Back from the 2012 Wilton Tent Sale

Some friends and I hit the Wilton Tent Sale on Sunday.  We got there in the late afternoon and were pleased to find plenty of parking and shopping carts, and not a large crowd. Unfortunately, many of the cookware bins were empty, but that's a gamble we took by going at the end of the day rather than at the beginning.

As I've stated before, each year the merchandise changes. This year, the sale was heavy on frosting and fondant stuff.  There were some crafts kits, scrapbooking materials and a bit of Copco brand stuff, but the majority of the sale offerings were Wilton.  Here's the small stretch of sale dedicated to Martha Stewart Crafts:

And here's what I bought:

For the most part, I stuck to my list. Last year I purchased a Copco knife and I really like it, so picking up another of the same brand was a no-brainer. 

I replenished my supply of candy melts:

And I had a few smaller purchases:

Though I had a lot of pirate-themed stuff on my list for Little Guy's fifth birthday party, all I could find were these fun picks. Cute, but not the boatload of pirate-themed stuff I was hoping for.

The only deviation from my list is this super-fun Linzer Cutter.  I've always wanted to try linzer cookies, and this kit makes it look easy:

It comes with seven designs for the hole in the top cookie. Fun!

The 2012 Wilton Tent Sale is going on now through June 19.  If you are in the area and into parties, cakes, cookies and candy, you'll want to check it out.  Happy shopping!

Wilton Tent Sale 2012

This year's Wilton Tent Sale starts in one week. As my regular readers know, this event is like a mini-version of Christmas for me.   I just can't wait to get my hands on all that great, discounted cake/candy/crafting stuff!

For those not familiar with the company, Wilton is famous for their cake-decorating and candy-making supplies.  But did you also know they are the makers of all things Copco, the Mario Batali Italian Kitchen line, EK Success products and....MARTHA STEWART CRAFTS?!!!

And during their once-a-year Tent Sale in Woodridge, Illinois, many of the items they make are sold at a substantial discount.  While the selection varies from year to year (some years there have been more craft items, some years it's more about the cake decorating supplies), all items are 40-75% off regular retail prices. 

Here's what I bought in:  2011, 2010 and 2009.  Substantial hauls, each and every one! This year, I'm on the hunt for all things pirate, since that will be the theme for Little Guy's 5th birthday.  These pirate cupcake liners and candy picks are on my "must have" list:

The Tent Sale runs from June 1-19.  On June 1, the sale is open 1-8pm.  After that, it is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm.  Read all about the Tent Sale here.

My plan is to be there on June 3.  See you there!

Spooky!

My house is almost entirely decorated for Halloween. My "Girls Night Out" painting is over the mantel along with all sorts of witchiness.

I suspended my straw witch just under the mantel with some sewing thread and sticky hooks. 

New to the spooky setting this year are mice and raven silhouettes from Martha Stewart Crafts. 

The mice are running up and down the hallway and partially up the stairs. The ravens are gathered in the dining room.

My fun witch silhouette is in an upstairs bedroom. She's also from the Martha Stewart Crafts line. I scored all three silhouette packages at this year's Wilton tent sale.

 From the outside you can see the witch, the bats and all the lights.  I am loving how the decorations turned out this year!  Take a look on facebook to see the full show.

I have just one more project for the outside, and if all goes well this weekend I'll share it with you on Monday.  Happy decorating, and have a great weekend!



October BUNCO

I'm in a fun BUNCO club that meets once a month. We each take turns hosting, and I leapt at the chance to host our October event.  Everyone came over last Friday, and we had a great time.  Here are some pictures from my Halloween BUNCO:

I'm not a big wine drinker, so I'm always happy when my wine glasses are used.

I borrowed this awesome beverage dispenser and candy dish from a neighbor.  The set is from Pottery Barn.

Since desserts are my thing, that's what I focused on with broken glass cupcakes, caramel surprise cookies and candy-covered pretzels. 

The pretzels were made using Wilton's skeleton fingers and witch fingers candy molds.  I just love these things!

The utensil/napkin caddy is from my friend Shannon (Hi, Shannon!) and all the party ware is stuff I picked up last year on clearance after Halloween.  I know lots of people use coordinated plates/napkins/cupcake toppers/everything for a party, and I really like that look, but that's just not in my budget.  My bottom line is that if the plates/utensils/etc. are clean enough to eat off of, then we're good to go!

Neighbor and BUNCO player Jenn brought these adorable hot dog mummies.  This is adorable!  I've seen these in magazines before, but I've never attempted to make them myself.  They were cute and tasty!  The mummy wrapping is cut-up crescent roll dough--these would be a real treat for the kids in your life for Halloween.  I know they were a treat for me!

I was so happy to host October BUNCO. I haven't hosted a Halloween party in years, so it was great to finally have one and be able to show off my haunted house for friends.  Now I'm definitely in the holiday spirit.

Wilton Tent Sale 2011

Yes, it's that time of year again: the annual Wilton tent sale!  The sale opened last Friday and will continue through June 21. If you are in the area and into baking/cake decorating, then you have to attend the sale. 

Note to newbies:  Go as soon as possible, and go at lunchtime if you are going on a weekend, or mid-morning if you attend during a weekday. Bring water to drink (they have some for sale if you forget) and wear comfortable shoes and clothes--it gets really hot in that tent!

I got quite a bit at this year's sale:

I am proud to say I can justify ALL of my baking purchases, even my new tart/quiche pan.  While I've never made a tart, I'm pretty sure it was because I didn't have the proper pan.  And now that I do, I see a lot of tarts in my future!  Tarts galore!  I am especially thrilled with my two non-stick bread pans, which I really needed considering I bake bread almost every week. I've used them already and the bread slid right out.  With these, I see a lot more bread baking in my future as well.

I did make a list before I hit the sale, and I'm happy to report I got everything on it.  Of course, I did get a few things not on my list, like this pearl dust.  Isn't it awesome?  I've always wanted to try this stuff, and now I can!  For the record, everything I bought was half off retail, and that's my minimum for shopping at the sale. 

Note for newbies:  If it's less than half off, don't buy it, as you can do just as well or better with a coupon to Michael's, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby. 

I did get a little crazy with the cupcake liners.  The Elmo ones are for Little Miss's 2nd birthday next February, and the Spiderman liners are for a yet-to-be-determined birthday for the Little Guy.  I'm trying to hold off on the Spiderman theme for another year, but I bought the liners now as there's no guarantee they will be in next year's tent sale. 

Note to newbies: the merchandise changes from year to year. Sometimes there's more baking stuff, and other times there's lots of scrapbooking materials.  It can be a real toss-up.

Aren't these mini-cupcake liners adorable?  I have no idea what I'm going to use them for, but I'm sure I'll come up with something!

While they didn't have many Martha Stewart Craft items, the Wilton tent sale did feature some great Halloween finds.

The crow and rat silhouettes were only $2.00 each, and the witch window cling was $5.00. Score!

I think she'll go in my living room window this year, right next to the bat and spider silhouettes in the foyer. 

Are you headed to the tent sale?  If so, let me know how it goes!  Happy shopping!

Welcome back basket

Good friends and neighbors Yogita and Adithi are returning home from a very long trip today.  Yogita is my closest friend in this neighborhood, and Adithi is a great playmate to the Little Guy so we are very happy to have them back.  To welcome them home, I made a fun little St. Patrick's basket for them.

On top is a loaf of fresh-out-of-my-oven white bread. Yum!

Below that is a round of Irish soda bread. It is St. Patrick's Day, after all!

I have some treat in there for Adithi: a writing pad, fun spring-themed pencils and sunglasses.  I put bath gel and lotion in there for Yogita.  After a 24 hour trip, I'm guessing she'll need some pampering.  I know I would!

To expand on the St. Patrick's Day theme, I got out my Wilton candy molds and made some shamrock pops.  The dark chocolate (behind the green) is mint-flavored.  Mmmmmm...mint.

These chocolate covered pretzels are hard to make out, but the designs are shamrocks and top hats.  You can see the pretzel mold here. 

These are just fun little candy cups I made with the remaining chocolate. This way, there's plenty of chocolate for everyone! Which is also something one would need after a 24 hour trip.  I know I would.

Welcome back, Yogita and Adithi!  And happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

Caketown!

So, if you recall from yesterday's post, this is the cake I was trying to do for my Little Guy's third birthday:

And this is what I ended up with:

My Little Guy, who had seen the picture of what the cake was supposed to look like, was still thrilled with this one.

"What do you think of the cake?" I asked him.

"It's CAKETOWN, Mommy!" was his enthusiastic response.

Caketown? Yeah, I'll take that. :)

Cake calamity

For the Little Guy's first birthday party, I did a freestyle cake using no pictures, no patterns...I relied just on my imagination. You can see it here.

For the next party, I had found an awesome cake in the 2007 Wilton Yearbook that I had to make. With the Little Guy's love for vehicles and the mythical "downtown," I knew this cake would be perfect:

Isn't it awesome?! Now, let's think realistically about this...what are the odds that I could make something that even resembled this? Um, since I am not a professional baker or cake decorator, nor did I even read the directions on how to make the cake until the day of the party, the odds were quite slim. However, the reality of the situation didn't hit me until an hour before the party when I started to put the cookies on...but I digress. Here's the process:

I baked a cake. I don't own a round graduated cake pan set, so I used a square set. How different could that be? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggghhhhhhhhht.

Then I frosted the cake. There were crumbs everywhere! Gah! No worries, I thought, the cookies will completely cover up the lousy icing job. Riiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhht.

I spent days making, baking and decorating the cookies. And it never occured to me that I should measure to account for scale/size in regards to the cake. Because that won't matter, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggghhhht.

Just doing the details on the cars, trucks, trains and planes took forever. It was at this point that I started to seriously question my judgement skills in picking this cake design to do. But it would still turn out fine, right?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhht.

I'll show you the finished product tomorrow.

Pretzel favors

Several weeks ago I again made favors for a work function.  Last year, I made "thank you" cookies. This year, because it was too hot to turn on the oven, I made chocolate-covered pretzels. 

The process is easy:  melt the chocolate, dip the pretzels, and let it set/cool on waxed paper. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and use disposable icing bags for easy clean-up.

The pretzels can be covered in nuts, sprinkles, candy, whatever you want, but I choose to drizzle white chocolate over the regular chocolate.  Note: I used Wilton candy melts  and Snyder pretzel rods.

Once the chocolate is completely hardened, the pretzels were wrapped individually.  Wilton sells the perfect size bags for these, but you can also find them elsewhere online.

I created over 50 pretzel favors in the course of one day.  This was a cinch.  Consider this project the next time you need treats in the middle of summer and it's too hot to turn on the oven.