Jikana Damaru

Indi's Kite Birthday Party

Time to celebrate our beautiful Indiana's 2nd Birthday!

I picked a Kite theme for Indi's celebration as this party was primarily for the family and a few close friends - lots of cousins ranging from ages 14 down to 2 meant this theme was a perfect way to cater for everyone.

It all began with the invitiation - I had decided it was time to do something other than pink for this party - considering as by the time Indi turns three I am sure she will want everything pink. Red was the colour I picked which was then teamed with aqua - a lovely combination.

For the dessert table I decided to do a combination of desserts for both adults and kids. Yummy mini cheesecakes, pannacotta's and macaroons catered for the adults and cute cookies, marshmallow pops and mini chocolate bars for the kids. Of course there had to be a little bit of candy that the everyone could help themselves to and which then could be added to the treat bags at the end of the party.

The amazing cake was again created by Jacki from Blissfully Sweet Cakes. Jacki took her inspriation from the invitation and created a gorgeous cake that tied in beautifully with the theme.

Kite and bow cookies and mini cheesecakes were also made by Jacki

The candy on the table included blue chocolate beans, delicious rock candy sticks in red and aqua blue, blue bon bons and bright red gumballs.

Personalised chocolate bars and marshmallow pops that are simple to make and the kids love

Little pots of pannacotta tied with twine with personalised "Indiana" spoons

Lovely Sambellina Party bags were given to all the kids - I added the little kite and twine to finish them off.

We were also lucky enough to have perfect kite flying weather on party day - we have had a very windy few weeks in Sydney and while the week previous to the party had been too windy, on the day it was just perfect - the kids and adults had a great time chasing kites around the oval - it kept everyone warm on a chilly winters day.

On a final note thank you to Amy Atlas who has featured Indi's kite party on her blog today. The exciting news that she has also posted is that she is planning a visit to Australia soon - check out her blog post for more details here.

And here are the details of where you find all the goodies on Indi's Dessert Table:-

Milk Cake Stands, Clear Hobnail Cake Stands, Glass Jars, Mini Drink Bottles - Sweet Style

Candy/Lollies including Bon Bons, Rock Candy Sticks and Blue Choc Beans - Sweet Style

Cake, Cookies and Mini Cheesecakes - Blissfully Sweet Cakes

Wooden Cutlery and Personalised Stamp - Sweet Style

Treat Bags and Twine - Sweet Style

Mini Glass Jars - coming to Sweet Style in August

Printables - Sweet Style

Tablecloth - Sweet Style

Large White Tree on Table - Adairs

Wooden Boxes - these were received full of fruit as a gift hamper we received one Christmas - you can find similar at bunnings in Australia

Please feel free to email me if there are any details I have missed.

Images: Sweet Style

This week I'm grateful for... books

Aunty Al and her two junior burgers have been up to stay with us this week. What a laugh we all had - especially the children as the five of them tore through the homestead, breaking everything in their path. Yep, that was pretty funny indeed. Aw, what does it matter when both the destruction and noise levels are so high that you just know your children are writing the story of their childhood. When I was young, our cousins would come to stay and we would...

So, this week I'm grateful for...

151. Visitors - I make no secret of the fact that I'm not a big fan of routine. What better way to spice up the week than have fun (and funny) people to stay?

152. Books - Even better when my guests love books as much as I do. Al, Aunty Coo and I decided that what we needed more than a night on the tiles (sorry Woogsy) was a night perusing cheap books at the local Lifeline book fair (as you do). Open until 9pm, by the time we settled the kids, ate some dinner and found the darn place we had all of 27 minutes to snap up approximate 53 children's books each. It was a book buying frenzy, let me tell you. And I'm still recovering from the bizarreness of the Lifeline staff... but that's another post entirely.

153. Little gems - And would you believe that among my 53 snapped-up-in-seconds books was a little gem of a children's book called The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit written by Sylvia Plath and published posthumously in 1996. Sylvia Plath does children' books! How random! I do love a book fair!

So, what's making you smile today? Add your I'm Grateful For post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is a Grateful one and not just a random), add the button (grab the code from my sidebar and paste it into your post) and pretty-please add a link back to me. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.

[Image by note.worthy found on Flickr]

Blooming Gorgeous Lounge

I love this picture from Monday's post. From the pretty floral plates on the wall to the floral scatter cushions adorning the linen patchwork sofa. I, of course, love the addition of the bird cage hanging from the wall!

Have a sweet day!

here's a little story.....that goes something like this

these two became a family of three as they welcomed their little

who has stolen their hearts

& brought so much joy

& is just so adorable

at four weeks old

she is a little treasure

welcome to the world & may your life be full of happy days, baby girl

And the latest party-ready gal about town is...

Lucky duck Jodi from The Scribble Den has won the Leona Edmiston Ruby dress, the $220 voucher at Shoes of Prey and the gorgeous Silver Birds earrings from Elk Accessories.

Jodie's comment was number 24 on my list and Random.Org told me that that was the number to pick. Woot!

Just a quick thanks to Jodie, Prue and Ziba for their wonderful help organising the giveaway. They were absolutely fab.

Thank you to everyone who entered. Aaah, please don't worry if you're not Jodi (and it goes without saying that most of us are not), I had so much fun planning the prize that I'm already cooking up another fantabulousness giveaway... but you'll just have to wait for the details. I'm super suspenseful like that...

Oh, and while I've got you here... have a happy rest-of-day, won't you. It is FriYAY after all... what are you doing tonight? Me? I'm doing what I always do on Friyay night these days - two hours to get ready followed by a major drinking session followed by grope with a stranger out the back of the pub... oh, wait, that was DECADES ago.

Tonight, I'm in.

Just like all Friyay nights these days.

I say that without a trace of regret.

Bring on the contented homelife, I say! x

What are Bon Bons?

What are bon bons and what do they taste like?

Now that bon bons have become a very popular addition to a candy table, this is the question I get asked most each week.

A bon bon is a chewy lolly that comes in a variety of great colours and delicious flavours. I described it the other day to someone as sort of like the consistency of a cool mint but without the hard shell and the mint flavour. So delicious ...

Flavours and colours include:- Raspberry (Blue), Apple (Green), Strawberry (Pink), Lemon (Yellow) and Toffee (white)

A number of the colours look great together lined up all in a row. You can see here I used the yellow, pink and blue for Sofia's bubblegum party earlier this year.

One of my lovely customers Amanda used green and white for her son Xavier's christening.

If you are looking for bon bons or some other great lollies for you next party drop into the Sweet Style store here and check out what we have on offer. I am always happy to source other varieties and types of lollies for your next party so drop me an email if you are interested - leanne@sweetstyle.com.au.

Leopard print cake pops

I recently reviewed the book Pop Bakery by Claire O'Connell and when I saw the stylish leopard print cake pops inspired by nail artists I knew they would be perfect for Annie: a gal who loves leopard print and flouro pink! Her birthday was on Tuesday so at the weekend I made my first cake pops.

The only change I made to the recipe in Pop Bakery was changing the flour to gluten-free flour and I used a very bright pink edible dust on mine. I wrapped the sticks in silver washi tape and tied pink bows around them. I packaged them in lace print cellophane bags from Jusco.

Making the chocolate cake balls was relatively simple but coating them in chocolate was a bit tricky to get smooth as my cake balls started to spin on their sticks. Next time I make them I will try inserting the sticks into the cake balls and leaving them to set in the fridge before coating them. I am hoping that will hold the cake ball firm on the stick so the cake doesn't start spinning as I coat them in chocolate.

They tasted great, lovely and moist and looked cute! Will definitely be making more cake pops, such a fun treat! The best bit; Annie loved them!

Have a sweet day!