by Marcela M. | Nov 19, 2011 | Blog, Children, Parties, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends! I hope you are having a wonderful day!
In this post, I will show you in greater detail the decorations we made for Luka and Zoe’s party. The mood for the whole party was set by the beautiful printables designed by my dear friend Laura, from Delicious Tea. I talked to you about her in this previous post and I shared with you some free printables designed by her in this other post, but there really are no words to describe her incredible talent. If you don’t know her work yet, and you enjoy all things pretty, go take a look at her website and her facebook page. Go now, I’ll wait here!
Back in February, we started discussing the concept and colors for the party, and Laura came up with those cute little pencils that appear in all the party printables. She designed the invitation, a beautiful “happy birthday” banner, 5 different cupcake toppers (shown above), circles to add to the popcorn cones…
…fancy food labels, which were left blank because I wanted some room for changing my mind regarding what I was going to serve…
…beautiful paper glasses, to which I added yellow and white stripped paper straws…
…jar labels, which I added to the candy jars ( which were in fact not candy jars at all, but flower vases)…
…a welcome sign, which we framed and placed on one of the tables…
…drink labels (for lemonade, water, and orange juice), which I attached with twine (in Lemondrop by the Twinery)…
…And 3 different souvenir tags, to close the clear bags where I placed a sugar cookie decorated with royal icing in the colors of the party. The souvenir cookie is shaped as a splash of paint, and came in two sizes with an Ikea cookie cutter set!
As I mentioned in my previous post, the souvenirs were placed on three styrofoam boards, which were covered in papers in orange, yellow and green, and which were used as a backdrop for the main dessert table.
Laura, who is from Buenos Aires, sent all printables to Cyprus back in April, and those printables came back to Argentina with me when the plans for the party changed.
Once in Cordoba, I crafted with my family the rest of the decorations: a piñata, and paper streamers. We hanged three lines of fishing thread over the backyard and we hanged the piñata and streamers from them, so they looked like they were floating in the sky.
I made the piñata using a regular paper lantern, and I attached to it 2 inch (5 cms) punched cardboard circles in orange, yellow and green, with the help of a glue gun and lots of patience. The streamers were made out of vellum paper using this tutorial from Oh happy day (one of my very favorite blogs). They are really easy to make and lthey look very nice!
Finally, we bought boxes made from corrugated cardboard in green, orange and yellow so that guests could take home a piece of cake to enjoy with breakfast the following day.
Yes, that is me in the picture above, cutting the cakes.
In the next post I will show you all activities we did with the children!
Have a lovely weekend!
by Marcela M. | Nov 18, 2011 | Blog, Parties, Uncategorized
Good evening dear friends! I hope that you are having a lovely week.
It has taken me a while to put together the pictures of Luka and Zoe’s party, but I have finally organized them all, so here is the first of the four posts that I have prepared about it. The first three posts will be mainly visual: I will show you what the party looked like, what we ate, what we crafted, what we did. In the fourth and last post, I will let you know what went right, what went wrong-and what I learnt.
As you know, Luka and Zoe’s birthday was in August. I had, however, started planning this party almost from the minute they turned two years old. I didn’t decide on all details right away, of course, but I did know two things: 1) I wanted an art party, because they greatly enjoy art and because I thought it could entertain children of different ages, and 2) I wanted the color palette to be fun, vibrant and summery, so I chose the colors yellow, green and orange. The rest of the details started coming to my mind little by little and, by January, I had a clear idea of what I wanted.
By June, however, a major complication appeared: we couldn’t find a suitable, affordable venue in Nicosia. We live in an apartment, so we celebrate Zoe and Luka’s birthdays in kid-friendly venues, where they can run and play in a different way- But the ones we counted on were unavailable, or had gone out of business, or were not suitable anymore. We searched, and searched, and asked around but couldn’t find anything. We had almost decided not to do a big birthday celebration when I had an idea: why not delay the party until November and do it, instead, in Argentina, with all my family and friends? So that’s what we did: I gathered all the supplies I had already bought and travelled with them to my home city, Córdoba, bought here what was missing, crafted the decorations (other than the lovely printables designed by Delicious Tea) and baked everything that was served, all in one week. It was exhausting, yes, but it was absolutely worth it, because we were surrounded by love, by family, by real friends.
We celebrated the party in the backyard of a house rented by my brother for his professional practice (he is a psychologist). The day was beautiful: sunny but not too hot, and with a rather light breeze. We opted for an intimate celebration, and invited around 25 persons only, of which 6 were children of different ages. We set up two tables with the food, and a small table with art supplies for the children, and scattered chairs here and there, so that guests would mingle.
The main dessert table was set up against a wall. As a backdrop, we used three styrofoam boards covered in the colors of the party and attached the souvenirs (which were sugar cookies coated with royal icing in green, yellow and orange) to them. On top of them, we hanged the birthday banner (also designed by Delicious Tea).
Here are some detailed views of the main table:
We served popcorn in yellow paper cones (which were a big hit!), cake-pops coated with semi-sweet chocolate…
vegan chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, frosted with vegan buttercream…
…an assortment of sprinkles for the children to decorate their cupcakes with…
and mini “splash of paint” sugar cookies, decorated with royal icing in the colors of the party.
We also had two two-tier vegan birthday cakes, each of a different flavor: lemon cake with vanilla buttercream and home-made orange jam, chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and berries jam, marble cake with vanilla and chocolate buttercream, and chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and orange jam.
On the second table, we set-up the supplies: Napkins, spoons…
plates, straws and extra glasses…
…as well as three jars filled with lemon, orange and apple candies (which were very common during my own childhood and which I wanted to share with my own children). The candies were taken by children as souvenirs too, at the end of the party.
In the next post I will show you all the decorations we crafted, as well as details of the fabulous printables designed by my dear friend, the super talented Laura, from Delicious Tea.
Have a wonderful week!
by Marcela M. | Nov 8, 2011 | Blog, Europe, Travel, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends!
I’m sorry for the delay in posting this week: we arrived in Argentina last Tuesday after a grueling travel experience, and we have been enjoying some wonderful family time, greeting friends, walking around, re-discovering (for me) and discovering (for my husband and my children) my home of city, Cordoba. This week, I have been fully immersed in the preparation of my children’s belated birthday party, which will take place next Saturday. So it has been hard to keep the blog updated!
Today, however, I won’t talk to you about Cordoba, but about Belgrade, Serbia, which is the city where my husband’s family is, and where we spent one week before flying to Argentina. I had been to Belgrade many times in the past, but this was my first time in Autumn (my favourite season) and I must say that I found it particularly stunning. The trees of Belgrade’s many parks were gloriously red, orange and yellow, and the streets were covered in dead leaves, which crunched under our steps. The weather was fresh, but not yet completely cold, which allowed us to walk along its streets with ease, with our children comfortably sitting in their double stroller.
Walking is actually one of the things I enjoy doing in Belgrade the most, because it is a very walkable and walked city. I love its parks and its cafes (they say the coffee house tradition was born in Belgrade, before Paris and Rome) and, of course, its poslasticarnica, or traditional pastry shops. Actually, one of the city’s oldest Poslasticarnica, dating from 1936, belongs to one of my husband’s brother in law, Max (whom you can see in the picture below, making the decorations for a traditional Serbian bread, traditionally served during the Family’s Saint’s day).
Traditional pastry shops are generally small, with just a few tables, where you can sit and enjoy a cup of strong Serbian/Turkish Coffee with delicious pastries which denote Serbia’s mixed past: traditional European cakes and oriental delicacies such as baklava. Regarding baklava, for example, you can have it in three different ways: Turkish Baklava (with home-made phyllo pastry), Greek Baklava, and Baklava with Plazma (a Serbian variation, characterized by the inclusion in the filling of a the crumbs of Plazma cookies)
Another favourite spot in the city is Kalemegdan, the old fortress with its beautiful surrounding parks, that overlook the confluence of the rivers Savva and Danube.
Kalemegdan is a great place to walk and, if you have children, you may want to know that the local zoo is located there too. It is also a very common spot for retired people, who play chess in the chess tables located there, a tradition that seems to exist since the times of Tito.
At the entrance to the Park (coming from downtown’s main shopping street, Knez Mihaijlova), one can find small shops selling handicraft goods such as copper pots for making coffee, lace works, knits in traditional patterns, militar memorabilia, etcetera.
The picture below is of a type of street shop that is very common in the city and that I haven’t seen elsewhere: a place where one can find shoe laces of all types and colors. These shops were one of the first things I noticed when I visited Belgrade for the first time-and the variety they offer is deeply missed by my husband when we are abroad!
I hope you enjoyed this small tour of Belgrade! I will be back next week with pictures from Cordoba- and from Luka and Zoe’s birthday party!
Have a great week and weekend!
by Marcela M. | Oct 22, 2011 | Blog, Holidays, Parties, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends! I hope you are having a lovely weekend!
Halloween is almost here and, in the past month, the web has been full of wonderful ideas for crafts, decorations, recipes and parties, so I thought I could compile my favourites here and share them with you, for inspiration.
Here they are:
Parties:
Halloween Boofast, by Sheek Shindings
Beautiful Halloween Parties, featured by Kara’s Party Ideas
Halloween-Thanksgiving party, featured by Kara’s Party Ideas
Classic Rustic Halloween Party, featured by Hostess with the Mostess
Deathly Hallows Dinner Party (for Harry Potter fans, such as myself!), featured by Hostess with the Mostess
Food:
Halloween Ghost cupcakes, by Jenny Steffens
Halloween dead finger cookies, by Cake Journal
Vegan Finger witches cookies, by Chef Chloe
Halloween treats, by Cake Journal
Creative Halloween Treats, by The TomKat Studio
Cookie and marshmallow skeletons, by Party Pinching
Halloween Treats, by Delish
Spider topper, by My Cake School
Vegan Spooky eyeballs mini cupcakes, By Vegnews
A selection of Halloween Treat and dessert ideas, by Catch my Party
Decorations:
Halloween décor on a budget, by Oink!
Love Potion Number 9 Witches cauldron, by Icing Designs
Halloween Bats, by Party Frosting
Spider placecards, by The Sweetest Occasion
Fabric and Paper Owls, by Design Sponge
Papier Maché pumpkin, by Made by Joel
Halloween Crafts, by Country Living
DIY Halloween decorations, by Country Living
Halloween activities, by Tip Junkie
Halloween mummies, by Craftaphile
Halloween Wreath, by Dollar Store Crafts
Free Printables:
Spells Potions Printables, Candy Jar and Candy Labels,Ghostly Treat Display and Spell bound sweets by Hostess with the Mostess
Halloween Printable Collection, by Celebrations at home
Spooky Halloween sign, by The TomKat Studio
Halloween Boo sign, by The TomKat Studio
Halloween Printables, by Kara’s Party Ideas
Free Halloween Graphics (to use in your decorations!) by The Pixelista
Free Halloween Printable, by I heart Naptime
Free printable tag, by Anders Ruff Design
I hope that this will help you with your party planning! Have a wonderful week!
by Marcela M. | Oct 16, 2011 | Blog, Recipes, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends! I hope you are having a lovely weekend.
A few months ago, while browsing the internet, I stumbled upon a series of truly beautiful and very creative videos on vimeo. Among these, there were the followingones, which I believe take recipe sharing to a whole new level: they transform it into a piece of art.
I hope you will like them as much as I do!
NOTE: Since embedding is not working, I am linking to the videos instead. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Beet cake, by Tiger in a Jar:
The apple galette, by rachelchew
Avocado, Shrimp and endive salad, by Leaftv
Plum Jam, by Carl Pendle
Have a wonderful week!
