Blog-Chic Sweets-Tampa, Sarasota, Orlando, St. PetersburgChic Sweets

Oct
16

A Confetti Events’ Coral and Teal Wedding with Limelight Photography

Hello everyone!!! Hope all of you are doing great and enjoying the fall weather finally seems to finally be cooling down here in Florida. We are in full wedding season mode, but SO HAPPY to share a gorgeous wedding from this year at the Don Cesar with Jamie from Confetti Events who we love dearly here. No, seriously, Jamie is amazing and someone who I met a few years ago during a meeting and we immediately clicked right away as mamas and business owners. And throw in there my two other favorites, MMD Events and Limelight and I know it’s going to be a great day! Oh, and Steve….my Steve….who does an amazing, amazing, job on all of our backdrops–this one is actually a favorite from this year! And finally, Nina, my right hand designer, who took the reigns on setting up this dessert table without me around. As a business owner, there is nothing better than when you come across wonderful people who love their job as much as you do. And as Nina, always likes to remind me, she does tie bows much better than I can! HA!

Enjoy friends and next week I will be sharing a few glimpses into our branded, candy boxes for the Chic Sweets’ Shop which has been going GREAT along with a few more Chic Sweets (life) updates.

Thanks as always, for your support!

IMAGE CREDIT: LIMELIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Sep
12

YAY! Our New Shop…And a Giveaway!!!

IMAGE CREDIT: SHAY COCHRANE PHOTOGRAPHY

Hey everyone! It feels surreal to even be typing this but our online shop is finally opened! The response from industry colleagues, friends and family has been amazing and I would be lying if I didn’t say I feel butterflies to finally share the entire collection! The concept behind this shop has been in my heart for sometime–a collection of gifts that tells a story and is very much personalized for YOU. Each one of our boxes speaks to the core of our business–clean, simple and has a unique color story that I really love!

When you visit our shop, you’ll see we have our gift boxes separated into two collections, our Everyday Collection and our Wedding Collection. Aside from both collections we also have our client partnership program for those professionals that are looking to gift a special client or business prospect with their very own branded gift box. You will LOVE this program!

Before I get to carried away, I really want to thank someone that helped to take the million thoughts and brilliant ideas in my head and produce images that I’m so proud to have in my shop. Shay Cochrane–you are beyond amazing and I’m so GRATEFUL to have you as a friend.

And second to my husband…the words “thank you” seem so inadequate for everything in my heart….but thank you, thank you, thank you for all your love.

Now to celebrate our NEW SHOP, we are doing a giveaway!!! I’m giving away one of my favorite boxes from the Everyday Collection (our Sunshine Box) and some wonderful gifts from some really amazing, small businesses!

1. Our Sunshine Box

2. Oh Happy Day Art Print from the Lara Casey Shop. Lara Casey has been such a great cheerleader for myself and for so many others. Her prints, paintings and everyday products are a must as a business owner! Love you Lara!

3. Handmade Bibs from Oatmeal Lace. From baby bibs, bow ties and clutches, McKay’s Oatmeal Lace Design shop is drool worthy.

4. The Paris Collection, pencil set from Amanda Catherine Designs. Amanda’s pencil collections, seriously will really have you reconsidering ever using pens again.

5. Essie Nailpolish (set of 2)

6. Lovely gold and white striped Target Notebook. I have an obsession with notebooks and so I figured, why not?

Help us spread the word about the Chic Sweets’ shop on social media and link back to my site or this blog post! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with what your favorite Chic Sweets’ gift box from our shop! Yup, easy peasy!

You have until Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. EST to enter in this fabulous giveaway! *US residents only and winner will be determined via drawing on random.org

UPDATE: WE ARE EXTENDING OUR GIVEAWAY UNTIL 12:00 a.m EST (TODAY, WEDNESDAY) SO YOU HAVE A FEW MORE HOURS TO GET YOUR ENTRIES IN!!!

If you would like additional entries…

Tweet about the giveaway mentioning the @ChicSweets and #CHICSWEETSSHOP
Facebook about the giveaway linking to our Facebook page (you must like the page first, so you can tag it properly!)
Share the photo (above) on Instagram and tag @Chicsweets21 and #CHICSWEETSSHOP

Don’t forget to please leave a separate comment for each entry! Okay, Ready…Set…and GO!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!!!! AHHHHH! I’m so excited about this!

Also enjoy 10% off all of our gift boxes from now until next Wednesday–just use CHICSWEETS10 discount code upon checkout.

XXOX-Natalie

* UPDATE: Our winner of this contest, chosen at random, is KATY HAMILTON!! YAY! Katy, send me an email at nclamp@chicsweets.com and we’ll get your goodies off to you!

Thank you to everyone for entering!

Aug
29

Vera’s Adorable Ombre Balloon Birthday Party and a Little Update

Hello everyone! Hope all of you are doing great! It’s been a bit radio silence as I’ve been feeling a bit inundated with life and for awhile there it felt like I needed a big restart button. Gearing up for our Chic Sweets’ shop launch, the boys, and not too long ago, Sasha (our Husky of almost 14 years) passed away. Sasha not in our lives has been a big adjustment for our family and I guess the only thing that will really heal is time…but I can’t lie…we (especially me and Steve) are feeling a bit wounded.

On the flip side (and there is no easy transition from that), we just got back on a BIG, six day trip from Colombia, where both of my parents were born and grew up. I have so many fond memories of going there during when I was little and it’s always felt like my second home. With Sasha’s passing, the timing was also a much needed escape that all of us needed. The trip was more amazing than I could have ever imagined (minus the airplane hike with a toddler and two boys which I’m trying to erase from my memory) and it was more special to see the boys totally surrounded in the Colombian culture–the food, the views, our family–we hit the boys full force. And even better, it was Steve’s (the boss man) first time in Colombia as well!!! Wooohoo! I’m sitting here still surround by suitcases that I will hopefully get to some time this year.

And below is a little glimpse into our view–the grass on the mountains looked like carpet it was so perfect.

Now, enough about me, and onto a birthday party I’m thrilled to share. As you can read through my blog, Shay Cochrane is an amazing product photographer that I’ve been lucky enough to work with for some time. She’s also responsible for all the beautiful images in our last blog post. Not too ago we did Shay’s daughter (the gorgeous Vera) birthday party. I’m always giddy when it comes to designing a table for a girl’s birthday parties or baby showers especially since I live in boy world 24-7 so where I can throw myself in pink and corals, I’m so game!

For this table, I wanted to play around with much smaller balloons and create a wall-backdrop of sorts. We always work with larger balloons, but like anything, we’ve been using them so much lately, I wanted to do something different and I was really happy with the way it came out!

So enjoy everyone and I’m crossing my fingers to have some shop information for everyone by next week. It’s taken way longer than I thought it would, but sadly, I inherited this perfectionist gene and I want it to be peeerrrrrfeect. HA!

PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT: SHAY COCHRANE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jul
24

The Chic Sweets’ Shop and a Little Story about the Shark Tank

Hello friends! Hope all of you are having a great summer. I’m a little sad it seems to go quicker than I’d like. Today I decided to be super ambitious and a did a video blog for today’s post (yes, I know…wow). Please note, I did this in one take, messy hair and five minute make-up so please cut me a little slack on this one. If you would like to see all our Daytime segments and our Shark Tank audition video, please click here.

And here are a few shots I could not help but share (I’m notoriously impatient, as the boss man likes to remind me). More details will be coming in the next few weeks as we announce a shop date and a giveaway, all wrapped up in one.

I’m….so….EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! HUGE thanks to Shay Cochrane for the images–I love you Shay!

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT: SHAY COCHRANE PHOTOGRAPHY

Our Sunshine and Welcome Baby Girl Box which is part of our “Everyday Collection”

And a glimpse in our “Wedding Collection.” I LOVE this collection!

Jun
21

Summer Popsicle Feature on Daytime

Hello everyone! Amen for Friday! It’s been a long week but I’m SO HAPPY to share a segment we did on Daytime, sharing summer popsicle recipes for you and your little ones to enjoy. This segment was a bit out of my comfort zone–I mean, seriously, no candy or desserts involved, but oddly enough it was the most comfortable I’ve ever been.

Funny, right? Huge amounts of love being sent to Daytime and their staff. I love that they always challenge me to go outside the box!

Enjoy! And below are the complete recipes that were covered. Let me know what you think! Would LOVE to hear!

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

Yields: 10 to 12 popsicles

These are such a great summer popsicles—healthy and delicious!!! I love to make these with my boys and it’s a great alternatives to those popsicles you find at your regular grocery store!

1 pound of strawberries, hullied (with the tops cut off)
¼ cup of granulated sugar
2 cups of lemonade (if you have the time, you can make your own lemonade, from scratch, but store bought will work out just as fine).

Directions

In a blender, combine the strawberries, sugar and lemonade. Blend on lowest settings, just until combined and with pieces of strawberries still visible. No more than 5-10 seconds, depending on your blender’s power.
Carefully divide the mixture into your popsicle molds with a teaspoon or tablespoon and freeze. Depending on the size of popsicle mold you have, will take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours.

Fun thoughts: Want to add a bit of creaminess to your popsicle? Add 8 ounces of (vanilla) Greek yogurt. Add the creaminess and you don’t have to feel guilty about it! High in protein and great source of calcium!

Mudslide Popsicle