Yesterday, I gave you a sneak peek of the cake decorating set - today, I get to show you a little more of how easy the new CSS sweet treats sets and dies make it to throw an impromptu party.
As soon as I saw the little banner and pinwheel cake toppers included in the cake decorating set, I decided to throw a little "how time flies" party - to celebrate the kids and the end of another school year. A few facebook messages later, we had 4 moms, a grandma, and 12 kids show up for a very fun play-date.
The dies make it beyond simple: there are multiple-sized flags (more on those tomorrow!) that are connected together. With a few quick passes, I had more than enough treat flags.
Can we talk about the cute cupcake stands and wrappers? swoon! I cut the regular-sized stands out of kraft cardstock and they held up just fine - but if you wanted them to be longer lasting, I would try cutting them out of something heavier. I just love that scallop edge - it's the perfect little touch, isn't it?
The mini cupcakes fit snugly into their matching wrappers. And no adhesive required: they cut out with a tab and slot that fit together. Here's another look:
I created a little treat label for each dessert, using the cake decorating set and matching cake die.
I stamped the solid cake and stand onto the matching die-cut, and then re-inserted it onto the mini-card-front. I then stamped the same pinwheel and banner topper over-top. The double-ended banner is from the upcoming favor flags set. I love the shape of it!
I tried to mimic the cake topper stamp images - I created some pinwheels and attached them to striped straws, and then die-cut and stamped the flag image three times.
I got a little carried away making pinwheels (mini ones for the cake, medium ones for the garland on the chalkboard wall, and larger ones for the kids to take home.) Do you know how easy they are to create? Each pinwheel starts out as a square (the large ones are 6x6 squares.) Fold in half (so it looks like a triangle, not a rectangle), unfold and fold in half the other way. Now that you have all of your scorelines, cut along each line, but not all the way to the middle. Then, take every other corner and fold into the middle. Secure with a button for a non-moving pinwheel, or a brad for something that will spin (I needed a longer brad for mine to be the blow-in-the-wind kind, but the kids still loved them.)
(They loved the small ones too, but mostly because they came attached to sweet treats like these almond&lemon mini-cupcakes.)
I know it looks like a lot of work, but the dies and stamps in this collection made it all a b-r-e-e-z-e. Seriously. And, the moms pitched in for the desserts. The grandma did the dishes (hee.) The kids' eyes went large as saucers when they saw all the treats laid out for them. I'd say it was a huge success.
If you made it all the way to the end of this post, here are the links to check out what the other girls have cooked up for you today (the pun was totally intended *grins*)
Suzanne (guest)
