{Decorating} My New Kitchen in Progress!

Have you all been wondering what's going at on at our new house?! If you don't know about our house story, read it here. As you probably know, we did our remodeling and moved in right before Christmas! With an amazing team of contractors, this was the quickest project we've ever done (14 days!). I can't tell you how happy we are in this house. Not only is the house beautiful and functional for our family, but the neighborhood is incredible! We have already become fast friends with several of the families on the block and it is a true community feel here. (rare for Phoenix) Our next door neighbors & our neighbors across the street have kids the same ages as ours (perfect!). We live at the end of a cul-de-sac where all of the neighbor kids play outside everyday!

It's been quite a project for me to furnish this house from scratch, but I've loved every minute of it. It's still a work in progress, but I wanted to share a few photos of how things are coming along. I mentioned on my Facebook page that I found a pair of zebra barstools at Pier 1, and promised to share a photo of them in my new kitchen (see above)! Here's the kitchen before new flooring, granite, glass tile backsplash, sink, faucet, lighting!

One of my favorite things that we did to this house is the glass tile backsplash in the kitchen, along with a matching fireplace surround (photos coming soon!). Here a detail photo of the tile! I LOVE it!

I'm having so much finding fabulous things for our new house!
I have a lot more work to do, but little by little....it will get done!

{Sneak Peek} Vintage Surf Baby Shower!

The "real" photos are here for the Vintage Surf Baby Shower that I recently worked on! And boy, are they beauties! I can't wait to share them all with you! Here's a sneak peek.....

{courtesy of vicki lynn photography}

Surf back over on Tuesday for the full post!

Here are the inspiration boards for this shower theme, just in case you missed them!

{Get sources HERE}

{Help Wanted} The TomKat Studio is Hiring an Assistant! Apply Now!

2010 is going to be a very exciting year for The TomKat Studio! After a year of blogging and starting my Etsy shop, I've decided it's time that I need to hire some help! I'm ready to grow my business and get better organized!

I am looking for a part-time virtual (you don't need to live in Phoenix, if you do, that's a plus!) assistant to handle fulfilling my digital file orders, along with tracking sales and answering inquiries. The time requirement would likely start at about 2 hours a day (5 days/week), but hopefully grow to much more, as I am able to work on getting all of my designs up in the shop and my order volume grows!

Requirements:

• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Publisher & Excel
• Experience with Photoshop, a plus but not required
• A Great Eye for Detail and Layout (Perfectionists Welcome)
• Experience/Interest in Blogging
• Must be Obsessed with Pretty Parties & Paper

Duties:

• Field potential customer inquiries
• Track/Log Orders
• Format text/photos on existing layouts
• Create/Email PDF files to customers

Ideal candidate would be available throughout the day to check for inquiries/orders.
Candidate must not operate a competing shop.

If you are interested in this position, please email me and tell me about yourself.
Attach your resume, and include any links you would like me to see of your work or blog!
kim@thetomkatstudio.com

{Valentine's Day} Sweet Collection of Valentine Pops!

When this arrived in my inbox the other day....I knew I had to share.... What a collection of Valentine Pops!
Cookie Pops, Marshmallow Pops, Cake Pops & more!

Check out the full post from Creative Hostess for details and sources!

While you're there, don't forget to enter the Most Adorable Party of 2009 Contest! Contest Ends Tomorrow!

{Sweet Customers} Adorable Little Birdie Baby Shower for Twin Boys!

This adorable shower was in honor of my childhood best friend, in New York. We reconnected last year via Facebook and now she is a loyal follower of The TomKat Studio! She asked me to create a "Little Birdie" boy twin design for her baby shower invitations and cupcake toppers!
It turns out she is quite creative and crafty herself and she took a ton of inspiration from my blog and used it for her baby shower!
She did an incredible job on all of the birdie details!
I hope you enjoy this....
Little Birdie Twin Boy Baby Shower! Details from the guest of honor:
Door Prizes: Frames inspired by the extremely talented Kim at The TomKat Studio! Thanks again for doing all that you do! You are truly a creative inspiration! Centerpieces: Idea came from this Project Nursery post - I substituted paint cans with these already decorated cans from Christmas Tree Shop. I used die cut birds on various scrapbook papers from "kotibeth" on etsy. Put them back-to-back on lollipop sticks and had a mama and two babies in each can (secured with florist oasis, and covered in crinkled paper.) We added two blue balloons to each can to make the centerpieces look bigger and add more color underneath the tent.

Coconut Cupcakes: Recipe from The Barefoot Contessa's Cookbook. Combined the recipe with Martha's Nesting Baby Blue-Bird Cupcake design with a cream-cheese frosting. After trying many ideas for making birds that would hold up outside for a couple of hours (firm frosting, blue jordan almonds, Gumdrops), I ended up creating the birds out of vanilla cake pops, inspired by Bakerella! They worked out perfectly & were delicious!

Blue Cupcakes: Also were Coconut cupcakes, but I used a firmer Decorator's Buttercream Frosting recipe from Epicurious for these. Cupcakes were garnished with TomKat Studio's adorable cupcake toppers & sprinkles! Invitations: Custom designed by The TomKat Studio! Totally adorable, and received lots of wonderful feedback on how great they were!

Thank you for sharing your shower with us, Margie!
I hope it was worth the wait! {the very long wait}
Your twins are adorable!
XOXO, Kimmi