finding inspiration: Cake Stands

I am obsessed with finding perfectly adorable vessels and props for my dessert tables, especially cake stands. They have to be the cutest and easiest way to pretty up a simple cake display and they are extremely versatile. Don't agree with me that they are the best thing to happen to cakes since... well, cakes? Try typing in 'cake stands' into Google Images and see if you don't change your mind. Better yet, type in any colour before 'cake stands' [eg. green cake stands] and you will see that the possibilities are endless.

Today I bought this beauty from Write Impressions in Waterloo [my old stomping grounds in my Uni days] after a wedding consultation. I am such a sucker for this store, they stock the most beautiful things, and their set-ups are just as beautiful as the products themselves. I can't wait to use this in my dessert tables! It will go perfectly with the Sugar and Spice table I have coming up, and I may even try to make it work for my ultra-glam totally girly table as well.

Do you use cake stands to display your wares? What other props or vessels do you use?

Read more...

Navigating the Tablescape: Super Bowl for Kids

The NFL's Super Bowl XLIV [Sunday February 7 @ 6:30pm ET on CBS] is a huge day for parties in North America. It is reportedly the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, after Thanksgiving! But the fun shouldn't just be for adults, kids should get in on the football, party and food action as well!

I put together a kidcentric, healthy treat version of a Super Bowl party tablescape that you can try out for your kids and their friends on Super Bowl Sunday. Here are my tips for making it happen! [Click on the images for a larger view]

Lay down an orange table cloth [plastic of course - this IS a kids party!]. Orange is one of Super Bowl XLIV's colours. As a mock table runner, use some football-textured loose paper that you can pick up at Michael's or a specialty stationery shop. Add some football-themed toys to your tabletop, like the Finger Football goalposts I used here. Put down some coloured Hefty plates or other disposable tableware at each place.

You can get foam footballs at any craft store, or you can use brown construction paper and chalk to make the placecards. Use a black pen or Sharpie marker to write the names of each child on the football and place it on the plate.

 
For the snack containers, use several clear glass containers or colourful, unusually shaped servingware. Arrange the snack containers along the table and fill them with yummy snacks that kids will enjoy eating. Try boxed raisins, crunchy baby carrot sticks, Babybel cheese and Skinny Sticks garden veggie flavour, all of which I have used here. Go for a good balance of colour and texture and packaged single serve items and kids will load up their plates. Put a football sticker or construction paper cutout shape on the front of each glass container. Remove the labels from some bottles of water, flavoured water or juice and replace them with a football sticker. Suddenly drinking a bottle of water is fun and cool because it fits with the theme!

Give the kids some sort of themed takeaway, like these football whistles, and arrange it on the table as well. Other things you could try are temporary tattoos, pencils, lanyards or shoelaces. Embellish your tablescape with any other unobtrusive items that relate to your football theme. I used some colourful pom-poms.

What will you be doing for Super Bowl Sunday?

Read more...

Navigating the Tablescape: Cinco de Mayo

Photo Credit: Mix Mingle Glow

Last week, Mix Mingle Glow visited an outdoor flea market in San Antonio and found these adorable mini Mexican blankets that she used as napkins in her place settings. This would be absolutely perfect for your Cinco de Mayo tablescaping!

Photo Credit: YogaAccessories.com

Yoga Accessories also has these long skinny traditional Mexican yoga blankets that would be great as table runners for your fiesta! You can find them all over the internet and in yoga specialty stores.

Will you be celebrating Cinco de Mayo? How will you decorate your table?

Read more...

Navigating the Tablescape: Earth Day

How amazing would this be for Earth Day? Or any other day for that matter? You could do something similar with carrots and it would also look really cute.

Thank you to CasaSugar for pointing me to Re-Nest

Read more...

Navigating the Tablescape: Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Just a quick post about Easter brunch I had the other day and how we set up the table. I had very little notice to go on for this Easter brunch, so don't mind the wrinkled tablecloth!! I went with a dusty yellow and dusty pink colour palette and kind of a simple country aesthetic. So I started with a neutral table cloth and put brightly coloured plates down.


Then i placed a neutral napkin on top of each place and put our shiny heavy silverware on top. I did a google search on Easter quotes, poems and sayings and found this one by Edna Dean Proctor that I thought was cute

I think of the garden after the rain;
And hope to my heart comes singing,
At morn the cherry-blooms will be white,
And the Easter bells be ringing!

I printed this out on white paper and accentuated a few words and cut it out into a thin strip. I wrapped a pink ribbon around the napkin and wrapped the paper around over top of the ribbon so only the top of the ribbon was showing. Then I secured it with a clothespin. In the middle of the table I put some yellow and pink flowers in a clear glass vase.


I put some cute little porcelain bunnies by the flower vase and they were really the only "Easter-y" things I put on the table. I served mimosas in flutes with sheer pink ribbon tied loosely around the stem.


Again, have a Happy Easter everyone!

Read more...