DIY Fondant Cake Decorating Kits by Ella Vanilla {Product Feature}

It's hard to believe, but I finally completed a personal goal: learning how to decorate a cake with fondant.

Here's a hint: I didn't take a class. I did it all at home (the cold winter months seem like the perfect time to try it!), and the end result was loved by all at our little Super Bowl gathering last night!!!

 

It was with the tremendous help of a DIY fondant cake decorating kit from Ella Vanilla that I was able to take my cake decorating experience (minimal) to a new level.

 

I had never heard of Ella Vanilla Cake Decorating Kits until late last summer when the lovely creator Noelle reached out and introduced herself. I am so glad she did--and in addition, I am so grateful she gave me a lovely opportunity to select a kit of my choice and try it out!

 

Months later, I set aside a wintery weekend in New England to create my cake. It got postponed due to illness, schedule conflicts, holiday gatherings--but that was one of the best parts. I could choose when to do the kit when it worked best for me and my family. I LOVE that.

 I opened that signature yellow and white box (which stores not only the kit, but also is used to transport your cake to your event--brilliant!!!), and found everything I needed to decorate the cake, as well as in-depth directions.

 

 

There are SO MANY designs to choose from!!!

Love this wedding one...

 There are many holiday ones as well, and this garden cake would be perfect for my mom!!!

 I opted for the rose petal cake kit. I figured it would be one of the easiest to learn with, and I could select my own color (pink, surprised?) which I loved.

After baking, cooling, leveling, icing and chilling the cake, I was ready to decorate! I followed the FABULOUS instructions in the kit, carefully coloring my fondant. Then, I rolled out my cake covering fondant, covered and smoothed the cake, and started with the center rose!

After finishing that first rose, I worked my way down the cake adding each and every petal. The directions were easy to follow, and the amount of fondant I had in each color was perfect.

It was SUCH a joy to see it all come together. And miraculously it looked lovely.

Note: I personally recommend some practice with the leveling process before working with your first kit--I accidently used 9" instead of 8" cake pans (even though 8" paper pans were included in the kit!!!)--first fail--then leveled the cakes so crooked, the cake looked like it was sunken on one side and center.

What you don't see, thanks to the rose petal design: the wavy uneven cake. The stretches and tear in the covering layer of fondant. Nope, I am not perfect at this, not by a long shot. Yet, miraculously, the cake came out looking lovely, and no one knew the better.

This was a fun, creative experience. I could see an Ella Vanilla Cake Decorating Kit party for a Bachelorette Party, Girls Night Out, Birthday Party...I also think these cake kits would be wonderful gifts for daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts...

If you want to try Ella Vanilla Cake Decorating Kits for yourself, or to treat someone to, Noelle is offering an exclusive discount code LANDERS15 for 15% off kits through February 9th!!! SHOP HERE.

Thank you so much Noelle for giving me this incredible opportunity to learn and expand my creative horizons.

Am I now a professional cake decorator? No!!!Fondant expert? Absolutely not! But did I learn a great deal? Yes. Do I have more confidence in how to work with fondant? Of course!

This is a sponsored post, however all opinions are very much my own.

Found Object Sale at One Kings Lane {Favorite Deals & Steals}

I am on a design kick these days as we decorate our new home. Looking forward to sharing our newly decorating rooms with you throughout the year!

As I hunt for the perfect goodies to add style to our home, I enjoy popping over to One Kings Lane. 

Tonight I came across these beauties from Found Object, would LOVE to style a party around these glasses!

In addition, I saw this fabulous gold stripe table runner by Hester & Cook Design Group Inc, a perfect match with the glasses!

You can find both of these items in the "Celebrate Her" collection on One Kings Lane.

If you haven't heard of One Kings Lane, please feel free to accept my invitation to join HERE. Please note the referral benefits on the One Kings Lane site.

My apologies in advance as I have really enjoyed doing some online window shopping lately, and get excited to share!!!

Joyfolie {BIG SALE} on Zulily

HUGE Joyfolie sale on Zulily started today. WOW!

                                                {all images on Zulily for the Joyfolie sale}



I know I have been very sporadic with my blog posts lately. Today I was inspired to share these beautiful products that inspire me tremendously (in awe of Joyfolie's designs and sheer talent) as well as a discount shopping site I have greatly enjoyed shopping with).

I always swoon over the beautiful shoes, accessories and clothing from the spectacular brand Joyfolie. If these gorgeous goodies had been around when I was little, I would have coveted any and all of them.

                                         {all images from Joyfolie sale on Zulily}



If you haven't joined Zulily yet, please feel free to accept my invitation and SHOP NOW!  {Please read all details on the Zulily regarding sign up bonuses received for referring new customers}.

The TomKat Studio 2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Toddler Gift Ideas

I am finding this year is extra magical, celebrating Christmas with a 2 year old. And shopping for my active toddler has never been more fun!

I had an absolute ball gathering my top toddler gift ideas for my dear friend Kim of The TomKat Studio's 2013 Gift Guide. Take a peek here...

This year Kim has an AMAZING list of contributors, and more free printable gift tags than you could imagine, all from a wonderful eclectic group of designers!

If that isn't enough, there are some fabulous recipes to try, and LOTS of gift ideas for everyone on your list.

Truly honored to continue to be a part of this online publication. Check it out HERE.

Enjoy!!!

Pastel Christmas For Layla Grayce

It is with great joy that I share with you the Pastel Christmas Party for my December "Celebrate With Kate" post for the most fabulous Layla Grayce.

Here is just a little peek, please visit Layla Grayce's Backroom Blog HERE to see all the eye candy and inspiration!

A huge thank you to each and every designer, artist, vendor and baker for your gorgeous contributions to this shoot! Vendor list found on Layla Grayce here.

And a tremendous thank you to Layla Grayce for this great honor and privilege!!!

Minted Discount & Holiday Card Feature

I did not think it was possible for Minted to top the holiday cards they created for me last year. Somehow, they did!!!


This year I decided to go with their Holiday MiniBooks TM  for our family Christmas cards. Oh, I am completely smitten. This seven page "booklet" as they call it, is filled with text and photos, hand-grommeted for a perfect finish.

                         Family Photograph {printed on cover of card} taken by Liza Voll


I found this style card perfect for a combo "New Address" and Christmas card, which is exactly what I was looking for. You also know from my blog posts that I enjoy writing, a LOT. The Holiday MiniBookTM gave me the chance to write three paragraphs, each to their own page, sharing everything I wanted to with our family and friends. I also was able to share 4 photos, thus no hard time deciding which photo to select this year!

One thing I did have trouble with was selecting a Holiday MiniBookTM design. There were just too many fabulous ones to choose from. SO, I decided to order not one but TWO designs!!! The reason this was even an option for me, was that Minted allowed me to order in small increments (15 the minimum, which was just the right amount for my second design).

The heavy cardstock and crisp print quality thrill me. With a passion for paper and years of experience in the high-end stationery industry, I have seen and felt a lot of paper, and a lot of holiday cards. These cards are certainly among the best, and recipients of the cards I sent last year went out of their way to tell me so.

The first design I chose was a classic, Warm Wishes, which worked beautifully with our family photo by Liza Voll Photography, featured on its cover.


             Family Photograph Printed on card cover by Liza Voll

I loved how we could customize the text on the cover with "Our New Home"!!! The second page featured one of my favorite photos of Noah, also by the incredible Liza of Liza Voll Photography.

                                      
                                                    Photograph of Noah by Liza Voll



The second design I chose was "Merry Bright Cheer" in non-traditional green and yellow. I was drawn to all details of this card, and the "preppy" stripes sealed the deal for me with this one.

I chose to go with a sepia-tone for all photos in this card, as it coordinated and didn't compete with the colors of the design. Perfect!

So excited to put these in the mail this week. All-time record for me, getting out cards out by Thanksgiving!!!

Ending today, Minted is offering a 20% discount on holiday cards orders of $150 or more, and 15% orders of $100 or more!!! Use code BFHOL13.

This is a sponsored post, and product and/or payment may have been provided in trade for post. However, I carefully chose to promote this product as I have seen it, felt it, and have been absolutely thrilled with it. All opinions in this post are my very own.

Minted Personalized Wrapping Paper & Party Products

Minted's new line of personalized wrapping paper is absolutely fabulous!!! I know, because I have felt it, wrapped with it and enjoyed it first-hand. And I am rather picky with my paper products, so I do not say something like this freely.

As you may know, I have had years of experience in the high-end stationery industry. I also have a passion for paper. Personalized gift wrap is no exception.

When Minted reached out to me sharing this exciting new product line they just launched, I was tickled pink to try it! And I must say, it did not disappoint.

Minted's personalized gift wrap is of the finest quality. It is a substantial weight, great thickness, smooth, not too glossy and not too flat, and print quality is outstanding.

They offer both personalized wrap with photos and text, as well as personalized wrap with their signature designs and customized text or monograms.

I ordered the "On The Grid" photo wrap, and loved how many photos I could upload, and text personalized in multiple locations.

I will be honest--I was worried about whether or not the single sheets would be large enough--and I was pleasantly surprised to learn the sheets are more than enough for most packages I needed to wrap.

 Only one large box required the use of more than one sheet.

This photo wrap is so adorable, I cannot wait to use it for our Christmas gifts this year!

I just had to get some of the coordinating personalized "On The Grid" photo gift tags to match.

 The tags are adorable not only with the wrap, but also on plain white packages as well.

Minted has a beautiful non-personalized gift wrap called "Hand Drawn Herringbone" that matches this collection of wrap perfectly.

It is really stunning, especially when you wrap a bundle of gifts together.

I decided to go with the "Let it Snow" personalized photo gift tags to coordinate with the "Hand Drawn Herringbone" wrapping paper, and it matched perfectly!

These personalized photo gift tags were substantial in size and I loved how I was able to put a different photo on the back. They were a nice weight of paper, I tried capturing the thickness for you in the picture below.

In addition to the photo wrap, I was really excited to try the "Silver and Gold" personalized wrap with custom printed text.

WOW. It is gorgeous.

This wrap coordinates beautifully with some of Minted's Holiday Party Décor products. YES! They have party products!!!

I enjoyed the coordinating "Silver and Gold" scalloped stickers to adorn plain white packages.

These stickers would be perfect for white or kraft boxes full of homemade cookies, too!

In addition, I tried the "Silver and Gold" party circle garland. It matches PERFECTLY with the wrap! I actually used one of the circles as a gift tag for a larger package!

I love their holiday party collections, and look forward to using more of these products soon-I will be sure to report back to you about it!

Please note: I styled and edited these photos. Colors may vary slightly from how they appear due to editing. If you want to make sure you see a highly accurate representation of the colors the products, please refer to the links throughout the post which will show you Minted's images. I found them to be incredibly accurate!

This is a sponsored post. Product or compensation may have been provided in trade for this post. However, all opinions in this post are my own. I chose to promote this product and share my honest review because I have tried the products firsthand and loved them.