Monday, August 23, 2010

{Cupcake Monday} Hello Hanna Paper Cupcake Stands!

These adorable recycled paper cupcake stands have been popping up on blogs everywhere! Not only are they adorable, they are affordable and would be fabulous for any occassion! Amy Atlas featured them last week and I think it's about time that I ordered some for myself!
Aren't they too cute?!
The possibilities are endless!

{Project Nursery} Birthday Girl Fashion Series!

Happy Monday! We have so many fabulous things going on this week at The TomKat Studio! We hope you caught the Spa Party post this morning! I am starting a new blog series over at Project Nursery called Birthday Girl Fashion! One of my favorite elements of party planning is finding fabulous outfits for the birthday girl! Today's post starts with my favorite fashion trend....Pettiskirts!
Hop over to check out an assortment of my favorite finds, HERE!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

{Real Parties} Sophie's Fabulous Spa Birthday Party!

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of styling this fabulous SPA PARTY for a sweet seven-year-old, Sophie! Lucky for me, I worked with her creative mom, Ariana on all of the details as well as the talented photographer, Vicki of Vicki Lynn Photography. You may remember Ariana from her younger daughter, Tallie's Vintage Circus Party a few months ago! She is always up for going all out on her children's parties and we had so much fun! We called on some fabulous vendors to showcase their products and spoil our party guests!












A big thank you to the wonderful sponsors who provided incredible products for the party!Hopscotch Kids provided the non-toxic nail polish for the manicures and pedicures, as well as a polish, buffer & polish remover for each girl. Check out their party packs here!
Milk & Cookeez provided pink and blue lollipop and cupcake soaps for each girl, along with some extra goodies....macaron soaps and rock candy soaps! The soaps were a big hit...super cute! Visit the full line of Milk & Cookiez goodies here!
Heather from Georgia Blue provided her new hair pin sets for each girl in pink with white polka dots! I love these and ordered a few sets for myself! She sent some special gifts for the birthday girl, as well. Check out the Georgia Blue shop here!
Emily from Magnolia Creative created the handpainted trinket trays for each girl. They served as perfect placecards for the party, and then a personalized gift to take home! Take a look at all of Emily's beautiful personalized treasures here!
Mom, Ariana did a beautiful job making the poms and streamers, bath salts in jars, monogrammed towels, hair ties, cupcakes & more! She came up with amazing activities for the party! She found a recipe for chocolate masks and adapted it to be kid-friendly, set up a flip-flop making station, and of course, gave the girls manis and pedis with the Hopscotch Kids products!

The Spa Party Collection is now available inThe TomKat Studio Shop!{invitations, cupcake toppers, favor tags, banner, welcome sign, fancy labels}
Check out more photos and slideshow at Vicki Lynn Photography!

Friday, August 20, 2010

{Fabulous Friday Giveaway} $50 Gift Certificate to Milk & Cookeez

UPDATE!!

The winner of this giveaway is:
COMMENT #12 - Becky!!!
Becky said:  "Sweeteez soap pop! Everything is so cute!"
Congratulations Becky!!
Please email me at toni@thetomkatstudio.com to claim your prize!


Cupcake Soaps used at the Spa Party

A few weeks ago, we went on a search for fun items that could be used for our Spa Party.  We had so many wonderful vendors respond!  And one of those vendors was Milk & Cookeez!  Milk & Cookeez makes the most delightful bath products you have ever seen.  Bath products that are inspired by yummy desserts!  And they are handmade with natural products. 

Fizzy Macarons used at Spa Party

So, in honor of our much anticipated Spa Party feature (coming MONDAY!), our Fabulous Friday Giveaway this week is a $50 gift certificate to Milk & Cookeez.

Lollipop Soaps used at the Spa Party

Here's how to enter....

1)  Head over to Milk & Cookeez, pick out your favorite item,
and then come back here and tell us about it!
2)  Become a fan of Milk & Cookeez on Facebook.

Winner will be chosen on Wednesday, August 25 at 11:00pm (MST).
Any entries received after this time will not be considered. Open to US residents only.
Winner will be chosen using random.org

Milk & Cookeez

Good luck!
And please don't forget, if you are leaving an anonymous comment, please leave your email address!
Check back here next Thursday, August 26, to see if you are the winner!
                                                               


Thursday, August 19, 2010

{My Trip to NYC} Part Three :: Martha Stewart's Bloggers' Night Out!

I apologize for my delay in reporting back on the amazing experience that I had visiting NYC! Things have been crazy busy here at The TomKat Studio! So here we go....
As you may have read, I was invited to Martha Stewart's Bloggers' Night Out event, held at Martha's headquarters! After my last minute shopping excursion (read more here), it was time to head to the event. Here I am waiting for a cab! Melissa from Project Nursery spotted me and took this picture!..... Flash forward....15 minutes. No cab. No cab. No cab. The hotel door man can't even get me one. Frantically, I went across the street to try to hail one in the right direction. No luck.
PANIC. I NEED TO GET TO MARTHA STEWART.
I did not want to be late. I was invited to come up early and I did not have time to be delayed. All of a sudden, this young guy says...need a ride?
Ummmmm.....well.......
"HOP IN.........MY BIKE."
Really? Really?
I mean, it's hot and humid and I'm all dress up, hair done, fresh makeup, little dress, high heels...and you want me to get in the back of a pedicab? I've never been in one, so I though it was more for tourists taking slow tours. I didn't realize it was a viable means of transportation!
Well, people I would do anything for Martha....so I JUMPED in!
I wish I had a video of this. I called my husband from the pedicab and yelled..."I'm on my way to Martha....in the back of a bike!" All of a sudden I looked up and yelled..."I think I'm in Times Square!" It felt straight out of a romantic comedy where the girl is rushing through the busy city, trying to get to her true love before he marries the wrong girl. Guess what? Instead of being 30 minutes late taking a cab, I was 2 minutes early! Bless that guy who gave me a ride and swerved through 100 taxis to get me there! I took a few minutes to compose myself and freshen up (in the men's room, girl's was locked) and then called up to meet the lovely, Courtney of Martha Stewart! Whew.
Courtney invited me to come up early before the event (I felt so special!) to chat and meet other fabulous event planners, Tara Wilson of Tara Wilson Events and Stephanie Grimm of Couture Parties! I have worked with Tara on several television segments (here and here) and Steph and I have been chatting online forever! It was such a pleasure to meet them, along with Courtney and her friend, Anne Marie of Perfect Bound. We met up and then took a tour behind the scenes of MS Headquarters! After the tour, it was on to the big event! There were beautiful displays from Martha Stewart Weddings in the hallway on the way to the event location! Gorgeous cupcakes, cakes, craft projects and more! All of a sudden, I was walking right behind Ms. Stewart herself! Sadly, I did not get the opportunity to have my photo taken with her. She only took a few photos with fans and then decided no more so that she could enjoy the short time she had at the event! She welcomed us all and talked about the various Martha Stewart blogs. Inside the party, there were tables and booths set up by the various Martha departments. Of course, I went straight to the craft department table and tested out some of their new punches coming out! For more photos of the event setup, visit the Flickr photo pool! The best part about the event was meeting some of the amazing women who have inspired me to create this business! Not only was I steps away from Martha, but I finally had the opportunity to meet my idol, Amy Atlas. It was such a pleasure to meet her in person. She was so sweet and everyone was flocking to meet her. She told me that she was proud of me and loves how aggressive I am when it comes to my business. I was so happy to be able to thank her in person for the wonderful exposure and opportunities she has given me. Next time I'm in NYC, I hope she'll let me take her out to lunch! I also had the amazing opportunity to meet and chat with Darcy Miller, Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Weddings! She was so friendly and sweet to everyone. I told her that I style children's parties and she asked for my card! (thrill!) Meet my new best friend, Stephanie of Couture Parties. Stephanie and I hit it off immediately and stuck together during the party. We were even interviewed on camera about the event! Stephanie is a super talented event planner in Newport, Rhode Island. We ended up going out to dinner together after the party and had a great time! We could have talked for hours about ideas, parties and business! Love you, Steph!Here I am, right at home at Martha's Headquarters! After the party, we were waiting sitting in the lobby waiting for some friends and I just didn't want to leave.
It felt so surreal being in Martha's building.
Who knows? Maybe one day, I'll be back!
I also had the opportunity to meet some of my fans and fellow party girls!
See collage photo at beginning of post! From top left:
Kate of Kate Landers Events
Tanya of Save the Date for Cupcakes
Stacy of Scrumptious Swirls
Kristy of Posh Pixels
Megan of The Decorated Cookie & Amy of Amy Atlas Events
Center: Amy Atlas, Darcy Miller of Martha Stewart

It was truly a pleasure to meet you all!