Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Creating Lollipop Centerpieces

For a recent photo shoot, we created simple, elegant lollipop centerpieces:

Photo by Heather Immoor

The basis for the centerpiece is the 4" cube from Blumebox with the cake pop insert. They're a terrific canvas for your creativity. In this case, I got some understated silvery wrapping paper from my local Papyrus stationery shop to cover the sides of the box.What I love about wrapping paper is how versatile it is - our customer Sandy used a colorful, playful pattern to decorate Blumeboxes for a baby shower.

The cake pop insert is kraft cardboard, so it looks a bit plain on its own. There are lots of ways to decorate it; this time I used decorative Roost Snowfall - fake "snow" that was given to me by one of my retailers. The result was a very understated look that let the beautiful aqua lollipops take most of the visual focus. The fake snow was really neat stuff, not static-y at all; unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available directly. Still, any similar fake snow or confetti would fit the bill.

Looking for more inspiration? the Ideas in Blume blog has loads of that to spare!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Wedding Favors

With Valentine's Day and New Years' in the recent past, newly-engaged lovebirds are about ready to come down from Cloud 9 and start thinking about their wedding plans... We're here to help with favors!

These luscious, elegant, cream-colored lollipop favors in Pina Colada flavor work beautifully for a wedding with a tropical theme. Call it "Hawaiian Honeymoon" on a stick.

cream or off-white lollipops in Pina Colada flavor
Pina Colada lollipops in lovely off-white

The clean, uncluttered appearance of the lollipops in unlabeled bags can be very appealing and offers a very quick turn around time. Spring green and aqua blue are just some of the beautiful colors we can create:

spring green, pastel green, gourmet lollipops, This Charming Candy
Spring green lollipops in Black Pepper Melon flavor

aqua blue lollipops, This Charming Candy
Aqua blue lollipops in Blueberry Muffin flavor


Other celebrations opt for our custom initials label service, which was featured in Seattle Metropolitan Bride & Groom a couple of years ago:
wedding lollipop wrappers customzed with initials
(photo by Lara Ferroni)
Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom magazine cover


We'd love to help bring your dream day to reality with sophisticated, delicious lollipop favors. Drop us a line at thischarmingcandy@gmail.com and let's get started!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Gift Box Set of Lollipops

Thanks to a recent photo shoot, we've updated the photos of the gift box set with all of our gourmet lollipops:


The pops come in a snazzy white box with a clear lid that's perfect for gift wrapping. 


Inside, you'll find all 22 of our super delicious flavors:
Apple-Anise
Birthday Cake
Black Pepper Melon
Blueberry Muffin
Bubble Gum
Cherries Jubilee
Hazelnut-Coffee
Honey-Jasmine
Guava Colada
Maple Sugar
Nutmeg Creme
Pineapple Heaven
Pistachio-Marshmallow
Root Beer Float
Salted Anise
Salted Caramel
Sweetened Grapefruit
Tangerine-Clove
Tart Pluot
Triple Berry
Vanilla-Cardamom
Watermelon-Basil 

We nicknamed this variety collection "All of the Above"; before that we jokingly called it "Girlfriend In A (Sugar) Coma". Enjoy!

Photos by Heather Immoor Photography

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Lollipop Orgy?

That pile of artfully discarded lollipop wrappers makes the scene look a bit like everyone just disrobed and jumped into the hot tub! After all, these are the Red Hot Love lollipops... 

Photo by Heather Immoor

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Simple Presentation for Lollipops

For casual parties, we've found it's easiest to fan out lollipops in a circle and pass them around on a plate or in a small basket. One of our customers did that for her street's block party and we think they look so inviting! Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best ones.

gourmet lollipops, This Charming Candy
A tisket, a tasket... lollipops in a basket!

lollipops, children, candy

How have you arranged our lollipops for sharing? We'd love to see your photos! You can send them to us at thischarmingcandy [at] gmail.com, or leave a link to your own blog post in the comments below...

Friday, February 15, 2013

Reading: Star Wars and Natural Food Coloring

I love the original Star Wars trilogy, and have taken some ribbing in my time for being geeky enough about it to make moisture farming references. But the truth is I can only aspire to be this awesomely geeky... first Inside the Battle of Hoth, and its follow-up, Defense Nerds Strike Back: A Symposium on the Battle of Hoth. The original piece posits:
[O]f all the Empire’s failures, none is a more spectacular military fiasco than the Battle of Hoth at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back... It’s a classic fiasco of overconfidence and theology masquerading as military judgment — and the exact opposite of the Empire striking back.
The responses and rebuttals include:
To Vader, the Imperial force at Hoth — and the battle against the rebels — was a pretext for his real goal, finding Luke. He wouldn’t have minded wiping out the rest of the rebels, and he was happy enough to use the Imperial fleet to try to stop rebel ships (Luke’s ship) from leaving the system, but that’s not why he was there. Vader didn’t care at all whether or not they defeated the rebels that day.
and
Had Vader not botched the defense of the Death Star, the Battle of Hoth would have been precluded and Grand Moff Tarkin would be rightly recognized as the greatest strategist the galaxy has ever seen.
I will stop here before I quote the entire thing, taking a final moment to recommend reading the first posted comment to the original article, because it is completely perfect!

-=-=-
Much less amusing was this industry article about the challenges of using natural food coloring, which mentions that Nestle found it needed 21 kg of natural food coloring to achieve the results of a mere 100 grams of artificial coloring. Wow. 
Synthetic colours may still be more prevalent than natural colours in foods and beverages, but natural is catching up as manufacturers increasingly look first to natural ingredients in developing new products – however, challenges remain.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks to Becca Bond Photography & Anders Ruff party styling

We hope your day is as sweet as you are!

xoxo,
This Charming Candy


Thursday, February 7, 2013

Need a Last MInute Valentine Gift?

This little cutie's got our once-a-year heart lollipop in her hands - it's Cinnamon-Cherry flavor, which is a perfect embodiment of "sugar and spice"... plus, it's red, red, red!
Thanks to Becca Bond Photography & Anders Ruff party styling

We also pour our beloved purple Honey-Jasmine flavor in the heart shape at this time of year, and put the two of them in a variety pack together. Its floral sweetness is a great foil for the spicier Cinnamon-Cherry, and we call this duo "Sweet Valentine", of course. Yes, sometimes we go for the obvious names :-)





With one week left until V-Day, there's still time to place an order for these beautiful lollipop hearts. We advise ordering by Friday (tomorrow) at the latest. If that day somehow gets past you, ask about options for expedited shipping. Seattelites can ask about arranging local pickup at our lollipop kitchen. We'll take good care of you -- and your Valentine!

Thanks to Becca Bond Photography & Anders Ruff party styling



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Who Carries Lollipops in Seattle?

The write-up in this month’s Seattle Magazine mentions one of our favorite stockists, Venue boutique in Ballard. Here’s a quick round up of where else you can find our yummy lollipops around town!
seattlemagazinefebruary2013
Image Credit:
Photo by Rina Jordan; styling by Malina Lopez

Ballard neighborhood
Venue
5408 22nd Ave. NW
Seattle, WA 98107
http://www.venueballard.com/index.php

Queen Anne neighborhood
charley + may
2225 Queen Anne Avenue N
Seattle, WA 98109
http://www.charleyandmay.com/

Fremont neighborhood
Portage Bay Goods
621 N 35th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
http://www.portagebaygoods.com/

Greenwood neighborhood
Tasty
7513 Greenwood Ave N.
Seattle, WA 98103
http://www.shoptastyart.com/#/home/

Bellevue
Bellevue Arts Museum gift shop
510 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
http://www.bellevuearts.org/


Map picture



p.s. If you're a shop owner who's interested in carrying This Charming Candy's gourmet lollipops, please send email to thischarmingcandy@gmail.com - thanks!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Local Candy Businesses in Seattle Magazine

This month's issue of Seattle Magazine is nothing short of delightful. When the cover story is "The local field guide to chocolate"? You buy that magazine and you read it cover to cover and you get the pages laminated if you have to, to preserve them. 


But what's in this little blue call-out bubble? "Plus: artisanal caramels, lollipops and candies" too? Yes, it's true! The editors kindly selected This Charming Candy to be one of the businesses represented in their round up of the local candy scene.



A few months back we sent them some samples for photography. When they showed up twice in the magazine I was surprised and totally delighted. Here on the top of page 68, are Watermelon Basil and Cherries Jubilee. Just hanging out. Having fun. Looking really lovely.


The blurb about This Charming Candy appears on page 82, along with another great photo. One of the flavors is mislabeled, but that's ok :-)



The online teaser for the print/tablet issue mentions us and includes these photos. I'm excited about all this exposure - it's even more than I had anticipated - and I hope lots of folks discover us soon. Thanks, Seattle Magazine!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Wow, It's February

After a jam-packed holiday craft show season, and an extended visit with family back east, I returned to Seattle a little less than 2 weeks ago. I got straight to work on stuff like filing business tax returns and hitting the kitchen to get a couple of sold-out flavors back in stock...

And I forgot to say any of this on the blog! Whoops, and hello again, everybody! It's too late to go around wishing you all a Happy New Year at this point, right?