental inspired treat for a large gathering. She wanted something small and that doesn't create a mess that could be produced in a large quanity. We decided on mini cupcakes and I thought cherry chip would be appropriate since her decor/theme was cherry blossoms and believe. I think they turned out really cute and fun.

Easter Party: Edible Easter Basket Tutorial

2011-03-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Wait is over... the edible Easter basket tutorial is here! I know this looks hard (I was actually a little afraid of this creation. It could either turn out fabulous or be a complete disaster.) I am happy to report it turned out fabulous and is not near as hard as it looks!

The components:

mini balloons

dipping chocolate

peeps! chicks or bunnies (I love these)

candy eggs (I used speckled jelly beans & chocolate filled eggs)

First you have to melt the chocolate. This is the hardest part of the whole process. There are 2 ways to melt your chocolate the MICROWAVE vs OVEN.

Microwave: 1. Place your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on half power for 30 second intervals stirring in between until chocolate is almost melted. (It usually take 3 to 4 intervals) On the last one when it is almost completely melted, give it a really good stir and you can stir out the slight little chunks of chocolate without over heating it.

Oven: My Mom has been making homemade chocolates for years and she swears by this method. What is nice about this method is you can have the chocolate heating while you get everything ready.

1. Preheat your oven to the lowest temperature it goes. It is usually around 150-170 ish. Place your chocolate in a oven safe bowl. After about 3-5 minutes check on your chocolate. If the bowl is too hot to touch, turn off your oven and take out your chocolate and stir. The chocolate should be smooth and melted and ready to go. (If not put it back in the oven that is off with the door closed and it will continue heating the chocolate.)

Tip: To to have your chocolate keep that shinny sheen look to it, the chocolate needs to be melted slow.

2. While your chocolate is melting blow up mini balloons and coat the bottom half of the balloons with shortening. (this will help the chocolate not stick to the chocolate) Get a cookie sheet or plate with parchment/wax paper on the it.

3. Roll the bottom half of the balloon in the chocolate, while holding on at the top half of the balloon. I wanted the chocolate bowl to have a little rough feel to it, since it is suppose to be a basket. No two will be alike and this makes it easier as it not suppose to be perfect. You might have to apply more than one coat. If a small area is a little transparent or you need to smooth a spot out, take the back of a spoon with a little chocolate on it and swirl in the direction of the chocolate.

4. With the balloon in your left hand. Place a small circle of chocolate on the plate/cookie sheet with your right hand.

5. Place the balloon on top of the chocolate disk.

6. Place in the freezer to set faster.

7. When the chocolate is set, pop the balloon with pin and take out the balloon remains.

8. Fill with jelly beans, chocolate eggs and other candy. Top with a bunny or chick peep.

You can package them in boxes, cellophane bags or on top of individual platters at each place setting. Make sure to make these for your Easter dessert table and use with our Easter Printable available here.

Easter Party: the centerpiece

2011-03-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Finding the right centerpiece can be hard and time consuming. It's also the focal point of your table where that is the dining table where your having dinner, the dessert bar or on the kitchen island to add a little festive touch to your home. We found the perfect solution for you!!!! It's easy and fast... we don't want the centerpiece to take too long.... you have things to bake and get ready for your Easter celebrations. All you do is buy carrots that still have the stem on them.

How to construct your centerpiece:
1. Buy carrots with the stem still on (if your stems don't look great see blow for tips on how to perk them up)
2. Find your vase and have it washed.
3. Soak/ Rinse in a place you can lay completely flat & in the COLDEST water possible and then add a couple cups buckets of ice to the water. ( I have used the bath tub to wash my carrots before)
4. Set a towel right in front of your tub/sink and laid the carrots out and put a towel on top. Pat dry.
5. Place the carrots imperfectly so they overlap and hold each other up.
6. Fill with cold water and that is it. You're done!

Here are a few trade secret to perking up your carrots to make them show worthy! Are your ready.....

*completely immerse your carrots in COLD water, and I mean really really cold water.

*lay the carrots completely flat - If you have a large sink that the carrots and stems can lay flat your in luck, if not you can use your bath tub. Fill with the COLDEST water you can and then throw in a couple buckets of ice and your leaves will start perking up. Leave in for 10 minutes or so.

Easter: the egg decorating & hunt party collection

2011-03-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Are you planning a Easter Decorating party or Easter Egg Hunt (or both) with friends and family....

This Easter collection is full of darling favors, treat toppers, banners, labels and tags for you to adore your guests with. Available in our Etsy shop...

We will take you step by step on how to create the Easter table. What is great about this dessert table it is extremely easy and can be created by all levels of crafters. Most the treats are store bought candies repackaged to give an personal touch.

Our Easter Collection includes:

1. Cupcake Toppers/ Party Circles (12 designs) 2.5" circle

2. Cupcake Toppers/ Party Circles (12 designs) 2" circle

3. Cupcake Liners/Wrappers (4 designs)

4. Water bottle/Drink wrappers (5 designs)

5. Flag Toppers (12 designs) used for cupcakes, straw tags & adorable with mini desserts!

6. Printable paper designs (5 designs)

7. Happy Easter Banner (bunny and easter eggs)

8. Mini Candy bar wrappers (7 designs)

9. Favor Toppers (4 designs) 4" wide x 4" tall (fold in half finished size 4" x 2")

11. Bunny Favor Toppers (1 design)

12. Food tags (4 designs)

13. Easter Bunny basket tags (8 designs)

14. Egg Decorating Awards- Best Color, Most Creative, etc. plus blank ones for you to write your own awards!

(6 design & 6 blank awards)

15. Egg Carton labels- 3 parts for your one dozen egg carton (3 designs)

For your drinks offer an array of colorful pops, sodas & lemonades. We have strawberry lemonade, lemonade, grapes soda & strawberry cream soda.

Open the bottles right before the party and place our straw flags on pretty stripped straws

candy bar wrappers with bunnies, eggs, bows and frills

Hang your Happy Easter bunny and egg banner with purple & white twine for a sweet touch. Also you can create just a bunny banner, there are 2 different sizes.... get creative and make a bunny pattern!

Now get ready..... the treats and there are alot of them!

These adorable mini egg bowl are filled with an chocolate carrot (I feel in love when I found them at my local grocery store!!!!) and chocolate eggs

Our collection has cupcake wrappers and toppers.... The above cupcake is my favorite. I love the cupcake wrapper with easter eggs around it and scalloped blue & yellow Happy Easter.... the type is just so pretty and delicate, but still readable!

Here is another use for the drink flags. Make mini cupcake and sprinkle tiny easter eggs with one jelly bean and our sweet Easter flags to create a must taste treat. After the photo shoot all the kids went crazy over these. They were gone in minutes!!!

Each child should have an Easter Bunny treat. These jelly beans are so bright and fun and specked! I love small details like that. You can purchase them here at Gygi's

4 square favor toppers- these are easy to cut and assemble. Simply fold down your cellophane bags (found here) and staple. Then fold the favor topper in half and secure with double stick tape.

Do your kids get their egg cartons mix up and wondering whose is whose? I remember that was always an problem when we dyed eggs. Now simply place our egg carton labels on each child's carton to eliminate any confusion. There are 3 different color ways for all 3 labels.

Note: If you are throwing a Easter Egg Decorating party place a dozen eggs at each seat with their name on your very own carton with our labels.

We have 8 different styles of tags for you to attach to your Easter baskets from the Easter bunny, presents, favors or these completely edible chocolate easter baskets! You can package them in an array of ways. We have included our 2 favorites was of displaying our edible easter baskets. A tutorial is coming soon... you don't want to miss this one.

Above we have placed our edible Easter baskets on Pottery Barns clear glass cupcake stands. This would be beautiful at each place setting for your Easter dinner after your Easter Egg Hunt and games with the kids.

Or give them as gifts as they walk out. Place in clear plastic boxes with some colored crate paper, topped with a bright bow and one of our Easter tags.

Easter Invitations

2011-03-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

We showed you a sneak peak of the dessert table yesterday, but lets start form the beginning. First you have to invite your guest! You invitations sets the tone and direction to your party.... so we created coordinating invitations for your Easter Egg Decorating party and Easter Egg Hunt!

Easter Egg Decorating Party & Easter Egg Hunt preview...

2011-03-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peak of my new collection... The Easter Egg Decorating & Easter Egg Hunt Collection.
You can purchase the printable in my shop printable easter egg decorating party

Some egg candy is coming your way throughout the week so stay tuned!

Printable Pizza Box Invitation... literally with 2 sided pizza invite

2011-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

Having a pizza party... Deliver your guest a pizza invitation in a mini pizza box!

Is your child having a pizza party for a fun friday night or for their birthday party? This fun and creative pizza box
party invitation will grab the attention of all your guests and get them excited for your pizza party. The outside of
the invitation is a "pizza box". You can print on white or natural brown paper imitating a cardboard box color. In
the inside your guest will find a 4.75" pepperoni pizza with the details of your party on the back.

So what are you waiting for! Plan a pizza party this friday night or for your kids birthday. Pizza Invitation available here wantsandwishesdesign.etsy.com. Full collection coming soon!

"pizza box cover"

This shows the pizza box and both sides of the invitation

Sweet Nothings Bridal Shower

2011-02-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

I designed this sweet nothings bridal shower for a good friend. She wanted a pink and orange color scheme with ruffles and all things sweet, but still being modern and fun! The shower was a hit! We used Ruffle Fabric's Sherbet ruffles as the backdrop. It was beautiful and the perfect touch to the shower... they have so many gorgeous selections.

I made these mini cookie "cupcakes." They are Wants and Wishes: Dessert Studio specialty.

Here are our cupcake toppers available on our Etsy shop here.