Ideas for kids party: Another year…

With great excitement, I happily present my latest collaboration with Laura Winslow Photography! Laura & I created this sweet scene for Mirela Olariu, owner/designer of Bambaroos Boutique to showcase her gorgeous tutus and heavenly hair accessories. We decided on a Cotton Candy theme with a color scheme of pink, orange, yellow and blue. Laura scouted a fabulous location, the drybar in Scottsdale which allowed us to take over the shop for a few hours and do our thing! The gorgeous white silk tufted wall was the perfect backdrop for the shoot. We recruited a few adorable little models, including TomKat Molly‘s lovely daughter, Brynley {below}. We enlisted our sweet friend, Grace from Finley & Oliver to create custom embellished tank tops to coordinate with Mirela’s tutus, including this ruffle tank that Brynley is wearing.

We called on some of our favorite suppliers, like Shop Sweet Lulu and Polka Dot Market for the perfect party accessories. Paper straws, garlands, giant balloons…all helped created a fun and festive setting. I created a new printable party collection for this theme, using the oh-so-popular chevron print and a little cotton candy drawing I whipped up. These colors were so much fun to work with. The invitation is displayed creativity here by Laura, in her fabulous frame from The Organic Bloom.

Oh these tutus! There were truly stunning. Made beautifully with yards and yards of tulle and topped with a thick satin ribbon….gorgeous!

My favorite part of the dessert table? The cake! Completely inspired by this rock candy cake on Style Me Pretty, I had Melissa from Decadent Delights create a 3-tiered fondant cake embellished with pink, yellow and aqua rock candy. It was absolutely stunning!

What would a TomKat styled party be without cupcakes? I used the chevron pattern throughout the paper designs including the cupcake toppers and dessert labels. Bella Cupcake Couture‘s Bella Basics cupcake wrappers were a perfect match for the theme! My trusty ruffled Costco cake stands made yet another appearance.

When we decided on the Cotton Candy theme, I immediately thought of Tasty Clouds, a gourmet cotton candy company that I had noticed from Twitter. Nina, the sweet owner jumped on the opportunity to have her fluffy stuff used in the shoot. It truly was delicious in unique, unexpected flavors. Tasty Clouds is based in Los Angeles, but they also ship! I formed balls with the cotton candy, placed them in cute polka dot paper cups and topped with chevron patterned flags.

Since sweet stuff seemed to be the prevailing theme, I filled Lindsay‘s glass bakery stands {yes, I really need to give them back} with cotton candy balls and rimmed with retro candy dots. I was able to use my friend, Jessica’s creative invention, The Pastry Pedestal for the first time in this shoot! If you haven’t heard about these fun stands, visit her site! I baked mini cupcakes and topped them with rocky candy pieces to add color.

Cuteness alert! Marian from Sweetopia designed these adorable cotton candy cookies and sent for the shoot.

I thought you might enjoy a few more views of the cake. I know it makes me smile, hopefully it does the same for you. {or drool, one of the two} The cake was topped with long, skinny candles fromShop Sweet Lulu, who claims they are Martha‘s favorites. {I believe her.}

Sweetness at its best! Here is a view of the full dessert bar filled with treats. I designed a simplechevron triangle banner for to dress up the front of the dessert table.

These cute polka dot gable boxes are perfect for gift giving, boxed lunches or for large favors. Top with a customized fancy label and you’re good to go. Sweet Brynley showing off a gorgeous tutu and a gorgeous orange flower headband. It was so vibrant…I loved it!

Speaking of hair accessories, our little models graciously played dress up with us. Our friend, Tracy did their hair and topped them with Mirela’s posh headbands.

Meet my little friend, Savannah who is the daughter of one of my good friends from high school. They live across town, so it was so good to see them and catch up at the shoot! {Love you, Kellie!} Check out Savannah’s adorable “sweet” tank by Finley & Oliver along with her pink & orange tutu and flower headband. Too cute for words. I asked Pam from Party Starters to make favor boxes using our chevron pattern. I was thrilled with how they came out! I topped with simple “thank you” flags. She also made solid boxes and I used chevron favor tags for those.

Another gorgeous tutu. Laura & I both love Amanda from Nori Shoes and some of the girls modeled them with their tutus. Have you seen her little shoes and boots? Super cute.

More views of The Pastry Pedestal {so many possibilities for these!} and the chevron favor boxes.

We had such a great time working on this shoot. Laura did such a beautiful job with the photography and I couldn’t be happier with the results! In case you are curious, Laura & I love teaming up and are available for commercial styled shoots. Now, on to the fun…..