meri meri kits, anyone...?

if you're like me {ie a sucker for cuteness!}, you'll fall in love with these absolutely adorable kits by meri meri...i certainly did!

aren't these just oozing with cuteness? as you can see, i couldn't decide which i loved the most  (it was so difficult to choose just one!) so i picked a few of my personal favourites to share.  here are another two i love...if you look closely, the ballerinas even have tutus!

can't get enough? there's more cuteness here ;)

an afternoon with play-doh!

i wrote this post in february but couldn't upload the pics at that time so i saved it as a draft. it completely slipped my mind until yesterday, when ilaika asked for her play-doh...

....d'oh!

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after writing the previous post on my countdown to ilaika's 3rd birthday, i was reminded of the many lovely presents she received from our family & friends for her 2nd birthday. i wanted her to appreciate each and every one, so i didn't allow her to play with them all at once...

hence, every few weekends for the past few months, she's been allowed one new gift. there were a few however, which i kept aside as i felt she was still too young to play with them. some of these were play-doh sets. i think she had three in total!

as a child, i loved playing with plasticine and play-doh but now that i've a child of my own, i dread the mess it would leave behind! nevertheless, i reminded myself today that i shouldn't let this selfishness deny her of some play-doh fun.

much to her delight, i finally opened the huge set that she's been eyeing since her 2nd birthday...

...i was amazed at how complete the set was...

...i don't recall having these fancy schmancy "play-doh gadgets" when i was growing up!

...ta-daaa! ice-cream for mummy, apparently...

...from ice-cream to brolly...

...hard at work...

...i made her scrape every lil bit out ;p

...the lil artist contemplating what to do next...

i'm glad i took the play-doh out for ilaika to play with cos she loves it SO much. now, if only i can figure out how too keep all the different colours apart....

princess katrina's 6th birthday...

i've just completed making these simple cupcakes and toppers for a friend's daughter...her theme was disney princesses - i matched these with her name in the walt disney font and her age in a plain font. i really like fuschia pink and bright orange. honestly, orange isn't usually a colour of my choice but together, they make such a good combination.

the pics above were taken at night so the lighting's pretty bad. i couldn't quite fix them using photobucket but i played around with other effects that are kinda cool...

- pop art -

- invert -

- cartoon -

- fresco -

- colour sketch -

 

sorry to bore you with the same pics over and over again but i'm obviously very easily amused! hopefully you'll find these as fascinating as i do ;p

pink and yellow, anyone...?

following my previous post on a rubber duckie party, i realised that most rubber duckie parties tend to be yellow and blue, most likely due to the water element that comes with rubber duckies. well, my friend wants to incorporate pink into the colour palette for her lil girl's first birthday.

so yours truly needed inspiration and went googling again ;) here are some ideas we could play with...

fuschia & yellow spring party 

- as compiled by the party dress -

click here for credits and more info

wouldn't this fuschia and yellow set up be great? just imagine combining these bits of fuschia and yellow with cheerful rubber duckies!

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pretty in pink party

- by stem parties -

i also found this pink 80's-style* baby shower inspired by the movie pretty in pink. it's the first duckie party i've come across to have pink as part of the colour theme and it was pretty!

* going a wee bit off track  now but check out those pink cassettes - perfect for an 80's party!

 

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paper rosettes

- by creature comforts -

aren't these paper rosettes so pretty? the pic above was a simple diy project by creature comforts for a circus party. if you'd like to try it out, you can use this tutorial by martha stewart.

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whilst you're at martha stewart's site, also look up this tutorial for tissue pompoms...

these yellow and pink pom poms could represent bath sponges!

i wanted to do these for ilaika's butterfly party just because they're oh-so-pretty but i already had so many other lovely ideas that i really didn't have enough time to put these together. oh well, hopefully i'll get to make them at her next party!

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just imagine all these pretty pink elements put together with yellow rubber duckies.....sweet rubber duck!

a floral cupcake bouquet...

mother's day is a month and a few days away. it's time to start planning what to bake!

last year, i tried being a lil bit adventurous and played around with candy melts. inspired by bakerella, i went on a shopping spree but could only find the wilton candy melts here in kl. unfortunately, those didn't taste too good. as it turns out, candy melts are not entirely easy to work with either. i have a feeling it's due to our hot and humid malaysian weather :(

i followed bakerella's instructions carefully right down to the exact colours (cos they were so pretty) and i even used the microwaveable bottles as she did. it initially seemed so simple but i found it tough getting the candy to melt to the desired consistency. then the ones that did set, started melting as soon as i took them out of the freezer. i had soooo many broken hearts (!) and flowers but i managed to salvage a few and thankfully, they survived the deliveries to nearby friends and relatives.

here are some pictures captured by nurul, my sister-in-law...i cropped these for a close-up of the candy melts so do click here for the original pics and more.

mine aren't as perfect as bakerella's but i do think this floral cupcake bouquet turned out pretty adorable ;)

rubber duckie, anyone...?

rubber duckie, you're the one,

you make bathtime lots of fun,

rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you;

woo woo be doo

rubber duckie, joy of joys,

when i squeeze you, you make noise!

rubber duckie, you're my very best friend, it's true!

doo doo doo doo, doo doo

i love this sesame street song...don't you? i've been humming it over and over again since i had a conversation with my friend regarding her daughter's first birthday...

she originally planned on a mermaid swimming party but wasn't too sure if it'd be suitable especially since her daughter doesn't even know what a mermaid is...i jumped at the opportunity to plan/propose yet another party  ;)

i know it's been done to death as a theme for baby showers but i think a 1st rubber duckie birthday. would be so fun! if i hadn't done bears & blocks for ilaika's first, i would have gone with ducks. alas, a kid can only have one first birthday so i had to kiv that theme. but don't you think it's a great  idea? at that age, the child will most likely recognise a  yellow rubber duck and since he/she can't do much else yet, a mini wading pool filled with ducks would make an excellent party activity!

here are a few rubber duckie parties i love...

bubbly ducky brunch

- by hostess with the mostess -

this bubbly ducky brunch was gorgeous...from the colour-coordinated plates and placemats and the bubbles in the cutlery to the table centrepiece with the ducks and those blue and yellow m&m's (in the right pic just above this para).

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quack quack little duck

- by alannah rose -

this birthday party for ella looked so doubly duckly fun! the bright colour palette of yellow and red made a cheerful impact on the overall decor. i especially love the cupcake wrap and flag toppers in the top collage as well as the duckie twist to two classic party games (in the middle collage) - pin the beak on the duckie and the duckie pinnata! 

if you love this theme and would like to get your hands on the invites, (as below) visit the alannah rose wesbite (or click here) to order.

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here are other great ideas to consider..

cake & candles

how adorably cute is this? a few cupcakes and duckie candles put together to make a bubbly bath for the duckies!

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duckie party packs

- by my party file -

a great idea to cut a duck out on an otherwise plain paper bag. fill it up with sweets and colourful goodies to tempt the kids!

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duckie soap dish

- by my party file -

another great themed idea is to get soap boxes and fill them up with sweets and candies or even crayons etc. i'm thinking it'd also be great to fill them up with bubble bath salts or capsules but just make sure you label and seal them carefully, just in case the kids think they're sweet stuff to munch on!

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oooo...can you tell? i'm really looking forward to planning this party!

girls just wanna have fun...

i find that when something edible looks too realistic, i am rather hesitant to eat it. so when it comes to icing biscuits without my standard sugar sheets, my style of icing is minimal and somewhat whimsical ;)

rather than focus on making them look as realistically close to the real thing, i prefer to enhance a particular shape with lines, dots and minimal accents. at a glance, you can still tell what they're supposed to be but they also look fanciful & simply playful.

therefore, when an ex-school mate presented the opportunity to come up with a biscuit set for her best mate janice, i was really excited. she was really cool too cos she let me have free rein over the biscuits, as long as they were purple and red. these were janice's fav colours. i also found out that janice, like most girls our age, loves to shop, party and have a good time. i immediately thought, "girls just wanna have fun"...

here's what i delivered: a  birthday cake, shoes, handbags, bikini top & hot pants, champagne and hearts...all edible of course ;)

i packed and sealed all of these individually in mini plastic bags (so they'd stay fresh longer) and popped them all in a tin. since the tin itself was very plain, i tied an XXL bollie with a purple ribbon on the top and stuck a heart biscuit there too...

it was only after taking this pic that i realised these two look like wedding favors!

i had actually gone overboard cos we originally decided on six to eight biscuits but i ended up with fifteen! i was having so much fun that i even continued with other colours and designs (like the ones below) as freebies for my other orders ;)

sorry about the blurry pics. my camera battery was low after i took the first pic above so i had to resort to my iphone for the rest!

alice tea party, anyone...?

a few weeks ago, we took ilaika to watch alice in wonderland. it was her first trip to the movies and boy, did she love it! 

with all the hype on alice these days, i really wish i could have a whimsical tea party for ilaika but since her birthday is way over and i'm still recovering from the party havoc (!) i'll have to settle with  just admiring these lovely parties and inspirations...

alice in wonderland 

- as hosted & captured by gwendolyn grace photography -

gwendolyn used bright and fun colours for her party decor and they came together so well. i just love this element of arts & craft! they decorated their first initials - perfect for a smaller group of young girls. and it makes a great gift to take home.

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annabelle in wonderland!

- as captured by jessica claire -

check out the special chairs for the three birthday girls...this party was so beautifully decorated and i bet the kids had so much fun - there was a petting zoo AND alice herself to help with the face-painting!

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alice in wonderland tea party

- as captured by loreta -

simple ideas on how to decorate the table with the antique looking clock and cards scattered on the table. oh also equally simple idea but oh-so-pretty cupcake sprinkles...

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alice in wonderlandia

- as featured by hostess with the mostess and organised by lollipop events & designs -

everything about this party is gorgeous and perfect..from the tablecloth to the chair covers (which are actually aprons! click here for the diy) and from the flowers to the tea & saucer set and the whimsical stacked cups! the champagne bottles in the watering cans are a great idea too but perhaps for kids, we ought to replace the bubbly with bubbles ;)

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party inspiration : alice in wonderland tea party

- as compiled by becca of birthday girl blog -

becca puts together lovely inspiration boards for all sorts of parties and this is one  of the many that i really love. visit her blog for more party inspiration and some tips on putting this whimsical party together.

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message-in-a-cookie cutters

- product by williams-sonoma -

imagine having these coloured biscuits with  E A T  M E  on them! i can't wait to get my hands on these cutters. i just got an email from them saying they're "no longer available" :( but am keeping my fingers crossed til they stock up on these cute lil things! in the meantime, i've got some bollipops leftover from my latest order of vespa goodies so i'll play around with these to soothe my  (ahem) "creative soul" ;p more to come soon...

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i'm late - resin alice in wonderland necklace

- handmade by stoopidgerl -

this handmade pendant would make a cool party pack item for the girls to take home...i know ilaika would SO love this!

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alice in wonderland party collection

- as found on polyvore & compiled by rayban love, portia & julieta  -

oh i love these polyvores! it just proves how this theme is so easy to work with - there's so much you can do and you can hardly ever go wrong cos in a quirky & whimsical way, nothing really matches yet everything does match ;)