5 To-Do’s To Plan A Party!

     1. Determine your theme:

Deciding on a theme really brings the event to life. Dress your party in an outfit! That may sound crazy but it's not. Once a theme is created you know in which direction you’d like the rest of your decor and planning to play out.

  2.Confirm your budget.

  Planning a party can easily get out of hand with varied costs. Be sure to plan out your budget for location, decorations, food/beverage, and gifts (if you have to buy them). And do your very best to stick to it!

  3.Compile your guest list.

  I intentionally put this AFTER #2 because if you sit down and create a guest list first you’re more likely to invite everyone you know, have known, and have the possibility of knowing in the future, right?  If you confirm your budget first, you’ll be more aware of the really special people that you want to share in the fun of your event. 

4.Plan your menu/decor.

  I always like to plan my menu around the theme. Please take into consideration what time of day your party is because people would most likely eat more at a party planned in the evening than they would a party planned in the early afternoon. Also consider who’s on your guest list and try to accommodate as best you can without getting  too far away from the menu you want to provide. Some really fun and easy menu themes are a chili bar, a Mexican fiesta, an assorted pizza party, and a barbecue! 

Now, right alongside food is drink, right? I always like to have a signature drink (or two) that goes along with the theme. This allows for everyone to have a choice but not too many choices which can really put a dent in your party budget. For adults, have one type of beer and one type of wine with some fruit infused water or have some spiked apple cider and a hot chocolate bar. You can dress it up and make it a fun beverage station and include great drink additions such as marshmallows and peppermint spoons for hot chocolate, or fruit and drink umbrellas for summertime cocktails. 

Decorations! Festive decor adds a special detail to your party. My go-to are always flowers. Usually your local market carries in-season blooms that won't break your budget and will add a special, personal touch. Coordinating plates, napkins and utensils help tie in to the theme and maybe a few balloons depending on the type of party you're having. I always like to have a fun activity also whether it be a fun photo prop or a game that everyone can enjoy, even the adults!

  5.Decide on Dessert!

  Dessert! The most fun part of any party, right? I always like to have a couple different choices for desserts. Desserts make a party sweet! I usually have a cake of some kind with some cookies or some additional treats. It’s a good idea to provide desserts that go with your theme, if possible. For instance, if you’re having a party in the fall it may be wise to do a fall themed (pumpkin/caramel apple) cake or if you’re having a summer party, maybe incorporate some fresh fruit in to your dessert. If you're hosting a party in honor of someone else, bake their favorite! If you're just having a seasonal or holiday party a safe rule to follow is this; have something you love, have something you know the guests will love and then try something new! The best table at a party is the dessert table! 

Have fun!

-xo

Summer Berry Dessert!

This is my favorite summer dessert - probably ever. If you're having friends over or just want to make a nice dessert to have after dinner one night, this is your go-to! This was a recipe passed down by family and now it's never summer without making it at least once! 

Summer Berry Dessert

1 pint ripe blackberries

3-4 farm fresh peaches, sliced

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix the berries and peaches with the maple syrup in a bowl. Stir in the nutmeg, lemon zest and lemon juice. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream! And a piece of pound cake or angel food cake for a bonus! 

Yum! 

4th of July 2016

America - land of the free, home of the brave! That's worth celebrating, right? 4th of July is kind of a special day for our family because it's the day Travis proposed (nervously)to me! Of course we love to celebrate holidays but that makes this holiday much more fun; especially now that we have the girls to share it with. And we look forward to the day when they can stay up late enough to watch fireworks with us as a family. Planning is hard work but their enthusiasm and the look on their faces is worth every minute that I spend preparing and creating.  

We set everything up at the 'family farm' and had lots of picnic staples for food and of course - desserts! Sugar cookies, cake pop ice cream cones and a fruit flag cake. 

I wanted to share the flag cake recipe for you so that you can, if you'd like, mix one up this summer or save for next 4th of July. I'm thinking it might be an annual treat for us! It was THAT good.

Happy Summer! Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• ½ cup of margarine or butter
• ½ cup shortening
• 1 cup of water
• ½ cup of buttermilk (or ½ cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of  vinegar)
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pinch of salt

For the Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened 
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 12 oz cool whip (or 4½ cups fresh whipped cream-sweetened with  powdered sugar)
• 2-3 Pints Fresh Raspberries and/or Strawberries
• 1 Pint Fresh Blueberries

For the Stripes

• 1 Cup (2 sticks)butter at room temperature
• 1 Cup vegetable shortening
• 6-7 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons vanilla

Instructions

For the Cake

 1.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.

 2.  In the bowl of a kitchen-aid, mix the flour and sugar

 3.  Place the margarine, shortening and water in a saucepan over        medium heat and bring it to a light boil.

 4.  In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, soda, vanilla      and salt, whisk until smooth.

 5.  Take the shortening mixture and pour it over the flour mixture      and mix until smooth. add the buttermilk mixture and mix again      until smooth. 

 6.  Lightly spray a cookie sheet with cooking oil(pam). Pour the        mixture in the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to completely      cool.

  7. Frost the cake with the whipped cream frosting

  8. Decorate the cake with blueberries in one corner and two rows        of raspberries and/or strawberries all the way across the cake,      skipping a stripe for the white stripe and repeating. 

  9. Pipe white stripes using the buttercream between the                berries and as little stars between blueberries.

For the Frosting

In a mixer, whip the cream cheese to soften it. Add the cool whip, lemon juice and powdered sugar.

For the Buttercream

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and shortening until mixed. Add in 1 tablespoon of vanilla and 3 cups of powdered sugar. Add in the last tablespoon of vanilla and the rest of the powdered sugar. Mix until well blended. (if the icing is too thick you can add a tablespoon of milk)

Mother's Day Brunch and Bouquet Party!

Mom's day is the best, isn't it? Mom's, stepmom's, mother-in-law's, someone that is like a mom to you or if your mom has passed - making memories with mom is priceless. God has blessed me with one, stellar mama. And a super bonus, wonderful mother-n-law. I'm a lucky gal to have these two ladies to share life and make memories with. 

I planned a fun brunch for the mom's and my girls and it turned out to be a really, great time! I thought it would be fun to have everyone assemble their own bouquet and to of course have some yummy food too! 

We had ham and cheese quiche, fresh cut fruit with strawberry dip and granola and mini waffle and pancake stacks. 

The sherbet drinks were a huge hit, I can't wait to make them again! I used orange sherbet, although you could use any flavor and then I topped them off with organic coconut lime Italian soda - a refreshing treat! 

I made some flower pot cookies to go with the theme which were super easy and turned out perfect.   

Everyone picked their favorites and created their bouquet. When you have so many beautiful flowers it's easy to make something that you'll love. 

Lots of laughs and finishing touches later we had the finished bouquets!

This was so easy and so fun to throw together for Mom's special day. There is no greater blessing than a mother's love. Wishing you the most beautiful and well-deserved Mother's Day ever! 

Lemon Cake with Strawberry Buttercream

Lemon...my least favorite cake flavor. BUT! Sometimes I just crave a really, light and fluffy lemon flavored cake. And, if I make it myself I can control the lemon flavor and make it just perfect! For the past couple of weeks I've been wanting to try a lemon cake and then mix up some of my buttercream icing - strawberry flavored! This combination turned out just LOVELY so I wanted to share with all of you! You can follow the homemade recipe below but you could also cheat by buying your favorite box of cake mix (white/vanilla) and add the lemon flavor to that. Saving time is sometimes a life saver!

 

Mother's Day is coming so that would be a good time to show mom all the love with this delicious cake! It would also be a nice alternative to strawberry shortcake.

 

 

 

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

*3 tbsp lemon juice

*1 tbsp lemon zest

*(in place of the lemon juice and zest you can also use lemon extract and add as you please until you get the right amount. I usually go by smell and add just enough to make it light enough for my taste.

 

Cake/Cupcake Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8 inch cake pans or muffin tins for cupcakes.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. In stand mixer with paddle attachment (starting on low), cream together room temperature butter and sugar on medium high until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add in eggs, one at a time and mix until blended.

4. Add in vanilla, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and milk and mix for about 30 seconds on low. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined.

5. Remove from mixer then fold in lemon zest with spatula.

6. Divide batter evenly among cake pans and/or cupcake muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes.

7. Let cupcakes dry completely before topping with strawberry buttercream.

 

Buttercream icing: The buttercream icing is the same recipe posted prior. The only addition I make is add 2 tablespoons of strawberry extract and a tiny drop of pink food coloring to get the pink icing color.

 

Chocolate hearts: The candy hearts are made from candy melts. You can purchase a bag of white, vanilla melts and place in a glass bowl. The best way to melt these is in 30 second increments in the microwave to ensure that you don't burn the chocolate. Once melted well I drop a teeny, tiny drop of pink food coloring in; mix well. To pipe the hearts I spoon the chocolate into a decorating bag and cut the tiniest slit at the pointed bottom of the bag. Go ahead and be creative with making your hearts on a piece of wax paper. Give them a good 10-15 minutes to dry and they should easily peel off the wax paper to place on the cake/cupcakes. Have fun!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 





Put On Your Ears. It's Time For Cheers!

Laila is 4! 

We celebrated Laila's birthday with our family and we had tons o' fun! She changed her mind several times about what kind of party she wanted to have but we stuck with a Minnie Mouse theme. 

Laila is in to sprinkles these days! She's my mini baker; always helping me in the kitchen, especially when sprinkles are involved. If she could sleep with her sprinkles she would! It was a given that we sprinkled her cake!

She's also all about 'topping' her ice cream so we chose to do a mini ice cream bar for her to do just that with all of her favorite toppings and ice cream! 

And we couldn't forget the cookies! 

To me, flowers make everything happier; especially birthdays! I really loved how our Minnie Mouse heads added extra cuteness too! 

The past four years have flown by. Laila is such a bright and funny gal. She is an awesome big sister and I'm proud of how sweet she is. 

Of course we had to get the family involved! Photo props for all! 

It was a fun day!
Happy 4th Birthday to our really, great gal. 

Resources: Etsy - angelcakesetc2, SugarSweetBows, ALittleBitOfAud, thebakersconfections, PartiesThatArePretty, HelloFaith, CharlesAlexDesign

Happy ONE Year LGB!

Sweet Lena Grace is 'ONE'! 

A year has come and gone since my sweet baby took her first breath in this crazy, wonderful world. I'll never forget she made her debut saying, 'here I am everyone!'; she was so ready to get this party of life started. She's an angel and she completes our family. 

Pretty much from day one...ok, maybe day two I knew that her first birthday would be a shabby chic celebration. It's the current trend but it also allowed me to use special pieces from our home that belonged to family members that have passed. All of the lace pieces were most likely made by Travis' great aunt Lena and great aunt Grace which is where, you guessed it - we got the name, Lena Grace. I used ice cream dishes that were passed down a few generations as well as a cake plate that would also be considered vintage but will always be chic.

    Sweets and more sweets! The desserts were white chocolate cake pops, macarons, white smash cake and a pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. 

The menu had a 'sweet' theme; sweet meatballs, sweet rolls, sweet potato chips with sweet corn casserole pie - so YUM!

And of course, what's a party without sister Bessie getting in on the action? She rocked her shabby chic crown!

The punch was an autumn, cider punch and each guest took home a bar of pumpkin spice soap from our very own local Honeyrun Farm here in Williamsport, OH. I encourage you to check them out - hometown proud! 

This little girl enjoyed her day. She wasn't sure about her cake but after a while...she finally dug in. 

We love you Lena. Happy 1st Birthday, baby girl. May we be blessed with many, many more of your birthday's. 

Resources: Etsy - JLouisedesigns, StyleswithCharm, FakeCupcakeCreations, HBHaccessories, ItsyBitsyPaperCuts, MillysDreamBoutique, honeyrunfarm 

Others: Pistacia Vera, North Market - Columbus