Desserts to Celebrate a Diploma

Two years ago, my friend Kim asked me if I would create a dessert table for her son's graduation in May of 2014. Now THAT is an organized mom! I remember thinking... that's 2 years away, surely she'll change her mind or forget? 

No chance. Kim & I have been making plans for months now and the big graduation party was Saturday. Here are some photos of the sweet, celebratory spread.

Alex, the graduate, picked out all of his favorite candies during a trip we took to the Nifty Nut House - gummy candies, Nic-L-Nip wax candy bottles, chocolate coins, Pop Rocks, Sixlets, licorice, and Dove chocolates. He graduated from The Independent School of Wichita and he'll be attending Iowa State in the fall, so we got every candy we could find in these colors: royal blue, white, red and golden yellow. They looked great against a backdrop of black and silver.

In addition to the candy, I baked some vanilla cupcakes and made some yellow-frosted sugar cookies.

And I found some great table decorating ideas with printable graphics from Frog Prince Paperie. I just adjusted the colors and some of the wording to match Alex's table, and added photos of him as well.

Congratulations to all of the graduates this year. May your futures be sweet and colorful!

Love Bites Dessert Table

Nine lovely ladies joined me at Adriene Rathbun's Social class this morning to watch and learn as I assembled a Valentine's Day dessert table.

I tried to share some of my favorite tricks, and impart some wisdom on many of my past mistakes. 

Everyone was so complimentary and had lots of great questions. I enjoyed making some new friends, and I always get a thrill when familiar faces come back for more.

As with every class, we took lots of pictures. Lots. And lots. Of pictures.

Thanks again, ladies, for making me feel like a sugar princess.

Molasses sugar cookie dogs

Cotton candy sheep bowls

Peppermint Patty bumblebees

Apothecary jar filled with white cheddar cheese balls

Delicious coconut cream cheese cupcakes made by Adriene

Macarons

Brownie heart boxes filled with M&Ms

Heart-shaped suckers in sugar

Coconut cupcakes displayed on upside-down wine glasses

Kansas Sugar Cookies with blue icing and candy hearts

Vintage Book Dessert Table

I've been baking and book-crafting for the last couple of weeks in preparation for a baby shower that my friend, Adriene Rathbun (and friends), hosted on Saturday.

The theme of the baby shower brunch was "Vintage Books." The idea stumped me at first, but then I realized that there are so many food references used in classic children's storybooks and nursery rhymes. Here are a few of the ideas that I came up with:

Alice in Wonderland = "Eat Me" cookies
The Gingerbread Man = Gingerbread cookies
Little Red Riding Hood = Basket of cakes for grandma
The Three Little Kittens = Pies (made from Reece's BIG cups and M&M's)
Jack and the Beanstalk = Magic (jelly) beans

I also incorporated vintage book-like elements wherever I could into the display:

A four-tiered cupcake stand 
(made from hardcover books and wooden candlesticks that I painted gold)

Mini-book cupcake toppers 
(made from book pages and color printouts of classic children's book covers)

Book-page pillars 
(made by tearing off the book covers and folding the book pages in half)

Book-page table cover 
(torn pages from old books that I got at the DAV and Goodwill)

Once Upon a Time wall graphic 
(cut from a 40x30-inch piece of foam core)

Happily Ever After banner 
(covered a piece of cardstock with torn book pages and then cut the letters out)


Knowing that the party guests would probably be full of quiche, breakfast pastries and mimosas, I tried to package the dessert table treats into baggies, boxes or containers for easy transporting. That way, they could take everything home and enjoy later.