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Pumpkin Place Card Ideas {Going a Little Gold Pen Crazy}

October 25, 2012

After a recent second trip to the pumpkin patch with my mom and Liv (I’m thinking that you cannot have too much pumpkin patch + homemade pie this time of the year), I found myself with a stash of beautiful mini white pumpkins. For some reason I am especially attracted to white and gold this fall, so finding a gold sharpie to feed my addiction, I put together a few ideas for Halloween dinner party place cards. Or Thanksgiving? These might work perfectly for Thanksgiving as well.

Having a gold sharpie around can be dangerous! Imagine all of the possibilities…

First up, a gold flowered top. I used the natural creases of the pumpkin to form my little petals and then scribbled away. It offers a neat affect from above.

The pumpkin itself makes for a great place card, just write those names nice and slowly, using a pencil first if necessary.

Liv saw all of the fun I was having and plopped herself down on my lap, picked up the sharpie and began to create her own. I like the result! And then I was fishing a waving sharpie out of a toddlers hand (ah!).

This chevron guy was fun. You really can’t go wrong with a variety of patterns and a little time (best while watching a movie. Or maybe the World Series, go Giants.)

My goldifying days may or may not be over, I’m leaning towards the latter. I’m so glad gold is back. (What else can I sharpie while I’m at it??)

Back to that second trip to the patch. We visited nana and papa this weekend and made a trip to Gizdich Ranch to decorate their house for Halloween. A few slices of fresh apple and olallieberry pie later and we wandered the farm to play. Here are a few fun moments caught on film:

Liv was not so keen on the obligatory shot with momma, but she rocked out on that spring horse with nana. And that last shot? A favorite. Strike a pose. Happy Thursday! Cant believe it’s less than a week until Halloween.

Tags: Crafty Solutions, Decorating, DIY, Gold, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Tutorial
Posted in Crafty Solutions, DIY, Parties & Entertaining | 3 Comments »

Friday Guest Blog Interview: Monica Pedersen

August 17, 2012

Happy Friday! We have had such a busy week here at the house – a new wall is near built! We just poured the concrete footings for a little raised garden bed and we’re about ready to officially start on the deck. Plus the house is alllmost finished with its exterior painting and we’re on to the windows next (still undecided on the trim – but thank you for the comments and emails! they have been really, really helpful).

Before the weekend arrives, I’ll send you off with a Friday Guest Blog Interview with none other than Monica Pedersen, the talented author behind Make It Beautiful and a designer on HGTV’s “Designed to Sell”. I am honored to have her join me at PDB today.

Monica is also a co-host of HGTV’s Dream Home Giveaway and HGTV’s Bang 4 Your Buck. She joins us to share more about her passion for entertaining and how she incorporates fashion, textiles and favorite trends into home decor choices and beautiful parties. Plus a few sneak peek images of Monica’s newest coffee table book…

On to the interview!

Tags: Dinner Parties, Guest Blog, Guest Interview, Parties & Entertaining
Posted in Guest Blog, Interview, Parties & Entertaining | Comment »

Balloon Bunch Cupcakes & a Baby Shower

June 4, 2012

Happy Monday! I thought I’d share a fun cupcake idea that I put together for a friend’s baby shower recently. Who doesn’t love lollipops and cupcakes? And when the two candy and cake worlds collide?

Inspired by a little blurb I saw in a Parenting Magazine article on creative cupcake toppers, I made balloon bunch cupcakes out of little dum dum lollipops using my favorite buttercream icing and rainbow nonpareils.

Yum!

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Balloon Bunch Cupcakes
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Materials: Cooled cupcakes, icing (store bought or homemade – see recipe below), rainbow nonpareils (round sprinkles) – any color would be fun!, dum dum lollipops, ribbon

I usually love a great homemade cupcake but on this particular day I saved myself a bit of time by using a boxed mix (a delicious lemon raspberry or homemade red velvet would have been very fun for this particular design!). To make things a little interesting, I split my cupcake batter into two different portions, half with a few drops of red food coloring and half as the original vanilla mix.

Plop of vanilla, plop of pink, plop of vanilla plus a toothpick to swirl it up! I recommend filling cupcake liners to just over half way so that you have a nice flat icing surface to work with.

While these guys are in the oven, it’s on to the frosting. I didn’t skimp here, this is my favorite homemade buttercream and it’s buttery delicious! Sweet enough to bring out a great flavor but a version that won’t immediately melt in the sun on you, which is important for buttercream icing + outdoor parties. Though I’m not sure I’d be daring enough to use it on a cake in direct sunlight…

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature, cut into small pieces), 3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, pinch of salt, 1 vanilla bean, scraped, 1 t pure vanilla extract, 1/4 cup milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy. Slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat to combine, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add vanilla bean seeds and vanilla extract, and beat to combine. Slowly add milk and continue beating on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes. Favorite recipe from right here.

Pastry bags are wonderful, but I tend to use a gallon zip lock bag 99% of the time because of easy clean up (just toss that bag out when you’re through!). I simply cut a 1/3 of an inch off the end of the bag and fill it up with buttercream using a spatula.

These cupcakes involve two layers of icing, the bottom layer is a disk of buttercream and the top layer will be smooshed into sprinkles so that it is completely covered. To achieve that effect, pipe a single layer onto each cupcake by gently squeezing the ziplock bag to create an even spiral of icing, working from the outside in. You might try practicing on a paper plate if you’re limited on cupcakes.

Moving one circular ring from the outside in, I added a second smaller icing disk for that second layer.

Then upside down it goes into the sprinkle bath. You really want to smooth that top layer flat so don’t be afraid to apply a bit of pressure. Of course you could also skip the idea of two layers and just smoosh it all the way around the icing for a fun look!

Here’s the second layer covered in sprinkles while that bottom disk is still visible.

The last step is to add three unwrapped dum dums lollipops in a bunch, tying a ribbon around one before hand.

So colorful!

These would be really fun for a kids birthday party, or you could color coordinate your sprinkles and lollipops so that it matches a themed baby or bridal shower.

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The baby shower was so much fun. Our good friend Trish did a beautiful job creating a lovely brunch for the mom-to-be! Favorite details of mine were the varying shades of tinted glass vases and an adorable game that required everyone to bring a baby picture. Can you tell which is me? Just like Liv’s photo, and yes, a little oversized.

Another favorite were these adorable wooden cars that we each painted. I believe Trish found them online at the Oriental Trading party store, and then made the little shadowbox to house them!

It’s hard to see in this next photo collage on the upper right, but that is a little handmade dinosaur sweatshirt by this blogger. Michelle has promised to post a tutorial on how to add the dinosaur spikes to a cute little zip up! (she also made these adorable onesies)