Pepper Design Blog

Weekend Fun: Surprise Snow & a Mr. Man Party

Wow it’s been busy over here! If you follow me on Twitter, you may have caught a sneak peek of our latest photoshoot for the April issue of San Diego Magazine. What’s better than a San Diego snow day? A spring bohemian picnic! Yesterday we set up shop at a beautiful local park and created one colorful spread. More to come on the behind-the-scenes and the great products featured.

BUT back to that San Diego snow day – because despite the recent 70ish degree weather, San Diego welcomed a good 18″ of the soft and powdery stuff this past weekend!

On Sunday we drove out to the edge of San Diego to introduce Liv to the snow for the first time.

I don’t think she really noticed while she was snug-as-a-bug in her Moby.

It was beautiful.

What does one do when a fresh blanket of snow (cold enough to stay!) surprises us? Build snowmen, of course.

And then the weather yesterday was sunny, bright and nearly called for shorts. Oh San Diego, you are full of surprises!

In other weekend fun, our friends threw their son a Mr. Man first birthday party that was inspired by this post. It was adorable.

I made Liv a matching tie outfit – she’s my little future corporate lady!

Here’s how I’m imagining this baby conversation went down:

Michael: “so… do you come here often?”

Liv: “oh you know”

Michael: “lemme get your digits”

Alright, enough playing. Back to the house remodel we go!

{Deliciously Decorated} Holiday Dessert Tables

There are so many creative {and beautiful} holiday ideas out there that I thought I’d share a quick round-up of a few of my favorite dessert tables.

These buffet-style spreads are full of great DIY projects - from adorable crafts to favors for friends to yummy recipes – that even if you don’t have time to tackle an entire table at your holiday party there’s sure to be an “ah-ha” idea that you’ll love in there somewhere.

For all of the juicy details and plenty of pictures, just click on the link with the theme name to jump out to the original full post.

I love the idea of using a striped fabric or wrapping paper as a backdrop to a delicious spread – and how wonderful are all of the gingerbread details in this “Christmas Candyland” theme design by Bird Crafts and featured over at Hostess with the Mostess?

Below, TomKat Studios shares a whimsical “Let it Snow” dessert table with splashes of bright pink:

Check out the adorable sugar-covered marshmallow men (in the form of skewered pops) on this Christmas Snowman table by Shindig Parties to Go:

Above, WH Hostess (of The Party Dress) shares a “Sweet Treats” aqua and red theme with beautiful feather and tissue paper details.

Below, a “Pink Nutcracker Suite” buffet shared on HWTM by Kate Landers Events makes for a great little girl’s birthday party or even a grown-up girl’s spread before a night out on the town to see the ballet or catch a chick flick!

And that’s the round-up!

Christmas decor is going up in a flurry over here at the Spenla house – I keep wondering what will happen if babe decides to come early (he/she is technically full term now at 37 weeks!) with me amidst rolls of garland, flashing Christmas lights and tiny ornaments as I get the house holiday ready! I don’t think I’d like to come back from the hospital in the chaos that is our living room now…

A Star Wars Party for a Little Jedi

Vesni from My Little Jedi sent over this adorable party from her son’s 1st birthday. Aniken (he’s named after one of the characters) had the perfect Star Wars party to celebrate with friends!

In Vesni’s words: “We had the most wonderful day and celebrated his birthday with our family and friends. The theme of the party had to be “Star Wars” as my son is named after one of the characters.

As for the sweet treats, I organized a mini candy buffet with a colour palette of red/black/blue lollies. The R2D2 birthday cake was made by Catherine from 2 Bites, the personalized chocolate bars and chocolate pops were made by the very talented Niki from Candy Soirees. The star wookie cookies and delicious star feature cupcakes were made by my lovely sister inlaw Suzanna. I also has organized personalized lolly pops from Pink Frosting.

We had inflatable light sabers for all the kids which they all loved & entirely enjoyed. The kids played ‘pin the light saber on a jedi’ game and the winner was presented with a ‘jedi certificate’.”

How cute are these wonderful labels? And that dessert table? By the way, a trip out to Vesni’s blog to check out all of her creative party ideas is well worth it – it’s adorable!