Golden Treasure Baby Shower

We were approached by Baby Lifestyles to be a contributor for their spring eglossy. That's fancy talk for online magazine. We were very excited and couldn't wait to hear what they wanted us to submit. What's our theme going to be? Valentine's Day? Easter? We got the word that they wanted us to tackle St. Patrick's Day. Huh? The quasi holiday that gives everyone who knows someone Irish the excuse to drink their weight in green beer? And don't forget to make it baby related. We don't back down from a challenge. In fact, we were going to make it the classiest St. Patrick's Day baby shower anyone this side of the Blarney Stone has ever seen!

We needed a jumping off point. A theme that would not include leprochauns or references to public intoxication, etc. We based our theme on the Irish legend that you'll find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Perfect! Green and gold are great together, babies are a treasure, we were off and running.

Jeff starting sketching out the printables design, while Jennifer got busy by organizing a menu. The desserts should have a reference back to green or gold, but not necessarily be Irish in nature (i.e. green tea, mint, lime, and basil). The real fun comes in the fact that since this is a fake party, the food can be fake too, it just has to look pretty. Most things ended up being at least edible, however you would not drink the limeade.

The shamrock rattle quickly became the new symbol of the party. We knew we were onto something adorable. If this party was going to be magazine worthy, we needed to call in some other professionals. Florists and photographers. These tables had to literally come alive with color. Florist Samantha Farrington used monochromatic vegetation with loads of kale for a crisp and modern look. Our party would not have looked half this good if it wasn't for photographer Sarah Anderson's amazing shots. We were both speechless when we got the pictures back. Thanks ladies.

We also painted the geometric print on the backdrop. Every great table needs an equally great backdrop, but after painting this bold lattice pattern, we were afraid it was going to take away from the splendor of the table. Well, we can be wrong every once and a while. It's just the right accent, and the lattice pattern in used to give dimension to the shamrocks in all the printables. 

 

The dessert table highlights a little bit of everything in our treasure tale. The moss covered pebbles were a great find and they surround our "treasure chest" of gold coins and intricately decorated shamrock rattle cookies with just a hint of gold shimmer. The cake pops also get the green and sparkling treatment. The mini dessert trend continues with these delicious pistachio mini cakes wrapped in gold ribbon. We finish our desserts with layered green tea and ginger custard. Jennifer did such an amazing job with crafting these treats.

A treasure hunt for a Golden Treasure Baby Shower was a must! Jeff created the fabulous mossy topiaries with golden stems. And how perfect are the vintage gate and fountain in the background! The sign is handed painted on fabric "shingles". Jeff also had fun coming up with the rhyming clues for the fictional game that no one would ever see. That's how detailed we are.

Our favor table featured these amazing looking golden jordan almonds, that like most of the party were gorgeous, but inedible. We created a new take on the traditional pots with these mini cones in a custom stand. The "potted" favors are framed by these wonderful potted trees.

Our theme is a reminder that nine months of pregnancy brings about it's own precious treasure.

*Vendor Credits*

Photography: Sarah Anderson Photography
Flowers: Samantha Farrington
Wood Cake Pop Sticks: Etsy seller WoodCandySticks

Event design, printables, invitations, and all dessert items were done by us!
Honeycomb Events & Design is Jennifer Billingsley and Jeff Peabody


Printables available on Etsy

Little Gentelman "Rat Pack" Birthday Party

This party was thrown for my little guy, Grayson. We thought it would be fun to take a sophisticated 1960's Rat Pack gentleman theme and give it whimsical features fit for a first birthday. 

The bubble pipe we used through out the party was a perfect example of this! For the dessert table we created a tufted leather backdrop to fit over the TV space in our entertainment center. (A DIY tutorial can be found oun our blog for making this backdrop http://honeycomb-events.blogspot.com/2012/01/diy-tufted-leather-board.html). The patterns, houndstooth and plaid, were carried throughout including the cupcake wrappers, decorated cookies, adorable printables and custom made bow ties.

Upon arrival the little guests went to the "grooming station" and were fitted with a bow tie. Then they grabbed a sign with "Rules of a Gentelman" and acted them out while posing for the camera. It was great to see how boys and girls alike loved dressing up in bow ties and acting sophisticated! We also created a drinks station where guests were encouraged to mix up fun concoctions like Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers. Kids and adults alike had a great time sipping drinks out of brandy glasses and paper straws, feeling very dapper! We also wrapped vintage soda bottles with custom labels, paper straws, and a party label.  

The dessert table was fashioned after a gentlemen's conservatory, with built in bookshelves and leather tufted backdrop. We hand painted the beautiful sign too. We topped off each candle holder with a bow tie and a scrumptious cupcake. Guests helped themselves to spectacularly detailed bow tie and bubble pipe cookies. We wrapped brownies in craft paper and twine for an old-fashioned feel. And of course cake pops, can't forget these treats striped in chocolate plaids. Did you notice that the tablecloth is a pipe pattern? No detail is overlooked.

The favors had customized labels sewn onto muslin bags and included a bubble pipe and vintage candies. We had a fantastic time throwing this party and hope you will enjoy it also!

Check out our printables for this party on Etsy, and you too can have a little gentleman birthday bash!

Ships Ahoy!

We designed this baby shower with our client to celebrate her son and daughter-in-law's first baby. The baby's nursery was in a whale theme but the mom-to-be was having another shower in this theme. They wanted a shower that coordinated but didn't copy the whale theme. We thought a vintage nautical design would be perfect in a range of blues, off-white, and a touch of rustic red. Our sea-faring inspirations came from the iconic rope wrapped anchor.

We were blessed to start planning the shower from the beginning. This gave us the chance to design and craft the invitations.

Instead of a printed sign behind the dessert table we hand painted a large anchor and the baby's name on a large piece of canvas that lended to a more vintage look. We painted and distressed crates and then stenciled the words "Adore", "Easton", and "Always" on them. We made decorated crab cookies as favors and used the crates to display them. The mom-to-be took the crates home to use as nursery storage!

We used a mold to make color coordinated anchor decorations to place on the cake pops for a great dimensional look. 

And when we think of nautical, we think of weathered wood that's been exposed to the salty air so we an antiqued look to everything as well as treats that were both sweet and salty. We crafted these delicious salted caramel shortbread bites that were very popular. We also made red velvet whoopie pies because the mom-to-be loves red velvet cake.

To make all of the paper products look vintage, we printed on watercolor paper. The result was better than expected! The cupcake toppers had that look of being weathered by the sea air which was all because of the textured paper. Instead of a traditional pennant shaped banner we designed nautical flag shaped banner that was used in front of a table as well as mini nautical flags that wrapped around the vintage gallon jug.

We created a 'message in a bottle' station for the guests to write words of advice and encouragement to the new mom. Above this table was a huge television that our client asked for us to cover up. We designed a large sign which just looked like an amazing three dimensional sign and not just a TV cover up. On this table we also placed an amazing model ship! With a little paint and creativity, we made it a one-of-a-kind personalized piece of art.

The shower was so much fun to create and it was great that the mom-to-be wanted and was able to use the personalized crates, canvas artwork, and detailed wooden ship for the baby's nursery.

This party is available on our Etsy shop! Click here

Vendor Credit & Resources

Event Design, Invitation and Printables: Honeycomb Events & Design

Personalized canvas artwork with anchor: Honeycomb Events & Design

Cupcakes: Icing on the Cupcake Sacramento, CA

Cake pops, whoopie pies, and crab cookies: Honeycomb Events & Design

Floral centerpieces: Grandma-to-be, Cindy Keck

Crates (that were painted blue): Joann Fabric

Vintage Pepsi crate: etsy seller, amyrebeccadarabcsek

Anchor mold: globalsugarart.com

Cake Pop Tutorial: Prevent Cracks in Cake Pop Shells

One of the most frustrating and difficult issues to solve when making cake pops is cracking shells. If the cake ball is too cold, the shell cracks. If the cake ball is too warm, it falls of the stick when dipping. I did a fair amount of experimenting before getting a method that works for me. You may have to do the same but below is my go-to plan for a no-crack cake pop shell.

Why do cake pop shells crack anyway? As the cake ball warms up to room temperature it expands. If your candy melts shell hardens before the cake pop expands all the way then it will crack the shell. This means the cake ball can't be too cold and it helps if the candy melts are nice and warm so that they take longer to harden, leaving time for your cake ball to expand.

The main way I prevent cracking is to let the cake ball warm up a little bit after taking it out of the refrigerator and before dipping it. I find that whenever I put cake balls in the freezer, even for just 15 minutes I am more likely to get cracking. If you have time, put the cake balls in the refrigerator for a few hours to chill them.

I usually work with 3 cake balls out of the refrigerator at a time. I line them up and use the one closest to me first. I re-roll my cake balls just before I dip them to make sure they are perfectly round. This also helps me to feel if they are too cold to dip. They get a little softer and shiner and that's how I can tell they are ready to dip. As mentioned earlier warmer cake pops are more likely to fall off the stick so here's what I do to prevent that.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is to use a plastic bowl to melt you candy melts. Even candy melts, which are made to melt, can overheat and become thick. Dipping the warm cake pop into a thick consistency will surely result in a dropped cake pop. Microwave the candy melts as directed on the package, just go slow and be patient. You may need to do 30 seconds at a time or even 30 seconds on defrost mode. My best results have been using a plastic bowl that stays almost completely cool to the touch even after microwaving.

Some non-plastic bowls will heat up (even with slow and careful microwaving) and overheat the candy melts resulting in a thick consistency. The ideal consistency is when the candy melts drip off the spoon after stirring.

After dipping the stick into the candy melts and then inserting into the cake ball, I then dunk the cake ball. Some people wait and let the candy melts set on the uncoated cake pop but I have not found this necessary.

After you dip a warmer cake pop, immediately return it upright to tap off the excess. On a warmer cake ball you may feel it start to fall off the stick if you tap it in one place too many times. Rotate the stick in your hand as you tap so the cake ball stays centered on the stick.

I used to tap the cake ball TONS of times to get every little last bit of candy melts off but on a warmer cake ball this could spell disaster. Now, I just use a clean finger or knife to wipe away an excess near the base of the candy melt to reduce the number of taps that I do.

I used this method to make 24 cake pops and not one of them had a cracked shell.

When I'm ready to do the next cake pop, I take one moreout of the fridge and put it in the spot farthest from me so it has time to warm up while I dip the two that are in front of it.

Please leave a comment or Facebook us with any cake pop questions or issues you are having and we will do our best to answer them!

See our other cake pop posts here and here.

More Cake Pops Please!

Our first post on cake pops has been our most popular blog post by a mile! We have made a ton more cake pops since then so we thought we'd share our latest
cake pop creations!

Clown and other whimsical cake pops created for a
carnival party. See the entire party here!

We added royal icing transfers to dress up these cake pops for this super hero birthday party.

Minnie and Mickey Mouse cake pops for a lucky little girl's birthday party. See the huge dessert table and
party details here!

Anchor shaped molds were used to decorate these cake pops for a vintage style nautical baby shower.

How adorable are these strawberry cake pops? Placing them in strawberry baskets took the cutness level over the top! These were made for this retirement party.

We don't often do upside down cake pops but we thought they would look great on top of two lighted square vases. See all the pictures from this party here.

Here are our owl cake pops on a branch shaped from fondant. See these cake pops in the dessert table we created for a baby shower that was featured on Amy Atlas!