Awesome Breakfast Party!!

I love breakfast... in fact, my husband and I often argue when I want breakfast foods for dinner. At one point, I asked if we could serve breakfast food at our wedding. This morning I came across this party on Kara's party ideas... It's a funky, fun and colorful idea for a brunch! Check it out, because it will have you craving some donuts (even if you aren't pregnant with twins, like me!)

Homemade Christmas- 2011 Version!

Last year, I made a lot of the Christmas gifts we gave! I canned apple pie filling, hand painted plates to serve it on, and packaged it all up... I loved them (And I hope their receipents did too!), but this year I am pregnant with twins and just don't have the energy to can, paint, etc. I have been using Pinterest to find some cute ideas, though!

Whipperberry posted this lovely idea of making HOMEMADE vanilla. Like the lovely ladies on Whipperberry, I always wondered what the cooking show hosts meant by "good vanilla" for baking! I guess now I know :) I just ordered my vanilla beans & will be making this homemade vanilla for some gifts. I am so excited to try it out! Whipperberry also posted the lovely packaging they made for the bottles!

Another lovely idea I found on Pinterest was this awesome quick bread in a jar! My friend Hannah was awesome enough to make the label for me!! I am only wishing the recipe called for vanilla so I could package both together. Oh well ;(

Gotta try this... Halloween Treat

I was browsing Facebook and came across this site. I am totally in love with this little treat packs..

How adorable, right???

I'm totally making these this year!! I found this Martha Stewart Punch that would be perfect for it. All I have to do it order some Stampin' Up cardstock and I'm good to go!

Gotta Try This...{Wedding Keepsake}

While browsing the TaterTots & Jello Weekend Link Party I came across the cutest little gift idea... Although I almost gagged when I saw the Halloween and Christmas stuff out at Michael's yesterday (It's JULY, people), I had to rack my brain to remember if I saw those clear Christmas balls there...Anyway, look at this: 

Not only did this talented lady find an awesome use for the super-expensive wedding invitations that most people throw away, she created an amazing gift. How cute would it be to do this with someone's shower invite, wedding invite, and then follow up with future Christening or Birth Announcements!! 

Now, off to see if I can find any of my wedding invites around!! 

{My Parties}... Kristn's Graduation!

My sister recently graduated from high school and we threw a bbq to celebrate. I ordered adorable invites, bottle wraps, banners, and cupcake toppers from The Frog Prince Paperie after seeing some of their amazing work in blog land. Being that it was 90 degrees outside, we had tons of drinks- including my beloved lemonade stand!! (although I have lemonade stand envy- check this out PARTYLOVES LEMONADE STAND) 

Cute bbq themed water bottles!

In addition to the water, we had lemonade, strawberry lemonade & cucumber water. I had blue and yellow paper straws out since those were the school colors. The frames were from Caileigh's Cereal Buffet

I really wanted big bouquets of fresh sunflowers on the tables, but I had to remember the party wasn't for me..So, I painted wooden frames from Michael's red and used a flower embellishment from the scrapbook aisle. I had pictures from throughout Kristin's life all over.

Inspired by Hostess with the Mostess, we had a make-your-own hot dog bar... 

 I wrote out all the different recipes on the brown paper, but I'm pretty sure people invented their own

 My beloved Pottery Barn Stand served as a roll holder...

For the dessert table, I repurposed an old wooden window and my husband's saw horses. I am sorry for the lack of a close up of the cupcakes and toppers!! I don't know what I was thinking! The basket was filled with cakepops! 

Here is my daughter attempting to get closer to the sweets posing with Aunt Kristin before we dig in.

Congrats to Kristin & the class of 2011!

{Thursday's Treat} Lemon- Blueberry Bread...

Two of my favorite flavors in the summer- lemon & blueberry bread. I came across this recipe in "Martha Stewart Living".

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for pans
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 4 lemons)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt
• 2 large eggs
• 6 ounces blueberries (1 1/4 cups)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter nine 2 1/2-by-4-inch baking pans, and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
2. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves and syrup is thickened, about 4 minutes. Let stand while making cakes.
3. Meanwhile, combine heavy cream, remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and the vanilla in a bowl. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in another bowl.
4. Beat butter, lemon zest, and remaining cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with cream mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Gently fold in blueberries using a rubber spatula.
5. Divide batter evenly among pans. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
6. Transfer pans to wire racks, and brush tops of cakes with lemon syrup. Let stand for 15 minutes. Turn out cakes from pans, and brush all over with remaining syrup. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Variations

To make a large loaf instead of several little ones, use a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan, and bake for 55 minutes.

I made 2 small changes- I used cooking spray instead of butter & flour to grease the pans and I used 1 cup whole wheat flour...

My very critical, highly trained food critic seemed to enjoy them!

Enjoy!

{WANT IT WEDNESDAY} Pottery Barn Mason Jar Drink Dispenser

I am in love...

I have a slight mason jar obsession (remember, I told you all about it here) and this drink dispenser would be a great addition to any party...

P.S. - Pottery Barn isn't paying me for this endorsement, but if they happen to be reading this I would like them to feel free to send money or free gifts my way :) 

WInner!

Sorry for the crappy picture! Between Blogger and camera issues, I can't win! Anyway, the lucky winner is Evelene S!! I will contact you via email! 

Remember, check out Lisa's At Home America Site for some awesome stuff :) 

Lisa's At Home America

Graduation BBQ... Planning!

We are hosting my sister's high school graduation party and we are going with an old fashioned BBQ theme!

Here's some of my inspiration!!

Hostess with the Mostess posted this wonderful BBQ awhile ago & it totally got my brain going! I love the corn on the cob with the corn chips. She also had some wonderful gourmet hot dog recipes for a make your own hot dog bar! I'm loving the idea of a hot dog cart for the table:

I'm thinking of writing the "hot dog recipes" on brown kraft paper...Like this from Host It Notes

I'm using some of these beautiful images from Country Living to inspire my table designs...

And last (but certainly not least!)- DESSERT! Thinking some delicious cookies and pies... displayed nicely like this!

Giveaway...{At Home America}

My wonderful friend Lisa is an At Home America consultant. Have you checked this stuff out?? It's awesome! If I were take a "hypothetical" shopping trip (because, I promised my husband I'd lay off the debit card- so if Shane is reading this, remember totally hypothetical!), I'd be the proud owner of...

These lovely chalkboard signs!

This lovely print with an amazing saying on the bottom!

This nifty bathroom organizer!

Their outdoor livinAt Home America g section is to DIE for!

Actually, if I could- I would buy every item in the catalog :)

And now, my lucky readers- we have several chances for you to win a $20 gift card to At Home America

#1: Go to the At Home America link and then come back here and leave a comment telling me what you MUST have to make your summer complete!

#2: Become a follower of this blog and leave me a comment letting me know you are a follower!

#3:  For THREE ENTRIES Buy any item from Lisa's 

AHA  site and come back here letting us know what you purchased. This will get your 3 entries!

#4: Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook or Blog and come back here and leave me the link!

#5: For FIVE ENTRIES: Book a home party (in Orange, Rockland or Westchester Counties) or a virtual party (for everywhere else) and leave a link letting us know you did! This will get you 5 entries into the giveaway! 

Giveaway ends: July 9! Good luck...Oh, and if by some freak chance you can't find anything you LOVE in this catalog the fall/winter catalog comes out July 1... (however, please don't mention fall/winter or back to school to me, summer just started!)

Summer decor on the cheap!

I'm working on making our outside more inviting since my husband and I are both teachers, we basically live for July & August. Unfortunately, with the lack of work during those months comes with a lack of paycheck! So, my summer projects have to be pretty inexpensive. This little area cost me almost nothing, which makes me love it even more!

So, I saw this post on DecorChick saying that Lowes had indoor/outdoor rugs on sale for $34. I have been searching for one, but refused to pay a ton for a rug I was putting outside! So, I stopped at Lowes on my way to work (yes, at 6:45 AM) and found the rug. I took it to the register where it rang up for $17!!! HOORAY! 

I then hit the Dollar Tree and picked up 4 bunches of gerber daisies, which I put in metal buckets left over from Caileigh's party. 

The lantern as a battery powered candle in it, which flickers! I found this a month or two ago on clearance at HomeGoods!

The sign is made by me. I used a scrap piece of wood from Hubby's work bench and used some stain I had from another project. I made the stencil for the letters & ice cream cone from my cricut. 

Linking to:



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{My Parties} W is for Wicker Beading & Wings Over Haiti

I recently hosted a Lisa Wicker Designs party. Her handmade jewelry is amazing- it's beautiful, unique and made with quality materials. Lisa was kind enough to donate proceeds from the party to Wings Over Haiti. I learned about Wings Over Haiti from a co-worker. He is from Haiti and is part of this team helping to build a school there. My coworker has taken students from my school to Haiti to volunteer & my classes have collected over 9 bags of school supplies to donate. Check out the videos on the site to see the amazing work they are doing there!!


Lisa & I decided to go with black, white and turquoise to go along with some of her favorite summer jewelry pieces.

Gotta Try this... {Mod Podge Mason Jars}

I stumbled across Gingerbread SnowFlakes and fell in love with these colored mason jars! Since I am mildly obsessed in love with mason jars, I'm so excited to try these!! Unfortunately, it is the first sunny day in a week and I'm in bed with the stomach bug :(

Idea Gathering...

We are planning a Backyard BBQ Graduation party for my sister.. I am obsessed with the rustic look and I really want to give S'mores as a favor. I'm on a hunt through blogland for some creative packaging ideas..
Here's what I've found so far:

Credit: Unbashed Bliss

Credit: Elizabeth Anne Designs

Look at this S'more Table from Cookie Creative ... I love it, but after my first (and last) experience making homemade marshmallows, I don't think this will happen:

However, this one I can handle! (Also from Cookie Creative)