Kara's Cupcakes

Kara's Cupcakes

3249 Scott Street (at Chestnut)
San Francisco, California 94123

The first time I ever had Kara's Cupcakes was on my birthday a few years ago when I lived in San Francisco. A co-worker brought them into work to surprise me knowing that I am a chocolate lover. These cupcakes were to die for. At that time Kara's Cupcakes only had one shop on Chestnut in the Marina district in San Francisco. Now they have a location at Ghiradelli Square, one in Palo Alto, and even at Santa Row in San Jose. Fortunately there is one locally so I can continue to try out all of their exciting flavors. Kara's Cupcakes are not only amazingly good, they are also beautifully designed. They would definitely make any type of party a hit. I know I will be using Kara's Cupcakes for future parties that I design.

Paper Source

Paper Source is my new home away from home. This is one of my favorite

stationery stores. I started shopping at Paper Source when I lived in Pacific Heights near Fillmore Street. During the time I was planning my wedding I shopped there every week. I love that they have so many basic items in every color. I designed my save the dates and wedding wish cards using their stamps, postcards, envelopes etc. They had the perfect lilac that matched the color scheme of my wedding.

Since then I have moved to San Jose. I was so excited to find out that there was a Paper Source at Santa Row and Palo Alto. Now that I have started "Event Shop Design" I seem to be going the store at Santa Row every week. The girls working there know my son and I by name. I always get so inspired while looking around and leave there with items and new ideas for my party planning business.

donna hay kids magazine

The other day I took my 1 year old son to Barnes and Noble.

I figured it was a good idea to get out of the house and to be in some air conditioning. I went to the magazine area to possibly get some inspiration for my party planning business Event Shop Design. As I was perusing the kids section I came upon a magazine I had never seen before called "donna hay" kids magazine. I was immediately attracted to the simple and modern cover design. The magazine reminded my of one of my new favorite magazines "Real Simple". As I started skimming through the pages I realized that this issue was geared toward kids parties. I was so excited that this is perfect inspiration for my business. I had to buy the magazine. I felt like it was meant to be. After getting a latte and taking my son to the kids section I was anxious to get home so I could take a closer look. That evening I was able to take a better look at this beautiful publication. I am ready to get a subscription. I got so many creative ideas not only for design but even for baking. I am so excited to start planning another party once the opportunity comes along.

1st Birthday Party

The party theme all started with a polka dot platter. I went to one of my favorite bakeries in Los Gatos called "Icing on the Cake". I was looking for ideas for my son's 1st birthday party and there it was - a polka dot platter from this new brand called "French Bull" by Jackie Shapiro. http://www.frenchbull.com. They have the cutest things from kitchenware to stationery and more. I planned his whole party for months based off this platter for color and design. The party was simple in style and content. I threw the party at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos. The platter held chocolate and carrot cupcakes with multi colored sprinkles. The kids' favors were colorful pinwheels and tin buckets filled with toys. Each bucket had different goodies depending on the age of each child. For the toddler boys there were little board books and transportation tub toys. The older boys got wind up dinosaurs along with the tub toys. For the girls there were wind up butterflies and cute animal tub toys. The party was a big success and simply done. I think my little 1 year old really enjoyed his big day.