The Next Great Baker!!!

I'm so happy and excited to announce my good friend, Kendra Jordan's national television debut on TLC's The Next Great Baker hosted by the Cake Boss himself, Buddy Valastro!! You may remember when I featured some of her cakes here on my blog awhile ago.  Kendra and I have been friends since college and we have always bonded creatively! Like me, she loves all things creative. She sews, draws, paints, writes, bakes, and the list goes on and on.  When I tell you she only took one class at Micheal's last year around this time and now is absolutely AMAZING with cakes, its true!!  Each cake just gets better and better!  She's an artist too so it was only natural she'd do awesome cakes! Did I mention she free-hands most of her cakes! Pure talent! :) The show airs Dec 6 so make sure you tune in and support her! Yayyy Kendra!! :) Check out her website: www.keshajobakes.com

 

 Check out some of the amazing cakes she has done to date:

Bumble Bee 1st Birthday Party

On this past Sunday, I decorated a bumble bee themed 1st birthday party for Tatum, the cute lil daughter of two of my friends from college. They had it at the Jelly Bean Jungle in Marlton, NJ so the place is already decorated but mommy wanted to tie in the theme of Tatum's big day!  Since we were doing a bumble bee theme which is traditionally just black and yellow, I wanted to make it a little girly so we decided to tie in a little pink. 

Photog and good friend of the couple, Micheal Derek was there snapping pics of everything and I cant wait to see how great his professional pictures turn out!  He also took the picture of Tatum that I used for the magazine cover.  But for now, you'll have to check out the ones I took on my lil digital camera....which dont really do the party justice....lol

Guest were greeted as they walked in by this cute magazine cover with the birthday girl on it! :)

Up close view of magazine cover

Picture of room and tables BEFORE decorating

Table setting AFTER decorating

Glitter wooden name sign I made

Table setting....isn't this table cloth the cutest?

Favor boxes

Frames I made that set on each of the adult tables

Gift sign I made

I used a bumble bee pinata for decoration

Mini magazines I created for adult favors

Page 1 of mini mag

Page 2 of mini mag

Personalized Water Bottles

I had a lot of fun making everything for this party! Everyone had a blast!

VENDOR RECOMMENDATION:  After having the magazine cover created, I used www.posterbrain.com to have it blown up.  I highly recommend them if you ever need to have a picture enlarged to poster size. The site is user friendly, prices are great, delivery is quick, and customer service is awesome!

Welcome Bags for Your Out of Town Wedding Guests

One very popular thing a lot of couples do is have welcome bags for their out of town wedding guests.

Usually the bags can include food and/or beverage items, itinerary for the weekend, souvenirs, area maps, etc.  You can pretty much put anything you want in them.  The bags can be left at the front desk of the hotel where your guests are staying and the clerks will distribute them to guests upon arrival.  I think this a great idea to do for you out of town guest, but of course it will add an additional cost to your budget.

We decided at the last minute to do them. We did about 50 bags and put snacks (chips, candy, nuts, etc) and a personalized bottle of water in each bag.  I used basic small black paper bags with the handles and added a note on outside of each bag thanking everyone for coming.  Check out pic below: 

I really love gable boxes and if you don't mind spending a little more for them vs using regular gift bags, I'd highly suggest using these.  They usually run around $1 a box depending on what site you order them from (the more you buy, the cheaper they are).  Just be sure to order the correct size for the amount of stuff you plan on putting in each box.  If you are unsure of what gable boxes are, here is a pic of one:

Here are a few sites that sell gable boxes:
Nashville Wraps
Paper Mart
Uline

Upside down wedding cakes?!?

So here's one sure way to make your wedding cake stand out and maybe shock your guests a little.... try getting one upside down! As I was browsing the net, I came across a few cakes and noticed that some brides are throwing tradition to the wind and opting for these unique cakes.  Sometimes they are even hung and called chandelier cakes.   I just love how pretty much anything can be done with cakes these days! Its truly amazing!  Check out a few pics I found of some upside down cakes. 

 

Photos found on various sites.

Quick Wedding Planning Tip

If you are planning your wedding and you are in the "renting linens" phase, here's a quick tip that I didn't know. Make sure you look into the cost of purchasing your linens vs renting them. Alot of times, depending on the type of linens you desire, renting and buying cost the same! Go figure, huh?

I didn't have a clue about this before planning my wedding, wish I would have known. So I thought I'd share that. And the greatest thing is if you have no use for them after the wedding is over, sell them online! Another bride will be happy to take them off your hands! :)

Bumble Bee Themed Party

This upcoming weekend I have a bumble bee themed party I'm decorating for friends of mine from college.  The party is for their cute little 1 yr daughter, Tatum.  Its been fun putting things together.  Cant wait to show you a few of the items I made for it!  Here is the official party logo I came up with.

 Stay tuned next week for pics of how everything else turns out! :)

Stepping Out on Faith: Gray Ellis (Cari & Angela)

Today's Stepping out on Faith feature is on Cari Martin and Angela Henderson of GrayEllis.com.

Former Job: Education 
Passion: Fashion

When did you discover your passion? 

"We both discovered our passion as little girls...mixing and matching pieces.  However, we felt a STRONG sense of community and didn't think fashion lined up with that goal!"

What career field were you both in before branching out and how long did you work in other jobs before branching out to start your own business?  

"We were both educators and that's how we met.  We taught for 3 or so years then branched out and started retailing (8 years) and were working at same boutique and realized we could do this!!"

What was your "breaking point" when you knew it was time for you both to do your own thing?
"We knew it was time when we learned all we could from the boutique we worked at.  Angela was the store manager/buyer and Cari was the visual merchandiser.  One day at the boutique we started changing around the store..merchandise etc...and it just FLOWED and it felt amazing.  It's a POWER we have working together...that was the day!"

What has been the best part of stepping out and running your own business?
"The best part is having a VOICE in the world, letting people get to experience "OUR" point of view, being our own boss, and showing women they can take risks."

What advice would you give others who are ready to step out?
"HAVE FAITH....Papa (that's what we call GOD) always makes a way!!"

Anything else you want to share?
"GRAY | ELLIS is an honor of our grandmothers...our ancestors...the women that paved a way before us...we are grateful...PLEASE...SHOP IT UPPP!!"

You can check out the ladies' recently launched online boutique at www.grayellis.com!! Let's show support!! :)