Thanks to Alison, Jessica, and Lisa for this week's orders! It was fun to get back into the swing of things after I got slightly organized from vacation.  Now that these orders are complete, I focus in on my own little guy's 5th birthday party next week. Why is it easier to be creative for other's than for your own?? Stay tuned for my attempts at many party goods! :) Here are the pictures from this week:

Well... we went on our very first family vacation over the past two weeks, and it was fabulous! I haven't had any new pictures to post because my little shop was closed, but I am back in business and working on 3 orders to post later in the week! After being on the beach, I am very excited to try some beachball pops for a customer's pool party! I will post pictures soon before I gear up for my son's 5th birthday party mid-August.  Stay tuned for the creepy-crawly reptile party! Also, I head back to my "real" job August 23, so be sure to get orders in early for the fall. I already have cakepop and cookie orders in the book for September and October, so with less time to create, orders will be limited.  

Lastly, a shout out to my friend Jane who rocked some cakepop centerpieces with her sister for a shower! Great job girls, I still want to see pictures!

Enjoy those last weeks of summer, and let me know if you want to take advantage of my August sample sale.   $1.00 pops and cookies when I have extra on hand this month with no minimum order. Yum!!     

These cake-pops were right up my alley (teaching phys ed) and were for a dear friend.  Thanks Kristine for the honor, I am sure you threw Chrissy the best baby shower ever!! Congrats Chrissy on your little guy! :) What a cute theme for a baby boy, and I added the little all-star, because I am sure he will be! Here they are!

If you are interested in placing an order for a date in August, please make sure to contact me as soon as possible.  Due to my son's birthday parties, I will only accept a limited number of orders (especially the 3rd week).  I will be busy crafting and baking for the little guy's big day as well as taking some customer orders. I hate turning people down, so hopefully I can coordianate everything if I have orders in advance.  Extra notice will allow me to make the non-perrishable part of the orders in ahead of time and bake right before the date the order is needed.

I did a party from start to finish with the theme of "Eat, Drink, and be Merry".  It was a ton of fun, and my favorite aspect of the creations turned out to be the cocktail-themed cake-pops. They are pretty darn cute, in my opinion. :)  I also was lucky enough to create some baby shower invites for an old friend who is throwing her daughter a baby shower.  I made 3 samples of possible invitations and based on her feedback we created the final product with matching thank-you's. Take a look at the latest projects!

I was lucky enough to create some pretty special cake-pops in the last week or two!  Meaghan, who's graduation invites and 18th birthday pops you may have seen in earlier posts, had her Graduation party last week.  The graduation cake was the centerpiece, so I needed to come up with two accent bouquets. Thanks Minnie for another fun project, and I can't believe Meaghan is going to college... congrats!

The second order was a first for me.  Rich asked me to make some "fun" centerpieces for his son and daughter-in-law (to be) for their rehearsal dinner. Keith is a teacher and baseball coach, while Courtney is a cheerleaing coach and middle school teacher.  Rich wanted to incorporate the bride and groom's school colors into the bouquets, so I played around until I came up with these!  Congrats newly-weds, and thanks for trusting me with such a special occasion Rich!

I was also put to the test this week to make "Toy Story" themed favors for Johnny to share with his party guests.  "Mr. Potato Head" and
"Evil Dr. Porkchop" made their 1st appearance in my kitchen!  Let me know what you think!  Thanks Angela and Andria, and Happy birthday Johnny!

Finally, I was honored to make some summer-time floral bouquets for my Aunt-Joan's party.  She is fun, cheerful, and sprinkles her positive energy around from person tp person all the time!  She is an inspiration to me, and definitely my crafty partner in crime! :) Love ya AJ!!

I have been working hard to try and find a healthy balance between work, creating fun projects and filling orders, family, friends, and working out.  I think I am getting there!  I will post pictures of last week's projects as well as the next week or two soon!  In the meantime... keep those ideas coming! Love the feedback... :)

This week was all about the "end", or a new "beginning".  Randi had me create a cute "end" of the year bouquet for Molly to bring in to her 3 teachers for a thank you gift.  I decided to go with apples and ABC's for the Preschool theme.  Kelly had the idea for her daughter's "end" dance recital to create themed pop bouquets to thank the dance teachers for their hard work (rather than traditional flower bouquets).  Congrats on a great Recital at Elgin High School ladies!  And Kitty, Bonnie, and Chrissy asked me to make small centerpieces for Grace and Ken's baby shower.  So cute and elegant for their little girl who will be arriving soon! A new "beginning"!  Here are some pictures of the final products, enjoy!

So much going on at the end of the school year!! Mr. Keehn's retirement, Meaghan's 18th birthday, TJ's Graduation party, Lola's dance recital, Open House pops, and I wanted to try a Minnie Mouse design for fun. Here are some pictures.  I would love to hear your feedback!  I would love to make some paper crafts in the near future. I love to make invitations, party favors and center-pieces. Let me know if you are interested! Make sure to check out my Monthly Promotions page to see what the deals are for June.

I had some new orders to keep me on my toes this week too! The theme of surfing, video-gaming, nurse was linked into a centerpiece a well as spreading my wings to make sugar cookie favors in the shape of footballs. I also ws able to create some adorable letter or baby- block themed table centerpieces for a shower. Fun stuff, and I made it through the week! :)

Well, my little brother is officially following in my dad's footsteps and working his way up the ladder in the Fire Department.  Lt. Swanson will be a great leader, teacher, and hard-working fire-fighter.  I couldn't let his promotion go un-celebrated, so here we have a sugar-cookie and cake-pop bouquet. I had to incorporate my sugar cookies because at Christmas the "holiday mouse" somehow gobbles them up... it is never Kevin! :) Congrats Kev, I am proud of you, and I hope you shared your treats with the guys in blue!