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travel, food, design

Mermaid Birthday Party

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We did it!!  We celebrated Addie’s third birthday in major mermaid style.  And I think all of the kids had as much fun as I did!  All of the creative elements of the party came together just as I had envisioned and I think it was pretty darn amazing (am I allowed to say that?)  We transformed our hot, weedy outdoor space into quite the beachy destination and I’m really excited to have that space to hang out in now that the party is over!!  In fact, we were out there all day Sunday, and Graham and I even sneaked down there after the kids were in bed to have a glass of wine in the peaceful evening with our lantern candles flickering – bliss!
 I have a lot I’d like to share about the party and some tutorials planned, but I’m going to just overload you with pictures today and then, when my brain functioning returns, I’ll post more of the details – assuming you’re interested, that is.  It’s sort of a weird thing – this blogging gig – because I feel like I’m talking to you, but I don’t really have any clue if you’re interested…good with a little info….wanting more details or more pictures or tutorials or maybe just something else entirely?  Such a guessing game, so speak up, I’m listening, okay??  Now… here’s a snapshot (or many) of the party:
 
 My beautiful birthday mermaid!  I think she looks pretty dreamy in her cute swimsuit and pettiskirt (full tutorial here) made by her mama.
 
Dining for mermaids and mermen – kid menu items included: goldfish, chips, watermelon, terriyaki chicken wings, and mac and cheese shells.
 
If you can’t have your mermaid party at the beach, you can have the beach delivered to you!  I knew it would be cool to have a sand pile, but I didn’t anticipate just how much it would round out the beachy feel of the party.  AND now my girls want to live outside covered in sand.  They played pirates all day after the party and built a super cool “pirate ship” – see?
 
 
One of my favorite spaces for long term potential – this is across from our kiddie pool – great for hanging towels and admiring my – let’s call it whimsical – beachy art (get the beach art how-to here).
 
Homemade taffy.  It’s not that the party needed homemade taffy, but how much fun is it to have a great excuse to give taffy-making a try?
 
The fabric banner found a nice place hanging above the seashell painting area.  I kind of love this little seashell sign I painted up, but maybe not as much as I love this next sign….
 
I thought this would be a good spot for naughty children to have a time out.  The Crab Shack – get it?  sorry….I entertain myself with that kind of humor.  Okay, moving on…
 
More candy on the dessert table – this is candy sea glass, candy making doesn’t get easier than this one!  And I can’t get over how great raw sugar works as “sand.”  Thank you, Pinterest, once again.
 
A zoomed out shot of the dessert table mostly set – I also had cupcakes out here, but they didn’t make it down from the house in time for their photo shoot.  Do you recognize the dessert table?
 
 It’s the bake shop from Olivia’s butterfly tea party – bake shop turned ‘beach hut’!!
 
 And as long as we’re talking about dessert, let’s squeeze in some more yummy pictures of candy and cake.  The candy seashells turned out pretty on top of that ocean-y cake, right?
 
I hear the cake was delicious – chocolate with rasberry filling and lemon with rasberry filling, frosted with swiss meringue buttercream.  I’m not usually one for fads, but the ombre ruffles were a must for this cake!!  (Full tutorial for the decorating the cake here.)
A pre-party picture of the cupcakes.  I love those mermaid cupcake toppers!
Pillows are so simple to make – I whipped up a pile of them to cozy up the party space and add some extra color. (Read all about the pillows here.)  I used remnants from the quilts I’m working on for the girls’ room so that the pillows are ready to accent their beds should I ever finish the quilts!!
 
 
And, finally, I even handed off the camera to get my picture taken with the birthday girl herself!!
 
Alright!  Happy Monday everyone!  It’s a new week, a new month, and I have just tossed my mermaid party to-do list in the trash.  Checkity-check-check-check!!  What are you working on?

Mermaid Cupcake Toppers – Tutorial

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I don’t mean to state the obvious, but we’re getting ready for a mermaid party around here.  Since we already did one of these about three years ago, I’ve been able to reuse some of the ideas a second time around.  Even though I always like creating a fun cake for the girls’ birthdays, they actually really like cupcakes and so I end up doing both.  Today, I prepared the cupcake toppers the same way that I made them a few years ago.  And I decided to post this tutorial which was actually a guest post I did a long, long time ago.  Still cute, still easy, still party perfect!!

Supplies needed:
mermaid stamp (or any design, really!)  This one is made by A Muse Artstamps
inkpad
markers
Stickles glitter accent (made by Ranger)
Clear dimensional embellishment such as Glossy Accents (Ranger) or Liquid Glass (Close to My Heart) 
cardstock
lollipop sticks
ribbon
hot glue gun

Step 1:
Stamp your image onto a neutral colored cardstock.  I used a vanilla/cream color as the base for the mermaid’s skin.

Step 2:
Using markers, color in the mermaid’s hair, eyes, and mouth. 

Step 3:
Fill in mermaid bikini and tail with glitter accents.  Allow to dry (or be very careful), then apply clear dimensional embellishment over hair.  Allow to dry completely.  Once dry, it will be clear and hard.

Step 4:
Using fine-tip scissors, cut mermaid from cardstock.  Apply a dot of hot glue to the back of the mermaid and glue onto the end of a lollipop stick. 

Step 5: 
Add ribbon accents.  You can either tie a bow and then hot glue the finished bow onto the lollipop stick, or tie the bow around the stick.  For me, the first was much easier!  Place the toppers into some swirly blue frosting and your cupcakes are ready for the party!!!

 
 
Question:  Do you prefer cupcakes or cake?  or both?? 

A Birthday with Sprinkles

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 Addison woke up this morning and crawled into our bed to snuggle while drinking her milk.  She matter-of-factly announced “I don’t feel like a baby. Yep, I feel like a big girl.”  My baby turned three today.  
We spoiled her with all the sprinkles we could find and she entertained us with her sweet, silly antics.  It’s bittersweet, this birthday.  Three just seems so big.  Especially with her, always running after her sisters, thrilled with their hand-me-downs, so happy to be one of them.  We did a little dessert and presents number after dinner tonight and will have a more official “birthday party” with some friends in a few weeks.  Ice cream sundae stations and ice cream cone cupcakes have been all over the internet, but this setup was a first for my family.  
The girls were beyond elated; an easy setup with super fun visual impact.  The interactive part of decorating your own “ice cream cones” and ice cream sundaes makes for a most entertaining time. 
 It’s getting late and we’re off to the last day of school tomorrow, so I’ll save some additional thoughts for another time…
happy happy birthday, my baby girl!

Cookie Decorating with Wafer Paper

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Did you know you can pick up wafer paper printed with edible ink in a variety of images?  I picked out some cute bunnies to try and I couldn’t resist the vintage Easter images so I purchased some of those, too!  
 I’m definitely less experienced in the cookie-making arena and this was a good beginner project.  The girls and I mixed up a batch of sugar cookie dough and we each set to work with our own rolling pins.  They made bunnies and chicks and huge Easter eggs.  I was boring with my ovals.  I probably need a better oval cutter since I just squished one of my round fluted cutters into a not-so-perfect oval.  After baking up the cookies, I frosted them with a flood of royal icing (more not-so-perfect ovals) and left them to dry overnight.  The next day, I handed out piping bags of colored icing to the kids and while they went wild, I set to work with the wafer paper.  

Application was simple.  Cut out the design, brush corn syrup on the back of the image, and smooth onto the cookie.  Set the cookies face down for 15 minutes and then turn them up to dry for a while longer.

Then, you can put a beaded border around the perimeter of the image if you want. 

So, the critic in me wishes that I’d used a better cookie cutter and that my hand would somehow become steadier with the piping.  But, really, when the whole plate of cookies is set out together, you rarely notice the individual imperfections.  Definitely a fun activity with pretty results and something that I could do side by side with my little helpers.  Double bonus points!!

I purchased my wafer paper at Fancy Flours.  

peppermint candy cake

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Need a festive cake for your holiday celebrations?  I love this little peppermint candy cake.  I baked a 3-layer, 7-inch cake, stacked and filled it.  I put a crumb coating over the whole thing.  In retrospect, I would probably put a red base coat under the red sections, but this was just for our little dress photo shoot so I didn’t bother.  I scored the cake with a large knife into eight sections on the top and then carefully extended the lines down the sides.  Using a small round piping tip, I covered the sections in small dots.  This took a little while, but I think it’s so fun!  
We’ve been doing only a little holiday baking around here this year.  It’s just not as much fun for me when I can’t eat even a drop.  Sticking to the baking that’s fun for the kids – cut-out cookies and gingerbread houses.  What are you baking?  Do you stick to a few traditional recipes or try out new ones? 

Honey Nut Bars

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It’s no secret that I like food.  Pretty much everything.  I would definitely describe myself as a food lover.  In fact, I probably love food too much.  Although I haven’t talked about it on the blog, I became extremely sick in the spring and have had to make a major change in my diet over the last few months.  I’ve gone from eating everything to eliminating almost everything.  It requires a lot of time as I relearn how to cook meals for my family and satisfy my cravings.  It’s a lifestyle change that is difficult, but ultimately encouraging as I regain my health and develop new domestic skills.  
Without sugar or grains in my diet, I have been missing that sweet something.  I discovered this gooey little nut mixture this week and it totally hits the spot.  It’s basically nuts, honey, and butter and it’s oh, so good.  Kept in the freezer, the mixture slices cleanly into bars or candy squares.  
At room temperature or warmed up, the mixture is delicious with cheese, such as brie.  
I’m hoping to successfully make some frozen yogurt this week and I imagine that this will go very well as an ice cream topping.  Give it a try; if you like nuts, I’m pretty sure this recipe will be a keeper.  I used walnuts, slivered almonds, and pecans this time, but you can use any nuts you’d like.  I’m going to add in dried fruit and coconut next time, too.
 
Honey Nut Medley
(adapted from recipe by Raman Prasad)
3 cups nuts
3/4 C. honey
3/4 stick butter (6 T.)
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
Toast nuts in the oven until golden brown.  Heat honey in a large saucepan until simmering.  Whisk in butter and salt. Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Add toasted nuts and stir well to coat.  Pour into jars and keep refrigerated or spread mixture into a 9×9 square pan, lined with parchment paper, and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.  Slice into bars, remove from freezer immediately before serving.   
 
For more specialty diet recipes, you might also like our Grain Free Waffles, gluten-free German pancakes, or homemade yogurt!

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