Friday Feature Party~ Cake Boss

I am seriously in LOVE with this Cake Boss party. First of all, I'm loving the theme....Cake Boss! I had on my summer list to have a cooking party....never happened but Jen from Passion for Parties~you have given me another reason that I must have a cooking party! I love how she converted this hutch into a bake shop display!

Look closer....on top I see Dollar Tree glass candlestick holders with flowers made from cupcake liners...love, love, love.

Of course the girls had to decorate a cake....this is a Cake Boss party after all!

Each girl got their own personalized banner for their cakes.

My favorite thing from the party are these ADORABLE aprons that Jen made. She has never sewn before but made these ruffles. What??? Maybe there is hope for me. The girls could pick which patterns they wanted and the apron had Velcro strips so all girls had to do was stick them on! Genius!

Jen also personalized chef hats and the girls made their own cupcake liner flower to attach to it.

The cake stands were made using spray painted Dollar Tree glass candlestick holders with a white plate glued on top. This party is full of activities and tutorials so do yourself a favor and head on over here. Amazing job Jen...plus you really made this party affordable ...just a some DIY time!
If you want to have your party feautred please send to contact@maddycakes.com. I have gotten so many party submissions since I asked you last week for them. Thanks! I am currently working on updating the blog so will have a party submissions button in the near future.

FrankenS'mores Pops

EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK!!! Aren't these FrankenS'mores pops just the cutest! So when I saw them I was like~where in the world did this creative momma find the green graham crackers???

EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK again! I have seen this color mist in the stores and thought...oh nice for coloring icing after you frost cupcakes. I am creative with party and craft ideas but I am lame when it comes to being creative with food! That is why I am so thankful for all of the creative bakers and cooks I find in blogland.

Won't these be awesome for a Halloween soiree? I pretty much love anything on a stick! For the 411 on how to make these treats check it out here! That is one talented momma ~her blog is full of cool food to make with your kids. I really need to try some of her recipes maybe I can get Madison to actually eat something other than chicken nuggets!

Rotten Pumpkin Teeth

I love candy corn! It screams Fall! Here is an adorable way to package it and give to the kiddos! There is a free rotten pumpkin teeth topper printable and tutorial how to make this over at It Is What It Is.

Transformation Tuesday~Canvas Prints

I got these canvas prints from Big Lots for $3. Wasn't a fan of the leaf picture but knew I could use them for something. I especially loved that the size was 12 X 12 (being a scrapbooker!) After some thought I decided to make my version of a canvas print.

Here is the back - I love canvas prints but they are so expensive!

I used flat black spray paint and spray painted the sides and around the top edge a little.

I enlarged some photos of Madison and converted them to black and white~printed them at Sam's for about $2 a picture.

Used a piece of 12 X 12 scrapbook paper to see where I should cut my photo. Originally, I was going to use Mod Podge to put on the back and front of photo. Then I changed my mind and just used spray adhesive on the back. I love Mod Podge and even though it dries clear it does leave a texture and I didn't want that for these particular photos. Either way would work though- just whatever is your preference.

Final product on my wall going up the stairs.

Now you see why I spray painted the sides? I love how they turned out and less than $6 a picture! LOVE!

Decorating with Pumpkins

It is easy to decorate with pumpkins for Fall. They are so versatile and you can use real or artificial ones. I love Southern Living's ways to decorate pumpkins. I love using pumpkins on buffet table for displaying food.

My new favorite way to decorate pumpkins this year is using tacks.....LOVE!

Using flowers is my second favorite. I have tried everything to bling up pumpkins for parties and decor. I will add these to my list.

Friday Feature Party~Carnival

As you know I love real parties more than parties that are designed or styled for photographs. Don't get me wrong, I love to look at them but realistically I love it when I see a mom put her heart, love and time in making a special memory for her children. I have been blog friends with Melissa since she sent me her first party even before she had a blog. Melissa from Buckets of Grace is a phenomenal woman~she works full time as a lawyer and is an incredible mommy to her 2 children. Her parties and holiday events are nothing short amazing! Her blog is full of creative ideas and I just love her although we have never met!

Her latest carnival party for her son Ethan is a show stopper!

I love this Ferris wheel cake topper that she got during Easter -made for dying eggs- but she spray painted it to match colors and added blue gumballs. I am so mad because I saw this same thing on sale at Jo Ann's at the end of the season on clearance and had the same idea to use as Ferris wheel but didn't get it due to having no need for it. Wouldn't you know it - I just got booked for a custom circus/carnival party! Can I borrow yours Melissa?

I love these lollipops that spell out carnival.

The prize table-ridiculous (that's my word for really good)

Props for the photo booth. Melissa is money conscious like me so she makes a lot of her party decor items herself.

My favorite and one that I WILL copy is the ticket booth made out of a refrigerator box. This party is broken down in many posts due to so many pictures and details so you must go to her blog to check them out!

Great photo booth and great family! Many blessings! I would love to see your fabulous parties! If you want to be my next Friday Feature party send your submissions to contact@maddycakes.com.

Dyed Doily Trend

If you follow party blogs then you know there is a huge use of doilies in party design. I love this trend because you can get doilies so cheap from dollar stores and you can dye them to match your party colors. I love using them as banners...easy and makes a big impact.

How do you dye white paper doilies you ask?? Easy... just fill a bowl with water and use food coloring to your desired color. Immerse your doily into bowl, pull out with with tongs and let dry. Viola!

Burger Bash

Remember where I started with this one with my first You Tube video? Well, here is what I ended up with. I ended up not using the Spongebob hamburger gummies for 2 reasons...(1)-Madison didn't like them and (2) my cake pop diva Jen brought over hamburger cake pops! LOVE!
Got the cake from Albertson's for only $14.00!! It was chocolate with strawberry filling and it was really YUMMY!
I think the cake turned out great especially for using a grocery store!!
These gorgeous hamburger cupcakes and sugar cookie fries were done by Lizzy's Sweets N' Treats. If you are in the local area ~ I highly recommend her. She does awesome work and the food is so delish!! Plus her prices are very reasonable!! LOVE her!
Of course, my hamburger cake pops done by my friend Jen from Best Cake Pops! Have you seen her Cake Pop invention?? If you make cake pops all the time then you need her product!! She is so amazing on so many levels!
Can you believe that I made these hamburger cookies?? Yep, I finally made something that looks good. Of course no baking was involved!

Here is the utensil packs. I think they turned out cute.
All the dinner food was set up outside ~buffet style.

Sorry, this is a "real" party so no magazine photo pictures of the food plus this was taking after the first wave of people ate. However, I put the items that needed to be on ice in my inflatable cooler that I got from Oriental Trading Co.
I can not say enough about the company Fun Flicks. They are AWESOME! I love having backyard movies and now my peeps in Phoenix/Scottsdale~it is finally getting cooler so you will be able to have great backyard movies this Fall. I have talked with the owners and we are thinking of having a promotion for some lucky duck to get a FREE movie package! So leave comments if interested and I'll see what we can do.
Thanks to my Facebook peeps for suggesting the movie RIO! Madison loves this movie. (secretly me and her dad also love it)
All in all party was good....I was actually not feeling well but it takes a lot to get this party girl down! All the photos taking by my friend and photographer Barb from Captured Photography!

Halloween Front Porch Decor

I am in full swing on getting my house ready for the holidays. I love this time of year!! I love to decorate the front porch for the seasons, holidays and parties! Even if you don't have a front porch ~ you can decorate your door in an unique way for every occasion. I'm getting my front porch ready for Halloween. As you know I don't do "scary" Halloween but still like to have fun with it. Want a big statement on your porch for almost free???
Go get you a large branch from your tree or in my case since all I have are cactus....procure one :) Then spray paint it! I think the orange gives it a nice pop of color. I added a Dollar Tree bird I had from last year. (I need to get at least one more....hope Dollar Tree still has them this year)
I like how it gives that bland corner height and color. Used my handy dandy Cricut to make the Happy Halloween in vinyl for the door. I will show you the rest this week. As you may have noticed I have not been posting on the weekends~instead I have been posting many "muses" on Facebook during the weekends. Being so busy something has to give but don't want to leave you hanging so if you need "muses" on the weekends...then check out Maddycakes Muse Facebook page.

Train Crazy

I love this train ticket invitation and party done by Life Inspired. Isn't that ticket adorable???

My all time favorite is this train track using duct tape! How creative and an inexpensive decor idea!

Complete with railroad sign on door! The conductor was at the front door to stamp the kiddos tickets.

They each got a engineers hat and bandanna. This talented momma created 5 stations for the kiddos with train theme activities.

Even made the cupcakes herself!

My FAVORITE station is the shovel the coal station using a handmade cardboard train! LOVE!

I love all of the gorgeous dessert tables around in party land but when it comes down to asking a kid what was their favorite part of their party....at least all of the parties I do~ the kids don't say the dessert table they say how much fun they had at the activities. I'm sure the kiddos loved this train theme party!!