"It's My Party" DIY Party Printables now on Etsy

Hi all,

I've opened my Etsy store finally!

I have added the "It's My Party" Suite from Lily's 6th birthday, as well as a couple of other items.

Hopefully I'll stay on schedule and build it up slowly, with a new design added each month. (Eeek! Did, I say that out loud?)

"It's My Party" DIY Party Suite. Great design for any aged girl, right up to Sweet Sixteens, 18's & 21's.
Personalised with monogram, age and invitation details.

"It's My Party" Alphabet Bunting. Create your own message and use as many times as you like.
Use for birthdays, bridal and baby showers or any celebratory event.

My Parisienne Party DIY Printable Mini Suite. Personalised with Monogram,  age and name.

Thanks for looking guys. I've got some fun posts coming up:

Product Review: Donna Hay's Macaron Mix; How to make your own vintage cupcake stands and TrueBlood Cupcakes!

Stay tuned, thanks for reading.

Elise

"It's My Party" Dessert Table for 6th Birthday Party

Hi all. Today I'd like to share with you my daughter's 6th birthday party.

The theme I chose was "It's My Party" with a modern princess twist.

I designed all the printables, made all the food, did the decorations, coordinated the games and activities and took the photos. Yes, I am crazy!

It was a big, big effort, but my daughter, Lily, was very appreciative and had a great time – which made it all worthwhile.

Printables will be available in my Etsy store, Sweet Scarlet Designs soon. Just buy, download, print and created yourself. Print That Party!

"It's My Party" Themed Dessert Table

The jelly (Jello) cups were a hit. They are easy, economical and they add great colour to the table.

The food had pink theme as well and I made sure I healthy options as well. I also had a separate "Parents Table" with adult versions of the food and tea and coffee. I had to have a large table and lots for food as I was catering for 16 party guests and their parents.

This is the vision I had for the theme. I wanted my daughter to wear a custom-designed t-shirt that said "It's My Party". The modern princess look came from the crown design. The t-shirt transfer printable will be available in my Etsy store soon.

The cake! I kept the design quite minimal as I knew I would be short on time. It's a two-tier butter cake with raspberry buttercream filling. The bottom tier is covered with royal icing and the top tier with fondant. The crown is made from gumpaste and painted with edible metallic paint.

Invitations, party dots, cupcake toppers, food and drink labels, bunting, thank you dots, t-shirt transfer and more will be available as DIY printables in my Etsy store soon. Just buy, download, print and create. Easy. 

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and gumpaste crown and wand toppers.

Our face painter and fairy extraordinaire, Miss Abigail,  did a fantastic job. All 16 guests had a custom face paint design and  they loved it!

PARTY MENU

• birthday cake
• cake pops
• chocolate brownies
• fruit platter
• lemon poppy seed cupcakes
• chocolate cupcakes
• coconut ice
• pink lemonade
• assorted lollies & candy

PARTY GAMES & ACTIVITIES

• face painting
• pinata
• make your own pom pom wand
• make your own fairy bread
• pass-the-parcel

Thanks to Sharnel Dollar Designs where I source a lot of my cake stands and candy jars.

I hope you liked this party design, only 4 weeks until the next party!

Elise

Parisienne 40th Birthday Dessert Table

Bonjour!

 I wanted to share with you a Parisienne Dessert Table that I designed for my good friend Monique.

I had a lot of fun designing the Party Suite for this event and I had one of those 'magic moments' when I found the Eiffel Tower cupcake stand online! It worked so well.

DIY Printable Invites, Party Dots, Cupcake Toppers, Bunting, Food & Drink Labels and Favour Labels will be available on my Etsy store soon.

I hope you like!

Use Party Dots as drink keepers!

Cupcakes are Sour Cream Chocolate with Vanilla Buttercream.
Toppers are handmade gumpaste roses and bows.

See my tutorial on how to make these quick & easy gumpaste rose toppers here.

I really like this design with the Eiffel Tower & bow.

I then made a handrawn cupcake topper with gumpaste bow and heart to match the printable.
The Eiffel Tower has been drawn using an edible ink pen.

I love this cupcake stand!

Buttercream rose.

See my tutorial on How to make a Buttercream Rose Cupcake Bouquet here.

I hope you like this Party Suite design. I'd love the hear your comments!

Thanks!
Elise

Happy 4th of July!

I designed these cupcake toppers and ran out of time to bake the cupcakes to put them on!

Happy 4th of July to all my USA friends - and especially to my daughter, Georgia, my little California Girl, who was 'Born in the USA' – Orange County no less!

Hope you all have a fab & fun celebration with family & friends.

Elise

How to Preserve Lemons & Limes

Following on from my Coconut & Lime Cupcake Recipe, here are some ways that I have been preserving limes from my abundant crop this year.

I don't use limes that often in winter (as it is in Australia right now). I use them in summer for Thai salads, drinks and desserts. So I decided to preserve the limes now by freezing them, so I have them ready for summer.

I started out simply juicing the limes I had picked. Then filling ice-cube trays with the juice, covering the trays and freezing them overnight.

This would have been a lot easier with an electric juicer!

I then added those frozen lime ice cubes to zip-lock bags, marked the date and returned them to the freezer. I can now defrost the lime juice when I need it for a salad dressing, marinade or a Mojito!

I also experimented with cutting limes into slices and wedges and freezing them. I'm thinking I can add these 'limesicles' to a water jug on a hot summers afternoon.

None of these techniques are rocket science, but I thought I'd share my experiments with you. The same techniques work for lemons. The lime juice and pieces will freeze for up to six months.

The same techniques can be used for mangoes (flesh) and passionfruit (pulp).

The rest of the limes I have bagged-up and given to friends.

So if you do receive some fruit from a friend or neighbour, or you have a bountiful tree, I hope some of these techniques will come into good use.

Happy preserving.

Elise

Next post: Make your own vintage cake stands.

FREE Printable Father's Day Card

Sweet Scarlet Father's Day FREE Printable Card - great for the kids to give to Dad

Download this FREE PDf file below.

Hello to Sweet Scarlet friends in the UK & US!

Happy Father's Day for this Sunday, June 19. (It's not Father's Day until September in Australia).

To celebrate, I have designed this cute card, perfect for the kids to give to Dad.

I have printed it on an 'earthy' paper stock, but you can print it on whatever you like.

Enjoy & happy Father's Day to all the dads!
Elise

DOWNLOAD:
Please use the links below to choose your paper size to download. You will be directed to the Scribd website. Click "Download" to download the PDF file to your computer. Then print, trim & create!

• US Letter size paper
• A4 sized paper

PDF file which you will download from Scribd.

Coconut & Lime Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

I have an abundance of limes at the moment. My Kaffir Lime tree has gone crazy again this season.

This year I am determined to make the most of them and have been using the limes for guacamole, in curries (leaves, zest & juice), on pancakes, over Thai fish and now cupcakes.

This recipe is delicious and it might seem like a heavy recipe, but this cupcake is light and fresh. The lime syrup makes a great addition and the cooling cream cheese in the buttercream balances all the tartness and the sweetness.

Enjoy!

Coconut & Lime Cupcakes

1 cup self-raising flour (add 1 tspn baking powder if using all-purpose flour)
3/4 cup caster sugar (superfine)
1/3 cup shredded (or desiccated) coconut
100g (3 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
100ml (3.5 fl.oz) plain yoghurt
100ml (3.5fl.oz) milk
1 tblspn grated lemon zest

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C/325F
2. Line baking pan with cupcake cases.
3. Beat butter for 3 minutes with electric stand or hand mixer. Add sugar and beat until pale & fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each addition.
5. Combine yoghurt, and coconut in another bowl, add milk.
6. Add yoghurt mixture to butter, sugar & egg mixture. Mix well.
7. Add lime zest & mix.
8. Fold in sifted flour hand and mix by hand using a spatula until just combined. Do not over mix.
9. Spoon mixture evenly into cupcake cases.
10. Bake on middle shelf of oven for approx. 20 mins or until tops of cakes are springy.
11. Remove from oven and brush tops with lime syrup (see below) while cupcakes are still warm.
12. Allow to cupcakes sit for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Lime Syrup

75ml (2.5 fl.oz) fresh squeezed lime juice
1/3 cup sugar

1. Bring water and sugar to boil in small saucepan over moderate heat. 
2. Remove from heat.
3. Allow to cool before using.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

125g (4oz.) softened butter

100g (3oz) cream cheese
3 to 4 cups icing (confectioners) sugar

1. Beat butter until pale with an electric stand or hand mixer.
2. Add cream cheese and beat well.
3. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well between additions.
4. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons milk if required.

Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes and top with grated lime zest and lime sections sprinkled with caster (superfine) sugar.

I hope you have a chance to try out this recipe ... it's a good one!

Elise

Next post: How to Preserve Lemons & Limes