A Sweet Baby Shower

…And we’re back!

From being on vacation mode, to jet-lag, to starting up 2 (so far) scheduled weddings for 2011, we clearly have minded our business away from our C&C blog. Forgiven?  Sweet!!

 

In the midst of my return from the Philippines in February, I came home just in time to help celebrate a friend’s baby shower.  It being her second child, second baby girl, Natalie was not planning on having this shower. But after some convincing from her Auntie Jen, I hopped on the baby wagon to help out.  We’re so glad we were able to throw Nat this baby shower, because she got all she needed to re-stock her newborn pantry with baby essentials, such as diapers, wipes, soft & cuddly blankeys, more diapers, shampoo, ointments, powder, bottles, gift cards to Target, and oh, have I mentioned…more diapers?!  Perfect for a baby sister who gets all of Audrey’s hand-me downs & more.  One day, Nat had shown me Audrey’s tubs of clothes all organized by age, and also let me gawk over Audrey’s closet.  Talk about a fashionista who still had tags on almost half of her clothes! It was incredible.  So Nat didn’t even register, instead we mentioned on the invite that the baby essentials such as the above would greatly be appreciated. 

 

While planning for the shower, I thought it’d be a great idea for C&C to add a special touch.  Why not a dessert/candy bar, right?  I thought to myself, “Well I can only bake so much.” I decided that I can handle the cupcakes and rice krispies myself.  But I decided to call on one of our Preferred Vendor for some help.  Doreen Torres of locally owned Sweet Little Cookie was so helpful in providing some of her own insights of her more popular cookies.  So I went with the delicious, “heaven in your mouth” Powdered Angels, and the “sweet as it sounds” Candy Cookie.  Perfect choices I have to agree!  What was so great was that she delivered these to my front door the morning of the shower. 

 



Some other cravings I had in this Sweet Tooth buffet were chocolate cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing, Hershey Kisses, Rice Krispies treats, pink swirl lollipops, and the famous Conti Polvoron straight from Manila, Philippines.  Everything was a hit and sure hit the sweet spot in everyone’s tummy!

 

As of now, my dear friend Natalie still has not popped out baby #2 yet. We patiently await the arrival of baby girl A, and pray for a beautiful & healthy delivery.

 

PS. Stay tuned for some exciting news!!  “Pea”, take it away. :)

Sweet Little Cookie

We had attended a beautiful wedding in October and found the delicious bagged cookie favors to be homemade locally by a company called Sweet Little Cookie.  So I contacted her a couple weeks later to ask a few basic questions to post on our blog site. 


Photo Courtesy of SweetLittleCookie.com


From baking to a stay at home mom and wife, Doreen Huezo shares her story and advice on how she started her own cookie business. 

When did you first know that baking was not only a hobby for you but a business you wanted to take to a higher level? 

Well, I've been baking for several years and I've always loved it.  I would bake for friends and family and they always thought I should sell them. But I had a 9 to 5 job, had been working at the same title company for 10 years so the thought was never taken seriously, until I was laid off in February of 2008. The real estate market turned on me and I was devastated, not knowing how we were going to pay our bills. But that's when the thought of selling my cookies became a reality and starting my own cookie baking company became my new venture.  What better time to give it a try, right?  I launched SweetLittleCookie.com in May 2008 and couldn't be happier that I did.

What is your favorite cookie?

That's tough...it changes from day to day.  I guess it depends on what mood I'm in.  But lately, it's been the White Chocolate Macadamia....so yummy! :)

What is the biggest order you’ve ever had? 

A Staples Office Supply in Northern California ordered 50 dozen cookies for a grand opening/customer appreciation event they were having.  It took me all day (literally) to complete the order, but it felt great to know I could do it.

What is your most popular cookie? 

My Perfectly Sweet Chocolate Chip, without a doubt. 


Photo Courtesy of SweetLittleCookie.com

Where is the farthest you’ve ever had to mail cookies to?

To Afghanistan, a couple of times actually.  I receive orders from women who have husbands stationed out there and want to send them a little bit of home :)

What do you like to do when you have some free time from baking? 

Spend quality time with my husband and three kids.  We have a 15 year old son, a 4 year old daughter and a baby boy who's turning 1 in December.  Needless to say, there's never a dull moment.  We have a ton of fun together. 

What have you learned about having your own business? 

Honestly, it's tougher than I thought it would be.  It's extremely rewarding, yet very time consuming.  Some times I feel like the business owns me, not the other way around.  I guess it's because I thrive on customer service and the only way I'm going to offer an awesome product with exceptional service is to give it my all, which in turn means giving up much of my personal time.  But again, it's so rewarding and I LOVE what I do.  When I send out cookies to a soldier overseas or to a mother who just had a baby or to an 8 year old who just had knee surgery and is stuck in bed, I feel like my cookies are making that sweet little difference in their lives. And that makes it SO worth it.

What is one advice you can give others who wish to start their own business? 

Do your homework before getting started.  Find out if there's local competition, if your business would thrive in your area and if you're able to commit full time.  Having this knowledge before getting started can save you a tremendous amount of heartache and frustration.  It can also help make you the best business owner ever.

"I Need a Favor..."

“Mayday, mayday…we have a favor dilemma.”  I know…there are thousands of ideas to choose from. From stylish, to inexpensive, a unique choice or personalized; there are just too many out there.  Some may want theirs to match their wedding theme, others may want something they know will be useful for the receiver.  Either way, it’s a decision that will eventually have to be made.  Well with a little creativity, this can be something to fit your theme, something affordable and can be neatly dressed to look unique and stylish. More importantly, it just might be something useful to most, if not, to all people in attendance.  Even if you decide you want a combination of favors for your guests, let one of your choices be an EDIBLE FAVOR.

You really can’t go wrong with this selection (unless you have a guest or two allergic to your edible favor-woopsie).  Again, there are hundreds of edible favors to choose from and it’s obvious that the choices go on. You can get as creative as you want, or simple as a tasty truffle.

My first pick for no particular reason is a Fortune Cookie favor.



For my wedding, I actually chose this as a 2^nd favor for our guests.  The fun thing about fortune cookies is that majority of the time, you’re able to customize the “fortune message” inside by thanking your guests for coming, or adding a favorite Bible verse or quote. The company I went with was Fortune Nut Cookie, located in Belmont, CA. I decided to go with them because not only did they provide a reasonable bulk price, but the fortune cookies were wrapped individually in their own baggies. Plus, the gal who assisted me was very helpful the whole time.

A next choice you can guarantee your guests won't complain about a beautiful mint tin filled with your favorite mints or other candies. Not only can you choose a mint tin suitable for your wedding theme or colors, this piece can also be personalized with your names and wedding date.



Anybody and everybody loves cookies. You can get as creative as you want to when it comes to the packaging and the cookie of your choice.



One suggestion is to go to your favorite local bakery and cut a deal with them to provide you with x amount of cookies with either your monogram, a certain design or color from your wedding theme. If you have a helpful crew, why not bake your favorite batch yourself. Stack 'em up in a clear baggie that you can find at your nearest craft store, tie it with a colored ribbon, and you're all set.

 

image courtesy of www.marthastewartweddings.com/

A favorite, soothing moment I try and have a few times a week is sipping on my cup of tea (I know I'm not the only one who enjoys this). I think this is just a cute idea; especially if you get to personalize the tea bag itself. It's low-cost and quaint.

As a side note, if you're thinking of buying gifts for your Primary Sponsors or grandparents, a wonderful idea is to locate some beautiful, inexpensive tea sets for them to appreciate. It'd be a great combination, don't you think?

My last but not least pick is the brownie or cake lollipops. In other words...Lollicakes. My husband and I actually have a friend who is starting out her own side business in San Deigo. She's a newbie just like yours truly, and is successfully enjoying what she's doing. Place your order and have them mailed to you within a week before your wedding.  Your final step would be to personalize them with a your preferred color ribbon. 

Congratulations Joyce, and good luck with A Sweet JOYous Occasion.

Yes, the selections are still plentiful and you can go way beyond these few I've listed.  Good luck with your favors!

Tina here~

(To help get a kick-start to this blog, I'll be mentioning things from my own wedding from time-to-time)

Planning our wedding was an experience that motivated me to really dig deep to find my passion.  It was fun, it was interesting, and to be straight up honest, something I enjoyed.  It meant organization; sticking to one idea but changing your mind because you saw something better; it was full of research after research for big and little things that were to be included on this most incredible and most unforgetable day of our lives.

We set the tone with brown and ivory colors, with a dash of red to fall in between here and there.  There was no particular theme (except for this stamped-embossed floral image I used on our invites, programs, and even had the image done on our cake).  But we incorporated hints of our Filipino culture and added some "small-kine" Hawaiian island touches.  While searching for the perfect pillow or pillow carrier for Micah to carry our wedding bands in, and something to set our mini Bible for CJ to walk down the aisle with, we chose the Lauhala (Palm Leaf Eyelet Box) from Bliss Wedding Market.

 

These were perfect since there were two (the actual box and the cover) that were included for such a great price. Jay's sister helped by sewing our pillows to place inside them and tied brown ribbon around the outside part of the boxes.

We also used Bliss Wedding Market's Paperboard CD Case for our cd and program favors.  They have a video tuturiol online on how to create this wedding cd favor with the reception program inside. It was ideal for what I had in mind

I knew I didn't want to make it look too busy on the front, so I stood with the original thought I used for the wedding invitations (with the help from the creative mind of my cuzin Mar).  Story behind the floral image was she held a "Stamp It Up" party one day, and as I was perusing through the catalog, and came across this stamp with a flower shape.  It caught my eye for some reason, and made me think of my other homestate of Hawai'i.  Mar was so convincing that that was it; I needed to use that stamp in the wedding somehow.  And that's how the whole floral concept began.  I thought it symbolized what our wedding was and who we were from the moment our love blossomed in the very beginning in Hawai'i.  It was simple and not too complicating, but yet beautiful and full of Aloha.