Have I ever mentioned just how much I enjoy planning parties?! Aside from the fact that I love blessing others and being with friends and family, I love party planning because it is an amazing avenue for creativity. Especially these days with Google search, Pinterest and so many other awesome social networks; the ideas and inspirations are endless!

Well, I am currently planning several parties and helping with a couple of weddings to boot. Guess what, I am lovin’ it! So I thought I would do a post on all of the fun things I have been up to for these upcoming events. I don’t have any photos of finished product yet, but inspiration will do! Many of these ideas were found via Pinterest. Oh what would I do with out you, Pinterest? Thanks for organizing my events so easily!

Wedding #1 — Rustic barn wedding from Rustic Wedding Chic

The Idea: Wooden slabs with vase of baby’s breath; we are adding a lovely double sided frame with a photo of the couple

Bridal Shower: Hawaiian Luau theme – image from Sweet Designs

The Idea: Displaying sweet treats on trays with tiny seashells as a base and flower accents

70s Inspired Party — Color Inspiration found on Pinterest

The Idea: Spearmint, Peach & Buttercup colors all throughout the party; keeping an elegant but fun atmosphere

On top of that, I have started a new board on Pinterest called “Food Display.” There are endless ways to display your food. I think that any gathering involving food can really be enhanced with simple or extravagant displays of the food. I am sure this board will grow quickly as I find new ways to sweeten up the food selection and I hope others will find these ideas helpful when working with food displays!

The Board:

The Idea: Pie pans on top of old vases (upsidedown) to achieve levels of food — think it’s time to go garage saling for these beauties

That is just several sneak peeks of what is going on in my creative life right now and I look forward to sharing the finished products with you — Coming soon, this Summer!

Thanks for visiting! And Happy Party Planning!

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Hi friends! I have been so busy enjoying Fall and thought I would check in to share some of my fave things about this lovely time of year… including recipes!

Fave Traditions:

There is nothing like a great tradition that you can enjoy with your loved ones each year! Below are three of my faves that are a must do in October.

Trick or Treating (with our adorable nephews!)

Pumpkin Carving (this cute owl was a winner!)

Apple Dippin’! (Sweet times with the fam)

New Faves:

I am proud to say that I have been doing some cooking and baking this season and loving it all! So far no bad recipes which is always a great thing. The recipes below were found online and are linked accordingly (cookie photo is from the original blogger since I never snatched a photo before they were all gone!). Each of these three recipes received rave reviews from family, friends and coworkers and will be permanently added to my recipe collection.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pudding Bars (Picky Palette)

Best Italian Soup (All Recipes)

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies (Scrambled Henfruit)

Faves to Try:

I have been finding recipes upon recipes on Pinterest and saving them to my “Cozy Fall” board. There are many more than I could even imagine trying in one season but below are two that I will for sure be trying out before Thanksgiving passes. Check out this board for more ideas and recipes. The photos below are from the original blogger.

Cinnamon Almonds (One Charming Party)

Johnny Appleseed Bars (Eats Well With Others)

I sure hope everyone is enjoying Fall as much as I am! November has finally arrived and I can not believe it is a short three and a half weeks until Thanksgiving! Be blessed and happy cooking, creating and loving!

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Have you seen all of the adorable cake bunting toppers popping up all over!?

I am utterly in love with bunting in any shape or form but especially on top of a cake! So last weekend, when I was asked to set up a surprise birthday dinner for my Aunt, I used it as an opportunity to try one out for myself! I am so glad I did because it came out so pretty! My Aunt’s favorite color is pink, so I used a bunch of pink scraps and got to work using Papertrey Ink’s bunting die cuts.

Step One — Pick out your patterned paper scraps and cut out exactly the amount of bunting pieces you will need — I used Papertrey Ink’s Bunting dies.

OPTIONAL — Punch out small circles to stamp your text onto if your patterns are too dark or busy.

Step Two — Stamp your desired text onto the bunting (or onto the small circles and adhere to the bunting pieces)

Step Three — Trim some embroidery floss or ribbon to the length that will allow all bunting pieces to fit with about two inches extra on each side to tie up onto your sticks.

Step Four — Leaving two inches on the left hand side of your floss, gently press the floss down into the first bunting piece with a dot of hot glue on the back *IMPORTANT* Begin from left to right starting with the LAST letter of the word otherwise you will end up with backward text!

Step Five — Tie your sign onto the sticks (skewers, straws, lolli-pop sticks, etc.) – If you have two layers of bunting, first tie both left ends to the first stick and then tie the right ends to the second stick. Remember that you want your bunting to “scoop” and not be a straight line so you leave it slightly loose.

TIP: Depending on your text, you may have more than two inches of floss left on each end so that you can center your bunting/text — Trim as needed.

Step Six — Gently press the sticks into the center of the cake so that they get wider as you go up (see photo); this will allow the “scoop” to really stand out nicely.

Step Seven — ENJOY! (and take plenty of photos for future admirers)

It is a piece of cake {pun intended} and I just love the look! It really doesn’t take much time to create and adds such a special touch and dimension the cake. I hope that you find this quick tutorial helpful as you attempt to create your own. I will definitely be making more of these in the near future.

Happy Bunting!

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My good friend requested a few items for an upcoming baby shower that she was hosting, so now those items are up for sale on Etsy and ready to be used for many more special moments to come!

Chocolate Milk labels – These are simple and sweet, made to fit perfectly on the lid of a bottle of Starbucks drinks. The font and dotted border are in a chocolate brown and will go with anything color theme. I love the idea of having these filled with chocolate milk and placed in a bucket of ice out for the guests to grab from.

Baby Shower Scripture Cupcake Toppers –  These toppers feature two favorite scriptures, 1 Samuel 1:27 and Psalm 139:14. The text and dotted border are in chocolate brown and can be punched out with a round punch measuring 1.25″ They are made to be backed with a scalloped circle which will really allow these to be customized to any color theme!

Another great idea she had was to create some tags with the future little guy’s first initial “T” to tie around the mason jars which they were using for additional drinks! They just add the perfect little touch and look great around the room during the special day!

Here is the whole layout that they had at the shower. I think it looks lovely and I am sure all of the guests enjoyed it! Thanks to Jackie for letting me help out with this special moment!

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Hi there! Have you joined the Pinterest bandwagon yet?

I am absolutely in love with this genius tool, forum, community — whatever you want to call it! You have to check it out.

First  go here — and see my “Boards” which include different “databases” of sorts that allow me to store my inspirations, ideas, recipes, favorite photos, etc. Each board has a category such as “Christmas Time” to help you find it and know what you are in for.

Now if you are interested, unfortunately you can not just join — you must be invited. And can I tell you how long I waited to find someone to invite me! (Actually, I had no clue I had to get invited, I sent in my email address to apply and never got anything back from Pinterest). So don’t do it that way. You are welcome to leave me a comment on this post with your email address if you would like to be invited and I will gladly send you an invitation!

Here are some snapshots of what type of boards I have going right now:

The best part is that the photo is only just the beginning. If you click on the photo you will also be able to select the link to the original post at the top right-hand corner to see the recipe or instructions or maybe even more details depending on the category of the photo.

This is the perfect database!

You can “Follow” other pinner’s boards so that you can see what they are pinning and even re-post their items (idea-networking at it’s best!). See why I am in love!?

Thanks for letting me share my latest obsession! I will have some new creations up this week so stay tuned!

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