Will you be my Valentine?

Girl friends, time to catch up and inspiration from Pinterest meant a night of fun for Valentine's Day! We celebrated with a Pinterest inspired DIY Valentine's Exchange.

After appetizers and drinks, we learned how to make French macaroons in beautiful Valentines colors and assorted flavors.

Then we hit the craft table - each person brought the materials and instructions for a Valentine they loved on Pinterest. After making each, our mailboxes were overloaded with love! 

Snacky foods, all frozen from Trader Joe's were enjoyed by all. 

What's black and white and red all over? A Penguin on Valentine's Day!

A "Peep" of Easter Fun!

I love the colors of Easter - so bright and cheerful! One of the more colorful Easter Treats are Peeps - great for snacking and decorating. Check our Easter Pinterest Board for lots of fun Easter ideas - many featuring those cute sugar covered chicks.

Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 700 million Marshmallow Peeps, shaped like chicks, as well as Marshmallow Bunnies and Marshmallow Eggs, making them the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy. In 1953, it took 27 hours to create a Marshmallow Peep. Today it takes six minutes.

Get ready for the holiday by creating some of these chocolate covered Peeps for your Easter baskets. Buy a pack of your favorite Peeps. Melt either milk, dark or white chocolate in a double boiler. Dip the Peep tails into the chocolate "bath" and allow to cool. Package in a clear bag, tie with a bow and give with cheer!

Exciting news!

Have you seen the magazine, Mingle? The second issue came out today - it's all about parties and celebrations. The magazine is a great read - but this issue is particularly exciting because ... one of our parties is featured! There is a photo and description of our Decades Inspired Celebration! So thrilled to see our photo in print. Check out Mingle magazine, available at many craft stores and Barnes and Noble, for lots of fun party inspiration. Visit our blog post to see more photos from this fun celebration.

Let's get cooking party!

Two friends and I threw a dinner party to celebrate our friend's 30th Birthday and upcoming wedding! She loves the color orange - so we celebrated with an orange themed Cooking Party.

The party table:

 

Special chef's hat for the guest of honor:

 

Table decorations included baskets of orange veggies and fruit, glasses of bread sticks and giant orange silverware. Each place setting was decorated with a flower straw and mini garlic grater.

 

 

Each chair was festooned with an handmade apron for each guest - tucked in the pocket was a set of recipe cards for the items on the night's menu:

   

The aprons!

 

 

In the kitchen, ingredients and recipes were laid for guests to work together to prepare the meal.

 

 

Guests enjoying the celebration!

The invitations included screen-printed dish towels with party details and a recipe card with specific instructions. Instead of gifts, each guest was asked to bring a kitchen utensil (wooden spoon, spatula etc.) that we combined into a "Utensil bouquet"!

Holiday Party for a good cause!

Today I hosted a holiday party for good friends! It was a wonderful few hours of good company, good food and most importantly - a project for a good cause. We enjoyed a brunch table of goodies and then made blankets and assembled bags for the nonprofit Project Night Night, http://projectnightnight.org/. Project Night Night helps children in homeless shelters by providing them with a blanket, stuffed animal and story book. Guests brought books and stuffed animals - I prepped fleece for blankets and then we tied them during the party. We assembled the bags and taged them for girl or boy and appropriate age. It was alot of fun to visit and do something to help others.

 Hot beverage cups with homemade felt cozies:

 Personalised cereal spoons for each guest:

 

The finished bags!