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!

Barn cake lessons

As you know, each kid of mine gets three parties to accommodate three sides of the family.  Three parties equals three cakes.  Three cakes equals three times the mixing, baking and decorating.  Three times the mixing, baking and decorating equals me being really, really tired of cake!

Here's the cake for party #1:

It took two batches of chocolate cake to make this: the sheet cake underneath, and then three small cakes to make the barn. It was a ridiculous amount of cake, and far too much for 20 guests to eat.

I learned my lesson, though, and completely changed it up for party #2.  Instead of doing a two-batch cake, I made on sheet cake with the Wilton Rocking Horse cake pan. I've had this pan for years, but this was the first time I've ever used it.  Because the cake was made from scratch, it started falling apart when I was decorating which left a lot of crumbs in the frosting.  Not cool!  So while this is not the nicest cake I've made, it certainly was tasty.  And despite the crumbs in the frosting, all the kids really seemed to like it.

The cake for party #3 was the simplest and easiest. It took only one batch of cake batter to make this barn, and I used a Big Top Cupcake Mold to get it done. This set of two pans makes a good barn, and this was by far the easiest cake to make/decorate. 

I'm happy about that, because it means that I learned some valuable lessons from cake #1 and applied them to subsequent cakes and parties. Lessons such as 20 PEOPLE WILL NOT EAT THE EQUIVALENT OF TWO SHEETS CAKES AT MY DAUGHTER'S PARTY, ESPECIALLY IF THEY FIRST ATE A FULL MEAL AND APPETIZERS. 

And: party guests certainly won't fill up on cake when there are five other desserts being offered.

And one more lesson:  I am really, really tired of cake.

Bring on the ice cream!

Farm fresh desserts

After four years and approximately fourteen kids' birthday parties, I finally got around to making a fun and pretty backdrop for the dessert table.

Handy Freddy hung two dowel rods from the ceiling. One was draped in crepe paper streamers, and the other held the rooster, pig and duck face balloons.  The balloons, by the way, are just regular old latex balloons with faces drawn on them. Oriental Trading sells stickers that make the faces, but quite frankly I didn't want to spend the money. I drew the faces on with permanent marker instead.

Just like the appetizer and main course menus, I made one menu for the dessert table rather than a half-dozen individual labels. 

Here are my homestead cookies:

I coated some pretzel rods in Wilton candy melts to make "cow tails" and displayed them in Golden Harvest mason jars.

I attempted to make Bakerella's cake balls, and then attempted to make them look like eggs.  It didn't work, but it was cute and tasty, and that's really all that matters.  Cake balls baffle me. I've tried to make them twice now and I always have a problem getting the consistency just right so that they don't fall apart in the candy coating.  I'll keep trying, though!

Using the twisted krispie recipe, I tried to cut out the treats in the shape of pigs. I had a hard time getting the cutter through the mixture, though, so I abandoned that idea early on and just cut the treats into squares.  See the little pink krispie pig at the top? He's the only one that got made. Sniffle.

And then there were Martha's corn-on-the-cob cupcakes.

Tomorrow, I'll show you the cakes.  Yes, 'cakes' is plural.  Three birthday parties equals three different cakes, though that was the only part of the dessert table that changed.  All the other farm fresh treats stayed the same...newly made for each party of course, but the same in recipe and concept.

More farm birthday fun

Here are a few more fun details from Little Miss' "Down on the Farm" birthday party!

For an activity, the kids planted their very own heirloom variety vegetables.  I had ordered seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange, and the little party animals (see what I did there?!) planted their choice of Paris Market Carrot, King of the North Pepper, Blondkopfchen Tomato and De Cicco Broccoli.  Fun!

Even with our ridiculously mild winter, it was still too cold in February to make the kids go outside to handle the dirt. Instead, we did this activity inside.  I put on my brave face, covered the kitchen table with a plastic tablecloth, and set out the potting soil, plastic cups and measuring cups.  And hoped for the best.

And I shouldn't have worried. Aside from a few small spills, the kids did a fine job of filling their cups and planting the seeds.  It helped that all the adults were willing to assist the little ones, and a few adults even planted their own vegetables.  The mess was rolled up into the tablecloth and taken away so that folks could eat there when dinner was ready. 

A big trend with parties (see anything featured on Amy Atlas) are individual labels naming each drink, appetizer, dessert, etc. I like the look but I simply don't have the kind of time or patience necessary to pull it off.  Instead, I made general menus for the appetizers, meal and desserts using clip art I found on Microsoft Publisher.  I printed the menus on white card stock and displayed them in clear acrylic photo frames. Easy!

I didn't take any pictures of the main courses--at that point, the kitchen was too active and getting photos of the food would have been impossible--but here is what I served:

Tomorrow, I'll share the dessert table with you. Y'all come back, hear? 

LOL. I just love imaginary farm-speak.

Down on the farm

Little Miss' farm-themed second birthday party was a hoot. If the barn door invitations didn't let guests know what they were in for, then the kid-size barn and animatronic pony in our living room certainly did. Howdy!

My regular blog readers will be able to correctly identify this as a Handy Freddy creation.  The large part of the barn is actually a facade attached to the television puppet theater, while the door and chicken coop are mostly free-standing structures. It's all made out of cardboard, and the only costs were for the red spray paint and some red duck tape. Thanks, Freddy!

My Big Martha handled a lot of the country-farm-themed decorations, including everything on the mantle. Folks were impressed with her collection of antique tins...my only contribution was the Clabber Girl baking powder container, which is not an antique and came right out of my pantry.  That's proof that I made a really good decision in handing off a large part of the decorating to my mom.

My Big Martha took the kids' farm toys and made a super cute display on the dining room table.  See the farm table runner underneath the toys? Yep, that's all My Big Martha.  Thanks, Mom!

Other small farm scenes were scattered throughout the house, including this tractor that I put to work next to the punch bowl. It held the bottle opener and permanent markers so that guests could write their names on the plastic cups.  How's that for fancy, y'all?

With the barn, mantel decoration, tablescapes and more, I didn't put up a lot of streamers or other typical party decorations.  The decorations were assembled from things we already had: farm toys, my mom's country-style decorations, a ton of cardboard in the basement, etc.  By using what was available to me, and with the hard work of Handy Freddy and My Big Martha, the decorations were big on country farm style and extremely small in terms of cost.  Which is exactly how I like to party. Thanks, y'all!

Martha Monday--Corn on the cob cupcakes

Months ago, I came across these charming corn-on-the-cob cupcakes on Martha Stewart and immediately pinned them to my Barnyard Party board where I was gathering inspiration and ideas for Little Miss' second birthday.

Since then, it has become one of my most repinned and 'liked' items on Pinterest.  Who knew that cupcakes candied up to look like corn on the cob would be so popular?! Because they were a hit on Pinterest I knew they'd be a hit at Little Miss' party, and I just had to make them.

These may look complicated, but honestly the hardest part was finding a store nearby that sells jelly beans in bulk by color (at Woodman's, for those in the Fox Valley who need to know!).   The corn kernels are various shades/flavors of Jelly Belly's; I believe I used lemon, pineapple, cream soda and pina colada.  The pat of butter is a yellow/lemon Starburst candy, and the pepper is black sanding sugar.

Isn't that fun?  The cupcakes were a real hit.  All this week I'll feature details from our "Down on the Farm" themed birthday party for Little Miss.  Happy Monday!

Cards and kids

I've been on a craft kick lately, and I'm trying to get my kids into the act.  Fortunately, they are happy to color, paint and draw, which makes for some fun art projects. 

We did some hand print cards for Valentine's Day:

The thumbs, fingers and sides of the palms are supposed to form the shape of a heart. We didn't quite get there, but that's okay because my kids had a lot of fun making these cards, and that's really all that matters.

Notice the entire roll of paper towels in the background. Just in case!

I like to buy plain white 5x7 cards/envelopes in 25- and 50-packs from JoAnn's and Michael's.  They make perfect canvasses for send-able artwork.

Here, Little Miss made a birthday card for the Big Guy:

I'd like to emphasize at this time that Crayola Washable markers are, in fact, truly washable.

The Little Guy used Crayola watercolors for his card for the Big Guy.  Also totally washable.

The kids really enjoy their craft projects, and I like being able to send their fun pictures to friends and family.  Plus, I'll never need to buy another birthday card again! 

Need a rainy day (or any day!) craft project for your kids? Pick up some plain white cards/envelopes at the craft store and let them do their thing!

Martha Monday--Thank ewe!

I made 'thank you' notes to match the birthday theme and invitations for Samantha's 'Down on the Farm' birthday party. 

The cute little lamb/sheep was made with a Martha Stewart Crafts Sheep punch.

And to kick up the Martha-Stewart-factor about ten notches, I used not regular paper, but a paint sample from the Martha Stewart paint line at Home Depot.  The color?  Lamb. 

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most Martha-like and one being 'not Martha at all,' I'd rate these cards at a 23.  Eight points for being home made, ten points for the "Lamb" paint samples being used with an MS Crafts Sheep punch, and five points for the word play.  Not that there's a set point system for this, and even if there were, I'm really sure the only person keeping score is me.

Thank ewe, thank ewe very much!

Crafty invitations

Little Miss' birthday is rapidly approaching.  Our theme is "Down on the Farm," and I wanted the invitations to let folks know what they were in for with our parties. 

 
The inside contains the important party information about when and what time folks need to wander on down to the TMI homestead for some farm-fresh fun. The red doors are textured scrapbook paper that I found on clearance, and the white trim (and the inside) is basic card stock.  I printed the inside text two to a page, trimmed them, glued on the barn doors, and then adding the white trim accents. 

These invitations were cheap to make, but took a lot of time.  Thank goodness the Big Guy helped!  I firmly believe that my time is worth some serious cash (there's so little of it--it must be a hot commodity!) so if I had to do it again I would just purchase these printable invitations from Wants and Wishes.  Live and learn, right?!

Overall, I am really happy with how these turned out and I've gotten several compliments on them. And bonus:  making these invitations fulfilled my New Year's Resolutions to be more frugal and to craft more.  Hopefully the parties will turn out just as good as the invitations did!

Party on Pinterest

I'm having a party on Pinterest! At least, that's where I'm planning Little Miss's second birthday party.  We're having a "Down on the Farm" themed party, and it's going to be awesome! 

Take a look at the board, and let me know what you think!

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed birthday

Last February, we attended a darling little boy's first birthday party with the theme The Very Hungry Caterpillar and it was adorable! 

Yes, as this same child's second birthday is looming over me, I am just now posting this.  I know, believe me, I know. 

The cake, cupcakes and centerpieces were all made by the birthday boy's mommy (Hi, Deena!) and she did a great job.  Take a look:

I was really baffled by how Deena shaped the cupcakes like real apples until I bit into one:  she frosted the cupcakes, put a mini-donut on top, and frosted some more. Brilliant!

For the centerpieces, Deena put the Caterpillar image on foam board, and placed it in a cute box with realistic grass and flowers.  These looked wonderful, and I was really impressed that such a professional-looking product could be home-made. Great job, Deena!

If you have a fun birthday or party theme you'd like me to feature on The Martha Initiative, then please invite me to the party.  I'll bring my camera and my appetite...like the hungry caterpillar, I'm always ready to eat!