Many people confuse Vintage Style decorating with the Shabby Chic decorating style. However, there are subtle differences between the two styles.

Shabby Chic by its name has an atmosphere of benign neglect but still has an elegance surrounding it. Vintage style decorating, on the other hand, has the potential of bringing you back to your grandparent's home. It is similar in a way to retro style decorating. The furniture may resemble that found in the Shabby Chic home. It may be well loved with peeling paint and many dents and scratches from much use. The differences are not found so much in the furniture used in the two styles. What separates the styles are the accents and accessories found in the vintage style home.

Vintage Style Home has Unique Fabrics

Fabrics are an important ingredient in creating this type of kitchen. If you love the large floral prints of the 40's you are well on your way to enjoying this style. Calico prints from the 30's and 40's can also be found in this kitchen.

Oilcloth tablecloths are commonly used.

Oilcloth is hard to obtain these days, but flannel backed table cloths in vintage prints are easily available. Oilcloth was also used to cover and protect cookbooks.

Another favorite in the kitchen is the old roller towel rack. These often had linen calendar prints or beautiful floral linen prints on them. If you can't find one of these roller racks, they are simple to make as is the roller cloth.

Another kitchen staple was the terrycloth towel with the crocheted buttoned handle that could be attached to a drawer knob or the oven door handle. Dishcloths and towels often had hand crocheted edges to keep them from fraying and help them last longer.

Other Vintage Style Kitchen Decorating Ideas:

Display a variety of aprons for the 40's and 50's on a vintage coat rack in your kitchen. You can find a wide assortment of these on ebay for a reasonable price.

A wooden folding rack for trying dish towels attached to the wall was a common site in vintage style kitchen. The slats would fold down into it when not in use and could be brought out for drying towels and dish cloths when needed. These are common items often found in yard sales and flea markets.

Enamelware, both blue speckled and white was popular during that era. Enamelware tools were also used. eBay is a great source for this type of kitchenware. For setting the table, enamelware place settings along with pottery and stoneware were popular at that time.

The Vintage Style Kitchen Accessories

Below is a list of items you might find in a kitchen decorated in the vintage style:

* gallon butter churns

* butter molds

* wire egg baskets

* rug beaters

* a display of old keys

* colored canning jars

* milk bottles

* antique cookbooks

* vintage pottery and canisters

* tin breadboxes

* vintage salt and pepper shakers

If your laundry area is adjacent to the kitchen, you could continue the vintage theme there. Washboards, stocking stretchers, and clothespin bags could be hung for wall decorations. Ironing boards were left out because they were used almost every day as there was no permanent press fabric during that time period. Blue striped ticking was the most common covering for the ironing boards. Colorful calicos or cotton floral prints were also a favorite fabric for covering ironing boards. If you have room to leave the board up, it can be used as a display area for vintage area table linens and dish cloths.

These are some ideas for decorating your kitchen in the vintage style. Hopefully, by now you get the idea of the differences between shabby chic and vintage style.

By now you may understand the differences between shabby chic and vintage style. As I mentioned earlier, these differences are subtle, but the change in atmosphere and feeling is important. While vintage style is a nostalgic "remember your grandmother's house" atmosphere, shabby chic will remind you of an elegant old aunt with a proper front parlor in her home.

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READ MORE - Many people confuse Vintage Style decorating with the Shabby Chic decorating style. However, there are subtle differences between the two styles.

If you enjoy decorating cakes or cupcakes, you know that there are certain cake decoration supplies that you need to keep on hand. But, let's say your child comes home from school, and announces that you have just been volunteered to bring a load of cupcakes to the next open house, which happens to be tomorrow!

Most parents have been faced with this dilemma at least once. But, there is no reason to get stressed or exasperated by your last-minute "assignment." Here are a few creative cake decorating techniques that will have you feeling more confident in minutes!

OK. So you probably already have the ingredients you need to whip up a quick buttercream frosting. Or you have a package of store-bought icing. No problem. You also have a few boxes of cake mix handy, which you keep around, "just in case."

So, today is that "just in case" day! But, because you really do enjoy decorating cakes, you refuse to just slap some frosting on some cupcakes and throw them in a box.

You want your display to be eye-catching! And why not? There is probably a reason why you are the person who was "volunteered" for cupcake duty.

This is where we bring in some unofficial cake decoration supplies you have hanging around your own yard or garden. And you might not have even known it!

First, think of the time of year. If it's autumn, you can line a tray with colorful leaves, and arrange fall flowers around and in between each cupcake.

In keeping with the autumn theme, you can make a quick stencil or cut-out from a lightweight cardboard in the shape of a maple leaf, and frost each cupcake in the shape of the leaf.

For winter theme, you can gather some pine cones or spruce branches and line the tray in the same way you did with the autumn leaves. If you happen to have candy canes lying around the house, you can add those to the display as well.

The same goes for spring and summer themes. Use whatever flowers and leaves that are in bloom at the time. Even dandelions and clover from the lawn can look absolutely beautiful among bright green leaves!

If you happen to have some checkered napkins and baskets, you can make a quick "picnic theme" display.

Depending on where you live, you can find wonderful additions to your cache of cake decoration supplies. For example, sea shells and sand, river stones, and gourds.

And, once you begin to look around the house, you'll likely find other items you can add as well, such as ribbons, tissue paper, wrapping paper, various seasonal decorations, scraps of pretty material, colorful dinner napkins, etc.

If you find yourself in a pinch and don't have a lot of standard cake decoration supplies like the decorator tips for roses or piping, don't panic. There's nothing wrong with taking a butter knife and swirling some of that simple frosting on the top of the cupcakes without fanfare. Not all cake decorating techniques need to be technical!

Take a look around the kitchen that you can also use that you might not have ordinarily thought of using on the cake or display. Do you have mini-marshmallows? Chocolate chips? Some raspberry or other jam? These can be used as toppings as well.

It's not a bad idea to keep a list of everyday items that you have around the house that you'll be able to call on when you find yourself in a pinch or faced with a last-minute "cupcake duty." With a little imagination, your "last-minute" efforts can look as though you prepared for at least a week!

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READ MORE - If you enjoy decorating cakes or cupcakes, you know that there are certain cake decoration supplies that you need to keep on hand. But, let's say your child comes home from school, and announces that you have just been volunteered to bring a load of cupcakes to the next open house, which happens to be tomorrow!

Halloween is a fabulous theme for cake decorating as it allows you to really let your imagination go wild. In fact, the scarier and more gruesome your Halloween cake decorations, the better!

Whether you are throwing a Halloween party or just want to liven up your children's tea, there is a bewitching array of edible and non-edible Halloween cake decorations and products available in the shops and online. These range from scary ghouls, witches and bats to pumpkins, spiders and realistic-looking eyeballs. Some of these even glow in the dark, allowing you to really vamp up your cakes, cookies or cupcakes!

Readymade options

If you're short on time or inspiration, you can get your Halloween cake decorating off to a flying start with some readymade items. Pop to the shops for some plain iced fairy cakes or cupcakes, and then customise them with one or more of the following decorations:

Shaped sugarcraft figures or plaques that make ideal cupcake toppers

Re-useable plastic bats, spider rings or "Happy Halloween" greetings on sticks for inserting into the sponge

Edible eyeballs: these really are the ultimate sweet treat and guaranteed to get a reaction!

Do-it-yourself

But, if time permits and you're feeling creative, why not have a go at making your own Halloween cake decorations from scratch? With the right products and a bit of imagination it is easy to achieve some fabulous results. You can even add to the fun - and the mess - by getting the children involved too!

Before you start, you will need to round up a selection of ingredients and equipment to help you with your DIY Halloween cake decorating. A few suggestions are:

Black, white or orange ready to roll sugar paste; just mix black and white if you want grey

Plastic cutters in traditional Halloween shapes like bats, pumpkins, ghosts and cats. Try to find ones with comfort grips as these make cutting of cookie dough, icing or sugar paste safe and easy - even for little hands

Edible black or silver lustre spray for covering individual cakes or one large sponge

Easy-to-use, colourful sprinkle decorations such as glitter flakes, sugar strands or sugar balls for adding a touch of magic

Once you've finished rolling, cutting, sprinkling or spraying, don't forget to complete the look with Halloween themed baking cases, candles or ribbon. Then add the finishing touch to your Halloween festivities by scattering some bat or pumpkin confetti over the party table. Happy Halloween!

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READ MORE - Halloween is a fabulous theme for cake decorating as it allows you to really let your imagination go wild. In fact, the scarier and more gruesome your Halloween cake decorations, the better!

When you have a themed shower, be sure to get baby shower cake ideas that are part of the theme. How you decide to match the cake to the theme depends on your budget, experience with decorating and baking, and how much time you have.

Baby Boy or Baby Girl Theme

Making a baby shaped cake is a natural for this theme. You can easily do this with regular round baking pans and cupcakes. Make an 8-inch round cake, 9-inch round cake, and 16 cupcakes. The 8-inch round cake can be positioned for the head, the 9-inch round cake for the body and 3 to 4 cupcakes can be used to make each arm and leg. You can tint white frosting a flesh color by using a tiny amount of cooper icing color. You can also simply use a 9-inch round cake to make a baby's face. There are also pans shaped as baby rattles, buggies, and bottles that you can use.

Monkey Baby Shower Cake Ideas

A monkey shaped pan is the easiest way to go with this theme. You could also use the idea above of using a 9-inch round cake to make a monkey face. You'll need to add cupcake halves for the ears. Plastic monkeys can also make great cake toppers or cupcake toppers.

Winnie the Pooh Theme

You can make a teddy bear shaped pan into Winnie the Pooh by putting a red shirt on the bear and using a dark yellow icing for the bear. But even easier is getting plastic Winnie the Pooh characters to put on top of the cake. There are also cake toppers that can be found online that you can simply put on top of a sheet cake.

Sports Baby Shower Cake Ideas

A 9-inch round cake can easily be made into a baseball with some white frosting with red frosting piped on for the baseball laces. A soccer ball or basketball could also be easily made out of this size cake, you just need different frosting colors. You could also cut this sized cake into the shape of a football. Having a few different ball shaped cakes can make this theme fun and provide plenty of cake for your guests.

Rubber Duck Theme

This is probably the easiest theme to find ideas for. There are several different duck shaped cake pans that you can get. Small rubber ducks or rubber duck bath toys make easy cake or cupcake toppers.

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READ MORE - When you have a themed shower, be sure to get baby shower cake ideas that are part of the theme. How you decide to match the cake to the theme depends on your budget, experience with decorating and baking, and how much time you have.

Want to create the best looking birthday cake for your child's next birthday party? There are a number of steps that you can follow to make sure that you create the perfect cake each and every time. Here is a simple cake decorating guide that you can use to create the best looking cake possible for your kid's upcoming party.

1. Baking the cake. This is probably the easiest step of them all because all you have to do is follow the baking instructions that are provided with the cake mix that you purchased. Sometimes cakes can end up being a little dry. If you want to avoid this, consider adding a tiny bit more of some of the wet ingredients that are used in preparing the cake. One great way that you can increase the moistness of your cake is by adding another egg to the recipe. When the cake has finished cooking, allow it to cool overnight. Consider placing the cake in the refrigerator in order to achieve maximum cooling results.

2. Ice the cake. Before you attempt to do any decorating, make sure you ice the cake completely and smooth out any lumps and bumps that might exist. This initial icing layer should be allowed to cool before you continue with the drawing process. Again, place the cake in the refrigerator in order to let the frosting set up firmly.

3. Prepare your drawing tools. Having a well organized work space with your drawing tools ready and waiting will help make the cake drawing process go much more smoothly. Place all of your drawing accessories and tools in one place, place the cake decorating bags in another, and place the excess colored icing in another. Consider placing your cake decorating bags in tall glass jars, tip end down, to keep them organized and prevent icing messes.

4. Create the easiest decorations first. Draw borders and other large items first since these will be the easiest items to draw. Large bottom borders, top borders, and other large items can be drawn on in order to provide a starting point for other more detailed decorations and drawings.

5. Practice on other surfaces. Before you draw directly on the cake, consider drawing on another surface in order to get the drawing or decoration just right. When you are confident that you have it down, then go ahead and draw on the cake. You can use a cookie sheet or another flat surface as a practice area for your drawings. After each practice attempt, simply scoop up the icing with a spatula and place it back into the cake decorating bag.

6. Use accessories. There are plenty of common kitchen utensils and tools that can be used to make great looking designs. You can use forks, spoons, knives, spatulas, measuring cups, and many other common kitchen items to make creative and original designs for your birthday cake masterpiece. You can also use other items such as candy, nuts, decorating sprinkles, and many other items to create a perfectly decorated cake for your child's birthday party.

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READ MORE - Want to create the best looking birthday cake for your child's next birthday party? There are a number of steps that you can follow to make sure that you create the perfect cake each and every time. Here is a simple cake decorating guide that you can use to create the best looking cake possible for your kid's upcoming party.