WE HAVE MOVED VISIT US AT WWW.MADDYCAKESMUSE.COM
I LOVE red velvet cake....it is my favorite. I also adore whoopie pies. Kim from Sand & Sisal has a great and EASY tutorial on how to make here. These would be an awesome Valentine's Day treat!
Historic Glendale had a decorating competition on Friday in preparation for our Valentine's Chocolate Affair going on next weekend. Over 30 store participated in the competition and you can see Valentine's decor throughout the Historic district. There are 3 categories for the Valentine's decor competition: Most original/creative, most whimsical and most historic downtown feel. Being a children's party business, I chose a Dr. Seuss theme. Didn't want an overkill of decor but hopefully you "get" my theme. 
Of course had to use the iconic Dr. Seuss hats in some way. I used foam board and cut out the L, V, E letters and decoupaged on Dr. Seuss Valentine's Day cards.
Here is my Valentine bug at our store. Yes, it's hot here and we are already in short sleeves! Sorry for all of my peeps still in the snow!
Winners get a chocolate basket from our local candy factory!! Wish me luck!
There are no words to describe how I feel today. Maddycakes had the pleasure of doing the 1st birthday party for Carter a few months ago. Today I learned that he passed away. I met his parents at a baby expo that Maddycakes was an exhibitor. This particular family booked his 1st birthday party when the mom was still pregnant. The parents stayed in contact all year through emails and shared photographs of their precious son Carter. I finally met him on the day of his birthday party.
They chose a country Curious George theme for his birthday party.
Carter on his birthday. Please pray for his family. I am so sorry for their loss.
We go through life so often
Looking for a really cute and personalized Valentine's for the kiddos to give?? Here is a custom candy bar wrapper from Eighteen 25! Download and tutorial free....I love those girls!
Here is another cute boy party~an all American Sports party! Christina from Inspiration for Celebration's son was turning 3. He loves all sports so she knew that this theme would be something he would love. I love the chalkboard backdrop! You just can't go wrong with red, white and blue!
I love the idea of having the guests sign a book...what a great keepsake.
Christina used Jello to make the insides of cupcakes red and blue. Cool!
You know I love marshmallow pops .... it's always a hit with the kiddos! Thanks Christina for sharing this party. For more pics and details go to her blog here.
I love using my chalkboards to list my items...quick and easy. (notice the footballs on boards) :)
There is a half wall dividing my den and kitchen space. Yes, I could have put up a backdrop but didn't want to block view from the kitchen. So opted to put a few things on the ledge instead.
Yes, staged parties are pretty but in my real world~ I like my hot food hot and when I'm watching football....I want to watch football and not have to keep refilling items. So maybe the chaffing dishes aren't pretty but I had hot honey wings, hot wings and meatballs! Are you aware of the awesome subs you can get from Walmart? I got this 6 ft sub...only 4 ft showing for $25 and the condiments are included! Do you like my yard line markers on sub?? :)
Yes, I got already sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, mayonnaise and mustard with my sub. All for $25! You can't even buy the meat for that price!
Aren't these cakepops gorgeous! Love the golden glitter and the 3 diamonds for my Steelers logo! I love my cakepop diva Jen!! You do know she can mail these, right?? OH!! I will have to post the ones she did for me last week...awesome as always. (Heavenly cakepops website)
I had another boy party to share with you but didn't post on Saturday...sorry! I will post it tomorrow then the rest of the week will be checking out Valentine's Day stuff!
This All American Round Up was sent to me by Paula from JC's Loft. It is simply ADORABLE!! Paula's attention to detail is amazing! She has so many wonderful touches and details that I had a really hard time picking my favorite pictures. The above is the food table. I simply love the horse drinking out of the watering hole....genius!
This was a destination party so imagine all of the work Paula put into this one!! The kids got to ride horses and ponies....what fun!
Love the Jake Juice!
I had no idea that Hallmark made personalized plates! Thanks Paula....you will be seeing it again from me!
Here is Jake's Corral...the kids were able to select their own horse. What a GREAT idea for a centerpiece! Something I know the kiddos loved!
Don't even get me started with the cuteness of the dessert table!
My two favorites are the cupcake star display~
and the campfire Marshmallows!
EEEEKKKK!! Too cute! There is plenty more to see over at JC's Loft here. Thanks Paula...you are amazing!
I just love this train dessert table! What little boy doesn’t love trains? Take a look at this fun, train themed dessert table created by the incredibly talented Sweets Indeed. 
Why are there tons more "cute" parties for girls than boys?? It seems like the blogosphere is flooded with adorable girl parties...boys parties not so much! Well, Spaceships and Laserbeams are on a mission to change that! They are a collective ETSY design group that has the most adorable printable party packs!! They only do collections for boys - or "non-frilly" girls~they are a no princess zone. All of their illustrations are 100% original and drawn by hand, they won't be found anywhere else. What is extra cool on top of their great products ~ they donate 5% of all sales to the YMCA Strong Kids campaign -- to help young boys grow in to strong young men.
Here is the breakdown of "sweets" in her words (my words are in italics) : Snowmen - I originally saw a version of these guys in Canadian Living magazine. Basically, I put one bocconcini ball (that's cheese in case you didn't know~I had to look it up lol) on the bottom and cut another in half to use as the mid-section and head. The arms are stick pretzels. The nose is the end of a carrot. The hat is about a 1/4 of a radish. They're fastened together using two sharp toothpicks, one through all three cheese balls and one through the radish and into the cheese. (It should go without saying that the toothpick should be removed before giving to the little one.)
Winter Crisp - This is a fruit cup combination of baked apples, blueberries and blackberries. For the crisp part, I wanted something quick, as I find I have no time these days. I crushed some pretzels, a little butter and brown sugar. The salty and sweet taste awesome together. But if I actually had some in the house, I would have probably just crumbled some granola bars and put it on the top.
Snowflake Pudding - This is actually a homemade rice pudding made from a recipe I found in a toddler cookbook. Doesn't taste too bad either - which is good as the mom of any toddler knows you will be eating what he/she doesn't. (This is so true!!!)
"No cake" cake pops - Instead of cake and chocolate, I wanted to offer up a high protein concoction. As two year olds don't exactly have the most complex palette, I mixed peanut butter (no peanut allergy issues with my son and his close friends) with graham crumbs, formed them into balls, piped on a tiny bit of white chocolate and popped these in the fridge to get nice and firm. But a safer option, if there is any question of allergies, would be almond or soy butter. And for an even healthier base you could crush one of your child's favorite cereals and use it instead of the graham crumbs. 
OKAY....all my foodie friends don't get upset with me! This is totally my kind of dessert...easy, looks really cute and no bake!!
Instant love....and it's Black and Gold too!! Just need to do some "Steelerizing" and we are golden!
I never decorate my home outside for Valentine's...I don't know why?? This just may have been the muse needed to change that.
I just love this Academy Awards party door decor! This has given me my muse needed for how I am going to decorate the store's door for a Valentine's decorating contest that I entered. Much more on that so stay tuned...
This umbrella door candy is absolutely my favorite. I never thought of using an actual umbrella for door decor! By the way, thanks ladies for the comments of congrats on my boys winning....sorry Monique....better luck next year! :)
Here are a few more really cute football ideas from around the web. Real cute football cookies...can find recipe here.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the chalkboard football stands! What a great way to display your game day goodies on your buffet/dessert table! These are ridiculous!! Used chalkboard spray paint over a glass vase~ genius! She found the football brownies at Walmart! I looked for some today...no such luck! Found these over at Hatter and Hare Events blog here. 
These really simple and cute foam coasters were found there as well. Cut out helmet shape from foam sheets and glue on your team logo.
I always say you can paint anything...well here is another great example. Painted shoes! Used acrylic paint, fabric team cutouts and coats of sealer to turn the ordinary into these adorable ones. Need to try this of course with my Steelers though! I'm sorry I lost the source so if you know link...let me know.
I found some great stuff at Goodwill today and also made a couple of football projects as well. So until tomorrow.....
