"Red & White" Birthday Party

What to do for a Surprise Party for a lovely lady with a Valentine's birthday? We didn't want to do all hearts... so we went back to basics and did a red and white theme.

Phase I of the party was cocktails with red & white specialty concoctions developed by Mixologist Warren Bobrow and a lovely selection of butlered hors d'oeuvres by Julie Sheil of Party Connections



After we surprised the birthday girl we moved to Phase II. A sit down dinner in the Great Room. We removed all the furniture and replaced it with long tables covered in beautiful red tablecloths and pristine white ballroom chairs



Our head designer Leslie outdid herself turning 500 roses into 19 beautiful arrangements.



Each place setting had a beautiful place card adorned with paper flowers



We carried the paper flowers and red & white into Phase III - the "band porch." The room was decorated with 2 enormous arrangements of rice paper lanterns and tissue paper flowers that we hung from the beams.



The dessert bar featured scrumptious desserts from Julie Bakes, and a gluten-free cake and cupcake lollis from SweetStuff. Guests were welcome to take a little "thank you" box of red and white candies that they filled from the containers on the table.



"I can not Thank you enough for working with my husband to throw the party of a lifetime for me. I'm still spinning and can not get focused on anything but thinking about how much fun it all was.

You are spectacular. Thank you for making it so special!!

Thanks again!!"

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes!

I was hired to make cupcakes for an infomercial... The product was a cupcake baking aid. I made 33 dozen cupcakes for the beauty shots. These are some of the pictures I took. Still waiting to get all the professional shots.


"sundae" cupcakes


Myer Lemon cupcakes



A partial stack of the finished cupcakes - labeled and ready to go

SIMPLIFIED!

So here are the pictures you have been waiting for - the after pictures! (I must preface this by saying that these pictures really don't do the "after" justice! I took them with my iPhone and need to go back and take some with a real camera...) I think you will get a good sense what we were able to accomplish

In this Butlers Pantry area we moved all the glasses that were stored here into bottom cabinets (there were just too many of them and they were not used on a daily basis.) We then found some beautiful pieces of glass hidden in other cabinets - and created a showcase for them. They really look beautiful with the light shining through



This pantry area was filled with all kinds of items - from food, to tools to serving pieces. We organized all the canned and boxed goods on the pull out shelves. Placed some specialty, not oft used food items on a top shelf and relegated all the big serving pieces to the shelves above.



In the pantry closet we organized holiday and other specialty items, some bulk food and then created a spot for a bulletin board, shoe and purse storage



Above the ovens we built little cubicles for platters to make them more accessible and therefore more usable!



Dishes and serving pieces were organized and put near the dishwasher



Stayed tuned for more tomorrow....

Time to SIMPLIFY.....

Recently I was hired by a client to SIMPLIFY her kitchen. She was going away on a vacation and asked that we come in and de-clutter, SIMPLIFY and put some organizational systems in place so that she could maintain everything once we were done. It was quite the project!

Our first step was to empty absolutely everything out of all the cabinets, drawers and closets.

This is just a snapshot of what we started with...











Once everything was out, we began the long process of sorting. Trying to decide what was necessary to keep, where it made the most sense to be and how it would be used.... the items that weren't going to be kept were then sorted into give away and throw away piles. It was a mentally exhausting process that required quite a few texts and pictures to be sent back and forth to the vacationing client...

Simply Lovely Hostess Gifts

Summer is here - which means plenty of BBQs and weekend trips. Do you have hostess gifts on hand? Stock up on a couple so you are ready!

One of our favorite vendors is CAKE VINTAGE TABLE and HOME a company based in Tennessee that makes beautiful items for the table and home (imagine that!) SIMPLIFY currently has 3 of their products in stock

PERFECT PLACE SETTING PLACEMAT

Beautiful 30% recycled paper placemats give you 50 opportunities for everyday entertaining (they aren't so bad for teaching your kids how to set the table either!) $20



CAKE PAD set with Vintage Silverware

2 die cut pads tied together with a ribbon and a beautiful piece of Antique Silver. 50 Sheets in all $15.00



Kitchen Notes

A beautiful notepad, tied with a ribbon and an antique spoon. Perfect to leave on the counter even when company is coming! 50 bound sheets.
$15.00

Toast to a Happy Birthday

This magnum of prosecco was created for a birthday celebration. The birthday girl told her husband that she wanted a cake for her birthday this year.... and she got one! The bottle was made with a Best Ever Vanilla, Lemon Curd and Raspberry lolli mixture. The wine cooler was made from Best Ever Vanilla layers with vanilla buttercream and chocolate ganache. Luster dust was used to coat both the bottle and wine cooler.



This cake was made for a good friend who always gets the same 2 presents for her birthday: a small cake and pitcher of mojitos. It was nice that the weather cooperated and we had an 85 degree day for a refreshing toast to spring!

Toga Party - The SIMPLIFY way